LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 Shelf ...kmr 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 

Service in the King's 
 Guards 
 
 BY TWO OK THEM ^ ^ K's^S^ 
 
 OTttf) an Sfntrotmction 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. WALTER M. BARROWS, D.D. 
 
 LATE SECRETARY OF THE AMERICAN HOME MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 
 IP 14 1891 ' 
 
 BOSTON AND CHICAGO 
 
 Congregational ^untiag^cljool anti ^ubltsfring £orietg 
 
A* A 
 
 Copyright, 1891, by 
 Congregational Sunday-School and Publishing Society. 
 
 J 
 
TO THE PATRIOTIC AND CHRISTIAN 
 
 PEOPLE OF OUR COUNTRY, 
 
 WITH ALL 
 
 WHO ARE PRAYING 
 
 THY KINGDOM COME, 
 
 THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHORS. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Dr. Joseph P. Thompson, in one of his London 
 addresses, said: — "No page of history presents a 
 record of more silent, patient heroism or more self- 
 sacrificing patriotism than the all unwritten, unpub- 
 lished lives of the teachers and missionaries of the 
 west." 
 
 That the lives of so many of these faithful workers 
 have been unwritten is doubtless due to the fact that 
 they have been too busy in making history to stop to 
 write it. Now and then a letter will appear in a 
 missionary magazine or paper giving to the world a 
 glimpse of their frontier experiences. But never 
 before, to my knowledge, has such a full and graphic 
 record as that contained in this volume been pub- 
 lished. It appears to me that the writers have suc- 
 ceeded admirably in catching and photographing the 
 ever-changing aspects of life in a new country. 
 
 As one of the secretaries of the Missionary Society 
 under whose auspices they labored, it was my privilege 
 not only to carry on a correspondence with the writers 
 of this book, but to visit them in the new territory 
 
6 Introduction. 
 
 which was their field of work. I can vouch for their 
 fidelity and success as Christian missionaries, and for 
 the truthfulness of their story. Bat all who read this 
 record of "Service in the King's Guards" will need 
 no other witness than that found on the pages them- 
 selves of the consecrated spirit of the writers. 
 
 Their narrative will entertain by its charm of style 
 and its freshness of incident. But unless it does more 
 than this — uuless it arouses the patriotic and Christian 
 people of our country to a sense of their responsibility 
 to render help in building up the new communities on 
 Christian foundations — it will not serve the purpose of 
 those who have Tiere written this faithful account of 
 frontier experience. 
 
 WALTER M. BARROWS. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The experiences here chronicled are not written because 
 of any exceptional value they are supposed to have. They 
 resulted from service undertaken in much weakness, with 
 no extraordinary expectations, but, it is believed, with an 
 eye single to the glory of God and the good of man. 
 
 No experience but that which came to us naturally and 
 unsought is related. With the omission of many incidents 
 which might have been narrated, had time and space per- 
 mitted, this is the simple story of about three years, set 
 down for the most part in chronological order. 
 
 The need — long felt and urged by those who have a 
 wide outlook over the whole field — of bringing into closer 
 touch the hearts and minds of those who pray and give at 
 the east and in the interior, and the daily lives of those 
 who pray and toil at the west, has led to this endeavor 
 faithfully to portray the experience of one home missionary 
 family, as a humble contribution to this end. 
 
 "Tell us just how it is out there" has been an oft- 
 repeated request. For this reason, small details have been 
 given, as well as glimpses of the larger aspects of life. 
 
 Doubtless other tales of missionary life, many of which 
 must remain forever unwritten, far outweigh these, both in 
 hardships attendant and good achieved. In all such good 
 we do and will rejoice. 
 
8 Preface. 
 
 No apology is offered for the introduction of scenes 
 among the Indians. All missionary work is, in reality, 
 one. It was on the border-land of so-called home and 
 foreign missions that our appointed field of duty lay, for 
 the most part, and we have given some of the glimpses we 
 were privileged to gain, in the prosecution of our work for 
 the white men, of far more toilsome and self-sacrificing 
 work for the red men. 
 
 With devout thanksgiving for the privilege of following 
 the standard of our great Captain, we offer these campaign 
 reminiscences to our comrades in the army of the Lord, 
 commending all failures to the forgiving mercy of our 
 divine Leader, and with the prayer that he may condescend 
 to use this narrative as an instrument of his glory. 
 
 The Authors. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER PAGE 
 
 I. The Call and the Journey 11 
 
 II. The Reception and the Outlook IS 
 
 III. Beginning Housekeeping. — The Blizzard . 26 
 
 IV. Getting Settled. — Our Hymn 37 
 
 V. Among the People 44 
 
 VI. The First Communion. — Our Sunday-school. 
 
 — A Journey 48 
 
 VII. The First Funeral 57 
 
 VIII. The Schoolhouse. — New Friends. — The 
 
 Church 62 
 
 IX. A Neighboring Church 69 
 
 X. Summer Diversions 73 
 
 XI. Temperance 80 
 
 XII. Our First Meeting with the Indian Mission 93 
 
 XIII. Another Field. — Our Church Home . . . 10S 
 
 XIV. Thanksgiving. — A Young Visitor. — Our 
 
 New Surroundings 118 
 
 XV. Forefathers' Day 128 
 
 XVI. Our Literary Society 131 
 
 XVII. Difficulties 145 
 
 XVIII. The Parsonage 151 
 
 XIX. Immigration. — A Journey in the Opposite 
 
 Direction. — Frontier Life 157 
 
 XX. A Frontier City . 163 
 
 9 
 
10 
 
 Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER 
 
 XXI. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 XL. 
 XLI. 
 
 xlii. 
 
 The Daughter. — Sitting Bull. — Preach- 
 ing at the Fort 169 
 
 Aspects of Nature. — Extremes. — A 
 
 Tornado 175 
 
 Our Fourth of July on the Indian Reser- 
 vation 180 
 
 Outside Missionary Work 186 
 
 Ration Day at and near the Agency . . 192 
 
 Visitors and a Visit 199 
 
 A Meeting of General Association . . 209 
 
 Getting into the Parsonage 223 
 
 A Visit. — Missionary Boxes 233 
 
 Thanksgiving. — Christmas. — Improve- 
 ments 242 
 
 A Funeral on the Indian Reservation . 254 
 
 Incidents of the Winter. — A Revery . . 261 
 
 Missionary Raids 272 
 
 Revivals 281 
 
 A Promising Beginning 285 
 
 By the Way 295 
 
 Forty Miles and Two Churches in One Day 301 
 
 Autumn Meetings 306 
 
 u Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one 
 of the least of these my brethren, ye 
 
 have done it unto me" 317 
 
 Three Days Together 324 
 
 A Song. — - A Mirage 334 
 
 Multiples 340 
 
Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE CALL AND THE JOURNEY. 
 
 TT was a case of relativity'. There was enough 
 -■- to do, and the calls to duty were abundant in 
 our chosen field in New England. But the workers 
 were more numerous in the east than in the west. 
 Above all the din of battle around us came the cry 
 from the rapidly opening fields of the far West : — 
 " Come over and help us." So urgent had it be- 
 come that it seemed too serious a matter to be un- 
 heeded. Into that broad land the tide of humanity 
 was setting. New towns were springing up all along 
 the rivers and the projected railroads. Shall they 
 be supplied with Christian institutions, or left to 
 the seeding and harvest of sin? From the office of 
 the secretaries of the Home Missionary Society in 
 New York came the message : " You must be needed 
 more at the front than where you are ! " 
 
 "We can go, as many cannot," said the husband 
 and father. "We have not a family of young 
 
 11 
 
12 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 children to bring up on the frontier, far from the 
 influences we should crave for them." Our only 
 son was in college. Our only daughter had reached 
 the time when she needed to pursue her education 
 away from home. The mother hesitated. The 
 daughter was still young, and to leave her in New 
 England, while we put half the width of the continent 
 between us, was to make a heavy sacrifice of feeling. 
 " God will take care of her education," said the 
 husband. To go was literally to leave it with God, 
 for the salary of a home missionary could not educate 
 the children away from home. 
 
 The calls were repeated. A correspondence with 
 the secretaries of the Missionary Society ended with 
 a promise to go, on the part of the minister. He 
 left the selection of a field with the authorities. 
 The most needy at that time was said to be a village 
 of promise six months old, on a railroad. Letters 
 came from the clerk of the infant church there and 
 the Sunday-school superintendent, answering a few 
 questions, and leaving others unanswered. For the 
 rest, we would find out by going. 
 
 The time came when a resignation, carried for 
 weeks in the minister's pocket, must be presented. 
 It came upon the people unawares. They appointed 
 a committee to seek its withdrawal, promising to 
 " arise and build," if the minister would remain, and 
 
TJie Call and the Journey. 13 
 
 asking what they could do that they had not done. 
 Our hearts ached for them and for ourselves at the 
 thought of parting. But there were many men who 
 could be found for that field. There were not many 
 who could and would go to the front. The call of 
 duty must be heeded, cost what it might. So we 
 prepared to go. 
 
 What should we take ? What should we not take ? 
 It was midwinter. Our beautiful window plants went 
 first, to gladden other windows in the parish. Our 
 windows seemed vacant when they were gone, but 
 they were windows where we had often lovingly 
 watched the outlook. There was the hill, where a 
 forest of firs made a Gothic cathedral with their tops 
 outlining exquisite spires and buttresses against the 
 clear evening sky. There was the distant moun- 
 tain range, where, through the long hours of many 
 a summer day, wonderful lights and shadows had 
 floated in transparent, immeasurable calm, and where, 
 as the sun sank in the west, gloom had gathered in 
 the vast gorges, while their ridges were bathed in 
 sheen — ridges with rose-pink ledge and gleaming 
 waterfall, ridges gray with granite, or green with 
 unfading forests. Along those summits floated mem- 
 ories of winter days when the mountains had seemed 
 like pyramids of glittering marble. There had been 
 days when the battlements of the New Jerusalem 
 
14 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 seemed to be shining in our horizon ; when a casual 
 glance heavenward would bring an uplift of spirit to 
 be remembered a lifetime, or touch the hidden spring 
 of " thoughts which lie too deep for tears." 
 
 From crimson and purple and gold, shell-pink and 
 amber, blue and silver, we must turn away to the 
 practical side of life. 
 
 The preparations for moving were made and the 
 good-bys were all said. The farewell was taken of 
 the pleasant home, its double parlors, high walls, 
 wide piazzas ; and of the outlook over mountain and 
 valley which we knew no other would ever rival. 
 Toward the church we could not so much as look. 
 It was too dear, and the fountain of tears was too 
 ready for an overflow. 
 
 We had accepted the cordial invitation of a friend 
 in Chicago to bring our daughter there for study. In 
 an elegant city home, with devoted friends around 
 her, and with many privileges, we left the young 
 girl, glad in the thought of her opportunities, and 
 remembering that Chicago was not quite a thousand 
 miles east of our destination, instead of the two 
 thousand which separate it from New England. 
 
 The first twenty-four hours on the train which sped 
 out from Chicago went pleasantly. We were in the 
 Pullman car where our friends had bidden us good- 
 by, and sights and sounds were agreeable, except 
 
The Call and the Journey, 15 
 
 that, as we reached the edge of Wisconsin, an early 
 March storm of wind and snow recalled for a few 
 hours all we had ever heard of " blizzards.'' But 
 Minnesota was more propitious, with mild weather, 
 and snow all gone. As we traversed the central and 
 western portions of the state we identified the various 
 localities described in that wonderful book, " Mary 
 and I," which we held in our hands, rehearsing mean- 
 while the toils and self-denials of the elder Riggses. 
 How much greater their sacrifices for the Indians than 
 ours could be, forty-five years later, for the white men 
 who had taken possession of these ancestral hunting 
 grounds ! Our train wound along the valley of the 
 St. Peter's River for a time, and we had ample oppor- 
 tunity to admire the landscape and the stream, while 
 at the same time trying to realize how it had looked 
 here when in its primeval wildness " Mary and I" had 
 spent a week floating on the river between Fort Snell- 
 ing and Traverse des Sioux in a barge propelled by 
 five Frenchmen, " sometimes paddling and sometimes 
 pushing, and often wading to find the best channel 
 over a sand-bar." Leaving the river, we struck across 
 the country which the Riggses, on their way to Lac- 
 qui-parle, had found a wide wilderness, with no sound 
 but that of the occasional flight of a bird of passage, 
 now dotted with villages and the comfortable homes 
 of farmers. 
 
16 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 The progress of the second day from Chicago 
 showed us plainly that we were " out west." Our 
 Pullman car was left behind, and we were in a 
 crowded, untidy coach, where men, women, and chil- 
 dren spent the day and night, the floors and seats 
 covered with the litter of continual lunches ; the 
 atmosphere burned up by a red-hot stove, and per- 
 fumed by the breath of many tobacco-users, who 
 sometimes smoked until the air of the car was blue. 
 People were not particular " in the west," we learned, 
 to restrict smoking to the smoking car, and remon- 
 strances to the conductor were of no avail. Loud 
 conversation, sometimes sharp and witty, sometimes 
 stale and unprofitable, or a revealer of personal and 
 family affairs, echoed from one end of the car to the 
 other. We were not disheartened, for we had ex- 
 pected little better. Two or three books abstracted 
 our attention, and when tired of reading we studied 
 the country from the car windows. As yet, there 
 were no faintest hints of springtime. The great tree- 
 less plains stretched away, league upon league, cov- 
 ered by long, dry grass, bleached and bent by departed 
 snows. The last day of our journey was more ab- 
 solutely featureless than a day in mid-ocean, where 
 sometimes a dolphin or flying fish leaping up out of 
 the waves, and a smokestack or sail of passing vessel, 
 enliven the way. Hour after hour passed without the 
 
The Call and the Journey. 17 
 
 sight of tree or bush, bird or man, and the long, dead 
 prairie level broke into no waves for our diversion. 
 Sometimes, at a station for refreshment, we would 
 seek a cup of tea or coffee ; but good food was only to 
 be found in our Chicago lunch-basket, and the throngs 
 of immigrants who rushed from the second-class cars 
 of our long train at every considerable stop needed 
 the change and the walk upon the platform far more 
 than we did. 
 
 Acquaintance with fellow-travelers was easily made, 
 but there seemed to be little call for sympathy. Nearly 
 all were cheery and hopeful, as why should they not 
 be, when they were bound for the land of promise, 
 and in the glow of its first excitement ? This last day 
 was to us one of falling mental barometer. The deso- 
 lation of hundreds of miles of primitive prairie, with 
 the sparse new settlements looking even more forlorn 
 than uninvaded nature, conspired with the physical 
 weariness of the journey to give us the instinctive 
 feeling that we were on a strange planet. 
 
 And yet the bright heavens above, the solid earth 
 beneath, Christ and the promises, are the same old 
 friends we have known amid other scenes through the 
 passing years. " Lo, I am with you alway ! " What 
 can we want besides ? 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE RECEPTION AND THE OUTLOOK. 
 
 IT was after dark before we reached our des- 
 tination, where we were met at the little 
 station by two pleasant, kindly faced middle-aged 
 men and a lady. One of the men took us in his 
 open buggy, a mile across the prairie, to his home, 
 which, he said, was to be ours until we could make 
 one. The wife and young daughter gave us a 
 cordial welcome, and the tempting supper which 
 awaited us had been daintily prepared by their own 
 hands. 
 
 It was a home of two small rooms. One was 
 kitchen and dining room ; the other, sitting room, 
 parlor, library, and sleeping room. Here were books, 
 cabinet organ, plants, pictures — an amazing array 
 of refinement for a frontier cabin. As bedtime 
 drew near, the question of where we were all to 
 sleep was to us an unsolved problem. There were 
 in the room a double bed and a small single one. 
 But here were five persons ! 
 
 At last the little girl was nicely tucked away in 
 her narrow bed ; the host and hostess bade us occupy 
 
 18 
 
The Reception and the Outlook. 19 
 
 the other, and closed the door between the two rooms. 
 We did not think it best just then to ask many 
 questions, but we never did quite know how the 
 good man and his wife got through that cold night. 
 We were glad to find them alive and cheery in the 
 morning. 
 
 Refreshed by our good night's sleep, we eagerly 
 looked forth in the morning for the first sight of our 
 new parish. Our eyes followed the waving of the 
 dry grass and the frozen hollows of the prairie, till 
 we espied in the distance one long, low building of a 
 London-smoke color. Another, of a smart drab, 
 stood beside the telegraph line and the railway track, 
 and a third, near the second, black as a Russian 
 dungeon, was covered, we were told, with tar paper. 
 This was the nucleus of the nebulous village. These 
 buildings were, respectively, the lumber depot, the 
 railway station, and the ''section house," which, of 
 necessity, accompanies the laying of a railway track 
 along unoccupied country, for the housing and feeding 
 of the railroad hands. Two small white houses, not 
 far from the station, formed the aristocratic quarters ; 
 two or three stores and the remainder of the homes 
 were in rude, unpainted structures, some of which 
 were mere cabins, and some promised to assume the 
 likeness of houses if ever paint and chimneys should 
 come to their aid. 
 
20 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 One of the two friends who met us at the station 
 the evening of our arrival was the village doctor, 
 who, with rare thoughtfulness, brought his wife, that 
 the minister's wife might not feel so much alone 
 among the crowd of men, while waiting for the team. 
 The stranger asked how many inhabitants the village 
 contained. The lady did not know. Still intent 
 on gaining some idea of the situation, the ques- 
 tioner thought of five hundred, but, designing to put 
 the guess low enough, asked if there were as many 
 as three hundred. She " thought not," and the sub- 
 ject was dropped. The following Sunday the doctor, 
 with a humorous smile, brought up the question. 
 
 "My wife and I have been counting up," he said, 
 " and we think that within a radius of a mile from the 
 station there must be eighty-five persons." 
 
 And this was the promising village of which we 
 had been told, while still in our New England home, 
 that it had a weekly paper, a flourishing literary 
 society, and an organized "board of trade," as well 
 as a Sunday-school and a full-fledged church organi- 
 zation, with a good subscription for a church edifice 
 which would soon be built ! The church membership, 
 to be sure, was only eight ; but there were others who 
 would join, if a pastor could be secured. We now 
 found that of these eight church members, good and 
 true, two — our host and hostess — lived a mile from 
 
The Reception and the Outlook. 21 
 
 the station, and the other six were in a community on 
 the prairie, five miles away. 
 
 The situation was not what we expected, though 
 our expectations had not been high. The church 
 must be built and maintained at the village ; its short 
 roll-call must be made to reach far out on the almost 
 trackless prairie. But we were there for a purpose. 
 We had come to honor the King, and to help the 
 people. We were still in the world's great harvest 
 field, and our work was before us. The first inquiry 
 was for a place in which to hold the Sunday morning 
 service. " We hold our Sunday-school in the depot, " 
 said our host, who was the superintendent; " there 
 is no other place for it." Of course, then, that was 
 the place for the new preaching service. They had 
 already read sermons there, and the railway author- 
 ities were willing. 
 
 Sunday morning we drove to the station, but with 
 no sound of church-going bell. The four or five 
 settees, which on a week day were ranged about the 
 small room, were placed one before another on one 
 side. Eight before them was a great, rude coal- 
 stove, larger and higher than a man. The table of 
 the telegraph operator had been brought from the 
 little side office room and placed on the other side of 
 the stove. A soap-box was turned upon the table 
 for a pulpit and covered with a spread, by the fore- 
 
22 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 thought of our hostess. About thirty men, with a 
 few women and children, gathered in for the service, 
 those who could not be accommodated by the settees 
 finding seats on boards supported by inverted nail- 
 kegs. During our devotions some stray engine or 
 " wild" train went thundering by ; but we were not to 
 be diverted, even when a few boys and men went from 
 the outskirts of the little congregation to the greater 
 excitements of the platform. The sermon had to be 
 preached with the red-hot stove between the preacher 
 and his audience, but he stood first on one side, and 
 then on the other, talking familiarly and looking full 
 in the faces of those before him. When a gospel 
 song and the benediction had brought the service to a 
 close, the Sunday-school immediately took what form 
 it could. The superintendent and his wife were the 
 only teachers. All the men and women who stayed 
 were in his class, and all the boys were in her class, 
 leaving the girls, as the least important element of the 
 school, to be supplied by chance. 
 
 We remained for the opening exercises to help sing 
 and give a word of cheer. Then, after dinner at the 
 doctor's, we drove out to the schoolhouse on the 
 prairie, where the second service was to be held. It 
 was a low, unpainted structure. Forty men, women, 
 and children were gathered within, interested partici- 
 pants in Sunday-school exercises, when we entered. 
 
The Reception and the Outlook. 2$ 
 
 They listened very eagerly to the sermon which fol- 
 lowed, and gave the new minister and his wife a most 
 cordial welcome afterwards. The drive over the 
 prairie, both in going and returning, was a series 
 of experiments in finding trails, trying frozen mud- 
 holes, and crossing miry places. The reins were in 
 the experienced hands of the village Sunday-school 
 superintendent, who went for our guidance and intro- 
 duction. There were, of course, no fences, and the 
 few "claim shanties" along the way seemed all 
 exactly alike. Way marks, to uninitiated eyes, there 
 were none, and we had a feeling of great uncertainty 
 as to whether we were on the right trail, as well as 
 serious doubts as to whether the horses would be able 
 to pull through the sloughs, or stick fast in hopeless 
 struggles to find bottom in bottomless places. 
 
 The few days following were passed in fruitless 
 inquiries for a house to live in, but without incident, 
 except the receipt of a letter informing us that our 
 household goods, receipted by railway officials in New 
 England four weeks before, were not yet shipped, 
 owing to a new rule of the " Grand Trunk," which 
 necessitated the prepayment of all freight bills. This 
 involved a visit by the minister to a bank, the nearest 
 many miles distant, and delayed our hope of getting 
 settled, even if a house could be found. 
 
 In the evenings, our inquiries brought out tales of 
 
24 Service in the King's Guards, 
 
 experience in a new country, which we were eager to 
 hear. The winter of the year before, the first since 
 white settlers came in, had proved very severe, the 
 snow falling to a considerable depth, accompanied by 
 frequent blizzards. Further railroad construction 
 was stopped, and trains were blocked on the portion 
 that was in running order. For one hundred and 
 eight days there was no communication with the out- 
 side world, except by distant telegraph. The climate 
 had been supposed to be mild and open, and there 
 were few supplies of coal and groceries in the terri- 
 tory, the small dealers expecting to replenish their 
 stock by rail from time to time, as need might be. 
 
 Some families were so fortunate as to have milch 
 cows, or a little pork and a few potatoes on hand. 
 These fared comfortably during the first two months 
 of the snow embargo. Others had little food of 
 any kind ; but there was some wheat which had 
 been raised the summer before. This, ground in 
 coffee-mills, was the sole food of many a large family, 
 sometimes without even the addition of salt. One 
 hand must needs be kept "grinding at the mill," all 
 day, and every day of those weary months, in order to 
 prepare the u graham " meal which supplied the mush 
 "or breakfast, the water-biscuits for dinner, and the 
 griddle-cakes for supper. If people were well, they 
 thrived on this monotonous fare ; if delicate, or dys- 
 
The Reception and the Outlook 25 
 
 peptic, the suffering was very great. One lady, whom 
 we afterwards knew, put her last teacupful of sugar 
 aside, for use in case of sickness, in so safe a place 
 that she was not able to find it for several months. 
 Hay was the only supply of fuel. The long, dry grass 
 was cut in autumn, twisted into bundles after the 
 fashion of a skein of yarn, and about the size of a 
 medium stick of stove- wood, and piled up near the 
 homes in quantities thought to be sufficient for the 
 mild winter expected. The fearful cold in the wind- 
 pierced shanties soon made great inroads on this pro- 
 vision, and the deep snows rendered it impracticable 
 to cut more. Long before the need was over, many 
 families had burned their last shred of hay. With no 
 timber in the country, they were compelled to choose 
 between freezing, and tearing up their floors and every 
 other board that could be spared from their rude shel- 
 ters before the blockade was ended, and the welcome 
 trains could bring wood and coal. 
 
 These were the tales, coupled with stories of prairie 
 fires, which served to while away the odd hours of the 
 first few days, while we were waiting and hoping to 
 find a place for a home. Meantime we were made 
 cordially welcome by the large-hearted hospitality of 
 our first shelter. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 BEGINNING HOUSEKEEPING. THE BLIZZARD. 
 
 jnvURING- the alternations of hope and doubt 
 attendant upon our search for a house it had 
 been suggested that perhaps we would prefer boarding 
 to housekeeping. Where could we board? In a 
 frontier "hotel" consisting of two unplastered public 
 rooms below ; and one unfinished chamber above, 
 divided by curtains of rag carpet into apartments 
 where all the guests must sleep ! A crust of bread 
 under a board shelter by ourselves would be riches 
 in comparison. So we prayed and watched and 
 waited. Soon the glad news came that one of the 
 best houses in the place was to be vacated immedi- 
 ately, and we could have it. That joy was very 
 great. On the strength of it we went across the 
 prairie to make some calls. As we returned, in the 
 double-seated open buggy, with our kind host and 
 hostess, the "village" appeared, on a long, gently 
 swelling elevation to the west, a point of view we had 
 not obtained before. " There," said the minister, " is 
 our house." The wife looked eagerly. For a moment 
 her heart sunk. An unpainted shell, of one story — 
 
Beginning Housekeeping. 27 
 
 only not a shanty, because the diminutive roof sloped 
 both ways, and with a slender stovepipe projecting 
 through the top ! She remembered her pleasant 
 eastern home, and thought of the two-story brick 
 parsonage with its acres and its orchard, from which 
 they had turned away ; and the unbidden words 
 flashed upon her consciousness, " Have I come to 
 this ! " She was silent, but in another moment she 
 smiled, and soon the vivacious conversation had 
 flowed safely past these " shallows," or "deeps," in 
 its stream. Not afterward was the struggle of that 
 instant repeated. We were missionaries in a new 
 country, where all except earth and sky was to be 
 made. We had come with a fixed purpose to take 
 things as we found them, and make them as much 
 better as we could. 
 
 Two or three times that week some lady asked, a 
 little doubtfully, " Do you think you can live there? " 
 With unfeigned cheer the missionary wife was en- 
 abled to answer, that what was sufficient for others 
 was sufficient for her, and that she had no doubt we 
 should be comfortable. The house was vacated on 
 Friday, and then it needed to be cleaned. The grimy 
 dust of the soft coal used for fuel must be washed 
 from the unpainted boards of the interior, and the 
 stains of prairie mud from the floor. It was five 
 o'clock Saturday afternoon before it was dry enough 
 for us to enter. 
 
28 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 Our hospitable host and his wife had striven to 
 make us comfortable with utmost success, except 
 that they could not hide from us — as they tried to 
 do — that they were sleeping in an attic only three 
 or four feet high in the highest part, in order to give 
 us their comfortable bed below. We much desired 
 to begin our housekeeping, even at this late hour of 
 the last day in the week. A good second-hand cook- 
 stove had fortunately been found for sale, and the 
 minister had purchased it, and also a few hundred 
 pounds of coal — all, or nearly all, there was for sale 
 in the village. He had also sent twenty-five miles 
 to the nearest place where a bedstead could be bought, 
 and it had already arrived — cheap in aspect, but 
 not in price. We placed it in the little attic chamber 
 of our house, whose foundations were twelve by six- 
 teen feet in dimensions. Under the highest pitch of 
 the roof only could we stand upright, and here the 
 bed was " organized. " On the wooden slats we laid 
 the provision for our comfort, which some of our 
 kind parishioners had contributed from their own 
 scant} 7 stores until ours should arrive. There was 
 a tick filled with wiry prairie hay, pillows, a pair of 
 warm gray blankets, a quilt or two, sheets and pillow- 
 cases. How luxurious it all seemed, to be under a 
 roof we could call ours for the time, and to be setting 
 up our own bed with such a comfortable outfit ! The 
 
Beginning Housekeeping. 29 
 
 two or three trunks we had brought with us were 
 stowed away under the eaves after they had been 
 relieved of a part of their contents by hanging our 
 clothing on nails driven into the rafters. Newspapers 
 were pinned up to the little six-paned sashes, one 
 in each gable, which gave us light and air ; and the 
 stovepipe, rusty with rains which had streamed down 
 its sides, went valiantly up from below, through the 
 middle of the room to its escape at the ridgepole. 
 Access was had to this chamber by a steep and 
 crooked stair in one corner, down which one seldom 
 went without a dizzy feeling. 
 
 So far all was well. That prime necessity, sleep, 
 was provided for. By singular good fortune, a young 
 man, who had brought a little washstand bureau, a 
 wooden rocker, and six common wooden chairs, was 
 willing to lend them to us until he could build his 
 own shelter for them. By the generous thoughtfulness 
 of our hostess a small round table and a little strip 
 of hemp carpet from her home were brought to 
 grace ours. These furnished our living room, with 
 two chairs to spare for the chamber. A fire was 
 started in the cook-stove, and thus we began our 
 home. To be sure, there was neither food nor dish 
 in the house ; but we would take our meals for a few 
 days in the "hotel/' not far away, until we could 
 purchase the necessary outfit for meals at home. 
 
30 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 So we came, with song of praise and thankful prayer, 
 to our second Sunday's work. Service again in the 
 waiting room at the station, and to a larger congre- 
 gation than before. The wife remained to take the 
 girls' class in Sunday-school, and the minister went 
 alone to his afternoon appointment on the prairie. 
 As the afternoon waned, the wife looked from the 
 cabin window, watched, waited ; but the minister 
 did not return. As the long twilight was deepening 
 into dusk she reluctantly went alone to the hotel 
 for supper. She sought the landlady and apologized 
 for being late by saying that her husband had not 
 returned, adding that she supposed people did not 
 get lost on the prairie so near to a town. t; Indeed 
 they do — plenty of them!" replied the landlady. 
 But they hoped it was not so bad in this case. When 
 the wife returned, the minister was at home, safe and 
 smiling ; but he had been bewildered on the prairie, 
 where one square mile was like every other, and 
 had lost much time in consequence, though not so 
 much as to spoil his service. 
 
 There was no evening service in the village, for the 
 depot was wanted for other uses. So we two sat 
 beside our cook-stove, read at our borrowed table 
 by the light of our borrowed lamp, behind our news- 
 paper window curtains, and, as bedtime approached, 
 chatted cheerily, resolving not to write our eastern 
 
Beginning Housekeeping. 31 
 
 friends anything about our domestic surroundings, 
 the knowledge of which would only distress them, 
 since they would feel our discomforts, while there 
 was really much alleviation which they could not 
 be made to see. After evening devotions we re- 
 tired early up our steep stair, and slept in peace. 
 
 Monday morning we took our breakfast with the 
 miscellaneous company at the hotel table, came home 
 and sat down before the stove ; for the morning 
 was cloudy and chilly. Little did we suspect that 
 we were about to learn the meaning of a word we 
 had seen in prict, without the smallest apprehension 
 of its meaning. There was a gray, leaden look in 
 the heavens. The stillness of the atmosphere was 
 oppressive enough to be a warning to the initiated, 
 but was scarcely noticed by us, as we were planning 
 for the week, for parish calls and work, and for the 
 immediate purchasing of food and dishes. 
 
 Suddenly there came a blast of wind which shook 
 our roof and shrieked through our stovepipe, shrill 
 and fiend-like as the vicious swoop of a destroying 
 eagle. The house trembled and creaked as the 
 awful blast struck it. Another and another came in 
 quick succession, whistling, wailing, roaring, howling. 
 We glanced at each other and out of the windows. 
 Fine particles of snow were swirling in the air, and 
 we knew that a blizzard was upon us. Already our 
 
32 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 frail tenement was shaking continuously as in an ague 
 fit, and its foundation was as slight as its structure. 
 In the grip of that relentless fiend of the air, we 
 felt that our house might at any instant be crushed 
 like an eggshell, and that, if it could hold together, 
 some of these gusts must send it tumbling over and 
 over like a weed before the wind, far across the 
 prairie. The air was now so thick with snow that 
 a house twenty feet distant was invisible. As noon 
 approached, the question of food and water was 
 discussed with interest. The minister took a pail 
 and groped his way toward a railroad ditch, some 
 ten rods distant, where soft water could be dipped 
 up, a nearer well yielding water so hard that the 
 addition of soap converted it into a milky, greasy 
 fluid unfit for washing. He returned with about 
 half the water blown out of his pail and his clothing 
 a sheet of ice. " It is useless,'' he said to his wife, 
 " for you to attempt to stand before the wind. I 
 will bring your dinner." He took a little tin pail 
 with a cover, which we fortunately possessed, went 
 to the hotel, a few rods away, ate his own dinner, 
 and brought food to the wife. She found a little 
 package of tea brought from Chicago in her trunk, 
 steeped some in her one tin cup, and partook of 
 her first meal in her new home with mingled thank- 
 fulness and fear. 
 
Beginning Housekeeping. 33 
 
 As the clay wore on, the gusts seemed to increase in 
 severity, — if that were possible, — and the uncertainty 
 of our untried position we keenly felt. In the thick 
 darkness of the early evening the wife ascended to 
 the chamber and lay down upon the bed, to ascertain 
 by experiment whether rest would be possible there 
 for the night. A brief trial convinced her that no 
 rest was to be had in that attic. Its walls of thin 
 boards seemed like the curtains of a paper tent, as the 
 wind roared and raved about them, and the shrill wail 
 iu the stovepipe was varied only by shrieks that 
 seemed both human and inhuman. The bed shivered, 
 trembled, rocked, and that apprehension which comes 
 of not knowing how much worse the situation may be 
 was hardest of all to bear. Unspoken terror would 
 drive away all possibility of sleep. The bed was 
 brought down and the bedstead. The only place in 
 the little room where it could be set up was with the 
 head against the front door. It was a frail door sur- 
 rounded by cracks, and we had nothing to calk with. 
 But the storm came from the opposite direction, and 
 by hanging a quilt over the door we had a corner for 
 our bed somewhat sheltered from the heaviest drafts. 
 So, as cheerily as possible, we made our preparations 
 for the night — kept the fire up, for the cold was 
 growing intense ; committed ourselves to God and lay 
 down to rest, if not to sleep. All night and all the 
 
34 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 next day the storm raged without intermission. 
 Sometimes the minister went into the rude shed over 
 the back door of the room, in order to replenish his 
 coal hod. Through the gaps and crannies of the 
 shed the force of the wind had driven the fine snow 
 till every surface of joist and board within wore an 
 ermine mantle several inches thick, and every projec- 
 tion wore grotesque curves and beautiful wreaths of 
 snow, compact in substance as though cut from Parian 
 marble. By the middle of the afternoon of the second 
 day we began to discern a diminution of the force of 
 the wind, slight indeed ; but as we watched, or rather 
 felt, the gusts, we were sure they were a little lighter. 
 Before dark we received our first call. The doctor 
 and one of the church members from the prairie 
 floundered to the door of the coal shed and knocked. 
 When seated beside the fire, the doctor opened his 
 greatcoat and drew from its shelter our first present 
 — a little bundle, as large as his arm below the elbow, 
 of pine fagots for kindling. Nothing could have been 
 more welcome, though we did not then know that 
 wood was more precious than gold in our new parish. 
 Far-seeing plans had been laid and patiently realized, 
 before our neighbor could have been the possessor of 
 such kindling, with a bunch to spare. If we, without 
 experience, and in such a storm, had been without it, 
 and our fire had once gone out, what could we have 
 
Beginning Housekeeping. 35 
 
 done ! We laid it away with gratitude, and answered 
 his kind inquiries as to how we had obtained food for 
 the past thirty-six hours, whether we had slept, and if 
 we were afraid. 
 
 His companion had been caught in the storm, miles 
 from home, had walked to the village on the rail track, 
 and was now about to proceed five miles farther in the 
 same direction, in order to allay the anxiety of his 
 family and to provide for their wants. We protested 
 at the risk of life he knew he was taking ; but he pro- 
 ceeded, and fortunately reached home in safety, in 
 the lulling storm. 
 
 The son of another neighbor, a youth of fifteen, 
 had started that eventful Monday morning before the 
 hurricane fell, to walk from the village eight miles to 
 his father's ranch. The morning was not very cold, 
 and he was lightly clad. Before he was two miles 
 from the village the sudden gust descended. Expe- 
 rienced pioneers would have faced about for home 
 with all speed, as some of them did in that very 
 moment; but the boy was " plucky," and knew not 
 his danger. He kept on and on, until he was thor- 
 oughly bewildered, the thick air and benumbing blasts 
 closing in on every side. Still, with no house near, 
 he battled on, until he began to feel that the cold was 
 reaching the citadel of life, and realized, at last, that 
 he was helpless and hopeless. At that moment he 
 
36 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 stumbled over a harrow which he had left in his 
 father's field a few days before, and whose location 
 he remembered. It was not more than a quarter of a 
 mile from the shelter he sought, and thus guided and 
 cheered he reached the place in safety. Thus God 
 answered the prayers of his gentle mother, whose 
 faith alone assured her of his safety until his return 
 the third day after. 
 
 Ten miles from us, on that first fearful night, two 
 young men from Missouri were groping in the awful 
 darkness. They had come in spring clothing from 
 their warmer home, to look over the country and select 
 a new home. When the storm had subsided they 
 were found stiff in the embrace of death — their 
 spirits dwelt in u another clime than ours." No 
 volume will record the like fate of scores, perhaps 
 hundreds, who perished, " unwept, unhonored, and 
 unsung," because unknown, in that fearful storm. 
 There they rest, until the prairies and the sea shall 
 give up their dead. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 GETTING SETTLED. OUR HYMN. 
 
 OUR first half week of dwelling figuratively 
 " under our own vine and fig-tree " had passed 
 when Wednesday's fitful sun broke through the strug- 
 gling and retreating battalions of the storm demon. 
 The snow had melted, and the mud was unspeakable. 
 Not a sidewalk, not a board, before the low threshold 
 of our cabin ! Every foot labored heavily through 
 the rich, tarry loam of the street, and ours brought 
 their quota to reinforce that which already encum- 
 bered our floor. The soft coal sent its clinging, 
 greasy dust over every inch of surface which the 
 mud deposits did not cover, and the scanty hard 
 water and soap made with the mud and coal dust 
 an amalgam more disgusting than either of its 
 original constituents. The minister made an improve- 
 ment most heartily welcomed by the wife, when he 
 deposited an armful of hay, given by a kind neigh- 
 bor, before the front door, to serve both as sidewalk 
 and doormat. Not long afterward there was an 
 announcement made with the design of consolation. 
 It was the result of continued musing on the subject, 
 
 37 
 
38 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 and of observations gathered in the course of various 
 calls on our neighbors similarly situated. " It is of 
 no use," said the minister one day. " No one can 
 keep tidy in these conditions. You must resign 
 yourself to them without resistance, and be content 
 to have the house 'hoed out' once in a while." On 
 this prospect the wife meditated without present 
 comment. We now set out on a prospecting tour 
 among the two or three " stores" which the settlement 
 possessed. More than once we found gentlemanly 
 attention from behind the counter, but we did not 
 find much else that we wanted. Of the coarse white 
 crockery, nearly every piece was warped or otherwise 
 imperfect ; and the dried fruits were so poorly and 
 untidily prepared that we could not bring ourselves 
 to purchase any. Anything was evidently quite good 
 enough for frontier trade, and the more unsalable at 
 the east, the more astute the business capacity of 
 the merchant who could sell it at good prices here. 
 Our larder was at length furnished. Small paper 
 bags of flour, graham and corn meal, a pound or 
 two of butter, and a few potatoes and eggs, occupied 
 our storeroom, which was a hole about two feet by 
 three beneath the stairs, and our cellar, which was 
 another hole about three feet by four, under a trap- 
 door in the floor before our stove. Soon the prairie 
 at morning and evening would be white and gray 
 
Getting Settled. 39 
 
 with flocks of wild geese, alighting for rest on their 
 way northward. The boys in the family of one of 
 our prairie parishioners were expert gunners, and we 
 were often remembered by the gift of some of their 
 trophies. Geese and other wild fowl, however, had 
 so strong and ** gamy " a flavor, that only experience 
 in the cooking of it could make it palatable. In the 
 first two months of our residence we had no fresh 
 beef. A neighbor, who had killed a pig for his own 
 use, kindly made us a present of a small quantity of 
 fresh pork. Canned meat and a little salt pork and 
 salt fish from the store were our provisions for chief 
 dependence. Only green tea was to be had, which 
 we did not drink ; but green Rio coffee yielded its 
 fragrance when imprisoned in a dripping pan in our 
 oven, and the doctor had a cow, and generously gave 
 us daily a pint or quart of milk. 
 
 There was neither cupboard nor closet. When the 
 wife had brought in the shallow tin pan which had 
 been kindly bestowed upon her as a gift, and washed 
 and wiped her new dishes for two on her round table, 
 she was puzzled as to where she could keep them 
 when the table was needed for the writing of sermons. 
 Her eye fell on a little compartment formed by the 
 lowest stair, which had been made with a remov- 
 able top. There the dishes would be comparatively 
 sheltered from mud and coal dust until a better place 
 
40 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 could be contrived. This was the only cupboard for 
 some time, although, in spite of paper and cloth to 
 guard them from the dust made by frequent passing 
 over the rattling stair, they always needed careful 
 attention before u setting the table." A bit of chintz 
 brought in our trunk was made up into a curtain 
 and hung before the repository of paper bags which 
 served instead of a meal chest, and we settled down 
 to housekeeping with no further outfit until our 
 goods should arrive, when we hoped to improve our 
 arrangements. 
 
 Meantime the spring rains had begun to fall. We 
 had been in our new home now long enough to take 
 a "sober second thought" as to our environments. 
 To our poor human vision the outlook was far enough 
 from fascinating. Depression and doubt were on 
 the alert, and, like the scriptural view of sin, 
 they seemed, like a wild beast preparing to spring, 
 " crouching at the door" of our hearts. Never will- 
 ingly, nor of conscious purpose, had we yielded to 
 them. No word of discouragement had either of us 
 ever uttered, for the momentum of our purpose was 
 still upon us, and we still hoped to help this moral wil- 
 derness yet to blossom as the rose. The indulgence 
 of homesickness would have been treason to the high 
 ends which had brought us hither. To the unbidden 
 and resisted secret temptations of each heart an 
 
Getting Settled. 41 
 
 answer unlooked for soon came in a "Thus saith 
 the Lord." 
 
 For three weeks a continuous northeast rain storm 
 had prevailed. Our front door faced the east, and 
 was hardly an inch in thickness. The thin panels 
 had cracked widely under the combined influence of 
 rain and sun the previous season. Underneath the 
 door was a wide gap which no ingenuity of ours, 
 with the means at command, had been able to stop. 
 The wind and the rain knocked at the door night and 
 day. Every morning a dismal stream had beaten 
 underneath it and ran nearly across our floor, leav- 
 ing, when swept out, dampness and discomfort not 
 to be removed. The piercing wind was a constant 
 guest at our breakfast table. 
 
 One morning in the third week of this rainy 
 season we moved back from our simple breakfast, 
 the wife adjusted the little loose strip of hemp car- 
 pet as best she could for our comfort beside the fire, 
 the minister read, as usual, from the Book, and each 
 opened a Gospel song book. What instinct led the 
 wife to suggest, " Let us sing No. 40"? We had 
 never sung it before, and knew neither what the 
 words were to be nor the tune. Though all was 
 strange, we started in bravely, the husband's tenor 
 voice on the soprano, supplemented by the wife's 
 alto. Cheerfully we sang, — 
 
42 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 u Holy Spirit, faithful guide, 
 Ever near the Christian's side, 
 Gently lead us by the hand, 
 Pilgrims in a desert land." 
 
 Voices were softening, but we went on, — 
 
 u Ever-present, truest Friend, 
 Ever near, thine aid to lend, 
 Leave us not to doubt and fear, 
 Groping on in darkness drear." 
 
 Tones were trembling now. The unspoken heart- 
 sinkings of all the past weeks were gathering and 
 culminating, unbidden and unwelcome, and, for an 
 instant only, our self-control seemed on the point of 
 taking leave. But the song paused not, the tune and 
 the words carrying us forward to victory. Though 
 our hearts were melted like wax, tears, not of depres- 
 sion, but of holy exultation, fell like rain from our 
 eyes, while voices grew stronger as the strain went 
 on, — 
 
 "When the storms are raging sore, 
 Hearts grow faint, and hopes give o'er, 
 Whispering softly, Wanderer, come, 
 Follow me; I HI guide thee home." 
 
 Peace and triumph came with these words. It was 
 as though He who stood by night beside his apostle, 
 saying, " Be of good cheer, Paul!" had even come 
 
Getting Settled. 43 
 
 also to us, his humble messengers. If a voice from 
 heaven had audibly spoken to us assurance of sym- 
 pathy and encouragement and divine leadership, the 
 impression could hardly have been stronger, the com- 
 fort more real. Scarcely conscious of our need until 
 the Word came, it was as with the tender comfort 
 of one u whom his mother comforteth." The prayer 
 that closed our morning devotions was little else than 
 the breathing out of broken and contrite spirits into 
 the ear of an eternal Friend. 
 
 From that hour forth there was, in our pioneer 
 work, a freedom from small annoyances of spirit, a 
 smoothness in the running of the wheels of daily life, 
 a sense of the upholding, protecting presence of the 
 Lord in degree beyond what we had known before, 
 and without fitfulness or much variation. Thus early 
 was gracious reward made to walk hand in hand 
 with endeavor. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 AMONG THE PEOPLE. 
 
 THE clouds at length began to clear, and the mud 
 to dry. It was time that we made acquaintance 
 with the more remote of our parishioners. 
 
 An early call was on a family who lived in a sod 
 house. Sod houses are built where there is no supply 
 of lumber, or no means to buy it. A furrow is turned 
 from the stout sward of the prairie, about a foot or 
 eighteen inches in width, which is then cut by the 
 spade into squares. These squares are piled one on 
 another to form the thick walls of the house, one side 
 being carried higher than that opposite, to afford the 
 requisite slope for the roof. Openings are cut or 
 formed in the walls as they rise, for door and window. 
 A few rough boards are laid slantwise from wall to 
 wall, and covered with sods, which thus form the roof 
 also, with a hole in one corner for the stove funnel. A 
 window sash or half sash and a rough door complete 
 the outfit. Sometimes the luxury of a rough loose 
 board floor is found within, but often only a floor of 
 hard-trodden earth, with a piece or two of board by 
 way of rug, before the bed. 
 
 44 
 
< 
 o 
 
 z 
 o 
 
 > 
 I- 
 z 
 < 
 
 X 
 CO 
 
 D 
 
 o 
 
 LU 
 
Among the People. 45 
 
 The walls of this first sod house which we entered 
 were very thick, and we congratulated the owner, one 
 of the best farmers, on having a dwelling which shut 
 out the cold winds. 
 
 " Yes," he said, Ci but the roof leaks wretchedly. 
 It leaks mud on us, and I must do something." 
 
 The sweet-faced mistress of the house was tending 
 her two beautiful children cheerily ; but how our hearts 
 sank at the close proximity of cupboard, bed, stove, 
 table, and crib ! This mother proved a quiet but 
 efficient helper in all good things, whether church 
 social, temperance meeting, or Sunday-school festival. 
 
 Another call was upon a young man and his wife, 
 persons of intelligence from a college town in an 
 eastern state, who brought letters of highest recom- 
 mendation from their former pastor. The house — 
 this one of boards — was about ten by twelve feet, 
 and contained one room. Within was neatness itself. 
 The cook-stove shone with spotless luster ; the neat 
 wardrobe, made and painted by the husband, con- 
 cealed unused clothing ; the stand which matched it 
 was faultless, and so were the floor, and the bed in the 
 corner. The wife's father, mother, and four brothers 
 (two of them young men) had just arrived from the 
 cast, and taken up a temporary residence with the 
 young couple until the spring crops should be planted, 
 and thev could build a home for themselves. 
 
46 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 We asked how these eight persons slept in this one 
 little kitchen. 
 
 " On straw ticks laid on the floor at night," was the 
 reply. 
 
 We did not press inquiry further, but on our way 
 home meditated on the situation. The father and 
 mother doubtless had the bed ; the master and mis- 
 tress probably slept on a ; ' straw tick " produced from 
 some impossible place and laid upon the floor. The 
 two older brothers had another. But two straw ticks 
 would fill absolutely every available foot of the floor 
 space. Where could those two younger brothers 
 sleep ? All at once the solution occurred to us both. 
 Those two boys of ten and twelve must have slept 
 wider the bed! 
 
