earnest attention paid by them to my accounts, and the prayers they promised me for my poor Indians; that beautiful hymn in honor of St. Francis Xavier, the patron of missionaries; the happiness of the little village children, gathered in the day-school, where their hearts learn to love God and serve him by labor; the respectful deference of all the sisters, and of your worthy director.
I thank you, then, Reverend Mother, for this welcome; and, in the name of the Indians, I thank you especially for the alms which the convent has confided to me for them, and the vestments which you prepare. The Indians pray for their benefactors; they will pray especially for the Servants of Mary, and for their young pupils, as soon as I tell them all.
As an anticipated testimony of their gratitude, and that the remembrance of this day may abide, your community ever prosper more and more, your young ladies, when they come forth from that house of the Lord, preserve preciously the inappreciable gift of piety and the pure lustre of all virtue, I propose to give to the first little Indian girls that I baptize after my return, the Christian names of the religious and pupils whom I saw assembled, that they may pray for their benefactresses. Please to prepare a list, and send it to Father Terwecoren, who is collecting all that is offered for the mission.
I add to this letter a copy of the tributes of admiration paid to the Flatheads, as well as the Pater and Ave in Osage. It is a little souvenir for the Academy of ErpsQuerbs.
I. Tribute of admiration rendered to the Flatheads, by an officer o f the United States army, sent with Governor Stevens to explore St. Mary's valley. These lines are drawn from a report recently issued by order of Government. Explorations, etc., from the Mississippi to the Pacific ocean, p. 3o8. Lieutenant Mullan says
" When I arrived at the camp with my guide, three or four men came out to meet us, and we were invited to enter