During this period the Ursulines had on an average from twenty to thirty resident pupils.  The French girls were supposed to pay one hundred and twenty livres.  Indian girls paid nothing.  The Ursuline sisters and Mother Mary, their head, did a noble work for Canada; the same must be said of the venerable Mother Marguerite Bourgeoys and the ladies of the Congregation of Notre-Dame founded in 1659 at Montreal.  At first this school was open to both boys and girls.  But in 1668 M. Souart, a Sulpician, took the boys under his care, and thenceforth the education of the male portion of the youth of Ville-Marie was in the hands of the priests of Saint-Sulpice.  At this time the Sulpicians of Montreal were receiving welcome accessions to their number; the Abbes Trouve and de Fenelon arrived in 1667, and the Abbes Queylus, d’Allet, de Galinee, and d’Urfe in 1668.  In the latter year Fenelon and Trouve were authorized by Laval to establish a new missionary station. for a tribe of Cayugas as far west as the bay of Quinte on the north shore of Lake Ontario.  The progress of mission work was now most encouraging.  Peace prevailed and the Iroquois country was open to the heralds of the Gospel.  Fathers Fremin and Pierron were living among the Mohawks; Father Bruyas with the Oneidas.  In 1668 Father Fremin was sent to the Senecas, Father Milet to the Onondagas, and Father de Carheil to the Cayugas.  The bloody Iroquois, who had tortured and slain so many missionaries, were now asking for preachers of the Christian faith, and receiving them with due honour.  It is true that the hard task of conversion remained, and that Indian vices and superstitions were not easily overcome.  But at least the savages were ready to listen to Christian teaching.  Some of them had courage enough to reform their lives.  Children and women were baptized.  Many received when dying the sacraments of the Church.  Moreover, the sublime courage and self-devotion of the missionaries inspired the Indian mind with a profound respect for Christianity and added very greatly to the influence and prestige of the French name among the tribes.

On the whole the situation in Canada at the end of 1668, three years after Talon’s arrival, was most satisfactory.  Peace and security were restored; hope had replaced despondency; colonization, agriculture, and trade were making progress; population was increasing yearly.  In this short space of time New France had been saved from destruction and was now full of new vigour.  Every one in the colony knew that the great intendant had been the soul of the revival, the leader in all this progress.  It may therefore be easily imagined what was the state of popular feeling when the news came that Talon was to leave Canada.  He had twice asked for his recall.  The climate was severe, his health was not good, and family matters called for his presence in France; moreover, he was worried by his difficulties with the governor and the spiritual authorities.  Louis XIV gave him leave to return to France and appointed Claude de Bouteroue in his stead.