Sister Bourgeois soon after her arrival, commenced her labor of Christian love. Ville-Marie then contained about fifty houses scattered here and there, with a fort for the garrison. A few colonists settled in the surrounding country, where they made successful attempts to cultivate the ground, and some converted savages erected cabins in the vicinity. These constituted the entire population of Montreal at that remote period, and our heroine visited each house daily, like the Apostles of old, to animate the people with a portion of her own zeal in the discharge of their religious duties. She was to be found everywhere that the good of her fellow-creatures required, either waiting on the sick, consoling the afflicted, instructing the ignorant, washing and mending--gratis--the clothing of the poor soldiers, preparing the dead for burial, or despoiling herself of necessaries in favor of the destitute, which was the routine of her daily life. And it might be truly said in the words of Scripture, that her days were full. We have already related that M. le Coq gave her a sleeping outfit, consisting of a mattress, palliasse, two comforters, and a pillow. Although the first winter she spent in Montreal was an unusually severe one, she never used these articles of comfort _herself_, but freely bestowed them on _others_. A poor soldier, badly frozen, hastened to tell her his misery; the mattress was instantly given to him. A comrade hearing of his good fortune, presented himself for relief; the palliasse became his property, the comforters being bestowed on a third, who was as wretchedly lodged as the others. There was as yet no applicant for the pillow, which was a useless article of furniture to her, as she slept on the bare ground, or a plank, resting her head upon straw, notwithstanding the inclemency of Canadian winters. Yet she felt amply rewarded for her privations, by being permitted to perform charitable offices for others. She was the common mother of the young colonists, being an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, consolation to the afflicted, a support to the weak and indigent, making herself like the Apostle, "all to all, in order to gain all to Christ." But her principal aim was the instruction of the little ones, and as she had no school-room to teach in, she followed them from house to house, instructing them in their religious duties, and inspiring them with devotion to the Immaculate Mother of God. While M. de Maisonneuve, her faithful fellow-laborer, struggled for the material prosperity of the colony, she endeavored to erect a spiritual empire in the hearts of the faithful. But as the population increased the extent of her foot-journeys covered a vast tract of country, and the number of children she instructed was greater than one teacher could attend to. Although her strength and courage never flagged, she evidently required assistance, which Almighty God provided in His own mysterious and adorable manner, as will soon be related.