The Washington times., 1902-10-26

was fostered by bouts which ruling eld-
ers might have made it their business
to preserve, IL any ruling elders were
willing to accept their appointment. The
pastor once went to the next town to
enjoy argument with scientific doctor.
When he mounted his horse to ride
home before nightfall the two friends
kept up their debate. The doctor stood
by the horse, or walked few steps as
the horse moved. Presently both men
noticed fire in the east; and 1t was
sunrise. They had argued all night
In Lonsmeadow a man could not help
practicing argument. 1 also practiced
oratory. And all the time l practiced
the Iroquois tongue as we'll as English
and French, and began the translation
of books into the language of the ma
tion hoped to build. That Indians
made unstable material for the white
man to handle I would not believe
Skenedonk was not unstable His faith
fulness was rock.
For some reason. and 1 think it was
the reach of Pastor Storrs, men in 9TH
er places began to seek me. The vital
currents of life indeed sped through us
on the Hartford and Springfield stage
road. 1t happened that Skenedonk and
were making my annual jour-
ney to 81. Regis when the :irst
steamboat accomplished its trip on
the Hudson River. About the time
that the Wisconsin country was in
cluded in Illinois Territory, decided to
write letter to Nine. Tank. at Green
Bay, and insist on knowing my story as
she believed she knew it. Yet 1 hesi-
tated; and finally did not do it. / found
afterward that there was no postoffice
at Green Bay. A carrier, sent by the
officers OF the fort and villagers, brought
mail from Chicago: He had two hun
dred miles OF wilderness to traverse.
and his blankets and provisions as well
as the mail to carry; and he did this at
beats.
The form of religion was always q
trivial matter to me. I never ceased o
love the sacrifice of the mass, which was
an abomination and an idolatrous prac-
tice to Pastor Storrs. The pageantry
of the Roman Church that first mothered
and nurtured me touches me to this
day. 1 love the Protestant prayers of
the English Church. And / love the
stern and knotty argument, the sermon
with heads and sequences, of the New
England Congregationalist. For this ca
tholicy Catholics have upbraided me,
churchmen rebuked me, and dissente-s
denied that l had any religion at all.
When the Episcopal Bishop of New
York showed me kindness, and Pastor
Storrs warned me against being prose-
lyted, could not tell him the charm in
the form of worship prccticed by the
woman l loved. There was not a con-
scious minute when l forgot her. Yet
nobody in Longmeadow knew of her ex-
istence. In my most remorseful days,
comparing myself with Pastor Storrs. I
was never sorry l had clung to her
and begged her not to let me go alone.
For some OF our sins are so honestly the
expression Of nature that justification
breaks through them.
On the western border there was
trouble with dissatisfied Indians, and OF
the sea there was trouble with the
British. so that people began to talk of
war long before 1t was declared, and
to blame President Madison for his
over-caution in affairs. battle was
fought at Tippecanoe in the Indian Ter
ritory, which silenced the Indians for j
while. But everyone knew that the Eng
lish stood behind them. Militia WAS
mustered. the army recruited, and EN-
barge laid upon shipping in the ports,
and all things were put forward in April
of that year, before war was declared in
June.
| had influence with our tribes. The
Government offered me well-paid COM
mission to act as its secret agent. Pastor
Storrs and the Williamses, who had been
nurturing a missionary, were smitte1
with grief to see him rise and leap inio
camps and fields, eager for the open
world, the Wilderness smell, the coun
ell. where the red mans mind. trem-
bling balance, could Re turned by vivid
language; eager, in fact, to live where
history was being made.
The pastor had clothed me in his
mind with ministerial gown and band,
and the martial blood that quickened he
counted an Iroquois strain. Yet so in
consistent is human nature, so given
to forms which 1t calls creeds,
that when afterward pnt
on the surplice and read prayers to nv
adopted people, he counted 1t as great
a detection as taking to saddle and spur.
We cannot leave the expression OF our
lives to those better qualified than we
ere, however Gear they may be. l hal
TO pack my saddlebags and be gone, low
ing Longmeadow none the less because
| grieved it. knowing that 1t would not
approve of me more II I stayed and
failed to do my natural part.
The snuffbox and the missal which had
always carried with me. And very little
[ tould be transported on the road We
took
John Williams. who came to Long
FURNISHED red poll among the hated
Willamses. allotted me in turning from
the missionary field to the arena OF war. |