Western Scenes and Reminiscences: Together with Thrilling Legends and Traditions of the Red Men of the ForestSchoolcraft, Henry Rowe
History
Western Scenes and Reminiscences: Together with Thrilling Legends and Traditions of the Red Men of the Forest
Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe
Indian captivities; Indians of North America
"The first time that I felt I was to be condemned as a
sinner, and that I was in danger of being punished for
sin by God, is clearly in my mind. I was then on the
Island of Bois Blanc, making sugar with my wife. I was in
a conflict of mind, and hardly knew what I was about. I
walked around the kettles, and did not know what I walked
for. I felt sometimes like a person wishing to cry, but I
thought it would be unmanly to cry. For the space of two
weeks, I felt in this alarmed and unhappy mood. It seemed
to me sometimes as if I must die. My heart and my bones
felt as if they would burst and fall asunder. My wife
asked me if I was sick, and said I looked pale. I was in
an agony of body and mind, especially during _one_ week.
It seemed, during this time, as if an evil spirit haunted
me. When I went out to gather sap, I felt conscious that
this spirit went with me and dogged me. It appeared to
animate my own shadow.
"My strength was failing under this conflict. One night,
after I had been busy all day, my mind was in great
distress. This shadowy influence seemed to me to persuade
me to go to sleep. I was tired, and I wished rest, but I
could not sleep. I began to pray. I knelt down and prayed
to God. I continued to pray at intervals through the
night; I asked to know the truth. I then laid down and
went to sleep. This sleep brought me rest and peace. In
the morning my wife awoke me, telling me it was late.
When I awoke I felt placid and easy in mind. My distress
had left me. I asked my wife what day it was. She told me
it was the Sabbath (in the Indian, prayer-day). I
replied,'how I wish I could go to the church at the
mission! Formerly I used to avoid it, and shunned those
who wished to speak to me of praying to God, but now my
heart longs to go there.' This feeling did not leave me.
"After three days I went to the mission. The gladness of
my heart continued the same as I had felt it the first
morning at the camp. My first feeling when I landed, was
pity for my drunken brethren, and I prayed that they
might also be brought to find the true God. I spoke to
the missionary, who at subsequent interviews explained to
me the truth, the rite of baptism, and other principles.
He wished, however, to try me by my life, and I wished
it also. It was the following autumn, that I was received
into the church."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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