Story Hour Readings: Seventh Year. E. C. Hartwell
his pupils came to 20
him in the church, where they had prayers and all joined
in singing hymns. Then the Christians in the village met
together to hear him say Mass—the women standing on
one side of the room, the men on the other.
The French women were dressed in prettily colored 25
jackets and short gowns of homemade woolen stuffs or of
French goods of finer texture. In summer most of them
were barefooted, but in winter and on holidays they wore
Indian moccasins gayly decorated with porcupine quills,
shells, and colored beads. Instead of hats they wore 30
bright-colored handkerchiefs, interlaced with gay ribbons
and sometimes wreathed with flowers.
The men wore long vests drawn over their shirts, leggings
of buckskin or of coarse woolen cloth, and wooden clog
shoes or moccasins of heavy leather. In winter they
wrapped themselves in long overcoats with capes and hoods
that could be drawn over their heads and thus serve for 5
hats. In summer their heads were covered with blue
handkerchiefs worn turbanlike as a protection from mosquitoes
as well as from the rays of the sun.
After the morning devotions were over, each person
betook himself to whatever business or amusement was 10
most necessary or congenial; and the priest went out to
visit the sick, giving them medicine and consoling them in
whatever way he could. In the afternoon those who chose
to do so came again to the church to be taught the catechism.
During the rest of the day the priest walked about 15
the village, talking with old and young and entering into
sympathy with all their hopes and plans. In the evening
the people would meet together again to chant the hymns
of the church. This daily round of duty and devotion
was often varied by the coming of holidays and festivals 20
and sometimes by occurrences of a sadder nature—death,
or misfortune, or the threatened invasion of savage foes.
—The Discovery of the Old Northwest.
1. Contrast the life of these French communities with the life of the Dutch settlers as described in pages 70–72. How did it differ from pioneer life in Ohio (pages 62–67)?
2. Why did the French communities not make progress? Why did the English colonists finally overcome them?
3. Longfellow's Evangeline describes French life in Nova Scotia. If you have read it, tell your classmates how Evangeline lived.
4. Find from your histories what parts of North America were settled by the French. What parts of it are still peopled largely by French?
A BEAR STORY
By Maurice Thompson
Not the least of the perils of the pioneers were the wild animals of the forest. Bears, wolves, and panthers were the worst terrors. Mothers were in constant fear of their children straying away from the cabin into the woods where four-footed danger lurked.
A man and his wife with three children—a boy aged nine
and two little girls, the elder seven and the younger
five years old—lived in a comfortable cabin not far from
the eastern line of Indiana. Their nearest neighbor was
six or seven miles distant, and all around their little clearing 5
stood a wall of dense forest. The father tended a small
field of corn and vegetables, but their main dependence for
food was upon the game killed by him, so he was often
absent all day in the woods, hunting deer and turkeys.
The children were forbidden to go outside the inclosure 10
while their father was away, and the mother, at the slightest
hint of danger, was instructed to close the door and bar it
and shut the portholes. But even in times of such danger,
people grew careless and permitted themselves to take
risks in a way quite incredible to our minds. Children 15
were restless when confined to a cabin or within a small
yard, when the green woods were but a few steps away,
with flowers blooming and rich mosses growing all around.
They constantly longed to be free, if only for a few moments,
to wander at will and make playhouses in the dusky shade,20
to climb upon the great logs and watch the gay-winged
birds flit about in the foliage on high.
One day in early spring the father went to the woods to
hunt. Before setting forth with his rifle on his shoulder,
he particularly charged his wife not to permit the children,
no matter how much they begged and cried for it, to go
outside the yard. 5
"At this time of the year," he said, "bears and all other
wild beasts are cross. They wander everywhere and are
very dangerous when met with. Watch the children."
The wife did try faithfully to keep her eyes upon her
darlings; but she had many household duties to perform, 10
and so at last she forgot.
The spring was very early that year, and although it
was not yet May, the green tassels were on the maples and
the wild flowers made the ground gay in places. All around
the clearing ran a ripple of bird song. The sunshine was 15
dreamy, the wind soft and warm.
The little boy felt the temptation. It was as if a sweet
voice called him to the wood. Nor were the little girls
less attracted than he by the thought of gathering mosses
and flowers and running at will under the high old trees.20
Before their mother knew it, they were gone. She had
not yet discovered their truancy when a cry coming from
some distance startled her; it was her little boy's voice
screaming lustily, and upon looking out she saw all three
of the children running as fast as they could across the 25
clearing from the wood toward the house. Behind them,
at a slow, peculiar lope, a huge bear followed.