STEPHEN R. RIGGS, D.D., LL.D.
MARY AND I
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX
BY
STEPHEN R. RIGGS, D.D., LL.D.
MISSIONARY TO THE DAKOTAS, AND AUTHOR OF " DAKOTA GRAMMAR
AND DICTIONARY," "GOSPEL AMONG THE
DAKOTAS," ETC.
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
REV. S. C. BARTLETT, D.D.
PRESIDENT OF DARTMOUTH COLLEGE
BOSTON
Congregational gutrtagsScfjooI ana $ubltsfjtng ^octets
CONGREGATIONAL HOUSE
COPYRIGHT, 1880, BY STEPHEN R. RIGGS.
COPYRIGHT, 1887, BY CONGREGATIONAL S. S. AND PUBLISHING SOCIETY.
ELECTROTYPED BY C. J. PETERS AND SON, BOSTON.
£0 ifHg (Efjitornt,
ALFRED, ISABELLA, MARTHA, ANNA, THOMAS, HENRY, ROBERT, CORNELIA, AND EDNA;
TOGETHER WITH ALL THE GRANDCHILDREN GROWING
UP INTO THE MISSIONARY INHERITANCE
OF THEIR FATHERS AND
MOTHERS,
THIS BOOK IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR.
268014
PREFACE.
THIS book I have INSCRIBED to my own family. It will be of interest to them, as, in part, a history of their father and mother, in the toils and sacrifices and rewards of commencing and carrying forward the work of evangeliz ing the Dakota people.
Many others, who are interested in the uplifting of the Red Men, may be glad to obtain glimpses, in these pages, of the inside of Missionary Life in what was, not long since, the Far West ; and to trace the threads of the in weaving of a Christ-life into the lives of many of the Sioux nation.
"Why don't you tell more about yourselves?" is a question which, in various forms, has been often asked me, during these last four decades. Partly as the answer to questions of that kind, this book assumes somewhat the form of a personal narrative.
While I do not claim, even at this evening time of my life, to be freed from the desire that good Christian read ers will think favorably of this effort of mine, I can not expect that the appreciation with which my Dakota Gram mar and Dictionary was received, by the literary world, more than a quarter of a century ago, will be surpassed by this humbler effort.
Moreover, the chief work of my life has been the part I have been permitted, by the good Lord, to have in giv-
5
6 PREFACE.
ing the entire Bible to the Sioux Nation. This book is only "the band of the sheaf." If, by weaving the princi pal facts of our Missionary work, its trials and joys, its discouragements and grand successes, into this personal narrative of " MARY AND I," a better judgment of Indian capabilities is secured, and a more earnest and intelligent determination to work for their Christianization and final Citizenship, I shall be quite satisfied.
Since the historical close of " Forty years with the Sioux," some important events have transpired, in connec tion with our missionary work, which are grouped together in an Appendix, in the form of Monographs.
S. R. R.
BELOIT, Wis., January, 1880.
NOTE : — This book, first published by the author, though with the imprint of W. G. Holmes, Chicago, has met with such favor as to indicate that it should be brought out under auspices that would give it to a larger circle of those interested in Indian missions. And to carry on the life of its author to its close, and give a more complete view of the progress of the work, another chapter has been added, making the "Forty Years" Fifty Years with the Sioux.
A. L. R.
INTRODUCTION.
THE churches owe a great debt of gratitude to their missionaries, first, for the noble work they do, and, sec ond, for the inspiring narratives they write. There is no class of writings more quickening to piety at home than the sober narratives of these labors abroad. The faith and zeal, the wisdom and patience, the enterprise and courage, the self-sacrifice and Christian peace which they record, as well as the wonderful triumphs of grace and the simplicity of native piety which they make known, bring us nearer, perhaps, to the spirit and the scenes of Apostolic times than any other class of literature. How the churches could, or can ever, dispense with the reac tionary influence from the Foreign Mission field, it is dif ficult to understand. Doubtless, however, when the har vest is all gathered, the Lord of the Harvest will, in his wisdom, know how to supply the lack.
Some narratives are valuable chiefly for their interest of style and manner, while the facts themselves are of minor account. Other narratives secure attention by the weight of their facts alone. The author of " Mary and I ; Forty Years with the Sioux " has our thanks for giving us a story attractive alike from the present significance of its theme and from the frank and fresh simplicity of its method.
It is a timely contribution. Thank God, the attention of the whole nation is at length beginning to be turned in
7
8 INTRODUCTION.
good earnest to the chronic wrongs inflicted on the Indian race, and is, though slowly and with difficulty, comprehend ing the fact, long known to the friends of missions, that these tribes, when properly approached, are singularly accessible and responsive to all the influences of Chris tianity and its resultant civilization. Slowest of all to apprehend this truth, though with honorable exceptions, are our military men. The officer who uttered that fright ful maxim, " No good Indian but a dead Indian," — if in deed it ever fell from his lips, — needs all the support of a brilliant and gallant career in defence of his country to save him from a judgment as merciless as his maxim. Such principles, let us believe, have had their day. They and their defenders are assuredly to be swept away by the rising tide of a better sentiment slowly and steadily per vading the country. The wrongs of the African have been, in part, redressed, and now comes the turn of the Indian. He must be permitted to have a home in fee- simple, a recognized citizenship, and complete protection under a settled system of law. The gospel will then do for him its thorough work, and show once more that God has made all nations of one blood. He is yet to have them. It is but a question of time. And the Indian tribes are doubtless not to fade away, but to be rescued from extinction by the gospel of Christ working in them and for them.
The reader who takes up this volume will not fail to read it through. He will easily believe that Anna Baird Riggs was " a model Christian woman," — the mother who could bring up her boy in a log cabin where once the bear looked in at the door, or in the log school-house with its newspaper windows, " slab benches," and drunken teacher, and could train him for his work of faith and persever-
INTRODUCTION. 9
ance in that dreary and forbidding missionary region, and in what men thought that forlorn hope. And he will learn — unless he knew it already — that a lad who in early life hammered on the anvil can strike a strong and steady stroke for God and man.
The reader will also recognize in the " Mary " of this story, now gone to her rest, a worthy pupil of Mary Lyon and Miss Z. P. Grant. With her excellent educa tion, culture, and character, how cheerfully she left her home in Massachusetts to enter almost alone on a field of labor which she knew perfectly to be most fraught with self-sacrifice, least attractive, not to say most repulsive, of them all. How hopefully she journeyed on thirteen days, from the shores of Lake Harriet, to plunge still farther into the wilderness of Lac-qui-parle. How happily she found a " home " for five years in the upper story of Dr. Williamson's log house, in a room eighteen feet by ten, occupied in due time by three children also. How quietly she glided into all the details and solved all the difficulties of that primitive life, bore with the often re volting habits of the aborigines, taught their boys Eng lish, and persevered and persisted till she had taught their women "the gospel of soap." How bravely she bore up in that terrible midnight flight from Hazel- wood, and the long exhausting journey to St. Paul, through the pelting rains and wet swamp-grass, arid with murderous savages upon the trail. But it was the chief test and glory of her character to have brought up a family of children, among all the surroundings of Indian life, as though amid the homes of civilization and refine ment. All honor to such a woman, wife, and mother. Her children rise up and call her blessed. Forty-one years after her departure from the station at Lake Har-
10
INTRODUCTION.
riet, the present writer stood upon the pleasant shore where the tamarack mission houses had long disappeared, and felt that this was consecrated ground.
The other partner in this firm of " Mary and I " needs no words of mine. He speaks here for himself, and his labors speak for him. His Dakota Dictionary and Bible are lasting monuments of his persevering toil, while eleven churches with a dozen native preachers and eight hundred members, and a flourishing Dakota Home Mis sionary Society, bear witness to the Christian work of himself and his few co-laborers. " Forty Years Among the Sioux," he writes. " Forty years in the Turkish Empire," was the story of Dr. Goodell. Fifty Years in Ceylon, was the life-work of Levi Spalding. What rec ords are these of singleness of aim, of energy, of Chris tian work, and of harvests gathered and gathering for the Master. Would that such a holy ambition might be kindled in the hearts of many other young men as they read these pages. How invigorating the firm assurance : " During the years of my preparation there never came to me a doubt of the rightness of my decision. At the end of forty years' work I am abundantly satisfied with the way in which the Lord has led me." How many of those who embark in other lines of life and action can say the same ?
And how signally was the spirit of the parents trans mitted to the children. Almost a whole family in the mission work : six sons and daughters among the Dakotas, the seventh in China. I know not another instance so marked as this. And what a power for good to the Dakota race, past, present, and future, is gathered up in one undaunted, single-hearted family of Christian toilers. A part of this family it has been the writer's
INTRODUCTION. 11
privilege to know, and of two of the sons he had the pleasure to be the teacher in the original tongues of the Word of God. And he deems it an additional pleasure and privilege thus to connect his name with theirs and their mission. For not alone the dusky Dakotas, but all the friends of the Indian tribes and lovers of the Mission ary cause, are called on to honor the names of Pond, Williamson, and RIGGS.
S. C. BARTLETT. DARTMOUTH COLLEGE.
S
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
1837. — Our Parentage. — My Mother's Bear Story. — Mary's Education. — Her First School Teaching. — School-houses and Teachers in Ohio. — Learning the Catechism. — Am bitions. — The Lord's Leading. — Mary's Teaching in Beth lehem. — Life Threads Coming Together. — Licensure. — Our Decision as to Life Work. — Going to IS'ew England.
— The Hawley Family. — Marriage. — Going West. — From Mary's Letters. — Mrs. Isabella Burgess. — " Steamer Isabella." — At St. Louis. — The Mississippi. — To the City of Lead. — Rev. Aratus Kent. — The Lord Provides.
— Mary's Descriptions. — Upper Mississippi. — Reaching FortSnelling 23
CHAPTER II.
1837. — First Knowledge of the Sioux. — Hennepin and Du Luth. — Fort Snell ing. — Lakes Harriet and Calhoun. — Three Months at Lake Harriet. — Samuel W. Pond. — Learning the Language. — Mr. Stevens. — Temporary Home. — That Station Soon Broken Up. — Mary's Letters.
— The Mission and People. — Native Customs. — Lord's Supper, — " Good Voice." — Description of Our Home. — The Garrison. — Seeing St. Anthony. — Ascent of the St. Peters. — Mary's Letters. — Traverse des Sioux. — Prairie Travelling. — Reaching Lac-qui-parle. — T. S. Williamson.
— A Sabbath Service. — Our Upper Room. — Experiences.
— Church at Lac-qui-parle. — Mr. Pond's Marriage. — Mary 's Letters. — Feast< 38
13
14 CONTENTS.
CHAPTER III.
1837-1839. —The Language. —Its Growth. — System of Nota tion. — After Changes. — What We Had to Put into the Language. — Teaching English and Teaching Dakota. — Mary's Letter. — Fort Renville. — Translating the Bible. — The Gospels of Mark and John. — " Good Bird " Born. — Dakota Names. — The Lessons We Learned. — Dakota Washing. — Extracts from Letters. — Dakota Tents. — A Marriage. — Visiting the Village. — Girls, Boys, and Dogs.
— G. H. Pond's Indian Hunt. — Three Families Killed. — The Village Wail. — The Power of a Name. — Post-Office Far Away. — The Coming of the Mail. — S. W. Pond Comes Up. — My Visit to Snelling. — Lost my Horse. — Dr. Williamson Goes to Ohio. — The Spirit's Presence. — Prayer. — Mary's Reports 58
CHAPTER IV.
1838-1840. — " Eagle Help." — His Power as War Prophet. — Makes No-Flight Dance. — We Pray Against It. — Unsuc cessful on the War-Path. — Their Revenge. — Jean Nicol- let and J. C. Fremont. — Opposition to Schools. — Pro gress in Teaching. — Method of Counting. — " Lake That Speaks." —Our Trip to Fort Snelling. — Incidents of the Way. — The Changes There. — Our Return Journey. — Birch-Bark Canoe. — Mary's Story. — u Le Grand Canoe."
— Baby Born on the Way. — Walking Ten Miles. — Ad vantages of Travel. — My Visit to the Missouri River. — "Fort Pierre."— Results 76
CHAPTER V.
1840-1843. — Dakota Braves. — Simon Anawangmane. — Mary's Letter. — Simon's Fall. — Maple Sugar. — Adobe Church. — Catharine's Letter. — Another Letter of Mary's.
— Left Hand's Case. — The Fifth Winter. — Mary to Her Brother. —The Children's Morning Ride. —Visit to Haw- ley and Ohio. — Dakota Printing. — New Recruits. — Return. — Little Rapids, — Traverse des Sioux. — Steal-
CONTENTS. 15
ing Bread. — Forming a New Station. — Begging. — Op position. — Thomas L. Longley. — Meeting Ojibwas. — Two Sioux Killed. — Mary's Hard Walk 89
CHAPTER VI.
1843-1846. — Great Sorrow. — Thomas Drowned. — Mary's Letter. — The Indians' Thoughts. — Old Gray-Leaf. — Oxen Killed. — Hard Field. — Sleepy Eyes' Horse. — Indian in Prison. — The Lord Keeps Us. — Simon's Shame. — Mary's Letter. — Robert Hopkins and Agnes. — Le Bland.
— White Man Ghost. — Bennett. — Sleepy Eyes' Camp. — Drunken Indians. — Making Sugar. — Military Company.
— Dakota Prisoners. — Stealing Melons. — Preaching and School. —A Canoe Voyage. —Red Wing 104
CHAPTER VII.
1846-1851. — Returning to Lac-quUparle. — Reasons There for. — Mary's Story. — " Give Me My Old Seat, Mother."
— At Lac-qui-parle. — New Arrangements. — Better Un derstanding. — Buffalo Plenty. — Mary's Story. — Little Samuel Died. — Going on the Hunt. — Vision of Home. — Building House. — Dakota Camp. — Soldier's Lodge. — Wakanmane's Village. — Making a Presbytery. — New Recruits. — Meeting at Kaposia. — Mary's Story. — Varied Trials. — Sabbath Worship. — " What is to Die ?" — New Stations. — Making a Treaty. — Mr. Hopkins Drowned.
— Personal Experience 123
CHAPTER VIII.
1851-1854. — Grammar and Dictionary. — How It Grew. — Pub lication. — Minnesota Historical Society. — Smithsonian Institution. — Going East. — Mission Meeting at Traverse des Sioux. — Mrs. Hopkins. — Death's Doings. — Changes in the Mode of Writing Dakota — Completed Book. — Growth of the Language. — In Brooklyn and Philadelphia.
— The Misses Spooner. — Changes in the Mission. — The Ponds and Others Retire. — Dr. Williamson at Pay-zhe-
16 CONTENTS.
hoo-ta-ze. — Winter Storms. — Andrew Hunter. — Two Families Left. — Children Learning Dakota. — Our House Burned. —The Lord Provides 141
CHAPTER IX.
1854-1856. — Simon Anawangmane. — Rebuilding after the Fire. — Visit of Secretary Treat. — Change of Plan. — K zelwood Station. — Circular Saw Mill. — Mission Build ings. — Chapel. — Civilized Community. — Making Citi zens. — Boarding-School. — Educating our own Children. — Financial Difficulties. — The Lord Provides. — A Great Affliction. — Smith Burgess Williamson. — " Aunt Jane."
— Bunyan's Pilgrim in Dakota 153
CHAPTER X.
1857-1862. — Spirit Lake. — Massacres by Inkpadoota. — The Captives. — Delivery of Mrs. Marble and Miss Gardner.
— Excitement. — Inkpadoota' s Son Killed. — United States Soldiers. — Major Sherman. — Indian Councils. — Great Scare. — Going Away. — Indians Sent After Scarlet End.
— Quiet Restored. — Children at School. — Quarter-Cen tury Meeting. — John P. Williamson at Red Wood. — Dedication of Chapel 162
CHAPTER XI.
1861-1862. — Republican Administration. — Its Mistakes. — Changing Annuities. — Results. — Returning from General Assembly. — A Marriage in St. Paul. — D. Wilson Moore and Wife. — Delayed Payment. — Difficulty with the Sis- setons. — Peace Again — Recruiting for the Southern War. — Seventeenth of August, 1862. —The Outbreak. — Re membering Christ's Death. — Massacres Commenced. — Capt. Marsh's Company. — Our Flight. — Reasons There for. — Escape to an Island. — Final Leaving.— A Wounded Man. — Traveling on the Prairie. — Wet Night. — Taking a Picture. — Change of Plan. — Night Travel. — Going
CONTENTS. 17
Around Fort Ridgely. — Night Scares. — Safe Passage. — Four Men Killed. — The Lord Leads Us. — Sabbath. — Reaching the Settlements. — Mary at St. Anthony . . .171
CHAPTER XII.
1862. — General Sibley's Expedition. — I Go as Chaplain. — At Fort Ridgely. — The Burial Party. — Birch Coolie Defeat. — Simon and Lorenzo Bring in Captives. — March to Yellow Medicine. — Battle of Wood Lake. — Indians Flee. — Camp Release. — A Hundred Captives Rescued.
— Amos W. Huggins Killed.— We Send for His Wife and Children. — Spirit Walker Has Protected Them. — Martha's Letter 188
CHAPTER XIII.
1862-1863. — Military Commission. — Excited Community. — Dakotas Condemned. — Moving Camp. — The Campaign Closed. — Findings Sent to the President. — Reaching My Home in St. Anthony. — Distributing Alms on the Fron tier. — Recalled to Mankato. — The Executions. — Thirty- eight Hanged. — Difficulty of Avoiding Mistakes. — Round Wind. — Confessions. — The Next Sabbath's Service. — Dr. Williamson's Work. — Learning to Read. — The Spiritual Awakening. — The Way It Came. — Mr. Pond Invited Up. — Baptisms in the Prison. — The Lord's Sup per. — The Camp at Snelling. — A Like Work of Grace.
— John P. Williamson. — Scenes in the Garret. — One Hundred Adults Baptized. — Marvelous in Our Eyes . . 206
CHAPTER XIV.
1863-1866. — The Dakota Prisoners Taken to Davenport. — Camp McClellan. — Their Treatment. — Great Mortality.
— Education in Prison. — Worship — Church Matters. — The Camp at Snelling Removed to Crow Creek. — John P. Williamson's Story. — Many Die. — Scouts' Camp. — Visits to Them. —Family Threads. — Revising the New
18 CONTENTS.
Testament. — Educating Our Children. — Removal to Be- loit. — Family Matters — Little Six and Medicine Bottle.
— With the Prisoners at Davenport 220
CHAPTER XV.
1866-1869. — Prisoners Meet their Families at the Niobrara.
— Our Summer's Visitation. — At the Scouts' Camp. — Crossing the Prairie. — Killing Buffalo. — At Niobrara.
— Religious Meetings. — Licensing Natives. — Visiting the Omahas. — Scripture Translating. — Sisseton Treaty at Washington. — Second Visit to the Santees. — Artemas and Titus Ordained. — Crossing to the Head of the Coteau.
— Organizing Churches and Licensing Dakotas. — Solo mon, Robert, Louis, Daniel. — On Horseback in 1868. — Visit to the Santees, Yanktons, and Brules. — Gathering at Dry Wood. — Solomon Ordained. — Writing " Takoo Wakan." — Mary's Sickness. — Grand Hymns. — Going through the Valley of the Shadow. — Death ! 230
CHAPTER XVI.
1869-1870. — Home Desolate. — At the General Assembly. — Summer Campaign. — A. L. Riggs. — His Story of Early Life. — Inside View of Missions. — Why Missionaries' Children Become Missionaries. — No Constraint Laid on Them. — A. L. Riggs Visits the Missouri Sioux. — Up the River. — The Brules. — Cheyenne and Grand River. — Starting for Fort Wadsworth. — Sun Eclipsed. — Sisseton Reserve. — Deciding to Build There. — In the Autumn Assembly. — My Mother's Home. — Winter Visit to San- tee. — Julia La Framboise 244
CHAPTER XVII.
1870-1871. — Beloit Home Broken Up. — Building on the Sisseton Reserve. — Difficulties and Cost. — Correspon dence with Washington. — Order to Suspend Work. — Dis regarding the Taboo. — Anna Sick at Beloit. — Assur ance. — Martha Goes in Anna's Place. — The Dakota
CONTENTS.
