PAUL LE JEUNE.
Le Jeune's Voyage ? His First Pupils ? His Studies ? His Indian Teacher ? Winter at the Mission-House ? Le Jeune's School ? Reinforcements
In another narrative1, we have seen how the Jesuits, supplanting2 the Récollet friars, their predecessors3, had adopted as their own the rugged4 task of Christianizing New France. We have seen, too, how a descent of the English, or rather of Huguenots fighting under English colors, had overthrown5 for a time the miserable6 little colony, with the mission to which it was wedded7; and how Quebec was at length restored to France, and the broken thread of the Jesuit enterprise resumed. [1]
[1] "Pioneers of France."
It was then that Le Jeune had embarked8 for the New World. He was in his convent at Dieppe when he received the order to depart; and he set forth10 in haste for Havre, filled, he assures us, with inexpressible joy at the prospect11 of a living or a dying martyrdom. At Rouen he was joined by De Nou?, with a lay brother named Gilbert; and 15 the three sailed together on the eighteenth of April, 1632. The sea treated them roughly; Le Jeune was wretchedly sea-sick; and the ship nearly foundered12 in a gale13. At length they came in sight of "that miserable country," as the missionary14 calls the scene of his future labors16. It was in the harbor of Tadoussac that he first encountered the objects of his apostolic cares; for, as he sat in the ship's cabin with the master, it was suddenly invaded by ten or twelve Indians, whom he compares to a party of maskers at the Carnival17. Some had their cheeks painted black, their noses blue, and the rest of their faces red. Others were decorated with a broad band of black across the eyes; and others, again, with diverging18 rays of black, red, and blue on both cheeks. Their attire19 was no less uncouth20. Some of them wore shaggy bear-skins, reminding the priest of the pictures of St. John the Baptist.
After a vain attempt to save a number of Iroquois prisoners whom they were preparing to burn alive on shore, Le Jeune and his companions again set sail, and reached Quebec on the fifth of July. Having said mass, as already mentioned, under the roof of Madame Hébert and her delighted family, the Jesuits made their way to the two hovels built by their predecessors on the St. Charles, which had suffered woful dilapidation21 at the hands of the English. Here they made their abode22, and applied23 themselves, with such skill as they could command, to repair the shattered tenements24 and cultivate the waste meadows around.
16 The beginning of Le Jeune's missionary labors was neither imposing25 nor promising26. He describes himself seated with a small Indian boy on one side and a small negro on the other, the latter of whom had been left by the English as a gift to Madame Hébert. As neither of the three understood the language of the others, the pupils made little progress in spiritual knowledge. The missionaries27, it was clear, must learn Algonquin at any cost; and, to this end, Le Jeune resolved to visit the Indian encampments. Hearing that a band of Montagnais were fishing for eels28 on the St. Lawrence, between Cape29 Diamond and the cove30 which now bears the name of Wolfe, he set forth for the spot on a morning in October. As, with toil31 and trepidation32, he scrambled33 around the foot of the cape,—whose precipices34, with a chaos35 of loose rocks, thrust themselves at that day into the deep tidewater,—he dragged down upon himself the trunk of a fallen tree, which, in its descent, well nigh swept him into the river. The peril36 past, he presently reached his destination. Here, among the lodges38 of bark, were stretched innumerable strings39 of hide, from which hung to dry an incredible multitude of eels. A boy invited him into the lodge37 of a withered40 squaw, his grandmother, who hastened to offer him four smoked eels on a piece of birch bark, while other squaws of the household instructed him how to roast them on a forked stick over the embers. All shared the feast together, his entertainers using as napkins their own hair or that of their dogs; while Le Jeune, intent on 17 increasing his knowledge of Algonquin, maintained an active discourse41 of broken words and pantomime. [2]
[2] Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 2.
