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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 
 
 ®pi^:'Mmn^^^ti 
 
 Shelf. 
 
 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 
 
The First Church of the Frontiersmen. Page 35. 
 
Six Years on the Border; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SKETCHES OF FRONTIER LIFE. 
 
 ^^ 
 
 O^ 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. J. B. RIDEOUT. 
 'I 
 
 PHILADELPHIA 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
 
 1334 CHESTNUT STREET. 
 

 fA 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1883, BY 
 
 THE TRUSTEES OF THE 
 
 PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 
 
 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. 
 
 lZ~3'6'0/(^ 
 
 Westcott & Thomson, 
 Stereotype rs and Electrotypers, Philada. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 First Experiences 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Looking for a Home 20 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Cabin on the Prairie 32 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Preaching in a Dug-out 44 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 Frontier Desperadoes 54 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Death and Dangers 65 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 What Liquor Does 80 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Penalty of Horse-stealing 94 
 
 3 
 
4 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A Hard Winter no 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 Bridal and Death 126 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Bad Indians 136 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Infidel 14S 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 God's Discipline. . 154 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Death in the Home 166 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 A Blessed Harvest 179 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Shadow and Sunshine 185 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Fruits of Faithfulness 195 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 The Close of the Conflict 210 
 
SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 FIRST EXPERIENCES. 
 
 MY object in this narrative is to give 
 my Eastern friends an idea of life 
 on the Western plains — not such an idea 
 as the tourist forms while riding over these 
 great prairies in the swift-moving cars and 
 stopping a few days in the different towns 
 and villages, but such a one as is gained by 
 those who live on the extreme border, and 
 thus prepare the way not only for railroads 
 and cities, but for civilization and good soci- 
 ety. History tells us of the trials of our fore- 
 fathers — their batding with sickness, cold 
 and hunger, their deadly conflicts with the 
 treacherous Indians — together with their 
 
6 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 firm, unshaken faith in the God whom they 
 worshiped; but how many of their posterity 
 whose names and labors of love are never 
 written for the benefit of those who come 
 after them have passed through sorrows 
 and dangers as great as theirs ! 
 
 In my quiet New England home, during 
 my youthful days, I never dreamed of being 
 a minister's wife or of passing through 
 scenes which to many of my readers may 
 seem incredible. But the young cannot see 
 the path which God has marked out for 
 them to walk in through this wilderness of 
 life. After we have gone forward for a 
 number of years, and then look back, how 
 many exclaim, '' He has led me in a way 
 which I knew not " ! 
 
 In the month of August, 1871, I left my 
 Eastern home, friends and many surround- 
 ings that were dear, especially the graves of 
 loved ones, which I never expected to see 
 again, and started for the Far West — a jour- 
 ney of twenty-five hundred miles. But it 
 
FIRST EXPERIENCES. 
 
 was not without scattering tears over places 
 which memory held so dear, that I bade fare- 
 well to friends ; and after weeping over the 
 graves of my mother and darling babe, I 
 turned my back upon the scenes of my 
 childhood, and with my husband and two 
 small children began my long and weari- 
 some journey. 
 
 After traveling day and night for ten 
 days, I found myself beyond the clatter of 
 engines and the sound of '' the church-going 
 bell." But "Onward! Onward!" was our 
 motto. We had heard of a village on the 
 banks of a beautiful river, surrounded by 
 a rich country fast filling up with intelligent 
 people, but with no one to proclaim the glad 
 tidings of salvation, and to that town we 
 were going with bright hopes of happiness 
 and usefulness. But long before we reached 
 our destination my heart grew faint and my 
 own native New England seemed dearer 
 than ever before. Our conveyance was 
 a litde open wagon drawn by two small 
 
8 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 ponies which were very unruly ; and the 
 driver, on account of a bottle which pro- 
 jected from the pocket of his old brown 
 jacket, was no better than the ponies. 
 
 There were many deep ravines and 
 streams without bridges to cross, and sev- 
 eral times I sprang from the wagon, with 
 my little girl of two years in my arms, to 
 see our trunks go tumbling down into some 
 ditch. The driver seemed to be perfectly 
 unconcerned over our misfortunes, and oc- 
 casionally would say, " You'll soon get used 
 to this if you stay in the West." This was 
 early in the month of September, and the 
 dry grass in many places was much higher 
 than the horses' heads, and as far as I could 
 see in every direction this dry brown coat 
 of nature was waving in the wind, which 
 blew furiously, and to me seemed almost 
 unearthly on account of its parching heat. 
 Occasionally we would pass a little cabin, 
 but no barns, no fences, no orchards, no 
 springs ; and, what gave the country a more 
 
FIRST EXPERIENCES. 9 
 
 desolate appearance, there were no trees 
 except a few dwarfed cottonwoods, which 
 scarcely lifted their topmost branches above 
 the ravines in which they stood. 
 
