Page 209 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961

a smaller mat, covering an aperture left in the sidc for that
purpose. Light mas admitted from the top of thc structure,
thrilugh an opening which served as well to emit thc smoke
from the fire, which was made directly in the centre of the
habitation. These wigwams mere sometimes occupied by
families of the half-blood Canadians and Indians, sometimes
by the natives.
The inhabitants of the scttlement, exclusive of the native
Indians, were mostly Canadian French, and those of inixed
blood. Therc were, in 1824, at Green Bay, but six or eight
resident American families, and the families of tl~e officers
stationed at Port EIoward, in number about the same. The
character of thc people was a compound of civilization and
primitive simplicity-exhibiting the polite and lively char-
acteristics of the French and the thoughtlessness and improvi-
dence of the Aborigines. Possessing the virtues of hospi-
tality and thc warmth of heart unknown to residents of cities,
untrsmmelled by the etiquette and conventional rules of' modern
"high life," they were cver ready to receive and entertain their
friends, and more intent upon the enjoyment of the present
than to lay up store or make provision for tho future. With
few wants, and contented and happy hearts, thcy found enjoy-
ment in the merry dance, the sleigh-ride, and thc exciting horse
race, and doubtless experienced more true happiness n11d con-
tentment than the plodding, calculating and moncy-seeking
people of the present day. This was the character of the
settlers who occupied this country before thc arrival of the
Yankees-a class now entirely extinct or lost sight of by the
prescnt population; but it is one which unites the present with
the past, and for whom the "old settlers" entertain feelings of
veneration and rcspcct. They descrve to bc remembered and
pbced on the pages of history as the first real pioneers of
Wisconsin. Several of these persons have left descendants
who still survive them; and the names of LAWE, GRIBBON,
JUNEAU, PORLIER, and others of that class, will survive and
serve as memorials of the old race of settlers, long after the