112) THEISLAND ACADIANS

We have lectures regularly every Thursday at our Institute. | attract people with experiments in Chemistry and Physics which interest them enormously. Ferland’s L’Histoire du Canada also provides a useful collection of facts which interest them just as much and, by varying the topics, help train our school- masters. (TR)”?

Thanks to a very energetic leader, the Institut was able to under- take numerous projects. A library was founded and stocked with a wide variety of books and newspapers. There were classical works, scientific books, religious writings, etc., purchased by means of con- tributions from the members and gifts from Emperor Napoleon III. The latter were obtained with the help of the French historian, Edme Rameau de Saint Pére, who was referred to as “The Great Friend of the Acadians” (TR) and who corresponded regularly with Father Bel- court; he had his heart set on the advancement and welfare of the Acadians. These contributions from France enabled the Institut to accomplish other projects, as indicated in the following extract from a letter, dated August 3, 1863, which Father Belcourt wrote to Edme de Saint Pére:

I have not given an account of how the money given by His Majesty to the Institute has been spent, because I completely forgot about it. We purchased almost fifty volumes in Quebec for our library, along with a globe of the world, a globe of the heavens, plus an armillary sphere to complete the set. In addition, a musical instrument (harmonium), and part of the salary for a Canadian master hired to play the Church organ which | purchased last autumn, to teach music and to make a model school at the Institute in order to train schoolmasters. All these things were paid for with the money from the Em- peror’s gift and part of the members’ annual contributions. (TR)**

The Institut catholique de Rustico, which had two hundred and fifty members in 1867?°, contributed substantially to the economic, social and cultural growth of the community. In addition to the ac- tivities already mentioned, we should mention that the Farmers’ Bank of Rustico was also discussed at the meetings of the Institute** and that annual festivities were organized to celebrate its patron saint on Saint John the Baptist Day. The Institut catholique operated for a long time as a temperance society and then became a “Good Death Society” (TR) at the beginning of the twentieth century”’, but its most active years coincide with Father Belcourt’s stay in Rustico from 1860 to 1869.