First Century After the Expulsion 85 
     
    
   
   
    
     October 1812, shortly after his arrival on the Island: 
     
    
   
   
    
     Another thing is the baptism of sound children which your Lordship forbids; 
     
     everybody protests. The women say they cannot live like that, knowing a child 
     
     might die unnoticed. As for me, | shall do as your Lordship orders. But if a 
     
     child were to die like that, I think 1 would grieve for the rest of my life. (TR)'?” 
     
    
   
   
    
     The extreme poverty of the people was another problem that 
     
     had to be taken into consideration by the missionaries. The situation 
     
     was such in Rustico that in 1818 the parishioners were not even able 
     
     to take care of the sanctuary lamp, therefore they could not keep the 
     
     Blessed Sacrament in the church permanently'’*. Given these eco- 
     
     nomic circumstances, parochial organization proved to be difficult. 
     
     The construction of churches, the tithes, and the sale of pews gave 
     
     rise to serious problems for parishioners and missionaries alike. 
     
    
   
   
    
     EDUCATION OF THE ISLAND ACADIANS 
     
    
   
   
    
     The Acadians on Prince Edward Island did not receive any formal 
     
     education until the beginning of the nineteenth century. There do 
     
     not appear to have been any educational institutions on the Island 
     
     during the French regime. Some settlers could read and write, but 
     
     most of the farmers and fishermen were illiterate’*??— not an unusual 
     
     phenomenon for the period, since the peasantry in both Europe and 
     
     the colonies in America had little education. 
     
    

    
     In the fifty years that followed the deportation, the members of 
     
     the clergy were about the only people to attend to the education of 
     
     the Acadians on the Island. Despite the fact that the early priests had 
     
     a very heavy load and visited communities sporadically, they taught 
     
     the fundamentals and concentrated on religious education. The first 
     
     attempt to establish a school for the Island Acadians failed. Indeed, 
     
     Father de Calonne put forward a proposal to the government for a 
     
     French school in Charlottetown in 1799. But his project did not 
     
     receive the approval of the British authorities in London who con- 
     
     tinued to adhere to their policy of allowing the French language to 
     
     die out gradually in their colonies’®. 
     
    

    
     The first truly Acadian school was opened around 1815 in Rustico, 
     
     thanks to the initiative of a young missionary from Quebec, Father