“The poor trembling priest, thunderstruck, could not say a word.
“He went to some friends to relate what had just happened him; and he was advised by them to go back to the bishop immediately to beg the privilege of remaining at the head of his congregation till Lent was over. The bishop said:
“‘I will consent to your request, if you pay me one hundred dollars.’
“‘I will give you the sum as soon as I can collect it, and will give you my note for thirty days,’ answered the priest.
“‘I want the money cash down,’ said the bishop; ‘go to some of your friends; you can easily collect that amount.’
“The poor priest went away in search of the almighty dollars; but he could not find them as soon as he wished, and did not return to his lordship, that day. The bishop started that night for St. Louis, but he did not forget his dear French people in his long journey. As soon as he arrived in St. Louis, he wrote to his grand vicar, Rev. Mr. Dunn, that the French priest pay him $100 or remain suspended.
“This goodwill of the bishop for our spiritual welfare, and his paternal love for our purses, did not fail to strike us. Our priest made a new effort that very day; he went to see an old friend who had been absent from town for some time, and related to him his sad position. This old friend (P. F. Rofinot) seeing that he could redeem a priest for so little a sum, (for the priest had collected part of it himself) immediately proceeded with the priest to the house of very Reverend Dunn, with the money in hand to satisfy the bishop.
“But alas! that bargain did not last very long; for as soon as the bishop returned, the watch that he had left behind him performed his duty well and told him that the French priest was going on as before. So the poor priest had to go again to the bishop to explain his conduct. But this time he could not bear the idea of officiating any longer under such a tyrant. He left us to fight the hardest battles ourselves, against the bishop.
“As the church and the house of our priest were on leased grounds, the lease had to be renewed or the buildings removed. We went to the bishop, who advised us to buy a lot and remove the church on it, and sell the house to help pay for the lot. Suspecting nothing wrong in that advice, we followed it. We bargained for a lot, agreed to sell the house and went to report our progress.
“But we were going too fast. The bishop must stop us, or he would be frustrated in his calculations, for he had a lot himself, to put the church on, he opposed our removing our church, by telling us that there was another lot adjoining the one we had bargained for; and that we must buy it also. We went immediately and bought the lot on ninety days time. But he objected to this again, saying that he would not allow us to touch the church, unless we had the whole lot paid for, and put the deed in his hands, and that the deed should be made to himself personally.