 An early call of the minister's was upon his near- 
 est ministerial neighbor, several miles distant. This 
 neighbor and his wife had come a year or two 
 before our arrival, passing through the exceeding 
 severity of that long-to-be-remembered winter. He 
 told us that he had just ten dollars in money on his 
 arrival, and that he bought lumber on credit with 
 which to build his house. The frame was constructed 
 of a few small scantlings. On this slight framework 
 were nailed thin boards for the covering. Within, the 
 walls were lined and partitions made, not of laths and 
 plaster, but simply of brown paper tacked on the 
 
Among the People. 47 
 
 studding. This, in sheets, with their frequent loose 
 overlappings, helped but inadequately to keep out the 
 cold of winter. It was the habit of that minister and 
 his wife during the first winter to wear all the clothing 
 they could command when about ordinary household 
 duties, including overcoats, shawls, mittens, and arc- 
 tic overshoes ; and then they were seldom or never 
 comfortably warm out of bed. For this reason they 
 spent many daylight waking hours in bed during the 
 severest weather. 
 
 One excellent result of calling among our parish- 
 ioners was to send us home cheered by the contrast 
 between their family accommodations and ours. We 
 were so much better off than most, that our little cabin 
 usually looked positively attractive when we got back 
 to it. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE FIRST COMMUNION. — OUR SUNDAY-SCHOOL. — A 
 JOURNEY. 
 
 rT^HE first weeks had passed, and the time of May 
 -*- communion was approaching. This ordinance 
 had been enjoyed but once before — at the organiza- 
 tion of the little church. It was desirable that as 
 many should be gathered as possible in the village for 
 its celebration Sunday morning, and, after it, be 
 quickly ready to go to the afternoon service on the 
 prairie. Our little cabin now rejoiced in a pine cup- 
 board, a rag carpet, window curtains, and sundry pro- 
 visions of canned fruit, meat, white beans, etc., which 
 had arrived in our boxes, as well as a few pieces of 
 table linen, china, and silver. So our country mem- 
 bers were invited to dine with us after the morning 
 service, and also the pastor and deacon from the 
 nearest church, who had signified their hope to be with 
 us on this important and joyful occasion. Every 
 possible preparation was made on Saturday. Sunday 
 morning the little waiting room at the station wit- 
 nessed a memorable scene. A small white tablecloth 
 was spread over the office table ; a china plate and 
 
The First Communion. 49 
 
 pitcher and a common glass tumbler serving to convey 
 the sacred emblems, of which the unwontedly large 
 congregation of believers partook, with tears of thank- 
 fulness, while children and rude frontiersmen were 
 interested spectators. 
 
 The pastor's wife excused herself, immediately after 
 the service, from the Sunday-school, that she might 
 hasten home, well knowing the difficulty she would 
 experience in preparing dinner in the tiny cabin when 
 all the guests should have arrived to crowd the space, 
 in the center of which the table was already set. But 
 a number of the guests also declined the invitation 
 to remain to Sunday-school, and were crossing the 
 street toward the house before she had laid aside 
 bonnet and gloves. The visiting minister sat between 
 the stove and the table, his feet warming in the oven 
 while he socially discoursed to the hostess on high 
 themes in a most interesting way. With scarcely 
 opportunity to turn, or to collect her thoughts on the 
 duty before her, the hostess inaudibly sighed for " six 
 feet of kitchen " to herself, and felt almost dis- 
 mayed at the task of serving dinner in an orderly 
 way to ten persons in these circumstances. The 
 husband gladly shared with her the privilege of serv- 
 ing the guests, but eight were too many to find room 
 at the little round table, which had neither " exten- 
 sion leaves" nor room to spread them in. Six of 
 
50 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the guests were men, one was the visiting pastor's 
 wife, and one the little daughter of a judge who 
 had come as one of the guests. The lady guest 
 assured the hostess that she could be handsomely 
 accommodated by spreading a napkin beneath her 
 plate on the broad step at the turning of the stairs, 
 and sitting on the step below ; and knowing that it was 
 both nature and habit to this gentle woman to rejoice 
 in the lowliest place, we yielded to the necessity. 
 After the lady and the seven around the table had 
 been served, the minister had his dinner on the stand, 
 for he also had to go immediately to the second 
 service. Never, it seemed to us, was a meal more 
 enjoyed in Christian fellowship. Then the lumber 
 wagons and other vehicles bore away the whole com- 
 pany towards the prairie schoolhouse, leaving the 
 hostess to restore order and neatness to cabin and 
 cupboard. This was a task which filled nearly the 
 whole afternoon, and left her almost too weary for 
 even Bible and hymn book to bring their wonted cheer 
 afterward ; but it was felt to be strength well spent. 
 
 The Sunday-school grew perceptibly in interest, and 
 as the spring came, several children, who had not 
 been able to attend in winter, joined the classes. The 
 large and small girls were still all together in one class, 
 and made a pretty picture. The tiniest would sit in 
 the lap of the teacher, and another little one would 
 
 
The First Communion, 51 
 
 stand beside her, while the older girls would each take 
 one or two little ones to hold also. One girl, eight 
 years old, walked alone two miles across the prairie to 
 the school and back, except when she caught an old 
 white horse and rode on his back without a saddle, as 
 she used to do sometimes. One of the older girls, 
 about fifteen, was an orphan and lived with her grand- 
 parents. She had never been to school a day in her 
 life because she had always lived on a frontier where 
 there was no school. She had at home learned to 
 read and had mastered a little arithmetic, but she 
 seemed not to have had much religious instruction. 
 One day her cheek flushed and her eyes grew eager, 
 as her teacher told of the Saviour and about asking 
 for his help and care. As they talked on, the little 
 one standing at the teacher's side said artlessly, u I 
 know a verse about Jesus," and then repeated a 
 beautiful little prayer her mother had taught her. 
 Then the youngest of all, in the teacher's lap, said her 
 prayer, in a way so sweet as to bring tears to the 
 eyes of the teacher. They had perhaps never been to 
 Sunday-school before, and prattled on, not knowing 
 enough to be afraid, until the boys' class, and even 
 the Bible class, had stopped to listen to the children's 
 talk about Jesus. Again, as so often in the world's 
 old story, from the mouths of babes was the praise 
 of God perfected. 
 
52 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 The children of this village were more than a year 
 without any day school whatever, and the Sunday- 
 school was their privilege and their joy. 
 
 Not long after the opening of the spring flowers 
 circumstances called for a journey of about two hun- 
 dred and eighty miles " across country." Though all 
 the way was a public thoroughfare, if it had been 
 planned with an especial view to discomfort and 
 inconvenience it could hardly have been arranged 
 more effectually to accomplish this object. First a 
 few miles were traveled by rail, and then came the 
 variety of about twenty miles by stage. Sloughs and 
 rough roads and showers did not make this partic- 
 ularly agreeable. For some miles before we reached 
 a point where we were again to take the railroad a 
 white church spire rising from trees which crowned an 
 eminence was conspicuous. This welcome sight was 
 the church connected with the first Indian home- 
 stead settlement in the territory. At the village, 
 which had grown up at the nucleus of this settlement, 
 now twelve years old, and composed of whites and 
 Indians, we were obliged to wait for our train from 
 noon till nearly midnight. Accompanied by the genial 
 and obliging host of the hotel, we went to call on the 
 Indian minister, whose work here was already rising to 
 "praise him in the gates." He and his wife were 
 absent, but we were courteously received by three 
 
The First Communion. 53 
 
 Indian maidens, and shown the building used by the 
 school, of which this minister was also the teacher. 
 His residence was in the front part of the building. 
 As we were courteously ushered through the rooms by 
 an Indian girl, with the dress and manners of a lady, 
 who spoke perfectly correct and polite English, we 
 caught glimpses of a well-ordered bedroom, with a cat 
 curled up asleep on the bed, of a sitting and dining 
 room, with extension table, cushioned rocking-chair, 
 and well-filled bookcase, — signs of civilization most 
 welcome to our hungry eyes. The schoolroom was 
 furnished with modern school furniture, large black- 
 board, wall charts, clock, and outline maps. On the 
 teacher's table lay a handsome Bible with a gilt clasp, 
 and a red morocco-covered hymn book, both trans- 
 lated into the Dakota language by the missionaries, 
 Williamson and Riggs. The unpronounceable Indian 
 words in the hymn book look strangely under the Eng- 
 lish titles, " Old Hundred," " Coronation," " Dennis," 
 and so forth. On the fly leaf was written the pastor's 
 name in lines singularly clear, delicate, and graceful, 
 and opposite was pasted a little printed slip containing 
 the hymn, " Pass me not, gentle Saviour ! " in the 
 Dakota tongue. The school register was shown us, 
 containing the names of thirty-four pupils, with the 
 attendance for a previous month carefully marked for 
 each half day. 
 
54 Service in the Kiiyg's Guards. 
 
 Beside the school was the public granary, where 
 grain for seed and other special needs was stored ; and 
 below, on the river, beside which an Indian trail has 
 run from time immemorial, was a large flouring mill, not 
 built by the Indians, but situated on an Indian claim. 
 Walking out to the bank of the river, we picked a 
 dozen varieties of flowers, — anemones, violets, butter- 
 cups, and several unfamiliar and unnamable specimens, 
 — and enjoyed the landscape, which here had the 
 charm of native oaks, elms, and cottonwood, growing 
 along the river's course. These Indians are the Santee 
 Sioux, then numbering about one hundred families, or 
 between three and four hundred individuals. They 
 resided mostly outside the village, on farms which 
 they owned and tilled, and their comfortable homes 
 were in no way to be distinguished from those of well- 
 to-do white settlers. Good frame houses, many neatly 
 painted, and with goodly groves of trees around them, 
 planted and grown by themselves, attested the possi- 
 bility of civilizing the Indians. These were, at least 
 in part, those Indians concerned in the Minnesota 
 massacres of 18C2, who were long imprisoned at 
 Mankato and Davenport, and among whom that won- 
 derful revival took place so graphically described by 
 Dr. Riggs in his book, " Mary and I." In prison, 
 while the leaders were taken from them and executed, 
 and many of their number were dying from exposure 
 
TJie First Communion. 55 
 
 and prison diseases, hundreds learned to read and 
 write, and many were truly converted. At length 
 they were transported to a point on the Missouri and 
 liberated, but after a few years' experience of life as 
 dependents at a government agency they emigrated 
 hither to form this homestead settlement on the Big 
 Sioux. 
 
 This refreshing detour within the bounds of civiliza- 
 tion had rested our bodies and cheered our hearts, so 
 that we prepared with alacrity for the midnight train 
 which was to bear us still farther towards life a little 
 removed from the first raw, uncouth stage of ever- 
 surrounding " newness." The unwelcome hour of two 
 o'clock in the morning set us down again from our 
 railroad train, but this time near an excellent hotel, 
 where we snatched a few hours' sleep. By seven 
 o'clock a.m. we had breakfasted, and were again on 
 our way. Though still in a new land, the country 
 looked old in comparison with the frontier counties. 
 Painted and plastered houses, brick chimneys, wire- 
 fenced pastures, bespoke a few years' vantage in the 
 struggle of civilization with the " boundless contiguity " 
 of primeval prairie. 
 
 Soon we had our first view of the Missouri River, in 
 length the grandest river in the world, its clay-colored 
 banks giving color and almost " consistency " to the 
 majestic stream, on which the significant name, " Big 
 
56 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 Muddy, " was bestowed by the Indians. The object 
 of our journey accomplished, we returned by the same 
 route with gladness to our frontier cabin. The thirty- 
 six hours consumed in making the journey either way 
 compassed less than three hundred miles — time which 
 would have sufficed to make a journey from Boston to 
 Chicago with far greater ease and comfort. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FIRST FUNERAL. 
 
 ON a beautiful July day the doctor called to say 
 that a man had died seven miles from the 
 village, and the minister was requested to attend the 
 funeral. The doctor added, " The family live in a 
 sod house. That is a comparatively comfortable place 
 while people are well, but if they get sick it is 
 likely to go hard with them." With the needed offer 
 of his horse and buggy for a conveyance, after 
 giving a few particulars of the history of the family, 
 the kind-hearted doctor departed. The hour of noon 
 saw the minister and his wife well on the way toward 
 the place of sorrow, for the road was long and untried. 
 We rode for miles over the prairie, often uncertain as 
 to the way, fearful of missing the track, and of plung- 
 ing perhaps into impassable sloughs. After stopping 
 almost as often as we came in sight of a shanty, to 
 inquire the way, we reached at last our destination. 
 It was such a July day as we have never seen else- 
 where. High overarching heavens of intensest blue 
 and white, a cool breeze, magnificent sunshine flood- 
 ing earth and sky, combined to spread over the vast, 
 
 57 
 
58 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 green, billowy prairies of waving grass and grain a 
 glory all their own. 
 
 As we came, at last, in sight of the house we 
 could see the neighbors gathering from their humble 
 homes, some of them from miles away. Death is 
 wont to be sad, and every funeral service has gloom 
 enough. But in this case the sadness was unusual, 
 and the gloom seemed almost without relief. Arrived 
 at the place of mourning, a glance revealed sorrowful 
 faces of parents and children within the house. In 
 the only room was a single window, through which 
 the afternoon sun was shining, a stove, a rough pine 
 bedstead before which lay two or three small pieces 
 of board on the floor of earth, and a few pine stools or 
 benches. A rude pine table stood in the shade of the 
 house, outside the door, on which was a pine coffin 
 stained black, which already enclosed its sad burden. 
 There was not a chair, nor an article of cabinet 
 furniture of any description. The neighbors who had 
 assembled were not invited to enter the house. It was 
 a kindness to allow them to arrange themselves on 
 extemporized seats, taken from their wagons, or 
 made of a few boards on small boxes, by the shaded 
 wall of sods on either side of the door. 
 
 Within this single apartment a family of nine had 
 made their home about a year before. The grand- 
 parents had come from Scotland to Canada long ago. 
 
The First Funeral. 59 
 
 Not yet threescore and ten, they, with a son, his 
 wife, and five little children, had now come in poverty 
 to seek a home where land is waiting for the poor. 
 Here, on this u claim," the grandmother had died in 
 the first winter, and here, on a day when wind and 
 storm forbade even the presence of the nearest neigh- 
 bors, except two or three, — minister then there was 
 none, — she had been buried. Now, after a few 
 months of loneliness without her, they were to carry 
 the grandfather to be laid beside his wife. 
 
 Just inside the door of the house, in presence of 
 the mourners and assembled neighbors, with the grass 
 in blossom on the sod roof waving in the air above 
 his head, the minister stood, with his Bible and 
 Gospel song book, to read of the " many mansions," 
 and to sing of the " land that is fairer than day." 
 What a privilege and a refuge was prayer in such 
 circumstances ! 
 
 Soon the closed pine coffin was in the wagon, with 
 a bunch of white petunias and sweet alyssum on the 
 lid, reviving for us sad memories of other scenes 
 where cultivated flowers more beautiful, but not more 
 rare than these were now, exhaled their fragrance for 
 the tomb. The children, from two to seven years 
 of age, were left in the hut, the eldest to care for 
 the others, while the father and mother followed 
 the coffin on foot. Then came the conveyance of the 
 
60 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 pastor and his wife, and four or five other vehicles 
 with sympathizing neighbors. 
 
 The knoll on the farm where the grandmother had 
 been laid was now ready to receive the grandfather 
 to its bosom. But for that solitary, unmarked mound 
 of green, it would have seemed like lowering a coffin 
 overboard at sea. On that lonely hilltop, around that 
 open grave, in such circumstances, what comfort was 
 there for the bereaved family, crushed by sorrow as 
 really, in their poverty, as the wise, the great, the rich, 
 might have been amid surrounding luxury? What 
 could be said to the hard-handed, tawny sons of toil 
 who stood around them in awe and sympathy? 
 
 Human words are empty here. But the divine 
 Word was uttered for such a need. Every man 
 bared his head as the minister read the words, 
 which, to more than one heart, seemed to have been 
 written for such a time as this, as for none before. 
 
 u That which thou sowest is not quickened, except it 
 die : and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that 
 body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, 
 • or of some other grain : but God giveth it a body as it hath 
 pleased him, and to every seed his own body. ... So also 
 is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption ; 
 it is raised in incorruption : it is sown in dishonour ; it is 
 raised in glory: . . . It is sown a natural body; it is raised 
 a spiritual body. . . . For this corruptible must put on 
 incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. . . . 
 
TJie First Funeral. 61 
 
 "Thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through 
 our Lord Jesus Christ." 
 
 To lift one's eyes was to look to the far sweep of 
 the horizon in every direction, and to see, stretching 
 thither, vast fields of grain waving for the harvest, 
 some of which these men before us had watched, as 
 planted by their hands a few weeks ago ; they knew 
 the seed had died in mold and darkness to nourish 
 the new life w^hich now clothed these fields in beauty 
 and rejoicing. Who shall say that the lesson did 
 not sink into their hearts as though they had never 
 heard it before ? Perchance in some bosom there was 
 planted 
 
 u The seeds of holiness, to blossom 
 In fragrance and in beauty bright and vernal, 
 To spring eternal." 
 
 And this perfect day, worthy of " the new heavens 
 and the new earth " in its exquisite beauty, laid its 
 balm upon our souls. Gazing upward into the deep, 
 transparent blue of the overarching sky with its mag- 
 nificent opening clouds, our tears of joy mingled with 
 the inspired words, and we could almost see, coming 
 44 in like manner " as he departed, the tender, radiant 
 form of Him who is the resurrection and the life. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE SCHOOLHOUSE. NEW FRIENDS. THE CHURCH. 
 
 T I ^HE first school meeting after our arrival was 
 -**- held in the office of the lumber depot. Im- 
 portant action, affecting the welfare of all the people, 
 was pending, and all the people believed in having 
 both school and church. If any could be found to 
 acknowledge no higher reason, it was necessary for 
 the real estate interests that there should be both. 
 It was curious to note how these interests were upper- 
 most in the thoughts of nearly all. Several times we 
 were the objects of unasked sympathy because all the 
 good "claims" near the village had been taken up 
 before our arrival, and great was the surprise when it 
 was ascertained that the minister did not wish to take 
 up land. Indeed, during the years of his residence 
 west he was continually urged, in a friendly way, 
 not to neglect the opportunity of securing the three 
 " quarter sections," which, as " preemption," " home- 
 stead," and "tree-claim," it was in his power to 
 obtain, and it was also intimated that the wife might 
 "file " on land in her own right. The negatives cour- 
 teously given in reply were received with unfeigned 
 
 62 
 
The Schoolhouse. 63 
 
 astonishment sometimes ; sometimes, it is to be feared, 
 with silent contempt. Not to have come for land was 
 thought to be incompatible with good sense, even in 
 a minister. 
 
 The intense worldliness filled head and heart and 
 hands of the people to such a degree that even school 
 interests were left to the control of a very few. At 
 this school meeting the office of the lumber shed 
 was quite large enough to accommodate the four or 
 five men and two women who attended. The min- 
 ister and his wife were of the number, and when 
 the vote was taken, both, as qualified voters, exer- 
 cised their rights under the law. The result was 
 unanimous. 
 
 It was not long before the foundations of the school- 
 house were laid. It was to be built on a plan pre- 
 viously adopted, and on a scale commensurate with the 
 expectations of the people in regard to the future of 
 the town. How we watched the progress of the 
 work ! Every sign of advance was hailed with a 
 heartfelt joy which surprised even ourselves. It 
 could hardly have been pleasure more real if the 
 house had been only for our own personal benefit. 
 
 When it was enclosed with sides and roof, and floors 
 laid, the Sabbath congregation joyfully migrated from 
 the railroad waiting room to the new edifice. Only 
 the lower story was at first to be finished, so to the 
 
64 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 upper, where we could be unmolested by workmen for 
 months to come, we repaired until the lower floor 
 should be completed. It was in the long summer, 
 when the rains fall not, and we needed not to wait 
 until the window openings were filled with sash and 
 glass. The room was large enough to accommodate 
 the growing congregation, and that alone was cause 
 for gratitude. How our songs of praise floated out 
 through the open windows of that unfinished upper 
 room on the delicious prairie air of that unclouded 
 Sunday morning ! The company were seated on 
 boards supported by nail kegs, the feet of a number 
 of the grown persons and all the children swinging at 
 various distances above the floor, and with only the 
 rough inside of the siding and the studding for backs 
 to the seats ; indeed, most had no backs at all. But 
 there was hope of better accommodation erelong, and 
 even this was a palace compared to the quarters 
 which the congregation had met in for now many 
 months. Never, it seemed, were people more thank- 
 ful, and our schoolhouse was better to us than a cathe- 
 dral would have been with Gothic spire and vaulted 
 aisle. 
 
 The immigration of the year had been large in the 
 whole country, and, though not so great as had been 
 expected to this particular locality, new faces were 
 constantly seen in the congregation, and new homes 
 
The Schoolhouse. 65 
 
 were constantly made around us. On one of our 
 Sunday mornings at the depot a well-dressed family 
 had appeared, consisting of a gentleman, his wife, 
 and lovely little son. The contrast between this serv- 
 ice and that of the city church of two thousand 
 members which they had left needed no emphasizing. 
 When the minister led in the closing hymn, "I've 
 found a Friend," tears rained down the face of the 
 lady, and we knew there was small room in the home- 
 sick heart for the welcome that awaited the newcomers 
 when the services were over, and the introductions 
 were made. Yet this lady proved one of our valued 
 helpers, and we knew no one more resolute than she 
 became in battling with the trials of a new country. 
 
 One day, near sunset, an English gentleman and 
 his wife appeared at our door, inquiring for the home 
 of a distant parishioner. They had, a few moments 
 before, left the railway train, to end at our door a 
 journey made without a break from Manchester, Eng- 
 land. Two thousand miles of ocean, and two thou- 
 sand miles of land, placed not the barriers between 
 them and their old home which were interposed by 
 the change of situation and customs. 
 
 Learning that the friends whom they sought lived a 
 few miles from the village, they set out with alacrity 
 to walk. They knew no English oaks and no hedge- 
 rows would diversify the scene, but they did not know 
 
66 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the difference between following paths through English 
 meadows and over English stiles, and following trails 
 over uncultivated American prairie. Soon the lady's 
 shoes were almost cut from her feet ; but her greatest 
 difficulty was yet before her. They had come to the 
 edge of a large morass, almost impassable to those 
 who well knew the way across it. Here they paused, 
 in anxiety and doubt, for the night was falling. Soon, 
 however, a man driving an ox-team before a wagon 
 without a box approached from behind them. Joy- 
 fully they accepted his offered help. The lady, seated 
 on the long " reach " between the wagon wheels, made 
 the transit safely, and soon they were at the home of 
 the friends they sought — a home, like all the others, 
 in name and in feeling, but with little else. On the 
 following Sunday morning these English friends were 
 among the congregation in the schoolhouse. Friendly 
 sympathy was not wasted, for the lady confessed that 
 she had scarcely been able to listen to the sermon, 
 because of the abundance of her tears. 
 
 Erelong the first floor of the schoolhouse was fin- 
 ished, furnished with seats and table, and became the 
 sanctuary — its only use, for as yet neither teacher 
 nor school had " materialized." A cabinet organ was 
 brought from the home of our first friends, and the 
 Sabbath service took on an orderliness and dignity 
 most welcome, both in the congregation and the 
 
Tfie Schoolhouse. 67 
 
 Sunday-school, which latter, now graded and supplied 
 with teachers, made rapid gains in the bright, warm 
 weather. 
 
 The church edifice, too, was going upward. When 
 the foundations were to be laid, every man, except 
 one, was overwhelmed by the demands of seeding time 
 on the new farms and of business in the village. The 
 stone had been brought by freight train, and the lime 
 for mortar, precious in proportion to its scarcity, had 
 been burned in kilns hundreds of miles eastward. 
 One farmer, who felt an interest in the work, at length 
 came to help with a wagon and a yoke of oxen. This 
 was a great reinforcement to the mason and the minis- 
 ter, who were on the ground alone. The mortar was 
 to be made, and the stone hauled from the freight 
 depot, and the wall was to be laid. The mason super- 
 intended the work and laid the wall, the farmer and 
 the minister alternating, according to convenience, in 
 driving the oxen, which drew the stone, and carrying 
 mortar to the mason. The first time the minister 
 drove the oxen with their load through the chief street 
 of the village, even the rush of trade and speculation 
 was for a moment suspended, as men and boys turned 
 out of their places of business to see how he did it. 
 He knew that practiced e} 7 es and ears would instantly 
 detect any signs of inexperience, but, thanks to his 
 boyhood training on a New England farm ! he was 
 
68 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 enabled to pass the ordeal with credit, and even to be 
 conscious that from that day he had a new advantage 
 in preaching to those same men and boys. Their 
 minister, after all, was a man of affairs. His subse- 
 quent ability to unload the rocks and the lumber, sift 
 the sand, mix the mortar, and his privilege of carry- 
 ing the first hod, made less impression on the com- 
 munity, if not less demand on his strength and skill. 
 Slowly through the delightful days the good work 
 went on, and the interest we had felt in the school- 
 house was superseded by the greater joy with which 
 we watched the uprearing of a house of the Lord. As 
 became a frontier church, it was modest indeed, but 
 beautiful in outline against the background of sky 
 and prairie. And when its spire was completed our 
 eyes were gladdened as by "some tall palm" over- 
 shadowing a well in the desert. 
 
UJ 
 
 g 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A NEIGHBORING CHURCH. 
 
 (ETTERS missive had come, inviting the pastor 
 -^ and church to participate in the organization of 
 another church in an adjoining county. The pastor's 
 wife was elected a delegate from the church, — no one 
 else could go, — and on a bright summer morning we 
 set out. Our strange horse proved to be kind and 
 tractable, and, in this dry season, our light buggy was 
 adequate to the toils of the road. The way was 
 delightful. The long swells of the prairie were car- 
 peted by grass, which now, under an August sun, had 
 everywhere turned to a dried feathery mass of a 
 beautiful fawn color. In this delicate setting the 
 purple and lavender of the " thimble flower " were 
 massed in patches so thick as to be worthy of an 
 expert gardener in " ribbon " effects. Then there 
 were acres covered with other compound flowers, 
 which seemed to be the peculiar favorites of the 
 prairie soil at this season. Great yellow ox-eyed 
 daisies nodded in the winds by the thousand; " wild 
 sunflowers," large and small, in a dozen varieties, 
 made the distant view bright with their blossoms. 
 
 69 
 
70 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 Never had we seen elsewhere wild roses of so rich 
 and deep a pink, set in leaves of so exquisite a green, 
 as those which grew along our track under this fervid 
 sky. The harmonies of color filled one's soul with 
 nature's inarticulate music. And, what joy ! Here 
 were twin lakes, with a roadway between, along which 
 real trees were actually growing ! This was our first 
 sight of trees in this part of the world. There had 
 been days in that shadeless summer when, if a tree 
 had been on exhibition miles away, with a high price 
 for admission, we would gladly have made the pil- 
 grimage for the sake of beholding it. And now here 
 was a strip of land, two or three miles long, washed 
 on either side by the waters of a lake, where the 
 prairie fires had been kept away, and trees were 
 growing. Not the majestic elms and maples of New 
 England and the middle states, but willows and scrub 
 oaks, tweuty or thirty feet high, whose tops had 
 been depressed, and whose scrawny arms had been 
 stretched awry by the relentless winds, but whose 
 roots were deep and whose leaves withered not beside 
 these waters. A luxurious wild grapevine mantled 
 one of them ; in places there was thick underbrush, 
 while in others only thin grass overspread the sandy 
 soil beneath the grateful shade. All prairie land 
 seemed more homelike and cheerful when we had seen 
 these trees, and in the strength of that uplifting we 
 
A Neighboring Church. 71 
 
 fared on our way rejoicing. Part of the way we had 
 a well-marked wagon track. Then for miles we were 
 out of the sight of human habitations, following our 
 instincts only, over a trackless prairie. Once we 
 drove into the tall grass of a dry slough which 
 extended far and wide across our way. We feared no 
 mire because we were in the dry season, but a multi- 
 tude of prairie hens fluttered and screamed out of 
 their invaded nesting places, the fledgelings hardly 
 tumbling out of the way fast enough to escape the 
 footfalls of our horse. Both hens and "humans" 
 were almost equally startled and uncomfortable over 
 the unexpected encounter. We had spent the first 
 night with a family within the bounds of our own 
 large parish, and the journey was ended on the second 
 day in time for the afternoon service in the school- 
 house where the new church was to be organized. 
 The young pastor told modestly the story of his 
 coming to the place, the success of his labors, the 
 presence of a number of Christian people who were 
 willing to enter into covenant together, of the room 
 for such an organization, and its promise of growth ; 
 and then the church was solemnly constituted and 
 commended to God. We remained for the night, had 
 an evening service, and early the next morning set 
 out on our return. The likeness of the country to the 
 region where we lived was so great that for much of 
 
72 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the way, if we had been blindfolded and led to the 
 spot, we could not have affirmed that we were not in 
 our own county. This journey of seventy miles, all 
 told, left the traces of an August sun and wind, hot 
 as from a furnace, upon our faces, notwithstanding all 
 practicable precautions. It was Saturday night when 
 we drew up at the door of our little home with blis- 
 tered faces. There was not a morsel of cooked food in 
 the house, but we got through the Sabbath with more 
 comfort than we had feared, and rejoiced in the privi- 
 leges of Christian fellowship, and of a share in the 
 foundation of Christian institutions in this new land. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 SUMMER DIVERSIONS. 
 
 IT was early in our first summer that our cabin 
 began to show improvement. June had come to 
 clothe the earth with its beauty. The spring rainy 
 season was past ; the winds, though high for an east- 
 ern country, were not so for the far west, and with 
 beauty and comfortable footpaths out-of-doors came 
 the hope that more comeliness and comfort might be 
 had within. Wire screens tacked over our two little 
 chamber windows kept out the myriads of mosquitoes 
 that filled the air at every nightfall, and green cambric 
 curtains helped to shut out the blazing sun by day. 
 Many a time did we resolve to paper or cover with 
 sheets the alternation of unplaned boards, black and 
 odorous tar paper, and rough rafters of the roof which 
 shut close down over the head of our bedstead, but 
 more pressing needs prevented the realization of that 
 plan. 
 
 The rough and open coal shed at the back door 
 was made over, by the skill of a man with hammer 
 and saw, and the help of the minister, into a com- 
 fortable summer kitchen, which rejoiced in the dignity 
 
 73 
 
74 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 of two small glass windows and a door with a latch. 
 The rough floor was covered with oilcloth brought 
 from the east, which served its purpose well, except 
 that it could not keep out the scores of centipedes 
 which found their way into the kitchen every day 
 for weeks. However, these were small trials com- 
 pared with the lizards, of a peculiar species, which 
 sported in uncountable numbers in a cellar, on an 
 adjoining lot, half-filled with water in the early sum- 
 mer. To some these creatures were more disagreeable 
 than snakes, which were not very numerous, though 
 one nest of thirteen had been destroyed in the street 
 a few rods from our door. They were harmless, 
 however, and it was said that no rattlesnakes had 
 ever been seen in this strip of country, forty miles 
 wide between the two large rivers which bounded it, 
 although they were plenty on the opposite banks of 
 both rivers. But the lizards were reputed to have 
 a poisonous bite. They exuded a milky white fluid 
 when enraged, and were altogether very repulsive. 
 They seemed to swarm in multitudes which no man 
 could number. A gentleman told us that on one 
 occasion during the summer he was driving, when 
 he came upon a double line of lizards, all traveling 
 one way, in the ruts worn by the wagon wheels on 
 a prairie road ; that he drove at one side of this 
 unique procession for about half a mile, leaving off 
 
Slimmer Diversions, 75 
 
 counting in weariness, after he had numbered thou- 
 sands of them ! He thought they were migrating 
 towards a certain lake, but of this he was not certain. 
 
 Flies were not very numerous, but mosquitoes made 
 the nights of man and beast miserable for two or 
 three months. One day we were driving over a patch 
 of prairie recently burned. As we approached the 
 blackened stubble and ashy soil a cloud of mosqui- 
 toes arose from the ground, which literally darkened 
 the air, and we escaped them only when we left the 
 burnt prairie behind us. But in the house, with the 
 precautions of fine wire screens at the windows, as 
 little opening and closing of doors as possible, and 
 no evening lights, we were able to get through the 
 mosquito season in comparative comfort. 
 
 In our new kitchen were set up cook-stove and 
 cupboard ; and a home-made table, neatly spread, 
 sufficed for meals when no company was present. 
 With our main room freed from the uses of a kitchen, 
 the possible improvement became a delightful reality. 
 A shelf high on the wall, behind the front door, held 
 the few indispensable books, which were the only 
 ones unpacked, the remainder of our eight hundred 
 volumes being stored with superfluous carpets, 
 pictures, and bedding, in the lumber depot, awaiting 
 better accommodations. From the edge of our one 
 bookshelf depended ample curtains, of cheese cloth 
 
76 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 edged with scarlet, making underneath the shelf a 
 clothespress more ornamental than the unpainted 
 board wall which it hid. Dotted white muslin curtains 
 hung in graceful folds from the two windows, a few 
 cherished landscape pictures were hung on the walls, 
 and a bright scarlet and drab carpet lay on the floor. 
 A bed-lounge, which would accommodate a chance 
 guest by night, and made an attractive sofa by day, 
 was procured from the same distant place where we 
 had procured our bedstead. These, with the comfort- 
 able easy-chair we had brought with us, the borrowed 
 round table in the center of the room, with ample 
 drapery, books and lamp, and a few chairs, made 
 us a little parlor of which we had no reason to be 
 ashamed. There was a new feeling of cheer from the 
 day when our carpet, bright even in cloudy weather, 
 was laid, and these few simple touches given to the 
 little home. "I only fear," said the minister, "that 
 we are getting too fine. I do not want our neighbors 
 to feel the contrast unpleasantly. Do not let us 
 embellish any more." 
 
 There was small need of this last caution, for all 
 the resources possible to us had been exhausted in 
 this effort. And no neighbor seemed either to be 
 shy or envious. 
 
 We had neither horse nor buggy, although our parish 
 was so large, and the Sabbath services were far apart. 
 
Summer Diversions. 77 
 
 Parishioners who had both, however, kindly furnished 
 conveyance when it was absolutely necessary. For 
 air and exercise we wished to keep up the habit of 
 a daily walk. With neither sidewalk nor good roads, 
 we soon found the railway track our most available 
 place of recreation, and here, as the day waned, we 
 communed with each other and with earth and heaven, 
 while the flower-covered banks of the track, the wild 
 meadows and morasses, or the cultivated stretches 
 of wheat, corn, and flax on either side grew familiar, 
 and we felt an interest in each akin to that we would 
 have experienced had the field been our own. That 
 rail track, and the long train which thundered through 
 our village twice every twenty-four hours, had seemed 
 during our first weeks of residence like the only links 
 with the civilized world. A sense of indescribable 
 joy would distill upon the heart, as the shrill scream 
 and ponderous thud heralded the coming of the train. 
 Now that we had grown more accustomed to life in 
 these strange conditions, our friendship for the rail- 
 way track was not lessened, but rather grew stronger 
 with the familiarity which breeds, " not contempt, but 
 kindness," between friends in constant intercourse. 
 
 From the safe vantage ground of the railroad track 
 we learned the continually changing, yet ever remain- 
 ing, characteristics of each landscape, north, south, 
 east, west ; we grew familiar with the squawk of the 
 
78 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 mud hen, and the habits of the canvasback duck, 
 and many other wild fowl which peopled the ponds 
 and morasses ; we marked the successive heights of 
 vanished waters in the railway ditches, whose sides 
 were covered with strata of alkali deposits ; we fol- 
 lowed as far as tiring feet would allow " the narrow- 
 ing rails that met to pierce the distance," and watched 
 with apprehension the gathering of distant storm 
 clouds, or with joy the magnificent sunsets ; and 
 learned to descry with accuracy u the tattered 
 vapors" of a far vanishing or approaching train. 
 One unlooked-for benefit was seldom wanting. Pieces 
 of bark and splinters of wood were constantly drop- 
 ping from the wood and lumber laden freight trains, 
 and the minister, as became one on whom was the 
 responsibility of obtaining kindling for summer fires, 
 seldom returned to his cabin without a few fagots 
 which had been scattered along the track through 
 the day, apparently for this particular use. 
 
 These excursions served well the purpose sought, 
 in yielding health and strength ; and insensibly the 
 taste for breathing beneath the sky grew upon one, 
 until sometimes the close little surroundings of our 
 cabin home seemed for a time to shut in the soul, 
 which longed to throw off every shell and expand 
 its pinions unfettered in those glorious spaces without. 
 
 4 'Can you help me to find a place in Kansas?" 
 
Summer Diversions. 79 
 
 once wrote an eastern minister to his brother at the 
 front. " Come on," responded the westerner ; " Kan- 
 sas is all place ." 
 
 So with our new world. It was " all place," and 
 space had new meanings to us, if not new definitions. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 TEMPERANCE. 
 
 ARGE and unfinished as was the schoolhouse, 
 it was the first and only place suitable for the 
 weekly church prayer meeting, which was begun as 
 soon as the building could be occupied. But a 
 woman's prayer meeting was also needed. This was 
 begun in our own little room. After the first one 
 or two of these meetings the proposition was made 
 and carried, that it should be once a month a mis- 
 sionary meeting, and once a month a temperance 
 prayer meeting. The missionary prayer meeting soon 
 grew into an organized woman's missionary society, 
 studying and giving to home and foreign missions 
 alternately, though it was a "day of small things" 
 as to numbers and gifts. It was felt that if our 
 benefactions to others must at present be small, we 
 could not afford that they should be irregular, and 
 that the reflex influence of our small endeavors would 
 be priceless to ourselves* as a church and as individ- 
 uals. The same little band of women, in this same 
 little room, soon organized a Woman's Christian Tem- 
 perance Union, the first in the county. This meeting 
 
 80 
 
Temperance. 81 
 
 attracted some who did not come to the other prayer 
 meetings, and it rapidly grew in interest. The county 
 government had been organized about two years, with 
 a majority of its supervisors temperance men. But 
 on the eastern boundary was a village of foreigners, 
 and many others were immigrating whose votes might 
 soon change the character of the no-license adminis- 
 tration. One of our neighbors was a drinking man, 
 who now was obliged to send beyond the bounds of 
 the large county for his supply of stimulants. Others, 
 young men, had mothers, sisters, wives, who came 
 to this meeting, willing and anxious to help in any 
 strengthening of the sentiment in favor of keeping 
 the dreaded saloon from the village. Several of our 
 parishioners were strong temperance workers, and 
 altogether there was hope that this village and county 
 might be kept, as from the first, free from the temp- 
 tations of the saloon. But it was plain that this 
 could only be done by combined and vigorous work 
 on the part of the friends of total abstinence. A 
 general County Temperance Society had previously 
 been organized, and now its quarterly meeting was 
 invited to our town. The finished lower room of 
 the schoolhouse accommodated the two sessions, and 
 the unfinished upper room afforded a convenient place 
 in which to spread the tables for the noontide refresh- 
 ments. The following program was carried out : — 
 
82 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 After the opening exercises, with brief welcome 
 and response, the first topic was presented: " The 
 Relation of the Liquor Traffic to the Business of 
 any Locality." Fifteen minutes was the time assigned 
 to the gentleman who presented this subject, and three 
 volunteer five-minute speeches followed. This was 
 the general plan for each subject discussed. 
 
 4 ' The Attitude of our Scandinavian Population 
 toward Temperance Reform " was presented in two 
 phases ; two Scandinavians speaking on the sub- 
 divisions, u How they view the subject," and two on 
 " What they propose to do." A half hour on " Pro- 
 hibition Clause in State Constitution," by a leading 
 lawyer, closed the forenoon. 
 
 The afternoon meeting was opened by an excellent 
 poem by one of our temperance women. This was 
 followed by a consideration of the question, " How 
 Far Does Prohibition Prohibit ? " and the remainder 
 of the afternoon was given to a paper on u The Rela- 
 tion of the Common Schools to Temperance " ; to 
 a discussion of " The Relation of the Liquor Traffic 
 to National Education " ; and to a closing general 
 discussion of u The Outlook in Our County." Good 
 speakers were not wanting in all these discussions, 
 a local quartet rendered some inspiring music, and 
 it was felt that a strong impulse had been given to 
 the right by the day's proceedings. 
 
Temperance. 83 
 
 Our new church was enclosed and lathed, but with- 
 out seats, doors, or windows. Chairs were brought 
 in to accommodate the women of the county, who had 
 gathered in considerable numbers on this occasion, 
 in accordance with the invitation of the local 
 Women's Christian Temperance Union, to consider 
 the question of organizing a County Woman's Union. 
 This was the first service ever held in our church, and 
 we were glad that the prayers and songs and delib- 
 erations of Christian women should thus hallow it 
 in advance of its public consecration. All present 
 were in favor of forming an organization, not because 
 they did not know well the difficulties of carrying on 
 organized work over a great extent of sparsely 
 settled territory in the embarrassing conditions of 
 life in a new country, but because they solemnly felt 
 the greatness of the issue and the need of combined 
 strength. The constitution was adopted, its previ- 
 ously prepared articles having been discussed seriatim, 
 members' signatures obtained, officers elected by 
 ballot, and a course of effort outlined for the 
 next two months. The year-old baby of the presi- 
 dent pro tern, was cared for by a friend who was 
 present during the meeting, and toddled about the 
 floor during the exercises without disturbing them. 
 This lady continued to serve the organization as a 
 most efficient officer, doing a full share of the work 
 
84 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 of a hard and toilsome campaign, without neglecting 
 her housework and the care of her little one, in which 
 she had most of the time no assistance. 
 
 The collation promised the friends abroad if they 
 would come to this meeting was a formidable under- 
 taking in these new conditions and with the limited 
 range of food supplies. But it was at the end of 
 summer, and garden vegetables on this virgin soil were 
 excellent. Our own garden had been one of our great 
 disappointments. The whole extent of the parish was 
 gladly laid under contribution to " furnish forth" this 
 feast, which was spread on long carpenter's benches 
 covered with sheets in the unfinished upper room. 
 
 The cheer and blessing which attended this social 
 reunion of a county large enough to form a small 
 state cannot be described. Many who had hitherto 
 stood aloof from the church and its aims now came, 
 with a will, to help in this undertaking in which the 
 church was the recognized leader. All separated 
 before nightfall with new hope and strength for the 
 work. 
 
 It was now two months before the fall elections, 
 and there were indications that a close vote would be 
 taken on the temperance issue. The members of the 
 County Convention planned and carried out a canvass, 
 by school districts, of the whole county. For weeks 
 that autumn, in dark as well as in moonlight evenings, 
 
Temperance. 85 
 
 the minister accompanied one and another of his asso- 
 ciates in the work, who went to hold neighborhood 
 meetings in the little schoolhouses, or in smaller pri- 
 vate houses, wherever a few neighbors could be got 
 together on the wide prairie, to talk over the need of 
 temperance legislation, the hopefulness of it in this new 
 country. Every man was urged to do his duty. 
 
 The women of the new County Christian Temper- 
 ance Union addressed themselves without delay to the 
 help of their husbands and brothers. They issued 
 an address to the voters, which was circulated for 
 women's signatures in every school district of the 
 county, at untold cost of toil and pains. It obtained 
 the signatures of a large majority of the women resi- 
 dent in the county. The brief appeal to which the 
 signatures were attached read thus : — 
 
 " A foe more terrible threatens our county than the 
 fires which, fanned by high winds, are now sweeping 
 over our prairies ! All the years, we, mothers, wives, 
 and sisters, have ivorked to make the fire breaks wide 
 and strong about our homes, 
 
 11 Voters of this County, will you, by voting 6 For 
 License/ fan this horrible fire of Satan's own building 
 into a conflagration which, respecting no bounds, may 
 overleap our widest breaks, or will you smother it with 
 the might of your ' No License ' ballots to-day V 
 
 Two letters were received by the corresponding 
 
86 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 secretary at this time; the first throws u side lights" 
 on the difficulties of securing the proper printing of the 
 signatures, and the other that of bringing about con- 
 ference of the officers, either through the mails, or in 
 attendance at the appointed meetings. 
 
 Dear Mrs. : The printer has jumbled the order of the 
 
 signatures in a most unaccountable manner, to my great 
 annoyance, and doubtless to that of yourself and others. I 
 carefully copied the names of all those received in time, plac- 
 ing the name of the particular vice-president at the end of 
 the list which showed the result of her canvass. I hoped 
 in this way to keep the names grouped in the order of the 
 various localities where they belonged ; also, to give credit 
 to the workers for what they had done; but the printer 
 jumbled the list from the very first, forgetting even the 
 direction to reserve the names of officers other than vice- 
 presidents for the very last of the list. 
 
 We do not wish to " tie up " our dear Mrs. in any way, 
 
 as she is the only one of us all who is blessed with u freedom 
 of speech." We all become so mum in meeting, although 
 we chatter like magpies before and after u meeting" is 
 done. 
 
 The second correspondent wrote, under two dates a 
 week apart : — 
 
 %t I have succeeded in obtaining twenty-four signatures, 
 and hasten to forward them. You know our neighborhood 
 is in its infancy. But we are thoroughly awake to the 
 importance of early and efficient action on the subject of 
 temperance, and are ever ready to do what we can to aid 
 the cause. 
 
Temperance. 87 
 
 " Later. I prepared the foregoing hasty report, expect- 
 ing to be able to send immediately to the post office (ten 
 miles distant) . But being disappointed in that, I expected to 
 see you, of course, at the county meeting on the 1st instant. 
 But alas for our expectations! The inevitable threshing 
 machine appeared unannounced on the morning of that 
 day, and men and horses were pressed into the service, 
 while we were suddenly transformed from prospective 
 delegates into cooks. Obliged to stay at home, and not 
 seeing any one from our neighborhood who was going to 
 the post office, we have been unable to send our mail. 
 
 "But expecting all our ' men folks' to go and vote No 
 License to-morrow, I will send this, although probably too 
 late to do any good." 
 
 Very few women were reluctant to sign the address. 
 The wives of drunkards, and of husbands who were 
 surreptitiously trying to sell liquors outside the bound- 
 ary lines of the county for consumption within, readily 
 and gladly appended their signatures. Temperance 
 columns in our village and county papers were regu- 
 larly filled every week with matter, mainly original, by 
 women of our organization, often displaying no mean 
 order of literary ability. 
 
 One of the articles drew an outline of the logic of 
 license to steal chickens as a parallel to the reasoning 
 of advocates of liquor license, in the form of an im- 
 aginary monologue as follows : — 
 
88 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 A CHARCOAL SKETCH. 
 
 " Yes, sah ; I prides myself on my fam'ly guv'ment, 
 I does ! I 'se raised a powerful lot o' pickaninnies, 
 an' dere am no mo' 'speetable color'd folks in dese 
 pants dan me an' my fam'ly. 
 
 u Robbin' chicken roosts? Yes, sah; yes, sah! I 
 mus' 'fess some o' dat am done by a po'tion ob my 
 highly 'speetable fam'ly. But I reflates dat, sah ! 
 I 'se proud ob my fam'ly guv'ment. I has mos' 'mark- 
 able success dat way. No pusson 'spises stealin' mo' 
 dan I do. But, sah, I does n't like to interfere with 
 chillun's pussonal liberty ! An' believin' in maintainin' 
 de dignity ob de fam'ly guv'ment, I puts on my silver- 
 bowed specs, an' my most joodishal mannah, an' I 
 solemnly says to dat 'spectable po'tion ob my picka- 
 ninnies as ingages in de puffession ob robbin' hen- 
 roosts, ' Chilluns, I 'spects ye to gib me four ob dem 
 pullets ye hooked las' night, if ye 'spects to be 'lowed 
 to continue your puffession ob robbin' henroosts an- 
 nudder week. I 'spects an' 'sists on yer pu'vidin' 
 me with fifty nice spring chickens afo' I can gib yer 
 my pummission to continue yer pu'suits de nex' six 
 months.' . . 
 
 " Yes, sah ; yes, sah ! It certainly do hab de effec' 
 to make dem chilluns mighty industrious in cle business 
 ob chicken-stealin' ; for in addishun to dere or'nary 
 av'rage haul puh annum, dey has to steal dat fifty 
 
Temperance. 89 
 
 pair o' chickens which I 'sists on havin' dem fu'nish 
 fo' my pussonal dinnah pail ! . . . 
 
 " Dat am bery true, miss — eb'ry one o' dem nice 
 fowls my da'hter raised an' had when you was heah 
 befo' has been stole too. . . . 
 
