Then at night very close to the heart, and appropriate, were the words
of the Psalmist: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the
firmament showeth His handiwork;" and, "When I consider thy heavens the
work of thy fingers, the moon and stars which thou hast ordained; what
is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou
visitest him?"
But the nights spent on the Indian trail, were not always so delightful,
or so conducive to lofty and celestial sentiments. When the cyclonic
winds howled around us through the long night hours, blowing with such
fury that it requited all of our watchfulness and strength to prevent
canoe, blankets, and bundles from being blown into the lake or river,
our thoughts were not among the stars. Sometimes the black
thunderclouds gathered and the rain fell upon us in torrents, putting
out our fires, perhaps before our evening meal was cooked, drenching us
completely, and continuing sometimes so long that we had not a dry
stitch upon us for days together. Under such circumstances, while
ringing some quarts of water out of our clothes, or from the blankets in
which we had slept, there was no disposition to sentimentalise about the
rippling of the waves on the shore or the distant waterfall.
Thus in storm as in sunshine, it was necessary that the missionary and
his faithful canoemen should be on the trail, if the Book were to be
carried, and its glorious truths proclaimed to those wandering people in
their wigwam homes, in regions so remote and inaccessible that in no
other way could they be reached during the brief summer months.
However, in spite of its hardships and dangers, the results accomplished
more than compensated for them all. Physical sufferings are not worthy
of record, where successful work has been done in the conversion of
immortal souls for whom the Saviour died. Many have been the trophies
won and marvellous the transformations wrought as the result of these
difficult trips on the Indian trail. The missionaries, numbers of whom
are still toiling upon them, rejoice that they are counted worthy to
endure such hardness, and to be "in perils oft" for His glory, and for
the salvation of those for whom He died.
As regards some abiding results attained by these adventurous trips, one
or two incidents are here recorded.
On these long journeys, the missionary generally carried with him a
small assortment of medicines. He well knew that many a hard heart
could be reached, and many a prejudice overcome, by the healing of some
afflicted member of the family, when all other means for influencing
them for good, had for the time being failed.
At one remote pagan village dwelt a man who had refused most positively
to become a Christian. When urged to accept of Christianity he had most
emphatically repeated the expression most common among them: "As my
fathers lived and died, so will I."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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