In the summer of 1874 Rev. John P. Williamson made a tour up the Missouri River as far as Fort Peck. His judgment was that there was no opening at that place for the establishment of a new mission, but that something might possibly be done by native Dakotas. In the meantime, we had heard from the regions farther north than Fort Peck, where some of our church-members had gone after the outbreak of 1862. Somewhere up in Manitoba, near Fort Ellice, was Henok Appearing Cloud, with his relatives. His mother, Mazaskawin,—Silver-Woman,—was a member of the Hazelwood church, and his father, Wamde-okeya,—Eagle Help,—had been my old helper in Dakota translations. These were all near relatives of Solomon Toonkanshaecheye, one of our native pastors.

Dr. Williamson, by correspondence with the Presbyterian Board, obtained an appropriation of several hundred dollars to send a native missionary to these Dakotas in Canada. Solomon gladly accepted the undertaking, and in the month of June, 1875, started for Manitoba with Samuel Hopkins for a companion.

They were received with a great deal of joy by their friends, who entreated them to stay, or come back again if they left. But provisions were very scarce, and hard to be obtained; and hence they determined to return to the Sisseton agency before winter. While in Manitoba they had taught and preached the Gospel, and baptized and received several persons to the fellowship of the church. Solomon wrote, before he returned, “Indeed, there is no food; they have laid up nothing at all; so that, when winter comes, where they will obtain food, and how they will live, no one knows. But I have already found something of what I have been seeking, and very reluctantly I turn away from the work.”

Solomon and Samuel returned to Sisseton, but their visit had created a larger desire for education and the privileges of the Gospel. In the March following, Henok Appearing Cloud wrote that he had taught school during the winter, and conducted religious meetings, as he “wanted the Word of God to grow.” In much simplicity, he adds: “Although I am poor, and often starving, I keep my heart just as though I were rich. When I read again in the Sacred Book what Jesus, the Lord, has promised us, my heart is glad. I am thinking, if a minister will only come this summer and stay with us a little while, our hearts will rejoice. If he comes to stay with us a long time, we will rejoice more. But as we are so often in a starving condition, I know it will be hard for any one to come.”

Rev. John Black of Keldonan Manse, near Winnipeg, heard of this visit of Solomon to Manitoba, and of the desire of those Dakotas to have a missionary. He at once became deeply interested in the movement, and wrote to Dr. Williamson, at St. Peter, proposing that the Presbyterian Missionary Society of Canada should take upon themselves the charge of supporting Solomon as a missionary among the Dakotas of the Dominion. But when the matter was brought before the missionary committee, they decided that the condition of their finances would not allow them to add to their burdens at that time. It was not, however, given up, and a year later the arrangement was consummated. In the Word Carrier for December, 1877, appeared this editorial:—

“The most important event occurring in our missionary work during the month of October is the departure of Rev. Solomon Toonkanshaecheye, with his family, for Fort Ellice, in the Dominion of Canada. This has been under advisement by the Presbyterian Foreign Missionary Society of Canada for two years past. Rev. John Black of Keldonan Manse, Manitoba, has been working for it. A year ago the funds of the society would not admit of enlargement in their operations. This year their way has been made clear, and the invitation has come to Solomon to be their missionary among the Dakotas on the Assinaboine River. They pay his expenses of removal, and promise him $600 salary.

“He has gone. Agent Hooper of Sisseton agency furnished him with the necessary pass, and essentially aided him in his outfit, and so we sent him off on the tenth day of October, invoking God’s blessing upon him and his by the way, and abundant success for him in his prospective work. From the commencement of negotiations in regard to this matter it has been of special interest to Dr. T. S. Williamson of St. Peter. He has conducted the correspondence with Mr. Black. And now, while the good doctor was lying nigh unto death, as he supposed, the arrangement has gone into effect. If this prove to be his last work on earth (may the good Lord cause otherwise), it will be a matter of joy on his part that thus the Gospel is carried to regions beyond, by so good and trustworthy a man as we have found Solomon to be all through these years.”

