Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
November 11, 1882.
<$e2GOLDE
N DAYS:o=>
779
iven away, and I was twelve thousand
five hundred out; served me right, too.”’
It seemsa singular but indisputable
fact that hastil y-gotten wealth is, in a ma-
jority of cases, as hastily dissipated.
Already, since his residence in Cali-
fornia, Paul, who was rather more than
usually observant of such matters, had
decided that money earned by patient,
steady endeavor was preferable to that
obtained by those who, so to speak, take
risks in the great lottery of chance. And
while he thoroughly enjoyed, ror the
time, his wild, free, healthful life in the
life-giving air, which was literally mak-
ing a new man of him, there was a con-
tinual feeling of inward dissatisfaction at
the time lost in seeking uncertainties.
He had but little faith that Mr. Groves
would eventually make his fortune. He
was too erratic, too visionary, by far.
One day he would prospect with pick
and bar; the next three would be spent
in hunting, or doing nothing, and Paul
secretly resolved that his awn enforced
season of inactivity should end at the
New Cut Mine, which, as Mr. Groves
had told him, lay in Valley County, not
far from a stage-route by which he could
hope to reach civilized regions once
more, if in any way he could imanage to
raise money enough to pay his fare.
For his life, he could not have defined
the impulse or fancy which somehow
had seemed to place this - unfortunate
mine as the ultimate end of his own
journey. He knew the mine was worth-
ess and deserted, according to the tenor
of his uncle’s letter and Mr. Groves’ re-
membrance, but whether it was a pre-
sentiment, or a mere whim based on his
enjoyment of his then present mode of
existence, he did not attempt to deter-
ne.
As the two sat together after their sup-
per of small! but deliciously sweet fried
trout, with which Nugget Creek fairly
swarmed — Mr. Groves having caught
thirty-five in rather less than half an
hour—the sound of approaching voices
echoed ‘faintly: on the stillness of the
night. .
Mr. Groves reached out, and taking his
rifle, laid it across his knees, motioning
Paul to do the same. .
“In this region,” he remarked, coolly,
resuming his pipe, ‘it's something the
same as in one part of Mississippi, where
the fellow said thatanybody might move
round there for a year and not need fire-
arms, but if he should happen to need
’em, lie’d need it powerful.”
And with the happy consciousness of
having told an original anecdote, Mr.
Groves, winking significantly, patted the
breech of his rifle in a highly suggestive
~ Manner.
Nearer and nearer came the voices,
pitched upon a rather discordant key,
and giving the impression that a dozen
or so of persons were all speaking at
‘once, each trying to out-talk the other.
“Only a lot of Chinamen, after all,”
said Mr. Groves, with a disgusted look,
as he laid aside his rifle, after listening
to the din of voices foramoment. ‘There
was a fluttering of blouses and ashufiling
of feet, dimly discernible through the
darkness, while a sudden cessation of
the feast of tongues and sounds in which
they had been indulging, showed that
the sight of the camp-fire was a rather
disagreeable surprise to the timid Celes-
tials, who knew not whether it betokened
the presence of friend or foe.
Paul had cultivated a rather tender
place in his heart for the despised China-
“man, since forming the acquaintance 0
the Chinaboy Ling. .
“ Come on,” he called, encouragingly ;
“we are friends!’ ~ .
Above the chattering chorus which
followed the announcement, came the
sharp, ringing bark of a dog, which
caused Paul to spring to his feet. But
before he had taken a step forward, a
small Yorkshire terrier came tearing
down the little descent like a toy steam-
engine on the ranipage, and to the mani-
fest wonder and dismay of Mr. Groves,
leaped frantically into Paul’s bosom, ut-
tering a succession of glad little cries
which were as nearly huinan as possible.
He licked Paul’s face and whimpered
and barked—dear me, I can’t begin to
tell you how little Nod (for it was he)
did “act. I am ‘not sure, however, that
Paul was not fully as much overjoyed as
Sod.
