The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1846-09-11
The Jrsuii's sermon.

mong the savages. Before a Nir-
ginian had crossed the Blue Ridge,
and while the Connecticut was still
the extreme frontier of New Eng.
land, more than one man, whose
youth had been passed in the warm
vallies Of Languedoc, had explored
the wilds of Wisconsin, and caused
the hymn of Christian praise TO rise
from the Prairies of Illinois. The
Catholic priest went even before the
soldier and the trader From lake
to lake, from river to river, the Jc-
suits passed on, unresting, and with
a power that 10 other christians
have exhibited, won to their faith,
J the warlike Miamies, and the luxu-
rious Illinois. For more than hun
dred years did this work 90 forward.
OF its temporary results we know
little, the earliest of the published
letters from the Missionaries, were
written thirty years after La Sales
voyage down the great river. But,
were the family records Of France
laid before us, | cannot doubt, that
we should find there, evidences OF
savage hate diminished, and savage
cruelty prevented through the labors
of the brotherhood of Jesus. And
yet, it was upon these men that Eng
land charged the war of Pontiac.
Though every motive existed for a
desperate eXertion upon the part Of
the Indians-the dread of annihila-
lion-the love of their old homes
tie reverence for their fathers
graves-all that nerved Philip, and
fired Tecumseh-yet to tie Protes-
tant English, the readicst explana-
ton was that Catholics-that Jesuits
had poisoned the savage mind.
1t was during this war-the war
Of determination which the Savages
commenced as one man, on Michi-
gan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, along
the frontiers, and among the quiet
hollows of Pennsylvania, and Virgin
ia, that the incidents occurred which
am about to relate.
A chief of the Wyandots, which
tribe had returned to its old home
on the Maumee, since the conclu-
sion of the war between the Iroquois.
and Miami con(ederacy, instead oil
Joining Pontiac who commenced a,
the north, went with some of his
warriors to the aid of the Shawanese,
then living upon the Sciota. He W as
a man much resembling Logan, SC
celebrated ten years later-calm.
stern; in peace kindly, but in war,
a true Indian, Of vast personal
strength, and commanding energies
he led wherever he went. Many q
mother, during the terrible summer
Of '63, started at the howl of the
Watchdog, and list'ning thought she
heard the dreaded voice of the Deep
River as the Wyandot chief was call
ed; and many a mother dill hear that
voice. He had taken up the hatch
ct for determination, and he spared
not age, or sex, or beauty, or cour-
age. Forty scalps, that autumn.
stretched upon twigs, were drying
in the air at his wigwam door.
Yet the Decp-River had spared
one. In a narrow valley near the
Green-Brian not far from the now
fashionable White Sulphur Spring,
dwelt a little family of four, who,
when they heard in April that peace
had been concluded between France
and England, thanked God that their
dangers were now over: that they
might now SOW and reap in safety.
Four months passed by, and but one
OF the circle remained alive. He
was boy, about ten years of age
genuine backwoodsman - bold,
resolute, quick, and fearless. When
the savagcs burst into his fathers
cabin, and the Wyandot chieftain,
throwing open the door Of the sleep
ing room, buried the tomahawk in
the old mans brain, the boy Eman-
uel had caught down a pistol from
the shelf, and standing upon the bed,
dealt the Indian a blow across the
eyes which lie felt for weeks. His
followers would have tortured the
child, but Deep River said "No
He is an lndianI He shall live -
The boy remained through the fall,
among the many captives that thron-
ged the Indian towns upon the Sci
ota, most of whom were a0crwal DIS
delivered over to Col. Bouquet; and
only in the winter Of o., was taken
by the Wyandot TO his own country
for the chief saw that the efforts Of
the red man must be vain. Fort
| Pitt had been relieved, and Pontiac
had been foiled at Detroit DARK
and gloomy were the thoughts o
both captor, and captive, as they
lourneyed to the frozen home of the
| Wyandots.
While Emanuel had been among
the other white children, he had no
4 realised bis losses, but when h,
reached the villages on the Maumee