The success of this method surpassed my expectation: for, having made the most intelligent repeat what I had said, I had the pleasure to see that they lost nothing of what was essential, and immediately I formed classes for repetition. The first repetition was made immediately after the instruction; the second in their lodges, the third by the chiefs in their harangues, and the fourth at the beginning of the next instruction.
The plan was insisted upon, and rapid progress made, not only in their instruction, but also in their morals. Those who exhorted joined to their exhortations the force of private example, so that the mass of the people seemed to be led on, by attraction.
From the 9th of September to the time in which I write—a period of six months—not one single fault, which can be called serious, so far as my knowledge extends, has been committed in the village of the Sacred Heart of Jesus; and a great many, who reproached themselves {282} with light failings, cease not to make public confession in terms of grief, which it would be desirable to see the greater culprits exhibit at the tribunal of penance. I have seen husbands come after their wives, and mothers after their daughters, not to excuse the accusations which they had made, but to acknowledge that their want of patience and humility were the cause of the failings of the others.
It is worthy of remark that [of] all the adults, who had not yet received baptism, and all who united to prepare for their first communion, not one was judged unworthy to receive the sacraments. Their simplicity, piety, charity, and especially their faith, were admirable. And truly all these virtues were necessary for these good old men, who, for the sake of learning their prayers, had to become the scholars of their children, and for the children to enable