 " Yes, miss ; her heart am done broked. But laws, 
 miss ; dat Dinah am a mighty onreasonable chile ! 
 She am dat stupid an' dat fanatical, she acfcooaly 
 'spects me to 'fere wid dem- same boys' pussonal 
 liberty to steal her mis'abul, no 'count chickens ! But, 
 miss, dis am a free country ! An' dem boys has a 
 license to steal chickens ! No, sah ; I don' pay much 
 'tention to dat Dinah's fanatical howlin' 'bout her 
 claims to puhtection from me. . . . 
 
 "Yes, sah; dose young puhsons in dat bed in de 
 corner were 'ruptecl in de midst o' dere puffessional 
 duties by a savage dog. Dey has no mo' good clo'es 
 to w'ar to Sunday-school ; dey 's be'n laid up in bed 
 mos' two months ; de doctah charges right smart foh 
 comin' ; all dis, sah, am de consequence ob dat rude 
 interruption by dat meddlin' dog — all dis, sah, 'sides 
 my bein' puhsonally dis'pointed 'bout dat pahticklah 
 chicken stew. . . . 
 
 " Yes, sah; yes, sah; lawin' do cost a heap. I 'se 
 had to pay costs an' 'fend my chicken-stealin' chilluns 
 afo' de Justice ob de Peace 'gainst dese fanatical neigh- 
 bo's mo' times dis yeah dan I 'se got black fingers. . . . 
 
90 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 " Yes ; I pays board bills fo' some o' my chilluns 
 too, 'casionally, at de jail. 
 
 "No, sah ; I 'se not goin' to hab chicken pie fo' 
 suppah to-night. Dem boys is mighty sharp, sah. 
 De fac' am, I don' get a chance to pick an' cook a 
 fowl bery of n now'days. No, sah ; not so ofn as 
 when I used to spank dem pickaninnies right smart 
 de minit dey meddled wi' oder folk's t'ings — an' ebery 
 time, jes' as sure as dey 's bawn. . . 
 
 4 ' Mos' wish I had stuck to dat policy ob my cibil 
 guv'ment, sah ! . . . 
 
 "My wife am right smart at figgers too. She 'grees 
 wi' you mos' 'zactly. She says I pay mo' dan thirty 
 dollahs apiece fo' each o' dem pullets dose little thiev- 
 in' black rascals fu'nish fo' my pussonal dinner pail ! 
 I fought, dough, as dem pickaninnies would steal 
 any way, I might as well hab part. But, sah, I 
 always has, an' always shall, believe in maintainin' 
 de dignity ob de fam'ly guv'ment. An' I 'se mighty 
 fond o' chicken pie, sah." 
 
 When the day for voting approached, our school- 
 house was made the voting place for our district. Our 
 village Women's Christian Temperance Union prepared 
 a warm lunch, hot coffee, and No-License votes for 
 free distribution. The lunch was spread on a long 
 counter at one side of the large room and proved 
 most welcome, as the day was stormy and many had 
 
Temperance. 91 
 
 come a long distance. Suspended from the ceiling 
 was the word " Welcome " in large letters, beneath 
 which were attached the well-known initials of the 
 union. In a corner hung the old flag, with the mot- 
 toes, "Vote to Save our Boys," and " For God and 
 Home and Native Land." Appropriate Bible texts 
 were written on the blackboards all around the room. 
 From behind the counter the ladies served all day, 
 modestly, yet cordially and affably, letting the mottoes 
 on the wall and blackboards do most of the preaching. 
 At a second election, the year after, although not 
 legal voters, the women of the precinct were invited 
 to come on the voting day and number themselves by 
 casting informal votes, of a color and style specially 
 prepared for them, in a box of their own, to be 
 counted when the day was over. As before, free 
 lunch was served by the Woman's Union and the 
 room handsomely and suggestively decorated. Most 
 of the women came out through the storm. One 
 had ridden seven miles to give her vote. Another, 
 an aged woman of foreign birth, who could speak 
 little or no English, came as chaperon to a whole 
 bevy of maidens, the entire company voting with 
 a right good will. One mother carrying her tiny 
 babe was there ; but the girls under voting age had 
 been scattered about the town as improvised nurses, 
 in order to release mothers from the care of their 
 children while they came to vote. 
 
92 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 In the first election there was found to be a 
 majority of one hundred and four legal votes in 
 favor of No License, and the victory was won for 
 that time. The temperance men of the county pub- 
 licly thanked the women for their help, without which, 
 they affirmed, the result could not have been secured. 
 
 In the second election the women's votes, counted 
 separately by the judges of election, had, of course, 
 none except a moral value. There were sixty-one 
 against license, and not one for it. 
 
 One wrote of the occasion : — 
 
 "The meeting (at the polls) was attended with all 
 the courtesy, on the part of the gentlemen, of a 
 refined social gathering. ... A staid Presbyterian so- 
 ciable could not have been more quiet and orderly." 
 
 On the circulation of a petition by those who de- 
 sired license, the second election had been ordered 
 unexpectedly, with very limited time intervening, in 
 an unusually stormy winter. But the energetic com- 
 batants of the saloon wrought with intensity and 
 adaptation equal to the emergency, and the county 
 was saved to the cause of temperance. One of the 
 ladies, who had been quietly efficient here, afterwards 
 removed to another county, and with her husband 
 and other workers was instrumental in securing a 
 like result there. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 OUR FIRST MEETING WITH THE INDIAN MISSION. 
 
 NOT far from this time the annual meeting of 
 a large association of Indian churches gave 
 opportunity for an interesting visit. At a central 
 point some hundreds of Christianized Indians gath- 
 ered, five sixths of them communicants in their vari- 
 ous mission churches. Many resided in the neigh- 
 borhood of the church where the meeting was held, 
 which was not a long journey from our home. 
 Many others had traveled, with their ponies and tent 
 equipage, men, women, children, and dogs, from one 
 hundred to four hundred miles, in order to be present 
 on this occasion. Some were from Santee agency and 
 some from Yankton agency ; some from the Sisseton 
 reservation ; some from the region of Fort Sully, 
 and some from Fort Berthold on the Upper Missouri. 
 There were Poncas, Yanktons, Santee Sioux, Teeton 
 Sioux, and others, with representatives of those more 
 uncivilized tribes, the Gros Ventres and the Mandans. 
 The time of the meeting was in beautiful September 
 weather. The hour of nine a.m. saw a company of 
 missionaries ascending a long hill which is crowned 
 
 93 
 
94 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 by a neat Indian church. Indian men, women, and 
 children, on foot and in wagons, were coming from 
 every direction- We entered the white church while 
 its bell was tolling the hour for the meeting. The 
 audience room was ceiled overhead and on the sides 
 with narrow matched boards, which, with the remain- 
 der of the woodwork, were painted in quiet shades of 
 brown and drab. The painted floor was clean and 
 shining, and fresh air freely circulated through the 
 open windows. Three chandeliers, of two globes 
 each, hung over the central aisle, and there were a 
 number of reflecting side lamps. Two small semi- 
 circular platforms, carpeted and surrounded by a rail- 
 ing, were at the end opposite the door ; one at the 
 termination of the central aisle supported the pulpit, 
 and the other, at its left, held the cabinet organ. 
 Behind the main platform hung a piece of white 
 cardboard, on which was painted a beautiful cross 
 surrounded by callas and water lilies, with a margin 
 of brilliant autumn leaves painted beneath the motto, 
 in the Dakota language, " Come unto me." On one 
 side was a blackboard framed in rustic pine, on which 
 a topic for discussion was written in Dakota, with 
 an English translation — ' ' Why are there so few who 
 attend church? " 
 
 The meeting opens with missionary John P. Wil- 
 liamson in the chair, the native pastor of the church 
 
First Meeting with the Indian Mission. 95 
 
 acting as secretary. A hymn is sung and prayer 
 offered in the Dakota, which is the language used in 
 all the exercises. The minutes of the previous meet- 
 ing are read, and the roll of delegates called, to which 
 there are many responses. The church is gradually 
 filling up, until the extra seats are all used, and many 
 dark faces are looking in from the vestibule. A 
 majority of the audience are men, but there are many 
 women, and not a few babies. 
 
 Yesterday their three days' meeting opened ; to-day 
 they are fully under way. The question under discus- 
 sion enlists remarks from a number of the men. 
 Some rise in their seats and address the president ; 
 some go forward and face the audience. All speak 
 readily and fluently, but without that impression of 
 extreme rapidity of utterance commonly made on the 
 ear in listening to a language not understood. At the 
 request of the president now and again, prayer is 
 offered by some one in the congregation. The native 
 pastor accompanies the first hymn on the organ ; 
 later, Mr. Alfred Riggs serves as organist. Nearly 
 every one has a Dakota hymn book ; all sing, and 
 sing well. 
 
 A second topic is written on the board, in Dakota 
 and in English: " The new birth — what is it?" This 
 subject awakens much interest. A number speak 
 earnestly ; some, whose words evidently command 
 
96 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 respect, are old men from whose features the imprint 
 of savage life will never be erased, although they now 
 are " clothed and in their right mind," and awake to 
 spiritual truth. Others are fine specimens of man- 
 hood, whose quick glance, active play of feature, and 
 pertinent gestures indicate corresponding mental agil- 
 ity, and doubtless tell tales of a generation or two of 
 Christianity behind them. The faces of some of the 
 younger men are manly and attractive. Christianity 
 and education are already giving ocular demonstration 
 of their power. 
 
 The elder Riggs rises to speak. Not yet a very 
 aged man, his white hair and benevolent aspect win 
 reverence, and his lifetime of service commands the 
 gratitude and affection of the Indians. The audi- 
 ence has not been listless or inattentive hitherto, 
 but now a pleased bustle stirs the congregation as Dr. 
 Riggs ascends the platform, and while he speaks the 
 audience are attent — u arrectis auribus." 
 
 The accusation that the Indians are treacherous and 
 ungrateful can never command the unqualified assent 
 of one who looked upon the faces of that audience as 
 the lifelong benefactor of their race rose to address 
 them. If they could have known that this was — as it 
 proved to be — the last annual meeting to be blessed 
 with the gracious presence of this holy man, they 
 could scarcely have demonstrated more clearly, though 
 
First Meeting with the Indian Mission. 97 
 
 unconsciously, their gratitude for the blessing of his 
 life among them. 
 
 Another hymn, and the next topic is taken up : 
 the Iapa Oaye (Word Carrier), their own periodical. 
 Their fondness for their paper is marked. A few, like 
 eager children, are unable to restrain their curiosity to 
 see the pages of the fresh number they hold in their 
 hands until the close of the meeting. Rev. Alfred 
 Riggs energetically sets forth the need of more money 
 in the management of the paper. Some money is 
 handed him. Holding it up he says that will enable it 
 to go on a week or two, but they must provide more. 
 A stalwart, well-dressed man rises in his seat, ad- 
 dresses a few brief words to the audience, seizes his 
 hat and passes it for a collection. This large-framed 
 Indian, now a converted man, and for years past the 
 faithful, consistent pastor of a native church, is said 
 to have been among the bloodiest warriors of the 
 bloody Minnesota massacres of 1862. He gathers a 
 goodly sum, in money and subscriptions, while the 
 discussion over the paper proceeds. The assembly, 
 which has been so grave during the earlier discussions 
 of the day as to suggest the thought that an Indian 
 never laughs, is now often swept by a gust of laughter 
 at some witty sally. After the adjournment at noon a 
 woman, plainly dressed, brings forth from her knotted 
 handkerchief a small pile of silver dollars and half 
 
98 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 dollars, which are duly counted out on the pulpit and 
 given to the editor. Surely the paper is rich in the 
 affections of its Indian constituency, if in no other 
 respect. 
 
 The first hour of the afternoon was spent in the 
 discussion of the topic, " Firstfruits for the Lord," in 
 which the scriptural ground for such offerings was 
 thoroughly treated by a native Christian. So carefully 
 had practice accompanied preaching among these 
 simple-minded, well-trained Indian converts, that their 
 offerings that year aggregated about nine hundred 
 dollars toward the w T ork of carrying the gospel they 
 love to the heathen Indians, and the women alone 
 contributed in the succeeding year between four and 
 five hundred dollars toward the same object. The 
 one hundred and twenty members of the church enter- 
 taining this meeting had contributed the year previous 
 more than four hundred dollars toward its support. 
 
 After the first hour of the afternoon the brethren 
 adjourned their meeting to the schoolhouse in the 
 village, in order to give place to a kind of Indian 
 Woman's Board meeting in the church. 
 
 At three o'clock a cloud of dusky faces gradually 
 filled the audience room. The woman who had 
 served as president for the last two years took the 
 chair, without boldness, without hesitation. She read 
 a chapter from her Dakota Bible ; then, reverently 
 
First Meeting with the Indian Mission. 99 
 
 standing, offered prayer. More than a hundred 
 Indian Christian women were gathered here. On the 
 faces of most of them the impress of ages of hea- 
 thenism was more apparent to a casual observer than 
 the radiance of the " new creature in Christ Jesus." 
 There was visible from our point of view but one 
 pretty face in the room — that of a young mother, 
 who looked scarcely twenty. Her face was beautiful, 
 with regular features, pleasant eyes, smooth bands of 
 black hair drawn away from the forehead, and a trans- 
 parent look to the dark skin. A touch of delicacy 
 and fine taste had adjusted the ruffles at her neck and 
 the folds of the scarlet shawl thrown about her shoul- 
 ders. She listened with intelligent attention, mean- 
 time keeping her baby quiet by deft, motherly ways. 
 Like nearly all the rest she wore no covering but 
 nature's own upon her head. The few hats or bon- 
 nets in the congregation were worn only by girls or 
 younger women, 'and could be numbered on one's 
 fingers. To wear one is the last thing an Indian 
 woman can bring herself to do. All wear the hair in 
 one fashion, plaited in loose bands hanging straight 
 down on either side, except occasionally an elderly 
 woman, or one in mourning, who wears it disheveled 
 after the old custom. 
 
 Shawls were universal, those in wide gay stripes 
 seeming to have the preference, though bright woolen 
 
100 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 plaids were also favorites. Some of the older women 
 were dressed in decorous black, and one had a fine, 
 soft shawl of black cashmere with silken fringe. The 
 dresses were mostly of bright-colored prints in strik- 
 ing patterns, interspersed with a few of quiet brown 
 woolen stuff and black alpacas. A plain bodice and 
 a straight full skirt with flounce at the bottom was 
 the prevailing fashion. Moccasins were seen more 
 frequently than shoes. 
 
 A serene, benevolent face in the midst of the 
 audience was bending affectionately over a baby. It 
 must have been her grandchild, for she fondled it with 
 a kiss, and spoiled it after the most approved grand- 
 motherly fashion. About every fifth woman had a 
 babe in her arms. It cannot be that the race is dying 
 out ! Sometimes the little ones fretted, or cried lus- 
 tily, but this seemed to disturb neither mothers nor 
 missionaries. Rarely was one taken out for the sake 
 of quiet. A woman near the front, in a red and 
 black plaid shawl and a showy dress, rose to make 
 her speech. The babe in her arms had been asleep, 
 and was rather suddenly awakened by its mother's 
 change of posture. It nestled good-naturedly at first, 
 when it was summarily changed to the other arm. 
 Then it fretted a little, gaining no attention, and 
 finally burst into a loud and steady wail ; but all the 
 while the mother talked on without a ripple of embar- 
 
First Meeting with the Indian Mission. 101 
 
 rassnient, and seemingly unconscious that there was 
 a baby in the world. 
 
 The children were a study by themselves. The 
 unmistakable Indian features of some would not allow 
 one, in looking at them, to forget the race question. 
 But many were pretty little things, with bright black 
 eyes and soft black hair, well-rounded cheeks, tiny 
 hands, and engaging baby ways, not omitting the 
 infantile manner of expressing displeasure by throw- 
 ing the body back and stiffening the limbs, which is 
 not confined to aboriginal babies. One thing was 
 noticeable : however poorly the mother might be 
 dressed, however marked the struggle which had been 
 necessary with her to put on the garb of civilization, 
 the little ones were all well dressed. The true 
 mother's heart-beat was beneath the uncouth exterior 
 — her baby should not be behind the best-dressed of 
 her neighbors' ! The little prints in baby patterns 
 were delicate in color, the white bibs and aprons neat 
 as need be, the tiny sunbonnets well ruffled, the little 
 morocco shoes bright and gay. One outshone the 
 rest in the dignity of a lace bonnet with blue ribbons, 
 while another had a unique blanket in the form of a 
 cradle quilt, pieced in red and green. One mother 
 came into the meeting with her little one carried on 
 her back in papoose fashion . All the others were car- 
 ried in the mother's arms, and enfolded in her shawl. 
 
102 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 The spirit of the meeting was earnest, although a 
 ripple of laughter passed along sometimes when a 
 particularly bright remark was made. In the midst of 
 the proceedings, at the request of the missionary 
 lady, who, as secretary of the meeting, was guiding 
 its helm, a woman in the audience reverently offered 
 prayer, while the whole company bowed their heads. 
 Occasionally they sang, in excellent time and tune, 
 with the organ accompanying, sometimes an old stand- 
 ard favorite, sometimes a modern "Gospel hymn." 
 All sang, some with, and some without, a Dakota 
 hymn book. 
 
 It was the time for the election of officers. They 
 saw no reason for rotation in office. "Why do you 
 throw my aunt, my cousin, away? Has she not 
 served you well? " 
 
 " Yes," the missionary replied. u But it is better 
 that others should have an opportunity to learn to 
 serve also. We will now vote for a new president for 
 the coming year." Nominations were made from 
 various parts of the house — sometimes two or three 
 were on their feet at once, endeavoring to get the 
 attention of the imperturbable president. The secre- 
 tary called the roll of the delegates, recording the vote 
 of each opposite her name. None but one who had 
 spent years among them could have held the meeting 
 steady at this juncture, while the bewildering votes 
 
First Meeting with the Indian Mission. 103 
 
 which named the candidates as " my aunt," " my 
 cousin, " came thick and fast, leaving the indefati- 
 gable secretary to glance first at the speaker, then at 
 the relative indicated, and then to follow her own 
 intuitions in recording the vote. 
 
 At last it was all settled. Mrs. Renville was 
 elected president ; Mrs. Morris was reelected secre- 
 tary. The new president, on taking the chair, was 
 greeted by a hand shake from the secretary. The 
 retiring president, who wore a fresh blue print dress, 
 dotted with tiny stars like snow flakes, and a clean 
 blue and green plaid shawl, vacated her chair and 
 descended to the audience, but had scarcely taken her 
 new seat when she rose, and advancing to the chair, 
 greeted the new dignitary with a grave bow and a 
 polite shake of the hand, without words, and returned 
 to her lower seat, passing through this ordeal with 
 Christian courtesy and self-forgetfulness. A few of 
 the older women followed her example in greeting the 
 new president, and then the main business of the 
 meeting went on — that of hearing reports of dele- 
 gates from the various societies represented. 
 
 The delegates spoke fluently and briefly, but when 
 the time came near for the meeting to close, the busi- 
 ness was not finished. "How shall we ever get 
 through what we have to say ? " they asked of the 
 secretary. But she held out no hope that another 
 opportunity of a hearing would be granted this year. 
 
104 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 At last, good " Louise," of the Sisseton society, 
 rose to speak of their year 's work. Her animated 
 face and voice told us no tales, for they were soft 
 Dakota accents which fell on our ears. Our eyes 
 followed the gesture of her red hand as she waved it 
 toward the open window beside which we sat. We 
 looked out, beyond this Indian church on the hilltop, 
 away over the beautiful valley with its winding river 
 and its fringe of trees ; over the lovely hills stretching 
 far, far away under the light of the westering sun, 
 and then in the opposite direction, to where the fair 
 harvest moon hung like a silvery apparition in the 
 eastern sky, and mused on the past, the present, and 
 the future of these children of the great All-Father, 
 and of the self-denying and successful work of these 
 missionaries, until the summons of the closing hymn 
 and prayer cut short our meditations, and the cloud 
 of dusky faces melted away. 
 
 In the evening the missionaries gathered by them- 
 selves in a private room, to transact the annual 
 business of the mission. Here was a family party 
 — the venerable Dr. Riggs, from Sisseton; his two 
 sons, Alfred, from Santee agency, Thomas, from 
 Fort Sully ; his daughter and son-in-law, Mr. and 
 Mrs. Morris, of Sisseton. Here also was John P. 
 Williamson, of Yankton agency, faithful son of a 
 venerated sire, giving his life, like the younger 
 
First Meeting with the Indian Mission. 105 
 
 Riggses, to the race for which the father toiled. 
 The moderator of the meeting was Charles L. Hall, 
 from the lonely outpost at far-away Fort Berthold. 
 Lady missionaries from the Santee agency, on the 
 Nebraska side of the Missouri, were here also. 
 
 The venerable head of the mission had borne a 
 large share in reducing the Sioux language to a 
 written form, preparing a printed alphabet, and pub- 
 lishing books for the use of the Indians. Long 
 journeys eastward had he taken to superintend the 
 printing of these books, when the region west of 
 Lake Michigan was still a wilderness. When half a 
 dozen log huts marked the site of the city of St. 
 Paul, forty years before, he had been there to note 
 them. He had made the Dakota dictionary, which, 
 after critical examination by Professor C. C. Felton, 
 of Harvard College, and Professor Joseph Henry, of 
 the Smithsonian Institution, had been accepted and 
 printed by the United States government. He had 
 lived with his family among the Indians when the 
 outbreak of 1862 occurred, and they had all escaped 
 with their lives by the help of friendly Indians, but 
 through the greatest hardships. He had subse- 
 quently acted as interpreter for the government dur- 
 ing the trial and imprisonment of the Indians im- 
 plicated in the massacres. He had baptized and 
 received to the church many of the converted Indi- 
 
106 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 ans, and had assisted in the organization of most 
 of their churches. He had done the greater part of 
 the work of translating the whole Bible into the 
 Dakota language, and had rendered material assist- 
 ance in the preparation of the Indian hymn book. 
 The literary work of his life was represented by 
 more than fifty books, consisting of translations and 
 original writings in connection with Dakota history, 
 customs, and language. He had been one of a 
 committee of three from the general assembly of the 
 Presbyterian church to present to Congress the need 
 of securing to Indians the rights of white men, and 
 was the author of the Memorial to the Senate on 
 that occasion. He had lived on the small salary of 
 a missionary, and had educated at college and semi- 
 nary a large family of sons and daughters, five of 
 whom were now following his example in devoting 
 themselves to missionary work. These things were 
 matters of public knowledge, and were recorded by 
 the public press. 
 
 He was now looked to on account of his great 
 experience as general executive for the whole work. 
 As the discussion of this evening hour went forward, 
 over Bibles, primers, grammars, dictionaries — over 
 plans for the work of the year to come, it was pleas- 
 ing to note how the gentle words of the elder man, 
 and his mellowness of spirit, mantled the scene ; how 
 
First Meeting with the Indian Mission. 107 
 
 he gave an impulse here, interposed a caution there, 
 following always the ; * things that make for peace," 
 without surrendering the convictions which time had 
 strengthened and ripened. Ere another such occa- 
 sion, his glorified spirit was to look down from the 
 heavenly heights on the work which he had so loved. 
 If we had known this then, we could not have wished 
 this closing hour to be other than it was, when the 
 little company united in a precious hymn of penitence 
 and aspiration, and joined in a closing prayer, in 
 which all personal interests were forgotten, as the 
 beloved work, in its various aspects, was commended 
 to the care of Him in whose hands are the hearts of 
 all the children of men. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 ANOTHER FIELD. OUR CHURCH HOME. 
 
 riniME had flown, not on leaden wings. Great 
 -^- changes and additions had come to the little 
 community. The schoolhouse and the church were 
 each in use — the latter a beautiful building, one of 
 the earliest on a line of railroad several hundred 
 miles in extent. The membership of the church was 
 doubled, the first service in the new edifice having wit- 
 nessed a communion, the baptism of the teacher of 
 the school, and the reception of several new members. 
 Moral sentiment was reinforced, the foundations of 
 society seemed securely laid in intelligence, morality, 
 and religion, and in the small but choice membership 
 of the church were men who were, to all good enter- 
 prises, a tower of strength, known as such far beyond 
 the bounds of their own community. A call came to 
 the pastor to go to what had the reputation of being 
 " the wickedest town in the territory." Of this place 
 *a " missionary scout" had thus written of his first 
 visit, three years before : — 
 
 " It consists of one dwelling house, one hotel, one 
 store, and eight saloons, all built last week. Looking 
 
 108 
 
Another Field. 109 
 
 down the street, a creature calling herself a woman is 
 seen coming up like a wild Arab, sitting on her horse 
 like a man, wearing a man's wide-rimmed, slouched 
 hat. After saluting the newcomers, away she dashes 
 and is quickly out of sight. Presently two men, filled 
 with bad whiskey, come from one of the saloons, and 
 as they too must create a little sensation, one of them 
 pulls off his hat and holds it out at arm's length, 
 while the other blazes away at it with his pistol and 
 puts through it several bullet holes." 
 
 It was now a "river town," the site of a former 
 United States fort, garrisoned with a view to "regu- 
 lating " the fur trade and the hostile Indians, a promi- 
 nent place of departure for the Black Hills, and a 
 rendezvous of cow-boys, freighters, and many char- 
 acters seen only on the extreme verge of civilization. 
 
 Residents of the place confirmed its reputation, as 
 to the first year or two of its history. When a lonely 
 hillside on the "bench," or terrace above the river, 
 held the first fourteen graves, eleven of them were 
 those of men who had died violent deaths. " It was 
 no uncommon thing," said a gentleman who had gone 
 there at an early stage of the settlement, " to hear the 
 snapping of pistols twenty times a night." 
 
 This reputation still clung to the place, and many 
 sought to dissuade us from going. " I do not believe 
 you can live there," "I am sure you will not like it," 
 
110 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 said one and another, after the minister had deliber- 
 ately announced his intention of accepting the call. 
 
 With regret, but under clear convictions of duty, 
 we prepared to sunder the bonds which united us in 
 labor and fellowship to this community. The minis- 
 ter had paid a visit or two of reconnoissance to the 
 new field. It was such a state of society as we had 
 never seen before. So promising was the location, 
 and so high the expectations of the future of the 
 place, that business men had gathered to it since the 
 railroad had reached it, in many instances bringing 
 their families. Notwithstanding the fact that some 
 of the early elements of society remained, clustered 
 along the shores of the river, sufficient to preserve 
 its early reputation to those at a distance, it was a 
 bustling town of fifteen hundred inhabitants, a large 
 majority of whom were self-respecting, law-abiding 
 citizens. The little church was hearty and united in 
 the call, and the "open door" and the need of Chris- 
 tian work were very great. The church was composed 
 of thirteen members, about half of whom lived in the 
 town ; the others were scattered on the prairie, or 
 were " absent. " A church building had been felt to 
 be a necessity, and had been just completed by the 
 help of outside parties here and at the east, but had 
 been, only a few weeks before, in danger of being 
 sold on a carpenter's lien, while the pastorless little 
 
Another Field. Ill 
 
 church seemed almost entirely discouraged. A feel- 
 ing of sympathy for them, a belief in the future of 
 the place, and a clear sense of providential indica- 
 tions, led the minister to listen to that call, although 
 his visits had shown him enough of the conditions of 
 life there to leave many perplexing questions unan- 
 swered. He would yield to the voice of duty, ex- 
 pecting the way to be cleared before him as he went 
 forward. During the immediate preparations for mov- 
 ing the wife asked, u What about a house to live in?" 
 The minister could only reply, " I know of none." 
 
 Our library had never been unpacked, and our other 
 modest belongings were soon ready for the transfer. 
 Kind friends met us at the station when we had 
 reached our new field, and welcomed us to their own 
 frontier home until we could decide how and where 
 we were to live. 
 
 With the temporary lifting of the mortgage on the 
 church and the coming of a minister, they took heart, 
 and hope painted a brighter future. A reception was 
 given to the new pastor and his wife in the church, at 
 which a large and hearty welcome to the town was 
 offered. But the question of where he was to live 
 found as yet no answer. At the frontier hotels of the 
 place board could be obtained for the minister and 
 his wife at about twenty dollars per week, with a cold * 
 room, about eight by ten feet in dimensions, for a 
 
112 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 sleeping apartment, and no place for a study except 
 the public reception room. This of course was not 
 to be considered from any point of view. Private 
 boarding places were out of the question, and equally 
 bo was the possibility of renting a house. Five hun- 
 dred miles from a base of lumber supply, with many 
 families moving in and needing at once to construct 
 their own shelter, and nowhere a room to spare, the 
 case seemed hopeless as to any home at present. 
 "There is but one alternative," said the minister to 
 his wife, after a few days had passed — "either we 
 must separate for the winter, you going east to your 
 friends and I boarding at the hotel, or we must set 
 up housekeeping in the end of the church." 
 
 The first seemed a pity, for if ever two were needed 
 for parish work they seemed to be here. The church 
 edifice was in a form common in a new country, with 
 a few feet at one end of the audience room cut off by 
 folding doors into what is dignified by the name of a 
 u lecture room" — a part of the church on Sundays, 
 but heated and used by itself for prayer meetings and 
 other small gatherings. 
 
 The thoughts and questionings of previous days in 
 a moment crystallized into an answer : We could live 
 in the lecture room. The people were willing that we 
 should, therefore we would. 
 
 Some advantages there were over the frail tenement 
 
Another Field. 113 
 
 that had previously been our home. There was a 
 good stone foundation to the building, which was 
 comparatively substantially built with brick chimneys 
 and plastered walls — luxuries unknown before. But 
 the reverse side of the picture showed a longer cata- 
 logue of discomforts, as the experiment proved. 
 
 It was Thanksgiving week, warm, bright, and with- 
 out snow, when our goods arrived and we entered on 
 the task of constructing a home out of this ct lecture 
 room," twelve feet by twenty-four, which yet should 
 not interfere with its legitimate uses for Sunday 
 audience room, infant class room, and prayer meeting 
 room. The walls were sixteen feet high, with one 
 window twelve feet long on the southwest, and three 
 of similar dimensions on the northwest, over which a 
 great octagonal one of many lights rose into the gable. 
 There was an anteroom six feet by twelve, on the 
 northwest angle of the church, serving as entrance to 
 both the church and lecture room, and in its ceiling 
 containing a small opening to the attic and belfry 
 which could only be reached by a temporary ladder. 
 There was, of course, neither cellar, pantry, nor bed- 
 room . 
 
 The first thing to be thought of was the creation of 
 a semblance of privacy. A partition of planed and 
 matched boards, half the height of the room, was 
 thrown across the end of the apartment, with a door 
 
114 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 in the middle. This on the further side gave us a 
 space eight feet by twelve, which we called our bed- 
 room. On the inside of the partition, either*side the 
 door, a shelf was put up, affording convenience for 
 stowing away things in baskets and pasteboard boxes 
 against the two feet of partition above it ; while below, 
 plenty of hooks for clothing, and a curtain hanging 
 from each shelf over them, made our closets. With a 
 comfortable carpet on the floor, a plain bedstead, 
 bureau, washstand, and rocker, and neat and simple 
 draperies, we felt quite rich as to a sleeping apartment. 
 
 On the living and prayer meeting side of the parti- 
 tion a series of graduated shelves was put up, which 
 proved just sufficient for the pastor's library ; and 
 when the books were unpacked and arranged where 
 we could see their backs, the room, though bare and 
 cold, looked already furnished. 
 
 We well knew that the mud on that hillside without 
 a sidewalk would sometimes be very deep, and that 
 only a carpet of the strongest and most durable make 
 would last through the winter before us, with the 
 multiplied uses for the lecture room. A rag carpet 
 made in strips by loving hands in a former parish to 
 save wear of a better one when ladies' prayer meetings 
 were daily held in the pastor's sitting room, now found 
 its best use. It was laid on the floor of the room and 
 proved large enough to cover it neatly. Our little 
 
Another Field. 115 
 
 cook-stove was set up and made ornamental as possi- 
 ble, shining and cozy, with a wood fire. A round 
 table was wheeled into place, and the bed-lounge, 
 supporting the wolf -skin, robe, a Boston rocking- 
 chair, our eastern " sleepy-hollow" chair, and a few 
 wooden chairs from the main audience room of the 
 church completed our furnishing. A box of pictures, 
 which we could not unpack, was placed in the vestibule 
 and neatly draped for a table. Up the ladder to the 
 attic went all superfluous household appurtenances, 
 carpets, bedding, and so forth. One carpet, however, 
 was retained, and tacked upon the cold, bare pulpit 
 platform, which had a movable pulpit, recently 
 obtained, but no other furniture except a common 
 wooden chair. Shades had been placed at the church 
 windows before we came, and so our little lecture room 
 had a homelike look which was already attractive. 
 
 If only we had not needed food ! Not a place for 
 dishes, kettles, and pans ; not a nook which would 
 preserve vegetables and cooked food from freezing ; 
 not a drop of water on the premises, hard or soft. 
 This last was, however, the common condition of the 
 town. A quarter of a mile distant, at the foot of the 
 bluffs, was the " Big Muddy," flowing in majesty, a 
 mile wide. On its sandy bank was a well which 
 received river water filtered through the sand, and 
 from this, carts, fitted with tanks and hose, brought 
 
116 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 water for sale to every door. This necessitated a 
 barrel in every house. We had a neat board recepta- 
 cle with cover, fitted into one corner of the church 
 entry. Inside of this was placed a large, strong iron- 
 hooped barrel, the interspaces filled with rags and 
 cotton, to protect the water, as far as possible, from 
 freezing. Little flags, composed of small pieces of 
 red flannel tacked to a stick, were displayed when 
 water was required, which made the town, especially 
 on Monday mornings, suggest scores of simultaneous 
 auctions. One of these flags floated from a corner of 
 the church whenever the water in the barrel got low, 
 and could be seen from its eminence, far and near. 
 While we could pay for it, water, that prime necessity, 
 would not be Licking. Though not very soft, it was 
 not very hard, and had but little trace of the alkali 
 soil, and that was a great comfort. 
 
 It was soon decided in our family councils, that, as 
 everything was sure to freeze solid when the winter 
 was fairly upon us, we would not, even if we had 
 room, attempt to store food supplies, but would take 
 our dinners at the hotel, preparing our simple 
 morning and evening meals in our room, with tea or 
 coffee, bread and butter, and quickly cooked cereals. 
 But even a few dishes and these small supplies must 
 have a place, and so must a few iron and tin utensils. 
 A small cupboard was placed in the corner behind the 
 
Another Field. 117 
 
 door, and amply draped with white mull. A shoe box 
 was procured, draped with chintz, and a pretty brown 
 enameled cloth tacked over the cover. Within this 
 box, in the corner by the stove, were kept kettfe and 
 stewpan, and on it stood the water pail. On the 
 other side was a papered wood-box, twin to one 
 prepared also for the main audience room, and against 
 the closed folding doors leading into the church stood 
 the pastor's study table, which must be removed and 
 all its contents packed away as often as these doors 
 were thrown open. How all this found room in a 
 space twelve feet by sixteen seems now a problem ; 
 but it did, and chairs were often brought in to seat 
 twelve or fifteen persons besides. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THANKSGIVING. A YOUNG VISITOR. OUR NEW 
 
 SURROUNDINGS. 
 
 TT was the hard work of a week to make this home, 
 -*- and the Thanksgiving service was interjected into 
 the midst of it. No church bell called the people, but 
 they were in a far-off land, and the very thought of a 
 Thanksgiving service brought memories, to some, of 
 dear old homes in the east ; and others were glad of any 
 variety in their hard, monotonous, toiling lives. Not 
 a large, but a cheerful and well-dressed congregation, 
 gathered in the church and seemed to enjoy the privi- 
 lege. We were invited to the hospitable roof which 
 had first sheltered us, for our Thanksgiving dinner, 
 and discussed our comfortable fare with cheery con- 
 versation. The pastor announced his intention of 
 having a prayer meeting in his lecture room home the 
 next week, but the host replied, " You cannot keep up 
 a prayer meeting in this town." " We will have a 
 prayer meeting every Wednesday evening, " rejoined 
 the pastor, " even though no one but my wife and my- 
 self are present." From that time the prayer meeting 
 was a fixed fact, and gathered, sometimes three, some- 
 
 118 
 
Thanksgiving. 119 
 
 times five or six, and sometimes a dozen or more to 
 its sessions. 
 
 This Thanksgiving day was so warm, that when 
 after dinner we went farther up the bluffs for a walk 
 and a prospect, we were fain to carry our wraps, and 
 wished for a sun umbrella to screen us from the rays 
 of the unclouded sun. This beautiful weather con- 
 tinued into early December. 
 
 The nearest ministerial neighbor of our order was a 
 missionary to the Indians, not many miles distant. 
 He was always a welcome visitor, whether accom- 
 panied by one of the other missionaries at his station, 
 by his little son, or by his dark-skinned proteges. 
 One afternoon, about this time, he appeared at our 
 door in his wagon, with a little Indian girl and two 
 Indian youths. They were part of a company he was 
 gathering to take to a training school, about two hun- 
 dred miles distant, where they could have better 
 advantages than his station afforded. He would like, 
 he said, to leave the little girl with the pastor's wife, 
 while he attended with the boys to gathering others 
 in the immediate region. They would lodge at the 
 hotel, and be ready for an early start in the morning. 
 With an invitation to the missionary to return to the 
 church for supper and breakfast, which was cordially 
 accepted, the pastor's wife turned to the little girl. 
 She was almost a wild Indian girl, but her friends 
 
120 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 had made her a fine outfit for school. She wore a 
 red plaid dress, a little red shawl, hood and mittens, 
 and good shoes and stockings. She carried a little 
 bundle of clothes, and some moccasins were sticking 
 out of one corner. When her friend the missionary 
 had driven away, she felt forlorn, and laid her head 
 clown on the arm of the easy-chair where she was 
 seated, and quietly wept for a long time. Kind words 
 and tones and gestures made no impression on her 
 — all she wanted was to go back to her home, or, 
 failing in that, to be left alone. When it was supper 
 time she would not come to her place at table, but 
 remained speechless, and with her face buried in her 
 hands. Some doughnuts were placed on a plate in her 
 lap, but she paid no heed. After a while one of the 
 cakes disappeared when no one was looking, but her 
 face was still hidden ; her forlorn and dejected little 
 figure crouching down, just as it had been, in the big 
 chair by the fire. While she remained with us she 
 never spoke. When it was bedtime she rolled herself 
 up in the wolf -skin robe, after taking off her shoes, 
 and lay down on the carpet with her feet to the fire. 
 In the morning she would not come to the breakfast 
 table, but when all the rest were seated, and the bless- 
 ing had been asked, she quietly left the room. We 
 feared she had run away, but she soon reseated her- 
 self by the fire and covered her eyes as before. She 
 
Thanksgiving. 121 
 
 ate some breakfast which was placed on a plate before 
 her, and an apple, although we did not know when. 
 All this time she was silent, making no more response 
 to kind attempts at acquaintanceship than a child 
 carved from marble. We began to think she was not 
 susceptible to kindness, but when an extra shawl was 
 given her for the cold ride before her, with a large pin 
 for fastening it, and she was asked if she would not 
 come again, a kindly gleam passed over her dusky face, 
 and she nodded assent as she was leaving the house. 
 
 The sun was shining that morning as the missionary 
 drove from our door, with his half dozen or more 
 Indian pupils. The weather up to this time had been 
 fine as Indian summer. Now light clouds were scud- 
 ding across the sky, which began to assume a dim and 
 frosty look. By mid-forenoon a blizzard was upon 
 us. No rain had fallen for months and the sand-and- 
 dust storm scratched the windowpanes till they 
 seemed to have been furrowed by a thousand diamond 
 points. Not alone on the outside was the discomfort 
 of the fearful storm. The dust sifted through the 
 five enormous windows to windward, and the great 
 double doors, until every article of furniture, every 
 book and paper, felt u gritty " to the touch ; and every 
 crevice gave inlet to the rapidly increasing cold. Our 
 stove was kept filled to its utmost capacity, but made 
 small impression on the freezing atmosphere. All 
 
122 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 day the wife was obliged to sit with her feet at the 
 oven's mouth, except as she removed them occasion- 
 ally to unbend her stiffened fingers in the one warm 
 place. The minister gave himself to replenishing fuel 
 and fire almost constantly, and the mid-day meal con- 
 sisted of a smoking cup of tea, and whatever available 
 food we could find among our scanty stores. The 
 church shook and trembled in the blast, but the ago- 
 nizing apprehensions of our first blizzard in the frail 
 cabin were not repeated. Partial and temporary 
 damage to our shelter, not immediate annihilation, 
 was the extent of our fear. This was of short dura- 
 tion. The worst of the storm was over in about six 
 hours, though the thermometer was low, and the fine 
 snow was still flurrying through the air. The snow 
 ceased, the wind abated to a light gale, but the cold 
 continued to increase. The night proved almost as 
 great a trial as the day, for the cold air blew over our 
 heads, and it was hard to keep warm in bed, although 
 the wolf -skin robe, with its warm linings, lay heavily 
 over the other coverings. 
 
 In that brief blizzard we had learned one lesson : 
 that no cook-stove could keep our room warmed unless 
 every crack was sealed. With a milder day came the 
 carpenter at our summons to stop the space between 
 the wall and the great round window sash, half the 
 dimensions of which were below our ceiling and half 
 
Thanksgi oing. 123 
 
 above. This saved a heavy upward loss of heat. By 
 the aid of a step ladder, a dish of paste, and some 
 strips of manilla paper, four of our five lofty windows 
 were sealed all round the edges and across the middle 
 division of the sash, and then boarded up, except a 
 space equal to one ordinary window. Then the fold- 
 ing doors into the main audience room, occupying 
 nearly an entire side of our living room, were fitted 
 with list — top, bottom, and sides — and the inner and 
 outer entry doors were similarly treated. Now we 
 had done all we could to prepare for winter, and 
 turned our attention to parish work. 
 
 No place we had seen since leaving Chicago had 
 brought with it such a sense of intense energy and 
 the bounding pulse of life as we instinctively felt here. 
 The little congregation had of course a great variety 
 in its composition, but its constant nucleus was a small 
 company of ladies and gentlemen who would not have 
 seemed out of place in any city audience. But they 
 were largely unacquainted with each other and with 
 the minister, each family bringing predilections for 
 the order of things it had left, and no two with the 
 same ideals. The actual present membership of the 
 church was very small, and with some unusual disabil- 
 ities as to harmony and growth, while society, even 
 the best in the place,, — that which was slowly peopling 
 the hillsides with cozy, comfortably furnished frontier 
 
124 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 homes, — was like so many grains of sand. The ele- 
 ment of cohesiveness was yet to be introduced. 
 
 Besides this better aspect of life there was another, 
 which gathered in saloons and gambling dens along 
 the main street, and lurked in evil houses along the 
 majestic cotton wood-shaded avenue on the river bank, 
 and which still manifested itself in flashes of disgrace 
 when the law attempted its own vindication, and vio- 
 lent deeds occasionally defied all punishment. Even 
 now T one could scarcely pass along the business streets 
 an} 7 day without meeting vagrant Indians of that 
 worst type which characterizes the early contact of 
 savage with so-called civilized life — in all the glory 
 of blanket, paint, and feathers. A common spectacle 
 was the cowboy, with broad sombrero, small arms, 
 and yellow oilskin coat, booted and spurred, riding 
 his pony in that long gallop of the plains, which 
 seemed the natural gait of almost every horse in the 
 country. Every second day, in sight from our hilltop, 
 the " Deadwoocl coach" started out in the early morn- 
 ing, after a long process of loading, to cross the wide 
 Missouri, by ferry in summer, and on the ice in winter 
 and in late autumn and early spring. The trembling 
 passengers were often drenched in the freezing water 
 by breaking through the ice, and had to pause for 
 change of habiliments before proceeding over the 
 gumbo hills and along the valley of Bad River, on the 
 
Thanksgiving, 125 
 
 two-hundred-mile journey, which knew only briefest 
 halt day or night until it was completed, in from forty 
 to forty-eight hours. Once a week the bullion coach 
 brought in from the same region its thousands of dol- 
 lars' worth of gold and silver " bricks," the coach 
 guarded within and without by messengers and guard 
 armed to the teeth. From the nearest United States 
 fort, in another direction, lumbered the long ambu- 
 lances drawn by four or six "government mules," 
 which were the pleasure carriages, in the time of peace, 
 of officers and soldiers, whose blue uniforms and epau- 
 lettes, tinsel, or stripes jostled against the barbaric 
 blankets and feathers and strings of wampum of the 
 Indians on the streets and in the stores. In a third 
 direction, almost every day, dimly descried by the 
 naked eye, but plainly discerned with the aid of a 
 glass, wound a long procession of cattle, driven to 
 their fate by freighters and cowboys over the hills, 
 brown in winter, green in summer. 
 
 Hundreds of young men had come hither to seek 
 their fortune, and " grow up with the place." They 
 slept in stores, offices, lofts, taking their meals at 
 hotel, restaurant, or lunch counter, utterly homeless 
 and friendless, all with energy, some with ability and 
 character, most in that stage of life where a virtuous 
 and friendly hand might help to save them from the 
 ways of death, into which many were likely otherwise 
 
126 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 to drift. As in all new countries, men were largely in 
 the majority. A dance held at an abandoned fort- 
 near, not long previous to our arrival, had been 
 attended by thirty-eight men and ten women. On all 
 social occasions a young man who could secure the 
 company of a young woman was looked upon as 
 fortunate. Often the disparity of the sexes as to 
 numbers was as high as ten to one. 
 
 In such a state of society the highest and deepest 
 need was the gospel. 
 
 " Come out here," wrote the pastor to a brother 
 minister at the east, of " liberal" tendencies, " and 
 you will soon believe in a real devil." 
 
 The absolute necessity of a real gospel of salvation 
 from sin w\as never felt more forcibly. 
 
 The Sunday morning and evening services at the 
 little church attracted many, and constantly grew in 
 interest. A small Methodist chapel in the "lower 
 town" had a fair audience, and was much needed 
 there. Other service as yet there was none. Our 
 Sunday-school had forty members, with a banker for 
 superintendent, and was growing. The little prayer 
 meeting, before the first month had passed, was a 
 real power for good. A meeting in the same place on 
 Saturday evenings gathered the superintendent and 
 teachers of the Sunday-school at the round table of 
 the pastor, for study of the lesson, which was a 
 
Thanksgiving. 127 
 
 felt necessity on the part of all. Thus three evenings 
 of every week, including Sunday evening, when the 
 lecture room was often transformed into a part of the 
 audience room, were devoted to the religious uses of 
 the church. 
 
 But it was early felt that this was not enough. 
 What could be done to reach those whom the religious 
 services did not attract, and to whom no reasonable 
 and elevating recreation was possible on this frontier, 
 far beyond the range of concerts, singers, and lec- 
 turers ? This was a problem which the daily sight of 
 hundreds of men, and scores of women and children, 
 whom as yet we could not win, emphasized contin- 
 ually, and which confronted us in„ sleeping as well as 
 in waking hours. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 FOREFATHERS DAY. 
 
 FOREFATHERS' day was approaching, and it 
 was determined to see what could be done for 
 profitable entertainment on that occasion. A simple 
 celebration was planned, and the invitation to attend 
 was given from the pulpit on the preceding Sunday. 
 The evening saw a goodly audience, in the church, and 
 all seemed to listen with interest to the exercises. 
 Patriotic music and prayer were followed by an 
 extempore address by the pastor, which in turn was 
 followed by an essay on " Our Obligations to the 
 Pilgrims," by one who was familiar with the historic 
 scenes of Provincetown and Plymouth. It embodied 
 a copy of the immortal compact in the cabin of the 
 Mayflower, and, in closing, the audience was carried 
 on a brief imaginary trip from under the canopy over 
 Plymouth Rock, which guards the dust of those who 
 there "sleep well," around Cole's Hill, up Leyden 
 Street to Burial Hill, thence to the New Monument, 
 and back by Pilgrim Hall, pausing there before the 
 great pictures of the u Embarkation" and the " Land- 
 ing " ; sitting in the seats of Brewster and of Carver, 
 
 X28 
 
Forefathers' Day. 129 
 
 and inspecting the household relics of the old heroes 
 and heroines — spinning wheels, spectacles, wedding 
 shoes, pewter platters, samplers, swords, letters, 
 deeds, Psalm books, Bibles, clocks, cradles, and all. 
 To make the object lesson complete, a map of Massa- 
 chusetts Bay had been drawn on a sheet of printing 
 paper, with Provincetown harbor, Barnstable and Ply- 
 mouth bays, marked with a camel's hair brush and 
 common ink. Also a genuine fragment of Plymouth 
 Rock was passed from hand to hand in the audience, 
 as the essayist read: — "On the coast, crowning a 
 hill which overlooks Plymouth Bay, a statue has 
 been reared in honor of the landing of the Pilgrim 
 Fathers on these shores, or rather, of the ideas which 
 their mission enshrined. Upon its lofty base stands 
 the graceful figure of Faith, in womanly draperies, a 
 finger pointing toward the stars, and her left hand 
 holding an open Bible. At either corner of the mas- 
 sive pedestal on which she stands are the statues of 
 her handmaidens, — helpers in laying the foundations 
 of a great civilization, — the figures of Education and 
 Morality. Like the ancient Egyptian statue, which 
 was fabled to sing whenever it was saluted by the 
 rising sun, this towering marble, looking clown on 
 Plymouth town and the graves of the fathers, gleam- 
 ing on the eye of the sailor far beyond the harbor, 
 chants to the children from sea to sea, and in the ear 
 
130 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 of all the human brotherhood, the story of our 
 nation's birth. 
 
