cessantly for their spiritual and temporal welfare. His dignified and unselfish bearing won their hearts and his presence was a power among then.
The council broke up September 24th and the members of the commission started for the east. Father De Smet turned off from the main road on his way and visited the Mission of St. Mary's, in Kansas. He reached St. Louis on the 21st of October.
Upon his return home he found that his dear friend, Father Provincial Elet, had died. These two losses, Father Hoeken and Father Elet, were a great sorrow to him and, added to the failure of his plan of going among the Indians, made the year 185 1 one of gloom to the good missionary. Only a year later we find him ready to return to his native land to remain there, for it doubtless seemed to him that his long-cherished hopes were doomed to disappointment. There seems to have been some plan on foot to this end emanating from his superiors. He thus refers to it: "In so far as this plan regards me, I will speak openly to you. I have nothing whatever to do with their choice, nor with the adoption of the plan. I affirm, nevertheless, that I am ready to execute in all things the will of my superiors. I will even admit to you, that in my secret soul, and after mature reflection and much prayer, I desire that the plan should be accomplished, and for the sole reason that I would be glad to be able to spend the few years that remain to me, should the Lord grant me any, in the strict observance and practice of all our holy rules and in perfect submission to the orders of my superiors. I feel the need of it, after having passed so many years in these remote American missions."
But this plan, like the other, was never realized and Father De Smet continued to labor in his accustomed field. The subsequent events of his life show that, whatever his own regrets or disappointments, his adopted country was the gainer by the action of his superiors.