She was a large woman, and as she came into our mission home her conduct
was so different from that of the ordinary Indian woman, that I was
somewhat prejudiced against her. Generally the Indian women when they
enter a house are quiet, and modest, and unobtrusive in their movements;
but here stalked in a large woman, who gazed at us with searching
glances, and had such decided ways, that I felt disturbed at her
presence and soon left the house for a couple of hours in the woods
where some of my Indian men were at work.
When I returned, it was with the hope that she had finished her visit
and retired. But no, there she was; and it was quite evident that she
had come to stay. When my good wife saw my apparent annoyance at this
new visitor, she called me to one side and said:
"You must not be annoyed at this woman. She is a chieftainess, and the
daughter of a chief. Her husband was a chief, and when he died, she, at
the request of her people, took his position, and has maintained it ever
since."
She had heard from some fur-hunters about our having come to live in the
land of the Saulteaux. She had also heard of the wonderful book we had,
which was the word of the Great Spirit; and this too, had excited her
curiosity. She had listened to these rumours with incredulity and did
not believe them; but as they increased, her curiosity was so excited,
that she resolved at length to find out for herself if these things were
true, and had actually come many days journey to investigate for
herself. Here she was, thoroughly installed in our little home, and I,
at first, much prejudiced against her on account of her decided emphatic
sort of way.
I sat down beside her, and had her tell me her story. She was indeed a
clever woman, and was full of anxiety to learn if what she had heard
were true. She was an anxious inquirer after truth, literally
insatiable in her curiosity, and in her desire to learn all she could.
She could talk morning, noon and night, and would keep one of us busy
answering her questions all the time she was not sleeping or eating.
She stayed with us about two weeks, and then returned to her people;
meanwhile attending every religious service, and receiving many lessons
in divine truth. The simple plan of salvation was explained to her, and
she was taught how to pray.
Ere she went away, I said to her: Now you are going back home, and I
want to say something to you. You must try to remember what we have
said about the loving Father, and His beloved Son. You must try to pray
every day to Him, and you must try to love Him and keep all of His
commands.
"Now one of these commands is, `Remember the Sabbath day to keep it
holy.' Christians keep one day in seven, and you say that your people
desire to be Christians; and I believe you. We want you to be a
Christian in everything, and so we want you to remember this among the
other commandments. To help you in this matter, I am going to give you
this big sheet of paper and pencil, and you will mark each day as it
goes by."
So starting her on Monday, I showed her how to mark the days in this
way:--111111. "Those six are _your_ days, in which to hunt and fish and
attend to all your duties as a chieftainess. Look after all your
affairs on those six days; then, when the seventh day comes, make a big
mark in this way:--
"This mark is for God's day. Leave your gun and net on that day, and do
not go hunting or fishing: it is the day of rest and worship. Make all
preparations for it on the day before. See that you have plenty of food
captured, and wood cut, so that when the day of God chines, you will not
have to work or hunt or fish. On that day think much about the Great
Spirit, and pray much to your loving father who sees and hears you all
the time, and who is well pleased if we keep His day and worship Him
upon it."
Ere she left, she pleaded earnestly with me to come and visit her and
her tribe, and preach to them, and explain the way of the Great Book.
My engagements were very many but finding that I could crowd in a visit,
I said:
"When the eagle-moon is filling out listen for the ringing of the
missionary's sleigh-bells, for then will he be coming to see you and
your people with his dog-train and guide."
My programme of engagements was so great, that it was about six months
ere I could make the promised visit. So when the eagle moon came--which
is February--I harnessed up my dogs, and taking one of my experienced
guides and a couple of dog-drivers, started for the far-off land of
Ookemasis.
We were about two weeks on the journey. It was one of the most
dangerous and toilsome I ever undertook. We often had to travel along
on the narrow ledges of ice that overhung the rapid waters of the great
river. Sometimes our dog-sleds would whirl round on the ice and we come
very near falling off into the dark cold waters. This was much more
dangerous from the fact, that much of the travelling had to be done by
night for the dazzling rays of the sun during the daytime rendered us so
liable to the terrible snow-blindness, which is such a painful disease.
However, we persevered, and by daylight when possible, and by night when
we could do no better, pushed on, and at last reached our destination.