 Being very thirsty, I called at one cabin, 
 and as I looked in I started back with hor- 
 ror. There were three or four invalids ly- 
 ing on blankets which were spread on the 
 ground ; for the cabin had no floor and 
 was so open that a cat could enter between 
 the logs. The woman of the house said, 
 " We are all sick here." I asked for a drink 
 of water, and she pointed to a ravine in 
 which stood a stagnant pool, and said, 
 "There is the water we use." I turned 
 away thinking I could never drink such 
 water as that. But as I saw the driver 
 dipping it up in his old hat and drinking 
 it, I recalled what he had said before : 
 " You'll soon get used to this if you stay 
 in the West." 
 
 At last we reached the town of which we 
 had read such glowing accounts before 
 
lO SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 leaving the East. My hands were brown, 
 my face blistered and my eyes red, and as 
 I stood in the village which had appeared 
 to my imagination in so many different 
 forms (but always with beautiful houses, 
 sidewalks and level streets), feeling home- 
 sick and discouraged, I looked around and 
 counted the buildings. One blacksmith's 
 shop, one small store, one dwelling-house 
 and two little cabins, and all surrounded 
 by the same brown, rustling mantle which 
 covered the whole region. As I looked 
 for the beautiful river, I saw a bed of sand 
 half a mile away, with a little stream, shal- 
 low and muddy as it is at that season of 
 the year, finding its way through the sand. 
 There was no hotel, but in one of the cab- 
 ins we found a shelter; it contained but 
 one room, and had no floor. Besides the 
 family, consisting of man and wife and a 
 daughter nearly grown, there were three 
 gentlemen-boarders, and all down sick. 
 The first night we slept in that cabin I 
 
FIRST EXPERIENCES. II 
 
 thought of the one represented by Rich- 
 ardson in his " Beyond the Mississippi," 
 where a man stands in the door saying to 
 a stranger who desires admittance, " We 
 are about full here." I soon began to learn 
 what border life meant. 
 
 My husband began to preach the gospel 
 and visit the sick. It being the malarial 
 season of the year, there was scarcely a 
 well person to be found in all the region. 
 Whole families were suffering at once ; so 
 that one could not wait on the others. I 
 went three miles from home with my hus- 
 band to attend the funeral of a child. The 
 mother was a refined, educated woman from 
 Boston, and she said she had not been 
 out of bed for six weeks, during which 
 time all of her children had been sick and 
 two of them had died, and not a woman 
 had before been to see her. Her husband 
 had been sufferinof with the chills until he 
 was scarcely able to wait on his sick fam- 
 ily. It is sad to see a whole family sick 
 
12 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 even when surrounded by kind friends to 
 care for and comfort them ; but when fa- 
 ther and mother and children are all sick in 
 a strange land, and surrounded by invalids, 
 God alone can sustain them. 
 
 In the midst of these scenes of poverty 
 and suffering, where such an opportunity 
 for usefulness opened before him, and 
 where one possessed of health and strength 
 felt such animation and delight in trying to 
 relieve sufferers, my husband was taken 
 suddenly and violently ill with a fever. 
 What to do I did not know. A physician 
 could not be had. One had just died with 
 a congestive chill, and the other was very 
 ill. I did the best I could. For nearly two 
 weeks my husband had a burning fever 
 day and night, during which time I endeav- 
 ored to trust in the Lord ; and after caring 
 for my husband, I did what I could for oth- 
 ers. After he began to recover health 
 he gained very rapidly. In four weeks 
 from the time that he was taken ill he was 
 
FIRST EXPERIENCES. 1 3 
 
 able to walk around, and in a short time he 
 began to visit the sick and preach the gos- 
 pel " from house to house." 
 
 The nights were now cold and frosty, and 
 people who survived the scourge were 
 in most cases convalescent. In a short 
 time we moved into a cabin by ourselves, 
 and my husband commenced driving a 
 team for wages, preaching every Sabbath 
 in the different cabins. We were now 
 comparatively comfortable, and were quite 
 happy until the next spring. 
 
 Early in the month of April my husband 
 was helping a neighbor plant corn, when, 
 he said, all at once the hoe became so 
 heavy he could scarcely lift it ; his head 
 pained, his arms were tired and his back 
 ached. He finally concluded that he must 
 be sick, but he continued to work until his 
 teeth began to chatter, and he knew he 
 was having a chill. He then came home, 
 and after shakinof for an hour or more he 
 had a burning fever, and was quite sick 
 
14 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 during the day. After this he had a chill 
 nearly every other day for six weeks, until 
 he was reduced in flesh almost to a skele- 
 ton, and was not able to do any labor. By 
 this time our money was all gone, and 
 about the first of June we had eaten our 
 last morsel of bread for breakfast. We 
 did not know where our dinner — if we 
 were to have any — was to come from. My 
 husband took a small sack and went from 
 house to house among those to whom he 
 had been preaching during the winter, 
 askinor for the loan of a little cornmeal 
 (cornmeal and buffalo-meat were our prin- 
 cipal articles of food), but late in the after- 
 noon he returned with his sack as empty 
 as when he had left home in the morning. 
 He was so faint, weary and hungry that he 
 lay down to rest. Our little children, who 
 had been waiting patiently for his return, 
 looked at the empty sack with much disap- 
 pointment, and without saying a word 
 walked away. 
 
