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In a very brief period of time however there must have been a considerable increase in the teaching force of the convent and in consequent results upon culture, for every encouragement seems to have been given the sisterhood.*

From the beginning the Ursulines were treated with the greatest kindness by the mother country and the colonists, and their wants most liberally supplied In 1740 they figure in the budget of the colony for 12,000 livres for the support of twelve religious and their orphans. Most of the ladies of the colony were educated at the Ursuline convent (few went to Europe to be educated after its establishment), and their domestic virtues have won the warmest encomiums. As daughters, wives, and mothers the Creoles did honor to their rearing. Their sweetness, modesty, grace, and industry were appreciated by the strangers who came hither to govern their country and had seen all of grace and beauty that Europe could show. To these matrons of Gallic blood the modesty and charm of maidenhood seemed to cling; and their daughters were not unworthy of such mothers. Most of the governors who came to the colony bore off Creole brides. The astute Unzaga and the brilliant Galvez married the Maxent sisters; Governor Chiro a Macarthy, daughter of Count Macarthy, who had made his home in Louisiana; Governor Gayoso followed their example

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One of the above ladies, the Countess Galvez, fulfilled a brilliant destiny as vice-queen of Mexico. Thus, a long list of the most distinguished men of the colony sought their brides among the pupils of the Ursulines. Nor were they less assiduous in training girls of humbler rank, who crowded their day schools; while their evenings and Sundays were devoted to the instruction of Indian and negro women and girls, and the care of the sick occupied some of these zealous religious every day in the neighboring hospital.

We have seen above the strictures of Bishop Peñalvert on the antipathy shown by the Ursulines to the Spanish domination, an antipathy that made them raise objections to the reception of Spanish novices and to the performance of religious exercises in the Spanish language. In consequence, doubtless, of the bishop's representations, the Ursulines did receive several postulants from Cuba in order to offer Spanish courses. Later the opposition to Spain must have been lessened, for when the colony was transferred back to France in 1803 sixteen out of twenty-five sisters withdrew from the country. The France of the revolution and republic was, to be sure, a very different country, in a religious point of view, from the France of His Most Catholic Majesty.

The writer of the monograph so frequently cited thus comments on the state of education in the convent at the time of the cession of Louisiana to the United States.

At all times the wealthier Louisianans sent their sons to Europe to be educated, or, at least, finished. Hence, though the higher studies were taught, there was no regular university in New Orleans. The Ursuline schools always maintained a high degree of excellence. I do not know that the Boston, New York, or Philadelphia of those days was nearly so well provided with educational facilities as New Orleans while under the sway of France and Spain. Indeed, in sending out + Ibid, p. 21.

The Ursulines in Louisiana, p. 18.

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teachers, these countries gave the colony of their best. I have read with delight the letters of the first mother superior of the Ursulines, and those of her young disciple, Madeleine Hachard, and can testify that these ladies wrote their native language with a grace and elegance which few of the "teachers" who expatiate on the benighted" times of old can equal. And I desire no better evidence of the scholarship of the first teachers that enlightened the youth of Louisiana, and ameliorated the lot of the savage and the slave, by teaching them of a heaven prepared for them, of a Father who loves them, of a Savior who redeemed themrescuing them from the bondage of Satan, and imparting to them, for Christ's sake, that blessed freedom wherewith He hath made them free!

If the Ursulines had been alarmed at the transfer from Spain to France, that alarm was increased when, in a few weeks, the United States took possession by purchase. The number of Ursulines was now 11 and they had 170 boarding pupils. Their former bishop had to be given up for the bishop of the diocese of Baltimore, Right. Rev. John Carroll. The mother superior, Mary Theresa Farjon, under these circumstances wrote to Bishop Carroll. He laid her petition before the Secretary of State, James Madison, who made the following reply:

I have had the honor to lay before the President your letter of the 14th of December, who views with pleasure the public benefit resulting from the benevolent endeavors of the respectable persons in whose behalf it is written. Be assured that no opportunity will be neglected of manifesting the real interest he takes in promoting the means of affording to the youth of this new portion of the American dominion a pious and useful education, and of evincing the grateful sentiments due to those of all religious persuasions who so landably devote themselves in its diffusion. It was under the influence of such feelings that Governor Claiborne had already assured the ladies of this monastery of the entire protection which will be afforded them after the recent change of government.

