The Master of Studies was Father L'hoir, who soon became one of Brother Hecker's dearest friends.
The two Americans found their fellow-students men of fine character and every way lovable, being earnest and devoted religious.

They admired their thorough proficiency in all classical and literary studies, the result of old-world method and application.

Mentally and physically they were splendid men.

The whole race of Flemings and Dutch was found by our young recruits to be a grave and powerful people, although exceptional cases of mercurial temperament were not rare.

Some curious individuals were to be found among them, as is more the case in European nationalities in general than in our own.
Both Americans were much liked and respected by all their new-found brethren, though Brother Hecker, for reasons soon to be told, was sometimes ridiculed in a way that distressed him.