FIRST EXPERIENCES. I 5 
 
 While he was resting many thoughts 
 passed through my mind. I thought of 
 leaving such a place of poverty and 
 wretchedness, but we had no money. I 
 thought of writing to some friend, but we 
 would all die before I could get an answer. 
 I then thought of the precious promise of 
 Jesus: "Ask, and ye shall receive;" and I 
 knew my husband was at the same time 
 looking to our heavenly Father. Shortly 
 after he arose from the bed, stepped from 
 the cabin and walked over to the store. 
 The man who kept it was away, but my 
 husband told his wife that he was out of 
 bread, and she pointed to a pile of flour 
 and said, " Help yourself." I was surprised 
 when I saw him return with a sack of flour, 
 for I knew that the rule at the store was 
 " Strictly no credit." We thanked God for 
 his mercy in that our prayers were an- 
 swered and we not forsaken. 
 
 From this time my husband began to 
 improve, but continued to have an occa- 
 
1 6 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 sional chill, which kept him weak during 
 the whole summer. 
 
 About the last of the month he heard of 
 a town springing up in a very beautiful 
 part of the country, forty miles farther 
 west, and he resolved to go, if possible, 
 to that place. He heard that there were 
 some capitalists at the new town, and he 
 thought that if he were once there he could 
 get work to do and thus maintain his fam- 
 ily. So he started away from home with 
 only six cents, which was all the money we 
 had. Our flour was nearly gone. I divid- 
 ed what was left, wrapping a loaf of bread 
 in a paper for him to take and keeping a 
 little for my children and myself. When 
 he returned, he gave me the following ac- 
 count of his journey, trials and success : 
 
 "After traveling all day, riding part of 
 the distance on a load of lime and walking 
 the remainder, I stopped for the night in a 
 little unoccupied house. I had divided my 
 food with a hungry man during the day, 
 
FIRST EXPERIENCES. 1/ 
 
 and my bread was all gone. I had no 
 blankets, but slept on the floor, using my 
 boots for a pillow. Morning came and 
 the sun was shining brightly, but I was in 
 a strange land without anything to eat and 
 with only six cents in money. I started on 
 my journey ; but, feeling faint, weary and 
 almost discouraged, I went back to the 
 place where I had slept, and after I had 
 closed the door I went to one corner of the 
 room and fell on my knees, determined not 
 to arise until the load of sorrow and care 
 should be removed from my poor de- 
 pressed soul. I resolved to cast my bur- 
 den on the Lord, for I knew that he was 
 willing to bless and sustain me. I have 
 often preached from the text 'There is a 
 Friend that sticketh closer than a brother,' 
 and I endeavored to claim that promise 
 and look to that Friend for help. 
 
 "After I had unbosomed my sorrows to 
 Jesus, and told him I was sick and hungry 
 and a poor wanderer in a strange land and 
 
1 8 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 had not money enough to pay for my break- 
 fast, my soul was filled with peace. I felt 
 him to be very near, and I knew he would 
 help me. I started again, and had gone 
 only a short distance when I saw a man 
 coming from another direction. He hailed 
 me and asked me if I knew the way to the 
 new town. I told him that I did, and was on 
 my way to that place. The stranger said 
 he had a team, and if he could sell his load 
 of meal at the store a little farther on he 
 would give me a passage. I felt certain in 
 my mind that he would sell the meal ; and 
 he did. I told him 1 was sick and preferred 
 to lie down in the wagon, and as I closed 
 my eyes to thank God for answering my 
 prayer I heard the crack of a whip, and we 
 
 were off for the town of H . I would 
 
 have purchased a loaf of bread, but I had 
 learned that there was a toll-bridge on the 
 way, a little beyond the place where I spent 
 the night, and I expected to have to pay 
 five cents to cross the bridge ; but, as the 
 
FIRST EXPERIENCES. 1 9 
 
 man with whom I was riding paid the toll 
 for his team, I was allowed to go over with 
 him free. 
 
 "After going a short distance his boy 
 looked around and asked me if I did not 
 want a lunch. He said he had some corn- 
 bread and molasses, and, bringing it forth, 
 told me to help myself It was now near 
 the middle of the day, and I enjoyed that 
 corn-bread and molasses as much as though 
 I had been partaking of the bounties of a 
 king's table. ' This poor man cried, and 
 the Lord heard him and saved him out of 
 all his troubles.' " 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 LOOKING FOR A HOME. 
 
