by Alphonse Pelletier
I was visiting my friend, Gedeon Therrien, in 1962, in St. Felicien, in the Lac Saint-Jean region of Quebec. Gedeon was indignant that many Social Crediters were mesmerized by the politician, Real Caouette. He pounded the table and exclaimed: "I, Gedeon Therrien, will never betray the true Social Credit of Louis Even! Let me tell something that happened to Louis Even and you will understand."
"In 1938, during the Great Depression years, Louis Even came to St. Felicien to hold a meeting that took place in Joseph-Arthur Bouchard's barn. Many people attended and listened attentively to the words of Louis Even. They understood how Social Credit would bring their families out of misery. Mr. Even sold all the literature he had brought. The meeting was a great success, and there was much enthusiasm for the Cause.
"After the meeting, he asked if someone could put him up for the night. Many offered to do so, and I was the lucky one to receive him in my home. Needless to say, we went to bed late that evening! At the time I could not read, but Louis Even's presentation in that barn inspired me to learn to read in order to study the Social Credit booklets Les Cahiers du Crédit Social and, later, VERS DEMAIN.
"The next day, I drove Louis Even to the train station and headed to work. But the politician's henchmen, the village's leaders, the very men who supported politicians like Real Caouette, did not appreciate the welcome Louis Even had received, and they let him know in their own special way. Louis Even was waiting on the train station platform. The six men who had been watching him from a distance grabbed him, brought him to a garage, and poured bucketfuls of spent motor oil on his head. Louis Even was fairly defenseless. Not only was he attacked by six men, but he was also 53 years old and deaf. They mocked him in his wretched condition and told him: 'Go teach your Social Credit now!'
"Covered with oil, he walked across the whole village back to my house. When my wife saw him she exclaimed: 'What happened to you!' And he answered her, smiling as he always did: 'A handful of men proved that they like me more than some others. Would you be so good as to lend me some clothes that I might go to Chambord for tonight's meeting?'
"My wife answered him: 'You mean you will go on after what was done to you!' He answered with a smile: 'Oh! If nothing worse happens, I will be very lucky!'
"And Gedeon Therrien repeated forcefully: 'To betray Louis Even? Never!'
Louis Even then asked Mrs. Therrien not to tell the story tol anyone.