The lesson, however, was too laborious42, and of too little profit, to be often repeated, and the missionary sought anxiously for more stable instruction. To find such was not easy. The interpreters—Frenchmen, who, in the interest of the fur company, had spent years among the Indians—were averse43 to Jesuits, and refused their aid. There was one resource, however, of which Le Jeune would fain avail himself. An Indian, called Pierre by the French, had been carried to France by the Récollet friars, instructed, converted, and baptized. He had lately returned to Canada, where, to the scandal of the Jesuits, he had relapsed into his old ways, retaining of his French education little besides a few new vices44. He still haunted the fort at Quebec, lured45 by the hope of an occasional gift of wine or tobacco, but shunned46 the Jesuits, of whose rigid47 way of life he stood in horror. As he spoke48 good French and good Indian, he would have been invaluable49 to the embarrassed priests at the mission. Le Jeune invoked50 the aid of the Saints. The effect of his prayers soon appeared, he tells us, in a direct interposition of Providence52, which so disposed the heart of Pierre that he quarrelled with the French commandant, who thereupon closed the fort against him. He then repaired to his friends and relatives in the woods, but only to encounter a rebuff from a young squaw to whom 18 he made his addresses. On this, he turned his steps towards the mission-house, and, being unfitted by his French education for supporting himself by hunting, begged food and shelter from the priests. Le Jeune gratefully accepted him as a gift vouchsafed53 by Heaven to his prayers, persuaded a lackey54 at the fort to give him a cast-off suit of clothes, promised him maintenance, and installed him as his teacher.
Seated on wooden stools by the rough table in the refectory, the priest and the Indian pursued their studies. "How thankful I am," writes Le Jeune, "to those who gave me tobacco last year! At every difficulty I give my master a piece of it, to make him more attentive55." [3]
[3] Relation, 1633, 7. He continues: "Ie ne s?aurois assez rendre graces à Nostre Seigneur de cet heureux rencontre.… Que Dieu soit beny pour vn iamais, sa prouidence est adorable, et sa bonté n'a point de limites"
Meanwhile, winter closed in with a severity rare even in Canada. The St. Lawrence and the St. Charles were hard frozen; rivers, forests, and rocks were mantled56 alike in dazzling sheets of snow. The humble57 mission-house of Notre-Dame des Anges was half buried in the drifts, which, heaped up in front where a path had been dug through them, rose two feet above the low eaves. The priests, sitting at night before the blazing logs of their wide-throated chimney, heard the trees in the neighboring forest cracking with frost, with a sound like the report of a pistol. Le Jeune's ink froze, and his fingers were benumbed, as he toiled58 at his declensions and conjugations, 19 or translated the Pater Noster into blundering Algonquin. The water in the cask beside the fire froze nightly, and the ice was broken every morning with hatchets59. The blankets of the two priests were fringed with the icicles of their congealed60 breath, and the frost lay in a thick coating on the lozenge-shaped glass of their cells. [4]
[4] Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 14, 15.
By day, Le Jeune and his companion practised with snow-shoes, with all the mishaps61 which attend beginners,—the trippings, the falls, and headlong dives into the soft drifts, amid the laughter of the Indians. Their seclusion62 was by no means a solitude63. Bands of Montagnais, with their sledges64 and dogs, often passed the mission-house on their way to hunt the moose. They once invited De Nou? to go with them; and he, scarcely less eager than Le Jeune to learn their language, readily consented. In two or three weeks he appeared, sick, famished65, and half dead with exhaustion66. "Not ten priests in a hundred," writes Le Jeune to his Superior, "could bear this winter life with the savages68." But what of that? It was not for them to falter69. They were but instruments in the hands of God, to be used, broken, and thrown aside, if such should be His will. [5]
[5] "Voila, mon Reuerend Pere, vn eschantillon de ce qu'il faut souffrir courant apres les Sauuages.… Il faut prendre sa vie, et tout70 ce qu'on a, et le ietter à l'abandon, pour ainsi dire51, se contentant d'vne croix bien grosse et bien pesante pour toute richesse. Il est bien vray que Dieu ne se laisse point vaincre, et que plus on quitte, plus on trouue: plus on perd, plus on gaigne: mais Dieu se cache par9 fois, et alors le Calice est bien amer."—Le Jeune, Relation 1633, 19.