 THAT night," continued my husband, 
 " we camped out on the wild plains, 
 and the following day, about 1 1 a. m., we 
 were at the new town. But how disap- 
 pointed was I again ! There were two 
 stores, a blacksmith's shop, and a short 
 distance away a little house. I asked 
 every man I could find if he wanted to 
 hire a man to do any kind of work, but 
 they all said * No ;' and, judging from their 
 looks, they had no money to pay for work, 
 or for anything but bread and quinine. 
 After a while I found one man who said 
 he had a well to finish ; it was then twenty 
 feet deep and some water in the bottom. 
 I told him I would work in the well for 
 
 20 
 
LOOKING FOR A HOME. 21 
 
 fifty cents a day ; but after looking me in 
 the face I think he concluded I was not 
 able to do such labor, and said he thought 
 he would not employ me. I was much dis- 
 appointed and wished myself back in N 
 
 with my family, and concluded to get back 
 if I could. I accordingly found a man who 
 was going with a team to within four miles 
 
 of N , and I asked him for a passage ; 
 
 but he refused to take me, as I had not 
 money to pay him. 
 
 '' I then walked away from the little town 
 — perhaps a quarter of a mile — and in the 
 tall, waving grass I knelt down and asked 
 my heavenly Father to take care of his 
 poor wandering child. After spending a 
 few moments in prayer, my mind was com- 
 posed, for I knew my Father would still 
 care for me. I then returned peacefully 
 to the town, and went to the little house 
 before mentioned and asked for five cents' 
 worth of bread; and the woman of the 
 house gave me such a loaf for five cents 
 
22 S/X YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 as I had never before known to be sold for 
 twice that amount of money. I took that, 
 and gave it to the man and boy who had 
 given me my conveyance. 1 then told 
 them if they would let me have some 
 cornmeal from their wagon I would get 
 some bread baked (they were not very 
 good cooks), and they said they would be 
 very glad if I would do so. I then took 
 some meal and went back to the house 
 where I got the bread, and told the lady if 
 she would bake me some bread I would 
 chop wood to pay her, as I had no money. 
 She said she would be glad to do so, as her 
 husband was sick. 
 
 " I had worked only a few minutes when 
 a little girl came to the door and said her 
 papa wanted me to come in. I walked in, 
 and the man — an elderly man — said, ' You 
 are sick, and not fit to be working out 
 there in the hot sun. Sit down and rest 
 until dinner is ready.' If any one had 
 been near, they might have heard me say 
 
LOOKING FOR A HOME. 23 
 
 ' God bless you, old man !' I sat down in 
 a rocking-chair for the first time in the 
 West, and in a few moments I felt well 
 acquainted with the strangers, who gave 
 me much valuable information about the 
 country and seemed to be very kind in- 
 deed. 
 
 " In a short time dinner was ready, and 
 
 for the first time after leaving N I sat 
 
 down at a table and partook of a good, 
 wholesome meal. My friend then said I 
 could take his horse and look around over 
 the country. I thanked him, and soon, seat- 
 ed in a neat saddle, was moving over the 
 prairie. After passing several cabins I saw 
 one made of logs from which the bark had 
 been peeled. It looked neat and clean. 
 Seeing a man working at the door, I rode 
 up and asked him if there were any vacant 
 claims near his place. Without answering 
 my question, he asked, ' Have you a fam- 
 ily ?' I told him I had a wife and two 
 children. He then asked me if I did not 
 
24 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 want to buy a claim. I told him I did not, 
 because I had no money except one cent. 
 He lauofhed. and asked me where I was 
 from. I told him from Maine. ' Is that 
 so ?' said he. ' I am from Vermont.' I 
 told him I thouoht he was a Yankee when 
 he first spoke. He then said, 'There was 
 a ofentleman came out here last March, 
 took a claim, hired a man to break five 
 acres and plant it in corn — and the claim 
 is a good one, with ten acres of timber ; and 
 a stream of water runs through it, so there 
 will always be plenty of water — and then 
 he went back for his family, and a few of 
 us neighbors have been holding his claim 
 for him. The other day we received a let- 
 ter from him saying his wife was sick and 
 he had given up coming West to live, and 
 we could let some man with a family have 
 his claim. Now,' he continued, ' I will show 
 you the claim, and I would advise you to 
 go right on and take possession of it at 
 once.' He then saddled his horse, and 
 
LOOKING FOR A HOME. 2$ 
 
 together we rode down the stream more 
 than a mile, and came to a beautiful piece 
 of corn — the best sod-corn I had seen. 
 He showed me the corners of the quarter- 
 section, and told me there were good 
 neighbors on every side, and asked me 
 how I liked it. I replied that it was ex- 
 cellent. He then said he would help me 
 build a cabin and let me have his team to 
 go after my family. I thanked him, and 
 told him I would be at his place next morn- 
 ing; and then we went back to the town. 
 To my joy, I met a young man just from 
 
