Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1896-10-12
HEROlSM IN TuE PINES
ICopied from The Standard by request.


One of the most impressive
religious services | ever attended,
one which moved me deeply,
[ want to briefly des-
cribe to you, and mayhap in the
scene and surroundings there
may be something of help to
those who toll in mission fields,
home or foreign; something, per-
haps, of stimulation to those who
give of their substance to advance
the cause of Christ in the slums,
on the far frontier, or in the
blackness of heathendom.
1t was half-past five o'clock on
q wintry afternoon in early De-
cember, 1896. There was SHIN
mer of starlight through the rift
in the roof where the stovepipe
and the pine shingles failed to
meet by several inches. The
room was cold. A huge box
stove on one side kept the air
warm for those who sat nearest it,
a half. dozen serious faced folk, in
humble attire. | sat on low
school seat bench, and my heavy
overcoat was hardly proof against
the stinging cold. In front of
me stood a rude desk on which
two kerosene lamps made sad
show of illumination. The room
had no plastering, no furnishings.
The building was made of pine
boards with a covering of tarred
paper, and was used for school
house.
At my left there stood slender
man in the white garb of a rector.
His face was flushed from the bit
ing cold, for he had been walking
perhaps ten miles from his station
to preach to this handful of peo-
ple-not more than twelve all told.
He used an abbreviated or con-
densed form of the Episcopal rit-
ual, and then preached short SER
mon on the second coming of
Christ. 1t was Advent Sunday,
and he made his sermon fit the
day.
1t was not so much the arrange
ment of his discourse, though that
was sensible and logical; it was
not so much the exposition of the
wonderful coming of Christ,
though it was full Of tenderness
aud void of irrationalism; it was
not so much the manner of ad.
dress, though that was forceful
and worthy of a city pulpit-not
these that most impressed me, but
If ] may used the word, it was the
transcendent earnestness of the
man marked this sermon as one
to be remembered a life. time. The
central thought was the oft
repeated promise Il will come
again" and the universal need of
being ready for this coming,
whether it be on be the morrow
or in thousand morrows.
The preachers face was radiant
with hope that moved one as
perhaps not even his earnestness
did.
But it was not only the preach.
ing Of this man that impressed
me, as he told the story of the
Gross to this handful of people
away up in the heart of one of the
vastest pine forests yet left on the
globe; there was even more in his
life. | learned of this life from
him only III the barest outlines
from others l learned more in de.
tail.
Twenty two years ago, young
rector, he went into the forests of
Northern Minnesota to preach the
gospel to the Indians. Since that
time he has been steadily at work
among them. He has ten or a
dozen mission churches, perhaps
300 souls all told. These churches
are located at widely separated
points on Il vast Indian reserva-
ton. The preacher is absent from
his home at the agency, where
stays his devoted wife, about half
of every week. Sometimes he will
walk fifty miles to meet preach
ing engagement to his Indians.
Sometimes he travels on horse
back, sometimes in "A humble one
horse rig, sometimes in the dead
OF winter on snow shoes. He
sends his little children at the age