The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 11, November, 1879Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 33, No. 11, November, 1879
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
At _Dunginess_ a troublesome case begins. Four Indians, living fifty
miles farther on, had been here three or four weeks previously, anxious
to obtain the land on which their houses stood. They had been sent
to the clerk of the Probate Court, who knew nothing about it, but
told them it was Government land, and offered to get it for them for
the usual fees, nineteen dollars each. They paid him the seventy-six
dollars, and he promised to send it to the land office at Olympia, and
have their papers for them in two weeks. They waited the two weeks,
but received no returns. In the meantime others told them that the man
could lawfully do the business, but he was not to be trusted, for the
land had been owned by private individuals for fifteen years. He, too,
by the time I met him, had written to the land office and found the
same to be true. My business is, if possible, to get the money back. It
is useless to sue him, as he has no property which the law can touch.
One of the four Indians returned with me to get his money, but was
satisfied that it was useless for him to go farther, so he went home.
He had already spent three weeks, and the three others two weeks each
in trying to recover it. Yet this same man is Postmaster, Clerk of the
Probate Court, U. S. Commissioner, Deputy Sheriff, and lately offered
fifty dollars to the County Treasurer to be appointed his deputy. I was
not disappointed at the result, but handed the business over to the
agent to settle in Court.
Let us contrast the action of the Indians with this. I felt very sorry
for them. For four years we have been advising them to obtain land,
and now they were swindled in their first attempt. Fearful lest they
should become discouraged, I offered them ten dollars to divide amongst
them, saying, “If you never get your money I will lose this with you,
but if you do you can then repay it.” One-tenth of my income has long
been given to the Lord, and I felt that it would do as much good there
as anywhere. When I first mentioned this they refused, saying that they
did not wish me to lose my money, if they did theirs, but two weeks
afterwards, when I left the last one he took it; yet shortly afterwards
I found that he would not spend any of it, although he wanted some
articles very much, saying that it was not their money after all.
This lower part of the Sound is very like the ocean, with nothing to
break the winds, so I procured for that part of the journey a very
large canoe, thirty-six feet long, two and a half deep and six wide.
The children can play in it, and at night we anchored it out in some
good harbor like a small schooner.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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