 N , with whom I was acquainted. He 
 
 said I must stop with him that night, as he 
 had a camping-outfit along with him. I 
 told him of my good fortune and that I 
 wanted to write to my wife, but I only had 
 one cent. He very kindly assisted me in 
 purchasing a postage-stamp. I then went 
 into the store and asked the clerk if I could 
 write a letter. He said, 'Yes, certainly,' 
 and gave me a sheet of paper and en- 
 
26 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 velope. But I could scarcely write for joy, 
 I felt so much better than I did in the 
 morning, when the stranger refused to 
 give me a passage back to N . 
 
 " That night I listened to the conversa- 
 tion of several old frontiersmen who were 
 sitting around the store, for the night was 
 beautiful and the air was fragrant with the 
 scent of a thousand varieties of wild flow- 
 ers. I listened to those men's talk about 
 the deer and the buffalo and the wolves, 
 then numerous in that region. They also 
 talked about the country — said it was the 
 richest land in the world, and they thought 
 the country was settling up with an excel- 
 lent class of people, and they would soon 
 have schools and churches. I concluded 
 that the people were far superior to those 
 
 at N , and after thanking God for his 
 
 mercy and divine guidance I went to sleep, 
 and slept sweetly until morning. 
 
 " In the morning, after a breakfast of 
 bread, bacon and coffee, and a pleasant 
 
LOOKING FOR A HOME. 2/ 
 
 little chat with my friend from N , I 
 
 started for the cabin of the good Yankee 
 who had been so kind to me the day be- 
 fore. I found him all ready, with his horses 
 harnessed to his wagon ; and we were soon 
 in the timber cutting and drawing out logs 
 for my cabin. We cut logs about six inches 
 in diameter and twelve feet long, and peeled 
 off the bark. As he was a good axeman 
 and strong and well, we soon succeeded in 
 putting up the walls of a house. During 
 this time I was kindly entertained by my 
 friend and his family. Every night we 
 read the Bible and prayed together, the 
 doing of which seemed to unite us more 
 firmly in the bonds of Christian love." 
 
 While my husband was thus learning the 
 rough ways of the border I was living in 
 awful suspense. I had plenty for myself 
 and my children to eat. After he had gone 
 away the merchant's wife was very kind, 
 and seemed almost like a mother to me. 
 But I knew the dangers were many away 
 
28 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 out on the plains, and that in the region he 
 was exploring no man's life was safe. The 
 red men were on the alert for scalps ; the 
 border desperadoes lived by murder and 
 theft; there were bears and wolves and 
 the deadly miasma ; and the scarcity of 
 bread and water seemed dreadful to me. 
 I could only wait and pray. 
 
 After a week of this melancholy endur- 
 ance my aching heart was lightened on re- 
 ceipt of the following letter : 
 
 " My Dear Wife : I have had a hard 
 time since I left. I have suffered for 
 bread, and yesterday, while riding over 
 the plains, what would I have given for 
 one moment at our old spring in Maine ! 
 I kept the six cents you gave me until I 
 reached here this morning, when I paid out 
 five for bread, and have just borrowed two 
 cents to enable me to purchase a postage- 
 stamp. Do not be discouraged : I am not. 
 I believe we shall come out all right yet. 
 I had a slight chill the day I left, but am 
 
LOOKING FOR A HOME. 29 
 
 feeling quite comfortable now, though not 
 very strong. I have some prospects be- 
 fore me which are good, but we have been 
 disappointed so many times I dare not say 
 much about it to you just yet. Do not 
 look for me until I come. Take good 
 care of the children, and trust in Him who 
 feeds the ravens and notices the fall of a 
 sparrow." 
 
 After reading this letter, like Paul before 
 entering Rome " I thanked God and took 
 courage." 
 
 Three days after this, on the 4th of July, 
 my husband returned looking better than 
 when he left. The kind man who had as- 
 sisted him in building his cabin offered to 
 lend him his team, but my husband, know- 
 ing the route to be infested with Indians, 
 and being unarmed, concluded that he 
 would rather come on horseback. The 
 horse he rode was blind and could not go 
 very fast. On the way he saw a party 
 of Indians coming toward him ; he knew he 
 
30 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 could not keep out of their reach, so he 
 looked to God and said, " Thy grace has 
 brought me safe thus far : thy grace will 
 bring me home." The Indians came very 
 near, and one raised his gun and pointed 
 it toward him ; but in a moment they 
 turned their ponies and rode off in an- 
 other direction. 
 