Thus was the work commenced. Dr. Williamson did not pass from us then, but lived nearly two years longer, and was cheered by the news of progress in this far-off land. This being among our first efforts to do evangelistic work by sending away our native ministers, our hearts were much bound up in it. The church of Long Hollow was reluctant to give up their pastor, and to me it was giving up one whom I had learned to trust, and, in some measure, to depend upon, among my native pastors. But it was evidently God’s call, and he has already justified himself, even in our eyes. Solomon found a people prepared of the Lord, and, in the summer of 1878, he reports a church organized with thirteen members, which they named Paha-cho-kam-ya—Middle Hill—of which Henok was elected elder.

In the next winter Solomon and Henok made a missionary tour of some weeks, of which we have the following report. The letter is dated “February 22, 1879, at Middle Hill, near Fort Ellice, North-west Territory”:—

“This winter it seemed proper that I should visit the Dakotas living in the extreme settlements, to proclaim to them the Word of God. I first asked counsel of God, and prayed that he would even now have mercy on the people of these end villages, and send his Holy Spirit to cause them to listen to his Word. Then I sent word to the people that I was coming.

“Then I started with Mr. Enoch, my elder. The first night we came to three teepees of our own people at Large Lake, and held a meeting with them. The next morning we started, and slept four nights. On the fifth day we came to a large encampment on Elm River. There were a great number of tents, which we visited, and prayed with them, being well received. But as I came to where there were two men, and prayed with them, I told them about him whose name was Jesus—that he was the Helper Man, because he was the Son of God. That he came to earth, made a sacrifice of himself, and died, that he might reconcile all men to God; that he made himself alive again; that, although men have destroyed themselves before God, whosoever knows the meaning of the name of Jesus, and fears for his own soul, and prays, he shall find mercy, and be brought near to God. That is the Name. And he is the Saviour of men, and so will be your Saviour also, I said.

“Then one of them in a frightened way answered me: ‘I supposed you were a Dakota, of those who live in cabins. It is not proper that you should say these things. As for me, I do not want them. Those who wish may follow in that way; but I will not. You who hold such things should stay at home. What do you come here for?’

“Walking-nest then said: ‘You are Cloudman’s son, I suppose, and so you are my cousin. Cousin, when we first came to this country there was a white minister who talked to us and said: “Your hands are full of blood; therefore, when your hands become white, we will teach you.” So he said, and when you brought a book from the south, while they were looking at it, blood dropped from above upon it; and behold, as the white minister said, I conclude we are not yet good. Therefore, my cousin, I am not pleased with your coming,’ he said.

“But there were only two men who talked in this way. We left them and visited every house in the camp. Many may have felt as those men did, but did not say it openly. The men said they were glad, and welcomed us into their tents.

“The next day I came into a sick man’s tent whose name was Hepan, lying near to death. I talked with him, and prayed to God for him. Then he told me how he longed to hear from his friends down south, and mentioned over half a dozen names of his relatives. A woman also, who was present, said: ‘I want to know if my friends are yet living.’

“Then we continued our visiting from house to house. Sometimes we found only children in the tent; sometimes there were men and women, and I prayed with them and told them a word of Jesus. So we came to the teepees in the valley. Then I met Iron Buffalo. There we spent the Sabbath, and held meeting, having twenty-three persons present. A chief man, whose name is War-club-maker, called them together.

“Our meetings there being finished, we departed and came to the Wahpaton village. They were making four sacred feasts. We did not go into them. But, visiting other houses, we passed on about five miles, when night came upon us. Still we went on to the end of the settlement, where we held a meeting. The teepee was small, but there I found a sick man who listened to the Word. This was Chaskay, the son of Taoyatedoota. He said he was going to die, and from what source he should hear any word of prayer, or any comforting word of God, was not manifest. But now he had heard these things, and was very glad, he said. This way was the best upon earth, and he believed in it now. So, while we remained there, he wanted us to pray with and for him, he said.

