The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-12-09

doctor stood by the norsc,- ,-or- walked a
few steps as the horse moved. Present
" both men noticed 4 fire in the cast
and it was sunrise. They had argued
all night
In LonSmcadow 4 man could not
help practicin5 argument. l also prac-
ticed oratory, and all the time I prac-
ticcd the Iroauois tongue as we'll as
English and French, and began the
translation Of books into the language
Of the nation hoped to build. That
Indians made unstable material for
the white man to handle would not
believe. Skenedonk was not unstable.
His faithfulness was O rock.
For some reason, and think it was
the reach Of Pastor Storrs, men IN
other places began to seek me. The
vital currents CT life indeed sped
through us on the Hartford and
Springfield stage road. 1t happened
that Skencdonk and were making
my annual journey to St. Regis when
the first steamboat accomplished its
trip on the Hudson river. About the
time that the Wisconsin country was
included in Illinois territory I decided
| to write a letter to Nine. Tank at
Green Bay and insist on knowing my
story as she believed she knew it. Yet
hesItated and finally did not 90 it l
found aftcrward that there was no
post Office at Green Bay. A carrier,
sent by the officers Of the fort and
| villagers, brought mail from Chicago.
BE had 200 mics of wilderness to
traverse and his blankets and pro-
! visions as we'll as the mail to carry,
and he did this at the risk Of his life
| among wild men and beasts.
! The form Of religion was always
| trivial matter to me. I never ceased
| to love the sacrifice Of the mass,
! which was On aboninaton and an
idolatrous practice to Pastor Storrs.
The pageantry Of the Roman church
that first mothercd and nurtured me
| touches me to this day. / love the
Protestant prayers Of the English
church, and love the stern and knot
ty argument, the sermon with heads
and sequences, Of the New England
Congregationalist. For this catholici-
t Catholics have upbraided me,
church1nen rebuked me and dissenters
denied that 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 praciced by
the woman / loved. There was not
| conscious minute when 1 forgot her.
Yet nobody in Longmeadow knew OF
her existence In my most remorseful
days, comparing myself with Pastor
Storrs, was never sorry had clung
to her and begged her not to let me go
alone, for some Of our sins are so hon.
estly the expression Of nature that
justification breaks through them.
On the western border there was
trouble with dissatisfied Indians, and
on the sea there was trouble with the
| British, so that people began to talk Of
war long before it was declared and to
blanc President Madison for bis over
| caution in affairs. A battle was fought
at Tippecanoe in the Indiana territory
| which silenced the Indians for awhile.
But every one knew that the English
stood behind them. Militia was mus
tered, the army recruited and embargo
! 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
| commission to act as its secret agent.
| Pastor Storrs and the Williamses, who
lad been nurturing a missionary, were
su,itten with grief to see him rise and
| lear into camps and fields, eager for
the open world, the wilderness smell,
| the council, where the red mans mind,
a trembling balance, could be 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
50 inconsistent is human nature, so
| given. to forms which it calls creeds,
that when afterward put on the sur
plice and read prayers to my adopted
people lie counted it as great q defec-
ton as taking to saddle and spur. We
cannot leave the expression Of our
lives to those better qualified than VIC
arc, however dear they may be. I had
to pack my saddlebags and be gone,
loving LonSmcadow none the less be-
| cause l S:icved it, knowing that 1t
would not approve Of me more If
stayed and failed to do my natural
part.
The snuGfbox and the missal which
had belonged to my family in France
always carried with nc. And very lit
tie could be transported on the road we
| took.
John Williams, WHO came to Long
| meadow in dccrsiZins and paraded his
FURNISHED rcd poll among the hated
Willianses, abettcd me in turning from
the missionary field to the arena OF
war, and never left me. 1t was Skene-
donll who served the United States
with Drawn and endurance. while l put
such policy and color into my ha-
rangucs as / could command. We
shared our meals, our camps, our beds
Of leaves, together. The life at Long
| meadow had knit me to good use.
could fast or feast, ride or march, take
the buckskins or the soldiers uniform.
Great latitude was permitted US in
our orders. We spent year in the
north. My skin darkened and tough
encd under exposure until said to
Skenedonk, 81 am turning an Indian"
and he, jealous of my French blood,
denied 1t.