 After this we soon made arrancrements 
 to move to our new home. A neighbor 
 who had a good team and was well armed 
 was engaged to take us through, and we 
 were to pay him in wood and in other arti- 
 cles which we could not move. The nieht 
 before we were to start my husband came 
 in and said, " I do not know what we shall 
 do to-morrow ; the river is up, and we 
 shall have to cross with our load in the 
 ferry-boat." (This was a different and 
 nearer route than the one he had traveled 
 when going before.) " I have no money 
 to pay the ferriage ; and then we must 
 have something to eat on the way, and I 
 
LOOKING FOR A HOME. 3 1 
 
 would like to have a pound of nails and 
 a board, to make a door for our cabin. 
 If I had five dollars, I could get along 
 nicely." Just then he said it came to his 
 mind that when in Maine he gave a poor 
 minister whose son was very sick five dol- 
 lars, and the Lord had said he that gives 
 to the poor lends to him ; and he prayed : 
 " Lord, help us." At that moment the mer- 
 chant over the way, who was considered by 
 many to be the most selfish man in the 
 place, came in, and after talking a few 
 moments and wishing us good luck he 
 opened his pocket-book and handed my 
 husband something. It was quite dark 
 in the cabin, and my husband said, " What 
 is this ?" and the old man said, " That is 
 something to help you along to-morrow ;" 
 and stepped out, saying, " Good-night." 
 To our great joy, we found that the five 
 dollars had come ; and we knew it was 
 God who sent it. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE CABIN ON THE PRAIRIE. 
 
 THE next morning we were early on 
 the way to our new home. We 
 started early, because we did not want to 
 camp out on the wild plains between the 
 two settlements. The day was very hot, 
 and, although I was seated on the top of 
 the load, the aroma of flowers, the bound- 
 ing deer and the skulking cayote, the wild 
 sunflowers bowing before the breeze, with 
 beautiful birds singing in their branches, one 
 after another claimed my attention ; and, 
 as no Indians appeared in sight, the day 
 passed away quite pleasantly. The sun 
 went down long before we reached the 
 settlement, and with much dread we 
 stopped in the open country for the night, 
 
 32 
 
THE CABIN ON THE PRAIRIE. 33 
 
 but on account of weariness caused by the 
 long day's ride we lay down on the ground 
 and slept soundly until morning. 
 
 The next day, about ten o'clock, we 
 reached the cabin of our good friends. 
 Here I was received so kindly that I felt 
 at home at once. The good woman of the 
 house said I should not move into our 
 cabin until the roof was on. As soon as 
 I met her I knew by the expression of her 
 countenance and the warm grasp of her 
 hand that I had met a friend ; and if ever 
 any poor wanderer in the desert of this 
 world felt the need of a friend, I did at 
 that time. Nor was I disappointed, for 
 soon we loved each other dearly. She 
 called me her sister, and wrote to her 
 friends in the East that she had found a 
 sister. She was truly a refined Christian 
 lady, 
 
 " A perfect woman, nobly planned 
 To warn, to comfort and command ; 
 And yet a spirit, still and bright. 
 With something of an angel light," 
 3 
 
34 SIX YEAI^S ON THE BORDER. 
 
 Here I was kindly entertained for a week, 
 when I moved to my little home. Mrs. 
 
 G , who seemed like a sister indeed, 
 
 went with me, takinor several thinors for 
 my comfort. 
 
 To one coming directly from a wealthy 
 country, the idea of living in such a place 
 as our cabin would have been rejected with 
 horror. It was a little over ten feet square 
 inside, six feet high in the middle and four 
 on each side, the roof covered with poles 
 and grass and dirt, and in the middle a post 
 resting on a flat stone supporting the roof. 
 But it seemed orood to me because I needed 
 a home, and I could say, " This is our own," 
 like the man that lived near us in a " dug- 
 out," who said to his boys as he looked at 
 the walls of pure earth, " Boys, this is ours /" 
 and my good sister, who, after camping out 
 for several days and then moving into her 
 little cabin as nieht came on and the wind 
 beo-an to blow and the rain came down in 
 torrents, said, "Oh, isn't this nice?" 
 
THE CABIN ON THE PRAIRIE. 35 
 
 After we had lived in our new shelter a 
 few days, there came a heavy thunder- 
 storm in the night, and in the morning the 
 water stood about six inches deep in our 
 cabin. The prairie all around was flooded. 
 Our bedding was wet and muddy, and the 
 dirt floor remained damp for several days, 
 making the cabin very unpleasant. 
 
 My husband had by this time so far re- 
 covered his health as to be able to work all 
 the week and preach twice on the Sabbath. 
 He commenced his labors in the grove, and 
 the people, who were thirsting for the wa- 
 ter of life, came for miles to hear the gospel. 
 Occasionally an old frontiersman would say, 
 " This seems like former times." One man, 
 after listening attentively, said that was the 
 flrst sermon he had heard for ten years. 
 Little half-clad boys would sit under the 
 trees, apparently drinking in every word, 
 and many of the young people gave their 
 hearts to the Saviour. 
 