“We spent one day there, and the second day we started home, and came to Hunka’s tent, and so proceeded homeward. When we had reached the other end of the settlement, we learned that the white ministers were to hold a meeting of presbytery. They sent word to us to come, and so in the night, with my Hoonkayape, Mr. Enoch, I went back. They asked us to give an account of our missionary journey among the Dakotas. And so we told them where we had been and what we had done. Also, we gave an account of things at Middle Hill, where we live. When we had finished, they all clapped their hands. Then they said they wanted to hear us sing a hymn of praise to God in Dakota. We sang ‘Wakantanka Towaste,’ and at the close they clapped their hands again.

“Then two men arose, one after the other. The first said: ‘I have not expected to see such things so soon among the Dakotas. But now I see great things, which I like very much.’ The other man spoke in the same way.

“Men and women had come together in their prayer-house, and so there was a large assembly.

“Then the minister of that church arose and said: ‘White people, who have grown up hearing of this way of salvation, are expected to believe in it, and I have been accustomed to rejoice in the multiplication of the Christian church; but I rejoice more over this work among the Dakotas.’”

Both of these men came home to watch and wait by the sick-bed of dear children. Nancy Maza-chankoo-win,—Iron Road Woman,—the daughter of Henok, died April 28, 1879. She was thirteen years old, read the Dakota Bible well, and was quite a singer in the prayer assemblies. They say: “We all thought a great deal of her; but now she too has gone up to sing in the House of Jesus, because she was called.”

From Middle Hill, near Fort Ellice in Manitoba, comes a letter written on May 20 by our friend Solomon. He reports seven members added by profession of faith to his church in April, and ten children baptized. There, as here, the season has been a sickly one, and many deaths have occurred. For three months he has had sickness in his own family. His story is pathetic. “Now,” he says, “my son Abraham is dead. Seven years ago, at Long Hollow, in the country of the Coteau des Prairies, he was born on January 12, 1872. And on the 23d of June following, at a communion season at Good Will Church, he was baptized. When Mr. Riggs poured the water on him, he was called Abraham. And then in the country of the north, from Middle Hill, May 9, 1879, on that day, his soul was carried home to the House of Jesus.

“Five months after he was born, I wanted to have him baptized. I always remember the thought I had about it. Soon after a child is born, it is proper to have it baptized. I believed that baptism alone was not to be trusted in, and when one is baptized now it is finished is not thinkable. But in Luke 18:16, our Lord Jesus says: ‘Suffer the little children to come unto me’; and so taking them to Jesus is good, since his heart is set on permitting them to come. Therefore, I wanted this my son to go to Jesus.

“And so from the time he could hear me speak, I have endeavored to train him up in all gentleness and obedience, in truth and in peace. Now, for two years in this country he has been my little helper. When some could not say their letters, he taught them. He also taught them to pray. And when any were told to repeat the commandments, and were ashamed to do so, he repeated them first, for he remembered them all. Hence, I was very much attached to him. But this last winter he was taken sick, and from the first it seemed that he would not get well. But while he lived it was possible to help him, and so we did to the extent of our ability. He failed gradually. He was a long time sick. But he was not afraid to die. He often prayed. When he was dying, but quite conscious of everything that took place, then he prayed, and we listened. He repeated the prayer of the Lord Jesus audibly to the end. That was the last voice we heard from him. Perhaps when our time comes, and they come for us to climb up to the hill of the mountain of Jehovah, then we think we shall hear his new voice. Therefore, although we are sad, we do not cry immoderately.”

That was a beautiful child-life, and a beautiful child-death. Who shall say there are not now Dakota children in heaven? To have been the means, under God, of opening in this desert such a well of faith and salvation is quite a sufficient reward for a lifetime of work.

S. R. R.