THE MISSIONARIES--THEIR ESCAPE.
A few miles above the Yellow Medicine were the churches and schools of
the Rev. S. R. Riggs and Dr. Williamson. Both of these gentlemen had long
been missionaries among the Indians and had gained their confidence; and
in return had placed the most implicit confidence in them. But these
good men had been warned to flee for their lives, and they reluctantly
gathered together a few household treasures, and placing themselves and
families under the guidance of Providence, started for a place of safety.
Fort Ridgely was their objective point, but they learned that the place
was being besieged and that it would be unsafe to proceed further in this
direction, so turned their weary steps toward Henderson, Minnesota.
With courage braced up, weary in body and anxious in mind, they went
into camp until the morning. "The pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar
of fire by night," guided this anxious band through a most trying and
perilous journey, but they gained the settlement at last and were
among friends. In leaving their little homes, where they had found so
much pleasure in the work of the Master, in pointing the Indians to a
better way of living, they were sorrowful; but, like Abraham of old,
faithful in their allegiance to God, not daring to question His ways in
compelling them to turn their backs upon their chosen work--His work.
The missionaries and teachers formed strong attachments among this dusky
race. In their communion with them they found them ready and eager to
converse about the Great Spirit and to learn of the wonderful things
taught in the Bible. They loved to sing, and the melody of sacred song
found a responsive chord in their souls as they were gradually emerging
from their barbarous condition, and coming into the full light of a
Christian salvation. In conversation with the writer, Mr. Riggs once said
that as he was passing one of their happy little homes he could hear the
squaw mother, in her peculiar plaintive tones, singing to her little
children:
"Jesus Christ, nitowashte kin
Woptecashni mayaqu"--
Jesus Christ, Thy Loving Kindness,
Boundlessly, Thou Givest Me.
She had become a Christian mother through the teachings of the
missionaries. Her maternal affection was as deep and abiding as in the
breast of her more favored white sister, and her eye of faith looked
beyond the stars to the happy hunting ground, where the Greater Spirit
abides, and with the assurance that some day she and all her race would
stand with the redeemed in the presence of the Judge of all the worlds.
The Christian missionary felt for these people as no one else could; and,
while not trying nor desiring to excuse them for their unholy war against
the whites, yet they could not persuade themselves to believe that they
had been justly dealt with by civilized America.
[Illustration: LITTLE PAUL.]