19
Churches. — Lac-qui-parle, Ascension. — John B. Ren- Ville. _ Daniel Renville. — Houses of Worship. — Eight Churches. —The "Word Carrier."— Annual Meeting on the Big Sioux. — Homestead Colony. — How it Came about. — Joseph Iron Old Man. — Perished in a Snow Storm — The Dakota Mission Divides. — Reasons There for 256
CHAPTER XVIII.
1870-1873. — A. L. Riggs Builds at Santee. — The Santee High School. — Visit to Fort Sully. — Change of Agents at Sisseton.— Second Marriage. — Annual Meeting at Good Will. _ Grand Gathering. — New Treaty Made at Sisse ton. —Nina Foster Riggs. — Our Trip to Fort Sully. —An Incident by the Way. — Stop at Santee. — Pastor Ehna- mane. _ His Deer Hunt. — Annual Meeting in 1873. — Rev. S. J. Humphrey's Visit.— Mr. Humphrey's Sketch.
— Where They Come From. — Morning Call.— Visiting the Teepees. — The Religious Gathering. — The Moderator.
— Questions Discussed. — The Personnel. — Putting up a Tent. — Sabbath Service. — Mission Reunion . . . .270
CHAPTER XIX.
1873-1874. — The American Board at Minneapolis. — The Nidus of the Dakota Mission. — Large Indian Delega tion. — Ehnamane and Mazakootemane. — " Then and Now." — The Woman's Meeting. —Nina Foster Riggs and Lizzie Bishop— Miss Bishop's Work and Early Death. — Manual Labor Boarding-School at Sisseton. — Building Dedicated. — M. N. Adams, Agent. — School Opened.— Mrs. Armor and Mrs. Morris.— "My Darling in God's Garden." —Visit to Fort Berthold. — Mandans, Rees, and Hidatsa. — Dr. W. Matthews' Hidatsa Grammar. — Be liefs. _ Missionary Interest in Berthold. — Down the Missouri. — Annual Meeting at Santee. — Normal School. ~- Pakotas Build a Church at Ascension. — Journey to the
20 CONTENTS.
Ojibwas with E. P. Wheeler. — Leech Lake and Red Lake, — On the Gitche Gumme. — " The Stoneys." — Visit to Odanah. — Hope for Ojibwas ,
CHAPTER XX.
1875-1876. — Annual Meeting of 1875. — Homestead Settlement on the Big Sioux. — Interest of the Conference. — lapi Oaye. — Inception of Native Missionary Work. — Theolo gical Class. — The Dakota Home. — Charles L. Hall Or dained. — Dr. Magoun of Iowa. — Mr. and Mrs. Hall Sent to Berthold by the American Board.— The Word Carrier's Good Words to Them. —The Conference of 1876. —In J. B. Renville's Church. — Coming to the Meeting from Sully. —Miss Whipple's Story. — "Dakota Missionary Society." — Miss Collins' Story. — Impressions of the Meeting 308
CHAPTER XXI.
1871-1877. — The Wilder Sioux. — Gradual Openings. - Thomas Lawrence. — Visit to the Land of the Teetons.
— Fort Sully. — Hope Station. — Mrs. General Stanley in the Evangelist. — Work by Native Teachers. — Thomas Married to Nina Foster. —Nina's First Visit to Sully.— Attending the Conference and American Board. — Miss Collins and Miss Whipple. — Bogue Station. — The Mis sion Surroundings. — Chapel Built. — Mission Work. — Church Organized. — Sioux War of 1876. — Community Excited. — Schools. — " Waiting for a Boat." — Miss Whipple Dies at Chicago. — Mrs. Nina Riggs' Tribute.
— The Conference of 1877 at Sully. — Questions Dis cussed. — Grand Impressions 325
APPENDIX.
MONOGRAPHS. MRS. NINA FOSTER RIGGS 345
O£M
REV. GIDEON H. POND
SOLOMON
OQO
DR. T. S. WILLIAMSON
399 A MEMORIAL
4.08
THE FAMILY REUNION
21
MART AND I
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX.
CHAPTER I.
'"V
1337. — Our Parentage. — My Mother's Bear Story. — Mary's Edu cation. — Her First School Teaching. — School-houses and Teachers in Ohio. — Learning the Catechism. — Ambitions.
— The Lord's Leading. — Mary's Teaching in Bethlehem.— Life Threads Coming Together. — Licensure. — Our Decision as to Life Work. — Going to New England. — The Hawley Family. — Marriage. — Going West. — From Mary's Letters.
— Mrs. Isabella Burgess. — " Steamer Isabella." — At St. Louis. — The Mississippi. — To the City of Lead. — Rev. Aratus Kent. — The Lord Provides. — Mary's Descriptions. — Upper Mississippi. — Reaching Fort Snelling.
FORTY years ago this first day of June, 1877, Mary and I came to Fort Snelling. She was from the Old Bay State, and I was a native-born Buckeye. Her ancestors were the Longleys and Taylors of Hawley and Buckland, names honorable and honored in the western part of Massachusetts. Her father, Gen. Thomas Longley, was for many years a member of the General Court and had served in the war of 1812, while her grandfather, Col. Edmund Longley, had been a soldier of the Revolution, and had served under Washington. Her maternal grandfather, Taylor, had held a civil commission under
23
"MARYLAND I.
George the Third. In an early day both families had settled in the hill country west of the Connecticut River. They were the true and worthy representatives of New England.
As it regards myself, my father, whose name was Stephen Riggs, was a blacksmith, and for many years an elder in the Presbyterian church of Steubenville, Ohio, where I was born. He had a brother, Cyrus, who was a preacher in Western Pennsylvania ; and he traced his lineage back, through the Riggs families of New Jer sey, a long line of godly men, ministers of the gospel and others, to Edward Riggs,* who came over from Wales in the first days of colonial history. My mother was Anna Baird, a model Christian woman — as I think, of a Scotch Irish family, which in the early days settled in Fayette County, Pa. Of necessity they were pioneers. When they had three children, they removed up into the wild wooded country of the Upper Alleghany. My mother could tell a good many bear stories. At one time she and those first three children were left alone in an unfinished log cabin. The father was away hunting food for the family. When, at night, the fire was burn ing in the old-fashioned chimney, a large black bear pushed aside the quilt that served for the door, and, sit ting down on his haunches, surveyed the scared family within. But, as God would have it, to their great relief, he retired without offering them any violence.
* Heretofore, we have supposed the first progenitor of the Riggs Family in America was Miles ; but the investigations of Mr. J. H. Wallace of New York show that it was Edward, who settled in Roxbury, Mass., about the year 1635. The name of Miles comes in later. He was the progenitor of one branch of the family.
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 25
Mary's education had been carefully conducted. She had not only the advantages of the common town school and home culture, but was a pupil of Mary Lyon, when she taught in Buckland, and afterward of Miss Grant, at Ipswich. At the age of sixteen she taught her first school, in Williamstown, Mass. As she used to tell the story, she taught for a dollar a week, and, at the end of her first quarter, brought the $12 home and gave it to her father, as a recognition of what he had expended for her education.
It was a joy to me to meet, the other day in Chicago, Mrs. Judge Osborne, who was one of the scholars in this school, as it was in her father's family; and who spoke very affectionately of Mary Ann Longley, her teacher.
Contrasted with the present appliances for education in all the towns, and many of the country districts also, the common schools in Ohio, when I was a boy, were very poorly equipped. My first school-house was a log cabin, with a large open fireplace, a window with four lights of glass where the master's seat was, while on the other two sides a log was cut out and old newspapers pasted over the hole through which the light was sup posed to come, and the seats were benches made of slabs. One of my first teachers was a drunken Irishman, who often visited the tavern near by and came back to sleep the greater part of the afternoon. This gave us a long play spell. But he was a terrible master for the re mainder of the day. Notwithstanding these difficulties in the way of education, we managed to learn a good deal. Sabbath-schools had not reached the efficiency they now have ; but we children were taught carefully at home. We were obliged to commit to memory the
26 MARY AND I.
Shorter Catechism, and every few months the good min ister came around to see how well we could repeat it. All through my life this summary of Christian doctrine — not perfect indeed, and not to be quoted as authority equal to the Scriptures, as it sometimes is — has been to me of incalculable advantage. What I understood not then I have come to understand better since, with the opening of the Word and the illumination of the Holy Spirit. If I were a boy again, I would learn the Shorter Catechism.
My ambition was to learn some kind of a trade. But I had wrought enough with my father at the anvil not to choose that. It was hard work, and not over-clean work. Something else would suit me better, I thought. About that time my sister Harriet married William McLaughlin, who was a well-to-do harness-maker in Steubenville. This suited my ideas of life better. But that sister died soon after her marriage, and my father removed from that part of the country to the southern part of the State. There in Ripley a Latin school was opened about that time, and the Lord appeared to me in a wonderful manner, making discoveries of himself to my spiritual apprehension, so that from that time and on ward my path lay in the line of preparation for such service as he should call me unto. My father, as he said many years afterward, had intended to educate my younger brother James ; but he was taken away suddenly, and I came in his place. Thus the Lord opened the way for a commencement, and by the help of friends I was enabled to continue until I finished the course at Jeffer son College, and afterward spent a year at the Western Theological Seminary at Alleghany.
Mary had been educated for a teacher. She was well
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 27
fitted for the work. And while she was still at Ipswich, a benevolent gentleman in New York City, who had interested himself in establishing a seminary in Southern Indiana, sent to Miss Grant for a teacher to take charge of the school near Bethlehem, in the family of Rev. John M. Dickey. It was far away, but it seemed just the opening she had been desiring. But a young woman needed company in travelling so far westward. It was at the time of the May meetings in New York. Clergy men and others were on East from various parts of the West. In several instances, however, she failed of the company she hoped for, by what seemed singular provi dences. And at last it was her lot to come West under the protection of Rev. Dyer Burgess, of West Union, Ohio. Mr. Burgess was what was called in those days " a rabid abolitionist," and had taken a fancy to help me along, because, as he said, I was "of the same craft." And so it was that during his absence I was living in his family. This is the way in which the threads of our two lives, Mary's and mine, were brought together. A year and a half after this I was licensed to preach the gospel by the Chillicothe Presbytery, and we were on our way to her mountain home in Massachusetts.
Before starting for New England, the general plan of our life-work was arranged. Early in my course of edu cation, I had considered the claims of the heathen upon us Christians, and upon myself personally as a believer in Christ; and, with very little hesitation or delay, the decision had been reached that, God willing, I would go somewhere among the unevangelized. And, during the years of my preparation, there never came to me a doubt of the nghtness of my decision. Nay, more, at the end of forty years' work, I am abundantly satisfied
28 MARY AND I.
with the way in which the Lord has led me. If China had been then open to the gospel, as it was twenty year* afterward, I probably should have elected to go there. But Dr. Thomas S. Williamson of Ripley, Ohio, ha<l started for the Dakota field the same year that I gradu ated from college. His representations of the needs of these aborigines, and the starting out of Whitman and Spalding with their wives to the Indians of the Pacific coast, attracted me to the westward. And Mary was quite willing, if not enthusiastic, to commence a life-work among the Indians of the North-west, which at that time involved more of sacrifice than service in many a far-off foreign field. Hitherto, the evangelization of our own North American Indians had been, and still is, in most parts of the field, essentially a foreign mission work. It has differed little, except, perhaps, in the element of greater self-sacrifice, from the work in India, China, or Japan. And so, with a mutual good understanding of the general plan of life's campaign, with very little appre ciation of what its difficulties might be, but with a good faith in ourselves, and more faith in Him who has said, "Lo, I am with you all days," Mary left her school in Bethlehem, to which she had become a felt necessity, and I gathered up such credentials as were necessary to the consummation of our acceptance as missionaries of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, and we went eastward.
Railroads had hardly been thought of in those days, and so what part of the way we were not carried by steamboats, we rode in stages. It was only the day be fore Thanksgiving, and a stormy evening it was, when we hired a very ordinary one-horse wagon to carry us and our baggage from Charlemont up to Hawley. I need
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 29
not say that in the old house at home the sister and the daughter and granddaughter found a warm reception, and I, the western stranger, was not long overlooked. It was indeed a special Thanksgiving and time of family rejoicing, when the married sister and her family were gathered, with the brothers, Alfred and Moses and Thomas and Joseph, and the little sister Henrietta, and the parents and grandparents, then still living. Since that time, one by one, they have gone to the beautiful land above, and only two remain.
Well, the winter, with its terrible storms and deep snows, soon passed by. It was all too short for Mary's preparation. I found work waiting for me in preaching to the little church in West Hawley. They were a prim itive people, with but little of what is called wealth, but with generous hearts ; and the three months I spent with them were profitable to me.
On the 16th of February, 1837, there was a great gath ering in the old meeting-house on the hill; and, after the service was over, Mary and I received the congratulations of hosts of friends. Soon after this the time of our departure came. The snow-drifts were still deep on the hills when, in the first days of March, we commenced our hegira to the far West. It was a long and toilsome journey — all the way to New York City by stage, and then again from Philadelphia across the mountains to Pittsburg in the same manner, through the March rains and mud, we travelled on, day and night. It was quite a relief to sleep and glide down the beautiful Ohio on a steamer. And there we found friends in Portsmouth and K'ipley and West Union, with whom we rested, and by whom we were refreshed, and who greatly forwarded our preparations for life among the Indians,
30 MARY AND I.
Of the journey Mary wrote, under date City of Penn, March 3, 1837: "We were surprised to find sleighing here, when there was little at Hartford and none at New Haven and New York. We expect to spend the Sabbath here ; and may the Lord bless the detention to ourselves and others. Oh, for a heart more engaged to labor by the way — to labor any and everywhere"
In West Union, Ohio, she writes from Anti-Slavery Palace, April 5 : " Brother Joseph Riggs made us some valuable presents. His kindness supplied my lack of a good English merino, and Sister Riggs had prepared her donation and laid it by, as the Apostle directs, — one pair of warm blankets, sheets and pillow-cases. My new nieces also seemed to partake of the same kind spirit, and gave us valuable mementos of their affection.
" We found Mrs. Burgess not behind, and perhaps be fore most of our friends, in her plans and gifts. Besides a cooking-stove and furniture, she has provided a fine blanket and comforter, sheets, pillow-cases, towels, dried peaches, etc. Perhaps you will fear that with so many kind friends we shall be furnished with too many com forts. Pray, then, that we may be kept very humble, and receive these blessings thankfully from the Giver of every good and perfect gift."
Mrs. Isabella Burgess, the wife of my friend Rev. Dyer Burgess, we put into lasting remembrance by the name we gave to our first daughter, who is now liv ing by the great wall of China. By and by we found ourselves furnished with such things as we supposed we should need for a year to come, and we bade adieu to our Ohio friends, and embarked at Cincinnati for St. Louis.
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 31
"STEAMER ISABELLA, Thursday Eve, May 4.
"We have been highly favored thus far on our way down the Ohio. We took a last look of Indiana about noon, and saw the waters of the separating Wabash join those of the Ohio, and yet flow on without commingling for ten or twelve miles, marking their course by their blue tint and purer shade. The banks are much lower here than nearer the source, sometimes gently sloping to the water's edge, and bearing such marks of inundation as trunks and roots of trees half imbedded in the sand, or cast higher up on the shore. At intervals we passed some beautiful bluffs, not very high, but very verdant, and others more precipitous. Bold, craggy rocks, with evergreen-tufted tops, and a few dwarf stragglers on their sides. One of them contained a cave, apparently dark enough for deeds of darkest hue, and probably it may have witnessed many perpetrated by those daring bandits that prowled about these bluffs during the early settle ment of Illinois.
"Friday Eve. — This morning, when we awoke, we found ourselves in the muddy waters of the broad Mis sissippi. They are quite as muddy as those of a shallow pond after a severe shower. We drink it, however, and find the taste not quite as unpleasant as one might sup pose from its color, though quite warm. The river is very wide here, and beautifully spotted with large islands. Their sandy points, the muddy waters, and abounding snags render navigation more dangerous than on the Ohio. We have met with no accident yet, and I am unconscious of fear. I desire to trust in Him who rules the water as well as the lands,"
32 MARY AND I.
" ST. Louis, May 8, 1837.
" Had you been with us this morning, you would have sympathized with us in what seemed to be a detention in the journey to our distant unfound home in the wilder ness, when we heard that the Fur Company's boat left for Fort Snelling last week. You can imagine our feelings, our doubts, our hopes, our fears rushing to our hearts, but soon quieted with the conviction that the Lord would guide us in his own time to the field where he would have us labor. We feel that we have done all in our power to hasten on our journey and to gain information in reference to the time of leaving this city. Having endeavored to do this, we have desired to leave the event with God, and he will still direct. We now have some ground for hope that another boat will ascend the river in a week or two, and, if so, we shall avail ourselves of the opportunity. Till we learn something more definitely in regard to it, we shall remain at Alton, if we are prospered in reaching there."
In those days the Upper Mississippi was still a wild and almost uninhabited region. Such places as Daven port and Rock Island, which now together form a large centre of population, had then, all told, only about a dozen houses. The lead mines of Galena and Dubuque had gathered in somewhat larger settlements. Above them there was nothing but Indians and military. So that a steamer starting for Fort Snelling was a rare thing. It was said that less than half a dozen in a season reached that point. Indeed, there was nothing to carry up but goods for the Indian trade, and army supplies. Some friends at Alton invited us to come and spend the inter vening time. There we were kindly entertained in the
FOKTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 33
family of Mr. Winthrop S. Gilraan, who has since been one of the substantial Christian business men in New York City. On our leaving, Mr. Oilman bade us " look upward," which has ever been one of our life mottoes.
At that time, a steamer from St. Louis required at least two full weeks to reach Fort Snelling. It was an object with us not to travel on the Sabbath, if possible. So we planned to go up beforehand, and take the up-river boat at the highest point. It might be, we thought, that the Lord would arrange things for us so that we should reach our mission field without travelling on the Day of Rest. With this desire we embarked for Galena. But Saturday night found us passing along by the beautiful country of Rock Island and Davenport. In the latter place Mary and I spent a Sabbath, and worshipped with a few of the pioneer people who gathered in a school- house. By the middle of the next week we had reached the city of lead. There we found the man who had said to the Home Missionary Society, " If you have a place so difficult that no one wants to go to it, send me there." And they sent the veteran, Rev. Aratus Kent, to Galena, Illinois.
Some of the scenes and events connected with our ascent of the Mississippi are graphically described by Mary's facile pen :
" STEAMBOAT OLIVE BRANCH, May 17. " We are now on our way to Galena, where we shall probably take a boat for St. Peters. We pursue this course, though it subjects us to the inconvenience of changing boats, that we may be able to avoid Sabbath travelling, if possible. One Sabbath at least will be rescued in this way, as the Pavilion, the only boat for
34 MAKY AND I.
St. Peters at present, leaves St. Louis on Sunday ! This we felt would not be right for us, consequently we left Alton to-day, trusting that the Lord of the Sabbath would speed us on our journey of 3000 miles, and enable us to keep his Sabbath holy unto the end thereof.
" Of the scenery we have passed this afternoon, and are still passing, I can give you no just conceptions. It beggars description, and yet I wish you could imagine the Illinois semi-circular shores lined with high rocks, embosomed by trees of most delicate green, and crowned with a grassy mound of the same tint, or rising more per pendicularly and towering more loftily in solid columns, defying art to form or demolish works so impregnable, and at the same time so grand and beautiful. I have just been gazing at these everlasting rocks mellowed by the soft twilight. A bend in the river and an island made them apparently meet the opposite shore. The departing light of day favored the illusion of a splendid city reaching for miles along the river, built of granite and marble, and shaded by luxuriant groves, all reflected in the quiet waters. This river bears very little resem blance to itself (as geographies name it) after its junc tion with the Missouri. To me it seems a misnomer to name a river from a branch which is so dissimilar. The waters here are comparatively pure and the current mild. Below, they are turbid and impetuous, rolling on in their power, and sweeping all in their pathway onward at the rate of five or six miles an hour.
"Just below the junction we were astonished and amused to see large spots of muddy water surrounded by those of a purer shade, as if they would retain their distinctive character to the last ; but in vain, for the les ser was contaminated and swallowed up by the greater.
FORTY YEAKS WITH THE SIOUX. 35
I might moralize on this, but will leave each one to draw his own inferences."
