There are in human life certain marks of degradation which, at first sight, awaken the tender sentiments of a Christian heart; there are interior trials and sorrows which need to be related to excite charity toward those who suffer them. Such are, my dear Father, the troubles and suffer ings of the Indians. Deprived of civilized society, destitute of all the advantages of social life, ignorant of the very elements of individual duty, they are a prey to exterior deceptions, to interior illusions, and their days are counted by overwhelming evils and misfortunes as numerous as the hours which mark their duration. But when it pleases a wise Providence to permit that they be visited by other and extraordinary trials, as it happened to the Potawatomies, who lost their harvest, their ills are increased a hundredfold, and nothing but the consolations of the gospel are capable of ameliorating the hard lot of barbarism and the anguish of ignorance. May heaven deign to inspire a large number of worthy ministers of the Church with a zeal in conformity with the will of God, and inspire also a great number of Christians with that charity which covers a multitude of sins, in order that they may come to their aid amid the painful sufferings which they are at this moment undergoing.
My respects to all,
Reverend Father Provincial, Your most humble servant, CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J.
Fourth Letter.- To Reverend Father Elet.
Bellevue, December 23, 1850
Reverend and Very Dear Father Provincial:
I left Fort Vermilion on the third Sunday of Advent; I descended the Great Sioux as far as its confluence. There