 " The time for foundation-laying is not ended yet. 
 We have our share to do. Is it as important and far- 
 reaching as that of the fathers? Verily, who can 
 tell?" 
 
 The wild aborigines were scarcely nearer to the 
 Pilgrims in the earliest days than they were to the 
 little handful sitting on this winter night in a frontier 
 church to live over again those days, and the story 
 had almost the interest of a present reality, albeit 
 the unique scene was more than two centuries and 
 a half later in time, and the march of events had 
 led from the wild shore of the Atlantic across two 
 thousand miles of territory, as the frontier line had 
 slowly followed the beckoning " star of empire" to 
 the banks of the Missouri. 
 
 "The stars heard" that night, if not "the sea," 
 as all sang, in closing, " The Pilgrim Hymn," and 
 we were commended in a closing prayer to the God 
 of nations and of migrations. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 OUR LITERARY SOCIETY. 
 
 THE patriotic occasion so much enjoyed encour- 
 aged us in a scheme which was still undevel- 
 oped. The counsel of three or four members of 
 the church was sought as a kind of committee of 
 ways and means on the social need. A gentleman 
 who knew the place well responded enthusiastically 
 to the suggestion of a literary society, and named 
 two or three young men of education and intelligence 
 who had expressed a wish for one. This was felt, 
 by the pastor and his wife, to be the most desirable 
 form of help in the circumstances, but a very difficult 
 thing to attempt with the hope of making it strictly 
 an adjunct to church work, and yet so attractive as 
 to win the class who most needed it. 
 
 Encouraged by some previous success in this line, 
 and stimulated by the great need, we prepared for 
 the attempt. Prayer for divine help and guidance 
 was easy where a sense of human wisdom and help 
 was so weak. A constitution was written out, 
 guarded at every point as to the control of the under- 
 taking, and yet with this fact not offensively promi- 
 
 131 
 
132 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 nent, and with its machinery as simple as possible. 
 About a dozen persons, of both sexes, were invited 
 to a preliminary conference in the lecture room home, 
 a majority being members of the church. The need 
 of a literary society for mutual help and entertain- 
 ment was conceded by all, and most of those present 
 hoped it would be possible to organize and maintain 
 one. In the midst of the full hearing of divergent 
 views, the cover of the box by the stove broke under 
 the combined weight of the water pail and a heavy 
 young man seated on it, the former sending its con- 
 tents over the latter, as well as into the kettles 
 beneath, and deluging the floor. An embarrassment 
 fatal to a meeting anywhere but on a frontier was 
 the occasion of good-natured laughter, while all was 
 made tidy and comfortable again, and then the meeting 
 seemed ready for immediate action. 
 
 The pastor now brought forth his constitution and 
 read it. Some demur was made that the responsibility 
 devolving on the executive committee (to prepare 
 the program for every meeting, and assign the parts) 
 was such that no one would be willing to serve on 
 it ; others feared that it would not be possible to 
 enroll a membership with the condition that each 
 member should take a part in turn. But it was 
 finally agreed to organize ; the constitution was 
 adopted as an experiment, and officers elected. 
 
Our Literary Society. 133 
 
 In view of the approach of the holidays, it was 
 decided to defer beginning the work of the society 
 until the first week in January. 
 
 We had come to the week before Christmas, and 
 the Sunday-school children must have a tree. This 
 occasion elicited the hearty interest of the commu- 
 nity, including saloonkeepers and others who never 
 came to church, except on the occasion of a Sunday- 
 school concert. The prophecy that " a little child 
 shall lead them " found here its fulfillment. 
 
 The pastor's daughter, left behind in school, had 
 partially broken down in health, and it was deemed 
 best that she should try the virtues of this dry 
 climate. About this time she, a delicate girl of six- 
 teen, made her advent to this new world in which her 
 parents lived. By day she lived in the church with 
 her father and mother. A kind neighbor, who hap- 
 pened just then to have a spare chamber, generously 
 offered it for her use by night. Her literary taste was 
 now of much value when she could be persuaded to 
 use it. 
 
 The first meeting of the new society was held in 
 one of the few parlors in the place, a dozen or more 
 members being present. This first meeting was a 
 curiosity. Each member to whom a part had been 
 assigned — about six — had previously accepted the 
 assignment, and all were now present. But when the 
 
134 Service in the King's Guards, 
 
 time came for fulfillment, outside the pastor and his 
 family, the courage of every heart failed — except in 
 the case of those who had agreed to furnish the 
 music. That was very good, several pieces being 
 well rendered, showing that the town had consider- 
 able musical talent. 
 
 The pastor, his wife, and daughter had each taken 
 a part, finding it necessary for this critical first 
 occasion, in order to encourage the others. The 
 pastor, a far " down-easter" by birth, gave a descrip- 
 tion of a certain "clambake" as his contribution to 
 the occasion, the wife contributed a brief essay, and 
 the daughter recited Longfellow's 
 
 i; I stood on the bridge at midnight.' • 
 
 Despite the signal and unanticipated failures of the 
 other literary members on the program, the evening 
 seemed to be enjoyed. The question was raised as 
 to whether we should attempt another meeting, but 
 in the glow of cheer and social enjoyment it was 
 said, " Please do not give it up; we never did any- 
 thing of the sort before ; we are not used to this 
 kind of thing, you see ; but try us again next week ; 
 we will do our parts." So the executive committee 
 met in a corner, parts were assigned and accepted, 
 and, with cheerful good-nights, the company broke 
 up about ten o'clock. 
 
 The general plan was to take up the study of 
 
Our Literary Society. 135 
 
 prominent American poets, and of American history 
 of the Revolutionary period, the society being organ- 
 ized in two corresponding sections. Most of the 
 members of the society had " seen something of the 
 world," and an exercise which should develop the 
 talent for extemporaneous description or narration 
 was devised, and added to the plan, under the name 
 of a " conversation," for want of a better. The 
 program of each occasion was further to be enlivened 
 by a " humorous selection," and by the best music 
 obtainable. Whittier was the first poet selected for 
 study. A sketch of his life was assigned to one 
 member for preparation, and a brief poem and a 
 special selection were assigned to others, to be read 
 or recited as preferred. The historical part was to 
 consist of one or two brief essays on themes assigned 
 for each meeting. The pastor, as president of the 
 society, was ex officio a member of the executive 
 committee of five, on whom devolved all the work 
 of making the plans, which, in order to work suc- 
 cessfully, could only be made after minute study of 
 the literature and of the human nature to be brought 
 together. This executive committee, consisting of 
 three gentlemen , and two ladies, worked hard to 
 make the undertaking a success, and a special bless- 
 ing seemed to attend their labors. The term of office 
 was for three months, and more than once during 
 
136 Service in the King's Guai'ds. 
 
 that time did the committee gather round the tea table 
 in the lecture room with the pastor and his family 
 to discuss plans for work, and to adjust the parts of 
 the members so that each should have a share which 
 he could perform, and yet that every meeting should 
 possess as high a degree of interest as possible. The 
 second week, at another private house, a company of 
 twenty was assembled, and the program was carried 
 through without a break. The third week a still 
 larger company came together, with accessions of 
 new members as before, and it was now plain that 
 no private house could accommodate the prospering 
 society. It was voted to hold the next meeting in 
 the audience room of the church. An initiation fee 
 of twenty-five cents, fixed at the first, proved suffi- 
 cient to pay for necessary records, and for lighting 
 and warming the house. The attendance was still 
 strictly confined to members, and from the beginning 
 special pains had been taken to keep our new ven- 
 ture from the notoriety generally accorded a new 
 scheme by newspapers in a new country. 
 
 The pastor now saw that the society was strong 
 enough to survive a little more publicity, and thus to 
 enlarge its usefulness in the community. He appealed 
 to the benevolent feeling and public spirit of the mem- 
 bers for the sake of those who could not or would not 
 come into the society as working members. 
 
Our Literary Society. 137 
 
 64 We have now had four meetings, " he said, ik and 
 have successfully demonstrated our ability to have a 
 meeting which shall be a means of pleasure and profit 
 to ourselves. Another meeting falls in this Ions; 
 month. Shall we not throw open our doors to every- 
 body next week, inviting them to come in and share 
 our treat with us, making up a program of selections 
 from the work of the past month?" 
 
 It was voted to do this, and also henceforth to make 
 the last meeting of each mouth a public one. On the 
 next occasion the church was full, and the people went 
 away delighted. Its very novelty gave it an advan- 
 tage in a community where, the winter previous, there 
 had been a dance every night in the week. Dancing 
 is the one recreation of people on the remote frontiers 
 in the earliest years, but even that grows monotonous 
 sometimes. 
 
 An editor came to this public entertainment, and of 
 course a glowing report was printed in the paper, 
 with genuine pride in the literary ability evinced 
 by the townspeople, but doubtless also with a pru- 
 dent eye to the interests of real estate in the young- 
 city, where real estate was the dominant interest, and 
 where sometimes we had seen from thirty to sixty 
 men leave their dinners cooling on their plates at the 
 hotel table, while they rushed to a corner or an unoc- 
 cupied table to gather round and discuss a plan of 
 
138 Service in the King's Guards, 
 
 addition to the city plat, or a map of the town or 
 county. After the first public entertainment, as two 
 editors and reporters had become members of the 
 club, two local journals gave the program of every 
 meeting, private as well as public. Almost every 
 social and denominational grade in the community 
 soon had representatives in the membership ; staid 
 heads of families, of middle age, with their boys and 
 girls, lawyers, merchants, editors, real estate dealers, 
 seamstresses, workingmen, clerks, Protestants of half 
 a dozen varieties, and Roman Catholics — all met on 
 a common basis, sixty working members taking the 
 parts assigned them without demur, each one in turn 
 making a real contribution to the enjoyment of the 
 successive occasions, though of course in a variety of 
 ways. 
 
 Though the regular w r eekly meetings were still nomi- 
 nally private, so great had been their success, and so 
 genuine the interest felt by outsiders in the undertak- 
 ing, that no one who presented himself at the door of 
 the church on these occasions was ever turned away. 
 
 The train which left Chicago in the morning for this 
 part of the world arrived here at nightfall of the 
 second day. It now constantly brought gentlemen 
 from the east who had come to look over the country, 
 often with a view to investments. Eeal estate dealers 
 were always on the lookout for these new arrivals, and 
 
Out Literary Society. 139 
 
 whenever they came on a "literary" evening, brought 
 the visitors to these meetings as soon as they had 
 partaken of supper and brushed the dust of travel 
 from their garments. Often have we noted the pres- 
 ence of from six to ten or twelve of these strangers 
 modestly seated in the back seats on a single evening. 
 
 Opportunity for making acquaintance was always 
 given by a recess of fifteen or twenty minutes 
 between the first and second parts of the program, 
 when introductions were made, and older residents 
 chatted with the strangers, or gathered in friendly 
 groups of two, three, or four, for interchange of 
 greetings, news, and conversation ; the miscellaneous 
 membership mingling freely and without embarrass- 
 ment, and finding its own affinities and social strati- 
 fications no hindrance to genuine enjoyment on a 
 common basis. After some months of experiment 
 this was said by prominent members of the society to 
 be the most valuable feature of the winter's work, 
 replete as it had been with other benefits. 
 
 The papers continued to do their full share of 
 making known this work, as time went on. Long 
 afterwards, the county superintendent of schools, 
 who, with his wife, was a helper in every good work, 
 said to us, in the church, "Do you know what de- 
 cided me to move to this place ? It was the account 
 of that literary societ} T in a paper mailed from here 
 to New York, where I then lived." 
 
140 Service in the King's Guard?. 
 
 Many of the regular attendants were young men, 
 who seldom or never attended the religious meetings. 
 So popular did the enterprise beeome that we feared 
 it might grow unwieldy ; but it was never marred by 
 the slightest lack of harmony. The onerous duties 
 of the executive committee — consisting of two } 7 oung 
 gentlemen and a lady, besides the pastor and his 
 wife — were lightened by the generosity and trust 
 which never questioned its decisions, and were always 
 loyal to the selections of individuals for the public 
 performances. This last was a duty, of course, ful- 
 filled with great care by the committee, with a view 
 to impartiality, and the affording of each member a 
 share in the opportunity and profit to be reaped and 
 enjoyed. As the number of members increased, 
 it became necessary to increase the number of exer- 
 cises on each program, in order to give all in turn 
 a share of the work, and the time devoted to the 
 meetings was extended a half hour — on special 
 occasions even another hour ; but as a rule, no 
 meetings were held beyond ten o'clock. The aver- 
 age time allotted to each exercise was about ten 
 minutes. Essays might have fifteen minutes if the 
 writer desired ; poems and miscellaneous exercises 
 often did not exceed five. 
 
 The original plan was to have seven exercises each 
 evening — three with the poets, two in history or 
 
Our Literary Society. 141 
 
 biography, one miscellaneous or humorous selection, 
 and one oral, which we called a " conversation." 
 
 Whittier was the subject of study for the first 
 month, Longfellow for the second, Bryant, Holmes, 
 and Lowell for the third. 
 
 The subjects assigned for essays in the historical 
 section were : The Causes of the Revolutionary War ; 
 The Early Life of Washington ; Washington as a 
 General ; Campaigns in the North ; Burgoyne's Inva- 
 sion ; Arnold and the Expedition to Quebec ; Lafay- 
 ette ; Greene and Campaigns in the South ; Corn- 
 wallis and Yorktown ; Benjamin Franklin. 
 
 Maps and plans of campaigns were outlined on 
 paper or portable blackboard. These topics, selected 
 and assigned by the lady member of the executive 
 committee who had charge of the historical section, 
 were all prepared and presented, except one, six of 
 them by busy men, who would have said in advance 
 that both ability and time for such studies were 
 wanting. Twenty-four poems were read or recited 
 during the meetings of the first quarter, fifteen by 
 ladies and nine by gentlemen. The miscellaneous 
 selections and the " conversations " were entirely at 
 the option, as to subject, of those to whom these 
 parts were assigned, and contributed their full share 
 to the enjoyment of the meetings. To many a great 
 attraction was the music, which was in a variety of 
 
142 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 styles, both vocal and instrumental, but always good 
 and high-toned. 
 
 The library of the pastor found in this busy winter 
 a justification for the heavy expense of bringing it 
 to this remote frontier land. It contained Irving's 
 Washington and a half dozen authors on United 
 States history, several being school histories. The 
 standard American poets were of course to be found 
 in it, and some good helps toward the miscellaneous 
 and humorous parts. These books were freely loaned 
 to the constituency of the society, and were in con- 
 stant requisition. A lending list was kept, in case 
 of possible need, but no book was ever lost, or more 
 than slightly soiled, even in conditions where the 
 contrary had been expected. Bancroft's History and 
 some other books, especially of poetry, were the 
 property of other members ; but, as a rule, books 
 were not abundant. Of course, as the lists and pro- 
 grams show, no exhaustive work of minute scholar- 
 ship and scholarly criticism was attempted. This 
 would not have been desirable, even if it had been 
 possible. General, rather than particular, aspects 
 were sought, in the historical studies, as likely to 
 be best, both for present interest and for abiding 
 in the memory ; but this of course involved consider- 
 able preliminary scanning of particulars. The same 
 was true in regard to the study of the work of the 
 
Our Literary Society. 143 
 
 poets. But it was felt that a real and substantial 
 benefit was derived from marking out a particular 
 portion of history for the writer's work, and in taking 
 up the study of a few specified poets. 
 
 Washington's birthday, it was duly decided in the 
 councils of the society, should be celebrated by a 
 special program, and an admission fee should con- 
 tribute to the funds of the church. Rather against 
 the fears of the executive committee, the popular 
 vote expressed a preference to have the literary ex- 
 ercises supplemented by historical tableaux, and a 
 New England supper served by ladies dressed in the 
 costume of the olden time. So much of an under- 
 taking needed two evenings for its fulfillment, but, 
 like all the other enterprises of the society, it evoked 
 its full share of eclat. 
 
 With limited means for such an undertaking, inge- 
 nuity came to help, and the whole community offered 
 freely its very best skill and material for the produc- 
 ing of desired effects in the tableaux. In the colored 
 lights shed on the various scenes, by an expert — a 
 physician with chemicals and taste — the sombre 
 scenes of Revolutionary history made a vivid im- 
 pression on the beholders — one not easily forgotten 
 by the children and young people nor by the " chil- 
 dren of a larger growth." 
 
 The second winter less concentrated work was tried, 
 
144 Service in the King's Guards, 
 
 the responsibility of selections left largely with the 
 individual members, and the general management 
 thrown rather on "committee of the whole. " With 
 the educating power and momentum of a season of 
 successful work behind it, the society held on its way, 
 although the circumstances of the community were 
 considerably changed. A central point was the pres- 
 entation of a series of essays on " Epochs in Ancient 
 and Mediaeval History," around which clustered the 
 other and miscellaneous features of each program. 
 Perhaps as entertaining as the first season, on the 
 whole, it was felt to be less profitable, owing to the 
 miscellaneous character of most of the work. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 DIFFICULTIES. 
 
 ALL this time the religious work of the church 
 was uppermost. The Sunday congregations 
 were increasing. Dozens of new chairs were added 
 to the seating capacity of the church, and most were 
 rilled when the weather was not too severe. New 
 families were continually added to the parish, whose 
 acquaintance must be made. Every variety and con- 
 dition of life were found. Failing health had brought 
 some to this dry climate, and invalids were constantly 
 to be cheered in the trying conditions incident to a 
 new country. To other families, well and hearty on 
 their arrival, the frontier houses afforded so inhos- 
 pitable accommodations that parents and children 
 fell ill through exposure. Others, especially women, 
 accustomed to eastern society, suffered intensely from 
 homesickness — in some cases to the extent of shutting 
 themselves up in their houses and spending much of 
 their time in tears. To such of these as came oc- 
 casionally to church, and to all his hearers, the pastor 
 preached the luxury of doing good, of keeping 
 " hearts at leisure from themselves " by attempting 
 
 145 
 
146 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 to minister to those less favorably situated ; and told 
 the people truly, that the happiest persons there were 
 those who thought least about their own hardships 
 and most about their needier neighbors. 
 
 The time wore on, with constant promise and real- 
 ization of good, and yet with such strands of diffi- 
 culty braided into its work, that a constant sense 
 of the need of wisdom from above pervaded every 
 day and every task. To mold or guide the evolution 
 of society in these hitherto untried circumstances, 
 with the dissimilar, and sometimes threateningly 
 inharmonious, elements at hand, and amid the mate- 
 rialism which encased the minds and hearts of men, 
 was a task impossible to merely human strength. 
 
 But we went onward in our pilgrim way, endeavor- 
 ing to " thank God for all that is past," and " trust 
 him for all that 's to come." 
 
 The physical inconveniences of living as we did 
 were many. At every church social or other enter- 
 tainment coffee, oysters, etc., must be cooked on 
 the minister's stove, his study table beside it having 
 been remanded to parts unknown ; the ham must be 
 carved, and the sandwiches spread there, often with 
 dire results to the much-enduring carpet, which bore 
 the tramp of the large infant class in the Sunday- 
 school, of the feet of that portion of the congre- 
 gation which overflowed into the lecture room on 
 
Difficulties. 147 
 
 Sunday evenings, and of friends whose meeting place 
 it was on the week evenings devoted to prayer 
 meetings, teachers' meetings, and literary societies. 
 Under the added burdens of the omnipresent dust 
 of this dusty and wind-blown climate, and the lack 
 of a plentiful supply of water, body, heart, and 
 brain grew weary. 
 
 The cold was sometimes intense, although snow 
 was not often deep enough and lasting enough to 
 afford much sleighing. One winter morning, with 
 an atmosphere still and beautiful as October and 
 clear as June, we had found our bread, as usual 
 at that season, frozen solid, and every article of 
 metal clinging to our hands with a tenacity that 
 threatened to take off the skin. As we hung our 
 mercurial thermometer outside the church door, it 
 rapidly descended to the bulb, and our means of regis- 
 tering degrees of cold could no further go. By spirit 
 thermometers elsewhere we learned that 43° below 
 zero were registered. We did not feel chilled and 
 penetrated by this cold as we should have done with 
 the thermometer five degrees below zero on the 
 Atlantic coast. But woe to any who ventured forth 
 in this magnificent morning unfortified by a warm 
 breakfast, and without being well wrapped ! Quickly 
 freezing faces, ears, hands, and feet would have paid 
 the penalty. 
 
148 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 Our daughter had the luxury of a separate sleeping 
 room under the hospitable roof of a kind neighbor, 
 and few rooms in the place were better. But with- 
 out the smell of fire, and exposed as it was on the 
 north and west, in spite of all we could do, the 
 delicate girl suffered during those severe nights. 
 When she was a little late in appearing at the break- 
 fast table in the church, the mother sometimes found 
 it hard to banish the apprehension that she had frozen 
 in her bed, until her bright face came wreathed with 
 its sunshiny good-morning smile, to speak for itself. 
 The nights in the extemporized bedroom in the end 
 of the lecture room were, for the most part, endurable, 
 although by the time the stove, always filled at bed- 
 time, had parted with its heat — usually about two 
 o'clock in the morning — the cave of -ZEolus seemed 
 to be located in our region, with its orifice over the 
 head of the bed, or in the space over our gable 
 window. Turn as one would, under the almost un- 
 bearable weight of the coverings, it was hard to 
 keep from growing stiff, and almost through the 
 whole winter it seemed as if one's head ivould freeze, 
 although it was carefully shrouded from the cold, 
 with only an opening for breath. 
 
 One terrific night we dared not attempt to occupy 
 the " bedroom," but opened the double lounge beside 
 the stove and spread the bed upon it, with the wolf- 
 
Difficulties. 149 
 
 skin robe above the numerous coverings. The hus- 
 band plied the fire at short intervals all night, and 
 much of the time the stove was red-hot. But in the 
 morning a cup of water at the head of the bed, about 
 eight feet from the stove, was frozen solid. 
 
 Sometimes a temporary illness, arising from the 
 nervous strain of living so much in public, would 
 alight upon the " weaker partner." Once there was 
 compensation and help to recovery unlooked for. 
 The literary society had met in the church as usual, 
 the wife and mother being carefully shut away from 
 sight in her bedroom corner, unable to rise from her 
 couch, and suffering constant pain. The partition 
 screen which made the " bedroom " was many feet 
 lower than the ceiling of the lecture room, and it was 
 not possible to shut the long line of folding doors 
 so closely as to bar out the voices and sounds in the 
 adjoining audience room. The time had come for 
 the humorous selection, which always formed one 
 number on the program. It was witty and wise at 
 once, but not more so, perhaps, than on several 
 previous occasions. But at this time an indefinable 
 sympathy with the ludicrous side of life and thought 
 seemed to give a thrill to l ' that electric chain where- 
 with we all are darkly bound." These always well- 
 behaved people, led by a dignified banker in the 
 reader's chair, suddenly became oblivious to the 
 
150 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 sense of homelessness and loss, the anxieties and 
 the hardships of this wild frontier life, and gave 
 way, as one man, to uncontrollable laughter, not' 
 rude and uproarious, but pervasive and irresistible 
 to the last degree. The invalid upon her bed heard 
 not the words which had occasioned this startling 
 development, but, for the minutes during which the 
 genius of mirth held every soul captive, laughed 
 alone, amid her pain, for sympathy, until the tears 
 of mirth rolled down her cheeks, and from that 
 hour began to recover. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE PARSONAGE. 
 
 IN these months of living in a church we had felt 
 that we must make an effort to build a parsonage, 
 but where the means was to come from was not yet 
 evident, even to the eye of faith. In the little lecture 
 room home we kneeled and asked God for help, daily, 
 for weeks, before any word was spoken to a fellow- 
 creature. Then, for the first time in our lives, we 
 appealed for help toward an object with which our 
 own welfare was connected. It was the work for this 
 church which God had laid on our hearts in answer to 
 our prayers. Tremblingly letters were sent out, to 
 wealthy personal friends and acquaintances, chiefly in 
 New England and New York, stating the need from 
 various points of view, and intimating that contribu- 
 tions of any amount, large or small, would be wel- 
 come toward the building of a parsonage. It was 
 proposed that contributions thus received should be 
 held as a loan from the church and parsonage building 
 society, to be repaid as rent in quarterly instalments, 
 and to be used again and again as a fund to be loaned 
 in the same way to other needy churches, going forth 
 thus on a never-ending mission of mercy. 
 
 151 
 
152 Service in the King's Guards, 
 
 These letters were written, with prayer over every 
 one. The general statement to be embodied was first 
 read to a small meeting of the^ church, and received 
 its endorsement. The promise of the enterprise, the 
 need of the church and its pastor, and the impossi- 
 bility of doing more, even with the hope of help from 
 abroad, than to raise on the spot three hundred dollars 
 with which to buy a parsonage site, was stated ; 
 with some economic considerations affecting the 
 Home Missionary Society, which kept the pastor in 
 the field, and growing out of the conditions of life in 
 this place. 
 
 Money was in great demand among a people, many 
 of whom had used their little all in removing to this 
 new country and entering the quarter-sections of 
 land, or buying the town lots whereon they hoped to 
 make their homes. It was the exception if a man did 
 not need to borrow money for building or improve- 
 ment, team, seed, or tools. We once asked the rate 
 of interest, in the first months of residence. The 
 answer, by a young teacher who had brought a little 
 money for investment, was, u One cannot get more 
 than twenty-two per cent on good security. Chattel 
 mortgages pay as high as thirty-two to forty per cent, 
 but one has to look too closely after the chattels ! " 
 
 Early in our engagement to occupy the field we 
 were now in we had once hoped to secure a tiny 
 
TJie Parsonage. 153 
 
 house of four small rooms, at a rental of two hundred 
 dollars per year. In this hope we were disappointed. 
 After we had learned more about the few rented 
 houses in the place we found that it was frequently 
 the case that from one third to one half the original 
 cost of a house was expected for one year's rent, the 
 business rule being one third. One small cabin, not 
 far from the church, had cost three hundred dollars, 
 and one hundred and fifty dollars yearly rent was paid 
 for it. Some time afterwards, when these extreme 
 conditions had been somewhat modified, an appeal 
 was published in one of the papers for the formation 
 of a building and loan association, in which the 
 following illustration was used : — 
 
 " The shares are two hundred dollars each and the 
 dues are fifty cents a week on each share. A man 
 wants to borrow and build a house costing, say, eight 
 hundred dollars. To get the eight hundred dollars 
 he must take five shares (one thousand dollars) ; esti- 
 mating the premium paid to get the money at twenty 
 per cent, which is a fair average (sometimes it is 
 more and sometimes it is less), it will cost two dol- 
 lars and a half a week and the interest on eight hun- 
 dred dollars." 
 
 The article then goes on to show that by borrowing 
 one thousand dollars where he wants to use eight hun- 
 dred, and paying for the use of it, in weekly dues, 
 
154 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 thirteen per cent per annum on one thousand dollars, 
 in addition to twenty per cent per annum for the use 
 of the eight hundred included in the one thousand, 
 he will in five years pay fourteen hundred and fifty 
 dollars for a house costing eight hundred dollars, and 
 will by this means, at the moderate estimate of fifteen 
 dollars for the monthly rent of the same house, which 
 he would otherwise have been obliged to pay, have 
 saved two hundred and fifty dollars ! 
 
 Two considerations in the article, as printed in the 
 paper, would mislead the investor in the proposed 
 building and loan association. One was that money 
 would be likely to command over twenty per cent 
 interest in such an association more frequently than 
 it would fall below it. The other was an error in 
 figures not quoted, which by dropping, in multiplying, 
 the fractional part of a dollar in the weekly dues, made 
 a difference in favor of the association during its pro- 
 posed lifetime — five years — of two hundred and 
 eighty dollars. But we have given the corrected fig- 
 ures, and letting the rate of interest stand as stated, 
 there would be an actual gain of two hundred and 
 fifty dollars accruing to the one who should build on 
 this plan, over one who should pay the estimated rent 
 for five years. 
 
 In our letters to our good friends at the east we did 
 not go into many statistics and figures, but made gen- 
 
The Parsonage. 155 
 
 eral statements which would cover them all. Encour- 
 aging and helpful responses came in almost every in- 
 stance. Checks of ten, twenty-five, and fifty dollars 
 were received, with kind words of interest and encour- 
 agement. The little church went bravely to work to 
 raise the three hundred dollars to pay for a valuable 
 lot adjacent to the church, which was estimated by 
 real estate dealers to be worth much more than the 
 low price asked for it, in consideration of the use to 
 which it was to be devoted. But we well knew that 
 the cash must be paid for building as well as lot, and 
 the aggregate of the small sums we hoarded so care- 
 fully would scarcely lay the foundation. We had the 
 promise of the secretary of the Congregational Union 
 of three hundred dollars, "to pay last bills with"; 
 but where was the money coming from to pay for the 
 walls of the parsonage, even though the foundations, 
 the roof, and the chimney were, sc- to speak, in sight? 
 None will ever know — for it cannot be told — the joy 
 which came to our burdened hearts one dismal March 
 day in the lecture room, when we opened a letter which 
 told us that a good sister in a New England state, 
 blessed with a competence, had offered to give, for 
 this parsonage, through the Union, the sum of ^ve 
 hundred dollars! Tears of gratitude ki could ne'er 
 repay " a debt so great. We knelt together and 
 poured out our thanks to the Giver of all good, who 
 
156 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 had heard our petition and had moved his servants to 
 come in this generous measure to our full relief. Then 
 we addressed ourselves to the glad task of writing our 
 thanks to this lady, to the secretary of the Union, and 
 to sending the good news of certain success to each of 
 the kind friends who had made smaller contributions 
 toward our parsonage that was to be. 
 
 As the spring came on, it was plain that release 
 must be had for a time from these present conditions 
 of life, or health, never very robust, would be hope- 
 lessly broken. So the wife and mother, scarcely able 
 to sit up, was taken to the train and bidden God- 
 speed for the long journey eastward, leaving minister 
 and daughter to keep together home and parish. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 IMMIGRATION. A JOURNEY IN THE OPPOSITE 
 
 DIRECTION. FRONTIER LIFE. 
 
 THOUGH the previous season had witnessed a 
 large immigration, it was merely a prelude to 
 that which was to come. A railroad official in the 
 late summer had spoken with the minister about the 
 evident indications as to a great coming inflow of 
 population. " People will come here next year," he 
 said, " as ducks to the pond" — a figure far more im- 
 pressive to us than before we had lived in sight 
 of the numberless multitudes of wild fowl in prairie 
 sloughs. There was room enough and to spare. 
 "You can put a plow in there," said another rail- 
 road man, pointing from the car window to the 
 unbroken prairie, " and plow a furrow straight north 
 for two hundred miles without meeting a stick or 
 stone, or any other obstacle." 
 
 Fifteen hundred miles of railroad were built in a 
 single year, and, with the way opened, the provi- 
 dential time for settling this vast region had come. 
 " Part of the time," it was said by one who knew 
 the field well, the immigrants numbered " from three 
 
 157 
 
158 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 thousand to five thousand per day. They came from 
 New England and Old England, from Norway, Swe- 
 den, Germany, Denmark, Bohemia, France, Ireland, 
 Italy, Russia, China, Wales, and Scotland. " The 
 land entries grew to " more than fifty million acres. 
 At a single land office two hundred and eighty-five 
 thousand acres were entered in a single day." Thirty 
 million bushels of wheat were raised in one year 
 in the territory. The public schools came to number 
 two thousand. A thousand post offices, and two hun- 
 dred newspapers, many of them springing up as if 
 by magic, were numbered when the year was over. 
 
 The journey of the missionary's wife was under- 
 taken in late March of the season which saw the 
 climax of this influx. The weather was cold, and 
 snow filled all the interstices of the long, matted dry 
 grass which covered the prairies, while, under a gray 
 sky, the ever-blowing wind was sharp and uncomfort- 
 able. The migrations of Goth and Van'dal and Hun, 
 which descended on southern Europe and precipitated 
 the fall of ancient Rome, were, separately, feeble in 
 comparison with the great wave of immigration which 
 had already begun to sweep over this region of the 
 west. It was impossible to convey lumber to this 
 timberless region in quantity equal to the need. The 
 great trunk lines of railway stretching a thousand 
 miles westward of Chicago were now literally block- 
 
Immigration . 159 
 
 aded by the cattle and household goods of families 
 moving westward, and all effort to supply them with 
 lumber was for the time abandoned. It was piti- 
 ful to see families with little children set down 
 beside the railroad stations, in a raw, cold wind, amid 
 the snow, on the vast, featureless prairies, absolutely 
 unable to procure shelter of any kind except that 
 which they could improvise. One of these temporary 
 shelters was composed, on the windward side, of 
 bales of prairie hay. A wagon box and some pack- 
 ing boxes were disposed on the other sides, one gap 
 being filled by the headboard of a bedstead. Over 
 the whole was spread a rag carpet, forming a low 
 flapping roof, with a hole in one corner sufficient to 
 admit the funnel of a cook-stove which was set 
 up underneath. Exposed to cold and to the horrors 
 of fire in the high winds and amid this mass of 
 inflammable material which any chance spark might 
 kindle, this was the best of these extemporized 
 shelters to be seen in a hundred miles of travel. A 
 few had been able to procure lumber in the preceding 
 winter or fall, and new shanties of buff-colored pine 
 made up the general aspect of the towns at most of 
 the stations, which were generally about fifteen or 
 twenty miles apart, 
 
 At the western end of the journey no sleeping car 
 was to be had, but the crowds were going westward, 
 
160 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 not eastward, and so there was plenty of room in 
 the day coaches. To the invalid — the only woman 
 in the coach — the conductor was most kind, offering 
 every facility for comfort in his power, and arranging 
 two seats, — there were many unoccupied, — by a trans- 
 formation of backs and cushions, so as to make a 
 comfortable lounge by day or night. The precaution 
 of bringing a lunch basket was well taken, as the time- 
 tables of the railroads were in confusion, and R was 
 not easy to obtain palatable food at the few stations 
 where time was allowed for refreshments. Delays, 
 even for hours, were constantly occurring. Fre- 
 quently the train would be switched on to a side 
 track at some lonely place where the sky and the 
 vast stretches of earth were most monotonous, or 
 with a few forlorn cabins in sight, which made the 
 desolation more oppressive, and remain there from 
 one to six hours, while the train dispatchers made 
 desperate efforts to get the stalled west-bound trains 
 dislodged and send them on their ponderous way. 
 The train was twent3 7 -five hours late in Chicago, and 
 the last few hours of the long journey brought an 
 exhaustion w T hich was beginning to conquer the great- 
 est will power possible to the lonely traveler. But 
 loving attentions awaited her in the great city, where 
 comfort, luxury, and elegance supplied her every 
 want. Days and weeks of rest, with quiet compan- 
 
Immigration . 161 
 
 ionship and gentle recreation, as it could be borne, 
 rapidly restored the normal pulse, and gave the 
 longing to be again at work. 
 
 Meantime the intense life of the frontier parish 
 was stimulated by the fresh currents of the great 
 incoming multitude, and, as the spring wore on, the 
 contrasts were deepened and heightened. Hope, 
 always high, now sent its bounding pulsations to 
 the very fingers' ends of dealers in real estate and 
 town " boomers." To breathe the atmosphere of the 
 place was to partake in some measure of the excite- 
 ment. "The inhabitants of the country live an 
 intense, exaggerated sort of existence," writes one 
 who spent years among them, " and nothing tame 
 attracts them." To lead men to think of eternal 
 verities as the real things, as opposed to the transient 
 and the seeming, which so bore them on its resistless 
 current, was the task imposed upon the church of 
 God. The providences and Spirit of God alone 
 could make abiding impression. For a time the 
 flood of worldliness seemed to bear all before it. 
 But many a pathetic story, and more than one con- 
 fession, came to the ears and heart of him who 
 ministered in holy things, and opportunity for ex- 
 tending sympathy and cheer was never greater. 
 
 But a stone's throw from the church was the jail. 
 Now it was the duty of the hour to pray beside the 
 
162 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 cot of the dying prisoner who sought God's mercy, 
 and again, to hold, within these same prison walls, 
 funeral services over the remains of a would-be mur- 
 derer, shot dead in the streets in daylight by a city 
 official in self-defense. 
 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A FRONTIER CITY. 
 
 OUR little church was set for the work of the largest 
 Christian charity. So we were glad to have it 
 used by those of other religious persuasions, so far as 
 they had need. A Baptist missionary was to look after 
 the sheep of his fold in our " city " on a given Sunday, 
 and we were glad to offer them the use of our edifice, 
 the pastor seizing the opportunity to preach "a free 
 gospel " in a new town thirty miles away. 
 
 This incipient town had started out with vigorous 
 life. Anticipating the occasion, the minister had made 
 a visit two weeks in advance, and engaged the dining 
 room of the first hotel, now in process of construc- 
 tion, for the expected service, making a public an- 
 nouncement of time and place. The night before the 
 appointed Sunday he is off on the train, several hours 
 late, for the place of destination, where he arrives 
 between nine and ten o'clock. The cold northeast 
 wind is blowing, and the night is dark and damp. 
 The hotel was expected to be in readiness for com- 
 fortable occupancy by this time, but it is still unfin- 
 ished, with neither windows nor doors. Inquiring in 
 
 163 
 
164 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the cold and darkness for lodgings, the minister is told 
 there are none except in the attic of this unfinished 
 building. To it he goes, and is led up the ladder to 
 the loft by a boy with swinging lantern in hand, who 
 welcomes him to the only hospitality the new town can 
 afford. The attic is barely enclosed with damp, half- 
 seasoned lumber. The cold wind is sweeping in 
 through the open window spaces and doorways below, 
 and through the openings above. On the floor of the 
 attic are six or eight coarse mattresses, most of which 
 have already received rest-seeking strangers. One 
 had been reserved for the minister. Over it are 
 spread two damp coverlids ; but neither sheet nor 
 pillow appears. In anticipation of the "newness" 
 which surrounds one on the frontier like an atmos- 
 phere, thoughtful love at home had suggested the 
 taking of the wolf -skin robe and a small lounge pillow, 
 and these are now quickly unstrapped with the feel- 
 ing that they are indeed for such a time as this. 
 Rolling himself up in the well-lined robe, and placing 
 the little pillow under his head, the preacher is soon 
 at rest between the quilts. But the dampness of the 
 room and of the wind is fearful, and sleep is diffi- 
 cult. When the morning dawns the involuntary first 
 thanksgiving is that pneumonia has not fastened 
 itself upon him. 
 Early meditations were on the subject of a place for 
 
41^8 
 
 X 
 
 i- 
 
 z 
 o 
 
 > 
 
 z 
 
 i- 
 
A Frontier City. 165 
 
 service. The dining room which had been engaged 
 was open to the blasts, and a spring snowstorm was 
 driving the snow through the open window and door 
 spaces, until it lay here and there in growing drifts on 
 the new-laid floor. Not long after breakfast a friend 
 brought a courteous note from a young man, cordially 
 offering the use of his real estate office for a preach- 
 ing service in the afternoon. This offer was gladly 
 accepted, for it was the best opportunity possible in 
 the circumstances. The place was a small one-story 
 building of rough lumber, its main room about twelve 
 by fourteen feet in dimensions. It was furnished with 
 a small coal-stove, an office desk, and one or two 
 chairs. The meeting was announced for two o'clock, 
 with the request that each one should pass on the 
 notice to as many as possible. 
 
 The hotel not being ready, a physician, whom we had 
 formerly known, having located here, undertook to feed 
 the hungry until they could be otherwise supplied, as he 
 would doubtless have attended to his patients, if there 
 had been any. He had extemporized a rough building 
 about twelve by thirty feet on the ground and divided 
 it into three rooms, a kitchen and dining room at one 
 end, a sleeping room for himself at the other, and a 
 general waiting room and reception room in the 
 middle. This middle room, about twelve by fourteen 
 feet, in the exigency for shelter that stormy Sunday 
 
166 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 forenoon, besides its furniture of a double bed, had a 
 lounge, a table, a stove, a bureau, and some chairs. 
 It furnished accommodations for about twelve or 
 fifteen men, all spending the time as frontier life and 
 morality dictate or permit. The preacher was among 
 them, endeavoring to compose his thoughts for the 
 preaching service which all were awaiting in the after- 
 noon — the first ever held in the place. These men 
 were daily fed by the great effort of the doctor's wife, 
 who, thus endeavoring to supply a public need, was 
 working beyond her strength, while they were looking 
 up " claims " and " city lots." 
 
 To the hospitality of this family the preacher had 
 been welcomed, and he w r as grateful for it. But how 
 to manifest the practical wisdom and the Christian 
 manliness demanded by the place, the time, and his 
 profession ; to satisfy his own conscience and yet not 
 to repel prematurely those whom he sought to win to 
 the message of the gospel, — seemed at first a difficult 
 problem. But the forenoon wore away, on the whole 
 not unpleasantly. 
 
 When the hour for service in the little real 
 estate office arrived, the room was packed with 
 apparently earnest hearers, mostly young men. The 
 preacher was sandwiched into a corner beside the 
 desk, without room to move his feet. With Bible 
 in one hand, and Gospel Hymn Book in the other, 
 
A Frontier City. 167 
 
 he began the services. Two or three Gospel songs 
 were sung. How these young men sung ! In the 
 reading of the Word which followed, and in prayer, 
 before the announcement of the text, there was a 
 felt earnestness and intensity of devotion which was 
 surest promise of cc free course " for the gospel mes- 
 sage. To preach there and then was a privilege to 
 which a lifetime affords few parallels. Every eye was 
 fixed on the preacher, and every heart seemed hungry 
 for the message. There was no cold formality in the 
 request to " come again, " made by those who pressed 
 toward the preacher with their thanks at the close of 
 the service. 
 
 About forty-five persons were present at this meet- 
 ing. Inquiry revealed their origin as follows : one 
 came from Nova Scotia, one from Massachusetts, 
 four from New York, several from Indiana, from 
 Illinois, and from Iowa, two from Missouri, two from 
 Minnesota, one from Wisconsin, one from Kansas, 
 and one from Wyoming Territory. 
 
 In another respect, this was a characteristic fron- 
 tier audience. There were present two women, four 
 children, and thirty-eight men. 
 
 A few weeks afterward, after preaching in his own 
 pulpit, superintending a Sunday-school, and leading 
 a Bible class, the preacher filled a second appointment 
 at this place, being driven twenty-five miles over the 
 
168 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 intervening prairie by a friend, in time for a service 
 held, as before, on Sunday afternoon. The place for 
 the service on this occasion was a larger house, raised 
 and enclosed since the previous visit. Within, the 
 partitions between the several rooms were indicated 
 only by the studding. A larger audience gathered 
 here, eager and earnest as before. There were not 
 seats enough to accommodate the people who packed 
 the house, many standing in rooms adjoining that in 
 which the preacher stood, and peering around the 
 studding which intercepted their view. 
 
 The first service in this town was held in March ; 
 the second, in the middle of the spring. Before the 
 next August was passed it was the minister's priv- 
 ilege to preach iu the same place, in an " opera 
 house " which was to seat a thousand people. Such 
 is the growth of a frontier city. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE DAUGHTER. SITTING BULL. PREACHING AT 
 
 THE FORT. 
 
 rT^HE minister's daughter, now restored to health, 
 -A- and being needed here, sought for the present 
 to continue her studies, and at the same time to 
 remain on the ground. A lady neighbor wished for 
 her own pleasure to review her Latin, — so it was 
 generously stated, — and the young student, with this 
 accomplished teacher, read Cicero, and much in 
 English also, giving the remainder of her time to 
 such home-making in the church for her father as 
 was possible in the circumstances, teaching the large 
 infant class of the Sunday-school, and going to the 
 sick or needy as opportunity offered, feeling that, 
 though out of school for the most of the year, the 
 time was not wasted. Recreation came with the 
 church festivals, given at intervals through the spring 
 and summer for the purchase of a bell, and in walks 
 over the bluffs, although these were not very safe. 
 Seven rattlesnakes had been killed the year before, 
 within a stone's throw of the church, and mothers 
 had feared to allow their little children to run about 
 
 169 
 
170 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 freely. But this summer no rattlesnakes were heard 
 of, though all were still watchful, and the young- 
 girl usually had the companionship of children in her 
 walks . 
 
 One bright morning word came that a certain 
 steamer had landed about a mile above the town. It 
 was conveying Sitting Bull and his companions, who 
 were being transferred by order of the government 
 from a point up the river. The chief had held him a 
 prisoner since his capture after the campaign in which 
 General Custer lost his life. The minister and his 
 daughter set out for a walk towards the upper landing, 
 over the road which wound between the river and the 
 bluffs, clothed in fresh green and sprinkled with wild 
 flowers. As they approached the landing, the chief- 
 tain, with his Indian escort, was coming toward the 
 town, followed by a small crowd of white men and 
 boys. The aspect of this famous Indian was not at- 
 tractive. His form and movement indicated endurance, 
 while his small eyes and wrinkled, leathern face gave 
 no indication of thoughts which, perhaps even now 
 crafty and resentful, were passing through his savage 
 brain. His body-guard — if such his unarmed followers 
 might be called — were fine specimens of young Indian 
 manhood. They strode along with the dignity of 
 Roman senators. Averaging six feet or more in their 
 moccasins, there was a play of feature, a freedom of 
 
The Daughter. 171 
 
 gesture, a grace of movement, a wild fearlessness of 
 demeanor, which no captivity could quell, and which 
 remains in memory as the greatest manifestation we 
 have witnessed of the innate nobility of bearing which 
 belongs to the true Indian prince. The boat was 
 loaded with Indians who were accompanying the chief- 
 tain. Some of these were refreshing themselves on 
 the shore, the men lying apart on the grass, smoking, 
 while the women were cooking the breakfast over little 
 fires here and there. On the boat, filthy, littered, and 
 disagreeable, other women were nursing and caring 
 for the children who swarmed over its decks. The 
 scene was disheartening and sickening enough, with 
 its hopelessness for the future and its unwelcome 
 recollections. 
 
 Returning to the town, Sitting Bull was found, with 
 his followers, holding a reception at the post office, 
 whither many citizens had come, on hearing that the 
 chief was there. He gravely shook hands with each 
 one who was presented, uttering the sullen and 
 guttural "How!" which is the invariable Indian sal- 
 utation in English, and writing his rude autograph (at 
 fifty cents apiece) for such as desired to possess it. 
 
 The minister had some acquaintance with the chap- 
 lain of the nearest garrison, who had proposed the 
 courtesy of an exchange of pulpits. Now in the 
 pleasant early summer this exchange was to be made. 
 
172 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 This involved a considerable journey over the prairie. 
 Saturday morning, with horse and buggy, and accom- 
 panied by his daughter, the minister started out. The 
 first half of the way was familiar, and was made with 
 success and comfort, in time for midday rest and 
 dinner with our good friends at the Indian Mission. 
 The remainder of the journey proved more uncertain. 
 It was across an uninhabited prairie, its roads mere 
 tracks in the wild grass, and crossing each other at 
 every possible angle, and with neither sentinel, tree, 
 nor guideboard to point the way. We had antici- 
 pated no difficulty when we left the mission, but ere we 
 had gone many miles uncertainties grew formidable. 
 The wrong turn at an acute angle of the tracks soon 
 took us far astray. The bewildered feeling of one 
 driving hither and thither to find the way on a bound- 
 less, treeless expanse is like that of a mariner in 
 mid-ocean without chart or compass. And the bewil- 
 derment is the more complete when, as then, the sun 
 is hidden from sight. The only thing that could be 
 done was to keep going, following best instincts and 
 judgments, which in this instance proved not very 
 helpful. 
 