 But soon the malarial season commenced, 
 
3f' 
 
 .S7,\ lA'./A'.V ON I'lir lU^Rl^EK. 
 
 and my lHisl)an(l, my children ami myscll 
 would all have a (hill the same day. K^\\(\ 
 day we all lay vvilh a biirnim^ h'vcr Irom 
 morniiii; iiiilil iiivdit, not one ol us able 
 lo wail in\ ihc odicr. The sun shone with 
 scorchini^' heal, and duiiui; ihc day we had 
 no vvalcr dial was hi lo drink. W'c should 
 
 not have sullcicd in 1 his way had M r. ( i 
 
 and his wife been al home, bul ihal day 
 ihcy wcrc^ absent with their ham. b'vciy 
 day when they were al honu' ihcy came 
 brin^ini; us hu'sh walcr hom ihcii' well, 
 and very ollcn a baskcl ol lii;hl l)i('ad and 
 butler and cake, and somclinu's a hide 
 fruil, which ihc) had brouidu Irom lluir 
 home in ihc b.asl. ( )nc day, carl)' in ihc 
 month ol Scplcmbcr, ihcy did nol conu' 
 as usual ; wc knew ihcy were home, Ixs 
 cause we could see iheir waiM)n in ihe 
 yard. The ne\l day, leariuL; ihat some- 
 thing was wroni;', my husband wciU lo 
 iheir cabin, and lound ihem both sick; Mr. 
 G had a burniui' lexci' and was in e.\- 
 
THE CABIN ON THE PRAIRIE. 37 
 
 treme pain, and my good sister was lying 
 in die bed unable to help herself in the 
 least. My husband hastened back for me 
 and then sprang on one of their horses 
 and started for a physician. When the 
 
 physician arrived, he said Mr. G had 
 
 a very serious attack of bilious fever and 
 his wife had paralysis. After this, for three 
 weeks, we both stayed with our friends and 
 cared for them day and night. In a few 
 days the physician told my husband it 
 was very doubtful if either of them would 
 
 recover, but in three weeks Mr. G was 
 
 much better and able to wait on his wife a 
 little, and we returned home with the under- 
 standing that my husband would visit them 
 
 every night and morning.- But Mr. G 
 
 continued to gain in strength, and in a few 
 
 weeks was well. Mrs. G , however, was 
 
 not able to get out of her bed until the 
 next spring. 
 
 During the three weeks that we took 
 care of them it seemed strange that my 
 
3^ SJX Yh,AJ<S ON THE hOKDEK. 
 
 hu>sband, my children and myself were all 
 crjTnydir<itw(^]y well; neither of us had a 
 chill during this time, while most of the 
 pf-jjjAt in the vicinity had suffered very 
 much, and several had died. 
 
 After we moved into our cabin we were 
 frequently visited by larg^: snakes. My 
 husband killed one almost seven feet long. 
 They often came into the cabin, and even 
 dropped down from the roof to our table. 
 One night I felt something crawl over my 
 bare foot; the next morning I killed it. Jt 
 was a rattlesnake with four rattles. ^'Jne 
 of our neighbors slept on the prairie, and in 
 the morning he found a very large rattle- 
 snake coiled close to bis side. People were 
 quit':: ofu^n bitten by these reptiles, but sel- 
 dom died from the effects, as most persons 
 kept an antidote always at hand. I became 
 so accustomed tf> the peculiar buzz of t,}j<: rat- 
 tlesnakes that it did not alarm me very much. 
 I have often killed them, and have laughed 
 to see ladies just from the Mast run and 
 
THE CABlJf Ojr THE PRAIRIE, 39 
 
 scream when meedng a snake ot the most 
 harmless kind. A lady who lived near us 
 saw her baby, about nine months old, play- 
 ing with a botde ; on picking- it up she saw 
 a litde ratdesnake coiled in it. Upon in- 
 quiring how it came there, the older bo\-s 
 said they drove it into the botde and corked 
 it up> tor they knew it would amuse Frankie; 
 and they then told their mother they had 
 several ^'lariatted" out in die held. We 
 had a dog that hunted snakes and killed 
 them wherever he could tind them; but 
 in a litde while the poor creature became 
 ver\" stupid and badly swollen around the 
 head and neck, and after several days of 
 suttering he died. 
 
 When I had returned home from taking 
 care of my friends I often telt ver>~ gloomy 
 and as nearly discouraged as woman ever 
 becwmie. ^[y neighbors were nearly all sick, 
 and my husband was working fr>r food and 
 clothing during the week and away preach- 
 ing everv Sabbath ^^^f- T endea\x>rei^ r-^ 
 
40 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 overcome my despondency by working very 
 hard when I was able to work ; and when I 
 was not able, I would read my Bible and 
 put my trust in my heavenly Father. 
 