An Indian made Le Jeune a present of two small 20 children, greatly to the delight of the missionary, who at once set himself to teaching them to pray in Latin. As the season grew milder, the number of his scholars increased; for, when parties of Indians encamped in the neighborhood, he would take his stand at the door, and, like Xavier at Goa, ring a bell. At this, a score of children would gather around him; and he, leading them into the refectory, which served as his school-room, taught them to repeat after him the Pater, Ave, and Credo, expounded71 the mystery of the Trinity, showed them the sign of the cross, and made them repeat an Indian prayer, the joint72 composition of Pierre and himself; then followed the catechism, the lesson closing with singing the Pater Noster, translated by the missionary into Algonquin rhymes; and when all was over, he rewarded each of his pupils with a porringer of peas, to insure their attendance at his next bell-ringing. [6]
[6] "I'ay commencé à appeller quelques enfans auec vne petite clochette. La premiere fois i'en auois six, puis douze, puis quinze, puis vingt et davantage; ie leur fais dire le Pater, Aue, et Credo, etc. … Nous finissons par le Pater Noster, que i'ay composé quasi en rimes en leur langue, que ie leur fais chanter: et pour derniere conclusion, ie leur fais donner chacun vne escuellée de pois, qu'ils mangent de bon appetit," etc.—Le Jeune, Relation, 1633, 23.
It was the end of May, when the priests one morning heard the sound of cannon73 from the fort, and were gladdened by the tidings that Samuel de Champlain had arrived to resume command at Quebec, bringing with him four more Jesuits,—Brébeuf, Masse, Daniel, and Davost. [7] Brébeuf, 21 from the first, turned his eyes towards the distant land of the Hurons,—a field of labor15 full of peril, but rich in hope and promise. Le Jeune's duties as Superior restrained him from wanderings so remote. His apostleship must be limited, for a time, to the vagabond hordes74 of Algonquins, who roamed the forests of the lower St. Lawrence, and of whose language he had been so sedulous75 a student. His difficulties had of late been increased by the absence of Pierre, who had run off as Lent drew near, standing76 in dread77 of that season of fasting. Masse brought tidings of him from Tadoussac, whither he had gone, and where a party of English had given him liquor, destroying the last trace of Le Jeune's late exhortations78. "God forgive those," writes the Father, "who introduced heresy79 into this country! If this savage67, corrupted80 as he is by these miserable heretics, had any wit, he would be a great hindrance81 to the spread of the Faith. It is plain that he was given us, not for the good of his soul, but only that we might extract from him the principles of his language." [8]
[7] See "Pioneers of France."
[8] Relation, 1633, 29.
Pierre had two brothers. One, well known as a hunter, was named Mestigoit; the other was the most noted82 "medicine-man," or, as the Jesuits called him, sorcerer, in the tribe of the Montagnais. Like the rest of their people, they were accustomed to set out for their winter hunt in the autumn, after the close of their eel-fishery. Le Jeune, despite the experience of De Nou?, had long had a mind to accompany one of these roving bands, partly in the 22 hope, that, in some hour of distress83, he might touch their hearts, or, by a timely drop of baptismal water, dismiss some dying child to paradise, but chiefly with the object of mastering their language. Pierre had rejoined his brothers; and, as the hunting season drew near, they all begged the missionary to make one of their party,—not, as he thought, out of any love for him, but solely84 with a view to the provisions with which they doubted not he would be well supplied. Le Jeune, distrustful of the sorcerer, demurred85, but at length resolved to go.