"STEPHENSON (now Davenport), May 22. "We left the Olive Branch between 10 and 11 on Saturday night. The lateness of the hour obliged us to accept of such accommodations as presented themselves first, and even made us thankful for them, though they were the most wretched I ever endured. I do not allude to the house or table, though little or nothing could be said in their praise, but to the horrid profanity. Con nected with the house and adjoining our room was a grocery, a devil's den indeed, and so often were the fre quent volleys of dreadful oaths that our hearts grew sick, and we shuddered and sought to shut our ears. Not withstanding all this, we were happier than if we had been travelling on God's holy day. Our consciences approved resting according to the commandment, though they did not chide for removing, even on the Sabbath, to a house were God's name is not used so irreverently —
so profanely."
11 GALENA, May 23.
" This place, wild and hilly, we reached this afternoon, and have been very kindly received by some Yankee Christian friends, where we feel ourselves quite at home, though only inmates of this hospitable mansion a few hours. Surely the Lord has blessed us above measure in providing warm Christian hearts to receive us. Mr. and Mrs. Fuller, where we are, supply the place of the Gil- mans of Alton. We hope to leave in a day or two for Fort Snelling."
" GALENA, 111., May 25, 1837.
"A kind Providence has so ordered our affairs that we are detained here still, and I hope our stay may promote
36 MARY AND I.
the best interests of the mission. It seems desirable that Christians in these villages of the Upper Mississippi should become interested in the missionaries and the missions among the northern Indians, that their preju dices may be overcome and their hearts made to feel the claims those dark tribes have upon their sympathies, their charities, and their prayers."
" STEAMER PAVILION, Upper Mississippi, May 31.
" We are this evening (Wednesday) more than 100 miles above Prairie du Chien, on our way to St. Peters, which we hope to reach before the close of the week, that we may be able to keep the Sabbath on shore. You will rejoice with us that we have been able, in all our journey of 3000 miles, to rest from travelling on the Sab bath. Last Saturday, however, our principles and feel ings were tried by this boat, for which we had waited three weeks, and watched anxiously for the last few days, fearing it would subject us to Sabbath travelling. Sat urday eve, after sunset, when our wishes had led us to believe it would not leave, if it should reach Galena until Monday, we heard a boat, and soon our sight con firmed our ears. Mr. Riggs hastened on board and ascertained from the captain that he should leave Sab bath morning. The inquiry was, shall we break one command in fulfilling another ? We soon decided that it was not our duty to commence a journey under these circumstances even, and retired to rest, confident the Lord would provide for us. Notwithstanding our pros pects were rather dark, I felt a secret hope that the Lord would detain the Pavilion until Monday. If I had any faith it was very weak, for I felt deeply conscious we were entirely undeserving such a favor. But judge of
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 37
our happy surprise, morning and afternoon, on our way to and from church, to find the Pavilion still at the wharf. We felt that it was truly a gracious providence. On Monday morning we came on board."
This week on the Upper Mississippi was one of quiet joy. We had been nearly three months on our way from Mary's home in Massachusetts. God had prospered us all the way. Wherever we had stopped we had found or made friends. The Lord, as we believed, had signally interfered in our behalf, and helped us to " remember the Sabbath day," and to give our testimony to its sacred observance. The season of the year was inspiring. A resurrection to new life had just taken place. All exter nal nature had put on her beautiful garments. And day after day — for the boat tied up at night — we found ourselves passing by those grand old hills and wonderful escarpments of the Upper Mississippi. We were in the wilds of the West, beyond the cabins of the pioneer. We were passing the battle-fields of Indian story. Nay, more, we were already in the land of the Dakotas, and passing by the teepees and the villages of the red man, for whose enlightenment and elevation we had left friends and home. Was it strange that this was a week of in tense enjoyment, of education, of growth in the life of faith and hope ? And so, as I said in the beginning, on the first day of June, 1837, Mary and I reached, in safety, the mouth of the Minnesota, in the land of the Dako- tns.
CHAPTER II.
1837. — First Knowledge of the Sioux. — Hennepin and Du Luth. — Fort Snelling. — Lakes Harriet and Calhoun. — Three Months at Lake Harriet. — Samuel W. Pond. — Learning the Lan guage. — Mr. Stevens. — Temporary Home. — That Station Soon Broken Up. — Mary's Letters. — The Mission and People. Native Customs. — Lord's Supper, — "Good Voice." — De scription of Our Home. — The Garrison. — Seeing St. Anthony. — Ascent of the St. Peters. —Mary's Letters. — Traverse des Sioux. — Prairie Travelling. — Rea'ching Lac-qui-parle. — T. S. Williamson. — A Sabbath Service. — Our Upper Room. Experiences.— Church at Lac-qui-parle. — Mr. Pond's Mar riage. — Mary's Letters. — Feast.
ABOUT two hundred and forty years ago, the French voyagers and fur traders, as they came from Nouvelle, France, up the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, began to hear, from Indians farther east, of a great and warlike people, whom they called Nadouwe or Nado- waessi, enemies. Coming nearer to them, both trader and priest met, at the head of Lake Superior, representa tives of this nation, " numerous and fierce, always at war with other tribes, pushing northward and southward and westward," so that they were sometimes called the " Iro- quois of the West."
But really not much was known of the Sioux until the summer of 1680, when Hennepin and Du Luth met in a camp of Dakotas, as they hunted buffalo in what is now north-western Wisconsin. Hennepin had been captured by a war-party, which descended the Father of Waters in
38
FOETY YEAES WITH THE SIOUX. 39
their canoes, seeking for scalps among their enemies, the Miamis and Illinois. They took him and his companions of the voyage up to their villages on the head-waters of Rum River, and around the shores of Mille Lac and Knife Lake. From the former of these the eastern band of the Sioux nation named themselves Mdaywakantonwan, Spirit Lake Villagers; and from the latter they in herited the name of Santees (Isanyati), Dwellers on Knife.
These two representative Frenchmen, thus brought to gether, at so early a day, in the wilds of the West, visited the home of the Sioux, as above indicated, and to them we are indebted for much of what we know of the Dako- tas two centuries ago.
The Ojibwas and Hurons were then occupying the southern shores of Lake Superior, and, coming first into communication with the white race, they were first supplied with fire-arms, which gave them such an advan tage over the more warlike Sioux that, in the next hundred years, we find the Ojibwas in possession of all the country on the head-waters of the Mississippi, while the Dakotas had migrated southward and westward.
The general enlistment of the Sioux, and indeed of all these tribes of the North-west, on the side of the British in the war of 1812, showed the necessity of a strong military garrison in the heart of the Indian country. Hence the building of Fort Snelling nearly sixty years ago. At the confluence of the Minnesota with the Mis sissippi, and on the high point between the two it has an admirable outlook. So it seemed to us as we approached it on that first day of June, 1837. On our landing we became the guests of Lieutenant Ogden and his excellent wife, who was the daughter of Major Loomis. To Mary and me, every thing was new and strange. We knew
40 MARY AND I.
nothing of military life. But our sojourn of a few days was made pleasant and profitable by the Christian sym pathy which met us there — the evidence of the Spirit's presence, which, two years before, had culminated in the organization of a Christian church in the garrison, on the arrival of the first missionaries to the Dakotas.
The Falls of St. Anthony and the beautiful Minne- haha have now become historic, and Minnetonka has become a place of summer resort. But forty years ago it was only now and then that the eyes of a white man, and still more rarely the eyes of a white woman, looked upon the Falls of Curling Water ; * and scarcely any one knew that the water in Little Falls Creek came from Minnetonka Lake. But nearer by were the beautiful lakes Calhoun and Harriet. On the first of these was the Dakota Village, of which Claudman and Drifter were then the chiefs ; and on whose banks the brothers Pond had erected the first white man's cabin ; and on the north bank of the latter was a mission station of the American Board, commenced two years before by Rev. Jedediah D. Stevens.
Here we were in daily contact with the Dakota men, women, and children. Here we began to listen to the strange sounds of the Dakota tongue ; and here we made our first laughable efforts in speaking the language.
We were fortunate in meeting here Rev. Samuel W. Pond, the older of the brothers, who had come out from Connecticut three years previous, and, in advance of all others, had erected their missionary cabin on the margin of Lake Calhoun. Mr. Pond's knowledge of Dakota was
* Minnehaha means " Curling Water," not "Laughing Water," as many suppose.
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 41
quite ~ nelp to us, who were just commencing to learn it. Before we left the States, it had been impressed upon us by Secretary David Greene that whether we were suc cessful missionaries or not depended much on our acquir ing a free use of the language. And the teaching of my own experience and observation is that if one fails to make a pretty good start the first year in its acquisition, it will be a rare thing if he ever masters the language. And so, obedient to our instructions, we made it our first work to get our ears opened to the strange sounds, and our tongues made cunning for their utterance. Often times we laughed at our own blunders, as when I told Mary, one day, that pish was the Dakota for fish. A Dakota boy had been trying to speak the English word. Mr. Stevens had gathered, from various sources, a vocab ulary of five or six hundred words. This formed the commencement of the growth of the Dakota Grammar and Dictionary which I published fifteen years after ward.
Mr. and Mrs. Stevens were from Central New York, and were engaged as early as 1827 in missionary labors on the Island of Mackinaw. In 1829, Mr. Stevens and Rev. Mr. Coe made a tour of exploration through the wilds of Northern Wisconsin, coming as far as Fort Snell- ing. For several years thereafter, Mr. Stevens was connected with the Stockbridge mission on Fox Lake ; and in the summer of 1835 he had commenced this sta tion at Lake Harriet. At the time of our arrival he had made things look quite civilized. He had built two 1 muses of tamarack logs, the larger of which his own family occupied ; the lower part of the other was used for the school and religious meetings. Half a dozen board ing scholars, chiefly half-breed girls, formed the nucleus
42 MARY AND I.
of the school, which was taught by his niece, Miss Lucy C. Stevens, who was afterward married to Rev. Daniel Gavan, of the Swiss mission to the Dakotas.
As the mission family was already quite large enough for comfort, Mary and I, not -wishing to add to any one's burdens, undertook to make ourselves comfortable in a part of the school-building. Our stay there was to be only temporary, and hence it was only needful that we take care of ourselves, and give such occasional help in the way of English preaching and otherwise as we could. The Dakotas did not yet care to hear the gospel. The Messrs. Pond had succeeded in teaching one young man to read and write, and occasionally a few could be in duced to come and listen to the good news. It was seed- sowing time. Many seeds fell by the wayside or on the hard path of sin. Most fell among thorns. But some found good ground, and, lying dormant a full quarter of a century, then sprang up and fruited in the prison at Man- kato. Also of the girls in that first Dakota boarding- school quite a good proportion became Christian women and the mothers of Christian families.
But the mission at Lake Harriet was not to continue long. In less than two years from the time we were there, two Ojibwa young men avenged the killing of their father by waylaying and killing a prominent man of the Lake Calhoun Village. A thousand Ojibwas had just left Fort Snelling to return to their homes by way of Lake St. Croix and the Rum River. Both parties were followed by the Sioux, and terrible slaughter ensued. But the result of their splendid victory was that the Lake Cal houn people were afraid to live there any longer, and so they abandoned their village and plantings and settled on the banks of the Minnesota,
FOKTY YEAKS WITH THE SIOUX. 43
During our three months' stay at Lake Harriet, every thing we saw and heard was fresh and interesting, and Mary could not help telling of them to her friends in Hawley. The grandfather was ninety years old, to whom she thus wrote : —
"LAKE HARRIET, June 22, 1837.
" We are now on missionary ground, and are surrounded by those dark people of whom we often talked at your fireside last winter. I doubt not you will still think and talk about them, and pray for them also. And surely your grandchildren will not be forgotten.
" We reached this station two weeks since, after enjoy ing Lieutenant Ogden's hospitality a few days, and were kindly welcomed by Mr. Stevens' family, with whom we remain until a house, now occupied by the school, can be prepared, so that we can live in a part of it. Then we shall feel still more at home, though I hope our rude habitation will remind us that we are pilgrims on our way to a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
" The situation of the mission houses is very beautiful, — on a little eminence, just upon the shore of a lovely lake skirted with trees. About a mile north of us is Lake Calhoun, on the margin of which is an Indian village of about twenty lodges. Most of these are bark houses, some of which are twenty feet square, and others are tents, of skin or cloth. Several days since I walked over to the village, and called at the house of one of the chiefs. He was not at home, but his daughters smiled very good-naturedly upon us. We seated ourselves on a frame extending on three sides of the house, covered with skins, which was all the bed, sofa, and chairs they had,
44 MARY AND I.
" Since our visit at the village, two old chiefs have called upon us. One said, this was a very bad country, — ours was a good country, — we had left a good country, and come to live in his bad country, and he was glad. The other called on Sabbath evening, when Mr. Riggs was at the Fort, where he preaches occasionally. He inquired politely how I liked the country, and said it was bad. What could a courtier have said more ?
" The Indians come here at all hours of the day with out ceremony, sometimes dressed and painted very fan tastically, and again with scarcely any clothing. One came in yesterday dressed in a coat, calico shirt, and cloth leggins, the only one I have seen with a coat, excepting two boys who were in the family when we came. The most singular ornament I have seen was a large striped snake, fastened among the painted hair, feathers, and rib bons of an Indian's head-dress, in such a manner that it could coil round in front and dart out its snake head, or creep down upon the back at pleasure. During this the Indian sat perfectly at ease, apparently much pleased at the astonishment and fear manifested by some of the family."
"June 26.
"Yesterday Mr. Riggs and myself commemorated a Saviour's love for the first time on missionary ground. The season was one of precious interest, sitting down at Jesus' table with a little band of brothers and sisters, one of whom was a Chippewa convert, who accompanied Mr. Ayer from Pokeguma. One of the Methodist mission aries, Mr. King, with a colored man, and the members of the church from the Fort and the mission, completed our band of fifteen. Two of these were received on this occasion, Several Sioux were present, and gazed on the
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 45
strange scene before them. A medicine man, Howashta by name, was present, with a long pole in his hand, hav ing his head decked with a stuffed bird of brilliant plumage, and the tail of another of dark brown. His name means " Good Voice," and he is building him a log house not far from the mission. If he could be brought into the fold of the Kind Shepherd, and become a humble and devoted follower of Jesus, he might be instrumental of great good to his people. He might indeed be a Good Voice bringing glad tidings to their dark souls."
TO HER MOTHER.
"HOME, July 8, 1837.
" Would that you could look in upon us ; but as you can not, I will try and give you some idea of our home. The building fronts the lake, but our part opens upon the woodland back of its western shore. The lower room has a small cooking-stove, given us by Mrs. Burgess, a few chairs and a small table, a box and barrel containing dishes, etc., a small will-be pantry, when completed, under the stairs, filled with flour, corn-meal, beans, and stove furniture. Our chamber is low, and nearly filled by a bed, a small bureau and stand, a table for writing, made of a box, and the rest of our half-dozen chairs and one rocking- chair, cushioned by my mother's kind forethought.
"The rough, loose boards in the chamber are covered with a coarse and cheap hair-and-tow carpeting, to save labor. The floor below will require some cleaning, but I shall not try to keep it white. I have succeeded very well, according to my judgment, in household affairs, — that is, very well for me.
" Some Indian women came in yesterday bringing strawberries, which I purchased with beans. Poor crea-
46 MAKY AND I.
tures, they have very little food of any kind at this season of the year, and we feel it difficult to know how much it is our duty to give them.
" We are not troubled with all the insects which used to annoy me in Indiana, but the mosquitoes are far more abundant. At dark, swarms fill our room, deafen our ears, and irritate our skin. For the last two evenings we have filled our house with smoke, almost to suffocation, to disperse these our officious visitors."
"July 31.
"Until my location here, I was not aware that it was so exceedingly common for officers in the army to have two wives or more, — but one, of course, legally so. For instance, at the Fort, before the removal of the 'last troops, there were but two officers who were not known to have an Indian woman, if not half-Indian children. You remember I used to cherish some partiality for the military, but I must confess the last vestige of it has departed. I am not now thinking of its connection with the Peace question, but with that of moral reform. Once, in my childhood's simplicity, I regarded the army and its discipline as a school for gentlemanly manners, but now it seems a sink of iniquity, a school of vice."
With the month of September came the time of our departure for Lac-qui-parle. But Mary had not yet seen the Falls of St. Anthony. And so we harnessed up a horse and cart, and had a pleasant ride across the prairie to the government saw-mill, which, with a small dwelling for the soldier occupant, was then the only sign of civili zation on the present site of Minneapolis. Then we had our household goods packed up and put on board Mr. Prescott's Mackinaw boat, to be carried up to Traverse
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 47
des Sioux. Mr. Prescott was a white man with a Dakota wife, and had been for years engaged in the fur trade. He had on board his winter outfit. Mary and I took passage with him and his family, and spent a week of new life on what was then called the Saint Peter's River. The days were very enjoyable, and the nights were quite comfortable, for we had all the advantages of Mr. Pres- cott's tent and conveniences for camp life. His propel ling force was the muscles of five Frenchmen, who worked the oars and the poles, sometimes paddling and sometimes pushing, and often, in the upper part of the voyage, wading to find the best channel over a sand-bar. But they enjoyed their work, and sang songs by the way.
"Sept. 2, 1837.
"Dr. Williamson arrived at Lake Harriet after a six days' journey from home, and assured us of their kindest wishes, and their willingness to furnish us with corn and potatoes, and a room in their house. We have just break fasted on board our Mackinaw, and so far on our way have had cause for thankfulness that God so overruled events, even though some attendant circumstances were unpleasant. It is also a great source of comfort that we have so good accommodations and Sabbath-keeping com pany. You recollect my mentioning the marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Prescott, and of his uniting with the church at Lake Harriet, in the summer.
" Perhaps you may feel some curiosity respecting our appearance and that of our barge. Fancy a large boat of forty feet in length, and perhaps eight in width in the middle, capable of carrying five tons, and manned by five men, four at the oars and a steersman at the stern. Near
48 MARY AND I.
the centre are our sleeping accommodations nicely rolled up, on which we sit, and breakfast and dine on bread, cold ham, wild fowl, etc. We have tea and coffee for breakfast and supper. Mrs. Prescott does not pitch and strike the tent, as the Indian women usually do ; but it is because the boatmen can do it, and her husband does not require as much of her as an Indian man. They accom modate us in their tent, which is similar to a soldier's tent, just large enough for two beds. Here we take our supper, sitting on or by the matting made by some of these western Indians, and then, after worship, lie down to rest."
" Monday, Sept. 4.
" Again we are on our way up the crooked Saint Peter's, having passed the Sabbath in our tent in the wilderness, far more pleasantly than the Sabbath we spent in St. Louis. Last Saturday I became quite fatigued sympa thizing with those who drew the boat on the Rapids, and with following my Indian guide, Mrs. Prescott, through the woods, to take the boat above them. The fall at this stage of water was, I should think, two feet, and nearly perpendicular, excepting a very narrow channel, where it was slanting. The boat being lightened, all the men attempted to force it up this channel, some by the rope attached to the boat, and others by pulling and pushing it as they stood by it on the rocks and in the water. Both the first and second attempts were fruitless. The second time the rope was lengthened and slipped round a tree on the high bank, where the trader's wife and I were standing. Her husband called her to hold the end of the rope, and, as I could not stand idle, though I knew I could do no good, I joined her, watching the slowly ascending boat with the deepest
FORTY YEAES WITH THE SIOUX. 49
interest. A moment more and the toil would have been over, when the rope snapped, and the boat slid back in a twinkling. It was further lightened and the rope doub led, and then it was drawn safely up and re-packed, in about two hours and a half from the time we reached the Rapids."
" Tuesday, Sept. 5.
" In good health and spirits, we are again on our way. As the river is shallow and the bottom hard, poles have been substituted for oars ; boards placed along the boat's sides serve for a footpath for the boatmen, who propel the boat by fixing the pole into the earth at the prow and pushing until they reach the stern.
" At Traverse des Sioux our land journey, of one hun dred and twenty-five miles to Lac-qui-parle, commenced. Here we made the acquaintance of a somewhat remark able French trader, by name Louis Provencalle, but commonly called Le Bland. The Indians called him Skadan, Little White. He was an old voyager, who could neither read nor write, but, by a certain force of character, he had risen to the honorable position of trader. He kept his accounts with his Indian debtors by a system of hieroglyphics.
