MISSIONARY 33

Little by little, as some progress was made in the
ways propounded by the priest, religious gatherings
became more frequent, and people had to think of
building churches. In spite of the accomplishments he
had acquired at college and elsewhere, our friend was
scarcely up to the task of putting up such edifices.
When, therefore, it became a question of providing
Anarhém’s people with such a commodity, he had to
resort to the services of a kind old priest who had
passed most of his life as a lay brother, consequent
on an accident which had, he imagined, disabled him
for the celebration of Mass.? Father Blanchet, such
was his name, laid the foundations, or ground pieces,
of the church for him, after which he returned to
William’s Lake Mission. All went well enough until
the shingling had to be tackled. Then nobody knew
how to do it until a little old man called Noolhteré, the
Wolverine, tired of hearing so many contradictory
opinions expressed, stood up and said with an air of
importance:

“Really, my brothers have not more intelligence
than my little finger. It goes without saying that the
shingling of a roof has to be commenced by the
top.’’ Then, as if modestly to cut short the compli-
ments that his find deserved: ‘‘You see, I have
travelled among the whites,’’ he said."

As this church could not be finished in time for
Christmas, the most poetic feast of the Christian
year, especially dear to the native heart, and also in
order to punish the people of a village who had shown
themselves remiss in complying with their pastor’s

® Father George Blanchet O.M.I., being as yet but a scholastic

brother, had had one of his fingers accidentally shot off as he was hunting
for ducks by the sea shore.

10 Au Pays del’Ours Noir, p. 32.