“Young men, never despair of the hardest case,” were the words which were spoken to some of us, while in Hartford Theological Seminary, more than fifteen years ago, by a missionary from Africa, and he gave us some illustrations to prove his point. I was forcibly reminded of this a few weeks ago as we elected two Indians to serve as deacons, the first Indians ever chosen to fill that place in the history of this church, for during the first eleven years of its existence there have been white men connected with it who have filled that office acceptably. Some time ago, however, the last one left us, and after waiting a while in vain to see if some other men would not come, who would serve in this capacity, we decided that it was best to choose Indians for the place. One of these has had a remarkable history. About thirty years ago or more he was baptized a Catholic, but when, after a short stay, the Catholic priest left these Indians, not to return again, he, with the rest of these Indians, relapsed to their heathenish ways. Twelve years ago he was noted for drinking and for the sly ways in which he could procure his liquor. In 1876 he had great trouble with his wife and wished to leave her, but the Agent would not allow it. A long trouble followed, in which the Agent and prominent Indians tried every way they could think of to make them live peaceably together. One day the Agent with two friendly Indians went to arrest him, but, with the help of his uncle, he knocked down the Agent, broke out a window and got away. He was pursued all day, but was not taken, and at night was helped off by his relations, and he ran a long way off. For this his relations were locked up in jail, which brought them to terms, and they induced him to return so that they could be let out, and he served six months in jail. After that he secretly left his wife, took another, and went to another reservation, sixty miles distant, but in time, with the help of another Agent and two soldiers, he was again taken and conveyed to Fort Townsend, where he worked six months more, with a soldier and bayonet to compel him to do so. A year or two afterwards he returned to Skokomish. He said that he had reformed, but was still a Catholic, and he held some Catholic services at his own house. For a year or two, however, they did not amount to much, as hardly anybody attended them. In 1881 affairs changed, and through the death of a prominent Indian, the Catholics became quite strong, mingling with their teachings spiritualistic revelations from the dying man, and he was their priest.