“Their ways, I fear, are bad ways,” said Mr Ramsay. “And though I cannot tell you to break your promise, you will, I am sure, some day grieve bitterly that you made it. However, go in and see Mrs Ramsay and Jeanie. You would not wish to go without bidding them farewell.”
“I dare not face them; they might make my heart melt,” answered Laurence, doubting his own resolution; but Mr Ramsay led him to the house.
Jeanie burst into tears when she heard of his intentions. “Oh, Laurence, and can you, after you have heard about Jesus, have been told of His love, and how He wishes you to be ready to go and live with Him for ever and ever, in glory and happiness, again go back to dwell among heathen savages, who do all sorts of things contrary to His will, merely for the sake of enjoying what you call liberty for a few short years, and thus risk the loss of your soul?” said Mrs Ramsay, taking him kindly by the hand.
“The Sioux, in their dark ignorance, may wish you well, so far as this world is concerned, though the life they would induce you to lead is full of danger and hardships; but here you have friends, who desire not only to benefit your mind and body, but to show you how you may obtain blessings which no earthly power can take away, and which will endure throughout eternity. Think of that, Laurence. Would you barter your soul for the sake of a few years of wild excitement, and what you suppose to be enjoyment, and die as a poor ignorant savage, forgetting God and His mercy and loving-kindness, as shown to us in giving His Son to die for our sins, that we may be received again as favoured children, to live with Him in unspeakable happiness for ever and ever?”
“But if I become a warrior, and die bravely fighting, I shall go to the happy hunting-grounds with my Indian friends,” answered Laurence.
It was too evident that all which had been said to the poor lad had fallen upon barren ground. Laurence was still a heathen.