Tales and Trails of Wakarusa — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Tales and Trails of Wakarusa
John Stuart Mill · en
MacDonald was amazed that a little chap of thirteen years would be
carrying a revolver, and after telling him what he thought about such
practice, he said that he would undertake to find the lost weapon by
making the announcement requested. That night the teacher made the
announcement which he had promised, and this reminded those present
that the old man Cart mill had not attended the meeting and was still
out in the cold world of sin; and immediately many voices plead with
the Lord that Cartmill might see the error of his ways, and that the
Spirit might come down upon him, and that he might be saved. Whether
because of the power of prayer or of the fact that his name had been
mentioned at the meeting, it soon came about that Cartmill attended
the services. He was a tall, strong, lanky Irishman, with a bushy
head that looked as though it never had been combed, and his quarrels
with Franks and other neighbors had made him more or less of a
terror. He was entirely too large to use the ordinary school pupil's
seat, and he therefore stood up near the door. He gave no indication
of his attitude toward the meeting except to make a few scornful
remarks now and then on the outside, but about the third night in the
midst of a glorious period of exhortation and song he came bolting up
the aisle like a mad buffalo; but as he turned around it was seen
that tears streamed down his face, and commencing in a broken way, he
implored the forgiveness of all whom he had wronged, and begged the
prayers and help of all that he might get religion and be saved. Many
crowded around him as he talked, and prayed for him, when he finally
threw himself over the altar. George Franks and others whom he had
terrorized put their arms around him and held to him and prayed for
him as though he were the most precious mortal on earth. Finally he
announced that the light had come to him, and he stood up to testify.
Among other things he confessed that he had wronged Brother Franks,
and he said:
"I have done more than any of yez know. I stole his plow, a new one,
that he left in the field; and I didn't stale it to kape it, but I
stole it because of the divil that was in me; and I threw it in the
Wakarusa in the dape hole by the big sycamore tree."
This and many other confessions he made. The meeting held till far in
the night, and after it had broken up one could hear people on their
way home talking loud of what a glorious meeting it had been, and an
occasional voice would praise the Lord for his power to forgive and
wipe out sin. The next day some sturdy youngsters cut the ice in the
deep hole, where it was more than a foot thick, and hooked and
grappled around in the water until they found the lost plow, and they
pulled it out and carried it home to Franks. So it was that the
confession was verified, and a real loss restored and made good by
the influence of religion.