Note 13 — Chapter IV

It was no doubt in large measure due to the extraordinary physical vitality of the French race in Canada that so strong a tendency was manifested towards this reversion, which of course was facilitated by the general condition of life in a country that was little else than forest. "L'école buissonnière" was at every one's door, and the men of the colony were not alone in feeling the call of the wild. Mère Marie de l'Incarnation, in her Lettres Spirituelles says: "Sans l'éducation que nous donnons aux filles françaises qui sont un peu grandes, durant l'espace de six mois environ, elles seraient des brutes pires que les sauvages; c'est pourquoi on nous les donne presque toutes, les unes après les autres." See Ferland's Cours d'Histoire du Canada, vol. ii. p. 85, who quotes this passage without any reference to page. Passages of similar purport may, however, be found on pp. 231 and 258 of the first edition (1681) of the Lettres Spirituelles.