The bishop’s thoughts were much occupied with the need for more churches and schools, more pastors and teachers, in his extensive diocese. In 1875 he writes: ‘At present there are three clergymen in the diocese besides myself, and the work we have to do is very great and onerous. I have given, God’s grace enabling me to do so, more than twenty years of my life to the cause which is so close to my heart, and I long to see the whole of the country under my charge not only free from superstition, but likewise entirely under the sway of Christ, that there shall not be a tribe, either among the Crees, Ojibbeways, or Eskimo, which has not its well-instructed and fully-accredited teacher. Many of the tribes do not see a minister’s face for years.’
Bishop Horden had now been actively engaged in the mission field nearly a quarter of a century. On January 6, 1876, he writes: ‘During the whole of that time I have not been laid up with any serious illness whatever, and I am thankful to add that I still feel as strong in body and as capable of work as when I first landed here; truly God has surrounded me with loving-kindness and tender mercy; but in the course of last year He taught me, in a manner not to be misunderstood, that the threads of my life are held in His hand, for He plucked me from the very jaws of death.
‘With a large number of fellow-passengers I was on board the steamship Manitoba, on Lake Superior, on my way to Michipicoton, when late in the evening we came into collision with the American steamship the Comet, a vessel more than twice the size of our own, laden with a heavy cargo of silver ore and pig-iron. That we escaped without material injury seemed quite miraculous, for the Comet sank immediately, and with her, I am grieved to add, eleven of her crew of twenty-one men. I trust that this nearness to death, showing me how uncertain is life, is causing me to value it more highly, and to labour more earnestly in the vineyard before the night cometh in which no man can work.’
CHAPTER XII
ORGANISATION AND TRAVEL
The marked feature of the year 1875 was the organisation of the four dioceses, into which the old diocese of Rupertsland was divided, into an ecclesiastical province, the first synod of which was held in the beginning of August. This necessitated the bishop’s going to Winnipeg, Red River, a journey of fifteen hundred miles. ‘In going I visited the stations of New Brunswick, Misenabe, and Michipicoton. At New Brunswick much progress is being made; most of the Indians are now baptized, and as the present agent of the Hudson’s Bay Company there is a great friend of missions, and one who will do all in his power for the spiritual benefit of those attached to his trading post, I hope it will not be long before heathenism will have taken its entire departure, and Christianity be the professed religion of that important portion of my charge. From all the stations I receive good reports, but before that advance can be made for which we so deeply long, we must have more labourers. We are so few, and the field is so large. In the autumn the mission was strengthened by the arrival of the Rev. J. H. Keen from England, and a valuable gift he is proving himself to be. I trust another man equally good will be sent next autumn.
‘In May I hope to set apart Mr. Saunders, a native of the country, for the work of the ministry among his countrymen (the Ojibbeways). Thus I shall be enabled to occupy three most important posts, so that, should I further carry out my plans, I shall consider that I have the diocese tolerably well in hand. The places I hope to occupy are Rupert’s House, to which an immense extent of country looks as its head; Matawakumma, which will guard the frontier from Roman Catholic encroachment; and Whale River, opening up communication with the interesting but much neglected Eskimo of the north-eastern coast of Hudson’s Bay. Another place, Flying Post, I had likewise hoped to supply with a permanent competent teacher, but the man intended for it, a pure Indian, will not be ready this year.’
The Rev. J. H. Keen had been assisting the bishop at Moose, but the people at Rupert’s House were still without a missionary, so at Christmas he was given up to them, and the bishop took the work at Moose Fort alone. The Christmas Day services began ere the stars had disappeared from the firmament, and continued till late in the afternoon. ‘After this,’ he writes, ‘I felt considerably fatigued, but a cup of tea revived me, and I spent a quietly happy evening with my wife and youngest children.’
In the following summer the bishop joined Mr. Keen at Rupert’s House. ‘Among those who came down to meet me,’ he says, ‘were our old friends Matamashkum, Wapunaweshkum, Snuffers, and many others. Our joy was mutual.
‘Soon arrived the brigades from Mistasinnee, Waswanepe, and Nitchekwun, hundreds of miles up the Rupert’s River. We were busy morning, noon, and night. Every moment was employed, for these children of ours would have but a few days’ intercourse with their father, and then would again return to their distant homes. We had marriages to perform, many children to baptize, candidates for confirmation to prepare, communicants to instruct, the disobedient to rebuke. There was not much of this, however, and the days ran rapidly and happily on. The Psalter, beautifully printed from my translation, had come to us the previous ship time, and the Indians were delighted. After a little while it was most cheering to hear how well they read together their appointed portions. They gave me a very good collection, a good number of beaver; that is to say, they did not give me a large pile of beaver skins, but our native teacher, Jacob Matamashkum, had made a list of all the Indians, and after each name he had written down the man’s contribution in beaver. When the list was completed it was given to the resident trader, who credited me with three shillings for each beaver. Altogether it amounted to a considerable sum.’