majestic sun in all its lustre and glory, spreading and reflecting its dazzling beams, high and deep, above and below the horizon. Eastwardly the ocean appeared as in a blaze and resembled a boundless mass of molten gold. Truly, grand and sublime is the sight of the rising sun at sea."
He once wrote to a young student friend of poetic talent who was about to pass by Niagara Falls: " Take a peep at the great Niagara Falls; look well at them. No matter how much your mind may have been dried up by the holy fathers, by theology and philosophy, your poetic turn will there revive and feel a new inspiration."
Reference has already been made to the personal appearance of Father De Smet; but it is well to add here that there was that about his bearing and physiognomy, growing out of his religious life, which added vastly to the favorable impression produced by his well-developed physique. Father De Smet was particularly noted for the dignity and suavity of his manner, and the Christian character of his countenance. " His face was a benediction," once said a distinguished Montana pioneer who knew him well;(3) and another pioneer,(4) who had traveled with him part way across the continent, characterized him as " genial, of fine presence, and one of the saintliest men I have ever known, and I cannot wonder that the Indians were made to believe him divinely protected. He was a man of great kindness and great affability under all circumstances; nothing seemed to disturb his temper."
Having now noted the general traits of Father De Smet's character as a man and priest, we shall notice some of the more prominent phases of his life-work.
(3) Colonel W. F. Sanders of Helena, Mont.
(4) John Bidwell in The Century for November, 1890