assistant teacher; for she was then instructing the government school in that place.
I visited her, and found her willing, and I engaged at once as her assistant.The government society paid her 20l ✝. a-year: she was obliged to teach ten children gratuitously; might have fifteen pence a month, (about a quarter of a dollar,) for each of ten scholars more; and then she was at liberty, according to the regulations, to demand as much as she pleased for the other pupils. The course of instruction, as required by the society, embraced only reading, writing, and what was called ciphering ✝, though I think improperly. The only books used were a spelling-book, l'instruction de la jeunesse✝, the Catholic New Testament, and l'histoire de Canada. When these had been read through, in regular succession, the children were dismissed as having completed their education. No difficulty is found in making the common French Canadians content with such an amount of instruction as this; on the contrary, it is often very hard indeed to prevail upon them to send their children at all, for they say it takes too much of the love of God from them to send them to school. The teacher strictly complied with the requisitions of the society in whose employment she was, and the Roman Catholic catechism was regularly taught in the school, as much from choice as from submission to authority, as she was a strict Catholic. I had brought with me the little bag I