 After long wanderings, we knew not where, our 
 track disappeared upon an abrupt gumbo bluff run- 
 ning back from the river. How far we had come out 
 of our way we could not tell, and the sun was getting 
 
The Daughter. 173 
 
 low. The approach of night compelled a retreatfto 
 the cheering hospitality of the mission. After a good 
 night's rest, a good breakfast, and the greater cheer 
 of the morning family worship, a young lady mission- 
 ary mounted her Indian pony and accompanied the 
 party, on the beautiful Sunday morning, three or four 
 miles, until they were on a distinct trail in the right 
 direction, and their perplexities were over. On they 
 went, over the prairie, around the bluffs, through the 
 ravines, along the bottom lands, up the bluff sides, 
 along the terraced table-lands, until they reached the 
 plateau on the edge of which stood the fort. They 
 were at the chaplain's hospitable door just in time for 
 morning service. This was their first visit to a well- 
 appointed United States fort, and there were many 
 things to be seen, heard, and observed. 
 
 The day passed pleasantly. The morning audience 
 was small ; that in the evening much larger. Attend- 
 ance at divine service was at the option of the soldiers, 
 and many chose to remain away. The red-tape of 
 routine military life was manifest in many ways. The 
 gentlemanly bearing of the officers was marked and 
 pleasing. The Sunday morning and evening parade 
 seemed needless, but such was the law. 
 
 A call was much enjoyed in the afternoon from the 
 surgeon of the post, a large-hearted and devoted 
 Christian man. 
 
174 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 ■ 
 
 At night it was rather agreeable than otherwise to 
 
 hear the cry of the sentinel, as his voice rang out the 
 
 number of every hour and the cry of " All is well!" 
 
 Monday morning, after witnessing the morning parade, 
 
 father and daughter were soon on their way home, 
 
 which they reached, without further mishap, at 
 
 evening. 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 ASPECTS OF NATURE. — EXTREMES. A TORNADO. 
 
 "TV /T~AJESTY is the attribute of many a landscape 
 -L-Vj~ on the banks of the Missouri. The volume 
 and width of the stream ; the great cotton wood trees 
 fringing its shores ; the stretch of the river bottom ; 
 the terraced rise of the bluffs which hem the valley, 
 which is often miles in width; the vast expanse of 
 upland, all overarched by the highest and fairest of 
 skies, — combine to elevate and enlarge the soul's hori- 
 zon. Every aspect of nature seems to be a part of 
 the same grand diapason, a chord which includes all 
 tones. 
 
 The breaking up of the ice in the spring had been 
 a time of great excitement. Once, in the short his- 
 tory of the place, the river had loosened itself from the 
 icy clasp of winter, far up at the mouth of the Yellow- 
 stone, while still frozen over below, and the mighty 
 current rolled death and destruction " for many a 
 league onward," piling the shivered ice into gorges 
 where some bend in the channel formed an obstruction 
 to the current, as here, until the flood rose to the level 
 of the "second bench, ,1 or terrace, filling the houses 
 
 175 
 
176 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 and forcing the people to escape in boats to higher 
 ground. Each spring brought recurring anxiety, and 
 day and night we watched the softening ice, until, 
 with a great, crackling roar, it broke. Some masses 
 were piled high and then disappeared in the angry 
 current ; some were thrown with terrific force out on 
 the banks, and great floes filled the channel for days, 
 during which no communication could be held with 
 the opposite shore. 
 
 The winter blizzards were not the only storms. 
 Those of the summer sometimes surpassed them in 
 sublimity. A gentleman who resided here, and who 
 had traveled extensively in both hemispheres, told us 
 that he had never found a place, except portions of 
 Switzerland, where the thunder and lightning equaled 
 what he had known in storms here. Amusing stories 
 were told of the refuge sought in caves and cellars by 
 business men in the early history of this place, and, 
 in a state of society where daylight was an indispens- 
 able ingredient of personal safety, of their fear of 
 one another when hiding thus in the darkness and 
 sublimity of a midnight storm. 
 
 Some impressions of similar storms in our expe- 
 rience are ineffaceable. One day in early summer the 
 long hours wore on monotonously. Toward evening 
 the heavens grew gray with clouds which curdled in 
 their upper strata. Had we known more of these 
 
Aspects of Nature. Ill 
 
 atmospheric phenomena, our anxieties would have 
 been awakened. It was not long before the realities 
 were quite as much as we could bear. The minister 
 and his daughter were alone in the church home. 
 The night grew pitchy dark. The lightnings flashed 
 and the thunders rattled like the discharges of artil- 
 lery and musketry combined. The winds blew and 
 the floods descended. Gradually all these elements of 
 sublimity were intensified until the tempest became 
 frightful. The little church shook until the inmates 
 felt as though in the clutches of some powerful 
 demon. In fear" of a crash they barred the church 
 doors. Then they knelt in prayer, and afterwards 
 trustfully watched out the midnight with the storm, 
 whose awfulness can never be forgotten. 
 
 Extremes of temperature during the year were wide 
 apart. In the winter we had hung our thermometer 
 on the knob of the northwest church door to see the 
 mercury descend into the bulb, stopping short of the 
 " forty- three degrees below" marked by spirit ther- 
 mometers elsewhere. In a succeeding winter the 
 minister preached at a place where the thermometers 
 marked fifty degrees below zero, and was told that the 
 week before it had been at fifty-six below. 
 
 Then there were the t4 Chinook winds," always hot 
 in summer and in winter. We heard of sun heat at 
 the Indian Mission station in a previous year which 
 
178 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 had liquefied chocolate in cakes, sending the dark- 
 brown fluid in sluggish streams down from a high pan- 
 tvy shelf, to the astonishment of the lady missionaries. 
 
 On this first Sabbath of July the thermometer at 
 the church stood for hours from one hundred and 
 four degrees to one hundred and eight degrees Fahren- 
 heit. In the coolest place in the church, on a door- 
 post between audience room and lecture room, it 
 marked one hundred and four degrees for several 
 hours of the afternoon. The air was dry and hot, 
 like the breath of a furnace. Breathing was not easy, 
 nor did it bring much relief. In the following sum- 
 mer we had the privilege of a near yet safe view of a 
 tornado. 
 
 The heat of the day seemed unendurable, with a 
 strange oppressiveness in the air. Panting for breath, 
 the minister was driven out of his study in hope of 
 some relief. Bardly beyond the doorstep, his atten- 
 tion was attracted by a peculiar noise. The heavens 
 were nearly clear, but with a sultry dullness of the 
 atmosphere, and one small cloud in the north, not far 
 away. From that cloud hung a tubular column 
 reminding one of the trunk of an elephant. It had 
 a quivering, oscillating motion. Ever and anon it 
 lengthened towards the earth, at times forming a 
 juncture with a black cloud of dust and debris which 
 rose up from the ground to meet it. Then it would 
 
Aspects of Nature. 179 
 
 contract like a stretched cord of india rubber, when 
 the extending pressure is relaxed. These two parts, 
 the cloud of dust from the earth and the hanging 
 tube-like cloud from above, moved on together. 
 Whenever they united we could hear a roaring, crack- 
 ling sound, as from a conflict of angry demons. At 
 first the cloud seemed coming directly toward the 
 town, but soon veered and passed around it. About 
 a mile away, it struck the cow barn of a dairyman, 
 and then the crackle and the roar were terrible. The 
 barn was rent and shivered, and nothing, it was said, 
 but splinters from it could ever be found afterwards. 
 The tornado then moved on eastward, and when some 
 two miles away it struck a small, frail house in which 
 was a mother and her young child. The house was 
 whirled into the air, and the mother and child landed 
 in a cornfield not far away, neither killed, though the 
 mother was somewhat injured. 
 
 With a curiously fascinated gaze we watched the 
 course of this strange phenomenon for about two 
 hours. As it moved on, the cloud grew in size until, 
 when miles away, we could see two, then three, of 
 those angry-looking trunks hanging toward the earth. 
 Twenty miles away a man with a two-horse team was 
 taken up by it and dashed to destruction. 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 OUR FOURTH OF JULY ON THE INDIAN RESERVATION. 
 
 OUR Fourth of July was celebrated on the Indian 
 reservation. Two young lawyers of the town 
 chartered a steamboat and gave out an invitation to 
 a sail on the river, with a celebration of the day 
 near an Indian village on the Indian reservation three 
 or four miles above on the opposite side. The min- 
 ister and his friends were courteously invited to be 
 a part of the company. Incited partly by the promise 
 of novelty, they decided to go. 
 
 When we steamed up the river there were four or 
 five hundred people on board — a mixed company, 
 such as might be expected of such a place, on such 
 an occasion. It was " good, bad, and indifferent," 
 bat all was orderly. The military band which 
 accompanied us stirred our patriotism and gave good 
 cheer by their martial music. 
 
 Soon the boat " tied up" close to a small grove 
 of wild trees which here lined the river's bank, and 
 extended back fifteen or twenty rods to the edge of 
 " the bottom," or intervale, on the opposite side of 
 which, nestling close under the bluffs, was the Indian 
 
 180 
 
Our Fourth of July on the Reservation. 181 
 
 village, composed of tepees — lodges formed by 
 setting up poles in the form of a hollow cone, and 
 covering them with cloth, varied occasionally with 
 a much-patched buffalo skin. 
 
 Our patriotic celebration was held, immediately 
 after landing, in the grove on the bank. The pro- 
 gram was not long : — 
 
 Music. 
 
 Prayer by the Chaplain of the Day. 
 
 Reading of the Declaration. 
 
 More music. 
 
 And yet it had a real interest, as the colors of a 
 
 picture are brightened by a sombre background. 
 
 These exercises over, we gave attention to the 
 picnic dinner. The scene was picturesque enough, 
 amidst the scraggy trees and the low underbrush on 
 the banks of the " Big Muddy." The lands were 
 those of the red men, whose representatives were 
 near at hand, some of them, indeed f even now in 
 our midst. Men, women, and children with fairer 
 skin we gathered in little family and friendly groups, 
 to partake of our luncheon, and to chat and laugh to 
 our hearts' content. 
 
 Dinner over, we marched out upon the open inter- 
 vale, to meet the Indians who had come out from 
 their tepees to extend friendly greetings. The scene 
 was worthy of a painter's brush. Of our own race 
 
182 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 were all conditions of sex, age, character, learning > 
 and estate. Of the other, there were the old 
 and the haggard, bearing the distinctive marks of 
 heathenism ; young men and maidens in all the 
 glory of paint, feathers, and blankets, beads and 
 tinsel ; and little children of all ages, from tiny and 
 helpless infancy to stalwart youth. Between the 
 white skin and the red skin lay the fifteen Christian 
 centuries, from Constantine to Victoria, which have 
 evolved the civilization of the Anglo-Saxon from 
 the barbarism of our pagan ancestors. Across this 
 gulf we reached out to one another friendly hands, 
 without distrust. If the Indians seemed willing to 
 learn of us, we were not unwilling to learn of them. 
 Artlessness and not suspicion marked the intercourse 
 of that long cloudless afternoon. Each seemed desir- 
 ous of making the day pleasant to the other. The 
 sports of the occasion were entered into by both races 
 alike. 
 
 In the later afternoon the Indians got out their 
 ponies for a wild race over the prairie, to the delight 
 of us all, as they had, with the same apparent enjoy- 
 ment, witnessed the earlier foot races and other sports 
 gotten up by the whites. 
 
 Still later the Indians gave an exhibition of a 
 war dance, around which the whites gathered and 
 clapped and cheered quite lustily. Of one of their 
 
Our Fourth of July on the Reservation, 183 
 
 diversions, however, we caught only a glimpse. As 
 we had passed from the grove to the open plain at 
 noon, we noticed an Indian leading a good-sized, well- 
 favored dog. Some one remarked, " That is the dog 
 they are going to roast " ; but no special attention was 
 paid to the remark, and it was soon forgotten. 
 
 Later in the day, along the borders of an upland 
 which broke abruptly into a ravine, a large number of 
 Indian women and children were gathered. The 
 brightness and playfulness of these little ones had 
 excited our interest. Gingersnaps offered for sale 
 near by quickly filled our hands and pockets as we 
 started on a pilgrimage among the children. No child 
 was passed without its share. With simple pleasure 
 we bestowed what they were delighted to receive. 
 How their eyes brightened and sparkled, as they took 
 the cakes in their little copper-colored hands ! The 
 mothers were not unmindful of the attentions paid 
 their children. They smiled and nodded the thanks 
 they could not speak. As for ourselves, the only 
 regret was to find our supply running low ; but each 
 child received at least one ginger snap before we 
 reached the outskirts of the group. 
 
 At this point, our attention w r as drawn to smoke 
 rising from a fire near by, which had, till now, been 
 partially concealed by a group of squaws. We looked 
 again. Over the fire they were roasting the dog we 
 
184 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 had seen led by the Indian when we first approached 
 the encampment. A fire of sticks had been laid and 
 kindled, and there was the dog, which lay upon the 
 fire, hair on, and feet upwards, " natural as life." 
 Several of the women were attending to the roasting. 
 The friend who had accompanied us, a delicate lady 
 of English antecedents, drew our attention to the 
 scene, and our exclamations were " not loud, but deep," 
 as we turned away. We had heard of such things 
 before, but never thought to witness them. As we 
 rejoined our white friends, it was too rare a bit of 
 experience to keep. The secret u leaked out," to our 
 regret, and soon the crowd which set that way was so 
 great that the poor, embarrassed Indian women sus- 
 pended operations. The dog was taken off the fire 
 and reposed in hiding until the white people had left 
 the grounds. The dog feast, a special luxury, was 
 doubtless held before sunset, but at a later hour than 
 had been intended. 
 
 We left the reservation with interchange of civili- 
 ties and mutual good wishes. No accident or mishap 
 had marred the day, and the homeward sail on the 
 broad river, over which stretched the long shadows of 
 bluffs and trees from the western bank as the sun 
 descended, 'was a time filled with quiet reflection sug- 
 gested by the strange experience attendant upon our 
 Fourth of July on an Indian reservation. In more 
 
Our Fourth of July on the Reservation. 185 
 
 than one heart, we were sure, kindly sympathies had 
 been not shriveled, but deepened and broadened by 
 the day's close contact with savage life. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 OUTSIDE MISSIONARY WORK. 
 
 T I THINGS were growing and enlarging on every 
 -J- hand, and so there were multiplied occasions 
 for help in Christian work. A little town, which is 
 to grow into the county seat, was planted in an 
 adjoining county. The minister was invited to come 
 and help institute a religious service there, and as soon 
 as he could find an opportunity, he was glad to go. 
 
 The journey was over an almost unbroken prairie, 
 lengthened by apprehensions of a gathering storm. A 
 few settlers living in their first huts and shanties were 
 scattered along the way. In one of these we took 
 refuge when the fierce tempest had overtaken us, glad 
 indeed of any shelter. And yet how like an egg- 
 shell the frail tenement seemed while the fury of the 
 storm was upon us ! When it had passed we were 
 glad to find ourselves yet upon the earth. 
 
 How welcome the hospitality which awaits a mis- 
 sionary going out on such a service ! We were ' ' at 
 home " the moment we alighted from our vehicle. 
 The first question in such circumstances is, Where 
 are we to hold service? Neither church, school- 
 
 186 
 
Outside Missionary Work. 187 
 
 house, nor hall was here. We did not feel altogether 
 free from anxiety when told it was to be held in the 
 unfinished office of the small hotel where we were 
 domiciled, since there was neither chair, bench, nor 
 seat of any description in the room. And as we had 
 come over an almost uninhabited prairie to the town, 
 which consisted of the small hotel, a store, a printing 
 office, and a blacksmith's shop, we wondered if there 
 would be any one to occupy seats if we had them, 
 when the hour of service should arrive. But the time 
 from Saturday night to Sunday morning was not long, 
 and time would show. Breakfast over, the host made 
 ready the rude room for the approaching service. 
 Lumber was not plenty. Bits of blocks sawed off 
 the ends of the timbers of the house frame, a few 
 small boxes, and some nail kegs were brought into 
 requisition, as the supports of a few short boards 
 left over from the house. When all was arranged 
 the rude little room had quite a comfortable look. 
 Even a cabinet organ had appeared to grace the 
 scene. 
 
 In preparation for such a meeting there is danger 
 that the preacher will underestimate the size or the 
 quality of his expected audience. Perhaps rather, in 
 the vagueness of that expectancy, in circumstances 
 where no precedents have been established, vacancy is 
 ready to settle down on heart and brain, paralyzing 
 
188 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 effort to arrange thought and press home motive. 
 But nowhere less than on a frontier must one come 
 before an audience without a message to the souls 
 and hearts of men. The message was given this 
 morning in answer to prayer. How surprised was 
 the preacher, as he stepped into that office room at 
 the hour appointed, to find it packed full, with as 
 bright and cheery a company in appearance as he had 
 ever found ! The people were mostly young and 
 middle-aged. When the first hymn was announced 
 the lady organist took her place and touched the 
 keys — and what a burst of praise ! A chorus of 
 good voices, in fine accord with each other and with 
 the instrument, lifted up our spirits. Already the 
 divine Presence was manifest. The best the preacher 
 had to give was none too good for the audience assem- 
 bled in this uncomely place. The people were from 
 the towns and cities of the east. They had been 
 trained in the schools and churches of the older 
 states. They were earnest and enterprising, or they 
 would not have been here to invite and to greet the 
 Christian minister on the unbroken soil of a frontier 
 settlement. The contrasts between the dull prospects 
 of that Saturday's journey and the delights of the 
 Sabbath service were greater than those between the 
 storm and the sunshine which fell athwart that prairie 
 trail. 
 
Outside Missionary Work. 189 
 
 A few weeks later the minister was there again, to 
 complete the organization of a church, which, as we 
 trust, is to yield the fruits of righteousness through 
 coming ages. 
 
 In this missionary life one soon learns to take 
 things as he finds them. He is often helpless before 
 the difficulties which surround him. To grow dis- 
 couraged is not Christlike. To become impatient 
 is to fritter away what little power he has. To keep 
 cheery is best and most becoming for all concerned. 
 
 There are many unlooked-for tests of patience and 
 trials of faith. A fact or two may be suggestive. 
 
 His work calls him to a new and growing town 
 on the railroad thirty miles away. He is to return 
 by the evening train, which he finds is late. The 
 best thing he can do is to wait where he is until the 
 train comes. But the depot is simply an old freight 
 car standing on a side track. One end of this car 
 is used as a telegraph office ; the other end serves the 
 double purpose of baggage car and waiting room. 
 In this end, beside some pieces of baggage, there 
 are already ten or fifteen men. Several are smoking, 
 and two are " half seas over" and using obscene and 
 profane language. At first the minister prefers to 
 remain outside, but soon the night is dark and cold, 
 and, for health's sake, he must enter the car. There 
 amid the tobacco smoke and the bad language he 
 
190 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 waits until between one and two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing, getting some new insight into human depravity 
 and the needs of human nature. 
 
 Again, he is sixty miles from home. He reaches 
 the depot on time for the train homeward, due at 
 six o'clock in the evening. The train is reported 
 two hours late, and there is nothing better than 
 remaining where he is. It is soon dark, with a brisk, 
 cold north wind. The depot is the cc section house," 
 one little room, where about a dozen men are huddled. 
 There is not a chair in the room. Some are smoking. 
 Here, in one corner, three men are sleeping on the 
 dirty floor, In another, two men are stretched out 
 on a wooden bench. Behind the stove is a boy curled 
 up on the floor, alternately sleeping or waking, accord- 
 ing to the degree of heat. It was an iron egg- 
 shaped stove for soft coal. The tending of the fire 
 was left to those in waiting for the train. One would 
 fill the stove with coal and shut the door. Soon 
 the little room, heated like a furnace, would become 
 intolerable. Then some one would arouse himself 
 and open the outer door of the room, as well as 
 the door of the stove. With the ingress of wave 
 after wave of cold air all were soon shivering. Then 
 another would refill the stove and close the door, 
 and soon they would be sweltering again. And so 
 they alternated between melting heat and freezing 
 
Outside Missionary Work. 191 
 
 cold for seven long hours instead of two. At one 
 o'clock in the morning, at least one was thankful 
 to escape by the coming of the train, endeavoring in 
 thought to gain patience by regarding such trials as 
 simply a part of the price of that Christian service 
 by which the gospel of our Lord is given to the 
 needy. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 RATION DAY AT AND NEAR THE AGENCY. 
 
 rTlWICE a month the government gave out rations 
 -*- to more than three thousand Indians at " the 
 agency," thirty-five miles up the river. A party of 
 six had planned a visit on one of these occasions, 
 and on a beautiful midsummer morning we left our 
 home as a part, of this company. The skies were 
 clear, the air cool and bracing. Three miles out of 
 town we found ourselves at the summit of the bluffs, 
 where the eye takes in the whole circuit of the 
 heavens. Westward is the valley of the Missouri, 
 with the Indian reservation stretching beyond two 
 hundred miles to the Black Hills. On the north, an 
 " ocean of land," a vast, gentry undulating expanse 
 of prairie reaching two hundred miles to the North- 
 ern Pacific Railroad. A like treeless expanse stretches 
 to the Mississippi five hundred miles eastward. On 
 the south is the " Big Muddy," sweeping majestically 
 between the bluffs on either side, a thousand miles of 
 its course lying within the territory which we call our 
 home. 
 Yonder, on the bottom lands, is the Indian village, 
 
 192 
 
Ration Day at and near the Agency. 193 
 
 its huts and tepees in full sight in this air which lifts 
 up and magnifies every object. 
 
 The landscape, with all beyond which it suggests, 
 forms a picture for the imagination to keep. But we 
 cannot tarry long. Descending the bluffs by a road 
 sometimes good, sometimes precipitous, we come to 
 the home of our friends, who, as "foreign" mis- 
 sionaries, have labored more than ten years among 
 the Indians at this point. Here we are received with 
 the cordiality characteristic of this household. We 
 spend two delightful hours visiting the garden (was 
 ever such luxuriant growth of vegetables and melons 
 seen before ?) , meeting with the Indians for worship 
 in their chapel, enjoying the Dakota hymns sung by 
 one of the lady missionaries to her own accompani- 
 ment, and examining the Dakota Bible and dictionary. 
 
 But even here we must uot tarry long, and soon 
 with farewells and a fervent " God bless you!" for 
 these friends fitted by nature and culture for the 
 highest station, and finding it with joy among these 
 lowly Sioux, we are again on our way. 
 
 We reach the fort, fifteen miles farther, about six 
 o'clock. Pausing only for a friendly greeting with 
 the chaplain and his family, we push onward eight 
 or nine miles up the river, which we cross in a skiff, 
 leaving our team and carrying our luggage on the 
 other side, over the two-mile walk which intervenes 
 between the landing and the agency. 
 

 194 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 The " Indian agent " receives us kindly at his 
 door, which we reach late in the evening, and we 
 are hospitably entertained for the night. Early next 
 morning all are astir, for it is " ration day." Indian 
 men, women, children, and dogs of all sorts and sizes, 
 are " here and there and everywhere." Many tepees 
 and covered wagons are arranged in villages on the 
 open plateaus beyond and above us. Here one may 
 see an Indian sleeping on the ground, with nothing 
 between him and the earth beneath or the sky above ; 
 there, an Indian woman, nursing her child, sitting on 
 the cold, damp ground. 
 
 A group of painted savages is gathered about the 
 door of the agency, waiting for the door to open, and 
 scanning whatever in sight attracts their attention. 
 A quarter of a mile away is the slaughterhouse, 
 where one hundred and fifty fat cattle are slaugh- 
 tered in a single day to furnish meat for the rations. 
 About this place the scenes are too degraded and 
 degrading for description. The poor dogs look on 
 with quiet and modest mien, in comparison with the 
 savage men and women, whose greed would seem 
 more befitting to the dogs. 
 
 We turn away to the office, where the corn, the 
 coffee, the sugar, are given out. Each one of the mot- 
 ley crowd is watching for his turn to enter and receive 
 his allotted portion. There are old and wrinkled 
 
Ration Day at and near the Agency. 195 
 
 faces, and faces of bright and beautiful children. 
 There are young women, sitting in the dirt as uncon- 
 cernedly as their white sisters would sit on sofas and 
 easy-chairs in the drawing room. All that one has 
 read in books or seen in pictures has here its original 
 in the untamed Indian life before us. We ask our- 
 selves involuntarily, u Is this a dream, or is it a 
 terrible reality ?" 
 
 We are here to learn. In the group about the door 
 of the agency, composed mostly of men under middle 
 age, there seems to be all the activity of a political 
 caucus. There are speakers and there are listeners. 
 We look on in involuntary admiration. These young 
 Sioux, six feet in stature, straight as an arrow, clad 
 in their peculiar costume, with heads bare and move- 
 ments unimpeded, are engaged in animated conversa- 
 tion. Their free gesticulation is worthy of a French 
 orator ; their dignity and grace would become a royal 
 prince. Their expressive countenances, so human, so 
 manly, so different from what one might expect amid 
 these environments, evoked the instinctive questions, 
 " Where did they come from? " " Who can tell us of 
 the unknown histories back of them?" 
 
 Earlier in the day we had passed a small group of 
 men evidently in earnest discussion over some inci- 
 dent. One of them seemed, by his violent gesticula- 
 tion, to be under great excitement. At the office of 
 
196 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the agency we now learned its cause. This man had 
 gone into the office for an interview with the agent, 
 when he was rudely driven forth and disarmed. For 
 what reason ? Because he was painted ! The agent, 
 disliking the custom, had declared he would not do 
 business with a painted Indian. And so, true to his 
 prejudice, he had cast out the young brave from his 
 presence because he was following this custom of his 
 forefathers. White men might dye their whiskers and 
 color their hair, but an Indian might not paint his 
 brow and cheeks. The insulted Indian was, of course, 
 offended. Our sympathies were with him. We could 
 not believe it was any part of the duty of an official 
 of our free government to refuse to do business with 
 those to whom he had been sent, in trust, simply 
 because their toilet was not to his taste. The case 
 seemed suggestive. This was neither the first nor 
 the last instance where the white man was the 
 aggressor. 
 
 A happy contrast with the depressing scenes at the 
 agency was waiting for us a few miles distant. A 
 Christian mission school for girls is three or four 
 miles up the river, and we are glad to join our friends 
 for a brief visit there. The refined lady in charge 
 extended to us a most cordial welcome. We were 
 shown over the mission house and were delighted 
 at the sight of many convenient adjuncts to a civi- 
 
Ration Day at and near the Agency. 197 
 
 lized and cultivated life. It was the time of the 
 summer vacation, and the girls of the school were 
 at home with their own families. But, in anticipation 
 of company from the agency on this ration day, the 
 lady principal had invited five of her pupils from 
 homes near by to meet any strangers who might 
 chance to visit them. They were now gathered in 
 the large room used in term time for the teaching 
 of needlework and other domestic arts. They were 
 between twelve and twenty years of age. The 
 quality of their dress was inexpensive, but it was 
 neatness and comeliness itself. In winsome and lady- 
 like appearance these Indian girls were fully the 
 equals of the average schoolgirl of their years. 
 Indeed, but for the color of their skin, they might 
 easily have been taken for girls from the better 
 homes of the American people. They replied to 
 our questions modestly, and in good English. They 
 entertained us with music, both vocal and instrumen- 
 tal. They gave us some fine recitations of poetry 
 — extracts from Longfellow's Hiawatha, and Christ- 
 mas carols. The evidence of careful training worthily 
 bestowed would have been a credit to any school. 
 And these girls were of the same race as those we 
 had left an hour before amid the wild scenes at the 
 agency ! It was hard to believe it. And yet, such 
 are the results of Christian homes and schools for 
 the Indians. 
 
198 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 " Christian missions do pay ; they do pay," was our 
 inmost thought, as we turned homeward. 
 
 It was twelve o'clock at night when we reached 
 our home. Never shall we forget the object lessons 
 set before us in this visit to Indians on their own 
 territory. 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 VISITORS AND A VISIT. 
 
 A LTHOUGH our frontier life was isolated as 
 regards the pleasant associations of other 
 times and places, our present situation, a strate- 
 gic point on the picket line of missions, brought 
 occasional Christian greetings which were highly 
 prized, and they have left pleasant pictures in the 
 memory. Among our visitors in one summer were 
 a professor from Beloit College, a student from Yale 
 Theological Seminary, two young evangelists from 
 Chicago, the editor of The New York Independent, 
 a well-known pastor of a church in Boston, the 
 western editor of The Congregationalist, a prominent 
 pastor from Michigan, with a business man from his 
 church, and others, including on one occasion ten or 
 fifteen converted Indians. It was a sincere pleasure 
 to welcome each and all of these to our humble home 
 in the little church. 
 
 In the young student from New Haven we found 
 a rare geniality and genuineness of character, com- 
 bined with such power of adaptation to special emer- 
 gencies and unlooked-for conditions, as formed both 
 
 199 
 
200 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 a pleasing example and a promise of greater things 
 to come. He had come out at the close of his first 
 year's study of theology to spend his summer vaca- 
 tion in missionary work. Such an experience is 
 always a test of character. Our Christian sympa- 
 thies went out to meet him before we knew that he 
 had reached his appointed post of duty. 
 
 He arrived in the town of his labors on the 
 Saturday evening train, to take up work which we 
 had inaugurated by services already described. His 
 first services were held in the dining room of that 
 new first hotel, and here he remained over the Sab- 
 bath. His first meeting of these strange conditions 
 was brave, and the services had in them much 
 promise. 
 
 Anticipating his needs, we had wondered «how he 
 would succeed in finding a suitable room for study. 
 One can always find food in these frontier places, if 
 he have money with which to pay for it. But a room 
 in which a minister can make a sermon is indeed hard 
 to find. As we were his nearest ministerial neighbors, 
 only thirty miles away, he called and took counsel 
 with us a few days after his arrival. Although he 
 was a stranger, it was a real pleasure to meet him, 
 both because of the personal interest he at once 
 awakened and on account of the special interest we 
 felt in the work he had undertaken. 
 
Visitors and a Visit. 201 
 
 His need of a room, with no prospect of a supply, 
 so far as we could see, was haunting us. Only a few 
 words of greeting went before our propounding the 
 question, " What are you going to do for a room?" 
 Hope dawned upon us at once with his prompt reply, 
 44 I am going to build a shack." With western dialect 
 the young preacher had evidently already made ac- 
 quaintance. Its application in this instance held out 
 large promise. Such a structure the young student 
 saw at once could be built for a small outlay, and be 
 utilized for a parsonage while he should remain. In 
 a few days he had put up his unique structure near 
 the railway track on a site loaned him for the pur- 
 pose, near the edge of the town. There he slept and 
 wrote his sermons, and there he received his friends. 
 More -than once it was our pleasure to call on him 
 that summer. And if we were there with the hope 
 of giving pleasant cheer, we were sure to receive 
 more than we gave. As time and acquaintance pro- 
 gressed, we came to feel assured that ihe young 
 student, who showed such power of adaptation to 
 new and trying circumstances, would find open doors 
 of welcome and of usefulness whether his lot should 
 be cast " far out upon the prairie" or in an elegant 
 city church. 
 
 He accomplished a good work during that vacation. 
 It was my privilege to assist him in the organization 
 
202 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 of one church in his field, and he would have had 
 another, but for the unworthy arts of sectarianism. 
 The summer over, he prepared to return to his studies 
 at New Haven, sincerely loved and regretted by the 
 people whom he was compelled to leave. 
 
 When all was ready for his departure we recalled 
 the anxiety we had felt for him before his arrival, and 
 our doubts about his ability to obtain shelter. 
 
 u Mr. R ," we said, u what did your shack cost 
 
 you?" 
 
 " Twenty-seven dollars," was the prompt reply. 
 
 " For how much have you sold it?" 
 
 " Seventeen dollars." 
 
 And so, by wise management, he had obtained a 
 shelter, comfortable for the time and place, for his 
 whole four months' vacation, at a cost of ten dollars. 
 
 Our young friends, the evangelists from the Chicago 
 Young Men's Christian Association, left also most 
 pleasant recollections with their host. Soon after 
 their arrival I united with them in a street service on 
 the principal business street of our town at evening. 
 They also held services in our little church, with good 
 results. One of the young men was a lay preacher ; 
 the other, a solo singer. The latter was a German, 
 converted in boyhood at Mr. Moody's Sunday-school, 
 and was, in his first work, giving promise of abundant 
 usefulness. His Christian testimonies were given 
 
Visitors and a Visit. 203 
 
 with great modesty and humility. His music had in 
 it a wonderful vocal power and pathos. The captain 
 of a steamboat on the Missouri, a rough, worldly man, 
 carried him without charge on a two-hundred-mile 
 trip, and afterward spoke of him as " a fine young 
 fellow" whom he would be glad to have on his boat 
 at any time for the good he would do. Often, since 
 then, we are delighted to recall his sweet spirit, as we 
 sing his own tune to the hymn, — 
 
 44 Oh, wonderful words of the gospel ! 
 Oh, wonderful message they bring, 
 Proclaiming a blessed redemption, 
 Through Jesus our Saviour and King! 
 
 Believe, oh, believe in his mercy 
 That flows like a fountain, so free, 
 
 Believe, and receive the redemption 
 He offers to you and to me." 
 
 The visits of the older brethren were much enjoyed 
 — how much, none can know who has not experienced 
 the peculiar loneliness of spirit which frontier work 
 involves. 
 
 The occasion of the visit of our Michigan brethren, 
 as of some of the others, was a particular desire to 
 see something of the missionary work among the 
 Indians. The Michigan pastor had chosen to devote 
 his summer vacation to this object. With his friend, 
 he called on us at the church, and expressed a desire 
 
204 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 that we should accompany him to a neighboring 
 station. This invitation we gladly accepted, and 
 promptly made the necessary arrangements for the 
 journey. The good team from the livery seemed 
 quite a surprise to the brethren, who, felt that they 
 were on the utmost verge of civilization and could not 
 expect its conveniences and comforts. Everything 
 seemed so foreign to them that they scarcely looked 
 for anything to which they had been accustomed. 
 
 The heavens were smiling a glad welcome ; the 
 earth was fragrant with flowers. Onward we went, 
 over the bluffs, across the prairie, down the slopes 
 of the gumbo hills, along the bottom lands of the 
 river, until we reached the station. We knew that 
 there a welcome awaited us, with care for our faithful 
 horses also. 
 
 These friends saw with delight the evidences of 
 Christian labor within and without. Over the mound 
 of the sacred enclosure close outside the study win- 
 dow, and in the pictures on the wall within, linger 
 the fragrance and the halo of a beautiful and sainted 
 life here devoted to the lifting up of the lowest — an 
 alabaster box of the costliest perfume here broken 
 in love at the Saviour's feet. " Wheresoever this 
 gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, 
 this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for 
 a memorial of her." 
 
Visitors and a Visit. 205 
 
 Besides the beautiful home in this house of logs, 
 with its flowers and its garden, and the chapel, with 
 its memorial pulpit and communion table, and the 
 many objects of interest connected with the mission- 
 ary toil of years, there are the homes of those whom 
 this toil has lifted up to heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus. On the right is the home of Yellow Hawk 
 — a few years before a wild Indian chief, but now 
 the pastor of this native church, revered and beloved. 
 In the light of the change in his heart and in his 
 home, we can read his appeal, translated as it was 
 delivered, about this time, at a meeting of the Indian 
 churches and their white friends at which we were 
 present : — 
 
 "We are glad to meet you, our friends, because 
 you are our relatives. The word of ours we would 
 have you deliver is that the Teeton branch of our 
 nation is great, yet worshiping other gods ; and as 
 we are unable to do the teaching, we look to you for 
 assistance. When you go to your meeting tell them 
 that we look to them for help and strength. Tell 
 them that we desire to have our people know of the 
 way of life through the death of the Son of God. 
 Just as you desire this life for them, so tell our 
 friends it is the desire of us — as many of us as 
 believe. I have spoken." 
 
 Yonder is the home of Deacon Spotted Bear, and 
 
206 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 yonder he is, harvesting his oats. His history and 
 Christian experience cheer our hearts. On each of 
 these brethren we call, to receive a greeting worthy 
 of the apostolic age. 
 
 The social pleasures of the evening in the mission- 
 ary household, the comfort of the night, the cheer 
 of the morning meal and worship past, we prepare 
 to return. The team is at the door, and having said 
 our adieus, we stand without awaiting the coming 
 forth of our visiting brethren. 
 
 Spotted Bear comes up to give us a morning greet- 
 ing, and then, hearing the sound of music in the 
 house, turns and enters. Soon we too are drawn 
 by the harmony, so unexpected at this time. We 
 reenter the sitting room, to find it indeed u a heav- 
 enly place." At the piano sits a lady missionary, 
 touching the keys with the skill of an artist. On 
 either side of her stands an Indian woman, both 
 singing from Gospel song books in the Dakota lan- 
 guage. Surrounded by a group of Indian women and 
 children sit our Michigan brethren in the middle of 
 the room, and here at my right is Spotted Bear. All 
 are absorbed in the hymn and the music. What a 
 scene was that to our astonished vision ! As we came 
 within its hallowed power the instinctive utterance of 
 the heart was, " Out of every tongue and kindred 
 and people ! " At the close of that hymn we were 
 
Visitors and a Visit. 207 
 
 all ready for something more. A lady missionary 
 present said, " Shall we not have prayer? " " Yes," 
 was the instant response of the guests ; " and Brother 
 
 will lead us." Three brief prayers were offered, 
 
 two in English, one in the Dakota. Then our lay 
 brother went about the room, leaving his thanks in a 
 substantial form with each of the Indian children and 
 their friends. 
 
 Finally on our way, the unexpected is explained. 
 A company of Christian Indian women, with their 
 children, had been seen passing the house at the 
 moment of the first farewells of the guests. They 
 were called in and this precious scene followed. 
 
 u That was like Peter's vision on the housetop!" 
 said one of our friends. "That was nearer heaven 
 than we ever were before ! " said the other. 
 
 And the third gave thanks for this transfiguration 
 of the Lord in the persons of his lowly brethren and 
 sisters. 
 
 It was not far from this time that a number of 
 Christianized Indians reached our place, on their way 
 to the annual meeting of the native churches. They 
 had come a long distance, and night overtook them 
 with the last twelve or fifteen miles of their journey 
 unaccomplished. The minister at once invited them 
 to share for the night his shelter in the church, 
 and they modestly accepted it. They had robes and 
 
208 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 blankets with them, and cared for no bed better than 
 the floor. The pulpit platform was carpeted, and the 
 chair and pulpit were soon removed to make way for 
 these dusky Christians. There were about a dozen or 
 fifteen men, and all found room on the platform, 
 sleeping there, side by side, the "sleep of the just"; 
 while the minister, who happened to be without his 
 family, slept well also, in his corner of the lecture 
 room. 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 A MEETING OF GENERAL ASSOCIATION. 
 
 ONLY those who know what it is to live in the 
 small, rude, and uncomfortable quarters which 
 form the earl}' homes in a new country can appreciate 
 the courage and self-denial of the housekeepers in a 
 community which invites to its hospitality the mem- 
 bers of an association of ministers and churches. 
 
 To those who attend, also, there is always a sacri- 
 fice of time and money — often one of physical com- 
 fort, and sometimes of more than all these combined. 
 I had, on one occasion, attended the meeting of a 
 district, or local, association, which involved a jour- 
 ney of three hundred miles to reach it, and no less in 
 returning. At another, the fifteen dollars expended 
 in a shorter journey to the General Association could 
 ill be afforded from the salary adjusted to meet the 
 most pressing needs, without any thought of allow- 
 ance for expense of this kind. And yet I could not 
 feel justified in remaining away from such meetings. 
 They were an important part of the work we were 
 here to do. If ever the fellowship of ministers and 
 churches has a reason to be, surely it is in the condi- 
 
 209 
 
210 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 tions which surround both in frontier work. The 
 time at length came when the minister and his wife 
 were for the first time to enjoy together the privilege 
 of attending a meeting of Territorial Association. 
 
 A storm of wind and sand was our first greeting, 
 filling eyes and ears, and making locomotion some- 
 times unsafe as well as uncomfortable. But its 
 violence abated somewhat at sunset, and a hopeful, 
 cheerful company came together in the evening for 
 the opening service in the new church. 
 
 Its pastor gave a hearty welcome. " Brethren and 
 sisters," he said, " we are glad to see you. We can 
 entertain you all, and would be glad to welcome twice 
 as many." Then in a playful " aside " to the mem- 
 bers of his own congregation, he added, " Brethren 
 and sisters, I wish if there are any more places where 
 friends can be entertained, you will be so kind as to 
 let me know at once. The gathering from abroad is 
 larger than I anticipated, and, in fact, we are a little 
 short of places already." 
 
 Additional hospitality was forthcoming, although 
 that already proffered must have meant, in most cases, 
 a surrender of the beds and pillows of the hosts, and 
 the preparing and serving of meals in the most 
 crowded and embarrassing circumstances. Some fam- 
 ilies preferred to send their guests to the hotels. A 
 good hotel, in the early years of settlement, is very 
 
A Meeting of General Association. 211 
 
 rare, and the hotel guests at these meetings usually 
 have and deserve the sympathy of the more fortunate 
 ones received by the families. 
 
 But we are all disposed of by this unwearied pastor 
 and his generous people. A member of the editorial 
 staff of a Boston paper gives thanks for the excel- 
 lence of his accommodations (over a livery stable), 
 and a missionary wife is grateful for a private room, 
 though she hears the click of billiards and the voices 
 of card players in the billiard room beneath her own 
 from nightfall till daylight of Sunday morning. The 
 young wife of a member of the "Yale Band" is 
 domiciled, with her husband and child, in hotel 
 quarters which do not invite description. 
 
 It is a cheerful company which gathers at the first 
 session. The sermon is followed by stirring speeches, 
 until, in the joy of companionship and the sense of 
 the boundless opportunity for service into which God 
 is permitting us to enter, we forget everything less 
 worthy of our thought. 
 
 At nine o'clock the meeting closes, and we turn 
 from our seats to greet a company of twelve, who 
 have just arrived by the southern stage. A journey 
 about equal in length to the distance between Boston 
 and Albany has been accomplished by them in two 
 days and an intervening sleepless night, with six 
 changes of trains and two long stage rides. The one 
 
212 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 lady of this party is nearly exhausted, but in wind 
 and darkness she must still walk nearly a mile to her 
 place of entertainment. 
 
 Reports from the churches next morning are no 
 mere formality. Every one is eager to hear of his 
 brother's joys or sorrows, his church prosperity or 
 adversity. There is remarkable diversity in the theo- 
 ries of the pastors in regard to the quantity of secu- 
 lar cares and menial duties which may be made to 
 minister to their growth in grace — remarkable una- 
 nimity in their declarations that in these new fields the 
 only way is for the minister to do everything. 
 
 The best hour of the day is given to devotion, and 
 a tender, helpful, uplifting hour it is. There are testi- 
 monies and tears ; there is strong crying to God for 
 a spiritual outpouring on all this moral wilderness. 
 There is a communion season at the close of the 
 Sunday morning service precious indeed, and not 
 less so because of the sense of companionship in 
 work and sympathy which comes like balm to the 
 hearts of the missionaries who have toiled through 
 the year, each in far-off isolation from his brother. 
 
 U A home missionary experience meeting" is 
 extemporized for Sunday afternoon. By the sug- 
 gestion of the good secretary who presides the best 
 time is given to the older brethren, whose lives have 
 been spent in home missionary service here and in 
 
A Meeting of General Association. 213 
 
 the younger states. It is not of achievement they 
 speak ; they mourn imperfection, rather. It is not in 
 themselves that their thoughts center, so much as in 
 the good hand of God which has led them till they 
 are here enabled to set up their Ebenezer. 
 
 " I thank God for the friendship of Missionary 
 
 Secretary ," said one. " These thirty years, and 
 
 more, he has stood by me like a brother. How glad 
 I shall be to meet him in heaven ! When my wife 
 was dying of consumption, and I had to give up my 
 little frontier parish, and remove her where she could 
 have medical advice, I wrote to the secretary and 
 
 told him so. ' When I arrive in the city of C ,' 
 
 I wrote him, ' I shall be without a dollar.' The 
 returning mail brought his sympathy and timely 
 relief. I was thankful to be able to work. I hired 
 out to drive team, at three dollars and a half a day ; 
 for I could do this, and watch with my sick wife 
 every night. I got an average of three hours' sleep 
 in the twenty -four. So little, they said, killed Horace 
 Greeley. It did n't hurt me a bit. The church near 
 us proposed to make me a donation. I said, 4 1 beg 
 of you, don't do it. I am able to work with these 
 hands, and I am thankful to be able to earn every- 
 thing we need.' I have been called in the providence 
 of God to bury all my family but one. I have little 
 to speak of as the result of my life work. I rejoice 
 
214 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 that God made my dear daughter, whom he took in 
 her youth, the means of multiplied good. She called 
 her young companions around her dying bed, and 
 gave them her last messages. When they had gone, 
 she said, c Father, I believe my death will be the 
 means of more good than my continued life would 
 be.' A few months after, in a revival, fifteen of 
 those young people were converted, who ascribed the 
 change to the death of my daughter. One of these 
 is now a missionary in Japan, and I bless God that, 
 through the life and death of my child, he is now 
 sending the gospel message to multitudes in that 
 land." 
 
 Another brother reminded us that the disciples of 
 old were sent out without two coats. " Thanks to 
 the good sisters at the east," he said, " we have a 
 better supply. 
 
 " Years ago, when I was pastor of a missionary 
 church of twenty-seven members, I had a box sent 
 me containing five hundred old Sunday-school ques- 
 tion books, on which I had five dollars' freight to pay. 
 The times are better than they used to be. I had a 
 missionary box last year in which, besides comforts 
 for my family, was all the clothing which I have on 
 — that is presentable" (Laughter.) 
 
 The superintendent arose and said: "We don't 
 know anything about missionary trials in these days. 
 
A Meeting of General Association. 215 
 
 The work is comfortable now, compared with what it 
 used to be. The eastern churches understand the 
 needs better, communication is more easy and rapid, 
 and the distinctive trials of home missionary life are 
 largely in the past." 
 
 The last year passed in swift review before the 
 mental vision of a silent listener. There were places 
 where the way had seemed almost too thorny and 
 difficult to pass ; there were scars where the iron had 
 entered the soul. The thought was, "Well, I don't 
 know. What comes to us now is seemingly all we 
 can bear, ' Ye shall not be tempted above that ye 
 are able ' is blessedly verified to us now ; but the 
 measure is often full. We cannot bear, it seems 
 sometimes, a hairs breadth more. But relief always 
 comes in at just that line. Was it less than this in 
 the former times ? " 
 
 A missionary rose on the opposite side of the room. 
 The first home missionary in what is now a great and 
 prosperous state, his life has been spent in the service 
 which, more than age, has blanched his locks and bent 
 his form, and planted a quiver in voice and hand. 
 The sweetness of a benediction fell on the meeting 
 with the sound of his voice. 
 
 He said: "I have ever found the service a joy 
 and the compensations abundant. And those mis- 
 sionary boxes have always come laden with blessings. 
 
216 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 What we should have done without them I cannot 
 think. I do not mourn that more has not been done 
 for me. I have much occasion to fear that if the 
 friends at the east only knew how poor my work has 
 been, and how imperfection and sin have marred it 
 all, they would feel dissatisfied with it and me." 
 
 The quick tears sprang, and a hush of tenderness 
 came over us all. There was a little space when 
 words were not wanted. 
 
 A cold rain storm had prevailed during the three 
 days of the meeting. Seldom was a storm ever less 
 thought of. The line of the old hymn, — 
 
 u December's as pleasant as May," — 
 
 came nearer to verification than some of us ever knew 
 before. The altar fires of this missionary gathering 
 were brightly burning, and they grew more radiant 
 and warmth-giving to the last. Sunday evening came 
 the farewell words — light good-bys and hearty 
 anticipations for the work to which we were about 
 to return, girded anew by the privileges here enjoyed. 
 A member of the " Yale Band" had driven to this 
 meeting, a hundred miles or more, in his own con- 
 veyance, accompanied by his wife and little daughter, 
 their only child, sixteen months of age. In health 
 when they left home, and with delightful weather, 
 the long journey had been a pleasant one. But in 
 
A Meeting of General Association. ill 
 
 the narrow chamber at the hotel the little one 
 sickened. In the stormy Saturday afternoon the 
 mother took her, at the invitation of a neighboring 
 pastor and former classmate, to his home, where, 
 though many miles distant, the little one could be 
 better cared for. She brightened, and played at 
 evening with the children of the family. But in 
 the night symptoms of fatal disease alarmed the 
 mother and her friends. A telegram, u Baby is 
 worse " reached the father as he sat with his brethren 
 in the Sunday morning meeting in the church. No 
 train could take him to his child until Monday morn- 
 ing. Monday noon, when the train bringing the 
 anxious father was in sight, the little one closed her 
 eyes on earthly things ; and the missionary father 
 and 'mother met, childless, in the parsonage of their 
 kind friends, with all others about them strangers. 
 