The last six miles of the journey lay across a frozen lake on the
farther shore of which was the village of the chieftainess. When not
more than half way across the lake, the sharp eyes of those on the
lookout, detected our coming, whereupon great excitement prevailed in
the village. Never, it seemed, was there a happier woman than
Ookemasis. She received us with a wondrous welcome, and in emphatic
ways expressed her gratitude and joy. Already when we arrived, the
feast of welcome was being prepared. When she was certain that it was
the missionary, she had taken down from a staging some heads of
reindeer, and, after singeing off the hair and chopping them into great
chunks, had put them into a big pot to boil.
After the warm welcome, we were escorted to a large tent to wait until
dinner was ready. As she had no tea, I gave her a quantity much to her
delight. So excited was she, that she kept running into the tent to
tell me how great was her joy, that at length the man and the Book had
come to her people. When dinner was ready, she escorted me and my
attendants out to it. A spot had been cleaned away, in the centre of
which, on a big dish, was a large pile of pieces of reindeer heads.
Around were a number of tin cups filled with hot strong tea. Her
invitations had been limited to the number of tin cups she could muster.
She placed me at her left, and her chief next in authority to herself,
on her right. My guide and dog-drivers were next to me on my left, and
the circle was completed with other Indian men. She was the only woman
in the circle as soon as we were seated on the ground, some of the men
at once seized hold of a piece of meat, and drawing their hunting
knives, were about to begin their dinners:
"Stop," said I. "Wait a minute. You are all going to be Christians,
and one thing Christians do, is to ask a blessing upon their food. The
Great Spirit gives us all the good things, and we must thank Him for
them. So now shut your eyes, and I will ask the blessing."
Every eye was closed as I asked a blessing of several sentences. When I
had finished, I said "Amen" and of course opened my own eyes. To my
amazement and amusement, every eye, except those of my own Indian
attendants, was still closed. "Open your eyes," I said. "Amen, here
means, _open your eye_. It has some other meanings, but that will do
here."
Then we went at our dinners. There were no plates or forks, only our
hunting knives. Every one, including the missionary, took up a piece of
the well-cooked meat in his left hand, and began whittling off his
dinner with his knife. My friend, the chieftainess, had large, strong
and not very clean hands. But she cared not for that. She grabbed up a
large piece of juicy meat, into which her hand almost sank, and cut and
tore off the savoury bits with great delight. Then she flung it on the
ground and took a good drink of the tea; and then seizing hold of the
meat tore at it again with great satisfaction. Suddenly she dropped it
again upon the ground, and, plunging her greasy hand into the bosom of
her dress, said:
"O, missionary, I want you to see how I have tried to keep the record of
the praying day." So out of the bosom of her dress she drew a greasy
dirty paper, which at first I did not recognise as the large clean sheet
I had given her.
"Here, look," she said, "see how I have tried to keep the record of the
praying day!"
With much interest, I examined it, and found, that during all those six
months, she had faithfully kept the record. There it was; the right day
for all that long period. Then she went on to tell me of all her
experiences. She said, that some days when she was in her wigwam trying
to think of the Great Spirit and of His Son, and was trying to pray to
Him, a boy would rush in and say:
"Ookemasis, there is a big reindeer out in the ravine, I am sure you can
shoot it."
"But I would say, `No. This is the praying day and I cannot fish or
shoot on this day.' So I have never gone hunting or fishing on the
praying day. I just try to think of the Great Spirit, my Father, and to
pray and talk to Him, and have Him talk to me."
Of course I spoke kind and encouraging words to her, and she was very
happy indeed to hear them.
Then she put back the dirty paper, and reaching down to the ground again
seized hold of her big piece of meat. Looking at mine, a bony bit which
I had selected because I could hold it a little more easily while I
carved it, she shouted out:
"Your piece of meat is a very poor one, mine is a very good piece," and
before I could realise what she was about, she exchanged the pieces. Of
course I could do nothing but accept it, with thanks. I had to approve
of the motive, even if I did not applaud the deed. It was an act of
kindness that we are not all educated up to.
After the dinner we had a religious service that lasted until supper
time. Then, after a good supper of fish, we had another service, that
lasted until midnight. Then she put me in charge of one of her Indians
who had a large wigwam. With him my Indians and I spent the night.
There were only twenty-two of us sleeping around the fire in the centre.
I remained with them for a number of days, and since then, they have all
given up paganism, and have become good earnest Christian people.