CHAPTER X.
CHARACTER OF FATHER DE SMET.
Visit to Europe - Return in 1869 - Visit to the Sioux country in 1870 - Bodily ailments - Serious illness - Launching of the De Smet - Last sickness - Death and burial - Character sketch.
After Father De Smet's return from the upper country he sailed for Europe, leaving St. Louis on the 21st of November, 1868. He arrived at Termonde, his native place, about the middle of December and remained there the rest of the year. In the spring he visited the principal cities of Belgium, Holland, France and England, and sailed for America on the 21st of June, reaching St. Louis July 4th. That fall he visited Omaha, St. Mary's Mission and Chicago.
On June 1, 1870, he left St. Louis on his last voyage to the Indian country, going as far as the Grand River Agency. The particular purpose of this trip was to arrange for the establishment of a mission among the Sioux -an object which had long been dear to him but which he was never able to carry out. He returned to St. Louis early in August.
Owing to bodily indispositions Father De Smet remained quietly in St. Louis, except for a brief visit to Chicago, until June 25, 1871, when he left for Europe. His time while abroad on this last visit to his native land was spent much as his other visits had been, in touring the principal cities from which he could expect aid to the Indian missions. He left Europe April 11, 1872, and crossed the Atlantic for the last time, being his nineteenth voyage in the past fifty years. He remained in St. Louis the rest of the year.
The frequent use of the word "last" in describing