I have the honor to be, with very great respect, etc.,

JAMES MADISON.

A short time afterwards communication was made directly with the President, Mr. Jefferson, who wrote a reassuring reply.

The Ursulines were also destined to suffer disquietude in the war of 1812. Their convent was in plain sight of the battle ground when Jackson inflicted the great defeat on the British. Their prayers and supplications were made before and during the battle, and there a glad Te Deum was sung in honor of the victory.

THE PRESENT HOME OF THE URSULINES.

It was the fortune of the Ursulines to make one more removal:

In 1824, the Ursulines, after having occupied this venerable mansion for ninety years, removed to a spacious monastery, 300 feet front, with wings in the rear, on a salubrious site, nearly 3 miles south of their ancient habitation. The river breezes temper the wind in the most sultry weather, the nuns' apartments are on the model of the old home, the class rooms are airy and elegant, and the groves and gardens, which were once waving marshes of wild oats and swamp grass, with broad stretches of willow jungle, are well-kept and beautiful. Other laborers having come into the vineyard, the Ursuline ladies have long since given up their attendance on the sick, in order to turn all their efforts to the chief end for which 1155-No. 1--9

their order was instituted, viz, the education of youth. Now, as in olden times, their schools continue to bear a high literary reputation, and among other advantages they possess that of teaching French and English, not only by theory, but by practice, the pupils being required to converse daily in both languages.

EQUIPMENT.

"The Ursulines in Louisiana" does not carry its description further than 1824. The clippings given below from a catalogue will give the reader all the information of general interest respecting the equipment of the school:

The main building and each of the two wings in rear are laid off into three stories, two of which are surrounded by broad galleries, where the pupils can take outdoor exercise when the weather does not permit of their recreating themselves in the playgrounds or in the park. The lawn is bordered with beautiful crape myrtle and the park is shaded by majestic pecan trees over a century old. In front of the main building is a flower garden, and further on to the right and left is an orange grove. A variety of other fruit and shade trees are also on the grounds.

The various apartments are spacious, well-ventilated, and commodious, and great attention is paid to the rules of hygiene. It is a fact worthy of note that even during the terrible epidemic of 1878 there was not a single case of yellow fever within the inclosure.

A suite of bathing rooms, twenty-five in number, is attached to the establishment, hence the children have the advantage of enjoying a refreshing bath several times a week during the bathing season. Each room is private, and is furnished with an abundant supply of hot and cold water.

COURSE OF STUDIES.

Besides Christian doctrine, to which particular attention is paid, the programme of studies embraces French and English grammar, rhetoric, literature, logic, ancient and modern history, geography, astronomy, arithmetic, and the higher branches of mathematics, bookkeeping, botany, geology, physiology, and chemistry. Lessons in penmanship, reading, and elocution are daily given.

The academy possesses a library containing over 4,000 volumes, philosophical and chemical apparatus, a telescope, a large assortment of the most improved globes and maps, and a fine collection of minerals, etc.

Courses in music, drawing, and painting are of course given, as in all finishing schools.

The young ladies educated in this institution are early impressed with the necessity and advantages of acquiring refined and amiable manners, as well as habits of industry, order, and neatness; and, for the purpose of exciting emulation, a medal is awarded at the close of the scholastic year to such as have distinguished themselves for general excellency in deportment. They are always under the superintendence of the sisters, whose maternal vigilance helps to secure the preservation of morals and a strict observance of the school regulations. Twelve sisters have their sleeping apartments in the boarders dormitory, so that, even at night, the children are never left alone.

The ideal of education that obtains with the Ursulines is not that of Vassar or Wellesley, but who shall say that the one should be exclusive of the other?

ACADEMY OF THE SACRED HEART, ST. JAMES PARISH, LOUISIANA. (The superior of this institution has kindly furnished the following sketch for the History of Education in Louisiana):

ACADEMIES OF THE SACRED HEART.