 Ere the day was past, others from the meeting 
 came thither on their homeward way. Here we had 
 to spend the night before we could resume our jour- 
 ney. Expecting to find our way to a hotel, we were 
 met at the station by the good pastor and some of 
 his people, intent on hospitality. "Three gentlemen 
 and a lady en route from the meeting,'' they were 
 looking for, they said. 
 
 Here was the venerable friend whose words had so 
 touched our hearts in the ' ' missionary experience 
 
218 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 meeting." Here was a young English brother, come 
 within the year from the mother country, to share 
 the trials and the joys of a frontier pastorate. Here 
 was Yellow Hawk, dumb in English, but eloquent in 
 the language of Canaan, the faithful and beloved 
 pastor of a native church which belonged to this 
 association. The three were found, and assigned to 
 the care of Christian friends. A carriage was in 
 waiting for the missionary wife, whose escort to the 
 meeting had been called by privilege and duty to 
 take an opposite direction at its close. Her husband 
 had requested her to take Yellow Hawk in charge for 
 the long homeward journey, as the Christianized 
 chieftain spoke no English. Rather timidly she had 
 consented to this responsibility, only to find that 
 the courtesy and good sense of her charge relieved 
 her from all anxiety on his account, and that she 
 was actually traveling as the one to be cared for by 
 this chivalrous, dark-complexioned gentleman of the 
 aboriginal name. 
 
 The pastor, in waiting at the train, explained that 
 the carriage would take the privileged guest, not to 
 his own house, as he had expected, — that was the 
 abode of sorrow now, — but to the care of a lady 
 who, with her husband, would gladly welcome the 
 wayfarer. Gratitude for such Christian kindness 
 spoke from eyes rather than lips. An introduction, 
 
A Meeting of General Association. 219 
 
 a glance at the transparent young countenance which 
 welcomed us for Christ's sake, we knew, — although it 
 was not said, — and we were at once at home. 
 
 After a few moments, being left alone for a little, 
 we bestowed a look on our surroundings. Books indi- 
 cating intelligence, refinement, scholarship, on the 
 part of their owners, were on the shelves. Here on 
 the table was a portfolio of photographs — copies of 
 famous pictures in the Dresden gallery. The Good 
 Samaritan had ministered unto us in this far land, 
 not in an inn, but in a cultured Christian home. In 
 an hour hostess and guest were as old friends. Many 
 acquaintances they had in common, and a sudden turn 
 in the conversation disclosed the fact that their sisters 
 had married cousins in an eastern city. But we must 
 not linger on the unexpected friendship thus formed 
 with this young wife and her husband, both college 
 graduates, who, after a frontier training by a few 
 years' residence in Montana, had been providentially 
 brought here, to be a comfort and a help to this pastor 
 and his church, a bulwark of strength to all good 
 enterprises. 
 
 Not for a moment had we forgotten that across the 
 street our brother and sister mourned their dead. The 
 train was to leave at nine o'clock in the morning, the 
 pastor told us, and before this there would be a service 
 of prayer at the parsonage, to which we were invited. 
 
220 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 In the little parlor, around the small coffin box, a 
 missionary company we stood, while the chastened 
 
 words of prayer from the lips of Father E 
 
 upbore our spirits, and the sympathy of our Elder 
 Brother distilled upon aching hearts. Then the little 
 missionary procession, in four carriages, wended its 
 way to the station, and busy villagers paused to 
 inquire what it all meant. 
 
 What a brave journey homeward was that which 
 these bereaved parents were taking ! Serenely they 
 talked of the little one and her last hours ; and then, 
 though sudden tears would sometimes mount to the 
 mother's eyes, they talked of the work they loved, on 
 the altar of which, with no touch of conscious hero- 
 ism, they were making a costly sacrifice. 
 
 "Here," said the father, as we journeyed, u is the 
 place where I spent the night alone on the open 
 prairie. I was 'prospecting' missionary work while 
 still a student in Yale Seminary. It was in summer 
 vacation, three years ago. I came to this part of the 
 country, got a pony, and set out to find the best 
 
 places for missionary work. I left N after tea, 
 
 on a hot summer day, thinking to ride northward 
 along the river and to spend the night at a railway 
 construction camp I expected to find not far above. 
 But after hours of riding no camp appeared, and I 
 diverged from the trail, not daring, however, to 
 
A Meeting of General Association. 221 
 
 wander far. Failing to find any trace of humanity, I 
 concluded I must spend the night alone. I tied my 
 pony " — 
 
 " To what?" 
 
 "A knot of bunch grass, took my saddle for a 
 pillow, and lay down on the bare ground, with my 
 little saddlecloth for a covering and the stars for a 
 canopy. I journeyed over the country that summer, 
 took back to New Haven a good report, and the next 
 spring seven of us formed the ' Yale Band,' to enter 
 in and help possess the land." 
 
 Leaving the stricken parents to each other for a 
 
 time, we turn to Father E , to inquire about his 
 
 family, his work, and the new college, of which he is 
 a trustee. He is hopeful for his parish and for the 
 college. We ask about the school privileges of his 
 children. They are attending school, but reciting to 
 him, he says, as their opportunities at school are not 
 what their advancement demands. He wished to 
 send two of them to the new college, — * not far, for 
 this country, from the place where he resides, — but 
 had been disappointed. The expense was more than 
 he could meet. The boy might, perhaps, find a place 
 where he could defray, by work, the chief expense, 
 — that of board, — but a girl at work never knows 
 when her time is her own. His daughter was not able 
 to meet a double demand on her time and strength, 
 and so they were both at home. 
 
222 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 This question of the education of their children — 
 how many a home missionary family is still pondering 
 it with, as yet, no solution ! 
 
 At N we parted company, the bereaved father 
 
 and mother to lay their baby's form in their own door- 
 yard, in the shadow of the church on which the father 
 had worked with his own hands all summer, and which 
 will be dedicated in a few weeks, with added memories 
 now, and sighings for 
 
 "The tender grace of a day that is dead," 
 
 when little feet tottered to meet him ; and the mother's 
 heart must echo many a longing for the touch of a 
 baby's "vanished hand" and the sound of a prattling 
 u voice that is still." 
 
 On, now, with Yellow Hawk alone, over scores and 
 scores of miles, toward the setting sun and the majes- 
 tic stream, beside which is our own dear church spire 
 and the parsonage, toward the genesis and comple- 
 tion of which the frontier work of almost two years 
 has constantly beckoned. 
 
 Pilgrims and strangers, as all our fathers were ! 
 Here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to 
 come. 
 
 Meantime, what comforts in the midst of trial, what 
 hoverings of cloudy, fiery pillar, what 
 
 "Blessings undeserved 
 Mark all our erring track " ! 
 
CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 GETTING INTO THE PARSONAGE. 
 
 TT was September when the minister's wife alone — 
 -*- for her husband had been called away by the 
 voice of his brethren at the association — prepared 
 to move into the comely parsonage beside the church. 
 It represented something dearer than even a home 
 after long homelessuess ; it was an embodied answer 
 to prayer and a loving mark of tender regard, fresh 
 from the hand of Him who said to Nathanael, 
 "When thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." 
 The wife already knew that to her and hers it 
 could be no more than a temporary home, for a 
 greater need had appeared written on the horizon, 
 which was to lead the minister, ere many months had 
 passed, to give his whole time to the shepherding of 
 the sheep scattered over these wide plains, and in 
 the almost numberless new villages which had sprung 
 up in consequence of the unprecedented immigration 
 of the year. 
 
 Still it was a joy to know that the church owned 
 a parsonage, and that it would be ready for the 
 next pastor. Meantime, for some months it must 
 
 223 
 
224 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 be occupied by the present incumbent. The house 
 was a good one for the far west. It had been 
 bought complete for much less than the cost of con- 
 struction, and removed to the parsonage lot from 
 another lot which the rapid enlargement of the town 
 made more valuable for business purposes than for 
 residence. It stood, without foundations as yet, on 
 the pleasant hillside, supported by a skeleton of 
 timbers at a considerable distance from the ground, 
 awaiting time for their enclosure into a cellar, and for 
 the fitting up within needed to repair the damage of 
 moving. A maid-of-all-work was secured for a few 
 weeks, and just then an invalid acquaintance from the 
 east, handy with tools, sought shelter at the parson- 
 age, in return for which he made himself abundantly 
 and generally useful, in fitting up the pastor's study 
 with library shelves and making cupboards, closets, 
 and steps. There were six rooms, besides a little 
 pantry, a summer kitchen, and an unfinished attic. 
 How like a palace it seemed, in modest white paint 
 and green blinds and with its bay window ! There 
 was an arch between parlor and sitting room which 
 adapted it well to the afternoon prayer meetings, 
 Bible class teas, and various little companies which 
 imagination already pictured there. When curtains 
 had been hung at the windows, simple carpets laid 
 on the floors, books put up on the neatly stained 
 
Getting into the Parsonage. 225 
 
 shelves lining two sides of the little study, pictures 
 disposed on the walls, and our scanty furniture 
 arranged to the best advantage, we experienced the 
 deepest gratitude in noting the outcome of the trying 
 contest with untoward circumstances which had been 
 waged while we lived in the church, and felt that the 
 unarticulated prayer of months for u three rooms to 
 ourselves" had been abundantly answered, u above 
 all that we had asked or thought." 
 
 Our family washing, hitherto sent by stage up the 
 river to be done by the Christian Indian women at 
 the mission, in default of an adequate supply of 
 washerwomen in the town, could now be done at 
 home. Our table could now be spread in a quiet 
 room adapted to its use and served three times a day 
 from pantry, kitchen, and cellar. Oar family worship, 
 retired from view, need not be subject to casual inter- 
 ruptions by the many calls of strangers. The little 
 study was the gem of the house, and two bedrooms 
 gave the unspeakable relief of privacy so much 
 needed in illness or extreme weariness, and of hav- 
 ing the luxury of a room to offer to chance guests 
 for the night. No elegance in the city homes of 
 eastern friends, not even the pleasures of dear homes 
 of our own in other days, had ever blessed our eyes 
 like the vista which opened on them on the evening 
 when we took our first meal in the new parsonage. 
 
226 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 On that evening the wife stood underneath the arch 
 between parlor and sitting room, waiting to welcome 
 the return of the husband after long absence ; she 
 looked on one side through parlor and open door 
 into the adjoining study, where an easy-chair stood 
 beside the window and study table ; and on the other, 
 through the open door of the sitting room to the table, 
 where snowy linen and a few pieces of family china 
 and silver were spread with shining welcome. That 
 sight was a beatitude. 
 
 It was only at intervals that there was a com- 
 plete family life under the parsonage roof. The 
 pressure of the outlying work was heavy beyond 
 measure, and this exigency in the religious supply of 
 new towns which had sprung up by the hundred, like 
 fungi, almost literally in a night, with its accompany- 
 ing opportunity for work which might tell on coming 
 generations, would never come again. " My kingdom 
 for an inch of time ! " cried England's greatest queen 
 upon her deathbed. And time here and now was the 
 golden hinge of the gates of opportunity. 
 
 In the parish the work must still go on, with the 
 help at hand and such supply of the pulpit as could be 
 obtained, while the perishing fields beyond must not 
 be neglected. So in two channels the family life and 
 work must flow on, occasionally reuniting, until the 
 Master should send more laborers into the harvest. 
 
Getting into the Parsonage, 227 
 
 Painful incidents are more frequent in new settle- 
 ments than in the older sections. Though these are 
 not wanting in the oldest and best portions of any 
 country, the more rigid stratification of society pre- 
 vents their being felt to such an extent as in the more 
 loose and chaotic conditions of beginnings. Sudden 
 death where life was expected ; ruin of character where 
 all seemed fair ; scenes of violence ; travesties of jus- 
 tice ; unblushing vice stalking unclothed in public, — 
 all oppress the spirit at times with a weight which 
 is hard to bear. 
 
 A murderer had been confined in the jail not far 
 from the church for months. When the time came 
 for trial, he, with a dozen other criminals, whites and 
 Indians, chained together and guarded by armed men, 
 went and came daily past our door to the place of trial. 
 One afternoon we knew that the evidence was all in, 
 demonstrating the guilt of this prisoner without a 
 doubt, and that the jury had retired. Very early the 
 next morning, the minister, preparing firewood beside 
 the church, saw a soldier in a fresh uniform, with his 
 gun on his shoulder, striding by at liberty, with head 
 erect. It was the murderer, whom the jury had set 
 free ! 
 
 One night, while moving into the parsonage, the 
 minister's wife, sleeping on an extemporized cot in 
 an unfurnished room, was awakened by sounds more 
 
228 Service in the Kirig's Guards. 
 
 terrible than those of approaching wild beasts. In 
 the midnight the heart's blood seemed literally cur- 
 dled as she listened to the groans and shrieks of a 
 woman, the voice coming nearer, and pausing, as it 
 happened, close to the house. Those anguished cries 
 rent the air until listening suspense became agony. 
 One arose within the parsonage and cautiously opened 
 a door. Straining eyes discerned in the darkness 
 the figure of a girl robed in white, in custody of 
 officers of the law, who were taking her towards the 
 jail. Beside the vehicle in which she was forcibly 
 carried walked another female figure, also in night 
 robes. To her the girl was piteously appealing in 
 terror, " Oh, mother, save me, save me from that 
 dark place ! " The terrible procession passed on, and 
 the shrieks continued, growing fainter in the distance, 
 until shut off from hearing by the closing doors of the 
 prison house. 
 
 An elderly widow came during this year to reside in 
 our place. She had left friends and acquaintances of 
 other days in the state where she had buried her 
 husband and her memories of a good home, bringing 
 with her to the pastor letters of commendation, show- 
 ing the high respect in which she was held. She was 
 one of the most spiritual-minded of the little flock, 
 always, when health allowed, present at the prayer 
 meetings, and always ready to contribute of her little 
 
Getting into the Parsonage. 229 
 
 store toward the support of the gospel. She had 
 come, with her only daughter, who had left a good 
 husband at the east in business, won by that ignis 
 fatuus which allured so many women to this new 
 farming region, where each one who is, or can success- 
 fully represent herself to be, the head of a family, 
 as well as every single woman who has reached her 
 majority, may file a claim on unoccupied land, build a 
 " shack" on it, and, remaining there a few nights at 
 intervals in the pleasant season of the year, establish 
 at the end of six months a preemption title. With 
 her affectionate and devoted daughter, the good 
 mother feared no evil. It only troubled her that the 
 daughter, a church member at the east, now did not 
 come to church. A social call from leading ladies of 
 the church, with an invitation to do so, was received 
 politely by the middle-aged, ladylike woman ; but 
 still she did not come. Time went on. One day, 
 months afterwards, the mother called at the parson- 
 age. Others were present, but the unconscious 
 pathos of her face and attitude went to the heart of 
 her hostess. Soon she came again, and asked to see 
 the minister's wife alone. There, in agony, wringing 
 her hands, and with the tears coursing down her 
 wrinkled face, this gray -haired mother made known 
 her fears that the daughter was fast nearing, if she 
 had not already entered upon, a life of sin. Her 
 
230 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 mother's remonstrances had been unavailing. At first 
 ridiculed, now she was treated with contempt and 
 abuse, where always before filial affection and respect 
 had smoothed her pathway. Infatuation had seized 
 upon this loved and cherished daughter, the only com- 
 fort of the mother's declining years. Doubtless the 
 restraints of home and friends left far behind were 
 loosened and temptation completed the outward ruin, 
 begun long before in the heart. What could be said to 
 comfort a mother in such agony? The pangs of life, 
 the terrors of death, were naught in comparison with 
 it. Together we kneeled at the bedside in our inmost 
 room, and there poured out our souls in strong crying 
 unto God for help. Again and again did this call for 
 sympathy come, and sometimes the poor mother 
 staggered under the weight of her sorrow, as she left 
 the door of the parsonage. Outward help never 
 came in those years, nor, to our knowledge, since. 
 But " God is faithful," and gave in time the help 
 needed by this sorrowing soul to bear that living 
 crucifixion. 
 
 At first alone, and then for a time with only an 
 inexperienced girl for companion, the first weeks in 
 the parsonage brought physical and mental strain, 
 sometimes in ways at which we smile in the review, 
 but which at the time were real trials of endurance 
 and faith. The parsonage stood u on stilts," waiting 
 
Getting into the Parsonage. 231 
 
 for workmen to put in the foundation when they could 
 be had. A porch ran along the front side, its floor 
 elevated about a foot above the ground, while the 
 descending hillside left a clear elevation of six or 
 eight feet in the rear. 
 
 One night slumber was broken by strange, loud 
 noises — heavy stamping as in our very ears, and 
 trembling of the house. Bewilderment gave way to 
 amusement when we were sufficiently awakened to 
 collect our thoughts and reason out the situation. A 
 small drove of horses, turned out to shift for them- 
 selves, had been wandering in the vicinity for days. 
 The night was cold, with a keen autumn wind sweep- 
 ing over the bluffs. The horses had sought the 
 protection of the unfenced parsonage, and taken 
 possession of the porch ! 
 
 An occasional howl of the coyote did not disturb 
 us, especially if the discharge of a neighbor's gun of 
 an evening told us that the wolf was seen and pur- 
 sued. The animal was neither strong enough nor 
 bold enough alone to do much damage within the 
 precincts of our " city." It was evil in human shape 
 that had most power to inspire fear. 
 
 One night the wife lay down on her cot in the 
 unfinished parsonage. With the husband absent, and 
 the house strange, there was yet no thought of fear ; 
 but thankfulness filled the heart for the roof over her 
 
232 Service in the King's Guards* 
 
 head, and the prospect of a real sleeping room ere- 
 long. Suddenly, in the deepest hour of the night, 
 noises were heard, as of stealthy human footsteps and 
 crafty movements, in the open spaces beneath the 
 house. Like a wild beast descending on its prey, the 
 fear which always crouches in ambush in a new coun- 
 try fastened its fangs on the heart. A moment's 
 paralysis was followed by tumultuous throbs and a 
 choking of the throat. Then a calm fell on the spirit 
 — not the calm which knew no danger, nor which 
 imagined it had passed away ; but the calm which 
 believed that God was her keeper, and that his hand 
 would protect her, alike when menace was separated 
 from her only by a thin floor, and when, without fear, 
 the peaceful night enveloped her in quiet slumber. 
 Absolutely superior to fear of every kind was that 
 deliverance of the spirit ; the heart throbs were in- 
 stantly stilled, and peaceful sleep followed at once, 
 although ordinarily hours of wakefulness would have 
 followed such alarm. The fact that clanger was there 
 was not doubted ; the greater fact of being instantly 
 sheltered, in the midst of tumultuous fear, under the 
 safe shadow of the divine Presence, will ever be 
 gratefully remembered. 
 
CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 A VISIT. MISSIONARY BOXES. 
 
 ON account of preoccupation, and separation by 
 long distances, the privilege of a visit between 
 the families of home missionaries is of rare occurrence. 
 The first such opportunity occurred to us on the way to 
 a meeting of an association and a church dedication. 
 We planned for an extra day in going, in order to 
 
 stop over at the village of T , to make the coveted 
 
 visit and confer about a missionary organization. In 
 the missionary meeting at the church zeal was all 
 aglow when the host called for us. It was at sunset 
 of a cold November day, and he drove us to his 
 home across a mile or more of bleak moorland, behind 
 frisky Indian ponies. This home had been won from 
 virgin prairie within the past three years. We had 
 heard of the hardships of this pastor and his family, 
 and were hardly prepared to find a comfortable look- 
 ing house on our arrival. We were glad to find a 
 glowing coal-stove on our entrance to the family room. 
 We were introduced to the grandmother, a lady stately 
 under the weight of more than eighty-five years, and 
 
 233 
 
234 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 bearing indications of a character which might fitly 
 stand as a representative of the best which Massa- 
 chusetts birth and Puritan training can show. A 
 gentle face and voice are accompanied by a manner 
 which might grace far different scenes, and by a 
 thoughtfulness for others which is nature's highest 
 patent of nobility. Her heart is not left behind in 
 her native Berkshire hills, or in the well-known 
 college town where she spent the years of her 
 strength. She " likes the west well," and rejoices 
 in the fact that she " cannot go anywhere that she 
 does not seem to find friends." Dear heart ! as we 
 look at that face, and listen to that voice, and catch 
 the youthful enthusiasm which mingles with the mel- 
 lowness of these utterances, we do not wonder that 
 the friendships multiply faster than the years are 
 added or the life scenes changed. 
 
 The thermometer is sinking, and the wind is rising. 
 Only the host and his brother missionary venture out 
 over the mile of prairie to the evening meeting. The 
 hostess and her remaining guest are glad to sit 
 beside the fire. One by one, other members of the 
 family retire, and we are left alone. What a sense 
 of luxury comes over the tired traveler, in her rock- 
 ing chair in the warm corner ! There is a rag carpet 
 on the floor, which, in the lamplight, has a soft look 
 of many hues in one. It was all knit % not woven, 
 
A Visit. — Missionary Boxes. 235 
 
 b}' these slender, patient fingers, before looms and 
 carpet weavers had arrived in this new land. On 
 a stand in the corner, strewn with writing materials, 
 is a tiny portable writing desk, in drab enamel, with 
 a blue lining. It is the one thing fresh and new in 
 the room, and bears a sense of comfort to the ob- 
 server because it speaks of the possibility of one 
 little investment beyond the barest necessities and 
 most pressing wants of everyday life. Then we 
 remember that its possessor has the gift which speaks 
 sometimes in sweet rhyme and rhythm, and that she 
 is corresponding secretary of a woman's temperance 
 organization which has helped to save a county larger 
 than a small state, as fair and fertile as the best in 
 any land, from the curse of licensed rum. 
 
 We talk at first of plans for the missionary organi- 
 zation which the evening's cold and darkness had 
 surprised unfinished. Then we go to the window 
 and watch the lines of fire and the lurid smoke clouds 
 from the burning prairie a mile or two away. In dark- 
 ness and cold, a line of fire speeding along on the 
 wings of the wind has a fearful look. u We are in no 
 danger," says the hostess. " Our fire breaks are all 
 plowed around the house and barn, except one knoll 
 that was too stony, and the wind is not in the direction 
 to sweep the fire through that." How slight seems 
 the protection of a few furrows of plowed land, 
 
236 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 and the constancy of the inconstant wind ! But we 
 know that a practised eye scans the horizon, and an 
 accustomed ear listens to the direction of the wind, 
 and we possess our souls in peace. 
 
 u You have sometimes been in great danger from 
 prairie fires ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! Once Mr. C set a fire to burn over 
 
 a little space around the house, and thus protect us 
 from great fires by consuming the dried grass which 
 might feed the flames, if left standing near the house. 
 The wind was slight, and in a direction to take the 
 little fire and smoke away from us. About my house- 
 hold duties, I suddenly heard him cry out, and I knew 
 there was trouble. The wind had changed, as in an 
 instant, and was blowing strongly from the opposite 
 direction. Then we had to struggle — for life per- 
 haps, certainly for our shelter and all we had that could 
 burn. Quicker than I can tell the tale, the roaring 
 flames were sweeping toward the house. I carried 
 water to him, as he fought the fire, until, even in the 
 excitement, I felt my strength failing. He fought it 
 three quarters of a mile, I carrying water to him all 
 the while. Once I found him bent over, his conscious- 
 ness seemingly gone, until I roused him. M , a 
 
 girl of fifteen, fought it with a mop, wet at first, but 
 after the water was gone, and the heat had made it 
 dry, she used it as a weapon, and very effective it 
 
A Visit. — Missionary Boxes. 237 
 
 was. When the mop was worn out she substituted her 
 dress skirt, and fought with that until it also was worn 
 and burned to shreds ; but the fire was conquered, and 
 our home was saved." 
 
 This pastor and his family were in their rudimentary 
 house that memorable winter of unusual severity, when 
 the first blizzard came in October, followed at frequent 
 intervals by others, until the whole country was im- 
 prisoned in snowdrifts and in chains of extreme cold. 
 Scant supplies of food or fuel had been laid in, and 
 the whole winter through many a family had kept one 
 person constantly grinding wheat in the coffee mill in 
 order to supply the " graham" meal, which was their 
 only provision against starvation ; another had to be 
 constantly at work procuring hay for fuel, which 
 another had to twist and crowd without intermission 
 into the stove. When the supply of hay grew short, 
 because of the fearful storms and deep snows, then 
 the shelter of the cattle had to be demolished and 
 the scanty boards torn from floors and enclosures of 
 houses to feed the hearth fires. 
 
 We had heard of the sufferings of this family in 
 that dreadful winter, but now learned some additional 
 details. In answer to a question, the hostess said : 
 "In that long winter we took refuge in books, when 
 the intense cold permitted us to remain out of bed. 
 Often we spent whole days in bed, for the sake of the 
 
238 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 greater warmth. When about the house we suffered 
 from the cold, although wearing coats, caps, hoods, 
 cloaks, mittens, and arctic overshoes. 
 
 " One night I was reading aloud to my husband 
 from Jean Ingelow. It was the story of the poor 
 woman who listened to the sleet as it drove through 
 the crevices of her uncomfortable dwelling, and fell 
 upon the fire. I paused in the reading, and there was 
 the same sound — the snow driven through the sides 
 of our house, and falling with a hiss upon the stove." 
 
 Reminiscences such as these were now suggested by 
 the cold wind blowing more and more fiercely as the 
 evening wore on ; but how changed this scene from 
 that our hostess was describing ! The house was now 
 a comfortable one of several rooms, not plastered, it 
 was true, but finished inside with sheets of stout 
 manilla paper. This was not uncomely, although it 
 gave the mice a better opportunity than they were 
 entitled to. Here were many comforts of life, though 
 not its elegancies. In the guest chamber was a com- 
 fortable bed, a bright new hemp carpet, an extem- 
 porized washstand, a chair, and a square table in 
 scarlet drapery, on which we set our lamp, and con- 
 gratulated ourselves on such good quarters. The 
 feeling which gave rise to this expression was rather 
 one of gladness that these much-enduring missionaries 
 had so comfortable a room to offer to their guests. 
 
A Visit, — Missionary Boxes, 239 
 
 The ingenuity of construction in the scarlet table 
 came in for second thought. It was a barrel draped 
 with drugget, with an open box about a yard square 
 and a foot in depth turned, bottom upward, over the 
 barrel, and covered with red flannel and black fringe. 
 
 No smell of fire came near that part of the house, 
 and we were in the north chamber. The house trem- 
 bled ir* the gusts which were still rising, and the room 
 was so cold that we thought shiveringly of the bed. 
 But blessings on the kind hands that had provided the 
 blankets we found there ! They were warm and soft, 
 and assured us the sleep that would have been impos- 
 sible without them. In the morning a little drinking 
 water which we had placed at the head of the bed, 
 fortunately in a tin cup, was frozen solid, and ablu- 
 tions in the temperature of the room were impossible. 
 
 Though the cold was so severe, we gladly set our 
 faces toward the further journey that day, for the 
 church dedication was a privilege not to be neglected, 
 even though the wind and the thermometer conspired 
 against us. It was the dear church which was our 
 first love, the foundations of which had been laid by 
 the help of the minister's own hands. As we made 
 ready, donning one layer of wraps after another, the 
 hostess offered a long gray circular cloak, with a hood 
 and pretty clasps. We had noted the graceful and 
 becoming effect when she had worn it the day beforec 
 
240 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 Giving expression to our admiration of the warm and 
 handsome garment, so suited to her figure, we learned 
 that it had recently come to her in a missionary box 
 from the east, and again we blessed the good women 
 who, with strong faith and skillful hands, had been a 
 means of such blessings to this household. 
 
 A similar box had been sent to our own church 
 home the year before. It had contained bed and 
 table linen, which was to prove a perennial blessing, 
 with clothing which was indeed welcome, including a 
 new dress of soft gray serge, and a lovely shawl 
 which will be a lifelong treasure, besides a suit for 
 the minister and a multitude of little things which 
 only a housekeeper can appreciate. Another present 
 of books for the minister, from a city Sunday-school 
 class, will be ever a memorial of gratitude to the 
 young givers and of thankfulness to God. 
 
 One barrel surprised us, alike by its arrival and 
 its contents. There were two or three u shocking 
 bad hats," rather worse, probably, in appearance 
 when they arrived than when removed from attic or 
 woodshed to the missionary package ; two cast-off 
 bonnets just as they had been worn a long time 
 before, and a quantity of secondhand clothing, which 
 the minister gathered up in his arms and took, after 
 dark, to the nearest washerwoman, a widow with a 
 large family of children. We were grateful for any 
 
A Visit. — Missionary Boxes. 241 
 
 kind intention of the donors, sorry that the money 
 paid for freight had not been put to better use, and 
 glad that we could find any one to whom we were not 
 afraid to offer them. Good secondhand clothing can 
 always be utilized in a missionary family, but that 
 which merely lumbers an attic is better disposed of 
 in some other way. The box which had come to the 
 household we were visiting would have been ever 
 remembered with thanksgiving if it had contained 
 only those blessed blankets and that pretty cloak, but 
 there were other things, smaller in cost, which equally 
 filled vacant niches in the family economy ; and the 
 box was like an oasis in a desert, to be remembered 
 while life lasts as a precious relief in the pilgrim 
 journey. 
 
CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 THANKSGIVING. — CHRISTMAS. — IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 IT was cheering to note manifestations of the Chris- 
 tian spirit in the new circumstances which sur- 
 rounded many a family. 
 
 In one country neighborhood lived a family who had 
 brought Christian character with them into the hard- 
 ships of a life in strange contrast to the refinements 
 and privileges of the suburban church they had left 
 and the society in which they had moved. They were 
 the leaders in Christian enterprise among their country 
 neighbors. 
 
 There were many homes in sight from their door 
 where no Thanksgiving dinner would be prepared, 
 and no voice of thankfulness arise. Thanksgiving 
 services were appointed in the schoolhouse near their 
 door, and all these neighbors invited to unite in Thanks- 
 giving festivities in this Christian home. Larger 
 than most pioneer homes, because of the large family 
 domiciled there, it was still a " first" dwelling, not ele- 
 gant, to say the least, in proportions or adornment. 
 But its large-hearted, open-handed Christian hospitality 
 became proverbial. The neighbors gathered to the 
 
 242 
 
TJianksgiving. — Christmas. 243 
 
 Thanksgiving dinner, some of them won to the pre- 
 ceding service by this invitation ; others rejoiced 
 to bear their part in Christian ministries with 
 these beloved friends. Contributions to the feast 
 came with every fresh arrival, but the table service, 
 the general arrangements, the tea and coffee, and 
 many another addition, were the joyful care of the 
 mother and hostess, and a few volunteer helpers. The 
 voice of petition and of song sanctified the feast, and 
 another Christian milepost was set up in this new 
 land. 
 
 Seventy-five miles, " as the crow flies,'* from this 
 scene — only a neighborly distance in a territory 
 larger "than the combined areas of r Maine, New 
 Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, Rhode Island, 
 New York, Maryland, two Massachusetts, three Del- 
 awares, three Connecticuts, and a half dozen Districts 
 of Columbia, all united in one" — there was another 
 Thanksgiving scene, in which the actors were also our 
 friends and acquaintances. A husband, with his wife 
 and family, had removed from a great city to their 
 new abode, capacious beyond most, on lands over 
 which buffaloes had but lately roamed by thousands. 
 They became members and helpers in a village church 
 but a few miles from their residence. Their hearts 
 went out to the dwellers on the prairie around them, 
 who did not go to church, and had no place for school 
 
244 Service* in the King's Guards. 
 
 or worship within attracting distance. All summer 
 their residence had been the gathering place of a 
 Sunday-school, which had often numbered sixty mem- 
 bers present. But they could not rest in this. With 
 the coming of the winter, something more must be 
 done. In their region crops had failed through 
 drought. But as an inducement to the farmers to 
 provide some place for a school and for Sabbath 
 worship, a daughter of the family offered her services 
 as teacher for three months without compensation. 
 The young men of the neighborhood rallied and built 
 the walls of a sod schoolhouse, large enough to ac- 
 commodate both school and meeting for the winter. 
 That was the easy part of the undertaking. The hard 
 part was to find money to buy nails and boards for 
 floor and roof\ But they drew up a subscription 
 paper, and out of deep poverty raised sixty dollars 
 for the purpose. So the building was completed with 
 great joy, and the fair young schoolmistress duly 
 installed. The school was overflowing. The parents 
 hoped to make arrangements for occasional or regular 
 preaching services on Sunday. When Thanksgiving 
 arrived these had not been secured. Their hospitable 
 home was consequently the only meeting place on 
 Thanksgiving day. Of their village friends only the 
 pastor and his wife were invited, but the country 
 neighbors were all at the feast, wholly provided by 
 
Thanksgiving. — Christmas. 245 
 
 host and hostess. Homesickness and the trials of a 
 new country were forgotten in the cheer of that social 
 board, where sixty were served. Religious and liter- 
 ary exercises, impressive and interesting to all, took 
 the place of the wished-for service in the house of 
 God. The young people had their own special social 
 in the evening, under the watchful, genial auspices 
 which had made this Christian home a beacon toward 
 which they had turned many a time before. 
 
 In our own parish there was to be the usual church 
 prayer meeting on Thursday evening. In a new coun- 
 try family reunions, in the nature of the case, must 
 be few. There is nothing, in most cases, to interfere 
 with the profit of a devotional service on the evening 
 of Thanksgiving day. There are some reasons why 
 a conference meeting is likely to be better attended 
 and more interesting than usual. 
 
 We gathered in the lecture room of the church, a 
 little company of some twenty believers, bound to- 
 gether as by family ties. Some could number two or 
 three Thanksgiving days spent in this country ; those 
 who had been here longest could number four. In- 
 stinctively, thanksgiving for mercies past was the 
 theme of prayer and remark. The leader thanked 
 God for health to work in this vineyard, for opportu- 
 nity, and for abounding joy in the service. A lady 
 spoke pf the great blessing her Sunday-school class 
 
246 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 had been to her during the past year, and of the help 
 to her own spirit which had been brought in the effort 
 to lead these girls aright. Another, who had recently 
 come, a stranger in a strange land, gave thanks for 
 the providence which had cast her lot within the influ- 
 ence of this Christian church, and for the fellowship 
 in work and sympathy she here had found. Another, 
 a seamstress, expressed her gratitude for plenty of 
 work and health to do it. To some of us this modest 
 expression was touching, as we remembered the lovely 
 spirit in which this dear friend had made profession of 
 her faith since the year began, and taken the vows of 
 God upon her, in the ordinances of his house. A 
 young man, who had lived for several years on the 
 frontier beyond the reach of Sabbath ministrations, 
 and, as he testified, had lost his desire to go to church, 
 was thankful for the mercies of a year which had seen 
 him renew his Christian vows and, in company with 
 his young wife, unite with the church, in which he was 
 now an active and trusted member. A teacher in the 
 public school gave expression to her gladness in the 
 Christian friendships she here had formed, and in 
 many other providential blessings. A member of 
 another Christian fellowship expressed a sense of 
 comfort in the knowledge of the work of this church, 
 and of these Christian people, and in prayer gave 
 utterance to the desires of a Christian heart in word 
 
Thanksgiving . — Christmas, 24:7 
 
 and thought singularly earnest, felicitous, and com- 
 prehensive. Another rendered thanks for happy home 
 relations and continued health. One year before, this 
 man, past middle age, from his youth a frontiersman, 
 and in doubt as to his fitness for church membership, 
 had made profession of his faith and been received 
 into the church. Imperfect apprehension of theoreti- 
 cal truth had cleared and crystallized into conviction 
 before a humble self -estimate, and resolute and con- 
 tinuous doing of duty, until his growth in spiritual 
 things was apparent to the most casual observer. He 
 did not thank God for this, but we did in silence while 
 he spoke. A missionary wife gave thanks for the 
 privilege of Christian service : " Who am I, that such 
 blessing and joy should be vouchsafed me ? It is all 
 of grace." 
 
 It was the turn of one to speak who had been 
 identified with this church enterprise from the begin- 
 ning, when, amid gamblers and prostitutes and fron- 
 tier recklessness of every kind, this gentle Christian 
 man, who did not swear, and kept the Sabbath, to 
 whom the money and valuables were brought in times 
 of exigency and excitement for safe-keeping by the 
 worst of men, who heard and kept the confidences 
 which came to him, was the one among seventy who 
 could be trusted, and against whom no slander or 
 distrust ever lifted its voice. He had been reading 
 
248 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 lately of the early Christians and martyrs, of worship 
 in catacombs and caves and hidden nooks, and his 
 heart was full of thanksgiving for the privilege of 
 Christian worship, with none to molest or make afraid. 
 Some present remembered how this man had been the 
 forlorn hope of a church enterprise in this place ; how, 
 on a Sabbath morning in the early days here, he would 
 himself lug the chairs (and pulpit box, when there 
 was any) from one new building to another, in search 
 of a room where he might be allowed to arrange them 
 and call the people together for the public worship of 
 God. He had made the fires, lighted the lamps, kept 
 the supplies of fuel and oil from failing, moved from 
 one place to another, until fourteen buildings, many 
 of them intended for saloons when they were com- 
 pleted, were successively occupied in advance for 
 divine service. Year in and year out his fidelity 
 was like a light in a dark place, and without him this 
 church, which now is established and strengthened, 
 would not have been. Only the patience of mother 
 love parallels his faithfulness ; only the self-abnega- 
 tion of mother love can illustrate his self-forgetfulness. 
 In this comely sanctuary he forgets the toils and dis- 
 couragements of the past ; in this improved and 
 improving community, with its Christian churches, " as 
 a city set on a hill," he gives thanks for its mercies, 
 and seems to remember no more the vice and hea- 
 thenism it is displacing. 
 
Thanksgiving. — Christmas. 249 
 
 Multitudes go clowu to *death amid the besetting 
 temptations of frontier life. But how potent are 
 good influences here set in motion, and how rich and 
 strong the Christian life may grow which enters into 
 its opportunities for service in 4i the kingdom and 
 patience of Jesus Christ " ! 
 
 It is hard to close the meeting within the hour. As 
 Christian joy overflows, metes and bounds are less 
 defined than usual, and when we rise for the last song 
 and benediction it is much past the usual time for 
 closing. With a glow and cheer unknown for many 
 a day, we separate. This meeting was only remark- 
 able because the blessing of God was with it. Its 
 incidents might be paralleled on many a frontier field. 
 Doubtless many a story might be told of thanksgiv- 
 ings more notable and incidents more stirring. 
 
 Thanksgiving over, we began to look forward with 
 the Sunday-school to Christmas. With the training 
 which the literary society had given old and young, 
 it was much easier than before to prepare a brief aud 
 excellent program for the Christmas exercises. We 
 wished this year to beautify the interior of the church, 
 whose bare white walls constantly invited decoration, 
 and began in good season. Evening after evening a 
 committee of young people met in the parsonage to 
 prepare mottoes on a plan there made. Distant city 
 friends had sent, at our request, alphabet patterns for 
 
250 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 letters in beautiful "old English" text, and a quan- 
 tity of crimson velvet paper. Thoroughly well made 
 were the letters for the Scripture texts, appropriate for 
 the walls of our sanctuary, cut by aching fingers with 
 the patterns laid on pasteboard, and then carefully 
 covered by pasting on this foundation the crimson 
 letters cut by the same patterns. When all were 
 finished and tacked on the wall, with pins shortened 
 by pincers in a way not to mar the plastering, the 
 effect was beautiful, one said, " as any frescoing in 
 a city church." Wreaths of evergreen for the win- 
 dows, trimming for cornices and pillars, and a hand- 
 some tree, procured by a special excursion organized 
 for the purpose, completed our arrangements. A 
 Christmas box had been sent to our Sunday-school by 
 the children of a suburban school far eastward, who 
 had contributed playthings, books, skates, and the 
 unnumbered things which children like. These were 
 carefully assorted by a committee of ladies at the 
 parsonage, and some of them laid aside for poor 
 children of the town who, as yet, had not been won 
 to Sunday-school. Enough were left to hang some- 
 thing on the tree for every child who belonged to the 
 school. 
 
 The occasion was one of less hilarious gladness 
 than the first Christmas tree, but one of far higher 
 real enjoyment. 
 
Thanksgiving. — Christmas. 251 
 
 Whenever anything was planned to interest the 
 children, every soul in the parish, old and young, was 
 interested. Men who never came to church on other 
 occasions were always in the crowd which filled to 
 overflowing audience room, lecture room, and vesti- 
 bule, at the Sunday-school concerts, which were given 
 usually once in two or three months, not as an u exhi- 
 bition " of the children, but with Scripture exercises 
 and music in which all the members of the school had 
 part. The Easter concert had been specially impress- 
 ive and attractive. All these exercises of the year 
 had prepared the way for the accumulated interest of 
 the Christmastide. When all was over our church 
 decorations in Scripture on the walls were perma- 
 nent adornments, grateful to sight for a whole year 
 afterward. 
 
 This improvement of the sanctuary was not the 
 only one. By various efforts put forth throughout 
 the preceding year, a fine-toned church bell, wholly 
 paid for by the society, had been hung in the belfry, 
 which had previously echoed only to the winds. Now 
 its cheerful summons was sent out for every service, 
 far and wide, up and down that river valley, and 
 across those plains. It was the first, and for a time 
 the only, church bell in a great region, except one at 
 the Indian Mission. 
 
 One improvement which the year had seen was 
 
252 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 wholly unexpected. A kind lady in an eastern city, 
 having friends in this church, had felt her sympathy 
 roused when she heard that the edifice was without 
 a carpet. A lack we had never mourned was soon 
 supplied by this generous lady and her friends, in the 
 gift of a roll of carpet in warm crimson, sufficient to 
 cover pulpit platform, audience room, and lecture 
 room. This was a genuine surprise. When it was 
 made and in its place none would have believed that 
 the atmosphere of the whole house would seem to 
 have been so changed. We seemed no longer on 
 a rude frontier, but in a comely house of God. A 
 permanent cover for the carpet was made to protect 
 it during the rainy season ; but what a change in the 
 requisitions made at the door for mat and scraper 
 by the incoming congregations ! Now the slowly 
 accumulating funds of the "Aid Society " of the 
 women were seen to have been well destined for 
 pulpit chairs and a communion table, which, ere the 
 year closed, completed the beautiful transformation. 
 The parsonage witnessed some pleasant scenes. 
 One church social must be held there, of course, as 
 soon as it was in order, as a kind of dedication. 
 Then there were gatherings of the young people, by 
 Sunday-school classes, that no one might be over- 
 looked, with light refreshments, chat, music, pictures, 
 and simple games. The teachers' meetings were 
 
Thanksgiving. — Christmas. 253 
 
 transferred to the pleasant parlor, while the circle 
 was not too large to gather round the table and the 
 study lamp. And the women's prayer meetings 
 found here, in the short winter afternoons, new 
 interest and cheer. 
 
CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 A FUNERAL ON THE INDIAN RESERVATION. 
 
 ANSWERING the call of the parsonage door- 
 bell one morning, we found a man inquiring 
 for the preacher. A little child had died, four miles 
 out on " the reservation," and the funeral was to be 
 held in the afternoon. The request for the services 
 of the minister was of course met by a promise to be 
 there. It was necessary to cross the river, partly on 
 the ice, partly in a rowboat, and a guide was to meet 
 us on the other side. At the appointed time minister 
 and guide met on the farther shore — the guide a 
 civil young man, an uncle of the deceased child. He 
 was at the river landing for the double purpose of 
 procuring the little coffin and meeting the minister. 
 Seated in the wagon, we were soon off. Our way 
 was up over the bluffs of the Missouri to the table- 
 land, and then down another series of bluffs to a 
 point in the valley of a tributary which rejoiced in 
 the name of Bad River. To one but little accus- 
 tomed to travel in the Indian country it would not 
 have been difficult to believe that the distance was 
 
 254 
 
A Funeral on the Indian Reservation. 255 
 
 double that which had been named. Yet the very 
 wildness and strangeness of the scenes lent them a 
 peculiar interest, and the way was shortened even 
 while it lengthened. 
 
 Erelong we reached the plateau from whence we 
 could see down to the river bottom where we were 
 going. Two rude log houses near each other were 
 pointed out by the guide as the place of destination. 
 There were neither cultivated fields nor gardens to 
 be seen. Only the wild buffalo grass, a few small 
 trees along the river's edge, and the barren gumbo 
 bluffs beyond completed the dreary landscape, in 
 the monotonous light of a dull winter day. Arriving 
 at the house of mourning, the minister was kindly 
 met by sorrowing friends, father, mother, maternal 
 grandfather and grandmother, uncles, aunts, and 
 one little brother of the child who had been taken 
 from them. An aunt, a bright and promising young- 
 lady, was a member of our little church, and we had 
 often met her in our social and religious meetings. 
 Through this acquaintanceship came the call to attend 
 the funeral. The grandfather was an American, the 
 grandmother a half-breed Sioux. 
 
 Following the lead of the grandfather, we entered 
 the rude home into which death had entered before 
 us. There was no carpet on the floor, nor was there 
 a chair in the house. In one end of the only room 
 
256 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 it contained was an old cooking stove ; in the other 
 was a bed on which the sick mother was lying. The 
 bedstead had never seen a cabinet shop ; it was 
 made of a few pieces of rough board nailed together. 
 
 But the minister had already learned not to be 
 embarrassed by such surroundings. The absence of 
 chairs was taken as a matter of course. Seizing the 
 nearest thing at hand, an empty soap box, he seated 
 himself by the stove to warm. 
 
 The arrival had evidently quickened preparation 
 both within and around the house. Soon the little 
 form was neatly robed and laid in the casket. A few 
 boards were brought in and laid on other boxes to 
 furnish seats for the friends who were to be present. 
 There was a thoughtful propriety in these prepara- 
 tions that won our respect and excited our sympathy. 
 The hushed voices, the quiet footsteps, the reverent 
 passing out and in, were worthy of more cultivated 
 surroundings. 
 
 Twelve or fifteen persons were present at the 
 service. One was an Indian, a fine-looking, well- 
 behaved young man in citizen's clothes. Several 
 others had Indian blood in their veins. When all 
 was in readiness the minister left his seat behind 
 the stove, to make known with a sympathizing heart 
 the offered gifts of the gospel, so suited to the needs 
 of these anxious, aching human hearts. There was 
 none to help in the singing, but gladly he sang, — 
 
A Funeral on the Indian Reservation. 257 
 
 " There's a land that is fairer than day, 
 And by faith we can see it afar," 
 
 and read the precious words : — 
 
 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in 
 trouble. . . . The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of 
 Jacob is our refuge. . . . 
 
 "Let not your heart be troubled. ... In my Father's 
 house are many mansions : if it were not so, I would have 
 told you. I go to prepare a place for you." 
 
 The reading was followed by a message God gave 
 for this occasion. Then it was easier to pray than 
 not to pray. As the blessing of our Lord on these 
 sorrowing hearts was asked there were audible sighs 
 and suppressed sobs from the little company. 
 
 When the prayer was ended there were no dry eyes 
 in the room. Heaven seemed near. Rarely had a 
 funeral service ever seemed more blessed and up- 
 lifting. Never had the privileges of this missionary 
 " at the front" seemed more unspeakable. Never 
 had he felt more truly how adapted to the wants of 
 suffering humanity in every condition is the " glori- 
 ous gospel of the blessed God." As thus fitted to 
 the wants of these suffering hearts, it was demon- 
 strably God's message of eternal love for all mankind. 
 
 Taking the sick and sobbing mother by the hand, 
 the minister spoke a few words of Jesus and of the 
 
258 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 heavenly world to which the little one had gone. 
 Her heart was ready for the message. She heard 
 with gladness ; her tears were stayed, and her nervous 
 agitation quieted. 
 
 Soon we were walking with the friends, through the 
 prairie grass and the withered stalks of summer 
 flowers, to the little open grave on the hillside. 
 
 "All that tread 
 The globe are but a handful to the tribes 
 That slumber in its bosom." 
 
 But no monument was here in this wide, unbroken 
 wilderness, save the dried, wild, waving grass of 
 winter. 
 