“But bow on earth came he here?”
said Paul, half-aloud. . ”
“Him come allee way with Ling,
said a voice from out the darkness.
And in another moment, Ling himself
_ Stood before him.
- ' [xo BE CONTINUED.)
The Moravian Heroes at Shohomokin,
BY HILES C. ‘PARDOE.
The natural scenery of Pennsylvania
is picturesque and grand. Any half-
dozen of wide-awake school boys making
atour through its central districts with
caimp supplies, fishing tackle, guns, field-
glass, microscope, etc., would have un-
covered to them beauties and” sublimi-
ties of which they could never before
have dreamed.
Bayard Taylor once said of the land-
scape from .‘* Prospect Rock,” on * Blue
Hill,” at the junction of the north and
west branches of the Susquehanna, that
it was equal to most of the European
scenes which had come under his eye.
At the foot of** Blue Hill’”’ and in the
midst of this chdrming scenery, the
“Five Nations’ their most
southerly village and called it Shoho-
mokin,
Here they joined the ‘“Shawonese,”
who lived in the Cumberland Valley,
the Tuscaroras from the Juniata, and the
Delawares from the east.
Shohomokin, with its cone-like wig-
wains an usky inhabitants nestling
amid the rocks and trees, was the centre
of much political influence and power. It
was a pretty place to live, being one of
nature’s beauty-spots.
Skirting the western bank of the Sus-
quehanna, and rising up as a great sen-
tinel amid the surrounding glory, was
the bold, abrupt bluff, already men-
tioned, with its pines and cedars and
jagged sides, known as ‘Blue Hill.”
Yar off in the mountains of the north
and west the “West Branch” River had
its source, and came winding its length-
ened way through rich, fertile lowlands,
and where now thriving towns and cities
are built.
From the north and east came the
“North Branch”’ River, washing the ro-
mantic vale of Wyoming, making glad
the Indian towns along its banks, and,
joining the waters of the West Branch,
‘formed the Susquehanna proper, which,
with its numerous fruitful, beautiful
islands, kept threading its way to the
Atlantic Sea like a long, crooked silver
cord.
Off toward sunrise were the “Shoho-
mokin Hills,” rich in iron and coal, and
the ‘Montour Ridge,” near which glided
the gentle waters of the Frozen Duck
Creek (Chilisquaque).
The whole plot of the landscape lying
within the vision of the Indian, whether
seen in the golden tints of autumn, under
the sweep of some violent storm,'or in
the shadows of the harvest moon, was
worthy of its great Creator.
lt was here the good Iroquois Chief
Shikillimy spent the best years of his
life. in the interests of peace and har-
mony.
And it was here, also, that at least
three other chiefs, representing certain
tribes, lived on friendly terms with the
white man. They were Alum-mo-pees,
pe-k and Shach-a-law-lin. Al-
though inferior to Shikillimy, they were
held in high esteem by the various
Governors of Pennsylvania.
The Indian villages in the vicinity
along the rivers were Ostenwackia, Os-
tuazy, Nes-ko-pe-ko, Wajomio; Mack-
wihi-lusing, ete. .
It was to these far-off heathen villages
in North America that the celebrated
Count Nicholas Louis Zinzindorf, found-
erof the Moravian Church, turned his
stepsas amissionary in 1742. He had
been living in an old castle in Marien-
born, Germany, onthe banks of the
Nogat. He received his early religious
impressions through the teachings of his
grandmother, to whom he often said he
would like to establish anew church.
And he did. ;
Becoming aiman_ he organized schools
for poor children, feeding and educating
them out of his own pocket. :
e organized a religious society, eall-
ing it “The Order of the Grain of Mus-
tard Seed.” .
Many of his students became mission-
aries and went to China, Africa and
Greenland, . .
