The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1913-10-02
Al 0ssse indian Romance.
TWAS Indian summer. The last
rays of the summer sun were
BY Z. q. BYNUM

lMl TWAS Indian summer. The last
y rays of the summer sun were
reaching out seemingly in
every direction to give the last touch
to natures beauty. The trees all
along the Usage were turning from
green to almost any and every color
imaginable. Along the bluffs the
scrub and burr oaks had begun to
dress in fall attire.
The whole country, which had
been clothed in a monotonous green,
had now changed and arrayed itself
in profusion of harmonious autumn
al colorings, which blended like a
million rainbows with the sunset of
this beautiful September evening.
The blue sky had begun to change
its color to an ashy blue or dim, dull,
dusky gray. The fog from the river
rose and floated off to the west like
the smoke clearing away from bat
tie field. The cool, frosty air was
creeping down glen and dale and the
once bright, blooming landscape was
now undergoing the act of transfor-
nation.
As / stood on what is now Halley's
Bluff, overlooking the country be-
low, l looked long and pondered.
Hundreds of miles we had travelled
and were now an almost unknown
distance from a once warm fireside.
There on the banks of the Charles
River in Massachusetts, where we
could sit on these cool, autumn even
ings and look across the rolling coun-
try, half hidden among the ever
green's, which were like great, green
velvet rugs strewn about the coun-
try everywhere, was a white house,
built on the style of the old colonial
house of years ago, with a veranda
running the full length of the build
ing. Colossal beams and pillars sup
ported the great roof covering the
veranda and inside of the house,
which was all lighted from attic to
cellar.
could see the missionaries being
hidden goodbye and God-speed to
the place of their destination: "May
you all be blessed with a victory, in
asmuch as you have surrendered
you happiness, or part of it, to give
your lives work to the redmen.
stood and thought as we left that
fireside to 60 out in the wilds of the
West, and over what then seemed to
be the roads to heathendom: Here
we are among tribe of Indians and
French traders. We are the only
white people here, and if we don't
partially civilize them we shall count
our work as dross, even if we have
come in good faith"
We knew our lives were in danger
and that our only real foundation was
Christianity. We knew that one mis-
step with the Indians in gaining their
confidence would ruin us, and our
people in New England would never
hear of us.
Our journey from Massachusetts
had been one of hardships, and many
times we were discouraged, but we
kept pressing on. Through sickness
and exposure we had lost several of
our party, whom we buried in places
where we thought, if we returned,
they could be found easily; but we
might have known we would never
return.
We were here but a few weeks I'M
til construction work commenced to
house our little handful of people
who landed at Collins Ford and had
established mission mile north of
where Papinsville now is. We named
the place Harmony Mission.
South and east of us were small
camp of Little Osages of whom Che :
toka was chief. We had very little -,
in making our mission |
known, as we had no more than
struck camp when an old chief and {