 The little procession turned away from the lonely 
 grave in silence, which was broken by the convulsive 
 cry of the little two-year-old boy, who could not know 
 why his little brother should be left in the cold 
 ground. He was borne homeward in the arms of an 
 aunt, who vainly tried to comfort him as he stretched 
 out his little hands toward the silent grave with the 
 pathetic wail, u Baby ! baby ! " 
 
 The ride homeward was one not soon to be forgotten. 
 Three or four wild, rollicking boys, thoughtless, but not 
 malicious or unsympathetic, shared the management 
 of the reins, which were supposed to guide the two 
 half-broken Indian ponies before the small lumber 
 
A Funeral at the Indian Reservation. 259 
 
 wagon. The "load" was composed of the preacher 
 and a young Indian. 
 
 The way was over bluffs and through ravines, a 
 partial track here and there, alternating with no road 
 at all. The feeling was as though out at sea where 
 " sailing was now dangerous," and the words of Paul 
 came to mind, " This voyage will be with hurt and 
 much damage." Now dashing down precipitous bluffs, 
 with the half-tamed ponies at a dead run, the boys 
 laughing and shouting, on we darted through the 
 ravines, to find a little lull, for breath, as we ascended 
 the steeps of the next bluff. Up again, the minister 
 quieting his nerves as best he could, then clenching 
 with both hands the hard seat on which he was trying 
 to sit, as the team dashed downward again into the 
 rough tumble of the next ravine. One might have 
 supposed those boys fresh from a " Wild West show " 
 or a war dance, instead of a funeral. And yet they 
 meant no ill. It was simply that their wild, untamed 
 life must have vent. 
 
 But three or four miles of such journeying was 
 enough. The young Sioux who had acted as guide 
 was a pilot for the somewhat dangerous crossing of 
 the " Big Muddy." He faithfully found the safe trail 
 over the crumbling ice, rowed across the turbulent 
 mid-stream, and would not leave to return when he 
 struck the ice on the farther side of the river. It was 
 
260 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 now dark, and he must see that the minister took the 
 right direction over the ice, and landed at the foot of 
 the right street to lead directly to his home on the 
 opposite side of the town. If the ride had given one 
 vivid object lesson, the faithful Indian guide had 
 given another on the brotherhood of man. 
 
CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 INCIDENTS OF THE WINTER. A REVERT. 
 
 rj^HE Christmas morning was one of cheer. The 
 -L Sunday-school celebration of the evening be- 
 fore had been highly successful, and though tired, 
 the workers were in glad mood. A number of friends 
 and neighbors, one after another, called at the parson- 
 age that morning to exchange congratulations, to talk 
 over the occasion, and to u see the presents" which 
 had been generously bestowed on the minister and 
 his family. So it happened that the wife's prepa- 
 rations for the Christmas dinner with which she had 
 planned to cheer her husband were somewhat delayed. 
 When the last caller had departed she hurriedly went 
 to the kitchen, to make up for lost time. A closet in 
 which stores were kept had also a trapdoor leading 
 to the coal cellar. For the first and last time in the 
 family history that trapdoor was left opeu, the con- 
 fusion and excitement of the morning having caused 
 it for a moment to be forgotten. At that moment 
 the wife in her haste rushed into the closet, and in 
 another instant was dashed to the foot of the cellar 
 
 261 
 
262 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 stairs. Fortunately no bones were broken, but pale 
 and bruised, and almost fainting from nervous shock, 
 she was assisted to her bed, where she lay for days in 
 enforced rest. One limb was so injured that a year 
 elapsed before entire recovery, and for the first two 
 months there was much suffering, although not entire 
 inability to use it. 
 
 Early in the new year a correspondence with a 
 friend at the east, a successful evangelist, had resulted 
 in his promise to spend a few months in this territory, 
 and now we began to look forward to his coming. In 
 the absence of the minister during the autumn the 
 pulpit had been variously supplied. Once Friday 
 night had come, and no one knew how the next 
 Sunday morning service was to be provided for. It 
 chanced that a visiting minister arrived on the train 
 that evening, en route for the Black Hills. An imme- 
 diate call in the interests of the vacant pulpit revealed 
 the fact that by a day's previous delay he was pre- 
 vented from having sufficient time to reach his desti- 
 nation by Saturday night. Unwilling to travel on 
 the Sabbath, he cheerfully accepted the invitation to 
 minister in this church, and preached with great ac- 
 ceptance to the large congregation. In the evening 
 a Sunday-school concert which had been previously 
 arranged for derived enhanced interest from his 
 presence and cooperation, and he went forward on his 
 
Incidents of the Winter. 263 
 
 long journey on Monday morning with the thanks of 
 the needy church. 
 
 Another Sabbath, by invitation of the pastor, two 
 lady missionaries from the nearest Indian mission 
 supplied the service. They told the large gathering 
 the truth about the Indians — how cruel were the 
 prejudices against them, how hard their lot, and how 
 great the promise of Christian work among these, 
 their neighbors. At the close of the meeting many, 
 business men and others, went to the platform to 
 thank the missionaries for what they had said, to 
 offer help, and to promise a better feeling toward 
 the Indians in the future. 
 
 Another Sabbath was the occasion of the dedica- 
 tion of the second church edifice in the place, and 
 by invitation our people united with the Methodist 
 brethren in the joyful service. One blessing in these 
 new communities is the public spirit which recognizes 
 every advance as a public blessing, and which rejoices 
 in a common interest in the progress of all good things 
 on the part of the better elements in the community. 
 The spirit of sectarianism, sometimes so harmful 
 and divisive, had not as yet made inroads on the 
 peace of this community. It needed all the churches 
 it had, and all rejoiced in signs of prosperity. 
 
 At one time, before the holiday season, the mis- 
 sionary wife seized an opportunity to make a long- 
 promised visit to stations up the river. 
 
264 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 The quiet converse of days with the one lady at the 
 Indian Mission, left, for the time being, in charge 
 alone, on account of exigencies in the work else- 
 where, was indeed a refreshment to the spirit. 
 
 The private room of the two single ladies connected 
 with the mission was set apart for the privileged 
 guest. How beautiful it seemed ! The large, warm 
 log house on the river bottom was attractive from 
 without. Well made of hewed logs, with plastered 
 interstices and inner walls, good chimneys, a flower 
 garden in front, a fine, large vegetable garden in the 
 rear, rejoicing in that rare protection, a good fence ; 
 cultivated fields stretching around and beyond the 
 farm buildings, and the neat Indian church adjoining, 
 with its spire and bell, — all told of a civilization which 
 was the outgrowth of years of toil and hardship, by 
 the side of which the self-denials of home missiona- 
 ries seemed light. The surrounding homes of con- 
 verted Indians were a cheering sight, even though 
 troops of dogs and children, and occasional tepees, 
 were reminders of the state from which the people 
 were emerging. 
 
 This room of the guest was a happy place, not for 
 the beauty and comfort of the embroidered sofa pil- 
 low, or the attractive little bookcase on the wall filled 
 with choice books of poetry and literature, which 
 might rest the weary toilers sometimes more effect- 
 
Incidents of the Winter. 265 
 
 ually than lounge or medicine ; or the many little 
 devices which here, like the fair Una, made u a sun- 
 shine in the shady place," a home in the midst of a 
 material and moral wilderness ; but for the fact that 
 these were tokens of the love and sympathy of east- 
 ern friends. The spirit of Christian love, which 
 made this self-immolation on the altar of devotion a 
 joy instead of a sacrifice, this self-exile from the 
 companionship of human friendship to find the divine 
 Presence a perennial inspiration, and in the lifting up 
 of the lowly a sure riveting of the bonds of human 
 brotherhood in Christ, — this was the blessing of that 
 visit. In the light of this blessing, the flowers in the 
 bay windows, the books, the music, the cheer of the 
 family table, the morning and evening worship, the 
 vista across the intervale and the wide-flowing river, 
 the converse on missionary experience, the meeting 
 here of a gentleman fresh from three years of study 
 in German universities, the prayer meeting of Indian 
 women, and *the acquaintance with a certain Indian 
 child, — all fell into place, like the bits of colored glass 
 in a kaleidoscope, to form a mosaic of light and color 
 and beauty to be remembered with delight while 
 memory retains its treasures. 
 
 A letter beseeching return to the field of duty cut 
 short this visit, and, with a hurried visit to friends at 
 the distant fort, we turned our faces homeward. 
 
266 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 With a crack of the whip our four government 
 mules set off at a canter down the long hill from the 
 commandant's headquarters. A day and two nights 
 we had enjoyed the genial hospitality of an officer and 
 his family at the post, and now by the same thought- 
 ful courtesy we were sent on our way. Riding in an 
 ambulance, under the escort of an army officer and 
 soldiers in blue, with the best seat, surrounded by the 
 warmest wraps, is not very different from other rides ; 
 but the ideal differs, and the situation is novel. The 
 most respectful and thoughtful care surrounds the 
 lone woman in the lumbering but comfortable vehicle ; 
 responses to occasional remarks are ready, and infor- 
 mation, when sought, is freely given. Conversation 
 between the soldiers is free from rudeness and pro- 
 fanity, and is suggestive, in its unconscious revela- 
 tions, of those strata in human nature which are in 
 all conditions alike. An honest, incorruptible man 
 receives unequivocal indorsement, though mayhap 
 from tongues and hearts not unpracticed in deceit. 
 A kind and thoughtful officer is " a regular mother to 
 a company," though perchance open to criticism in 
 other respects. Intercourse between superior and 
 inferior in rank is without stiffness on the one side, 
 while on the other, never forgetting a respectful 
 manner. On both sides the feelings and instincts of 
 a common manhood are tacitly recognized as the 
 ground of interchange and fellowship. 
 
Incidents of the Winter. 267 
 
 After the first few miles of the long drive, the 
 conversation drifts and eddies into channels which the 
 listener does not care to follow, and she abandons 
 herself to the luxury of revery. 
 
 The situation suggests the variety of conditions 
 which a few years of frontier life supply. The first, 
 the second, and the third homes passed in view. First, 
 there was the tiny cabin, smaller than the least of the 
 bedchambers left behind in the large and pleasant 
 New England house. Without paint, plaster, or 
 chimney, the low attic allowing the low bedstead only 
 beneath the highest pitch of the roof ; the tar paper 
 covering, visible and odorous between the rafters, and 
 at once saluting sense of sight and smell and touch. 
 Then came the advanced stage, of a year's residence 
 in a church lecture room, with brick chimney, painted 
 woodwork, plastered wall, and solid foundation, albeit 
 with inlets for cold wind and ever-present dust that 
 could not be stopped, and with lack of conveniences 
 that sometimes sorely tempted to the conclusion that 
 life has some situations which cannot be conquered. 
 Then came the large relief of a pleasant parsonage, 
 prayed and wrought into being before our eyes, 
 
 Not alone as to places of abode did this variety 
 marshal itself into remembered procession. In food 
 supplies, there was the almost entire lack of fresh 
 meat during the first season ; no fruit either ; ice a 
 
268 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 luxury not to be thought of during the long, hot 
 season ; water from the hardest of wells and bitter 
 with alkali, water dipped up for washing from a rail- 
 way ditch, river water bought by the barrel best of 
 all ; but never yet enough of any kind. Then there 
 were the precious tea and sago and gelatine brought 
 with us, no more to be replaced when the privilege of 
 preparing delicacies for a sick neighbor had used the 
 last ; the variety of forms in which milk and eggs had 
 been prepared, when these, almost alone, could be had, 
 until the minister declared he was sure he had eaten a 
 large pail full of custard in one summer. Later there 
 was an abundance of ducks and wild geese, with an 
 occasional prairie chicken. Buffalo meat, venison, 
 and antelope were our daily food for weeks of the first 
 winter, and as rare luxuries we had tasted jelly made 
 from the " buffalo berry," the wild plum, and the wild 
 grape of the banks of the Missouri. 
 
 Traveling was not all by rail. Now in a wagon, 
 plunging through the sloughs, with terror, lest each 
 one should prove bottomless ; now lost on the trackless 
 prairie; now on a flatboat on the muddy Missouri, 
 with travelers, horses, and wagon in one enclosure and 
 no seat ; now trembling in a frail skiff, laden to the 
 water's edge, clinging to the seat which a stolid Indian 
 woman with her bag of corn had just vacated, but 
 forgetting one's fears in the glory of the daydawn 
 
Incidents of the Winter. 269 
 
 stealing over landscape and majestic river ; now in the 
 vehicle which has been the faithful companion of one 
 of the Riggses and his co-laborers for half a score of 
 years, which has had its experience of complete somer- 
 saults, with all its occupants, down the sides of preci- 
 pices, and into gullies and treacherous streams, and 
 which is the battered but still trusted survivor of many 
 other 4 1 hair-breadth 'scapes " ; behind horses now 
 faithful, now noted for their eccentricities ; sometimes 
 with treacherous Indian and Texan ponies ; some- 
 times as now, behind the most homely of mules. 
 
 Escorts have been varied too. Now with the honor 
 of the " brave boys in blue" for a safe conduct, and 
 the sight of epaulettes and swords for reassurance ; 
 now a long journey under the care of an Indian chief- 
 tain, made gentle and human by Christianity ; now 
 with a "foreign" missionary, who knew literally 
 every mile of thousands on this frontier as though it 
 were his hearthstone ; now with an army chaplain 
 whom long years of experience had made cautious, 
 but never afraid ; now with the reins in the hands of 
 a converted Indian boy who knew, with the keen obser- 
 vation of his race, every rock and pitfall and steep 
 incline of the road ; now with a stage driver who 
 u cared for none of these things," but was wisely 
 wary of sloughs and bridgeless streams ; often with- 
 out escort, in the company of men, alone, but, in all 
 
270 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the experience of the years, with no instance of the 
 slightest offered disrespect. 
 
 A\ r e are fully embarked on the stream of reminis- 
 cence. A strange chorus of sounds comes reverber- 
 ating through the memory, which bring vividly to 
 mind, as sounds will, the phases of life with which 
 they are connected. The wild shriek of that first 
 blizzard, coming down upon us in our earliest home 
 before food or dish were there ; the fiendish soprano 
 and thundering bass of the gusts, which for thirty-six 
 hours rocked our dwelling and held us prisoners ; the 
 liquid note of the meadow lark, which was the sole 
 bird song of one summer ; the roar of distant storms 
 in the night season ; the low sobs of a mother at the 
 deathbed of her child ; the plaintive soaring of Chris- 
 tian hymns beside open graves ; the shrill, despairing 
 cry of a lost girl, hurried past our door to jail at 
 midnight; the tramp of armed men, guarding past 
 our dwelling, to and fro, day after day, a man on 
 trial for murder ; sounds of drunken revelry, the 
 rattle of dice, and the click of billiards, all the night 
 long ; the whistles of the river steamer and the rail- 
 road train, unspeakably welcome sounds, linking one, 
 in the first year, with civilization left behind — a 
 medley inharmonious, but not without its strains of 
 melody. The last refrain was the voice of a pack 
 of hungry wolves which, on this very journey, had 
 
Incidents of the Winter. 271 
 
 assailed our ears in the twilight and caused our heart 
 to beat with apprehension as we rode over the weird 
 hills, in gathering darkness, for miles without leaving 
 the almost human cry behind. 
 
 The review went onward. There were funerals and 
 weddings, baptisms, ordinations, and dedications ; 
 sick beds and scenes of cheer ; the first words of 
 prayer from hearts which had come to themselves and 
 the Father's house in want ; there were expressions of 
 Christian gladness and peace and joy. There had 
 been comfort and triumph all along the way from the 
 Source whence help and strength never fail, and 
 which, almost in audible tones, and with never-to-be- 
 forgotten tenderness, had said at the first, — 
 
 " Whispering softly, l Wanderer, come! 
 Follow me, I '11 guide thee home ! ' ' 
 
 A question from the officer on the seat beside us 
 recalled our wandering thoughts. The ambulance 
 driver draws his reins, and we are at the end of our 
 revery and our journey. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 MISSIONARY RAIDS. 
 
 THE calls for missionary work in the new towns 
 are many. Some distance up the river a place 
 has been lately founded where ten thousand dollars' 
 worth of city lots has been already sold, and it is 
 time some one was looking after the founding of a 
 church in the city that seeks to be. 
 
 The minister had reconnoitered the place already, 
 and thus knew about what to expect. On the present 
 trip, by stage, he had the company of a young man 
 and his wife from Iowa. They had read the papers, 
 and seen the circulars and handbills sent out by the 
 real estate speculators. Won by the fine prospects 
 set forth, they had boxed and shipped their house- 
 hold goods, including an elegant piano, and were 
 now on their way to this promising young city, where 
 they expected to find a home and make their fortune. 
 They had arrived at the end of the railroad on Friday 
 evening, and were in the Saturday morning's stage 
 when we entered it. They were well-dressed, intelli- 
 gent traveling companions, and soon disclosed their 
 
 272 
 
Missionary Raids. 273 
 
 purpose and destination. It was evident that they 
 were without experience in the rough side of life, 
 and were certain to be sorely disappointed. They 
 had been misled by the exaggerations and mislead- 
 ing statements published, and their ideal city was, as 
 yet, chiefly on paper. 
 
 The day was wearing away. The sun was dipping 
 toward the western horizon when, on the summit of 
 the bluffs, the travelers descried the river in the 
 valley below. The minister had not described their 
 " city," thinking it better they should discover it for 
 themselves. They eagerly looked forth, expecting, 
 no doubt, to see well-planned streets, lined by sub- 
 stantial business blocks, and avenues graced by 
 attractive homes. 
 
 What they did see was the river's bed, the pale, 
 withered grass of the bottom lands, and the barren, 
 rocky bluffs opposite those over which they were 
 driving. Answering their inquiry, a few new shanties 
 were pointed out, set on the bleached and withered 
 grass in the valley, about a mile and a half distant. 
 They were to be pitied in their exclamations of 
 surprise and the expression of sadness which mantled 
 their faces. They were silent for the remainder of 
 the journey. 
 
 At the door of the little uncomely hotel, it was 
 hoped some one would be ready to welcome them. 
 
274 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 But the party had all to themselves the barren, untidy 
 office room, in which the fire had gone out. The 
 landlord was absent, clerk there was none, and the 
 landlady was preoccupied in the kitchen. Notwith- 
 standing endeavors to find some one who would 
 receive these strangers and assign them a room, 
 it was a full half hour that they were left to their 
 dejection in the cold office. At last the landlady 
 came and showed them to a room. Soon the real 
 estate speculators came in, to set forth in glowing 
 terms the prospects of the place. But the iron had 
 struck too deep into the soul of that sensitive 
 woman. In the anguish of disappointment, her 
 mind was already made up, and she would not be 
 consoled. Once deceived by their representations, 
 she wanted nothing more of them but to be let 
 alone. That very night the young couple engaged 
 their passage out of town by the returning stage. 
 On Sunday morning we travelers parted, they to 
 return to the east and the minister to preach the 
 gospel where he was. 
 
 The morning service was held in an unfinished, 
 vacant room. The subject of the sermon was the 
 relations of the gospel to the business thrift of any 
 community, and the manifold importance of laying 
 the foundations of a new town in righteousness. In 
 the evening service was held in an unfinished store 
 in a rival town not far away. 
 
Missionary Raids. 275 
 
 On Monday the preacher took the Bismarck stage 
 northward. After a prosperous journey he came, in 
 the early evening, to a county seat, where he was to 
 spend the night. It was picturesquely situated on 
 the river bank, surrrounded by high bluffs, and, for 
 a wonder, embowered in trees. He had had for a trav- 
 eling companion a genial young lawyer, who had 
 heard the sermon on the previous day, and who was 
 not without sympathy in this Christian work. 
 
 As usual, the hospitality of the hotel had to be 
 sought, for there was no other to be expected. In 
 the edge of the evening the travelers were set down 
 at the hostelry, and met by a kind welcome, and soon 
 refreshed by the warm supper, much needed. The 
 remaining glimmer of daylight was used to " do the 
 town." As had been expected, it was yet largely 
 unbuilt, and without church or minister. Some in- 
 telligent men held the county offices, and were now 
 doing their business in a rude building made of logs. 
 This was the courthouse. 
 
 Some of the families were religious, and would 
 gladly have preaching there as soon as the right 
 man could be found. But as they mostly belonged 
 to another religious persuasion, it was not wise for 
 the missionary, even if he had so desired, to suggest 
 a church of his order there. 
 
 By the time these facts had been learned, it was 
 
276 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 ten o'clock, and the tired missionary prepared for 
 rest, as he must set forward toward the objective 
 points of his journey with the early morning. He 
 had retired, when there was a rap at his door. 
 When it was opened, there stood a messenger from 
 the courthouse, sent by the county officers, request- 
 ing the minister to make an address that night to a 
 congregation already gathering. 
 
 The missionary donned his clothing, and was soon 
 ready for the service. The officials and their friends 
 and acquaintances had gathered until the " court- 
 house " was full — an intelligent and most interest- 
 ing audience, ready for the Word. To the midnight 
 message they gave a most attentive hearing. The 
 service was not as long as that in which Paul once 
 preached by night, nor did any young man fall from 
 an upper window to lose his life. But it was one 
 to be remembered, nevertheless, by speaker and 
 hearers. 
 
 The journey of the following day led up over the 
 high bluffs, and across a rolling, treeless plateau, 
 where were few signs of human habitation. Occa- 
 sional valleys or depressions in the prairie furnished 
 shelter for wild animals. Once that day a coyote, 
 or prairie wolf, was seen, which fled as the traveler 
 approached. He was fleet as a greyhound, and in 
 size a little larger than a good-sized yellow fox. 
 
Missionary Raids. 277 
 
 A few hours' ride brought the missionary to the 
 place he was seeking, where he found one intelligent 
 woman filling the double position of merchant and 
 postmistress. She evinced a real interest in the 
 religious welfare of her own soul and in that of the 
 community. As was his custom, in lack of other 
 accommodations, the minister sought the hotel. This 
 was the most unpretentious he had yet seen. It was 
 a low one-story shanty of a room and a half ! The 
 room was sitting room, dining room, office room, and 
 kitchen in one. The other apartment, a space about 
 six feet wide and twelve or fourteen feet long, was 
 against the side of the wall, opposite the door. A 
 series of bunks, one above another, like the berths 
 in a canal boat, occupied this wall, to the number of 
 six or eight. Into one of these hard and uncomfort- 
 able places the missionary crept, to get what sleep 
 he could ; nor did it prove to be the worst lodging 
 of his missionary life. 
 
 A creek or small river bed, now dry, ran through 
 the town. Fed by the moisture sometimes there, 
 some small trees clustered along its edge, and in a 
 grove of these service was appointed for the next 
 Sunday forenoon. The two intervening week days 
 were devoted to a side trip, in order to learn the 
 condition of settlements still more isolated. Engag- 
 ing the services of a team and a young man for 
 driver who knew the way, the missionary proceeded. 
 
278 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 His route led through a town of prairie dogs. The 
 soil was honeycombed with their holes over a space 
 some three miles wide and five or six miles long. 
 This was the largest dog town the missionary had 
 ever seen. The little creatures sat up at the edge 
 of their holes by hundreds, and at human approach, 
 with a short "Yip, yip ! " would disappear. It is 
 said that these prairie dogs often dwell in the same 
 dens with owls and rattlesnakes. More than once 
 the traveler saw the dog and the owl at the mouth 
 of the same hole. 
 
 This visit was one of reconnoissance merely, as the 
 missionary knew nothing of the circumstances ; but it 
 awakened an interest which led to another visit a few 
 weeks later, when on a single Sabbath he organized 
 two churches ten miles apart. 
 
 Back at the village where he had left his appoint- 
 ment for service the following Sabbath, the missionary 
 
 learned that the Right Reverend Bishop S , from 
 
 the east, was spending a part of his vacation in the 
 embryo village and surrounding region. The mission- 
 ary had never met him, and had no special reason to 
 expect his presence at the Sunday service. But when 
 the people came together the good bishop came with 
 them. He readily accepted the invitation to share in 
 the service, and remained also to officiate in the after- 
 noon, while the missionary rode ten miles to preach in 
 another village. 
 
Missionary Raids. 279 
 
 The pleasure, the uplift of soul, which comes with 
 the effort to preach the gospel to the hungry and poor 
 in spirit in these new communities, can be learned only 
 by experience. This Sabbath, with one service in the 
 grove, and another ten miles distant in a rude place 
 built for a dance hall, will not soon be forgotten. 
 Such opportunities for effective service lead the minis- 
 ter to feel that "it does pay" to be a missionary at 
 the front. The eager attention, the sympathetic hear- 
 ing, the cordial hand grasp, the " Godspeed " after 
 service, seem to bring together the sowing and the 
 reaping time. 
 
 The Sabbath past, the missionary looks homeward. 
 He is forty-five miles from the nearest railroad station. 
 As the running of the stage is uncertain he is glad to 
 get passage to the railroad by private conveyance. A 
 lumber wagon is going thither, and, seated beside the 
 driver, he is early on his way. 
 
 It was nearly noon when the wagon came to a 
 farmhouse. The driver said it was about halfway, 
 and it would be wise to rest and feed the team 
 here. He entered the house, to return with the 
 good news that they could have stabling for the 
 horses and food for themselves. After the horses 
 were cared for the missionary entered the house, to 
 find there a woman preparing dinner. It was a com- 
 fortable house for the country, and in the sitting room 
 he awaited the announcement of dinner, haunted by 
 
280 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the sad face of the woman he had seen for but a 
 moment. 
 
 At the table he wished to learn something of the 
 surroundings. 
 
 "Have you pleasant neighbors?" (None were in 
 sight.) 
 
 "Well, I don't know. They are good enough, I 
 suppose. " 
 
 ' ; Have you any meeting near — any preaching 
 service ? " 
 
 " No ; and it wouldn't make any odds to me if 
 there was. If there was one on every corner of the 
 lot, I would n't go anear one of 'em." 
 
 It was evident what that sad face meant. The 
 preacher could only say, "Well, we all need the 
 Lord's help. If we are not satisfied with our neigh- 
 bors, and do not like those professing to be Christians, 
 we must not refuse His mercy and reject His love." 
 
 It was the end of the conversation. The travelers 
 finished their dinner, paid for their accommodations, 
 and went on their way. 
 
 The driver said the woman had remarked to him 
 aside, " I didn't s'pose I was talkin' to a preacher." 
 
 The next day the missionary was at home, to find 
 that "the God of all comfort" had kept in peace those 
 "remaining by the stuff," as well as him who had 
 gone forth to battle. 
 
CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 REVIVALS. 
 
 THE work in the home parish was going forward. 
 A young man had been engaged to supply the 
 pulpit for a few months, and our friend, the evangel- 
 ist, had promised to come to the aid of the church. 
 Tarrying at one place and another by the way, as his 
 services were called for by the churches, he at last 
 arrived at the parsonage. A blessing came with him, 
 and the joy of Christian service found at this time to 
 some the highest sense of recompense vouchsafed 
 in a lifetime. There were afternoon and evening 
 meetings when the voice of prayer rose with new 
 earnestness in the church, and new-found joy in God 
 found expression in the testimonies. What a comfort 
 was the privacy of the parsonage in these days of 
 special interest ! The preciousness of one room there 
 will ever be associated, not with the family comfort 
 to which it ministered so abundantly, but with the 
 private interviews with individuals, which were there 
 held by appointment. There the secret history of 
 more than one soul was revealed to friendly sympathy ; 
 vows were taken in the intimacy of its sheltering 
 
 281 
 
282 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 walls, which were nobly fulfilled in the presence of the 
 public congregation ; there conversations were held, 
 the memory of which months afterwards was recalled 
 by the kindling of manly eyes and the silent but 
 sympathetic grasp of strong hands. 
 
 More wonderful were the known results of the 
 labors of our friend in the dear church of our first 
 parish. This had now come to be the center not 
 only of a growing village, but of a large surrounding 
 region. The time was March, in melting weather, 
 when ice had been transformed into mud, and the 
 sloughs were nearly impassable, the roads through 
 them being overflowed with water from one to three 
 feet deep. 
 
 But the spirit of God, in answer to earnest prayer, 
 was poured out on that community. From forty to 
 sixty came every day over the nearly impassable 
 roads, from five to eight miles beyond the bounds of 
 the village. The distances and the state of the roads 
 led the families coming to the morning meetings to 
 bring their dinners and their suppers with them, and, 
 as no one was left at home to care for the children, 
 the babies were brought also. One Sabbath it was 
 said that the number of children under three years 
 of age in the church was over forty. 
 
 A lay brother here, who had been among the first 
 to welcome us on our arrival in the territory, now had 
 
Revivals. 283 
 
 the burden of many souls laid on his spirit. There 
 was a tiny room over the vestibule in the tower of the 
 church which became his prayer closet. From that 
 belfry, looking far out over the boundless prospect, 
 agonizing prayer went up by day and by night — 
 prayer which the Father saw in secret and rewarded 
 openly. When this brother descended the long flight 
 of stairs from his belfry, it was with shining face and 
 the enduement of power. 
 
 Every day in the lecture room of that church the 
 midday and the evening meals were spread by those 
 who brought their provisions from a distance, and, as 
 at the day of Pentecost, " all that believed were 
 together, and had all things common. . . . And they, 
 continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and 
 breaking bread," — not at home, but in the sanctuary, 
 — u did eat their meat with gladness and singleness 
 of heart, praising God, and having favour with all the 
 people." 
 
 The brother to whom reference has been made, with 
 his wife, came five miles to attend the meetings ; and 
 he literally lived, for the time, in the church, going 
 home but once in twelve days when the religious 
 interest was highest. 
 
 The whole community was profoundly moved. The 
 results of such a work can never be numbered in time. 
 Once a list of nearly sixty names was written out of 
 
284 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 those especially interested ; names which we could 
 hardly read for tears of joy ; names we had learned 
 to love in those earliest meetings and Sunday-school 
 sessions held in the depot, the schoolhouse, and the 
 church ; names, some of which have since been read 
 far and wide in the roll of the church militant ; names, 
 some of which are now inscribed on the roll of the 
 church triumphant. At more remote, but remarkable, 
 consequences we will glance in another chapter. 
 
CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 A PROMISING BEGINNING. 
 
 A LETTER of inquiry and explanation had come 
 from a stranger, telling of spiritual wants, 
 great and many. He asked if the missionary would 
 " come over and help " when the winter's snow had 
 melted away. The reply was soon sent: " As much 
 as in us lies, we are ready." Soon the weather was 
 favorable for the proposed meetings. A journey 
 of one hundred and fifty miles by rail, and twenty 
 miles by stage, brought the missionary to the point 
 designated. 
 
 He had supposed it might be something of a village. 
 Three or four miles before he reached it, the stage 
 driver pointed out in the distance the settlement he 
 sought. It consisted of one sod building, used for 
 the threefold purpose of post office, store, and 
 dwelling ! 
 
 Here the stage set him down, and rumbled on its 
 departing way. Inquiry revealed the fact that the 
 friend on whose invitation he had come lived on his 
 " claim" five miles distant. Various unfeasible plans 
 for traversing that five miles were being revolved in 
 
 285 
 
286 Service in the King's Guards* 
 
 the minister's mind, when happily the writer of the 
 letter appeared in sight. Which was the more glad to 
 see the other it was hard to tell. That hearty Chris- 
 tian greeting over, they two took their way over the 
 swells and through the sloughs. Arrived at the home 
 of his new-found friend, another sod house, the mis- 
 sionary was introduced to the five young lady daugh- 
 ters. One of these had graduated from the classical 
 course at Oberlin the year before, holding, as was 
 afterward learned, front rank in scholarship in a class 
 of fifty young men and women. The other sisters, 
 though not as far advanced in collegiate attainments, 
 were not behind in natural gifts and graces. Two or 
 three were teachers ; all were of marked intelligence 
 and force of character. The mother had " passed on 
 before," and the father and his five daughters had 
 come to try their fortune in securing government lands. 
 Three of the daughters could make " claims " in their 
 own right, and the family had thus together secured 
 in one body between one thousand and eleven hun- 
 dred acres of beautiful land. 
 
 As night was approaching, the first wonder of the 
 guest — a common one in receiving hospitality in 
 frontier homes — was how the family and the new 
 arrival were to get through the night. To find lodging 
 for a family of seven or eight, sometimes in a house 
 of one room, rarely with more than two, seems a diffi- 
 
A Promising Beginning. 287 
 
 cult problem. Here, as always, it was found that the 
 "will" could find a "way." When the hour for 
 retiring had come, the guest was conducted to a 
 smaller sod house, some fifteen rods distant, on the 
 "claim" of one of the daughters. It was cozy, 
 with bed and carpet, stove and lamp. By dint of feed- 
 ing the stove with hay, one of the daughters had 
 thoughtfully made the room warm for the expected 
 guest. If it seemed a little lonely, it was never- 
 theless a comely and comfortable room, and the mis- 
 sionary slept and awoke to rejoice in the light of the 
 Sabbath. 
 
 As the hour for service approached, all were ready 
 and eager to be in their places, and a lumber wagon, 
 with a team of mules, was ample enough to provide 
 conveyance. Arrived at the place of meeting, it was 
 found to be the rudest of shanties, built for a grocery. 
 A few rough boards, lying loosely on the ground, and 
 sprinkled with flour, formed the floor. For seats there 
 were a few rough benches and a few rough boards. 
 The damp and chilly winds of March were pressing 
 in through the wide open cracks between the un- 
 matched boards of the sheltering walls. A small 
 stove, with a meager supply of soft coal, did what 
 it could to drive back the cold. The people came 
 from near and far, until the room was crowded, and 
 the preacher, willing to give all the room possible to 
 
288 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 the congregation, had crowded himself backwards into 
 a corner. 
 
 It was soon evident that the intelligence of the 
 congregation was by no means to be measured by its 
 narrow and uncomely place of meeting. There were 
 present a large proportion of bright, refined, and 
 scholarly hearers. 
 
 Account for it as we may, there are inspiration and 
 uplift of soul to a preacher in these rude frontier 
 scenes, which come but seldom in elegant surround- 
 ings and more formal services. As usual, when the 
 congregation pressed close upon the speaker, in 
 default of table and desk, he stood with his Bible in 
 one hand and Gospel Hymn Book in the other. On 
 this occasion it was an unusual privilege to "divide 
 the word of truth " with such ability as the Lord 
 gave. Lifted up to the heights of this privilege, with 
 the bright hopes of immortality thrilling the heart, 
 and with the verified promise, u Lo, I am with you 
 alway, even unto the end of the world," one soon 
 forgot all that was unattractive in present surround- 
 ings. How often has it been so in other and similar 
 scenes ! 
 
 One month later the missionary was here again, to 
 experience a repetition of all that has just been noted, 
 and also to see an added interest among the people. 
 On the way homeward he stopped over night with a 
 
A Promising Beginning. 289 
 
 young farmer, who freely expressed his interest in the 
 service. He was the son of a Congregational deacon 
 in one of the older states, and he said, " That was 
 the first sermon I have heard in two years." And 
 yet he was a member of the church to which his 
 father belonged. 
 
 Soon a movement was made to secure a better house 
 for worship. In the poverty of the people it was with 
 much difficulty that one hundred dollars was raised for 
 this purpose. But so great was the felt necessity that 
 it was determined to go forward and do the most pos- 
 sible with the money in hand. In a few weeks the 
 missionary was glad to go up to the new house for 
 the Sabbath services. If the new accommodations 
 were not what we could wish, there was the satisfac- 
 tion of knowing they were a great improvement on 
 the old. 
 
 Of the outward aspect of the new building it is not 
 necessary now to speak. The missionary was some- 
 what disappointed on entering it for the first time, 
 on Sunday morning. In one corner, not far from 
 where the pulpit would have stood, had there been 
 any, was a carpenter's bench, beneath which the work- 
 men had stowed away shavings and bits of board. 
 For seats there were strips of board or scantlings laid 
 on nail casks. 
 
 To the second Sabbath he was looking forward with 
 
290 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 much interest, on account of special services expected 
 that day. The morning dawned dark and rainy, and 
 it was with some depression that he watched the 
 clouds, fearing that the service might be prevented. 
 " Many a cloudy morning turns out a fair day," he 
 thought ; and he remembered also the promise that 
 all things, storm as well as sunshine, "shall work 
 together for good." Soon the rain ceased, the clouds 
 lifted, and the sun shone forth, it seemed, more 
 brightly than ever. 
 
 A ride of two or three miles brought the missionary 
 to the place of worship. On entering, he found that 
 some of the nail kegs had been taken away on one 
 side, leaving the boards slanting to the ground from 
 their supports on the other side. The only hope for 
 seats now was on what might be concealed in the pile 
 of shavings under the workbench. The eager search, 
 as for hidden gold, was rewarded by finding, at last, 
 blocks and bits of board enough to pile one on 
 another for supports to the seats. When the con- 
 gregation entered they found the seats in readiness 
 and the house in order. There was no need of anxi- 
 ety as to the ventilation of the room, for the congre- 
 gation could look out on every side, through the cracks 
 between the boards, to the sky and the prairie. When 
 the wind blew it was a breezy audience room. 
 
 In this sanctuary, such as it was, the missionary 
 
A Promising Beginning. 291 
 
 held services this day with real delight. There he 
 organized a church of sixteen members ; and a more 
 intelligent company of that size was rarely, it is 
 believed, organized into a Christian church. 
 
 That was the day of small things in that place. 
 A railroad has since reached it, the community has 
 grown, and the church has gone forward with its 
 heaven-appointed work, the largest and most indis- 
 pensable factor in the Christian civilization of a great 
 region. Five years afterward — years of great immi- 
 gration — it was still ' ' twenty miles from any other 
 church of its order north or south, and forty miles 
 east or west." At first it had been that distance from 
 any church at all. One of the sixteen original mem- 
 bers writes of its history as follows : — 
 
 " The people who compose the church came to get 
 for themselves free homes. We came with very 
 limited means. One man had one hundred dollars; 
 another, perhaps, two hundred ; another, fifty ; and 
 some, after filing on their land, had absolutely no- 
 thing. Many of us had come from Christian homes, 
 where we had the advantages of church, Sunday-school, 
 and prayer meeting ; and we brought with us the 
 desire for Christian worship. Early in June of the 
 first season a number of the people met at a neighbor's 
 house and organized a Sunday-school. We continued 
 to meet at the same place during the summer, some 
 
292 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 coming ten or eleven miles with ox teams. Later in 
 the season we were enabled to get the use of a sod 
 house, some twenty by thirty feet inside. In this old 
 sod house, with only two small windows to let in the 
 light, besides the cracks in the door, with no floor 
 except the black loam, we met, until the snow and 
 severe weather made it impossible to get there. 
 
 a w e recall many interesting experiences in the old 
 house. One good brother went one morning after a 
 storm and found the house with two inches of snow 
 over the floor. The stove and the hay, which we use 
 for fuel, were gracefully wreathed in crystals. He 
 brushed the snow off the stove, built a fire, and then, 
 with a little board, cleared the floor. The house was 
 in readiness for the congregation, and although the 
 smoke puffed down the pipe so as almost to strangle 
 us, we had a good attendance and a profitable service. 
 Some of the sisters who used to go with oxen, and 
 were more than three hours on the road, tell how they 
 enlivened the trips by singing, studying the Sunday- 
 school lesson, and sometimes by reading a sermon. 
 
 " Early the following spring we reorganized the 
 Sunday-school, using another building, more centrally 
 located, ten by fourteen feet in size. Our numbers 
 increased, and we saw it would be impossible to hold 
 services here long, and so a plan for a union church 
 building was talked of. But how could we build with 
 
A Promising Beginning. 293 
 
 so little money? Each one was ready to do all he 
 could. Still our means fell short of even enough to 
 put up this rough building. God opened the way ; for 
 it was so ordered that one of our number, a good man 
 from Illinois, received some money and lent us enough 
 to make up the deficiency. 
 
 " It was pleasing to notice the interest that every one 
 took in the building, and the feeling of ownership that 
 each one had. Our ladies, who furnished the picnic 
 dinner on that day, took as much pleasure in driving 
 a nail into this building as some of our railroad mag- 
 nates do in driving the golden spike. It was such an 
 improvement on any place in which we had met before 
 that we might be pardoned for a little feeling of pride. 
 
 " Then came the question, ' What shall we do for a 
 minister, and how can we support one if he should 
 come?' We found it impossible to do anything that 
 autumn, but we kept up religious services by reading 
 sermons. 
 
 "Again and again, we called for Christian young 
 men from the eastern seminaries ; but none would 
 consent to take so new and large a field under such 
 difficulties, and still we were left to ourselves. Wlien 
 arrangements were almost made with one would-be 
 missionary, some drawback attendant on our frontier 
 life, or distance from the railroad, made him give up 
 the thought. Another, when about to come, was pre- 
 
294 Service in the King's Guards, 
 
 vented by ill health. Finally, the conclusion ivas 
 forced upon us that ive could not expect outside help. 
 We must depend on ourselves. Therefore we con- 
 eluded to call one of our own number to act as pastor 
 and carry on the work among us." 
 
 Is not this a repetition of the principles and the 
 practice of the apostles? And is it any wonder that 
 jo} 7 — that " joy of the Lord " which is " our strength" 
 — came to one who shared, even in small measure, 
 the privilege of helping such beginnings as these, and 
 that he sometimes felt as though he were actually 
 privileged thus to enter into the u Acts of the 
 Apostles " ? 
 
 Now this is no longer an isolated community. Rail- 
 roads have opened up the country, and the church, in 
 a comely edifice, is the center of a railroad village, 
 with a greatly increased surrounding population. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 BY THE WAY. 
 
 IN the " much land to be possessed," only the more 
 urgent calls can be early attended to. One came 
 from u near the forty-sixth parallel," and an appoint- 
 ment to " be there" was made. The journey was 
 two hundred and thirty miles by rail and twenty by 
 stage. But the stage ran only once or twice a week, 
 and not on the day of the minister's arrival at the 
 end of the railroad. After waiting and watching for 
 some farmer homeward bound, with whom he could 
 catch a ride, it became certain that no such good 
 fortune was in store for him. So he engaged a man 
 to take him in a two-wheeled vehicle, paying two 
 dollars therefor. It was a rough, uncomfortable, jolt- 
 ing ride, and he was glad when the end was reached. 
 He was kindly received by a family whom he found 
 to have come from the valley of the Kennebec, and 
 from a town adjoining the one of the preacher's 
 nativity. It was pleasant to talk of friends and 
 home, and of persons well known to both hosts and 
 guests there on the unbroken soil of a new land, two 
 
 295 
 
296 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 thousand miles from the scenes of their childhood. 
 Here was a theological student from Andover, spend- 
 ing his summer vacation — a young man of promise, 
 who had been doing a good work among the people. 
 He met the missionary on the evening of his arrival, 
 and together they planned for the services of the 
 following day. 
 
 The student was boarding on the farther side of the 
 river, and was to come over for the missionary with 
 his rowboat on Sunday morning, which he did. 
 Arrived at the other side, ponies were in waiting to 
 take the two to the place of meeting, some miles 
 distant. 
 
 Riding on ponyback was a thing to which the 
 missionary had not been accustomed since boyhood 
 days. But he managed to " hold on," and made 
 the journey in time for service. The ponies were 
 ridden on the gallop as long as was convenient, either 
 for the " beasties " or the riders, and then they were 
 brought to a walk, and went quietly forward until 
 fears of being late at the service would incite to a 
 renewal of the gallop. At the end of the journey 
 a rather intelligent congregation was found gathered 
 for service in a store-loft. To them the Word was 
 preached with gladness. Then the missionary re- 
 turned by the help of ponies and rowboat to another 
 service on the other side of the river in the afternoon. 
 
By the Way, 297 
 
 Here he met a larger congregation, to whom he 
 preached, and then proceeded to organize a church 
 and administer the communion. To the great enjoy- 
 ment of establishing Christian institutions was added, 
 on this occasion, the special and unexpected pleasure 
 of meeting in these new scenes a goodly number of 
 persons not only from his own native state, but from 
 the very scenes of his childhood and youth. It 
 seemed like serving one's own people. 
 
 The day's labor ended, thoughts turned to the 
 homeward way. Time was precious. How was the 
 railroad to be reached twenty miles distant in time 
 for the returning train next day? There was no 
 Monday stage, and the farmers were pressed with 
 the labor of gathering their harvests. The only hope 
 was that the missionary might get a ride with a farmer 
 who was going to the railroad station for a load of 
 lumber next day. He lived two or three miles away, 
 and was likely to start early. As he did not know 
 of the wish to ride with him, it was necessary to 
 start betimes. 
 
 At three o'clock in the morning the missionary was 
 up and ready, with valise packed and a cold lunch 
 in lieu of breakfast. The young student brother was 
 to come over the river and accompany him to the 
 railroad, but was not there at the time agreed upon. 
 The missionarv looked and waited in vain. As he 
 
298 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 had a heavy valise, and knew not how long the delay 
 might be, it seemed best to start alone. All nature 
 was yet silent, but the day was beginning to dawn, 
 as he set out to trudge over the way, with valise in 
 hand. In sight, at last, of the farmer's, he saw that 
 worthy watering his horses, already harnessed for the 
 journey. Looking backward he beheld the belated 
 young friend coming on with lively strides. 
 
 The farmer, going for lumber, had removed the 
 box from his wagon, for convenience and to lighten 
 his load. There were only the wheels, the axles, 
 and the long reach between them, but he was willing 
 to take the missionary along. A board was found, 
 long enough to reach from end to end of the skele- 
 ton wagon. On the forward end, between the wheels, 
 the driver seated himself ; the slender young minister 
 was seated on the middle of the board, — which broke 
 beneath his weight before the journey was over, — 
 while the missionary took up his place at the further 
 end of the board, between the wheels and over " the 
 hind ex," with his valise to hold before him, and his 
 feet dangling toward the ground on either side the 
 reach. The driver walked his horses every rod of 
 the trackless way, and it was high noon with a 
 scorching sun before the station was reached. But 
 for the burden of luggage, it would have been as 
 easy to walk that twenty miles, although boots and 
 
By the Way. 299 
 
 clothing must have been cut by the wiry grass. As 
 it was, there was need of patience. The board did 
 not grow to be a softer seat, nor the spring of the 
 wagon " ex " increase as the travelers " dragged their 
 slow length along." 
 
 That tedious journey had been made for the sake 
 of preaching " a free gospel" ; but the Irishman, with 
 whom we had been riding, though civil, was not gen- 
 erous, and we were compelled to pay his price for 
 the memorable ride — two dollars. When we had 
 thus paid for that ride, to call it a favor seemed, 
 from one point of view, of doubtful propriety. 
 
 On one occasion, to meet a Sabbath's appointment 
 sixty miles away, the missionary took passage from 
 the railroad town by stage. The day was bright, and 
 he chose his seat beside the driver. With much to 
 cheer, there is always enough to depress, in these 
 long stage rides over the uninhabited prairie. Any- 
 thing which tends to break the tedious monotony of 
 the journey is welcomed. As we rattled and rumbled 
 along, we were glad to hear a man within the vehicle 
 singing hymns. 
 
 The seats were all full inside, but by-and-by we 
 halted to change horses. Then, alighting, we were 
 glad to have some friendly words with the singing 
 stranger. We found him tall and venerable in per- 
 son, and decidedly Christian in word and atmosphere. 
 
300 Service in the King's Guards, 
 
 He was an Englishman, who, with his wife, had just 
 arrived by way of Montreal from his native land. 
 They had a son living near our route, whom we had 
 met. He seemed cheered as he learned that we knew 
 his son, and our interest in him increased and grew 
 into a desire to learn something of his religious his- 
 tory. By-and-by we felt free to ask, " Are you of 
 the English Wesleyan church?" 
 
 Instantly he drew himself up to his full height and 
 replied seriously and sonorously : — 
 
 u I am a companion of all them that fear God!" 
 Instinctively we gave him a grasp of the hand and 
 were satisfied. When, after a journey of forty or 
 fifty miles together, we parted, it was with mutual 
 interest and hearty Godspeeds, each cheered and 
 helped by the comradeship of the way. Doubtless 
 we shall never meet again on earth, but this milestone 
 in our Christian pilgrimage will ever stand. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 FORTY MILES AND TWO CHURCHES IN ONE DAY. 
 
 BUT other fields are ripening, and the reapers are 
 too few. " Two by two" the Master sent out 
 his messengers. There is in this, doubtless, a higher 
 wisdom than has yet been perceived. Many a lonely 
 toiler in the world's great harvest field has been glad- 
 dened by the coming of another, as was Paul by the 
 coming of Titus. When, single-handed, one minister 
 is toiling to reap the spiritual harvests in a county as 
 large as one of our lesser states, he is cheered, some- 
 times beyond measure, if, for a single day only, he 
 can have counsel from another in his perplexities, and 
 a helping hand in his toil. To such a grateful service 
 the missionaries were appointed. 
 
