Thy feet have found the path that Shakespeare found,
Life's lonely exit of such far renown;
For thee, 0 dear interpreter of dreams,
The curtain hath rung down.

October, 1905.




JEAN DE BREBOEUF

Jean de Breboeuf, a priest of the Jesuit Order, came to Canada
as a missionary to the Indians about the year 1625. He belonged
to an old and honourable French family that had given many sons
to the army, and was a man of great physical strength, one who
possessed an iron will, that was yet combined with sweetness
and gentleness of temper.

He lived with the Indians for many years, and spoke the dialects
of different tribes, though his mission was chiefly to the Hurons.
By them he was much beloved.

At the time of the uprising of the Iroquois in 1649, there was a
massacre of the Hurons at the little mission village of St. Louis
upon the shores of Georgian Bay. There Jean de Breboeuf, refusing
to leave his people, met death by torture at the hands of the
conquering Iroquois. Lalement, his friend, a priest of the same
order, was also martyred by these Indians upon the same day,