" For the next week we were under the^ convoy of Dr. Thomas S. Williamson and Mr. Gideon H. Pond, who met us with teams from Lac-qui-parle. The first night of our camping on the prairie, Dr. Williamson taught me a lesson which I never forgot. We were preparing the tent for the night, and I was disposed to let the rough ness of the surface remain, and not even gather grass for a bed, which the Indians do; on the ground, as I said, that it was for only one night. l But,' said the doctor,
50 MARY AND I.
1 there will be a great many one nights? And so I have found it. It is best to make the tent comfortable for one night."
This was our first introduction — Mary's and mine — to the broad prairies of the West. At first, we kept in sight of the woods of the Minnesota, and our road lay among and through little groves of timber. But by and by we emerged into the broad savannahs — thousands of acres of meadow unmowed, and broad rolling country covered, at this time of year, with yellow and blue flow ers. Every thing was full of interest to us, even the Bad Swamp, — We we Shecha, — which so bent and shook under the tramp of our teams, that we could almost believe it would break through and let us into the earth's centre. For years after, this was the great fear of our prairie travelling, always reminding us very forcibly of Bun- yan's description of the " Slough of Despond." The only accident of this journey was the breaking of the axle of one of Mr. Pond's loaded carts. It was Satur day afternoon. Mr. Pond and Dr. Williamson remained to make a new one, and Mary and I went on to the stream where we were to camp, and made ready for the Sabbath.
• " ON THE BROAD PRAIRIE OF ' THE FAR WEST.'
" Saturday Eve., Sept. 9, 1837. " My Ever Dear Mother; —
" Just at twilight I seat myself upon the ground by our fire, with the wide heavens above for a canopy, to com mune with her whose yearning heart follows her children wherever they roam. This is the second day we have travelled on this prairie, having left Traverse des Sioux
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX.
51
late Thursday afternoon. Before leaving that place, a little half-Indian girl, daughter of the trader where we stopped, brought me nearly a dozen of eggs (the first I had seen since leaving the States), which afforded us a choice morsel for the next day. To-morrow we rest, it being the Sabbath, and may we and you be in the Spirit on the Lord's day."
" LAC-QUI-PARLE, Sept. 18.
" The date will tell you of our arrival at this station, where we have found a home. We reached this place on Wednesday last, having been thirteen days from Fort Snelling, a shorter time than is usually required for such a journey, the Lord's hand being over us to guide and prosper us on our way. Two Sabbaths we rested from our travels, and the last of them was peculiarly refresh ing to body and spirit. Having risen and put our tent in order, we engaged in family worship, and afterward partook of our frugal meal. Then all was still in that wide wilderness, save at intervals, when some bird of passage told us of its flight and bade our wintry clime farewell.
" Before noon we had a season of social worship, lifting up our hearts with one voice in prayer and praise, and reading a portion of God's Word. It was indeed pleasant to think that God was present with us, far away as we were from any human being but ourselves. The day passed peacefully away, and night's refreshing slumbers succeeded. The next morning we were on our way be fore the sun began his race, and having ridden fifteen or sixteen miles, according to our best calculations, we stopped for breakfast and dinner at a lake where wood and water could both be obtained, two essentials which frequently are not found together on the prairie.
52 MARY AND I.
"Thus you will be able to imagine us with our twro one-ox carts and a double wagon, all heavily laden, as we have travelled across the prairie."
Thomas Smith Williamson had been ten years a prac tising physician in Ripley, Ohio. There he had married Margaret Poage, of one of the first families. One after another their children had died. Perhaps that led them to think that God had a work for them to do elsewhere. At any rate, after spending a year in the Lane Theologi cal Seminary, the doctor turned his thoughts toward the Sioux, for whom no man seemed to care. In the spring of 1834 he made a visit up to Fort Snelling. And in the year following, as has already been noted, he came as a missionary of the A. B. C. F. M., with his wife and one child, accompanied by Miss Sarah Poage, Mrs. William son's sister, and Mr. Alexander G. Huggins and his wife, with twro children.
This company reached Fort Snelling a week or twro in advance of Mr. Stevens, and were making preparations to build at Lake Calhoun ; but Mr. Stevens claimed the right of selection, on the ground that he had been there in 1829. And so Dr. Williamson and his party accepted the invitation of Mr. Joseph Renville, the Bois Brule trader at Lac-qui-parle, to go two hundred miles into the interior. All this was of the Lord, as it plainly appeared in after years. At the time we approached the mission at Lac-qui-parle, they had been two full years in the field, and, under favorable auspices, had made a very good beginning. About the middle of September, after a pretty good week of prairie travel, we were very glad to receive the greetings of the mission families. . . .
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 53
A few days after our arrival, Mary wrote : " The even ing we came, we were shown a little chamber, where we spread our bed and took up our abode. On Friday, Mr. Riggs made a bedstead, by boring holes and driving slabs into the logs, across which boards are laid. This answers the purpose very well, though rather uneven. Yesterday was the Sabbath, and such a Sabbath as I never before enjoyed. Although the day was cold and stormy, and much like November, twenty-five Indians and part- bloods assembled at eleven o'clock in our school-room for public worship. Excepting a prayer, all the exercises were in Dakota and French, and most of them in the for mer language. Could you have seen these Indians kneel with stillness and order, during prayer, and rise and engage in singing hymns in their own tongue, led by one of their own tribe, I am sure your heart would have been touched. The hymns were composed by Mr. Renville the trader, who is probably three-fourths Sioux."
Doctor Williamson had erected a log house a story and a half high. In the lower part was his own living-room, and also a room with a large open fire-place, which then, and for several years afterward, was used for the school and Sabbath assemblies. In the upper part there were three rooms, still in an unfinished state. The largest of these, ten feet wide and eighteen feet long, was appropriated to our use. We fixed it up with loose boards overhead, and quilts nailed up to the rafters, and improvised a bed stead, as we had been unable to bring ours farther than Fort Snelling.
That room we made our home for five winters. There were some hardships about such close quarters, but, all in all, Mary and I never enjoyed five winters better than
54 MARY AND I.
those spent in that upper room. There our first three children were born. There we worked in acquiring the language. There we received our Dakota visitors. There I wrote and wrote again my ever growing dictionary. And there, with what help I could obtain, I prepared for the printer the greater part of the New Testament in the language of the Dakotas. It was a consecrated room.
Well, we had set up our cooking-stove in our upper room, but the furniture was a hundred and twenty-five miles away. It was not easy for Mary to cook with noth ing to cook in. But the good women of the mission came to her relief with kettle and pan. More than this, there were some things to be done now which neither Mary nor I had learned to do. She was not an adept at making light bread, and neither of us could milk a cow. She grew up in New England, where the men alone did the milking, and I in Ohio, where the women alone milked in those days. At first it took us both to milk a cow, and it was poorly done. But Mary succeeded best. Nevertheless, application and perseverance succeeded, and, although never boasting of any special ability in that line of things, I could do my own milking, and Mary became very skilful in bread-making, as well as in other mysteries of housekeeping.
The missionary work began now to open before us. The village at Lac-qui-parle consisted of about 400 per sons, chiefly of the Wahpaton, or Leaf-village band of the Dakotas. They were very poor and very proud. Mr. Renville, as a half-breed and fur-trader, had acquired an unbounded influence over many of them. They were willing to follow his leading. And so the young men of
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 55
his soldiers' lodge were the first, after his own family, to learn to read. On the Sabbath, there gathered into this lower room twenty or thirty men and women, but mostly women, to hear the* Word as prepared by Dr. William son with Mr. Renville's aid. A few Dakota hymns had been made, and were sung under the leadership of Mr. Huggins or young Mr. Joseph Renville. Mr. Renville and Mr. Pond made the prayers in Dakota. Early in the year 1836, a church had been organized, which at this time contained seven native members, chiefly from Mr. Renville's household. And in the winter which followed our arrival nine were added, making a native church of sixteen, of which one half were full-blood Dakota women, and in the others the Dakota blood greatly predomi nated.
One of the noted things that took place in those au tumn days was the marriage of Mr. Gideon Holister Pond and Miss Sarah Poage. That was the first couple I married, and I look back to it with great satisfaction. The bond has been long since sundered by death, but it was a true covenant entered into by true hearts, and re ceiving, from the first, the blessing of the Master. Mr. Pond made a great feast, and " called the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind," and many such Dakotas were there to be called. They could not recom pense him by inviting him again, and it yet remains that "he shall be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."
Nov. 2.
"Yesterday the marriage referred to was solemnized. Could I paint the assembly, you would agree with me that it was deeply and singularly interesting. Fancy, for a moment, the audience who were witnesses of the scene.
56 MARY AND I.
The rest of our missionary band sat near those of our number who were about to enter into the new and sacred relationship, while most of the room was filled with our dark-faced guests, a blanket or a buffalo robe their chief 'wedding garment,' and coarse and tawdry beads, brooches, paint, and feathers their wedding ornaments. Here and there sat a Frenchman or half-breed, whose garb bespoke their different origin. No turkey or eagle feathers adorned the hair, or parti-colored paint the face, though even their appearance and attire reminded us of our location in this wilderness.
"Mr. Riggs performed the marriage ceremony, and Dr. Williamson made the concluding prayer, and, through Mr. Renville, briefly explained to the Dakotas the ordi nance and its institution. After the ceremony, Mr. Renville and family partook with us of our frugal meal, leaving the Indians to enjoy their feast of potatoes, tur nips, and bacon, to which the poor, the lame, and the blind had been invited. As they were not aware of the supper that was provided, they did not bring their dishes, as is the Indian custom, so that they were scantily furnished with milk-pans, etc. This deficiency they supplied very readily by emptying the first course, which was potatoes, into their blankets, and passing their dishes for a supply of turnips and bacon.
" I know not when I have seen a group so novel as I found on repairing to the room where these poor creatures were promiscuously seated. On my left sat an old man nearly blind ; before me, the woman who dipped out the potatoes from a five-pail boiler sat on the floor ; and near her was an old man dividing the bacon, clenching it firmly in his hand, and looking up occasionally to see how many there were requiring a share. In the corner sat a
FORTY YEAES WITH THE SIOUX. 57
lame man eagerly devouring his potatoes, and around were scattered women and children.
" When the last ladle was filled from the large pot of turnips, one by one they hastily departed, borrowing dishes to carry home the supper, to divide with the chil dren who had remained in charge of the tents."
CHAPTER III.
1837-1839. —The Language. —Its Growth. — System of Notation.
— After Changes. — What We Had to Put into the Language.
— Teaching English and Teaching Dakota. —Mary's Letter. — Fort Renville. — Translating the Bible. — The Gospels of Mark and John. — " Good Bird " Born. — Dakota Names. — The Les sons We Learned. — Dakota Washing. — Extracts from Letters.
— Dakota Tents. — A Marriage. — Visiting the Village. — Girls, Boys, and Dogs. — G. H. Pond's Indian Hunt. —Three Families Killed. — The Village Wail. — The Power of a Name. — Post-Office Far Away. — The Coming of the Mail.
— S. W. Pond Comes Up. — My Visit to Snelling. — Lost my Horse. —Dr. Williamson Goes to Ohio. —The Spirit's Pres ence. — Prayer. — Mary's Reports.
To learn an unwritten language, and to reduce it to a form that can be seen as well as heard, is confessedly a work of no small magnitude. Hitherto it has seemed to exist only in sound. But it has been, all through the past ages, worked out and up by the forges of human hearts. It has been made to express the lightest thoughts as well as the heart-throbs of men and women and chil dren in their generations. The human mind, in its most untutored state, is God's creation. It may not stamp purity nor even goodness on its language, but it always, I think, stamps it with the deepest philosophy. So far, at least, language is of divine origin. The unlearned Dakota may not be able to give any definition for any single word that he has been using all his life-time, — he may say, " It means that, and can't mean any thing else,"
58
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 59
— yet, all the while, in the mental workshop of the peo ple, unconsciously and very slowly it may be, but no less very surely, these words of air are newly coined. No angle can turn up, but by and by it will be worn off by use. No ungrammatical expression can come in that will not be rejected by the best thinkers and speakers. New words will be coined to meet the mind's wants; and new forms of expression, which at the first are bungling descriptions only, will be pared down and tucked up so as to come into harmony with the living language.
But it was no part of our business to make the Dakota language. It was simply the missionary's work to report it faithfully. The system of notation had in the main been settled upon before Mary and I joined the mission. It was, of course, to be phonetic, as nearly as possible. The English alphabet was to be used as far as it could be. These were the principles that guided and con trolled the writing of Dakota. In their application it was soon found that only five pure vowel sounds were used. So far the work was easy. Then it was found that x and v and r and g and j and f and c, with their English powers, were not needed. But there were four clicks and two gutturals and a nasal that must in some way be expressed. It was then, even more than now, a matter of pecuniary importance that the language to be printed should require as few new characters as possi ble. And so n was taken to represent the nasal ; q represented one of- the clicks; g and r represented the gutturals; and c and j and x were used to rep resent ch, zh, and sh. The other clicks were rep resented by marked letters. Since that time, some changes have been made : x and r have been discarded
60 MARY AND I.
from the purely Dakota alphabet. In the Dakota gram mar and dictionary, which was published fifteen years afterward, an effort was made to make the notation phil osophical, and accordant with itself. The changes which have since been adopted have all been in the line of the dictionary.
When we missionaries had gathered and expressed and arranged the words of this language, what had we to put into it, and what great gifts had we for the Dakota peo ple? What will you give me? has always been their cry. We brought to them the Word of Life, the Gospel of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord, as contained in the Bible. Not to preach Christ to them only, that they might have life, but to engraft his living words into their living thoughts, so that they might grow into his spirit more and more, was the object of our coming. The labor of writing the language was under taken as a means to a greater end. To put God's thoughts into their speech, and to teach them to read in their own tongue the wonderful works of God, was what brought us to the land of the Dakotas. But they could not appreciate this. Ever and anon came the question, What will you give me? And so, when we would proclaim the " old, old story " to those proud Dakota men at Lac-qui-parle, we had to begin with kettles of boiled pumpkins, turnips, and potatoes. The bread that perisheth could be appreciated — the Bread of Life was still beyond their comprehension. But by and by it was to find its proper nesting-place.
It was very fortunate for the work of education among the Dakotas that it had such a stanch and influential friend as Joseph Renville, Sr., of Lac-qui-parle. It was never certainly known whether Mr. Renville could read
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 61
his French Bible or not. But he had seen so much of the advantages of education among the white people, that he greatly desired his own children should learn to read and write, both in Dakota and English, and through his whole life gave his influence in favor of Dakota edu cation. Sarah Poage, afterward Mrs. G. H. Pond, had come as a teacher, and had, from their first arrival at Lac-qui-parle, been so employed. Mr. Renville had four daughters, all of them young women, who had, with some other half-breeds, made an English class. They had learned to -read the language, but understood very little of it, and were not willing to speak even what they understood. All through these years the teaching of English, commenced at the beginning of our mission work, although found to be very difficult and not pro ducing much apparent fruit, has never been abandoned. But for the purposes of civilization, and especially of Christianization, we have found culture in the native tongue indispensable.
To teach the classes in English was in Mary's line of life. She at once relieved Miss Poage of this part of her work, and continued in it, with some intervals, for several years. Often she was greatly tried, not by the inability of her Dakota young lady scholars, but by their unwill ingness to make such efforts as to gain the mastery of English.
Teaching in Dakota was a different thing. It was their own language. The lessons, printed with open type and a brush on old newspapers, and hung round the walls of the school-room, were words that had a meaning even to .1 Dakota child. It was not difficult. A young man has sometimes come in, proud and unwilling to be taught, but, by sitting there and looking and listening to others,
02 MARY AND I.
he has started up with the announcement, " I am able." Some small books had already been printed. Others were afterward provided. But the work of works, which in some sense took precedence of all others, was then commencing, and has not yet been quite completed — that of putting the Bible into the language of the Dakotas.*
" Nov. 18, 1837.
" I make very slow progress in learning Dakota, and could you hear the odd combinations of it with English which we allow ourselves, you would doubtless be some what amused, if not puzzled to guess our meaning, though our speech would betray us, for the little Dakota we can use we can not speak like the Indians. The peculiar tone and ease are wanting, and several sounds I have been entirely unable to make ; so that, in my case at least, there would be ' shibboleths ' not a few. And these cause the Dakota pupils to laugh very frequently when I am trying to explain, or lead them to understand some of the most simple things about arithmetic. Perhaps you will think them impolite, and so should I if they had been educated in a civilized land, but now I am willing to bear with them, if I can teach them any thing in the hour which is allotted for this purpose.
" As yet I have devoted no time to any except those who are attempting to learn English, and my class will probably consist of five girls and two or three boys. Two of the boys, who, we hope, will learn English, are full Dakotas, and, if their hearts were renewed, might be very useful as preachers of the Gospel to their own degraded people."
* Completed in 1879.
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 63
Fort Renville, as it was sometimes called, was a stockade, made for defence in case of an invasion by the O jib was, who had been from time immemorial at war with the Sioux. Inside of this stockade stood Mr. Renviile's hewed-log house, consisting of a store-house and two dwellings. Mr. Renville's reception-room was of good size, with a large open fireplace, in which his Frenchmen, or " French-boys," as they were called by the Indians, piled up an enormous quantity of wood of a cold day, setting it up on end, and thus making a fire to be felt as well as seen. Here the chief Indian men of the village gathered to smoke and talk. A bench ran almost around the entire room, on which they sat or reclined. Mr. Renville usually sat on a chair in the middle of the room. He was a small man with rather a long face and head developed upward. A favorite position of his was to sit with his feet crossed under him like a tailor. This room was the place of Bible trans lating. Dr. Williamson and Mr. G. H. Pond had both learned to read French. The former usually talked with Mr. Renville in French, and, in the work of translating, read from the French Bible, verse by verse. Mr. Ren ville's memory had been specially cultivated by having been much employed as interpreter between the Dakotas and the French. It seldom happened that he needed to have the verse re-read to him. But it often happened that we, who wrote the Dakota from his lips, needed to have it repeated in order that we should get it exactly and fully. When the verse or sentence was finished, the Dakota was read by one of the company. We were all only beginners in writing the Dakota language, and I more than the others. Sometimes Mr. Renville showed, by the twinkle of his eye, his conscious superiority to us,
64 MARY AND I.
when he repeated a long and difficult sentence and found that we had forgotten the beginning. But ordinarily he was patient with us, and ready to repeat. By this process, continued from week to week during that first winter of ours at Lac-qui-parle, a pretty good translation of the Gospel of Mark was completed, besides some fugi tive chapters from other parts. In the two following win ters the Gospel of John was translated in the same way.
Besides giving these portions of the Word of God to the Dakotas sooner than it could have been done by the missionaries alone, these translations were invaluable to us as a means of studying the structure of the language, and as determining, in advance of our own efforts in this line, the forms or moulds of many new ideas which the Word contains. In after years we always felt safe in referring to Mr. Renville as authority in regard to the form of a Dakota expression.
During this first year that Mary and I spent in the Dakota country, there were coming to us continually new experiences. One of the most common, and yet one of the most thrilling and abiding, was in the birth of our first-born. In motherhood and fatherhopd are found large lessons in life. The mother called her first-born child Alfred Longley, naming him for a very dear brother of hers. The Dakotas named this baby boy of ours Good Bird (Zitkadan Washtay). They said that it was a good name. In those days it was a habit with them to give names to the white people who came among them. Dr. Williamson they called Payjehoota Wechasta — Medicine man, or, more literally, Grass-root man — that is, Doctor. To Mr. G. H. Pond they gave the name Matohota, Grizzly-bear. Mr. S. W. Pond was Wamdedoota^ Red-
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 65
eagle. To me they gave the name of Tamakoche, His country. They said some good Dakota long ago had borne that name. To Mary they gave the name of Pa- yuha. At first they gutturalized the h, which made it mean Curly-head — her black hair did curl a good deal ; but afterward they naturalized the h, and said it meant Hamng-a-head.
