a great fraud. After that, as Champlain himself expressed it, “We left him to the mercy of God.”
At last, Sieur de Champlain brought his young wife to Canada. Her brother, who had been a settler on the St. Lawrence for years, exclaimed when he met her, “You are a brave girl to come here!” The Indians, always glad to welcome the great white chief, were now doubly glad to see his young “squaw”! They greatly admired “the little white witch,” as they called her, and would have worshiped her if she had let them. She wore a small mirror—the fashion in Paris then—as a sort of charm. When she allowed the Indians to see their painted faces in this, they said, “She carries each one of us in her heart!” She used her good influence over her dusky admirers to persuade them to be baptized. Of a very devout spirit, Madame de Champlain returned to France after a short stay in the western wilds, and entered a convent in Paris.
Once more England and France were at war, and King Charles the First looked with jealous eyes upon the fair islands and settlements of the St. Lawrence. English warships appeared before Quebec, claimed possession, and threatened to take that place. “The White Governor” wrote back, with French courtesy, to the impudent enemy:
“We will await you from hour to hour and shall endeavor if possible to dispute the claim which you have made over these places. Upon which I remain, Sir, your affectionate servant,”
The English commander did not dare dispute the claim then, but he came again with a powerful force and “the White Governor” was forced to yield and go back to France. But at the end of the war, England returned Canada to France, and the Father of New France came again to Quebec, his capital, amid the rejoicings of all the people, both French and Indians, and even of “our friends our enemies,” the English. Here he lived like another French knight, “without fear and without reproach,” until he received the call of the King of kings in the Far Country, on Christmas Day, 1635.
MYLES STANDISH, THE BRAVE LITTLE CAPTAIN OF PLYMOUTH
LITTLE is known of the life of Myles Standish before he sailed from Holland among the hundred and two passengers of the Mayflower on its way across the stormy ocean to the wilderness of America. The brave men and women who had been driven out of England, on account of their religion, by foolish King James, had made their escape to Holland. Although the Dutch who lived in that country were very kind to them, the English people decided to go to America where they could live and worship as they wished and teach their children their own language and ways of living; for, though their king was silly and mean, they still loved dear Old England.
The Mayflower was a poor, clumsy, leaky craft about the size of a coastwise schooner, which would not be allowed to risk a voyage across the ocean to-day. The Pilgrims, as the Mayflower passengers were called, did not know just where to land. The part of America to which they had chosen to go was called Virginia, but that was the name of the country all along the eastern coast, from the South nearly to New York harbor, which had been claimed by the Dutch only a few years before. The Pilgrims had a vague idea of landing about halfway between New York and Jamestown, which had been settled some years before by John Smith and a company of men from England. But storm after storm drove the Mayflower farther and farther northward, till the Pilgrims found themselves just within the long, protecting arm of land called Cape Cod.
They were very tired of being huddled together and pitched about in the little ship. Many of them were ill from the close quarters, as well as from terrible seasickness. During the long voyage they had had nothing but mouldy bread and salt pork to eat, for there were no canned meats, vegetables, and fruits in the fall of 1620, when the Pilgrims made their long voyage across the sea.