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1
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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supplanting
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| 把…排挤掉，取代( supplant的现在分词 ) | |
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predecessors
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| n.前任( predecessor的名词复数 )；前辈；（被取代的）原有事物；前身 | |
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rugged
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| adj.高低不平的，粗糙的，粗壮的，强健的 | |
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overthrown
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| adj. 打翻的，推倒的，倾覆的 动词overthrow的过去分词 | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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wedded
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| adj.正式结婚的；渴望…的，执著于…的v.嫁，娶，（与…）结婚( wed的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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par
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| n.标准，票面价值，平均数量；adj.票面的，平常的，标准的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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foundered
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| v.创始人( founder的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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missionary
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| adj.教会的，传教(士)的；n.传教士 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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carnival
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| n.嘉年华会，狂欢，狂欢节，巡回表演 | |
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diverging
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| 分开( diverge的现在分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳 | |
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attire
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| v.穿衣，装扮[同]array；n.衣着；盛装 | |
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uncouth
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| adj.无教养的，粗鲁的 | |
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dilapidation
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| n.倒塌；毁坏 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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tenements
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| n.房屋，住户，租房子( tenement的名词复数 ) | |
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imposing
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| adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的 | |
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promising
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| adj.有希望的，有前途的 | |
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missionaries
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| n.传教士( missionary的名词复数 ) | |
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28
eels
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| abbr. 电子发射器定位系统（=electronic emitter location system） | |
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cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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cove
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| n.小海湾，小峡谷 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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trepidation
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| n.惊恐，惶恐 | |
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scrambled
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的过去式和过去分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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precipices
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| n.悬崖，峭壁( precipice的名词复数 ) | |
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chaos
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| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
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peril
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| n.(严重的)危险；危险的事物 | |
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lodge
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| v.临时住宿，寄宿，寄存，容纳；n.传达室，小旅馆 | |
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lodges
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| v.存放( lodge的第三人称单数 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属 | |
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strings
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| n.弦 | |
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withered
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| adj. 枯萎的，干瘪的，（人身体的部分器官）因病萎缩的或未发育良好的 动词wither的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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discourse
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| n.论文，演说；谈话；话语；vi.讲述，著述 | |
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42
laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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43
averse
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| adj.厌恶的；反对的，不乐意的 | |
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vices
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| 缺陷( vice的名词复数 )； 恶习； 不道德行为； 台钳 | |
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45
lured
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| 吸引，引诱（lure的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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46
shunned
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| v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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rigid
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| adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的 | |
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48
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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49
invaluable
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| adj.无价的，非常宝贵的，极为贵重的 | |
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50
invoked
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| v.援引( invoke的过去式和过去分词 )；行使（权利等）；祈求救助；恳求 | |
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51
dire
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| adj.可怕的，悲惨的，阴惨的，极端的 | |
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52
providence
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| n.深谋远虑，天道，天意；远见；节约；上帝 | |
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53
vouchsafed
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| v.给予，赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 )；允诺 | |
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54
lackey
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| n.侍从；跟班 | |
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attentive
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| adj.注意的，专心的；关心(别人)的，殷勤的 | |
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56
mantled
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| 披着斗篷的，覆盖着的 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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58
toiled
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的过去式和过去分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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59
hatchets
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| n.短柄小斧( hatchet的名词复数 )；恶毒攻击；诽谤；休战 | |
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60
congealed
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| v.使凝结，冻结( congeal的过去式和过去分词 )；（指血）凝结 | |
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61
mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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seclusion
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| n.隐遁，隔离 | |
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solitude
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| n. 孤独; 独居,荒僻之地,幽静的地方 | |
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64
sledges
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| n.雪橇，雪车( sledge的名词复数 )v.乘雪橇( sledge的第三人称单数 )；用雪橇运载 | |
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famished
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| adj.饥饿的 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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savage
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| adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人 | |
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savages
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| 未开化的人，野蛮人( savage的名词复数 ) | |
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69
falter
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| vi.(嗓音)颤抖，结巴地说；犹豫；蹒跚 | |
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70
tout
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| v.推销，招徕；兜售；吹捧，劝诱 | |
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expounded
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| 论述，详细讲解( expound的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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joint
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| adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合 | |
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73
cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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74
hordes
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| n.移动着的一大群( horde的名词复数 )；部落 | |
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sedulous
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| adj.勤勉的，努力的 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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78
exhortations
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| n.敦促( exhortation的名词复数 )；极力推荐；（正式的）演讲；（宗教仪式中的）劝诫 | |
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heresy
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| n.异端邪说；异教 | |
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80
corrupted
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| （使）败坏( corrupt的过去式和过去分词 )； （使）腐化； 引起（计算机文件等的）错误； 破坏 | |
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81
hindrance
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| n.妨碍，障碍 | |
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82
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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83
distress
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| n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛 | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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demurred
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| v.表示异议，反对( demur的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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