The winter as it passed by had other lessons for us. For me it was quite a chore to cut and carry up wood enough to keep our somewhat open upper room cosey and comfortable. Mary had more ambition than I had to get native help. She had not been accustomed to do a day's washing. It came hard to her. The other women of the mission preferred to wash for themselves rather than train natives to do it. And indeed, at the beginning, that was found to be no easy task. For, in the first place, Dakota women did not wash. Usually they put on a garment and wore it until it rotted off. This was pretty much the rule. No good, decent woman could be found willing to do for white people what they did not do for themselves. We could hire all the first women of the village to hoe corn or dig potatoes, but not one would take hold of the wash-tub. And so it was that Mary's first washer-women were of the lowest class, and not very reputable characters. But she persevered and conquered. Only a few years had passed when the wash-women of the mission were of the best women of the village. And the effort proved a great public benefaction. The gos pel of soap was indeed a necessary adjunct and out growth of the Gospel of Salvation.
u Dec. 13.
" My first use of the pen since the peculiar manifesta tion of God's loving kindness we have so recently
66 MARY AND I.
experienced shall be for you, my dear parents. That you will with us bless the Lord, as did the Psalmist in one of my favorite Psalms, the 103d, we do not doubt ; for I am sure you will regard my being able so soon to write as a proof of God's tender mercy. I have been very comfortable most of the time during the past week. As our little one cries, and I am now his chief nurse, I must lay aside my pen and paper and attend to his wants, for Mr. Riggs is absent, procuring, with Dr. W. and Mr. Pond, the translation of Mark, from Mr. Ren- ville."
''Dec. 28.
" Yesterday our dear little babe was three wreeks old. I washed with as little fatigue as I could expect ; still, I should have thought it right to have employed some one, was there any one to be employed who could be trusted. But the Dakota women, besides not knowing how to wash, need constant and vigilant watching. Poor crea tures, thieves from habit, and from a kind of necessity, though one of their own creating ! "
" Jan. 10.
" The Dakota tent is formed of buffalo skins, stretched on long poles placed on the ground in a circle, and meeting at the top, where a hole is left from which the smoke of the fire in the centre issues. Others are made of bark tied to the poles placed in a similar manner. A small place is left for a door of skin stretched on sticks and hinged with strings at the top, so that the person entering raises it from the bottom and crawls in. At this season of the year the door is protected by a covered passage formed by stakes driven into the ground several feet apart, and thatched with grass. Here they keep their wood, which the women cut this cold weather, the
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 67
thermometer at eighteen to twenty degrees below zero. And should you lift the little door, you would find a cold, smoky lodge about twelve feet in diameter, a mother and her child, a blanket or two, or a skin, a kettle, and pos sibly in some of them a sack of corn."
" Thursday Eve., Jan. 11.
"Quite unexpectedly, this afternoon we received an invitation to a wedding at Mr. Renville's, one of his daughters marrying a Frenchman. We gladly availed ourselves of an ox-sled, the only vehicle we could com mand, and a little before three o'clock we were in the guest-chamber. Mr. Renville, who is part Dakota, re ceived us with French politeness, and soon after the rest of the family entered. These, with several Dakota men and women seated on benches, or on the floor around the room, formed not an uninteresting group. The marriage ceremony was in French and Dakota, and was soon over. Then the bridegroom rose, shook hands with his wife's relations, and kissed her mother, and the bride also kissed all her father's family.
" When supper was announced as ready, we repaired to a table amply supplied with beef and mutton, potatoes, bread, and tea. Though some of them were not prepared as they would have been in the States, they did not seem so singular as a dish that I was unable to determine what it could be, until an additional supply of blood was offered me. I do not know how it was cooked, though it might have been fried with pepper and onions, and I am told it is esteemed as very good. The poor Indians throw nothing away, whether of beast or bird, but consider both inside and outside delicious broiled on the coals."
68 MARY AND I.
"April 5.
"Yesterday afternoon Mrs. Pond and myself walked to * the lodges.' As the St. Peter's now covers a large part of the bottom, we wound our way in the narrow Indian path on the side of the hill. An Indian woman, with her babe fastened upon its board at her back, walked before us, and as the grass on each side of the foot-path made it uncomfortable walking side by side, we conformed to Dakota custom, one following the other. For a few moments we kept pace with our guide, but she, soon outstripping us, turned a corner and was out of sight. As we wished for a view of the lake and river, we climbed the hill. There we saw the St. Peter's, which in the summer is a narrow and shallow stream, extending over miles of land, with here and there a higher spot peeping out as an island in the midst of the sea. The haze prevented our having a good view of the lake.
" After counting thirty lodges stretched along below us, we descended and entered one, where we found a sick woman, who said she had not sat up for a long time, lying on a little bundle of hay. Another lodge we found full of corn, the owners having subsisted on deer and other game while absent during the winter.
" When we had called at Mr. Renville's, which was a little beyond, we returned through the heart of the vil lage, attended by such a retinue as I have never before seen, and such strange intermingling of laughing and shouting of children and barking of dogs as I never heard. Amazed, and almost deafened by the clamor, I turned to gaze upon the unique group. Some of the older girls were close upon our heels, but as we stopped they also halted, and those behind slackened their pace. Boys and girls of from four to twelve years of age, some
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 69
wrapped in their blankets, more without, and quite a number of boys almost or entirely destitute of clothing, with a large number of dogs of various sizes and colors, presented themselves in an irregular line. As all of the Indians here have pitched their lodges together, I sup pose there might have been thirty or forty children in our train. When we reached home, I found little Alfred happy and quiet, in the same place on the bed I had left him more than two hours previous, his father having been busy studying Dakota.
" This evening two Indian women came and sat a little while in our happy home. One of them had a babe about the age of Alfred. You would have smiled to see the plump, undressed child peeping out from its warm blanket like a little unfledged bird from its mossy nest."
Mr. Pond had long been yearning to see inside of an Indian. He had been wanting to be an Indian, if only for half an hour, that he might know how an Indian felt and by what motives he could be moved. And so when the early spring of 1838 came, and the ducks began to come northward, a half-dozen families started out from Lac-qui-parle to hunt and trap on the upper part of the Chippewa River, in the neighborhood of where is now the town of Benson, in Minnesota. Mr. Pond went with them, and was gone two weeks. It was in the first of April, and the streams were flooded, and the water was cold. There should have been enough of game easily obtained to feed the party well. So the Indians thought. But it did not prove so. A cold spell came on, the ducks disappeared, and Mr. Pond and his Indian hunters were reduced to scanty fare, and sometimes to nothing, for a whole day. But Mr. Pond was seeing inside of Indians,
70 MARY AND I.
and was quite willing to starve a good deal in the pro cess. However, his stay with them, and their hunt for that time as well, was suddenly terminated.
It appears that during the winter some rumors of peace visits from the Ojibwas had reached the Dakotas, so that this hunting party were somewhat prepared to meet Ojibwas who should come with this announced purpose. The half-dozen teepees had divided. Mr. Pond was with Round Wind, who had removed from the three teepees that remained. On Thursday evening there came Hole- in-the-day, an Ojibwa chief, with ten men. They had come to smoke the peace-pipe, they said. The three Dakota tents contained but three men and ten or eleven women and children. But, while starving themselves, they would entertain their visitors in the most royal style. Two dogs were killed and they were feasted, and then all lay down to rest. But the Ojibwas were false. They arose at midnight and killed their Dakota hosts. In the morning but one woman and a boy remained alive of the fourteen in the three teepees the night before, and the boy was badly wounded. It was a cowardly act of the Ojibwas, and one that was terribly avenged afterward. When Mr. Pond had helped to bury the dead and man gled remains of these three families, he started for home, and was the first to bring the sad news to their friends at Lac-qui-parle. To him quite an experience was bound up in those two weeks, and the marvel was, why he was not then among the slain. To Mary and me it opened a whole store-house of instruction, as we listened to the wail of the whole village, and especially when the old women came with dishevelled heads and ragged clothes, and cried and sang around our house, and begged in the name of our first-born. We discovered all at once the
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 71
power of a name. And if an earthly name has such power, much more the Name that is above every name — much more the Name of the Only Begotten of the heav enly Father.
Lac-qui-parle was in those days much shut out from the great world. We were two hundred miles away from our post-office at Fort Snelling. We seldom re ceived a letter from Massachusetts or Ohio in less than three months after it was written. Often it was much longer, for there were several times during our stay at Lac-qui-parle when we passed three months, and once five months, without a mail. We used to pray that the mail would not come in the evening. If it did, good- by sleep ! If it came in the early part of the day, we could look it over and become quieted by night. Our communication with the post-office was generally through the men engaged in the fur-trade. Some of them had no sympathy with us as missionaries, but they were ever will ing to do us a favor as men and Americans. Sometimes we sent and received our mail by Indians. That was a very costly way. The postage charged by the govern ment — although it was then twenty-five cents on a letter — was no compensation for a Dakota in those days. It is fortunate for them that they have learned better the value of work.
Once a year, at least, it seemed best that one of our selves should go down to the mouth of the Minnesota. Our annual supplies were to be brought up, and various matters of business transacted. I was sent down in the spring of 1838, and I considered myself fortunate in having the company of Rev. S. W. Pond. This was Mr. Pond's second visit to Lac-qui-parle on foot. The first
72 MARY AND I.
was made over two years before, in midwinter. That was a fearful journey. What with ignorance of the country, and deep snows, and starvation, and an ugly Indian for his guide, Mr. Pond came near reaching the spirit land before he came to Lac-qui-parle.
This second time he came under better auspices, and, having spent several weeks with us, during which many questions of interest with regard to the language and the mission work were discussed, he and I made a part of Mr. Renville's caravan to the fur depot of the American Fur Company at Mendota, in charge of H. H. Sibley, a manly man, since that time occupying a prominent posi tion in Minnesota.
To make this trip I was furnished by the mission with a valuable young horse, gentle and kind, but not pos sessed of much endurance. At any rate, he took sick while I was away, and never reached home. The result may have been owing a good deal to my want of skill in taking care of horses, and in travelling through the bogs and quagmires of this new country. I could not but be profoundly sorry when obliged to leave him, as it entailed upon me other hardships for which I was not well pre pared. Reaching the Traverse des Sioux on foot, I found Joseph R. Brown, even then an old Indian trader, coming up with some led horses. He kindly gave me the use of two with which to bring up my loaded cart. That was a really Good Samaritan work, which I have always re membered with gratitude.
When the first snows were beginning to fall in the coming winter, and not till then, Dr. Williamson was ready to make his trip to Ohio. The Gospel of Mark and some smaller portions of the Bible he had prepared for the press. The journey was undertaken a few weeks
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 73
too late, and so it proved a very hard one. They thought to go down the Mississippi in a Mackinaw boat, but were frozen in before they reached Lake Pepin. From that point the entire journey to Ohio was made by land in the rigors of winter.
The leaving of Dr. Williamson entailed upon me the responsibility of taking care of the Sabbath service. Mr. G. H. Pond was not then a minister of the Gospel, but his superior knowledge of the Dakota fitted him the best to communicate religious instruction. But it was well for me to have the responsibility, as it helped me in the use of the native tongue. I was often conscious of making mistakes, and doubtless made many that I knew not of. Mr. Pond and Mr. Renville were ever ready to help me out, and, moreover, we had with us that winter Rev. Daniel Gavan, one of the Swiss missionaries, who had settled on the Mississippi River, at Red Wing and Wabashaw's villages. Mr. G. came up to avail himself of the better advantages in learning the language, and so for the winter he was a valuable helper.
It pleased God to make this winter one of fruitfulness. Mr. Renville was active in persuading those under his influence to attend the religious meetings, the school room was crowded on Sabbaths, and the Word, imper fectly as it was spoken, was used by the Spirit upon those dark minds. There was evidently a quickening of the church. They were interested in prayer. What is prayer ? — and how shall we pray ? became questions of interest with them. One woman who had received at her baptism the name of Catherine, and who still lives a believing life at the end of forty years, was then troubled to know how prayer could reach God. I told her in this
74 MARY AND I.
we were all little children. God recognized our condi tion in this respect, and had told us that, as earthly fathers and mothers were willing, and desirous of giving good gifts to their children, he was more willing to give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him. Besides, he made the ear, and shall he not hear? He made, in a large sense, all language, and shall he not be able to under stand Dakota words? The very word for "pray " in the Dakota language was " to cry to " — chakiya. Prayer was now, as through all ages it had been, the child's cry in the ear of the Great Father. So there appeared to be a working upward of many hearts. Early in February Mr. Pond, Mr. Renville, and Mr. Huggins, Mr. Gavan and myself, after due examination and instruction, agreed to receive ten Dakotas into the church — all women. I bap tized them and their children — twenty-eight in all — on one Sabbath morning. It was to us a day of cheer. To these Dakota Gentiles also God had indeed opened the door of faith. Blessed be his name for ever and ever.
" Dec. 6, 1838.
" This is our little Alfred's natal day. He of course has received no birthday sugar or earthen toys, and his only gift of such a kind has been a very small bow and arrow, from an Indian man, who is a frequent visitor. The bow is about three-eighths of a yard long and quite neatly made, but Alfred uses it as he would any other little stick. I do not feel desirous that he should prize a bow or a gun as do these sons of the prairie. My prayer is that he may early become a lamb of the Good Shep herd's fold, that while he lives he may be kept from the fierce wolf and hungry lion, and at length be taken home to the green pastures and still waters above."
FOBTY TEAKS WITH THE SIOUX. 75
" Feb. 9, 1839.
" We mentioned in our last encouraging prospects here. The forenoon schools, which are for misses and children, have some days been crowded during the few past weeks, and a Sabbath-school recently opened has been so well attended as to encourage our hopes of blessed results. Last Lord's day we had a larger assembly than have ever before met for divine worship in this heathen land. More than eighty were present."
As Mr. Gavan was a native Frenchman and a scholar, we expected much from his presence with us, during the winter, in the way of obtaining translations. He and Mr. Renville could communicate fully and freely through that language, and we believed he would be able to ex plain such words as were not well understood by the other. And so we commenced the translation of the Gospel of John from the French. But it soon became apparent that the perfection of knowledge, of which they both supposed themselves possessed, was a great bar to progress. And by the time we had reached the end of the seventh chapter, the relations of the two Frenchmen were such as to entirely stop our work. We were quite disappointed. But this event induced us the sooner to o-ird ourselves for the work of translating the Bible from the original tongues, and so was, in the end, a blessing.
CHAPTER IV.
1838-1840. — " Eagle Help." — His Power as War Prophet — Makes No-Flight Dance. — We Pray Against It. — Unsuccess ful on the War-Path. — Their Revenge. — Jean Nicollet and J. C. Fremont. — Opposition to Schools. — Progress in Teach ing. — Method of Counting. — " Lake That Speaks." — Our Trip to Fort Snelling. — Incidents of the Way. — The Changes There. — Our Return Journey. — Birch-Bark Canoe. — Mary's Story. — "Le Grand Canoe." — Baby Born on the Way. — Walking Ten Miles. — Advantages of Travel. — My Visit to the Missouri River. — " Fort Pierre." —Results.
"EAGLE HELP" was a good specimen of a war prophet and war leader among the Dakotas. At the time of the commencement of the mission, he was a man of family and in middle age, but he was the first man to learn to read and write his language. And from the very first, no one had clearer apprehensions of the advantages of that attainment. He soon became one of the best helps in studying the Dakota, and the best critical helper in translations. He wanted good pay for a service, but lie was ever ready to do it, and always reliable. When my horse failed me, on the trip up from Fort Snelling, and I had walked fifty miles, Eagle Help was ready, for a con sideration (my waterproof coat), to go on foot and bring up the baggage I had left. And in the early spring of 1839, when Mr. Pond would remove his family — wife and child — to join his brother in the work near Fort Snelling, Eagle Help was the man to pilot his canoe down the Minnesota.
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FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 77
But, notwithstanding his readiness to learn and to impart, to receive help and give help — notwithstand ing his knowledge of the " new way," of which his wife was a follower, and his near relations to us in our mis sionary work, he did not, at once, abandon his Dakota customs, one of which was going on the war-path.
As a war prophet, he claimed to be able to get into communication with the spirit world, and thus to be made a seer. After fasting and praying and dancing the circle dance, a vision of the enemies he sought to kill would come to him. He was made to see, in this trance or dream, whichever it might be, the whole panorama, the river or lake, the prairie or wood, and the Ojibwas in canoes or on the land, and the spirit in the vision said to him, "Up, Eagle Help, and kill." This vision and proph ecy had heretofore never failed, he said.
And so, when he came back from escorting Mr. Gavan and Mr. Pond to the Mississippi River, he determined to get up a war party. He made his " yoomne wachepe " (circle dance), in which the whole village participated — he dreamed his dream, he saw his vision, and was confi dent of a successful campaign. About a score of young men painted themselves for the war; they fasted and feasted and drilled by dancing the no-flight dance, and made their hearts firm by hearing the brave deeds of older warriors, who were now hors de combat by age.
In the meantime, the thought that our good friend Eagle Help should lead out a war party to kill and man gle Ojibwa women and children greatly troubled us. We argued and entreated, but our words were not heeded. Among other things, we said we would pray that the war party might not be successful. That was too much of a menace. Added to this, they came and asked MI*. Hug-
78 MAEY AND I.
gins to grind corn for them on our little ox-power mill, which he refused to do. They were greatly enraged, and, just before they started out, they killed and ate two of the mission cows. After a rather long and difficult tramp they returned without having seen an Ojibwa. Their failure they attributed entirely to our prayers, and so, as they returned ashamed, they took off the edge of their disgrace by killing another of our unoffending ani mals.
After this, it was some months before Eagle Help would again be our friend and helper. In the meantime, Dr. Williamson and his family returned from Ohio, bringing with them Miss Fanny Huggins, to be a teacher in the place of Mrs. Pond. Miss Huggins afterward became Mrs. Jonas Pettijohn, and both she and her hus band were for many years valuable helpers in the mission work. Also this summer brought to Lnc-qui-parle such distinguished scientific gentlemen as M. Jean Nicollet and J. C. Fremont. M. Nicollet took an interest in our war difficulty, and of his own motion made arrangements in behalf of the Indians to pay for the mission cattle destroyed. And so that glory and that shame were alike forgotten. In after years Eagle Help affirmed that his power of communicating with the spirit world as a war prophet was destroyed by his knowledge of letters and the religion of the Bible. Shall we accept that as true ? And, if so, what shall we say of modern spiritism ? Is it in accord with living a true Christian life?
Thus events succeeded each other rapidly. But Mary and I and the baby boy, " Good Bird," lived still in the " upper chamber," and were not ashamed to invite the French savant, Jean Nicollet, to come and take tea with us.
FOKTY YEAKS WITH THE SIOUX. 79
During these first years of missionary work at Lac-qui- parle, the school was well attended. It was only once in a while that the voice of opposition was raised against the children. Occasionally some one would come up from below and tell about the fight that was going on there against the Treaty appropriation for Education.
The missionaries down there were charged with want ing to get hold of the Indians' money ; and so the pro vision for education made by the treaty of 1837 effectu ally blocked all efforts at teaching among those lower Sioux. What should have been a help became a great hindrance. Indians and traders joined to oppose the use of that fund for the purpose for which it was intended, and finally the government yielded and turned over the accumulated money to be distributed among themselves. The Wahpatons of Lac-qui-parle had no interest in that treaty ; and had yet made no treaty with the government and had not a red cent of money anywhere that mission aries could, by any hook or crook, lay hold of. Neverthe less it was easy to get up a fear and belief ; for was it possible that white men and women would come here and teach year after year, and not expect, in some way and at some time, to get money out of them ? If they ever made a treaty, and sold land to the government, would not the missionaries bring in large bills against them ? It was easy to work up this matter in their own minds, and make it all seem true, and the result was the soldiers were ordered to stop the children from coming to school. There were some such moods as this, and our school had a vacation. But the absurdity ap peared pretty soon, and the children were easily induced to come back.
Mr, and Mrs. Pond were now gone. For the next
80 MARY AND I.
winter, Mary and Miss Fanny Huggins took care of the girls and younger boys, and Mr. Huggins, with such assistance as I could give, took care of the boys and young men. The women also undertook, under the instruction of Mrs. Huggins and Miss Fanny, to spin and knit and weave. Mr. Renville had already among his flock some sheep. The wool was here and the flax was soon grown. Spinning-wheels and knitting-needles were brought on, and Mr. Huggins manufactured a loom. They knit socks and stockings, and wove skirts and blankets, while the little girls learned to sew patchwrork and make quilts. All this was of advantage as education.
