Chronicles of Notre Dame du Lac
Edward Sorin, CSC -- Translated by John M. Toohey, CSC, 1895

---

1854

pg 195            On the following night one of the apprentices of the Brothers 
             aged thirteen years, a child full of promise and of good parts, 
             was found dead in his bed by his own father, who had come to see 
             him and who had himself been watching over him for several days.
                  This was enough to spread terror through the house, and 
             especially in the minds of those that had charge of it; but the 
             hour of the trial had come, and the cup of bitterness which was to 
             be emptied even to the dregs had only let some drops fall from its 
             overflow on the poor children of Notre Dame du Lac.
                  Two pupils were in succession carried away, noiselessly and 
             without causing much surprise, as their passage to a better life 
             had been long expected.
                  The Annual Retreat of the Brothers arrives.  On the third day 
Aug 9, 1854  at 8 o'clock in the morning, word is brought to the poor superior 
             that Bro. Alexis, one of the best members of the Society, had been 
             drowned in the lake the preceding night.  Oh! what sad days there 
             are in the life of man here below!  Such a thunder-clap was 
             calculated to stupify any man interested in this sad event.  For 
             some time it overwhelmed the soul of the mourning director of a