give us a piece of bread, lied to us about
the road, and sent us across the swamp,
and we wallowed knee-deep in mud and
water till ten o'clock at night in trying
to follow this crooked . We then
left the swamp, and put out into the
prairie, to lie in the grass for the night.
When we came out of the swamp, we
heard an Indian drumming on a tin pail
and singing. It was very dark, but we
traveled towards the noise, and when we
drew near the Indian camp quite a num-
ber of large Indian dogs came out to
meet us. They smelt us, but did not
bark nor bite.
We were soon surrounded by , and kindly received by Mr.
and his wife, who was an Indian.
She gave us an excellent supper and a
good bed, which we were thankful for
after the fatigue of the day.
As I laid my head upon my pillow, I
felt to thank God from the bottom of
my heart, for the exchange of the bar-
barous treatment of a civilized Presby-
terian for the humane, kind and
generous treatment of the savage Osage
Indians.
May God reward them both according
to their deserts.
We arose in the morning, after a good
night's rest. I was somewhat lame,
from wading in the swamp the night
before. We had a good breakfast. Mr.
Jereu sent an Indian to see us across the
river, and informed us that it was sixty
miles to the nearest settlement of either
white or red men.
We were too bashful to ask for any-
thing to take with us to eat; so we
crossed the river and started on our
day's journey of sixty miles without a
morsel of food of any kind.
We started about sunrise and crossed
a thirty-mile prairie, apparently as level
as a house floor, without shrub or water.
We arrived at timber about two o'clock
in the afternoon. As we approached the
timber a large black bear came out
towards us. We were not afraid of him,
for we were on the Lord's business, and
had not mocked God's prophets as did
the forty-two wicked children who said
to "Go up thou bald head," for
which they were torn by bears. [2 Kings 2:23-24]
When the bear got within eight rods
of us he sat on his haunches and looked
at us a moment, and then ran away;
and we went on our way rejoicing. We
had to travel in the night, which was
cloudy and very dark, so we had great
difficulty to keep the road. Soon a large
drove of wolves gathered around, and
followed us. They came very close, and
at times it seemed as though they would
eat us up.
We had materials for striking a light,
and at ten o'clock, not knowing where
we were, and the wolves becoming so
bold, we thought it wisdom to make a
fire; so we stopped and gathered a lot
of oak limbs that lay on the ground, and
lit them, and as our fire began to burn
the wolves left us.
As we were about to lay down on the
ground—for we had no blankets—we
heard a dog bark.
My said it was a wolf; I
said it was a dog: but soon we heard a
cow bell. Then we each took a fire-
brand and went about a quarter of a
mile, and found the house, which was
sixty miles from where we started that
morning.
It was an old log cabin, about twelve
feet square, with no door, but an old
blanket was hung up in the door-way.
There was no furniture except one bed-
stead, upon which lay a woman, several
children and several small dogs. A
lay on the bare floor with his feet to the
fire-place, and all were asleep. I went
in and spoke to the man, but did not
wake him. I stepped to him, and laid
my hand on his shoulder. The moment
he felt the weight of my hand he jumped
to his feet, and ran around the room as
though he was frightened; but he was
quieted when we informed him we were
friends.
The cause of his fright was, he had
shot a panther a few nights before, and
he thought its mate had jumped upon
him.
He asked us what we wanted; we told
him we wished to stop with him all
night, and would like something to eat.
He informed us we might lay on the
floor as he did, but that he had not a
mouthful for us to eat, as he had to de-
pend on his gun to get breakfast for his
family in the morning. So we lay on
the bare floor, and slept through a long,
rainy night, which was pretty hard after
walking sixty miles without anything to
Column 1
give us a piece of bread, lied to us about
the road, and sent us across the swamp,
and we wallowed knee-deep in mud and
water till ten o'clock at night in trying
to follow this crooked . We then
left the swamp, and put out into the
prairie, to lie in the grass for the night.
When we came out of the swamp, we
heard an Indian drumming on a tin pail
and singing. It was very dark, but we
traveled towards the noise, and when we
drew near the Indian camp quite a number of large Indian dogs came out to
meet us. They smelt us, but did not
bark nor bite.
We were soon surrounded by , and kindly received by Mr.
and his wife, who was an Indian.
She gave us an excellent supper and a
good bed, which we were thankful for
after the fatigue of the day.
As I laid my head upon my pillow, I
felt to thank God from the bottom of
my heart, for the exchange of the barbarous treatment of a civilized Presbyterian priest for the humane, kind and
generous treatment of the savage Osage
Indians.
May God reward them both according
to their deserts.
We arose in the morning, after a good
night's rest. I was somewhat lame,
from wading in the swamp the night
before. We had a good breakfast. Mr.
Jereu sent an Indian to see us across the
river, and informed us that it was sixty
miles to the nearest settlement of either
white or red men.
We were too bashful to ask for anything to take with us to eat; so we
crossed the river and started on our
day's journey of sixty miles without a
morsel of food of any kind.
We started about sunrise and crossed
a thirty-mile prairie, apparently as level
as a house floor, without shrub or water.
We arrived at timber about two o'clock
in the afternoon. As we approached the
timber a large came out
towards us. We were not afraid of him,
for we were on the Lord's business, and
had not mocked God's prophets as did
the forty-two wicked children who said
to "Go up thou bald head," for
which they were torn by bears.
When the bear got within eight rods
of us he sat on his haunches and looked
at us a moment, and then ran away;
Column 2
and we went on our way rejoicing. We
had to travel in the night, which was
cloudy and very dark, so we had great
difficulty to keep the road. Soon a large
drove of wolves gathered around, and
followed us. They came very close, and
at times it seemed as though they would
eat us up.
We had materials for striking a light,
and at ten o'clock, not knowing where
we were, and the wolves becoming so
bold, we thought it wisdom to make a
fire; so we stopped and gathered a lot
of oak limbs that lay on the ground, and
lit them, and as our fire began to burn
the wolves left us.
As we were about to lay down on the
ground—for we had no blankets—we
heard a dog bark.
My companion said it was a wolf; I
said it was a dog: but soon we heard a
cow bell. Then we each took a firebrand and went about a quarter of a
mile, and found the house, which was
sixty miles from where we started that
morning.
It was an old log cabin, about twelve
feet square, with no door, but an old
blanket was hung up in the door-way.
There was no furniture except one bedstead, upon which lay a woman, several
children and several small dogs. A
lay on the bare floor with his feet to the
fire-place, and all were asleep. I went
in and spoke to the man, but did not
wake him. I stepped to him, and laid
my hand on his shoulder. The moment
he felt the weight of my hand he jumped
to his feet, and ran around the room as
though he was frightened; but he was
quieted when we informed him we were
friends.
The cause of his fright was, he had
shot a panther a few nights before, and
he thought its mate had jumped upon
him.
He asked us what we wanted; we told
him we wished to stop with him all
night, and would like something to eat.
He informed us we might lay on the
floor as he did, but that he had not a
mouthful for us to eat, as he had to depend on his gun to get breakfast for his
family in the morning. So we lay on
the bare floor, and slept through a long,
rainy night, which was pretty hard after
walking sixty miles without anything to