My own special effort in the class-room during the first years was in teaching a knowledge of figures. The lan guage of counting in Dakota was limited. The " wan- cha, nonpa, yamne " — one, two, three, up to ten, — every child learned, as he bent down his fingers and thumbs until all were gathered into two bunches, and then let them loose as geese flying away. Eleven was ten more one, and so on. Twenty was ten twos or twice ten, and thirty ten threes. With each ten the fingers were all bent down, and one was kept down to remember the ten. Thus, when ten tens were reached, the whole of the two hands was bent down, each finger meaning ten. This was the perfected " bending down." It was " opawinge " — one hundred. Then, when the hands were both bent down for hundreds, the climax was supposed to be reached, which could only be expressed by " again also bending dowrn." When something larger than this was reached, it was a great count — something which they nor we can comprehend — a million.
On the other side of one the Dakota language is still
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 81
more defective. Only one word of any definiteness exists — hankay, half. We can say hankay-hankay — the half of a half. But it does not seem to have been much used. Beyond this there was nothing. A piece is a word of uncertain quantity, and is not quite suited to intro duce among the certainties of mathematics. Thus, the poverty of the language has been a great obstacle in teaching arithmetic. And that poorness of language shows their poverty of thought in the same line. The Dakotas are not, as a general thing, at all clever in arithmetic.
Before the snows had disappeared or the ducks come back to this northern land, in the spring of 1840, a baby girl had been added to the little family in the upper chamber. By the first of June, Mary was feeling well, and exceedingly anxious to make a trip across the prairie. She had been cooped up here now nearly three years. There was nowhere to go. Lac-qui-parle is the " Lake that speaks," but who could be found around it ? And no one had any knowledge of any great Indian talk held there that might have justified the name. But the romance was all taken out of the French name by the criticism of Eagle Help, that the Dakota name, " Mda- eyaydan," did not mean " Lake that talks," but " Lake that connects." And so Lac-qui-parle had no historic interest. It was not a good place to go on a picnic. She had been to the Indian village frequently, but that was not a place to visit for pleasure. And on the broad prairie there was no objective point. Where could she go for a pleasure trip, but to Fort Snelling ?
And so we made arrangements for the journey. The little boy " Good Bird " was left behind, and the baby
82 MARY AND I.
Isabella had to go along, of course. We were with Mr. Renville's annual caravan going to the fur-trader's Mecca.
The prairie journey was pleasant and enjoyable, though somewhat fatiguing. We had our own team and could easily keep in company with the long line of wooden carts, carrying buffalo robes and other furs. It was, indeed, rather romantic. But when we reached the Traverse des Sioux, we were at our wit's end how to proceed further. That was the terminus of the wagon- road. It was then regarded as absolutely impossible to take any wheeled vehicle through by land to Fort Snelling. Several years after this we began to do it, but it was very difficult. Then it was not to be tried. Mr. Sibley's fur boat, it was expected, would have been at the Traverse, but it was not. And a large canoe which was kept there had gotten loose and floated away. Only a little crazy canoe, carrying two persons, was found to cross the stream with. Nothing remained but to abandon the journey or to try it on horseback. And for that not a saddle of any kind could be obtained. But Mary was a plucky little woman. She did not mean to use the word " fail " if she could help it. And so we tied our buffalo robe and blanket on one of the horses, and she mounted upon it, with a rope for a stirrup. Many a young woman would have been at home there, but Mary had not grown up on horseback. And so at the end of a dozen miles, when we came to the river where Le Sueur now is, she was very glad to learn that the large canoe had been found. In that she and baby Isabella took passage with Mr. Renville's girls and an Indian woman or two to steer and paddle. The rest of the company went on by land, managing to meet
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. Od
the boat at night and camp together. This we did for the next four nights. It was a hard journey for Mary. The current was not swift. The canoe was heavy and required hard paddling to make it move onward. The Dakota young women did not care to work, and their helm's-woman was not in a condition to do it. On the fourth day out they ran ashore somewhat hurriedly and put up their tent, where the woman pilot gave birth to a baby girl. They named it " By-the-way." One day they came in very hungry to an Indian village. The Dakota young women were called to a tent to eat sugar. Then Mary thought they might have called " the white woman " also, but they did not. She did not consider that they were relatives.
By and by the mouth of the Minnesota was reached, through hardship and endurance. But then it was to be " a pleasure trip," and this was the way in which the pleasure came.
Since we had last seen him, S. W. Pond had married Miss Cordelia Eggleston, a sister of Mrs. J. D. Stevens. The station at Lake Harriet had been abandoned, the Indians having left Lake Calhoun first. Mr. Stevens had gone down to Wabashaw's village, and the Pond brothers, with their families, were occupying what was called the " Stone House," within a mile of the Fort. Mary found an old school friend in the garrison, and so the two weeks spent in this neighborhood were pleasant and profitable.
We now addressed ourselves to the return journey. The fur boat had gone up and come down again. We were advised to try a birch-bark canoe, and hire a couple of French voyagers to row it. In the first part of the river we went along nicely. But after a while we began
84 MARY AND I.
to meet with accidents. The strong arms of the paddlers would ever and anon push the canoe square on a snag. The next thing to be done was to haul ashore and mend the boat. By and by our mending material was all used up. It was Saturday morning, and we could reach Traverse that day if we met with no mishap. But we did meet with a mishap. Suddenly we struck a snag which tore such a hole in our bark craft that it was with difficulty we got ashore. By land, it was eight or ten miles to the Traverse. The Frenchmen were sent on for a cart to bring up the baggage. But rather than wait for them, Mary and I elected to walk and carry baby Bella. To an Indian woman that would have been a mere trifle — not worth speaking of. But to me it meant work. I had no strap to tie her on my back, and the little darling seemed to get heavier every mile we went. But, then, Mary had undertaken the trip for pleasure, and so we must not fail to find in it all the pleasure we could. And we did it. Altogether, that trip to Fort Snelling was a thing to be remembered and not regretted.
" FORT SNELLING, June 19, 1840.
" We left Lac-qui-parle June 1, and reached Le Bland 's the Saturday following, having enjoyed as pleasant a journey across the prairie as we could expect or hope. We had expected to find at that place a barge, but we could not even procure an Indian canoe. With no other alternative, we mounted our horses on Monday, with no other saddles than our baggage. Mine was a buffalo robe and blanket fastened with a trunk strap. My spirits sank within me as I gave our little Isabella to an Indian woman
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 85
to carry perched up in a blanket behind, and clung to my horse's mane as we ascended and descended the steep hills, and thought a journey of seventy miles by land was before us.
" I rode thus nearly ten miles, and then walked a short distance to rest myself, to the place where our company took lunch. There, to our great joy, a Frenchman ex claimed, " Le grand canoe, le grand canoe ! " and we found that the Indian who had been commissioned to search had found and brought it down the river thus far. I gladly exchanged my seat on the horse for one in the canoe, with two Indian women and Mr. Renville's daugh ters. Our progress was quite comfortable, though slow, as some of our party were invited to Indian lodges to feast occasionally, while the rest of us were sunning by the river's bank.
"On the fourth day we had an addition to our party. The woman at the helm said she was sick — and we went on shore perhaps three-quarters of an hour on account of the rain, and when it ceased, she was ready with her infant to step into the canoe and continue rowing, although she did not resume her seat in the stern until the next morning. This is a specimen of Indian life.
" We have found Dr. and Mrs. Turner in the garrison here ; she was formerly Mary Stuart of Mackinaw.
" TRAVERSE DES Sioux, July 4.
"The canoe (birch-bark) which we praised so highly failed us about eight miles below this place, in conse quence of not having a supply of gum to mend a large rent made by a snag early this morning. Not thinking it was quite so far, I chose to try walking, husband carrying
86 MAKY AND I.
Isabella, the Frenchmen having hastened on to find our horses to bring up the baggage. We reached the river and found there was no boat here with which to cross. Mr. Riggs waded with Isabella, the water being about two and a half feet deep, and an Indian woman came to carry me over, when our horses were brought up. Hus band mounted without any saddle, and I, quivering like an aspen, seated myself behind, clinging so tightly that I feared I should pull us both off. I do not think it was fear, at least not entirely, for I am still exceedingly fatigued and dizzy, but I have reason to be grateful that I did not fall into the river from faintness, as husband thought I was in danger of doing. Isabella's face is nearly blistered, and mine almost as brown as an Ind ian's."
" LAC-QUI-PARLE MISSION, July 27, 1840. " We are once more in the quiet enjoyment of home, and are somewhat rested from the fatigue of our journey. The repetition of that parental injunction, ' Mary, do be careful of your health,' recalled your watchful care most forcibly. How often have I heard these words, and per haps too often have regarded them less strictly than an anxious mother deemed necessary for my highest welfare. And even now, were it not that the experience of a few years may correct my notions about health, I should be so unfashionable as to affirm that necessary exposures, such as sleeping on the prairie in a tent drenched with rain, and walking some two or three miles in the dewy grass, where the water would gush forth from our shoes at every step, and then continuing our walk until they were more than comfortably dry, as we did on the morn ing our canoe failed us, are not as injurious to the health as the unnecessary exposures of fashionable life,"
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 87
The Sioux on the Mississippi and Minnesota Rivers were known to be but a small fraction of the Dakota people. We at Lac-qui-parle had frequent intercourse with the Sissetons of Lake Traverse. Sometimes, too, we had visits from the Yanktonais, who followed the buffalo on the great prairies this side of the Missouri River. But more than half of the Sioux nation were said to be Teetons, who lived beyond the Big Muddy. So it seemed very desirable that we extend our acquaint ance among them.
About the first of September, Mr. Huggins and I, hav ing prepared ourselves with a small outfit, started for the Missouri. We had one pony for the saddle, and one horse and cart to carry the baggage. At first we joined a party of wild Sioux from the Two Woods, whose leader was " Thunder Face." He was a great scamp, but had promised to furnish us with guides to the Missouri, after we had reached the Coteau. The party were going out to hunt buffalo, and moved by short days' marches. In a week we had only made fifty miles. After some vexa tious delays and some coaxing and buying, we succeeded in getting started ahead with two young men, the princi pal one being "Sacred Cow." The first day brought us into the region of buffalo, one of which Sacred Cow killed. This came near spoiling our journey. The young men now wanted to turn about and join the hunt. An additional bargain had to be made. In about two weeks from Lac-qui-parle we reached the Missouri, striking it near Fort Pierre. To this trading fort we crossed, and there spent a good part of a week. Forty or fifty teepees of Teetons were encamped there. They treated us kindly (inviting us to a dog feast on one occasion), as did also the white people and half-breeds of the post.
88 MAKY AND I.
We gathered a good deal of information in regard to the western bands of the Sioux nation ; we communicated to them something of the object of our missionary work, and of the good news of salvation, and then returned home pretty nearly by the way we went. We had been gone a month. The result of our visit was the conclusion that we could not do much, or attempt much, for the civilization and Christianization of those roving bands of Dakotas.
CHAPTER V.
1840-1843. — Dakota Braves. — Simon Anawangmane. — Mary's Letter. — Simon's Fall. — Maple Sugar. — Adobe Church. — Catharine's Letter. — Another Letter of Mary's. — Left Hand's Case. — The Fifth Winter. —Mary to Her Brother. — The Children's Morning Ride. — Visit to Hawley and Ohio. — Dakota Printing. — New Recruits. — Return. — Little Rapids. — Traverse des Sioux. — Stealing Bread. — Forming a New Station. — Begging. — Opposition. — Thomas L. Longley. — Meeting Ojibwas. — Two Sioux Killed. — Mary's Hard Walk.
AMONG the encouraging events of 1840 and 1841 was the conversion of Simon Anawangmane. He was the first full-blood Dakota man to come out on the side of the new religion. Mr. Renville and his sons had joined the church, but the rest were women. It came to be a taunt that the men used when we talked with them and asked them to receive the gospel, " Your church is made up of women " ; and, " If you had gotten us in first, it would have amounted to something, but now there are only women. Who would follow after women ? " Thus the proud Dakota braves turned away.
But God's truth has sharp arrows in it, and the Holy Spirit knows how to use them in piercing even Dakota hearts.
Anaicangmane (walks galloping on) was at this time not far from thirty years old. He was not a bright schol ar — rather dull and slow in learning to read. But he
89
90 MARY AND I.
had a very strong will-power and did not know what fear was. He had been a very dare-devil on the war-path. The Dakotas had a curious custom of being under law and above law. It was always competent for a Dakota sol dier to punish another man for a misdemeanor, if the other man did not rank above him in savage prowess. As for example : If a Dakota man had braved an Ojibwa with a loaded gun pointed at him, and had gone up and killed him, he ranked above all men who had not done a like brave deed. And if no one in the community had done such an act of bravery, then this man could not be punished for any thing, according to Dakota custom.
Under date of Feb. 24, 1841, Mary writes : — "Last Sabbath was Isabella's birthday. She has been a healthy child, for which we have cause of gratitude. But this was not our only, or principal, cause of joy on last Sab bath. Five adults received the baptismal rite prepara tory to the celebration of the Lord's Supper on next Sab bath. One of them was a man, the first in the nation — a full-blooded Sioux, that has desired to renounce all for Christ. May God enable him to adorn his profession. His future life will doubtless exert a powerful influence either for or against Christ's cause here. Three years since he was examined by the church session, but then he acknowledged that the 6th and 7th commandments were too broad in their restrictions for him. Now he professes a desire and determination to keep them also. His wife, whom he is willing to marry, with her child, and three children by two other wives he has had, stood with him, and at the same time received the seal of the new cove nant. As they all wished English names, we gave ' Hetta ' to a white, gray-eyed orphan girl who was bap tized, on account of her grandmother,"
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 91
This young man, Anawangmane, had reached that en viable position of being above Dakota law. He had not only attained to the " first three," but he was the chief. And so when he came out on the side of the Lord and Christianity, there was a propriety in calling him Simon when he was baptized. He was ordinarily a quiet man — a man of deeds and not of words. But once in a while he would get roused up, and his eyes would flash, and his words and gestures were powerful. Simon immediately put on white man's clothes, and made and planted a field of corn and potatoes adjoining the mission field. No Dakota brave dared to cut up his tent or kill his dog or break his gun ; but this did not prevent the boys, and women too, from pointing the finger at him, and saying, "There goes the man who has made himself a woman." Simon seemed to care for it no more than the bull-dog does for the barking of a puppy. He apparently brushed it all aside as if it was only a straw. So far as any sign from him, one looking on would be tempted to think that he regarded it as glory. But it did not beget pride. He did indeed become stronger thereby.
And yet, as time rolled by, it was seen, by the unfold ing of the divine plan, that Simon could not be built up into the. best and noblest character without suffering. Naturally4, he was the man who would grow into self- sufficiency. There were weak points in his character which he perhaps knew not of. It was several years after this when Simon visited us at the Traverse, and made our hearts glad by his presence and help. But alas ! he came there to stumble and fall! "You are a brave man — no man so brave as you are," said the Indians at the Traverse to him. And some of them Avere distantly related to him. While they praised and flattered him,
92 MARY AND I.
they asked him to drink whiskey with them. Surely he was man enough for that. How many times he refused Simon never told. But at last he yielded, and then the very energy of his character carried him to great excess in drinking " spirit water."
" LAC-QUI-PARLE, March 27, 1841.
" Until this, the seasons for sugar-making have been very unfavorable since we have resided here. But this spring the Indian women have been unusually successful, and several of them have brought us a little maple sugar, which, after melting and straining, was excellent, and forcibly reminded us of home sugar. However, it does not always need purifying, as some are much more cleanly than others, here as well as in civilized lands. Sugar is a luxury for which these poor women are willing to toil hard, and often with but small recompense. Their camps are frequently two or three miles from their lodges. If they move to the latter, they must also pack corn for their families ; and if not, with kettle in hand they go to their camps, toil all day, and often at night return with their syrup or sugar and a back load of wood for their husbands' use the next day. Thus sugar is to them a hard-earned luxury. But they have also others, which they sometimes offer us, such as musk-rats, beavers'-tails, and tortoises. I have never tried musk-rats, but husband says they are as good as polecats — another delicacy !"
But I must leave these broken threads, and take up the thread of my story. At Lac-qui-parle the school room in Dr. Williamson's log house became too strait for our religious gatherings. We determined to build a church. The Dakota women volunteered to come and
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 93
dig out, in the side of the hill, the place where it should stand. Building materials were not abundant nor easily obtained, and so we decided to build an adobe. We made our bricks and dried them in the sun, and laid them up into the walls. We sawed our boards with the whip- saw, and made our shingles out of the ash-trees. We built our house without much outlay of money. The heavy Minnesota rains washed its sides, and we plastered one and clapboarded another. It was a comfortable house, and one in which much preaching and teaching were done ; moreover, when, in after years, our better framed house was burned to the ground, this adobe church still stood for us to take refuge in. There we were living when Secretary S. B. Treat visited us in 1854, and in one corner of that we fenced off with bed-quilts a little place for him to sleep. In this adobe house we first made trial of an instrument in song worship. Miss Lucy Spooner, afterward Mrs. Drake, took in her melodeon. But the Dakota voices fell so much below the instrument that she gave it up in despair. By all these things we remember the old adobe church at Lac-qui-parle. And not less by the first consecration of it. That was a feast made by Dr. Williamson for the men. The floor was not yet laid, but a hundred Dakota men gathered into it and sat on the sleepers, and ate their potatoes and bread and soup gladly, and then we talked to them about Christ.
Of this church when commenced, Catherine Totiduta- win wrote : " Now are we to have a church, and on that account we rejoice greatly. In this house we shall pray to the Great Spirit. We have dug ground two days already. We have worked having the Great Spirit in our thoughts. We have worked praying. When we have this house we shall be glad. In it, if we pray, he
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will have mercy upon us, and if he hears what we say, he will make us glad. As yet we do what he hates. In this house we will confess these things to him — our thoughts, our words, our actions — these we will tell to him. His Son will dwell in this house and pardon all that is bad. God has mercy on us and is giving us a holy house. In this we will pray for the nations."
" Dec. 10, 1841.
" The last two Sabbaths we have assembled in our new chapel. Only one half is completed, though husband and Mr. Pettijohn have been very diligent and successful. You can scarcely imagine what a task building is in a land where there is such a scarcity of materials and men. During the summer great exertions were made to prepare lumber, and two men were employed about two months in sawing it with a whip-saw. The woods were searched and researched for two or three miles for suitable timber, and the result was about 3200 feet — which is not enough — at an expense of $150. I might mention other hin drances, but, notwithstanding them all, the Lord has evi dently prospered the work, and our expectations have been fully realized, if our wishes have not."
Besides Simon Anawangmane, two or three other young men were won over to the religion of Christ before 1842. One of these was Paul Mazakootaymane. Paul was a man of different stamp from Simon. He was a native orator. But he was innately lazy. Still, he has always been loyal to the white people, and has done much good work on their behalf.
There was at this time an elderly man who sought admission to the church at Lac-qui-parle, Left Hand by
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 95
name. This man was Mr. Renville's brother-in-law. We could not say he was not a true believer — he seemed to be one. But he had two wives, and they both had been received into church fellowship. They had been admitted on the ground, partly, that it could not be decided which, if either, was the lawful wife, and partly on the ground that Dakota women heretofore could not be held respon sible for polygamy. And now Left Hand claimed for himself that he had lived with these women for a quarter of a century, and had a family by each ; that he had en tered into this relation in the days of ignorance, and that the Bible recognized the rightfulness of such relations under certain circumstances, since David and Jacob had more than one wife. Mr. Renville, who was a ruling elder in the church, took this position, and the members of the mission were not a unit against it. So the question was referred to the Ripley Presbytery. The result was that our native church was saved from sanctioning polygamy. We had the two wives of Left Hand, and two women also in another case. But the husband's dying has long since left them widows, and some of them also have gone to the eternal world. The loose condition of the mar riage relation is still that, in the social state of the Dako- tas, which gives us the most trouble.
