6 LIFE-WORK

report of the Mission may be considered: “ The language of the Micmacs ”rust delay. If they are brought under the influence of instruction they will desire to learn English, and yet we do not ob- serve much progress made even in that. Among themselves they converse in their own language, and every eEort to make ourselves understood among them must be in a simple conversational style. They often cannot understand our generally uttered Saxon words, far less our theological phrases. Let the minister of the Gospel or Sabbath-school teacher who can, with but little difficulty, make him- self understood to the generality of our white population, endeavor to make even an ordinarily intelligent Indian acquainted with the doctrines of the atonement or substitution of Christ in the room of sinners, and faith in His work, and he will at once see the necessity for diligent efforts to acquire a knowlege of that peculiar language. We repeat, the language may be fast disappearing; but it has been by the exertions of your missionary, reduced to a grammar, and a dictionary of it is in course of construction: will men of science fail to acknowledge their obligation to your missionary’s efforts? To the antiquarian and philologist the cause in which we are engaged has claims. But, above all, it has been made the vehicle of conveying the story of the Cross to a portion of our fallen race.”

Dr. Rand’s work, when studying the language, was made less difficult by securing the assistance of Joe Brooks, an intelligent Frenchman, whose father was a sailor in the French navy, captured by the British during the last war, and brought with other prisoners to Halifax. When liberated, instead of returning to France he settled at Digby; and his son Joseph, led on by a spirit of adventure, went into the forest and made his home among the Micmacs, marry- ing one of their women. Following the Indian custom, he gave prominence to the meaning of his name, A’zzimeau, and gave it in English as Brooks. He had become thoroughly ”civilized” according to the Micmac standard, and, as he was an intelligent man, proved a great help to the busy minister who was so anxious to learn Mic— mac that he would ply him with questions by the hour, noting down most carefully every answer, until, instead of learning, he could teach.