This association is doing a splendid
work, in that they are making the arts both honourable and profitable.
While this article has chiefly concerned itself with the domestic and
peaceful pursuits of our Canadian girls, it must not be forgotten that
in times of stress they have shown themselves to be heroines who have
always been equal to their occasions.
Our favourite heroine is, perhaps, Madeleine de Vercheres, who, in the
early days when the Indians were an ever-present menace to the settlers
on the St. Lawrence River, successfully defended her father's seignory
against a band of savage Iroquois.
Her father had left an old man of eighty, two soldiers, and Madeleine
and her two little brothers to guard the fort during his absence in
Quebec.
[Sidenote: A Girl Captain]
One day a host of Indians attacked them so suddenly they had hardly time
to barricade the windows and doors. The fight was so fierce the soldiers
considered it useless to continue it, but Madeleine ordered them to
their posts, and for a week, night and day, kept them there. She taught
her little brothers how to load and fire the guns so rapidly that the
Indians were deceived and thought the fort well garrisoned.
When a reinforcement came to her relief, it was a terribly exhausted
little girl that stepped out to welcome them at the head of the
defenders--Captain Madeleine Vercheres, aged fourteen!
Yes, we like to tell this story of Madeleine over and over.
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