Transcriber's note: Table of Contents added by Transcriber. CONTENTS I. The Lumberjacks and the Lumberjack Sky Pilot. 13 II. The Work at Barnum, Minnesota. 33 III. In the Heart of the Logging District. 51 IV. The Lumberjack in the Camps. 71 V. A View of the Camp Services. 95 VI. Itinerating in the Camps. 123 VII. Work in the Lumber Towns. 153 VIII. Muscular Christianity. 183 IX. The Field and Its Possibilities. 223 [Illustration: THE LUMBERJACK SKY PILOT AND HIS TEAM, FLASH AND SPARK] THE LUMBERJACK SKY PILOT BY THOMAS D. WHITTLES CHICAGO THE WINONA PUBLISHING COMPANY 1908 COPYRIGHT, 1908 THE WINONA PUBLISHING COMPANY FOREWORD The intent of this little volume is not to glorify a man, but to present the parish of the pines. Imagination has little part in its pages, for the incidents are actual happenings and the descriptions are taken from life. The condition of the foresters is really the theme, although the title draws attention to the missionary. Because the Rev. Frank E. Higgins has given himself devotedly to the men of forest and river, I have chosen his experiences as hooks on which to hang the pictures of pinery life. Mr. Higgins has labored with no thought of fame, but with devotion to God and man; and so I write not to exalt the missionary, but to introduce you to his interesting parishioners. I have written with love because I know the Sky Pilot. I have written with prayerful longing because I know the lumberjacks. If through my unskilled effort you become interested in the isolated, wayward woodsmen, I shall be fully repaid. March, 1908. T. D. W. "Men who plow the sea, spend they may--and free, But nowhere is there prodigal among those careless Jacks Who will toss the hard won spoil of a year of lusty toil Like the Prodigals of Pickpole and the Ishmaels of the Ax." --_Holman Day._ INTRODUCTION BY THE REV. JOHN E. BUSHNELL, D. D. It has long been felt by those familiar with the human side of the forest life that its call should be heard, and that the efforts of devoted hearts to minister to the peculiar needs of the men behind the axe and the saw should be made known. This volume is a timely response to that desire. Through a veritable forest of material the author safely arrives with us at the camp-fire and heart-fire of the lumberjack. Most writers must create their own heroes; ours found his awaiting him, for God created Frank E. Higgins, the hero of this book. It is just like God to make such a man when there is such a work to be done. It shows us how busy Providence is in human affairs. The least we can do in return is to know that man and get his message.