On one occasion, when that dear, good missionary, Reverend John Semmens, who had gone with me, as together we had lovingly supplied his wants, said to him: “Now, beloved Memotas, can we do anything else for you? Do you want anything more?”
“O, no,” replied Memotas; “I want nothing but Christ. More of Christ.”
When we administered to him the emblems of the broken body and spilt blood of the dear Redeemer, he was much affected, and exclaimed, “My precious Saviour. I shall soon see him.”
Seeing his intense longing to go sweeping through the gates of the celestial city, I said to him: “Memotas, my brother beloved, why are you so anxious to leave us? I hope you will be spared to us a little longer. We need you in the Church and in the village. We want your presence, your example, your prayers.”
He was a little perplexed at first, and seemed hardly to know how to answer. Then he looked up at me so chidingly, and gave me the answer that outweighs all arguments: “I want to go home.”
And home he went, gloriously and triumphantly. His face was so radiant and shining that it seemed to us as though the heavenly gates had swung back, and from the glory land some of its brightness had come flashing down, and had so illumined the poor body that still held in its faltering grasp the precious soul, that we could almost imagine that mortal itself was putting on immortality. The triumphant death of Memotas was not only a revelation and a benediction to Oowikapun and Astumastao, and many other Christian Indians, but it caused the full and complete surrender of many hard, stubborn hearts to Christ.
So short a time had our hero and heroine been in the way that, happy as they were in their present enjoyment of the favour of God, they had had their fears as they thought of the last enemy which is death. In the quietude of their wigwam home they had asked themselves, and each other, the solemn question, Will this religion sustain us in the valley and shadow of death? or, How will we do in the swellings of Jordan? Natural and solemn are these questions, and wise and prudent are they in all lands who thoughtfully and reverently ask them.
Comforting and suggestive were the answers which they and others had learned at the bedside of the triumphant Memotas.
“As thy days, so shall thy strength be,” had a new meaning to them from that time forward, and so as they reconsecrated themselves to God, they resolved in the divine strength to obtain each day sufficient grace for that day’s needs—and who can do any better?
Very anxious was Astumastao to learn all she could about housekeeping and other things which would more fully fit her for helping her less fortunate Indian sisters at the distant Indian village, who, now that they had become Christians, were also trying to attain to some of the customs and comforts of civilisation.
Thus very quickly sped the few weeks during which the brigade of boats waited at Norway House for their return cargo, which had to come from Fort Garry. When this arrived all was hurry and excitement. Two or three days only were required to unpack from the large cases or bales the supplies, and repack them in “pieces,” as they are called in the language of the country. These pieces will each weigh from eighty to a hundred pounds. The cargoes are put up in this way on account of the many portages which have to be made, where the whole outfit has to be carried on the men’s shoulders, supported by a strap from the forehead. It is laborious work, but these Indians are stalwart fellows, and now being homeward bound, they worked with a will.
Most of them were at this time Christians. So they tarried at the mission for a little time to say “Farewell” and to take on board Astumastao and two or three other Indian women, who had been wooed with such rapidity that ere the short visit of a few weeks rolled round all arrangements had been made and some pleasant little marriage ceremonies had taken place in our little church.
These marriages were a great joy to Astumastao as her intensely practical character saw that the coming to her distant country of some genuine Christian young women would be very helpful in the more rapid extension of Christianity. Indeed, “Dame Rumour,” who lives there as well as elsewhere, said that she had a good deal to do in introducing some of the shy, timid bachelor Indians of the Nelson River brigade to some of the blushing damsels whom she had, in her judgment, decided would make good wives for them and also be a blessing in their new homes. Various amusing stories were flying about for a long time in reference to some of the queer misadventures and mixing up of the parties concerned ere everything was satisfactorily arranged and everybody satisfied. Among a people so primitive and simple in their habits this could quickly be done, as no long months were required to arrange jointures or marriage settlements, or a prying into the state of the bank accounts of either of the parties concerned.
But all these things have been attended to, and the long journey begun. It was a matter of thankfulness that no boats were smashed on the rocks or lives lost in the raging waters. The women looked well after the cooking of the meals and the mending of garments torn in the rough portages. Every morning and evening they read from the good book and had prayers. Often in the long gloaming of those high latitudes, when the day’s work was done, they clustered around the camp fire on the great, smooth granite rocks, with the sparkling waters of lake or river in front, and the dense, dark forest as their background, and sweetly sang some of the sweet songs of Zion which they had lately learned or were learning from these young Christian wives whom the wise Astumastao had introduced among them.
The three Sabbaths which had to be spent on the journey were days of quiet restfulness and religious worship. It is a delightful fact that all of our Northern Christian Indians rest from their huntings and journeyings on the Lord’s Day. And it has been found, by many years of testing, that the Christian Indians who thus rest on the Sabbath can do more and better work in these toilsome trips for the Hudson Bay Company than those brigades that know no Sabbath.
The longest journey has an end. The far-away home was reached at last. The goods, in capital order, were handed over to the officer of the trading post. The men were paid for their work, and supplies were taken up for the winter’s hunting, and one after another of the families dispersed to their different hunting grounds, some of which were hundreds of miles away.
Oowikapun, with Astumastao and her aunt, went with a number whose wigwams were so arranged on their hunting grounds that they could meet frequently for religious worship among themselves. Very blessed and helpful to them was this little church in the wilderness. And now here we must leave them for the present. They had their trials and sorrows as all have. Even if their home was but a wigwam, it was a happy one with its family altar and increasing joys.
They had never become weary of talking about the wonderful way in which their loving heavenly Father has led them out of the dark path of the old life into this blessed way.
The only question on which they differed was which had had more to do in bringing the Gospel to their people. Astumastao said it was the visit of Oowikapun; while he declared if it had not been for her true, brave life and faithful words, and her endeavour to live up to what light she had received when a little child, they might all have been in darkness still. And I think my readers will believe with me that I think Oowikapun was right when he so emphatically argued that to Astumastao more than to anyone else was to be given this high honour.
So, while in our story we have given Oowikapun such a prominent place, yet to Astumastao, we think our dear readers with us will say, must be given the first place among those who have been instrumental in having the Gospel introduced among the Nelson River Indians.
The End.
* * *
| Chapter 1 | | Chapter 2 | | Chapter 3 | | Chapter 4 | | Chapter 5 | | Chapter 6 | | Chapter 7 | | Chapter 8 | | Chapter 9 | | Chapter 10 | | Chapter 11 | | Chapter 12 | | Chapter 13 | | Chapter 14 | | Chapter 15 | | Chapter 16 | | Chapter 17 |
* * *
End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Oowikapun, by Egerton Ryerson Young
*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OOWIKA
PUN ***
***** This file should be named 23261-h.htm or 23261-h.zip *****
This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/2/6/23261/
Produced by Nick Hodson of London, England
Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
will be renamed.
Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules,
set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project
Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you
do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is
subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
redistribution.
*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at
http://gutenberg.org/license).
Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic works
1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
works. See paragraph 1.E below.
1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the
collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an
individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in
a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check
the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning
the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
States.
1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
copied or distributed:
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
1.E.9.
1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked
to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
<
br /> active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
Gutenberg-tm License.
1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or
distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
that
- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is
owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments
Oowikapun Page 12