The educational institution known under the title, "Order of the Sacred Heart," which sprang up in France at the close of the Revolution, was introduced into this country in the early years of the present century by a truly apostolic woman, Philippine Duchesne, a woman endowed with the resistless energy of character traditional in her family, and which rendered the name one of historic note during the Reign of Terror. Madame Duchesne sailed from Bordeaux on the 19th of March, 1818, accompanied by four companions, one of whom, Eugenie Andé, had been a brilliant and flattered member of the imperial court, which she deserted in the bloom of youth to devote herself to the service of God in the shadow of the sanctuary. It was only after a voyage of two months and a half that, on the 29th of May, the heroic band reached New Orleans, where the first act of the enthusiastic foundress was to kneel and kiss the land she had come to evangelize. Going northward to Missouri, then known as Upper Louisiana, she opened her first school in the city of St. Louis, and it was not till 1821, on receiving reinforcements from France, that she returned to Louisiana proper and established at Grand Couteau an educational institution on property presented by a rich and pious lady, the widow of Mr. Charles Smith. Four years later, in 1825, she laid the foundation of the present flourishing and widely known institution in the parish of St. James known as the Convent of St. Michaels.

Establishments in Natchitoches and Baton Rouge were founded respectively in 1847 and 1851, while the schools of the order were spreading rapidly in the Northern and Eastern States.

These ladies of rare refinement and high intellectual culture did not confine their care to the privileged classes who thronged to their schools eager to profit by the advantages presented; they had crossed the ocean to seek and save the children of the wilderness, and they lavished their apostolic labors equally on the negroes and the Indians, with whom they disdained not to dwell among the wilds of the forest and prairie.

Recently a second school has been established in the city of New Orleans, and the success attained in all these academies proves them worthy of the renown which attends the order throughout Europe, where it holds the first rank as an educational institution.

The writer of "Une Paroisse Louisianaise" thus describes the graduates of the Sacred Heart:

Un instant j'ai eu la pensée de placer ici les noms des élèves graduées, sorties des mains de ces religieuses du Cœur-Sacré de Jésus; mais comment inscrire près de

2,600 noms! Deux mille six cents élèves? Voilà un petit chiffre des plus respectables et je vois d'ici la mine effarée du prote chargé de les aligner. Evitons-lui cet ennui et tournons la difficulté. D'ailleurs, il n'est pas bon de livrer aux vents meurtriers de la publicité ces vierges timides, aimant le silence et s'epanouissant sous le sourire paternel. Disons donc ceci: partout ou vous voyez une mère de famille, simple, bonne, active et pieuse, saluez-la; c'était une fleur qui autrefois habita les parois du Sacré-Cœur et reçut la rosée du ciel; partout où vous rencontrerez un front chastement voilé, une jeune fille au maintien modeste, à la démarche sans apprêt, gardienne du foyer, assidue à la maison de Dieu, inclinez vous encore; c'est une fleur du Sacré-Coeur. Vous pourrez-vous tromper peut-être; dans ce cas, votre méprise sera tout à l'honneur de l'établissement, qui aura si exactement enseigné la pratique de la devise de la Société des Dames du Sacré-Cœur: Apprenez de moi que je suis doux et humble de coeur,

SILLIMAN FEMALE COLLEGIATE INSTITUTE.

THE ENDOWMENT.

This institution began its existence as a joint stock company, chartered by the State of Louisiana in 1852. In November, 1856, Mr. William Silliman donated to the Presbytery of Louisiana 102 shares (being a majority of the stock), valued at $5,000. At this time the institute was presided over by Rev. H. Mosely. The interests of the presbytery continued as such until 1866, when the institution, becoming embarassed under the joint management, was sold, and the entire interest, valued at $10,000, purchased by William Silliman, and by him donated to the presbytery in 1866.

In October of the same year Mr. Silliman made a supplemental donation of $20,000 to constitute an endowment, the interest only to be used for female education under the direction of the presbytery's local board of trustees.

By the will of Mr. David Pipes $500 was left as a fund toward building a concert hall for the institution. The sums thus donated, together with the Dickinson fund,* amount to over $35,000.

MANAGEMENT.

The interests of the institution are managed by a local board appointed every two years by the presbytery, said board reporting its actions and expenditures through the board of trustees to the presbytery annually. The institution has been successively presided over by Rev. A. G. Payne, Rev. James Stratton, Mr. Edwin H. Fay, A. M., Mrs. E. H. Fay, and Mr. George J. Ramsey, the present incumbent. The influence of this institution for good has been great. Its benefits reach out along the line of every denomination; for, though the exclusive ownership of the property belongs to the presbytery, it has been conducted in the spirit and design of its donor, to offer edu

*This fund was quite recently transferred by the presbytery from a moribund institution founded by Mrs. A. M. Dickinson in the town of Plaquemine.

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