The fifth winter in our " little chamber " was one full of work. In the early part of it, Mary was still in the school. In the latter part our third child was born. She was named "Martha Taylor," for the grandmother in Massachusetts. During the years previous, I had under taken to translate a good portion of the New Testament, the Acts, and Paul's Epistles, and the Revelation. This winter the corrected copy had to be made. Of necessity
96 MARY AND I.
I learned to do my best work surrounded by children. My study and workshop was our sitting-room, and din ing-room, and kitchen, and nursery, and ladies' parlor. It was often half filled with Indians. Besides my own trans lations, I copied for the press the Gospel of John and some of the Psalms. A part of the latter were my own translation, and a part were secured, as the Gospel was, through Mr. Renville. There was also a hymn-book to edit, and some school-books to be, prepared. So the win ter was filled with work and service. The remembrance of it is only pleasant. Of course, the ordinary family trials were experienced. A bucket of water was spilled and was leaking down on Mrs. Williamson's bed below, or one of the children fell down the stairs, or our little Bella crawled out of the window and sat on the little shelf where the milk was set to cool in the morning, giv ing us a good scare, etc.
MARY TO HER BROTHER ALFRED.
" LAC-QUI-PABLE, April 28, 1841.
" Your letter presented to my l mind's eye ' our moun tain home. I entered the lower gate, passed up the lane between the elms, maples, and cherries, and saw once more our mountain home embowered by the fir-trees and shrub bery I loved so well. How many times have I watched the first buddings of those rose-bushes and lilacs, and with what care and delight have I nursed those snow balls, half dreaming they were sister spirits, telling by their delicate purity of that Eden where flowers never fade and leaves never wither. Perhaps I was too pas sionately fond of flowers ; if so, that fondness is suffi ciently blunted, if not subdued. Not a solitary shrub, tree, or flower rears its head near our dwelling, excepting
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 97
those of nature's planting at no great distance on the op posite side of the St. Peter's, and a copse of plums in a dell on the left, and of scrub-oak on the right. Back of us is the river hill which shelters us from the furious wind of the high prairie beyond. Until last season we have had no enclosure, and now we have but a poor de fence against the depredations of beasts, and still more lawless and savage men. On reading descriptions of the situation of our missionary brethren and sisters in Beirut, Jerusalem, and elsewhere, the thought has arisen, ' That is such a place as I should like to call home.' But the remembrance of earthquakes, war, and the plague, by which those countries are so often scourged, hushed each murmuring thought. When I also recollected the myste rious providences which have written the Persian mission aries childless, how could I long or wish to possess more earthly comforts, while my husband and our two < olive plants ' are spared to sit around our table. Little Bella already creeps to her father, and, if granted a seat on his knee, holds her little hands, although, as Alfred says, ' she does not wait till papa says amen.' While we are sur rounded by so many blessings, I would not, like God's an cient people, provoke him by murmuring, as I fear I have done, and if he should deprive us of any of the comforts we now possess, may he give us grace to feel as did Hab- akkuk, ' Although the fig-tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vine, etc., yet I will rejoice in the Lord and joy in the God of my Salvation.'
"I suppose you have hardly yet found how much of romance is mingled with your ideas of a married state. You will find real life much the same that you have ever found, and with additional joys, additional cares and sor rows. I have realized as much happiness as I anticipated,
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though many of my bright visions have not been realized, and others have been much changed in outline and finish ing. For instance, our still winter evenings are seldom enlivened by reading, while I am engaged lulling our little ones or plying my needle. Although I should greatly enjoy such a treat occasionally ', I can not, in our situation, expect it, while it is often almost the only time husband can secure for close and uninterrupted study. You know the time of a missionary is not his own"
" Thursday, May 19, 1841.
" Perhaps the scene that would amuse you most would be * the babies' morning ride.' The little wagon in which Isabella and my namesake, Mary Ann Huggins, are drawn by the older children, even Alfred ambitious to assist, would be in complete contrast with ' the royal princess' cradle ' ; yet I doubt not it affords them as much pleas ure as a more elegant one would. Alfred's was made by his father, and Hetta, an Indian girl living at Mr. Hug- gins', constructed a canopy, which gives it a tasteful, though somewhat rude appearance. Mrs. Williamson's son John draws his sister in a wagon of his own, so that the whole troop of ten little ones, with their carriages, form a miniature pleasure party."
" LAC-QUI-PAKLE, Feb. 26, 1842.
"We are grateful for the expression of kindness for us and for our children, and we hope that our duty to those whom God has committed to our care will be made plain. Before your letter reached us, containing the remark of 'Mother Clark' about taking the little girl, we had another little daughter added to our family, and had con-
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eluded to leave Isabella with Miss Fanny Huggins, as it is probable we shall return to this region, instead of ascending the Missouri. Our little Martha we shall of course not leave behind if our lives are spared and we are permitted to go East ; and Alfred we intend taking with us as far as Ohio."
Of the next year — from the spring of 1842 — little need be said in this connection. The preparations were all made. Mary and I took with us the little boy, now in his fifth year, and the baby, while the little girl between was left in the care of Miss Fanny Huggins. It was a year of enjoyment. Mary visited the old home on Haw- ley hills. The old grandfather was still there, and the younger members of the family had grown up. Here, during the summer, the little boy born in Dakota land gathered strawberries in the meadows of Massachusetts. Our school-books and hymn-book were printed in Boston, and in the autumn we came to Ohio. During the winter months the Bible-printing was done in Cincinnati.
When we were ready to start back, in the spring of 1843, we had secured as fellow-laborers, at the new sta tion which we were instructed to form, Robert Hopkins and his young wife Agnes, and Miss Julia Kephart, all from Ripley, Ohio. The intercourse with so many sym pathizing Christian hearts, which had been much inter ested in the Dakota mission from its commencement, was refreshing. We found, too, that we had both been for getting our mother tongue somewhat, in the efforts made to learn Dakota. This must be guarded against in the future. In our desire to be Dakotas we must not cease to be English.
The bottoms of the Lower Minnesota were putting on
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their richest robes of green, and the great wild-rose gar dens were coming into full perfection of beauty, when, in the month of June, our barge, laden with mission sup plies, was making its way up to Traverse des Sioux. At what was known as " The Little Rapids " was a village of Wahpaton Dakotas, the old home of the people at Lac-qui-parle. There were certain reasons why we thought that might be the point for the new station. We made a halt there of half a day, and called the chief men. But they were found to be too much under the influence of the Treaty Indians below to give us any encourage ment. In fact, they did not want missionaries.
We passed by, and landed our boats at the Traverse. The day before reaching this point, Mrs. Hopkins and Mary had made arrangements to have some light bread, — they were tired eating the heavy cakes of the voyage. They succeeded to their satisfaction, and placed the warm bread away, in a safe place, as they supposed, within the tent, ready for the morning. But when the breakfast was ready, the bread was not there. During the night an Indian hand had taken it.
The Dakotas were accustomed to do such things. While at Lac-qui-parle we were constantly annoyed by thefts. An axe or a hoe could not be left out-of-doors, but it would be taken. And in our houses we were con tinually missing little things. A towel hanging on the wall would be tucked under the blanket of a woman, or a girl would sidle up to a stand and take a pair of scis sors. Any thing that could be easily concealed was sure to be missing, if we gave them an opportunity. And these people at the Traverse (Sissetons they were) we found quite equal to those at Lac-qui-parle. Stealing, even among themselves, was not considered very dis-
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 101
honorable. The men said they did not steal, but the women were all wamanonsa.
We had decided to make this our new station. We should consult the Indians, but our staying would not depend upon their giving us an invitation to stay. And so the first thing to be done was to start off the train to Lac-qui-parle. In the early part of June, 1842, after Mary and I left, there had come frosts which cut off the Indian corn. The prospect was that the village would be abandoned pretty much during the year. This led Dr. Williamson to come down to Fort Snelling, as Mr. S. W. Pond and wife had already gone up to take our place. This spring of 1843, Mr. Pond had left, and Dr. William son could not return until the autumn, as he had engaged temporarily to fill the place of surgeon in the garrison. In these circumstances it was deemed advisable for Mr. and Mrs. Hopkins to go on to Lac-qui-parle for a year. Mary took her baby, Martha Taylor, now fifteen months old, and went up with them to bring down Isabella.
Thomas Longley, a young man of 22 years, and rejoic ing in a young man's strength, had joined us at Fort Snel ling. He was a part of our boat's company up the Minne sota; and now he and I and the little boy, Zitkadan Wash- tay, remained to make a beginning. Immediately I called the Indians and had a talk with them, at Mr. Le Eland's trading-post. I told them we had come to live with them, and to teach them. Some said yes and some said no. But they all asked, What have you to give us?
It was at a time of year when they were badly off for food, and so I gave them two barrels of flour. Before the council was over, some of the principal men became so stupid from the influence of whiskey which they had been drinking, that they did not know what they were saying.
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Old Sleepy Eyes and Tankamane were the chief men present. They were favorable to our stopping, and re mained friends of the mission as long as it was continued there. But some of the younger men were opposed. One especially, who had a keg of whiskey that he was taking to the Upper Minnesota, was reported as saying that when he had disposed of his whiskey, he would come back and stop Tamakoche's building. But he never came back — only a few days after this, he was killed in a drunken frolic.
We expected to meet with opposition, and so were not disappointed. Thomas and I pitched our tents under some scrub-oaks, on a little elevation, in the lower river bottom, a half a mile away from the Trader's. Immedi ately we commenced to cut and haul logs for our cabin.
In the meantime, the party going to Lac-qui-parle were nearing their destination. With them there were three young men who had accompanied us to Ohio, and spent the year. Their baptized names were Simon, Henok, and Lorenzo. Each was about twenty years old. While on their way down, we had cut off their hair and dressed them up as white men. They had all learned much in their absence; while two of them had added their names to the rolls of Christian churches in Ohio. Thus, they were returning. The party spent the Sabbath a day's travel from Lac-qui-parle. On Monday, before noon, these young men had seen, on some far-off prairie elevation, what seemed to be Indians lying down. But their sus picions of a war-party were not very pronounced.
Five miles from the mission, the road crosses the Mayakawan — otherwise called the Chippewa River. It was a hot afternoon when the mission party approached it. They were thirsty, and the young men had started on
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to drink. Simon was ahead, and on horseback. Sud denly, as he neared the stream, there emerged from the wood a war-party of O jib was, carrying two fresh scalps. Simon rode up and shook hands with them. He could do this safely, as he was dressed like a white man. They showed him the scalps, all gory with blood ; but he wot not that one of them was his own brother's. This brother and his wife and a young man were coming to meet their friends. As the two men came to the crossing, they were shot down by the Ojibwas, who lay concealed in the bushes. The woman, who was a little distance behind, heard the guns and fled, carrying the news back to the village. And so it happened that by the time the mis sion teams had fairly crossed the river, they were met by almost the whole village of maddened Dakotas. They were in pursuit of the Ojibwas. But had not the mis sionaries taken these boys to Ohio ? And had not these two young men been killed as they were coming to meet the boys? Were not the missionaries the cause of it all? So questioned and believed many of the frantic men. And one man raised his gun and shot one of the horses in the double team, which carried Mrs. Hopkins and Mary. This made it necessary for them to walk the remainder of the way in the broiling sun of summer. Mary found her little girl too heavy a load, and after a while was kindly relieved of her burden by a Dakota woman, whom she had taught to wash. The excitement and trouble were a terrible strain on her nervous system, and made the gray hairs come prematurely here and there among the black.
CHAPTER VI.
1843-1846.— Great Sorrow.— Thomas Drowned. —Mary's Letter. - The Indians' Thoughts. — Old Gray-Leaf . — Oxen Killed.— Hard Field. — Sleepy Eyes' Horse. — Indian in Prison. — The Lord Keeps Us. — Simon's Shame. — Mary's Letter. — Robert Hopkins and Agnes. — Le Bland. — White Man Ghost. — Ben nett. — Sleepy Eyes' Camp. — Drunken Indians. — Making Sugar. — Military Company. — Dakota Prisoners. — Stealing Melons. — Preaching and School. — A Canoe Voyage. — Red Wing.
SUDDENLY, at the very commencement of our new sta tion, we were called to meet a great sorrow. Mary had come back from Lac-qui-parle with the two little girls, and our family were all together once more. Mr. Huggins and his sister, Miss Fanny Huggins, and Mr. Isaac Petti- john had come down along. Mr. Pettijohn helped us much to forward the log cabin. Saturday came, the 15th of July — and the roof was nearly finished. We should move into its shelter very soon. No one was rejoicing in the prospect more than the young brother, Thomas Law rence Longley. He sang as he worked that morning.
Mr. Huggins had the toothache, and, about 10 o'clock, said he would go and bathe, as that sometimes helped his teeth. Brother T. proposed that we should go also, to which I at first objected, and said we would go after dinner. He thought we should have something else to do then ; and, remembering that once or twice I had prevented his bathing, by not going when he wished, I consented. We had been in the water but a moment, when, turning
104
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 105
around, I saw T. throw up his hands and clap them over his head. My first thought was that he was drowning. The current was strong and setting out from the shore. I swam to him — he caught me by the hand, but did not ap pear to help himself in the least — probably had the cramp. I tried to get toward shore with him, but could not. He pulled me under once or twice, and I began to think I should be drowned with him. But when we came up again, he released his grasp, and, as I was coming into shallow water, with some difficulty, I reached the shore. But the dear boy Thomas appeared not again. The cruel waters rolled over him. In the meantime, Mr. Huggins had jumped into a canoe, and was coming to our relief. But it was too late — too late !
Mary's first letter after the 15th of July, 1843: — "Traverse des Sioux, Friday noon: What shall I add, my dear parents, to the sad tidings my husband has writ ten ? Will it console you in any measure to know that one of our first and most frequent petitions at the throne of grace has been that God would prepare your hearts for the news, which, we feared, would be heart-breaking, unless 'the Comforter' comforted you and the Almighty strengthened you? We hope — indeed, some small measure of faith is given us to believe — that you will be comforted and sustained, under this chastening from the Lord. And oh, like subdued, humbled, and peni tent children, may we all kiss the rod, and earnestly pray that this sore chastisement may be for our spiritual good !
" I feel that this affliction, such as I have never before known, is intended to prepare us who are left for life and death. Perhaps some of us may soon follow him whom we all loved. When I stand by his grave, overshadowed
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by three small oaks, with room for another person by his side, I think that place may be for me.
" The last Sabbath he was with us was just after my return from Lac-qui-parle. I reached here on Saturday, and having passed through distressing scenes on our way to Lac-qui-parle, occasioned by an attack of the Chippe- was on some Sioux who were coming to meet us, I felt uncommon forebodings lest something had befallen the dear ones I had left here. But I endeavored to cast my care upon the Lord, remembering that while we were homeless and houseless we were more like our Saviour. And that if he was despised and rejected of men, ice surely ought not to repine if we were treated as our Master. With such feelings as these, as we came in sight of husband's tent, I pointed it out to Isabella, when she asked, '^here's papa's house?' and soon I saw Mr. Riggs and brother Thomas and little Alfred coming to meet us.
" Not quite one week after that joyful hour, Mr. Riggs came home from the St. Peter's, groaning, 'Oh, Mary, Thomas is drowned — Thomas is drowned ! ' I did not, I could not receive the full import. I still thought his body would be recovered and life restored ; for your sakes, I cried for mercy, but it came not in the way I then desired. Still, I tried to flatter myself, even after search for the body had been given up for the day, that it had floated down upon a sand-bar, and he would yet live arid return in the dusk of the evening. But when I lay down for the night, and the impossibility of my illu sive hopes being realized burst upon me, oh —
" The hand of the Lord had touched us, and we were ready to sink; but the same kind hand sustained us. May the same Almighty Father strengthen you. One
FORTY YEAES WITH THE SIOUX. 107
thought comforted me not a little. ' If brother Thomas had gone home to our father's house in Massachusetts, I should not have grieved much ; and now he had gone to his Father's and our Father's home in Heaven, why should I mourn so bitterly ? I felt that God had a right to call him when he pleased, and I saw his mercy, in sparing my husband to me a little longer, when he was but a step from the eternal world. Still, I felt that I had lost a brother, and such a brother !
"Before I went to Lac-qui-parle, I had confided Alfred to his special care. I knew that the rejection of our offer of stopping at the Little Rapids, by the Indians there, had been exceedingly painful and discouraging to Mr. Riggs, and the rumor that the Indians here would do likewise was no less so ; and I should have felt very un pleasantly in going for Isabella at that time, but it seemed necessary, and I felt that brother Thomas would be, what he was, ' a friend in need.' On my return, on recounting the scenes I had passed through, the killing by the Chippewas of the eldest brother of one of our young men, as he was coming to meet him — the shooting of one of our horses by a Sioux man, who pretended to be offended because we did not pursue the Chippewas, when we were more than three miles from the mission, and that I carried Martha there in my arms, one of the warmest afternoons we had — Thomas said, ' I see you have grown poor, but you will improve from this time.'
"On Saturday morning, as we were busily engaged near each other, he sang, ' Our cabin is small and coarse our fare, But love has spread our banquet here ! ' Soon afterward he went to bathe, and of course our roof and floor remained unfinished, but that evening we termi-
108 MAKY AND I.
nated in sadness what had been to us a happy feast of tabernacles, by moving into our humble dwelling. For a little while on Sabbath, his remains found a resting-place within the house his hands had reared. I kissed his cheek as he lay upon a plank resting on that large red chest and box which were sent from home, but, owing to the haste and excitement, I did not think to take a lock of hair. It curled as beautifully as ever, although drip ping with water, and the countenance was natural, I thought, but it has rather dimmed my recollections of him as he was when living. I felt so thankful that his body had been found before any great change had taken place, that gratitude to God supplanted my grief while we buried him. Mr. Huggins and Fanny sang an Indian hymn made from the 15th chapter of First Corinthians, and then, ' Unveil thy bosom, faith ful tomb.' We cajne home just after sunset. It is but a little distance from our dwelling, and in the same 'garden of roses,' as Thomas called it, where he now sleeps."
Only a few additional circumstances need to be noted. The sad story was carried speedily to the Indian tents, and those who were in the neighborhood came to look on and give what sympathy and help they could. That was not much. The deep hole was too deep to be reached by any means at our command. The waters rolled on, and to us, as we gazed on them, knowing that the dear brother, Thomas, was underneath them, they began more and more to assume a frightful appearance. For months and months after, they had that frightful look. I shud dered when I looked. The Indians said their water God, OoukteJie, was displeased with us for coming to build
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 109
there. He had seized the young man. It did seem some times as though God wos against us.
The Saturday's sun went down without giving success to our efforts, and on Sabbath morning the Indians re newed the search somewhat, but with no better result. Toward evening the body was found to have risen and drifted to a sand-bar below. We took it up tenderly, washed and wrapped it in a clean linen sheet, and placed it in the new cabin, on which his hands had wrought. A grave was dug hastily under the scrub-oaks, where, with only some loose boards about it, we laid our brother to rest until the resurrection. That was our Allon- bachuth. We were dumb, because God did it. That was the first great shadow that came over our home. It was one of ourselves that had gone. The sorrow was too great to find expression in tears or lamentations. The Dakotas observed this. One day old Black Eagle came in and chided us for it. " The ducks and the geese and the deer," he said, "when one is killed, make an outcry about it, and the sorrow passes by. The Dakotas, too, like these wild animals, make a great wailing over a dead friend — they wail out their sorrow, and it becomes lighter ; but you keep your sorrow — you brood over it, and it becomes heavier." There was truth in what the old man said. But we did not fail to cast our burden upon the Lord, and to obtain strength from a source which the Black Eagle knew not of.
The old men came frequently to comfort us in this way, and it gave us an opportunity of telling them about Christ, who is the great Conqueror over death and the grave. Sometimes they came in and sat in silence, as old Sleepy Eyes and Tankamane often did, and that did us good. Old Gray Leaf had a gift of talk-
110 MARY AND I.
ing — he believed in talking. When he came in, he made an excited speech, and at the close said, " I don't mean anything."
About this time Mary wrote : " A few days after T. was drowned, some of the Indians here, entirely regard less of our affliction, came and demanded provisions as pay for the logs in our cabin. Mr. Riggs had previously given them two barrels of flour, and it was out of our power to aid them any more then, although Mr. R. told them, after their cruel speeches, that he would endeavor to purchase some corn, when the Fur Company's boat came up. They threatened killing our cattle and tearing down our cabin, and husband's proposition did not pre vent their executing the first part of their threat. Just one week after dear T. was drowned, one ox was killed, and in eight days more the other shared the same fate. Then we felt that it was very probable our cabin would be demolished next."