One of his religions adventurers, Chris-
tian Henry Rauch, came to America and
settled among the Indians of Connecti-
cut and New York. He preached the
gospel to them, and afterward to those in
Pennsylvania near the settlement of
Bethlehem, and to others on the Susque-
ANDAs
At Bethlehem these two brethren,
Zinzindorf and Rauch, met and con-
sulted together. Mr. Zinzindorf, being
anxious to visit the ‘‘ Five Nations,” to
tell them of a loving Saviour, set out
through the wilderness with Conrad
Weiser as his guide, and reached Shoho-
mokin on the 28th of September, 1742.
He was received very cordially by
Chief Shikillimy, who, upon heing told
the character of his distinguished guest,
and the long distance he had traveled,
presented him with a large watermelon.
The count gave him in return a beauti-
ful fur cap to use on his hunting expedi-
ions.
It did not require much time for Mr.
Zinzindortf to find out that he bad gotten
into a very wicked place. The fire-water
of the trader had made the Susquehanna
savages drunken and beastly, which,
added to their superstition, gave them
the appearance of human devils.
At first, when he explained to them
how sinful it was for thei to live in such
a manner, and told them of a Saviour
who had died for guilty men, they hoot-
ed at him and turned away with scorn.
After a while, however, getting conti-
dence in him, they listened patiently to
his great story, and believed in Christ
and were saved.
Mr. Weiser, the Indian interpreter,
said, as aw those venerable patri-
archs of the American Indian Church,
sitting, some on benches and some on
the ground, as living witnesses of the
power of Jesus to save, that it was one
of the greatest favors of his life that he
had gone to Shohomokin.
The visit of Count Zinzindorf was so
agreeable, and the new ideas about God
promised to be so useful, that when he
turned his horse to gointo the interior
further, these dusky Christians, like
those from Ephesus when St. Paul was
bidding them farewell, gathered about
him and wept, because “they would see
his face no more.”’
Three years afterward, in 1745, Martin
Mack, another Moravian minister,
ressed through the forests of Central
ennsylvania to visit the mission on the
Susquehanna. He was accom i y
his wife, probably the first white Christian
woman who had ever been at Shohomo-
kin. Some traveling Shawonese hailed
them just after they had arrived, and
wanted to know what business the white
people had to come among them. They
said:
“We do not want anybody to come
and instruct us. We want to_be left
alone. You white people are like wild
pigeons; wherever you perch, great num-
bers of you gather together.”
The gentle missionaries, however, dis-
abused their minds, and told them they
had not come to take away their lands,
but to tell them about another and bet-
ter country, to which they might go when
they were caught up out of sight by the
mesenger of death.
r. and Mrs. Mack welcomed also
David Brainerd and wife, who came upon
a similar mission from the Moravian
Church. These friends were often in-
sulted, and lived in great fear of being
murdered. Jealousies were bein
stirred, and treachery was hatching in
the savage heart because of the am-
bitious men who were exploring the
usquehanna country for purposes of
rain. .
s But the hunger and faticue and perse-
cutions and sickness to which these mis-
sionaries were exposed did not move
them from their purpose. They counted
not their lives dear unto themselves, so
that they might be the instruments of
salvation to these heathen tribes. Their
journals show that they ~endured all
these things gladly, and regarded them
as better than the richest luxuries,
At the Moravian Synod held at Quito-
pehill, Pa., in 1747, full reports were
made of the work among the red_ men.
It was found that something additional
must be doneif the gospel was to con-
quer their prejudices fully and do the
work which it was capable of doing.
So the “brethren”? decided that -as
many as were determined to consecrate
themselves forever to the work must
consent to be adopted into the tribe with
which they labored, to be known ever
afterward as part of the Indian Nation,
Some volunteered, and Martin Mack was
appointed to superintend the mission.
their return to Shohomokin,
regular gospel meetings were held twice
aday—early in the morning and after
nightfall.
