LETTER XXX,
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRECIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
The Osages.-Third Letter of Father Bax.
BRUSSELS, January 25, 1857.
REVEREND FATHER
This letter is the last written by the Rev. Father Bax. I gave you an extract from it in my 22d Letter, when sketching the biography of that zealous missionary, who fell a victim to his devotedness in the malady, the ravages of which he here mentions:
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MISSION AMONG THE OSAGES, ST. FRANCIS
Hieronymo, April,18, 1852.
REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER:-I desired to write to you
much sooner, but we have been for some time, and are yet, in a terrible crisis. I have never witnessed alight like it; yet God's gracious will be clone!
About three weeks before the grand solemnity of Easter, forty-five children of our boarding-school fell sick, in an interval of three days and a half. At first, we could not discern the nature of the malady. It commenced by a heavy cold, attended with a burning fever. After four or five days, the measles broke out. At first the alarm was not very great, but the measles disappeared and was replaced by a putrid fever. On Passion Sunday, the saddest of my life, we had two corpses laid out, and about twelve of our children in danger of death. Eleven of our scholars fell victims in a `short time, and two will perhaps speedily follow them. We are obliged to interrupt the school for some time, until this terrible visitation be passed. The contagion is spreading among the Indians, and the mortality is very great. It will be difficult to collect again the scattered flock. However, I may say, that never hitherto, either among people of color or whites, either among persons of the world or religious, have I been witness to so much piety and fervor on the bed of death, as were exhibited by our young neophytes. They may serve as models. Some, prompted by their own piety, asked to hold the crucifix in their hands, and pressed it fervently to them, without being willing to yield it, during more than two hours. They wished the statue of the Blessed Virgin to be placed near the pillows of their beds. They implored the assistance of their holy Mother, and fixed their dying eyes on her image. I firmly hope and believe that they already enjoy the presence of God.
The Lord seems to be willing to gather into his garner the little that we have sowed here below. What may be the designs of Providence for the future, we cannot and dare not conjecture. We have lost several of our best scholars, and of those on whom we had founded our greatest expectations.
Reverend and dear father,
Your very devoted servant
and brother in Jesus Christ,
J. J. BAX, S. J.