He had tact as well as courage. He invited those savage warriors to a feast. His kettle was brimming, and as the Indians filled their mouths with the savory meat, he filled their ears with the story of the gospel, and gave them their first view of that eternal life, purchased by the blood of Christ.
The deer-hunt became a soul-hunt. The wild Sicaugu grunted their amicable "Hao" as they left his teepee, their mouths filled with venison and their hearts planted with the seeds of eternal truth.
Again he went on a deer-hunt, when he crossed another trail, that of hunters from another hostile tribe. In the camp he found a sick child, the son of Samuel Heart, a Yankton Sioux. But let Heart tell the story himself in his simple way:
"I was many days travel away in the wilderness. My child was very sick. I felt much troubled. A man of God came to my tent. I remember all he said. He told me not to be troubled, but to trust in God, and
all would be well. He prayed; he asked God to strengthen the child so I could bring him home. God heard him. My child lived to get home. Once my heart would have been very sad, and I would have done something very wicked. I look forward and trust Jesus."
This is how Rev. Artemas Ehnamane spent his vacations, hunting for wild souls instead of wild deer.
He was a scriptural, personal and powerful preacher.
Faith in a risen Saviour, was the keynote of his ministry. As he said: "Who of all the Saviours of the Indian people has risen from the dead? Not one." "Our fathers told us many things and gave us many customs, but they were not true." "I ^ grew up believing in what my father taught me, but when I knew of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I believed in Him and put aside all my ways." It was to him in truth, the coming out of darkness into light. "Sins are like wolves," he said. "They abound in the darkness and destroy men. When we enter the way, Jesus watches over us. Be awake and follow Him. All over the world men are beginning to follow Christ. The day is here." "Repent, believe, obey."
He loved to sing:
"Saved, by grace, alone; That is all my plea; Jesus died for all mankind; Jesus died for me."
SOWING ANU REAPING. s^
The twenty grand-children of the old Sioux all of
school age—are diligently prosecuting their studies in order to be prepared to meet the changed conditions which civiHzation has made possible for the Indians. One of his grand-sons is a physician now, in a fair practice among his own people.
This man President Lincoln wisely pardoned, knowing full well what a great influence for good such a man could wield over his turbulent people. And the President was not disappointed. One of his sons has been a missionary among the Swift Bear tribe at the Rose Bud Agency for twenty years; another son has been a missionary at Standing Rock, on the Grand River, and is now pastor of an Indian congregation on Basile Creek, Nebraska, and is also an important-leader of his tribe. The Rev. Francis Frazier, one of his sons, was installed September lo, 1902, as his father's successor in the pastorate of Pilgrim church at Santee.
His married daughter is also very earnest in the woman's work in the church. Seventy-seven years of age at his death. Rev. Artemas Ehnamane had filled to overflowing with good deeds to offset the first half, when he fought against the encroachments of the whites and the advance of civilization with as much zeal as later he evinced in his religious and beneficent life. Abraham Lincoln pardoned Ehnamane and the uld warrior never forgot it. But it was another pardon he prized more highly than that. It was this pardon he preached and died believing.
TWO FAMOUS MISSIONS.
Lake Harriet and Prairieville
In the spring of 1835, the Rev. Jedediah Dwight Stevens, of the Presb3'terian Church, arrived at Fort SnelHng under the auspices of the American Board of ^Missions. He estabHshed a station on the northwestern shore of Lake Harriet. It was a most beautiful spot, west of the Lrdian village, presided over by that friendly and influencial chieftain Cloudman or Man-of-the-sky. He erected two buildings—the mission-home, first residence for white settlers, and the school house—the first building erected exclusively for school purposes within the present boundaries of the State of Minnesota.
\\^ithin a few rods of the Pavilion, where on the Sabbath, multitudes gather for recreation, and desecration of God's holy day, is the site, where, in 1835, the first systematic effort was made to educate and Christianize Dakota Indians. It is near the present junction of Fortv-second Street, and Queen Avenue. (Linden Hills). '
In July, Mr. Stevens, and his interesting family, took possession of the mission house. With the co-operation of the Pond brothers, this mission was prosecuted with a fair measure of success till the removal of the Indians farther west, in 1839, when it was abandoned, and the connection of Mr. Stevens with the work of the Dakota mission ceased.
Here on the evening of November 22, 1838, a ro-
mantic wedding- was solemnized by Rev. J. D. Stevens. The ^room was Samuel Pond of the Dakota mission. The groomsman was Henry H. Sibley, destined in after years to be Minnesota's first delegate to Congress, her first state executive, and in the trying times of '62, the victorious General Sibley. The bride was Mis'? Cordelia Eggleston; the bridesmaid, Miss Cornelia Stevens ; both amiable, lovely and remarkably handsome.
It was a brilliant, starry evening, one of Minnesota's brightest and most invigorating. The sleighing was fine, and among the guests, were many officers, from Fort Snellino-, with their wives. Dr. • Emerson and wife, the owners of Dred Scott, the subject of Judge Taney's infamous decision, were present. The doctor was, then, post-surgeon at the fort, and the slave Dred, was his body-servant The tall bridegroom and groomsman, in the vigor and strength of their young manhood; the bride and bridesmaid, just emerging-from girlhood, with all their dazzling beauty, the officers in the brilliant uniforms^ and their wives, in their gay attire, must have formed an attractive picture in the long ago. After the wedding festivities, the guests from the fort were imprisoned at the mission for the night, by a blizzard, which swept over the icy face of Lake Harriet.
In the previous November, at Lac-qui-Pkrle, the younger brother was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Poage, by the Rev. Stephen R. Riggs. It was a unique gathering. The guests were all the dark-faced dw^ellers of the Indian village, making a novel group of whites, half-breeds and savage Indians.
f'6 AMONG THE SIOl^X.
Man\ of ilie latter wore poor, inaimod, halt aiul blind, who thoroughly enjoyed the feast of potatoes, turnips, and baeon so generouslv provided by the happy bridegroom.
PRAIRIEVILLE.
In 1846, Shakpe or Little Six, extende<l an urgent invitation to Samuel Pond to establish a mission at Tintonwan—**the village on the prairies"—for the benefit of his people. He was ehief of one of the most turbulent bands of Indians in the valley of th.e Minnesota. He was a man of marked ability and one of the ablest and most etfective orators in the whole Dakota nation, "^'et withal, Shakpe w^s a petty thief, had a "forked tongue," a violent temper, was excitable, and vindictive in his revenge. These characteristics led him to the scaffold. He was hanged at Fort Snelling, in 1863 for participation in the bloody massacre of '62. He and his followers were so noted for iheir deception and treachery, that Mr. Pond doubted their sincerity and the wisdom of accepting- their invitation. But after weeks of prayeful deliberation, he r.ccepted and began preparations for a pennanent establishment at that point. He erected a commodious and substantial residence into which he removed, with his household, in November 1847.
This station,, which Mr. Pond called Prairieville, was fourteen miles soutlieast of Oak Grove mission, on the present site of Shakopee. The mission home w^s pleasantly located on gently rising ground, half a mile ^outh of the Minnesota River. It was surrounded by ilie teepees of six hundred noisy savaqvs. Here.-for