St. Joseph at my request, and that you received the commission from me by a Mr. Entoine. This is really some mistake. I have never given such a commission to anybody. In future don't believe reports of this kind. When I have any request to make, I shall make it by letter. Adieu! All sorts of good wishes from me to all your family, to all my friends and acquaintances, and to the Indians whom I had the pleasure of meeting on my last journey.
Your devoted Father and friend.
I hasten to reply to your good letter of the 6th from St. Joseph. I am really very sorry that I am unable again this spring to come among my good friends in the Sioux country; but I have so much business on my hands here, with nobody to take my place, that my superiors have put off my departure to the Indian country to some other time; when, I cannot say. There is nothing that I have more at heart, and I feel a great desire and plenty of courage to return to a post which I regret constantly, and to spend my days in laboring for the happiness and salvation of the Indians. But I dare not make any positive promises; it depends upon my superiors. I hope that before long they will be able to replace and release me.
I thank you very cordially for having so well discharged my commission, and for all that you have said to the Sioux. Dear Zephyr, continue still to give good advice and counsel to the savages and the good Lord will give you credit for it. Tell them from me that I often think of them; that I desire ardently to see them again; that I pray daily for their happiness; that they must take care not to offend the Great Spirit, who always takes pity on his good children, and who will send them Black-robes to instruct them in the word and the prayer which alone can make man happy on earth and happy for eternity in heaven.
You tell me, dear Zephyr, in your letter that you came to
My Very Dear SILVIE :3
I have just received your dear letter of the i 5th of July, and I hasten to reply to it. You announce to your Uncle Pierre one more consolation: he is so inclined to share the happiness of those who are happy, especially when it is a question of a little niece called Silvie. So then, praise be to the Good Lord for all that has been done. for I have a solid hope that it is his holy will that has been accomplished. I am glad, very glad, of your union with Mr. Edmond De Bare, and my only regret is that 1 was not there to bless you both, and to share with your dear parents and friends the joys of the occasion.
Since I now love my nephew, Mr. De Bare, as much as I love my niece Silvie, you must be careful to give him a faithful description of your uncle, so that if I should happen in on him in your absence, he could recognize me without ever having seen me. Uncle Pierre, tell him, is a man of medium size, with gray hair, tending to white. The centre of his wide face (a foot, or near it), is occupied by a nose with which a Greek or a Roman would not find much fault. Its nearest neighbor is a mouth of ordinary size, which hardly ever opens save to laugh or to make others laugh. It makes people love the Good Lord in that manner.
October, 1850
2 To Zephyr Rencontre, June 11, 1850.
s Extract from a letter in French to a niece.