“The new missionary will have for his special field the Standing Rock agency, though during the colder winter months he will probably spend the most of his time in the neighborhood of Fort Sully and Cheyenne agency. To those in official position, as well as all others whom he may meet, we commend him for the work’s sake and the Master’s.”
MISS MARY C. COLLINS’ STORY.
“We had just come from a region where they are still abiding in the shadow of death, and where they are just beginning to learn that they may have life and have it more abundantly through our Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder that when I saw so many rejoicing in his love I felt like exclaiming, ‘God has said, Let there be Light,’ and all the powers of earth can not withhold it, for God’s time is at hand. Could all the Christians in our land have beheld with me such a multitude partaking of the Lord’s supper and obeying that loving command, ‘This do in remembrance of me,’ their hearts would, I think, have been filled with thanksgiving, and a long and earnest shout of ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,’ would have resounded through the land.
“They have the spirit of Christ, and are not satisfied with being saved themselves only, but desire the salvation of their benighted brethren. They have organized a missionary association and raised in one year about two hundred and fifty dollars to support a missionary. He is sent forth from this meeting, and how it must have rejoiced the hearts of those good men who have grown gray in the service, to see this young man arising from the degradation of his forefathers, standing on the Christian platform, receiving the blessings of his people, and pledging himself faithfully to perform his work toward them and to his God. They must have had feelings akin to those of Simeon when he beheld the Saviour, ‘For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.’ When I saw the work these women had done to help sustain their paper, again I was amazed. Twenty dollars’ worth of fancy work was sold, and the women had done it all themselves. Well may we say, ‘They have done what they could.’ They only have one paper, the Word Carrier and it was about to fail for want of means to carry it on, and these women, with a truly Christian spirit, went to work to sustain this important disseminator of truth. That was far more for them to give than for our Christians at home to subscribe for the paper and make it self-supporting. On Sabbath there was not room in their large church to hold the people, and we were obliged to hold services in the open air, and seven or eight hundred Dakotas were present to hear God’s message to them. And to me it seemed the most beautiful sight I ever beheld. There were several admitted into the church, and one girl who was about sixteen years old, who was baptized in infancy, now in youth comes out on the Lord’s side. A little boy about twelve years old was baptized, and I thought of many of the little boys at home, even older than that, who had not accepted the Saviour, and, although they have so many blessings, yet he hath chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from him.
“I think the angels in heaven rejoiced when these people lifted up their hearts and voices in praise to Him. And as the old missionary hymn rang out on the air, I thought it seemed even grander than ever before.”
CHAPTER XXI.
1871-1877.—The Wilder Sioux.—Gradual Openings.—Thomas Lawrence.—Visit to the Land of the Teetons.—Fort Sully.—Hope Station.—Mrs. General Stanley in the Evangelist.—Work by Native Teachers.—Thomas Married to Nina Foster.—Nina’s First Visit to Sully.—Attending the Conference and American Board.—Miss Collins and Miss Whipple.—Bogue Station.—The Mission Surroundings.—Chapel Built.—Mission Work.—Church Organized.—Sioux War of 1876.—Community Excited.—Schools.—“Waiting for a Boat.”—Miss Whipple Dies at Chicago.—Mrs. Nina Riggs’ Tribute.—The Conference of 1877 at Sully.—Questions Discussed.—Grand Impressions.
We had been long thinking of and looking toward the wilder part of the Sioux nation, living on and west of the Missouri River. More than thirty years before this, in company with Mr. Alex. G. Huggins, I had made a trip over from Lac-qui-parle to Fort Pierre. The object of that visit was to inform ourselves in regard to the Teetons—their numbers and condition, and whether we ought then to commence mission work among them. And since the Santees were brought to the Missouri we had made several preaching tours up the river, stopping awhile with the Brules at Crow Creek, and with the Minnekanjoos, the Oohenonpa, the Ogallala, and the Itazipcho of the Cheyenne and Standing Rock agencies. The bringing of our Christianized people into proximity with the wild part of the nation seemed to indicate God’s purpose of carrying the Gospel to them also.