Special meetings were held for boys
and girls, at which they were taught to
read the Bible, memorize the catechism,
recite hymns. There were also
meetings held for widows, for old peo-
ple, for married men and women, also
for the unmarried. The Lord’s Supper
was celebrated once every month.
It was not an uncommon thing to see
these servants of God going about the
settlements baptizing the children, visit-
ing the aged and sick, performing the
marriage ceremony, burying the dead,
and attending to all the duties common
to missionaries.
When, Bishop Camerhoff and Joseph
Powell came into the mission station in
1748, several conferences were held with
the Christian Indians as to how they
might carry the word of God into the in-
terior.
Some of the more devoted Indians
agreed to go with them, and by telling
of the great change brought upon them-
selves by divine grace, they persuaded
others to accept of salvation.
uring the autumn of 1748, several
violent storms of hail, wind and rain
visited the country, destroying the crops
and causing a great flood in the rivers;
also a shock of an earthquake was felt.
These movements of divine power were
used as illustrations of what the Creator
was able to do, and how He could assert
imself when once He rose up in the
majesty of His character.
As Bishops Von Watteville and Cam-
erhoff and Mack and Zeisberger went
from tent to tent and from village to vil-
lage along the two great branches of the
Susquehanna during the winter
months, many Shawonese, Chickasaws
and Nanticokes turned from their sinful
waysand were admitted into the Church,
These visitations continued up to 1755. .
‘fhe annals of no church show greater
devotion and ‘perseverance amid dis-
couragement than is found among the
missions of the Morayians with the Sus-
quebanna Indians. r sutferings
were at times almost insupportable. But
they had resolved to never become dis-
couraged, to never reject any person be-
cause he was vile, and especially to lay
broad and deep the foundations in the
hearts of the young, for the sake of the
next generation.
‘he French and Indian war broke out
in 1754, which caused great alarm among
the tribes located in the valley of Otzin-
achson (west branch). The town of
Shohomokin was burned by the Indians
themselves, who struck the trail leading
toward the setting sun, and the fruitful
unission was destroyed, except so far as
it showed itself in the better lives of
those who stood firm to truth, or as it re-
tained its fragrance in the memory of
those who had fallen asleep,
SIFTINGS FROM THE SPICE-BOX.
—November 30—autumn leaves.
—1 am jam full,” as the boy said, slip-
ping out of the preserve-closet,
-—*The end of the season,” remarked
pomany, holding up the empty pepper-
OX.
and
—A ‘father's advice—* ‘Lay by something
fora rainy day,’ my son, even if it is only
an umbrella.”
—“Generous toa fault” is sometimes said
1
of men who really are generous only to
their own faults,
—*Mamma,” asked little Edith, ‘are all
grown folks hateful?”
“Why, Edith,” replied her mother,“ what .
head 2?”
ys
put that idea into your hea
“Nothing, mamma; only Ik
body who comes here is ‘hateful,’ ‘cause
l've always heard you say so after they
went out,”
—A certain schoolboy who knew more
about town-ball, marbles, “antey over,”
ie like, thun about his books, was
now every-
asked:
“Whatis geography?”
“A big books
“Of what is the earth composed ?”
“Mud.”
“No; itis com
“Well, that makes mud, doesn’t it?”
ew hat is the shape of the earth?” -
“If L should dig a hole through the earth
where would I come out ?”
“Out of the hole.
-—There had been a heavy thunder-storm
the night previous, and the teacher asked
seOrge :
“Were you not frightened at the thunder
and lightning last night?”
“No, sir; nota bit.’”
“That's right, George; you are a good
now what causes the thunder,
“Yes, sir; my. grandfather causes it.”
“Your grandfather? Oh, no! Why do you
say sucha thing?” .
“Why, sir, every day before a storm comes
up, my grandfather says he feels it in bis
bones!”
—A clock that fired a shot every hour
was exhibited in Paris, recently. “Some-
pody says that such a clock will “ kill
osed of land and water.”