 It was a journey of two hundred and forty miles by 
 rail, and fifty by stage. He was getting used to these 
 "magnificent distances," and found them not as tire- 
 some as formerly. And yet the pleasures of staging 
 on the frontier are not those of a fully equipped, 
 thorough-braced, four-horse Concord coach. Fifty 
 miles over a dry and dusty prairie, under a scorching 
 
 301 
 
302 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 midsummer sun, is not a particularly inspiring pros- 
 pect with better accommodations than the old, cheap 
 spring wagon which was in waiting for us, loaded with 
 bags of grain and various merchandise, and with two 
 worn-out horses hitched before it. Besides the driver 
 there were three or four passengers, all needing to 
 make the journey that day. The missionary's seat 
 was one half a bag of oats. The driver had the other 
 half. The bag was about even with the front end of 
 the wagon box, alongside of which it lay, and our feet 
 hung over in proximity to the horses' tails. Our 
 fellow-travelers were mounted on other bags of grain 
 behind us. If the comforts were not all that the 
 minister could wish, they were more than equal to 
 those of the others, and there was small chance for 
 envy, unless indeed on the part of the poor horses. 
 We were late in starting out, and found it conven- 
 ient to rest and take dinner at the first little town, 
 fifteen miles on our way. Little kindnesses and cour- 
 tesies which were extended to the missionary at the 
 hotel, though unexpected, were such as not unfre- 
 quently met him in his missionary work. The ladylike 
 hostess was not long in ascertaining that among her 
 guests was a Christian minister. At once the best 
 room in the house was placed at his service, while 
 waiting, and its appointments had more of refinement 
 than could have been expected in a town like that on 
 
Forty Miles and Two Churches in One Day. 303 
 
 the unsubdued prairie. Of more importance in the 
 character they reveal than in the gifts they bestow, 
 such kindnesses leave in the hearts of those who share 
 them a lasting memory. 
 
 Dinner over, we proceeded, having left behind a 
 part of the load of our overburdened team. More and 
 more wild and unbroken, fewer and slighter the signs 
 of civilization, as we got beyond the vicinity of the 
 railroad, the great civilizer of these vast plains. Still, 
 here and there, we discerned signs of human life, in 
 the rude shanty and the growing grain of the isolated 
 farmer. As the sun was sinking behind the horizon, 
 we neared the hamlet which we sought. The ct town" 
 was composed of one store, a blacksmith's shop, and 
 a small house known as the hotel. At the latter we 
 were expected to stop, and we soon learned that in it 
 was to be held divine service on the coming Sunday 
 morning. 
 
 Between the small office and the dining room there 
 were double doors, and these were thrown open as the 
 hour for service approached. The rooms were well 
 filled with an attentive congregation. We had been 
 called here to organize a church, which we now 
 proceeded to do, after which the sacraments were 
 administered. 
 
 To call a council in such a case seemed impractica- 
 ble. There was but one church of our order within 
 
304 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 fifty miles, bat two within a hundred, and both of 
 these were very weak and without a minister. In 
 case a council had been called there could have been 
 little hope that, in the pressing cares of the season, 
 and with the difficulty of travel, a single delegate 
 would have responded. We did not believe that Paul 
 always called a council when he instituted the churches 
 of Asia Minor. So the minister of this people, and 
 the general missionary whom he had called for this 
 purpose, went forward in what seemed the path of 
 duty. 
 
 In the afternoon we were to meet by appointment 
 another congregation, miles away. The shortest way 
 led through the bed of a lake which was quite ex- 
 tended in the wet season, but now, under an August 
 sun, was dry and covered with a rank growth of wild 
 reeds and grasses, sometimes higher than the vehicle in 
 which we rode. It was a romantic ride of decided 
 interest. It brought us to a region of more mature 
 settlement. Here were a goodly number of farmers 
 of the thriftier class. True, they had no village, and 
 were almost seventy miles from the nearest railroad 
 station. A minister of another denomination, retired 
 from active service, was in the thoughtful congrega- 
 tion, which had gathered in a private house, and there 
 was another who was ready to act as pastor. They 
 desired the organization of a church, which we pro- 
 
Forty Miles and Two Churches in One Day, 305 
 
 ceeded to form, and encouraged the brethren as best 
 we could. 
 
 The service over, we rode home with the minister, 
 who lived four or five miles from the place of meet- 
 ing, took supper with him and his family, and rested 
 a little. We were twenty-five miles from the point 
 where we might strike a stage next morning, and 
 decided that it was best to go on. 
 
 The night was dark, but by the help of the min- 
 ister whose call had brought us hither, we made our 
 journey across the unfenced prairie to the village on 
 the stage route. Late, and tired, but glad at heart, 
 we concluded our work of "forty miles and two 
 churches in one day." Rest was sweet in an open 
 and unfinished chamber, with strangers sleeping all 
 about. Another "stage ride" of forty-five miles 
 next day, and we had reached the railroad with its 
 welcome homeward train. 
 
CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 AUTUMN MEETINGS. 
 
 rj^HE long, delightful autumn was approaching, 
 ~^- the season of meetings of the local and 
 general associations, of fellowship meetings and 
 others in the older settled regions. The general 
 meeting was a season of review, of stimulus and 
 cheer, enlarged by the accession of churches and of 
 helpers. It was held at the site of a frontier college, 
 whose story was a volume in itself, and the laying 
 of a corner stone was a part of the program. It was 
 a privilege to visit its embryo library, and to listen 
 in its class rooms. In one of these a translation 
 from a classic author was rendered. It was an old 
 story, but it came with peculiar freshness, illustrating 
 by its ancient valor a motto worthy of the times 
 and the work laid upon the Christian Church along 
 the picket line of civilization. 
 
 " The spears of the enemy are so many that they 
 darken the light of heaven," said a scout before the 
 battle of Marathon. 
 
 "Very well," answered Miltiades, "then we will 
 fight in the shade." 
 
 306 
 
Autumn Meetings. 307 
 
 To " fight in the shade " with the valorous Cap- 
 tain of our salvation was glory and privilege enough 
 to nerve the arm and fire the heart of every soldier 
 of the cross at this meeting. 
 
 "Thy saints, in all this glorious war, 
 Shall conquer, though they die: 
 They view the triumph from afar, 
 And seize it with their eye." 
 
 Nowhere have we heard a more vigorous discussion 
 of the temperance question than here, and a mission- 
 ary meeting of women, not large, but earnest, was 
 a representative of the self-denial and the sanctified 
 zeal and common sense of frontier churches, who 
 see not an additional burden but a blessing and a 
 help in practically remembering the words of the 
 Lord Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to 
 receive." 
 
 In returning, it was in our way to see something 
 of more advanced methods in Christian education for 
 the Indian than we had hitherto had the opportunity 
 to observe. After a pleasant day in the company of 
 missionaries we knew and loved, our team drew up 
 at nightfall at the mission home at Santee agency, 
 on the Nebraska side of the Missouri. 
 
 The Ponca and Santee Indians are here, but this 
 advanced school has received many other represent- 
 
308 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 atives from the forty thousand Sioux of the great 
 Dakota reservations, with some from the Gros Ventres 
 and the Manclans of the Upper Missouri. 
 
 Our visit, though brief, was one of delight. Here 
 we could bow in prayer at a family altar, remember- 
 ing the labors of Riggs and Williamson into which 
 their children are entering, with achievement already 
 setting its seal to those labors of faith and hope. 
 Here, in the " Bird's Nest," where the little ones 
 are gathered, in the boys' school, and the girls' 
 school, and the church, we find Indians without the 
 " heredity of civilization and Christianity," but with 
 the redemption of the new life in Christ Jesus. They 
 are, in part, the selected pupils from various mission 
 stations, sent here by the missionaries, and with the 
 consent of the parents, for better opportunities than 
 can be afforded them nearer their homes. 
 
 Their progress, the result of years of toil and 
 pains, is such as to justify a large hope for the seventy 
 Indian tribes yet in absolute darkness, if the Church 
 of Christ shall not too long neglect them. We visit 
 the buildings where the Indian youth are instructed 
 in agriculture and in trades ; we scan the course of 
 theological study for the young preachers ; we sit 
 with the older girls in their sewing room, and are 
 shown by two dusky maidens the interesting details 
 of the bread-making for the large family ; we sing 
 
Autumn Meetings. 309 
 
 with the assembled school, led at the organ by a 
 polished Christian gentleman with copper-colored 
 skin ; we sit with interest in the recitation room, and 
 witness the drill of the bright boys and girls in 
 mathematics ; in walking about the grounds we greet 
 some of the youth we have entertained in earlier 
 days in our home in the church. One sweet little 
 girl who runs to meet us is the granddaughter of 
 the Indian woman, Elisabeth Winyan, who saved the 
 lives of the missionaries in the Minnesota massacre 
 of 1862. We made the acquaintance of this gentle 
 girl when, as one of the earliest guests at our par- 
 sonage, she with her teacher spent the night with 
 us, en route from her home in the upper country to 
 this school, and are glad indeed to see her again, 
 happy and improving in her new world. . We inquire 
 for the little silent maiden who visited us in the 
 church, and who did not freeze in the blizzard which 
 overtook the party, thanks to the experience, wisdom, 
 and fortitude of their missionary conductor ; but she 
 has gone on to Hampton, if we rightly understand. 
 
 Long might we linger here with pleasure and profit, 
 but time and work press, and we must go forward, by 
 a circuitous and tiresome journey, with almost every 
 variety of conveyance, till we reach our point of 
 departure — home no longer, for the thought and the 
 hope of home have vanished with the measureless 
 
310 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 needs of the work. But we are glad of this one brief 
 respite in the year, for larger outlook from the emi- 
 nence " whither the tribes go up," and we are 
 refreshed while we remember that already this young 
 association, amid its own want, has given, in the prov- 
 idence of God, helpers to the " ends of the world," 
 as well as to Mexico and Japan — to the f reedmen of 
 the South and the aborigines at our doors. 
 
 Not many weeks after we had the privilege of greet- 
 ing a local association. In the smaller body, heart 
 comes nearer to heart, and the spirit of God seems 
 present in unusual measure. Entertaining a classmate 
 in the person of a visiting ministerial brother, our 
 talk at the tea table and around the fireside, though 
 grave with the responsibilities and the toil of the pass- 
 ing days, was cheered by great hopes for the work, 
 and by sunshiny recollections of student days which 
 gleam through the rifts of present environments. 
 
 Next morning at the meeting we missed his face 
 and wondered what could have kept him away. Later 
 in the session we learned that he had departed, on 
 an early freight train, for an adjoining town. And 
 without a word of farewell or explanation ! 
 
 In time that explanation came. Is it not too sad 
 to tell? His son, a promising young lawyer, and a 
 favorite candidate for judge in his county, was to 
 conduct a suit regarding some land in dispute. Was 
 
Autumn Meetin gs. 311 
 
 it an unhappy rumor or an undefined uneasiness 
 which took the father suddenly from the midst of the 
 meeting to the place whence the son bad mysteriously 
 disappeared, with no word for the father he loved and 
 trusted ? 
 
 Months of terrible anxiety to his parents followed. 
 A letter from the mother, catching at the straw of a 
 possible clew to the discovery of the missing son, reads 
 like the wail of an agonized soul. The whole country 
 gradually became wrought up to sympathy with the 
 parents, as the proofs of a diabolical murder, at first 
 utterly unsuspected, were found. Months afterward 
 the awful truth was verified. Overtaken alone, riding 
 in his buggy towards the trial of the suit, the young 
 man was murdered by his opponents in sight only 
 of high heaven ; through the confession of one of 
 the culprits, the fragments of his body were found, 
 under the sod of the prairie where they were hidden. 
 
 This tragedy had been enacted two weeks, when the 
 father sat, cheery and unsuspicious of wrong, beside 
 our board and hearth, a few miles distant. 
 
 This appalling story had not yet its sequel. Before 
 the courthouse, a few rods beyond the church and 
 parsonage we had called ours, an outraged sense of 
 justice executed " lynch law" on the miserable per- 
 petrators of this crime. We were thankful to be 
 spared the witness of that scene. 
 
312 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 Within a few months, the only surviving child of 
 that missionary father, a student in college, yielded 
 up his young life to disease, and the heart-broken 
 wife and mother passed from a world which had 
 brought her too great a weight of sorrow, to the 
 beyond, where the mysteries of life shall be un- 
 raveled. 
 
 Another meeting of this season remains in our 
 memory. Our work had been distant from the famous 
 wheat fields of the North, and communication was 
 difficult. At last, providentially, we were speeding 
 northward along their eastern border. The names of 
 counties lying alongside in Minnesota were suggestive : 
 Lac-qui-parle, Yellow Medicine, Renville, bring back 
 memories of Indian wars and massacre. Along this 
 St. Peter's river, what lives have been lived ! What 
 Christian heroism has consecrated these hills and val- 
 leys and these river banks ! What hopes and fears 
 and saintly aspirations have floated on this stream ! 
 Across the river from a station we have passed, we are 
 told that the treaty of peace in 1862 was made 
 between the Indians and the government. We looked 
 over there, and imagined that perhaps it was here, on 
 the meadow this side the hills, or beyond those trees 
 and slopes, that it was done. 
 
 But the day draws to its close and we are still far 
 from our destination. On into the gathering twilight 
 
Antzcmn Meetings. 313 
 
 and darkness our train speeds. At a distance from 
 the tracks, on either side, prairie fires light the hori- 
 zon. Now, far away, so that only the sullen gleam on 
 the smoke and the sky is visible ; oftener, so near 
 that its swift advance appears like the movement of 
 an army with torches. For nearly a hundred miles we 
 pass onward with the speed of steam between two 
 broken walls of fire. The train halts at the pictur- 
 esque crossing of a stream and the brakeman calls out 
 the name of its station, " Wild Rice." We note with 
 pleasure in the light from the train that trees are there, 
 and speed onward. 
 
 The " Key City of the north," at last, and we are 
 glad. u How large is it?" we ask ourselves. It is 
 famous, so we guess at two or three thousand inhabit- 
 ants. As we approach, our beacon is an electric 
 light which gleams down on the city and surrounding 
 country from its mast, more than two hundred feet 
 high. We find brick blocks, the appliances of city 
 life, and ten thousand inhabitants. The air is keen, 
 reminding us that we are on the parallel of northern- 
 most Maine. 
 
 A drive by moonlight reveals the beauties of the 
 winding Red River of the north, and brings us to the 
 comfortable home of those we quickly come to regard 
 as friends. Unexpectedly we are with the children of 
 those we have known and loved away on the shores 
 of Massachusetts Bay. 
 
314 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 At the church we find friends from Maine and Ver- 
 mont, relatives, too, we think, if only we had time to 
 trace the family links. Sunday morning there is the 
 home missionary prayer meeting, a privilege we can 
 never afford to miss. The church is not yet the ele- 
 gant edifice that one day will rise here, but a comfort- 
 able frontier sanctuary, ceiled, like many of the 
 homes, with matched boards. It is simply but taste- 
 fully furnished, and it contains one luxury. Beside 
 the pulpit platform is a tiled fireplace, with a grate of 
 glowing coal. What cozy chats, what hand-shakings, 
 what foot- warmings, can it not testify to ! Before and 
 between meetings we partake of its comfort, and 
 rejoice in the sight of its cheer as the services proceed, 
 and inwardly resolve that an open fire, in addition to 
 the ordinary means of warmth, shall always appear in 
 our inventory of church necessities — at least in such 
 a climate as this. 
 
 The meeting is the annual gathering of the ministers 
 and churches along the Northern Pacific Railroad from 
 the line of Western Minnesota to Central Montana. 
 In private some of the brethren may have confessed 
 their perplexities and occasional discouragements, and 
 perhaps asked counsel ; but there is nothing depressing 
 or complaining in the atmosphere of this meeting. 
 The triumphant ring of the Apostle to the Gentiles we 
 catch again in the utterance of his humble imitators 
 
Autumn Meetings. 315 
 
 here. There is no call for pity. If any can hear the 
 prayers and testimonies of this meeting and not envy 
 this little company, we marvel at him. 
 
 There is even thanksgiving that the crops are poor, 
 and the price of wheat is low, though the church 
 mortgages cannot be paid, and the building of new 
 sanctuaries, so much needed, must be delayed. 
 
 " It is not well for us to go forward too fast," said 
 a brother. " Our churches and we too need yet to be 
 kept in the valley of humiliation. We must learn to 
 endure hardness, before our moral fiber can be tested. " 
 
 Another said : " I wondered how that brother 
 could come down here so cheery, and looking ^s 
 though he had renewed his youth, until I remembered 
 what his wife said to me when I was at his house. 
 
 I said, ' Sister , how do you get along in this 
 
 lonely place, without church privileges (her husband 
 was a traveling missionary), and amid the hardships 
 of a new country?' She replied, 'There is a little 
 hill over there where I can go for solitary prayer.' So 
 I understood the secret of the brother's power. His 
 wife is at home praying for him." 
 
 The brother referred to arose. "My wife," said 
 he, "has not heard a gospel sermon for two years, 
 and she looked forward with great interest to a trip to 
 this meeting, where she hoped to worship in company 
 with the brethren and sisters, and to enjoy their com- 
 
316 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 panionship. But the day before we were to leave 
 home an accident occurred near us by which a young 
 man was greatly injured. He was taken into our 
 house ; she gave up her room to him, and she is now 
 nursing the poor man, and caring for the broken 
 bones that will keep him there, if indeed he recover, 
 for two months to come." 
 
 The general testimony is all in one line. Each one 
 the Master strengthens for his work ; each one is glad 
 he came to the frontier ; to each the comforts of the 
 divine Presence are greater than the toils of life in 
 service. The sermon, the Sunday-school, with its 
 music led by cabinet organ, flute, and violin, the 
 sweet communion service of the afternoon, and the 
 stirring missionary addresses of the evening, crowd 
 the day with precious memories. 
 
 At daylight next morning we are on our homeward 
 way. Now we see something of the beautiful fields 
 and the vast farms of which we had heard, but our 
 joy is in the seed-sowing of the Master's servants we 
 have met, and in sure knowledge of the promise, " In 
 due season we shall reap, if we faint not." 
 
CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 u INASMUCH AS YE HAVE DONE IT UNTO ONE OF THE 
 LEAST OF THESE MY BRETHREN, YE HAVE DONE 
 IT UNTO ME." 
 
 A CALL comes from the southland. A hundred 
 miles by rail and fifty miles by stage and 
 buckboard bring the missionary to the land of 
 promise. The last twenty miles is on a buckboard, 
 sharing the seat made for one only, with the driver, 
 an Irishman overflowing with mother wit. The first 
 thirty miles after leaving the railroad brings the trav- 
 elers to the highest eminence in a vast region, whence 
 the outlook, taking in the whole circle of the horizon, 
 is grand indeed. 
 
 From that mount of vision a very gradual descent 
 is made over lands most beautiful, until, near the end 
 of the journey, a slightly depressed valley of surpass- 
 ing beauty and promise is entered. Into this good 
 land an enterprising people have found their way, 
 and already it is nearly all occupied. In a few years 
 it is almost sure to be not only a region of beauty, but 
 of wealth as well. 
 
 The day was drawing to a close when the Irish 
 
 317 
 
318 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 driver dropped the missionary at the door of a 
 farmer, whose hospitality he was to share for the 
 night. Though a stranger, and unexpected, he was 
 kindly welcomed to this home by the way. The host 
 had acres broad and fertile. He had just completed 
 the harvesting of nearly two hundred acres of flax, 
 the seed of which, when threshed, he expected to 
 haul thirty miles to the nearest railway station and 
 sell for about one dollar per bushel. 
 
 The house contained three small rooms below and 
 two and a half in the chamber. There were horses 
 and cattle and hogs and grain outside the house — 
 enough to lead one to expect conveniences and com- 
 forts within. But the era of the latter seemed not to 
 have yet arrived. At nightfall, when the work of the 
 day was over, and the hired men gathered about the 
 table with the family and their guest for supper, there 
 was food in plenty, but only three or four chairs for 
 eight or ten persons. Those not accommodated by 
 the chairs sat on boxes and a rude bench. When 
 bedtime came the guest was lighted to his low cham- 
 ber by an elderly man, who had for days been follow- 
 ing his mule team with the plow, turning up a black, 
 dry soil. The first instinct was to find a chair on 
 which to lay the clothing of which the guest was 
 about to divest himself. But a glance revealed the 
 fact that the onlv furniture of the room besides the 
 
"Inasmuch." 319 
 
 bed was the iron part of an unorganized plow. In a 
 moment his clothes were on those irons. He had at 
 first supposed that the good plowman was to leave 
 him when the way to the room had been shown. But 
 no ; he was to be bedfellow for the night, and not 
 without other " f ellow-creatures " for company, who 
 had shared with the dusty plowman the sheets for 
 many a night since they were fresh. Shutting his 
 eyes and setting his teeth, the missionary lay down, 
 seeking comfort in other reflections. The coming of 
 the next morning was u a consummation devoutly to 
 be wished." 
 
 The " call" to come to the help of the minister here 
 had been so urgent that the missionary had hastened 
 to respond to it without sending notice of coming. 
 It was now Saturday morning and he must seek the 
 minister, who lived on his "claim" three or four miles 
 away, and spend the day in disseminating the appoint- 
 ments for the coming Sabbath. The " bishop in 
 charge" received him with Christian hospitality, and 
 the two spent a busy day, going up and down the 
 valley, giving notice of the services, and conscious of 
 a growing interest in the people, whom we found, on 
 the whole, to possess much intelligence. 
 
 Sunday morning dawned hopefully. The morning 
 service was held about five or six miles distant from 
 the home of the minister, in the dining room of a 
 
320 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 country inn — the best and only place to be had. 
 The same strong contrasts between the narrowness 
 and limitations of the place of meeting and the 
 brightness and thoughtfulness of the congregation 
 were here, as everywhere, to be found. We were 
 especially impressed with the ability and culture of 
 the chorister, who read music at sight, and led the 
 singing in a manner worthy of a city choir. We were 
 strengthened and encouraged at once as we joined in 
 the service of praise which he led. The congregation 
 packed the house and gave the Word a most sympa- 
 thetic hearing. 
 
 At four o'clock in the afternoon many of our morn- 
 ing hearers, with others, came together for a second 
 service at a farmhouse, three or four miles in another 
 direction. Again we sang under the same delightful 
 leadership as in the morning ; again the Word was 
 preached with a good hearing ; and at the close of 
 the sermon a church was organized and the sacra- 
 ments administered. The people seemed blessed and 
 the ministers were encouraged. 
 
 The services concluded, we returned to the home of 
 the pastor, to share a second time the hospitality of 
 his interesting family, with whom we had tarried the 
 night before. 
 
 The preacher was a companionable, intelligent 
 Christian man. His wife, with the two younger 
 
"Inasmuch." 321 
 
 children, had gone to spend a time with the eldest 
 son, a young man in business in an adjoining state. 
 When all were at home the family consisted of 
 father, mother, and seven children. They were living 
 in a sod house of two rooms, one serving the triple 
 purpose of kitchen, dining room, and sleeping room ; 
 the other was the apartment of the parents, and 
 especially the minister's study. In this apartment 
 we spent our two nights, sharing one of the beds it 
 contained with the pastor. The eldest daughter of 
 the family, a most ladylike girl of about seventeen, 
 occupied another, with two of the children, while the 
 two large boys slept in the kitchen. 
 
 The limitations of that sod house were not the 
 saddest features of the case. The shoes on the 
 minister's feet — the only pair he had — were such as 
 an ordinary farmer would throw away. His panta- 
 loons, originally of a double-threaded " shoddy" 
 cloth, were not only threadbare, but on each knee there 
 was a hole as large as a man's hand. Thus clad, this 
 good man was compelled to preach, or not to preach 
 at all. In this clothing he rode about with us through 
 the community on Saturday ; with these garments he 
 attended the services on the Sabbath. The queenly 
 daughter had not clothing suitable to wear to church 
 by daylight, as the father told me apologetically, as 
 a reason for her absence from the Sunday service, 
 
322 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 When meeting was held under cover of night she 
 would go. 
 
 Such facts seem too personal and sacred for 
 narration. It is far enough from a personal gratifi- 
 cation to write them. But when the self-denying 
 missionary is abte to endure them, surely Christian 
 people who live in comfort ought to know how fares it 
 with their brethren. Our hearts ached for this pastor. 
 Before leaving him we wrote to the secretaries in New 
 York the facts which our brother would not state, 
 asking for his relief ; and when we reached home, 
 unwilling to wait the needed time for the response, 
 were only too glad to divide our clothing with the 
 needy family, and with the help of a few neighbors, 
 to send them a comfortably filled box of such things 
 as we could command, with express charges paid. It 
 would have been a greater pleasure to send them 
 much more. 
 
 Many of the sufferings of the servants of God 
 in the hard places of the earth are written only in 
 the record which is on high. Of the frontier settle- 
 ments, often it may be said, as here, that the money 
 of the settlers is absorbed in the expenses of moving 
 and entering their lands ; that in a great number of 
 cases where appearance of means is deceiving, the 
 cattle and the crops are mortgaged in advance, the 
 interest paid sometimes reaching as high as fifty per 
 
"Inasmuch." 323 
 
 cent for ready money. If, in exceptional cases, 
 there is money, it is generally in the hands of specu- 
 lators who have little or no interest in religious 
 matters. Often there is absolutely nothing to be 
 done but for the preacher in such a field to go for- 
 ward, trusting in God and the Home Missionary 
 Society, and hoping for better times. 
 
CHAPTER XL. 
 
 THREE DAYS TOGETHER. 
 
 rT^HE week had been a trying one; physically, and 
 -*- in the demands it had made for sympathy and 
 counsel. The missionary had reached home Friday 
 afternoon, longing for rest. Saturday morning he was 
 really ill with a h,eavy cold. Propped up with pillows, 
 all the morning he dictated to his wife as amanuensis. 
 One epistle bore counsel to a minister in want of 
 work ; another gave suggestion to a laborer in the 
 gospel who was very much wanted in two or three 
 places at once ; a third sought to cheer and encourage 
 a church which was ready to falter, because, after 
 repeated disappointments, a minister it loved and 
 cherished had resigned, on the threshold of his work, 
 to accept a call from a larger and stronger church at 
 the east ; a fourth asked the superintendent, in behalf 
 of this church, to seek them another pastor without 
 delay; another was addressed to a Christian layman, 
 thinking of giving up his secular business, and devot- 
 ing his entire time to reaping in these perishing fields, 
 white for the harvest. A Sunday-school in New 
 
 324 
 
Three Days Together. 325 
 
 England, gratefully remembered for its good deeds, 
 wanted to know what to do with its home missionary 
 money this year. It was told that the problem is, 
 not to find a needy place, but to choose from many, 
 and that the money it proposed to send should be 
 well and wisely applied. Then a letter had to go to 
 the Sunday-school secretary, telling him of two 
 country churches organized within the last eight days, 
 which were in need of Sunday-school lesson helps and 
 libraries, and asking what could be done for these 
 places, with their homeless churches and their children 
 and young people, with no reading for the long winter 
 which was before them. Last must be written a sor- 
 rowful negative to a ministerial brother who wanted a 
 supply for his pulpit for a Sabbath, in order that he 
 might minister to a church in need elsewhere. " I 
 hope you will be able to go," wrote the general mis- 
 sionary, "but I am wanted in two or three places 
 elsewhere on that day, and cannot meet your call. ,, 
 
 These letters, every one written, not to strangers 
 but to friends beloved, whose trials we knew, and to 
 churches for whom we had wrought in love and 
 prayer, were ready for the mail. 
 
 A hundred miles northward a pastorless church 
 awaited in trust the promise of a pulpit supply for 
 the morrow. " I am not well enough to go alone," 
 said the minister. So the vision of quiet rest for one 
 
326 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 vanished and together we took the train. A scorching 
 sun and a cloudless sky indicated midsummer, though 
 it was mid-autumn. The wrap it was not safe to go 
 without was a burden, and the umbrella which inter- 
 cepted the rays of the sun hardly mitigated the 
 extreme heat. With the ponderous lullaby of the 
 train, and the suspension of activities, came rest. 
 Thank God for the "rest by the way" which always 
 comes with the need for it ! Refreshed, as the sun 
 sank toward the horizon, we gazed from the open rear 
 door of the train over the beauties of the valley we 
 were ascending. Not the New England river valley, 
 with its broad intervales, its meadows, its graceful 
 elms, its skirting uplands, its hillsides brilliant with 
 the changing hues of autumn. Not a tree in sight 
 for a hundred miles, hardly a curve in the river which, 
 narrow and without affluents, traverses this upland 
 plain on its way to join the rolling current of the 
 Missouri. 
 
 But what broad and fertile acres ! What gently 
 undulating farms stretch away from the track on 
 either side — that track which, straight as an arrow, 
 shows its beautiful perspective behind us till it loses 
 itself in the vanishing point on the far horizon. 
 
 What signs of progress in cultivation and civiliza- 
 tion have two years wrought in this region ! Small 
 but comparatively comfortable houses with brick chim- 
 
Three Days Together. 327 
 
 neys; increased acreage under the plow ; stacks of 
 hay and grain ; once in a while, a good barn ; now 
 and again, a steam thresher at work ; here and there, 
 a man riding a sulky plow, which is turning neat fur- 
 rows behind the patient horses. 
 
 The railroad towns are ten or fifteen miles apart. 
 To a stranger their new and unfledged look might 
 be unattractive ; but we know their history. Where 
 a church has been built, even though it have neither 
 tower nor any other sign of church architecture, we 
 think of the struggles and self-denials of the min- 
 ister and the people, which make it beautiful in the 
 sight of Him in whose honor it has been reared. 
 
 So we went on, until the sun sank in the west 
 with the same effect as a sunset at sea. We talked 
 of entertainment, not knowing what might await us. 
 The wife, weary, and fearing possible hardships for 
 the ailing preacher, begged to try a hotel. But no ; 
 we would trust the people and the Lord. Lo ! the 
 luxury of spring bed and hair mattress which was in 
 waiting, added to the kind and self-denying hospi- 
 tality which has never failed us anywhere, made this 
 a red-letter day in our calendar. 
 
 Sunday morning dawns brightly, but ere time for 
 service the sky is- overcast, the chill north wind is 
 rising, clouds of dust are whirling down the streets, 
 the tumbleweed turns its rapid somersaults along the 
 
328 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 roadside, and the shiver of coming winter is in our 
 veins. We gather in the upper hall, used for court- 
 room, minstrel show, and what not, during the week — 
 the only place which the little flock have for Sabbath 
 worship. The chill, which is our first sensation on 
 entering, gives place to reacting warmth after a little, 
 and when a small bouquet of pansies, geraniums, and 
 sweet alyssum in a graceful vase is placed by loving 
 hands before the unsightly box turned upon a table 
 which forms the pulpit, we see no more the rude box 
 and its ugly black commercial lettering, for the sweet- 
 ness and the glow of the flowers. The sermon is sym- 
 pathetic, but not depressing. Both cheer and sympa- 
 thy are needed, and it is strange to feel how this 
 comes in the simple presence of friends whom the 
 shepherdless people trust, and to whom they are not 
 afraid to make known their obstacles and discourage- 
 ments. They speak of the impossibility of building 
 a house for the Lord until they have a pastor, the 
 danger that their little number will be scattered 
 through discouragement, and the weariness of their 
 long months of asking and waiting in vain. 
 
 In the congregation and in the Bible-class sit a 
 mother and father. They have brought their four 
 young children, as usual, to the meeting. In rain 
 or shine, never late, this family appears before the 
 Lord, coming seven and a half miles every Sunday 
 
Three Days Together. 329 
 
 morning, remaining through morning service and 
 Sunday-school, eating their cold lunch in the wagon 
 as they return, and going two or three miles beyond 
 their home to another Sunday-school made up of 
 their country neighbors, whose only Sabbath privilege 
 it is. They do not alight at the door of their home 
 until the night is drawing on. 
 
 "It is the hardest day of the week, isn't it?" we 
 said. 
 
 " Yes," replies the hard-working mother, with a 
 smile, " but we have been able to be always here." 
 
 Before he goes homeward at the close of the 
 service, the visiting missionary gathers the leading 
 men about him — four or five — to consult as to the 
 interests of the church. As the afternoon wears on, 
 reaction comes with rest, and the minister says to 
 his wife, " 1 do not feel able to preach this evening. 
 What can you do with the service? " 
 
 "Nothing; but you will feel better by-and-by. It 
 will be a dark and gusty evening. Only a few can be 
 present. There is a cabinet organ, and a few singers 
 will be there. You can extemporize a brief service 
 and dismiss the little company." 
 
 But as we enter, there is light, and cheer of fire. 
 A larger congregation has come together than we 
 expected. From two or three miles away come the 
 young people, who lead the music, and lead it well. 
 
330 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 Parents and children, professional men, a sojourning 
 judge, drop in. The audience grows. The blessing 
 of God is there. The familiar address of the mis- 
 sionary falls on sympathetic ears. He is strengthened 
 for his work, and in his work, and when the evening 
 is over, his illness lias almost departed. There are 
 warm farewells next morning when we take our 
 departure ere the sun has risen. How glad we shall 
 be to see these people again ! How our hope rises 
 that God will soon send them a pastor ! How we 
 are enabled to look beyond their present discourage- 
 ments to the time when, the work of the Lord having 
 been established here, children's children shall rise up 
 to pronounce blessing on these Christian pioneers ! 
 
 On the train there is one woman besides the minis- 
 ter's wife. She is in tears, and the indications of 
 inward agony convulse her frame. She holds an open 
 telegram in her hand. Drawn as by a magnet, and 
 yet, fearing to intrude upon her grief, we approach. 
 But in this new land friends are few, and real sym- 
 pathy is never repulsed. Soon her story is revealed. 
 An aged Christian father at the east, in the previous 
 spring, had required this loving daughter's care. Four 
 months she left her invalid husband on the western 
 farm, where he is regaining his health, and nursed her 
 father through pneumonia, and weeks of convales- 
 cence, to leave him two weeks ago in health, when 
 
Three Days Together. 331 
 
 she returned to her home. On Saturday night she 
 received a telegram summoning her again to her 
 father's bedside. Thirty-five miles from the railroad, 
 she has been driven in to take this sunrise Monday 
 morning train. A moment before we entered the car 
 we saw her calmly at the ticket office. Now she is 
 here with the dispatch received just as the train 
 started, announcing that the father she had so loved 
 and attended has entered into the rest whither the 
 mother had long before preceded. In the freshness 
 of her grief it is a comfort to find that she knows the 
 only Source of help. A long, sad journey is before 
 her, with scarce the hope that she may be able to look 
 on the loved countenance in death, and the certainty 
 that the old home, hallowed by long associations, 
 must now pass into stranger hands. How sad this 
 world is, except for the brightness that streams into 
 it from above ! But what solace there is in Christian 
 friendship ! We do not know this woman's name, nor 
 the denomination of Christians, with whom she feels 
 most at home. Unless by inference, she knows not 
 ours. Yet we are u no more strangers and foreigners, 
 but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the house- 
 hold of God." 
 
 Without, the scene is in strange contrast with the 
 oppressive heat of two days before. The cold north- 
 ern blast is driving the sleet against the car windows, 
 
332 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 and the snow is whitening the landscape^ We turn to 
 our papers. A leading editorial in an able secular 
 journal treats of "The Strangers Within our Gates," 
 the phenomenal increase of population which marks 
 our recent history, the longing for friendly and kindly 
 intercourse, the long repression of loneliness, the 
 heartsickness of the early clays in a strange land, the 
 task of incorporating and assimilating these multiply- 
 ing accretions. " The wholesome social influence of 
 the churches," it says, i' is probably the most power- 
 ful factor in making the newcomers at home with 
 their new surroundings." But this, with all other 
 factors, scarcely does more than disclose " the vast 
 proportions of the social need." 
 
 Out in the snow and slush at length we must go. 
 One square through the storm, we hear a shout, and 
 turn to see a man rushing as if for dear life up the 
 street, and another close behind him. Is it a fugitive 
 from justice, fleeing, and almost overtaken? we ask 
 ourselves as they flash past us. A telltale jet of 
 smoke from a building opposite corrects our mistake. 
 "Fire!" in a city where well-drilled fire companies 
 and steam fire engines are on the ground at once is 
 one thing ; in a frontier city of boards, with an undis- 
 ciplined horde of volunteer firemen, no engine, and 
 an untried water supply, it is another. 
 
 We escape the gathering crowd and take refuge in 
 
Three Days Together. 333 
 
 the post office, now deserted by all but one woman. 
 Every other business door on the street is already 
 locked, and its owner is at the fire. Clouds of smoke 
 and excited shouts assail us as we take our two days' 
 mail from the box and read : — 
 
 "I was interested in the disposition you made of 
 the hymn books I sent you," says, in substance, the 
 letter of one who signs herself, U A Working Woman.'" 
 U I thought I would put my tithes together, so as to 
 help that church before winter comes on. The secre- 
 tary has dollars, subject to your order." 
 
 How the heart bounds at remembrance of the church 
 to* be helped by this woman's self-denials ! It is a 
 sanctuary of rough boards on the prairie, shrunk by the 
 summer's sun, and now admitting the whistling winds 
 and the driving snow, with its seats of boards laid on 
 nail kegs, and the carpenter's bench still in the corner, 
 waiting for means and workmen to render it more 
 comfortable. Here is a message of substantial help 
 and cheer. 
 
 But we are already at our own door, thanking God, 
 as many times before, for the privilege of laboring in 
 this vineyard. 
 
CHAPTER XLI. 
 
 A SONG. — A MIRAGE. 
 
 AN enterprising young student who is doing mis- 
 sionary work at a new county seat is urged to 
 look at the wants of another and newer place. The 
 discoveries of his last visit he makes known to the 
 missionary, and urges that he hasten to meet the 
 needs of the promising young town. 
 
 Soon we are on our way thither, two hundred a*nd 
 thirty miles by rail, and thirty or forty miles by a 
 cheap spring wagon loaded down with bags of meal 
 and bundles of twine for the use of the farmer on the 
 " self -binding " harvesting machines. 
 
 The blazing midsummer sun, the dried and heated 
 prairie, the riding on a "stage," which is scarcely 
 better than going afoot, are enough to lengthen the 
 journey and make one glad to get to its end. After 
 watching the shanties which along several miles indi- 
 cated the approach to the new town, the missionary 
 drew up at the door of the frontier hotel, and received 
 a civil and not unfriendly welcome. There was the 
 office, dining room, kitchen, and small sleeping room 
 on the lower floor ; above, an open and unfinished 
 
 334 
 
A Song. — A Mirage. 335 
 
 chamber, containing six or eight beds, and one corner 
 partitioned off by an old rag carpet. The beds were 
 filled by what the boys called " prairie feathers." 
 These "feathers" were not common straw, — that 
 was a luxury not yet to be had, — but common, wiry 
 prairie hay. The " extra room "behind the rag carpet 
 was assigned to the missionary, who was glad to find 
 even such comfort in a place so new. 
 
 It was not far from four o'clock in the afternoon 
 when he alighted from the stage. Not long after, the 
 wind, which had been blowing from the south, veered 
 to the north. Soon dark clouds shut out the sun, the 
 heavens grew weird and the air clamp and chilly. As 
 the sun went down behind the clouds, the gathering 
 darkness, the treeless landscape, the dried and with- 
 ered prairie grass on which were set the few new 
 shanties, used mostly for the double purposes of 
 dwellings and lawyers' offices — all conspired to de- 
 press the spirit, while awaking the deepest sympathy 
 for those who had come to make their homes and seek 
 their fortunes amid such scenes. 
 
 The burdensome sadness was the mood of but a 
 few moments. From the little shanty across the 
 street, anything but cheery in outward aspect, came 
 strains of music which gladdened the heart. A few 
 strains on the organ, touched by a skillful hand, 
 reached the ear, and then the cultivated tones of a 
 woman's voice, singing with rare pathos and power, — 
 
336 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 " Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear, 
 It is not night if thou be near! 
 Oh, let no earthborn cloud arise 
 To hide thee from thy servant's eyes." 
 
 The power of these precious lines of Keble assumed 
 new and precious augmentation in that instant. We 
 had heard them many times before, in elegant churches 
 on fine avenues in the great cities of the east, but 
 never with such heavenly sweetness and divine sug- 
 gestiveness as now. Instantly the chill without and 
 around, and the weird black heavens above, were for- 
 gotten. Heaven was near. 
 
 " Sun of my soul, thou Saviour dear, 
 It is not night if thou be near ! " 
 
 The very barrenness of life and nature around gave 
 unwonted attractiveness to the riches of divine grace, 
 as suggested by the Christian thought soaring forth on 
 wings of sweetest melody from that humble cabin 
 home across the way. 
 
 The next morning found the preacher with some 
 anxiety for the effect of the service to be held. He 
 was surrounded by entire strangers. In this embryo 
 county seat there was yet neither house of worship, 
 schoolhouse, nor hall. By the courtesy of a young 
 lawyer the congregation were to meet in his office for 
 the second religious service ever held in the place. 
 
A Song. — A Mirage. 337 
 
 The impressions made that day might have much to 
 do in determining the religious trend and history of 
 the town. 
 
 By the welcome partition of the rag carpet the 
 preacher was shut in for prayer and meditation in 
 preparation for the coming hour of worship. Wait- 
 ing there, under a deep sense of his own weakness, 
 with the recurring question, " Who is sufficient for 
 these things ? " he was again cheered and strength- 
 ened by another hymn of aspiration. As on the 
 night before, so now, the blessing came when least 
 expected. 
 
 In conditions which would depress many another 
 housekeeper, the good landlady of the house, amid 
 her morning cares, was relieving her heart and 
 strengthening her hand by singing, — 
 
 "Jesus, lover of my soul, 
 
 Let me to thy bosom fly, 
 While the nearer waters roll, 
 
 While the tempest still is high. 
 Hide me, O my Saviour, hide, 
 
 Till the storm of life is past; 
 Safe into the haven guide; 
 
 Oh, receive my soul at last ! " 
 
 The familiar lines had a rare benediction for the 
 heart of the waiting missionary. How vividly they 
 
338 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 brought to mind the helps of God's great love in 
 Christ for all the weary and heavy laden of earth ! 
 The heavens bent over him, and the " God of all 
 comfort " seemed near, while the divine Advocate 
 with men took of the things of Christ to reveal them 
 to the soul. To be a missionary then was to enjoy 
 the rarest privilege of earth. 
 
 When the hour of service came the message of 
 divine mercy was in his heart. To speak was a relief 
 rather than an irksome duty. He met the people in 
 the lawyer's office with pleasure, and they gave earnest 
 attention to the Word. 
 
 After the service of the morning he rode nine or 
 ten miles over the prairie, and at four o'clock in the 
 afternoon spoke again, to a good congregation, in 
 the open space of a farmer's granary. 
 
 When Monday morning dawned upon him he was 
 some twenty or twenty-five miles from the nearest 
 railroad station, which was the county seat of an 
 adjoining county. Seated beside a farmer in his lumber 
 wagon, the drive was not without interest. There 
 were, on either hand, some far-reaching landscapes of 
 unbroken prairie. There were also many new-made 
 homes, surrounded by beautiful fields of grain, some 
 of it already cut and in the shock ; some, still waving, 
 ripening, and waiting for the coming reaper. 
 
 Of the phenomena of the mirage on these great 
 
A Song, — A Mirage. 339 
 
 plains he had heard much, but now witnessed one 
 most remarkable. Approaching a town eight or ten 
 miles distant, which commonly would have been 
 hardly perceptible, it was seen lifted up into bright 
 and beautiful prominence. It was situated on a flat 
 prairie, but it now seemed to be on a hillside with a 
 slight incline, and only two or three miles away. The 
 buildings seemed higher, and the village more city- 
 like than was actually the case. As it was approached, 
 the two or three miles lengthened into eight or ten, 
 the appearance gradually changed, and the mirage 
 vanished. 
 
CHAPTER XLIL 
 
 MULTIPLES. 
 
 ON a winter's day the minister was at the first 
 schoolhouse in which he ministered in this new 
 land, pursuant to a call to organize a church and 
 ordain a pastor. It was a part of his first parish. 
 Why this movement, on the part of a portion of that 
 little church of eight members, within three years? It 
 seemed in those first months of pastorate that at 
 least twenty-five years would be needed in order to 
 show substantial results of labor in such a field as 
 that. Now what is the story, in this brief space of 
 time? 
 
 Natural growth and one blessed far-reaching revival 
 in that village church had increased its numbers to 
 sixty members, and the church, with a parsonage, 
 prayed and wrought into being by another minister's 
 wife, was out of debt, except what it owed to the 
 church and parsonage building society. 
 
 In the judgment of those who had wrought here 
 from the beginning, the time had come for a second 
 church organization on the prairie. That at the vil- 
 
 340 
 
Multiples. 341 
 
 lage was strong enough to stand by itself, and another 
 in the country parish could start out with the hope of 
 soon being independent, and of reaching many who 
 would not go to the village. A small council was 
 gathered, and the church was organized with thirty 
 members, who had been dismissed, at their own 
 request, for this purpose, from the village church, 
 which retains an equal membership. 
 
 " With our staff we passed over this Jordan, and 
 now we are become two bands." 
 
 Soon there was a new church building in the rural 
 parish, which became a center of good for a large com- 
 munity of farmers. In time a neat parsonage rose 
 up beside it. 
 
 This is not all. It was the privilege of the missionary 
 not only to assist in the organization of this second 
 church, but at the same time to lay ordaining hands 
 on the head of one of the eight original members 
 called by the unanimous voice of these, his neighbors 
 and friends, to serve them in the new pastorate. 
 We had long known his fitness and the divine call to 
 him, and for nearly a year past he had given himself 
 almost exclusively to study and to Christian work. 
 This was the beginning of a career of singular conse- 
 cration and usefulness. 
 
 Another of that first little band of eight was already 
 serving in the Christian ministry, in a county not very 
 
342 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 far away, which before he went to it was practically 
 destitute. It was early in that first summer, that in our 
 little cabin the minister had laid before this brother 
 the conviction that God was calling him to this serv- 
 ice ; but, with a high ideal of the qualifications 
 needed, he was not yet ready to entertain the thought. 
 In time the providential indications came to be too 
 plain to be disregarded ; and in a visit we were privi- 
 leged to make in the following year to the hospitable 
 home which had been our first shelter its master and 
 mistress gave us the great joy of knowing that they 
 were ready to follow the unmistakable call. Soon 
 they removed to the destitute field, and gave them- 
 selves with rare fidelity and success to its spiritual 
 culture. A circuit of five communities, miles apart, 
 was supplied with the Word by this brother, while his 
 wife led the temperance and missionary work. Three 
 churches have since grown out of these labors, with 
 a church edifice and a parsonage, and the end is not 
 yet. 
 
 A third member of that first church of eight 
 members was afterwards licensed to preach, having 
 exchanged his work as a teacher and superintendent 
 of schools for more exclusively Christian work, 
 because of the vast field in perishing need of more 
 laborers. The fourth and only remaining man of that 
 little band is still, as at the first, a deacon, though 
 
Multiples. 343 
 
 now in the second church. A younger brother who 
 came to the country subsequently and became a mem- 
 ber of this church, after using his spiritual gifts and 
 his fine voice in lay work, which proved most effective, 
 decided to make full preparation for the ministry, 
 and is pursuing a four years' course of study in a 
 theological seminary and at the same time supplying 
 a suburban pulpit. 
 
 Two or more of the boys of that country Sunday- 
 school are in college, with the Christian ministry in 
 view. 
 
 Such are a few of the results that can be tabulated 
 as growing out of the founding and early history of 
 one weak church in a new community in the west, in a 
 brief space of time. Many multiples of these begin- 
 nings are already setting in motion other waves of 
 influence for good that can be measured only on the 
 shores of eternity. This church would be far enough 
 from claiming to be a model, either in its collective 
 life or the individual life of its members. Still further 
 from such a claim would be its ministry, sowing the 
 seed in weakness and sometimes in discouragement 
 and lack of faith. 
 
 But the promises and the providence of God are over 
 all our work, and we know not which is great and 
 which is small. Let us do it faithfully, " and not pre- 
 sume to fret because 'tis little." And when the king- 
 
344 Service in the King's Guards. 
 
 doms of the world shall have become the kingdom of 
 our Lord, and we "join the everlasting song," our 
 ascriptions of praise shall be to Him who was, and is, 
 and is to come. 
 
 " Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy 
 name give glory." 
 

 V