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Show The half -Breeds of The Northwest Canadian Half-Breeds Are a Very Interesting and Promising Promis-ing Race Their History Is a Curious One Changes Made Through Catholic Missions. St. Joseph's day, 1890. was an eventful event-ful one for the Catholic missions in the "Great Lone Land" of Canada. On that happy day the first Candian half-breed half-breed received the holy order of priesthood. priest-hood. This ordination of the Rev. Father Cunningham put an end to the old Canadian prejudice, "a half-breed will never make a priest." The example ex-ample of Father Cuuingham has found an imitator ' in the Rev. Patrick Beaudry, O. M. I., now a deacon and shortly to be raised to the priesthood. priest-hood. The Canadian half-breeds are a very interesting and promising race. Their history is a curious one. Long years ago the whites who dwelt in the great northwest were so far away from any. centre of civilization that they were practically cut off from the world. . For more than half a cen-ture cen-ture they had neither priest, nor school, nor church. Yet a large number num-ber of them were French Canadians who had been brought up as children in the practice of the Catholic faith. But, deprived of all religious aids, they too easily fell victims to the evil examples ex-amples of moral corruption around them, many of them contracted marriages mar-riages after the Indian fashion, i. e., by buying Indian girls for wives. The price did not appear very dear; a wife cost three dogs!' Not much according to our ideas, but quite a fortune in those times. Unfortunately divorce also was adopted and with no other legal form than the husband's caprice. Nay, these latter often resold their wives for a pipe or a. little tobacco. Still worse, they sometimes staked them at a game of cards or in making a bet. The un fortunate woman passed over at once into-the possession of the winner. Such were' the first parents of the Canadian half-breeds. They formed the nucleus of a race of mixed blood, differing in manners and customs but little from the Indian tribes around them., In the winter they hunted the buffalo; in the spring they fished along the great, rivers. riv-ers. The great. trading companies employed em-ployed them as trappers, but took no pains to teach them either the elements of reading or writing, or even those of agriculture. ;. Not till the Catholic missionaries came did real civilization begin to be introduced among them. Nowadays all Is changed. A visit to a typical mission mis-sion station, that, of St. Albert, not very far from Edmonton, in Alberta, one of the four districts of the Northwest North-west territories of Canada, (viz: As-siniboia, As-siniboia, Saskatechewan, Alberta and Athabasca), will indicate their amelioration. The mission contains 175 families, most of them with numerous children, for the half-breeds are a very prolific race. These form the majority major-ity of the population, but there ai also numerous .Irish, Scotch and French-Canadians. Three languages ! are in general use. English, French and Cree, but chiefly the latter. One of the priests is Fa-; Fa-; ther Cunningham, mentioned above, j Last year (1901) the number of first t communicants was sixty. The Gray Sisters have a large establishment, of I more than 153 persons nuns, novices, school children, Indian children, orphans, or-phans, besides old folks in a home and hospital patients; they have also a farm. The Gray Sisters began their labors thirty-three years ago. It was an edifying- spectacle to see them busy in agricultural works, driving bullock wagons and toiling like farm servants. Indeed, the Catholic missionaries have all along devoted themselves to teaching teach-ing the half-caste population agriculture. agricul-ture. Formerly these lived exclusively on the chase; but their land is very rich and the priests have taught them to profit by its riches. Thirty years ago the missionaries had only some thiry or forty acres to cultivate; but they had already sixty head of cattle cat-tle and as many horses. Oxen and horses were used for plowing and for draught. Milk was used for fond and for making butter. The lay brothers were of immense service, but it was not unusual to see a priest, sometimes even the bishop, ax in hand cutting-timber cutting-timber for a new building or driving the plow, reaping the corn and mowing I j the grass. These hard labors have f been awarded. A religious, honest and industrious population is rapidly being 1 formed. The mission itself is the cen- I ter of extensive farming operations. All around the residence of the bishop is a great farm, with numerous flocks and herds, and where, as our pictures c;how, the most modern farming appli ances are in use. The nuns also possess pos-sess a fine farm, which three years ago produced about seventy-two tons' weight of grain, including wheat and oats, whilst at the same time the mission mis-sion lands produced 114 tons of the same. There is a seminary in the mission whose chief object is the formation of a native clergy: Father Cunningham and Mr. Beaudry both began their studies in it, the former having completed com-pleted his art course at Ottawa university. uni-versity. At present the seminary contains con-tains pupils of all nationalities; two or three French-Canadians, a half-breed half-breed Iroquois Cree, an Irishman anil an Irish-Canadian, an Englishman and even a. Ruthenian. Hence the seminary has been called "a little Propaganda." Alberta was formed into a diocese (that of St. Albert) in 1ST1. Its bishop. Dr. Grandin. died in June of the present pres-ent year and was succeeded by his coadjutor, co-adjutor, the Rev. Emile Legal, consecrated conse-crated in 1S9T. It contains 30.000 Catholics, Cath-olics, just one-half of the entire population. popu-lation. We heartily wish the new bishop bish-op many years of happy and prosperous prosper-ous apostolate. Illustrated Catholic-Missions, Catholic-Missions, September, 1902. |