The summer was wearing away. We were getting some access to the people. On the Sabbath, we could gather in a few, to be present while we sang Dakota hymns and read the Bible and prayed. But there was a good deal of opposition. As our oxen had been killed and eaten, and we were approaching the winter, it was necessary that we have some means of drawing our fire wood. So I bought one ox, and harnessed him as the Red River people do. He was a faithful servant to us during that winter, but the next summer he too was killed and eaten. This time they came boldly, and broke open our stable, and killed and carried awny the animal. It seemed as if they were determined that we
FORTY TEARS WITH THE SIOUX. Ill
should not stay. Did the Lord mean to have us give up our work there? We did not want to decide that ques tion hastily.
In the meantime, the field was proving to be a very unpromising as well as difficult one, because of the great quantities of whiskey brought in. St. Paul was then made up of a few grog-shops, which relied chiefly on the trade with the Indians. They took pelts, or guns, or blankets, or horses — whatever the Indian had to give for his keg of whiskey. The trade was a good one. The Lower Sioux bought for the Upper ones, and helped them to buy ; and those at the Traverse and other points engaged in the carrying trade. When a keg was brought up, a general drunk was the result ; but there was enough left to fill with water, and carry up farther and sell for a pony. This made our work very dis couraging. Besides, we were often annoyed by the visits of drunken Indians. Sometimes they came with guns and knives. So that we all felt the strain of those years, and we often asked one another, " What good is to come of this?"
One winter night, Sleepy Eyes had come in from Swan Lake, and placed his horse at our haystack, while he himself went to the trader's to spend the night. Just before we retired to rest, we heard voices and feet hurrying past our door. I went out and found that two men and a woman were at the stable — the men were shooting arrows into Sleepy Eyes' horse. One of the men said, " I asked uncle for this horse, and he did not give it to me — I am killing it." They had done their work. Perhaps I had interfered unnecessarily — certainly unsuccessfully. As they returned and passed by our cabin, I was behind them, and, as I was stepping
112 MARY AND I.
in at the door, an arrow whizzed by. Was it intended to hit?
The next morning that Indian started off for whiskey, but a white man passed down the country also, and told the story at Fort Snelling. The result was that the man who killed his uncle's horse was put in the guard-house. Not for that, but for shooting at a white man, he was to be taken down into Iowa, to be tried for assault. The commandant of the post at Snelling doubted whether good would come of it, and I fully agreed with him. And so, in the month of March, Tankamane (Big Walker) and I went down to the fort and procured his release. He promised well — he would drink no whiskey while he lived — he would always be the white man's friend. He signed the pledge and went back with Big Walker and myself. A captain's wife asked how I dared to go in company with that man. I said, " Madam, that man will be my best friend." And so he was. He went up to the Blue Earth hunting- grounds, and brought us in some fine venison hams.
But still intemperance increased. A drunken man went to the mission singing, and asked for food. They gave him a plate of rice and a spoon, but he did not feel like eating then. After slobbering over it awhile, he compelled the white women to eat it. They were too much afraid to refuse. One time Mr. Hopkins and I were both away until midnight, when my friend, Tanka mane, while drunk, visited the house and threatened to break in the door. But we reached home soon after ward, and the women slept. Thus we had the " terror and the arrow," but the Lord shielded us.
These were very trying years of missionary work. It was at this time our good friend and brother, Simon
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 113
Anawangmane, who had come from Lac-qui-parle, gave way to the temptation of strong drink. We were grieved, and he was ashamed. We prayed for him and with him, and besought him to touch it not again. He promised, but he did not keep his promise. He soon developed a passion for " fire water." It was not long before he put off his white man's clothes, and, dressed like an Indian, he too was on his way to the western plains, to buy a horse with a keg of whiskey. There were times of re penting and attempted reformation, but they were fol lowed by sinning again and again. Shame took posses sion of the man, and shame among the Dakotas holds with a terrible grip. He will not let go, and is not ea sily shaken off. Shame is a shameless fellow ; it insti gates to many crimes. So eight years passed with Simon. Sometimes he was almost persuaded to attempt a new life. Sometimes he came to church and sat down on the door-step, not venturing to go in ; he was afraid of himself, as well he might be.
" TRAVERSE DBS Sioux, July 13, 1844. "... The Indians and the babies, the chickens and the mice, seem leagued to destroy the flowers, and they have wellnigh succeeded. Perhaps you will wonder why I should bestow any of my precious time on flow ers, when their cultivation is attended \vith so many difficulties. The principal reason is that I find my mind needs some such cheering relaxation. In leaving my childhood's home for this Indian land, you know, my dear mother, I left almost everything I held dear, and gave up almost every innocent pleasure I once enjoyed. Much as I may have failed in many respects, I am per suaded there was a firmness of purpose, to count no
114 MARY AND I.
necessary sacrifice too great to be made. I do not think I have made what should be called great sacrifices, but I am using the phrase as it is often used, and I am conscious that, in some respects, I have tasked myself too hard. I feel that I have grown old beyond my years. Even the last year has added greatly to my gray hairs. I have been spending my strength too rapidly, and I have often neglected to apply to Him for strength of whom Isaiah says, 'He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he in crease th strength.' How beautiful and precious is the promise to those who wait upon the Lord ! When c even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall ' ; ' they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings, as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.' Oh, if we could live by faith, the difficulties and the trials of the way would not greatly trouble or distress us."
In the spring of 1844, Robert and Agnes Hopkins came down from Lac-qui-parle, and, for the next seven years, were identified with the missionary work at Tra verse des Sioux. The opposition to our remaining grad ually died away and was lived down. Louis Provencalle, the trader, alias Le Bland, had probably tried to carry water on both shoulders, but he was thoroughly con verted to our friendship by an accident which happened to himself. The old gentleman was carrying corn, in strings, into his upper chamber by an outside ladder. With a load of this corn on his back, he fell and caught on his picket fence, the sharp-pointed wood making a terrible hole in his flesh. For months I visited him almost daily and dressed bis wound, He recovered, and,
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 115
although he was not the less a Romanist, he and his fam ily often came to our meetings, and were our fast friends. Perhaps some seeds of truth were then sown, which bore fruit in the family a score of years afterward.
Thus we had, occasionally, an opportunity to help a fellow white man in trouble. It was one Saturday in the early part of September, while we were at work on our school-house, that an Indian runner came in from Swan Lake, to tell us that a "ghost " had come to their camp. A white man had come in in the most forlorn and desti tute condition. The story is well told by Mary in her letters home.
" TK AVERSE DES Sioux, Oct. 10, 1844.
"We have just returned in safety, after spending a week very pleasantly and profitably at Lac-qui-parle. An armed force, from Forts Snelling and Atkinson, have re cently passed up to Lake Traverse, to obtain the mur derers of an American killed by a Sisseton war-party this summer.
"The circumstances of the murder were very aggra vating, as communicated to us by the only known sur vivor. A gentleman from the State of Missouri, Turner by name, with three men, were on their way to Fort Snelling with a drove of cattle for the Indians. Being unacquainted with the country, they wandered to the north-west, when they were met by a war-party of Sisseton Sioux, returning from an unsuccessful raid upon the Ojibwas. Finding them where they did, on their way apparently to the Red River of the North, they supposed they belonged to that settlement, with whom they had re cently had a quarrel about hunting buffalo. And so they commenced to treat these white men roughly, demanding
116 MARY AND I.
their horses, guns, and clothes. One man resisted and was killed, the others were robbed. Shirts, drawers, hats, and vests were all that were left them. Some of the cattle were killed, and the rest fled. One of the Ameri cans, with some Indians, were sent after them, but he made his escape, and was never heard of again. The next morning, the other two were permitted to leave, but the only requests they made, for their coats, a knife, and a life-preserver, were not granted.
" The second and third day after this escape, they saw the cattle, and if only a knife had been spared them, they might have supplied themselves with provisions, but as they were, it was safest, they thought, to hasten on. On the fourth day they came to a stream too deep to ford, and Turner could not swim. Poor Bennett attempted to swim with him, but was drawn under several times, and, to save his own life, was obliged to disengage himself from Turner, who was drowned. Bennett came on alone five days, finding nothing to eat but hazel-nuts, when at length he came in sight of the Sioux Lodges at Swan Lake. He lay awake that night deliberating whether he should go to them or not. ' If I went,' he said, ' I ex pected they would kill me ; if I did not go, I knew I must die, and I concluded to go, for I could but die.'
" The next morning he tottered toward the Sioux camp. Ever and anon he stopped and hid in the grass. The Dakotas watched his movements. Some young men went out to meet him, but Bennett was afraid of them, and tried to crawl away. When the old man Sleepy Eyes himself came in sight, his benevolent, honest counte nance assured the young white man, and he staggered toward the Dakota chief. His confidence was not mis placed. Sleepy Eyes took the wanage ghost, as they
FOKTY YEAES WITH THE SIOUX. 117
called him, to his tent, and his daughter made bread for him of flour, which the old man had bought of us a few days before ; and Bennett declared he never ate such good bread in his life. Mr. Riggs brought him home, for which he said he was willing to be his servant for ever. We furnished him with such clothing as we had, and after three weeks recruiting we sent him home. At Fort Snelling, he was furnished with money to go to his parents, whom he had left without their consent.
" Since our return from Lac-qui-parle, the Indians have been drunk less than for some time before. At one time quite a number of men came in a body and demanded powder, which Mr. Riggs intended giving them. I but toned the door to prevent their entrance, as Mr. Riggs was not in at the moment, but the button flew into pieces as the sinewy arm of Tankamane pressed the latch. Some of the party were but slightly intoxicated. Those Mr. Riggs told positively that he should not listen to a request made by drunken men, notwithstanding their threatening ' to soldier kill ' him — that is, to kill his horse. Tankamane was so drunk that he would not be silent enough to hear, until Mr. R. covered his mouth with his hand and commanded him to be still, and then assured them that he was not ready to give them the powder, and that they had better go home, which they did soon.
" I am not usually much alarmed, though often con siderably excited. Some Sabbaths since, a party of Indians brought a keg of whiskey, and proposed drinking it in our new building, which is intended for a chapel and school-room. But the Lord ^did not permit this desecration. One of their number objected to the plan, and they drank it outside the door."
118 MARY AND I.
When our school-house was erected and partly finished, our efforts at teaching took on more of regularity. It was a more convenient room to hold our Sabbath service in. In religious teaching, as well as in the school, Mr. Hopkins was an indefatigable worker. He learned the language slowly but well. Often he made visits to the Indian camps miles away. When the Dakotas of that neighborhood abstained for a while from drinking, we became encouraged to think that some good impres sions were being made upon them. But there would come a new flooding of spirit water, and a revival of drinking. Thus our hopes were blasted.
" TRAVERSE DES Sioux, March 15, 1845. " At the present time our Indian neighbors are absent, some at their sugar camps, and others hunting musk-rats. Thus far the season has not been favorable for making sugar, and we have purchased but a few pounds, giving in return flour or corn, of which we have but little, to spare. Last spring, we procured our year's supply from the Indians, and for the most of it we gave calico in exchange. Not for our sakes, but for the sake of our ragged and hungry neighbors, I should rejoice in their having an abundant supply. They eat sugar, during the season, as freely as we eat bread, and what they do not need for food they can exchange for clothing. But they will have but little for either, unless the weather is more favorable the last half than it has been the first part of this month. And they are so superstitious that some, I presume, will attribute the unpropitious sky and wind to our influence. Mr. Hopkins visited several camps about ten miles distant, soon after the first and thus far the only good sugar weather. One woman said to him,
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 119
' You visited us last winter ; before you came there were a great many deer, but afterward none ; and now we have made some sugar, but you have come, and perhaps we shall make no more.' "
" June 23, 1845. " My Dear Mother : —
" Having put our missionary cabin in order for the reception of Captains Sumner and Allen, and Dr. Nichols, of the army, I am reminded of home. I have not made half the preparation which you used to make to receive military company, and I could not if I would, neither would I if I could. I do, however, sometimes wish it afforded me more pleasure to receive such guests, when they occasionally pass through the country. We have so many uncivilized and so few civilized, and our circumstances are such that I almost shrink from trying to entertain company. I sometimes think that even mother, with all her hospitality, would become a little selfish if her kitchen, parlor, and dining-room were all one."
This was the second military expedition made to secure the offenders of the Sisseton war-party. The one made in the fall of 1844 secured five Indians, but not the ones considered most guilty. But they made their escape on the way down to Traverse des Sioux. The expedition, to which reference is made above, was more successful. The Indians pledged themselves to deliver up the guilty men. They did so. Four men were delivered up and taken down to Dubuque, Iowa, where they were kept in confinement until winter. Then they were permitted to escape, and, strange to say, three of them died while making their way back, and one lived to reach his
^ MARY AND T.
friends. It was very remarkable that three Indians should be placed over against three white men in the outcome of Providence.
" Aug. 15, 1845.
" Our garden enclosure extends around the back side and both ends of our mission house, while in front is a double log cabin, with a porch between. Back of the porch we have a very small bedroom, which our chil dren now occupy, and back of our cabin, as it was first erected, we have a larger bedroom, which, by way of distinction, we call the nursery. The door from this room opens into the garden. The room does not extend half the length of the double log cabin, so that Mr. Hopkins has a room corresponding with our nursery, and then, between the two wings, we have two small win dows, one in the children's bedroom, and the other in our family-room. Shading the latter are Alfred's morning-glories and a rose-bush. A shoot from this wild rose has often attracted my attention, as, day after day, it has continued its upward course. It is now seven feet high — the growth of a single season — and is still aspiring to be higher. Bowed beneath it is a sister stalk laden with rose-buds. Last year it was trampled upon by drunken Indians, but now our fence affords us some protection, and we flattered ourselves that our pumpkins and squashes would be unmolested. But we found, to our surprise, one day, that our garden had been stripped of the larger pumpkins the night previous. Our situation here, at a point where the roving sons of the prairie congregate, exposes us to annoyances of this kind more frequently than at other stations among the Sioux. I can sympathize very fully with Moffat in like grievances, which he mentions in his ' Southern Africa.' "
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 121
9
11 Jan. 29, 1846.
" For several Sabbaths past we have had a small con gregation. It encourages us somewhat to see even a few induced to listen for a short time to the truths of the Gospel. But our chief encouragement is in God's unfail ing promises. The Indians here usually sit during the whole service, and sometimes smoke several times.
" For some weeks I have been teaching the female part of our school. Some days half a dozen black-eyed girls come, and then, again, only one or two. Their parents tell them that we ought to pay them for coming to school, and, although there have been no threats of cutting up the blankets of those who read, as there was last winter, they are still ridiculed and reproached. We have in various ways endeavored to reward them for regular attendance, in such a manner as not to favor the idea that we were hiring them."
In the spring of 1846, Mary wanted to get away for a little rest. We fitted up a canoe, and, with a young man of the fur-trade, we started down the Minnesota. Mary had her baby, our fourth child, whose name was Anna Jane. We had scarcely well started when we met drunken Indians. Their canoe was laden with kegs of whiskey, and they were on shore cooking. They called to us to come over and give them some food ; but wo passed by on the other side. One man raised his gun and poured into us a volley of buckshot. Fortunately, Mary and the baby were not touched. The canoe and the rest of us were somewhat sprinkled, but not seriously hurt.
That canoe voyage was continued down the Mississippi River as far as Red Wing. At Mr. Pond's station we
122 MARY AND I.
%
took in Jane Lamonte, afterward Mrs. Titus. Where the city of St. Paul now is, we made a short stop, and I hunted up one of our Dakota church members, the wife of a Frenchman. A half a dozen log houses, one here and one there, made up the St. Paul of that day. At Pine Bend, Mr. Brown left us. After that, the rowing was heavy, and the muscles were light. Just above the mouth of the St. Croix, we found a house, where we spent the night comfortably. The next day, we reached Red Wing, a Dakota village, or Hay-minne-chan, with much difficulty. We had to row against a strong head wind, and I, who was the principal oarsman, fell sick. But, as Providence would have it, we came upon a wood man, who took us to the village.
Red Wing was the station of the Swiss mission, occu pied by the Dentans. Mrs. Dentan had been a teacher in the Mackinaw mission school. Here we found good Christian friends, and spent two weeks in helping them to do missionary work. While we were there, I went to see a young man whom the medicine-men were conjur ing. The Dakota doctor claimed that the spirit which caused the disease was greatly enraged at my presence. And so, at their earnest request, I retired. That sick young man is now one of our excellent native pastors. We have since talked over the event with much inter est.
CHAPTER VII.
1846-1851. — Returning to Lac-qui-parle. — Reasons Therefor. — Mary's Story. — " Give Me My Old Seat, Mother." —At Lac- qui-parle. — New Arrangements. — Better Understanding. — Buffalo Plenty. — Mary's Story. — Little Samuel Died. — Going on the Hunt. — Vision of Home. — Building House. — Dakota Camp. — Soldier's Lodge. — Wakanmane's Village. — Making a Presbytery. — New Recruits. — Meeting at Kaposia. — Mary's Story. — Varied Trials. — Sabbath Worship. — " What is to Die ? " — New Stations. — Making a Treaty. — Mr. Hopkins Drowned. — Personal Experience.
THE time came when it was decided that Mary and I should go back to Lac-qui-parle. The four years since we left had brought many changes. They had been years of discouragement and hardship all along the line. The brothers Pond had built among the people of their first love — the old Lake Calhoun band, now located a short distance up from the mouth of the Minnesota. There they had a few who came regularly to worship and i<> learn the Way of Life. But the mass of the people of Cloud Man's village were either indifferent or opposed to the Gospel of Christ.
At Lac-qui-parle, where had been the best seed-sowing and harvesting for the first seven years, the work had gone backward. Bad corn years had driven some of the native Christians to take refuge among the annuity Ind ians of the Mississippi. Temptations of various kinds had drawn away others — they had stumbled and fallen.
123
124 MARY AND I.
Persecutions from the heathen party had deterred others, and some had fallen asleep in Christ. Among these last was Mr. Joseph Renville, who had stood l>y the work from the beginning. He had passed away in the month of March ; and thus the Lac-qui-parle church was reduced to less than half its members of four years ago.
Out of this church there had gone a half a dozen or so, chiefly women, down to Kaposia, or Little Crow's village, which was on the Mississippi, a few miles below the site of St. Paul. Through them, more than any other influ ence perhaps, there came an invitation, from Little Crow and the head men of the village, to Dr. Williamson, through the Indian agent at Fort Snelling, to come down and open a school and a mission. This application was considered at the meeting of the Dakota mission held at the Traverse, and the voices were in favor of acceptance. But if Dr. Williamson left Lac-qui-parle, that involved the necessity of our returning thither. This proposition Mary could not entertain willingly. True, the work at the Traverse had been full of hardships and suffering, but the very sufferings and sorrows, and especially that great first sorrow, had strongly wedded her affections to the place and the people. It was hard to leave those Oaks of Weeping. She could not see that it was right ; still, she would not refuse to obey orders.
And so the month of September, 1846, found us travel ling over the same road that we had gone on our first journey, just nine years before. Then we two had gone; now we had with us our four little ones, but it was a sad journey. The mother's heart was not convinced, nor was it satisfied we had done right, until some time after we reached Lac-qui-parle.
FORTY YEARS WITH THE SIOUX. 125
" TK AVERSE DES Sioux, Sept. 17, 1846.
" This is probably the last letter I shall write you from this spot so dear to us. If I could see that it was duty to go, it would cheer me in the preparations for our de parture, but I cannot feel that the interests of the mis sion required such a sacrifice as leaving this home is to me.
" These are some of the thoughts that darken the prospect, when I think of leaving the comforts and con veniences which we have only enjoyed one or two short summers — such as the enclosure for our children — our rude back porch which has served for a kitchen, the door into which I helped Mr. Riggs saw with a cross-cut saw, because he could get no one to help him. We located here in the midst of opposition and danger, yet God made our enemies to be at peace with us. Sad will be the hour when I take the last look of our low log cabins, our neat white chapel, and dear Thomas' grave."
" LAC-QUI-PARLE, Dec. 10, 1846.
" How pleasant it would be, dear mother, to join your little circle around home's hearth ; but it is vain to wish, and so I take my pen, that this transcript of my heart may enter where I cannot.