ture is the long, two-towered church deeded to the parish under exceptional circumstances by a bishop, member of the island's Basque aristocracy. This bishop made it his mission to preach the needs of St. Pierre from the north to the south of France. As the result of his campaign, half a million francs were given him to be used as he found best. Even the windows in the church he built bear the inscription, "A gift to Monsignor Légasse." The building, its altar ornaments and feast-day hangings became the property of the cleric, and he gave it outright to the parish, thus thwarting forever its forfeiture to the State. For the inhabitants of St. Pierre had felt the heavy hand of secularization, and like the ardent Churchmen they are had rebelled against it. In 1908 they made a demonstration before the Governor's house following the closing of the parochial schools, and threatened with vehemence to transfer their allegiance to the United States. Whereupon the home Ministry came tolerantly to terms.
Tolerantly, because these possessions, referred to by Voltaire in his Life of Louis XV as the Isles of Michelon, are no longer of value to France. Drastic conditions have affected the trade of St. Pierre, the capital-port. For years it has waned in population and prosperity, and those who stay on in its weather-worn houses wonder dully what is to become of them and their children. A fourth of the buildings are empty and only a score of