 One day about the last of October I was 
 sitting in our little cabin with my children 
 when I heard some one speak outside. I 
 opened the door, and to my horror I saw 
 five Indians sitting on their ponies in a 
 nude state, their bodies painted in various 
 colors. In their hands they had rifles, and 
 to their saddles were hanging bows, arrows 
 and knives. The sides of their heads were 
 shaved, and on the tops the hair stood erect. 
 They looked at me, muttering something. 
 I fastened the door and prayed to God 
 to take care of me. After holdincr a con- 
 sultation for some time they filled their 
 blankets with our corn, then rode off to- 
 ward the unsettled plains ; and I can assure 
 my readers I was not sorry to see them go. 
 The next day I saw a very large party — 
 more than a hundred — of them coming 
 
THE CAIilN ON 'J/IIi PKAJh'/E. 4 1 
 
 rig'ht from iIk: Indian 'JV^rritory, which was 
 only half a mile away. I fastf:nf:d tli^: door 
 secundy, took my twind^aLi^js in my arms 
 to kf:o[>» \\\i\\x\ rpiif^t, anr], with th^: othf:r 
 chilrlr^rn nf:sth"n^ close: to my side:, waite:d 
 in anxifjty anrl rlrcad ; fr^r J did not know 
 what th(:y would do. d hf:y surroundr^d 
 the cabin, pounded on the: floor anrl tried 
 to push it r;pf:n. They rr:mained a loni:^ 
 while, talked very loudly and seemed to 
 be disputing with one another. binally 
 thr:y rfxle away. I was covered with pr:r- 
 spi ration, my heart beat very fast, and it 
 was a long^ time before I dared open tlv: 
 door; but when I looked out, they were 
 not to f)e seen. 
 
 A family consisting of husband, wife*and 
 seven children lived out in the open air 
 near us all summ.er with nr;thing but a 
 wagon-cover for a shelter. In the autumn 
 my husband helped the man build such a 
 cabin as ours, in which they lived rliiring 
 the winter. At meal-time each took his 
 
42 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 piece of corn-bread and buffalo-meat as he 
 could get it ; sometimes they had bread 
 and no meat, and sometimes meat and no 
 bread. At night the three oldest boys 
 would lie down by the side of a hay- 
 stack, and the father would take the fork 
 and cover them with hay. The remainder of 
 the family spread their bedding on the dirt 
 floor, and thus had a shelter. This man 
 and his wife were intelligent and educated 
 people from the State of New York. The 
 next summer they raised a good crop of 
 wheat, and were soon doing well. 
 
 During the winter it was extremely cold; 
 for over a month the wind blew almost in- 
 cessantly from the north, and several inches 
 of Snow lay on the ground. There were 
 some weeks in which but few dared to 
 venture away from their own premises. 
 Several froze to death ; one poor fellow 
 was found stiff in his bed. Some who 
 were out hunting never returned, and 
 numbers were so badly frozen that they 
 
THE CABIN ON THE PRAIRIE. 43 
 
 died nearly as soon as they came back. 
 While returning, one party of seven was 
 overtaken by a dreadful storm. One lay 
 down and said he could go no farther, when 
 a young fellow took his revolver and told 
 him that if he had given up he would put 
 an end to his suffering at once. The man 
 concluded to make another effort ; and 
 when they arrived at the settlement, the 
 man who had rallied his comrade was so 
 badly frozen that he went on crutches for 
 six months, while the others received but 
 slight injuries. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PREACHING IN A DUG-OUT. 
 
 ONE of my husband's preaching-places 
 was a " dug-out." On the Lord's day 
 when the cold winds would be sweeping 
 over the prairie, waving the dry grass 
 and swaying the leafless branches of the 
 Cottonwood and the elm, and when the 
 ringing tongues of ten thousand bells 
 were speaking with clear, musical voices 
 from the high steeples of costly churches, 
 calling large congregations to assemble 
 within clean and decorated walls, where 
 the sun smiled sweetly through windows 
 of stained glass, to sit on cushioned seats 
 with costly carpets beneath their feet, to 
 listen to God's word, — a goodly number 
 of rough, hardworking frontiersmen, with 
 
 44 
 
PREACHING IN A DUG-OUT. 45 
 
 their wives and children, would gather in 
 this damp, dark abode of poverty to listen 
 to the same gospel and worship the same 
 God, in the name of the same Jesus, look- 
 ing for the same reward beyond the grave 
 and beyond the stars. If God heard the 
 prayers of his ancient followers when in 
 the dens and caves of the earth, and in the 
 catacombs beneath ancient Rome, he cer- 
 tainly can be sought and found in a "dug- 
 out" away on the Western border. But, 
 ye who worship in costly churches, think 
 of such a sanctuary as this : no windows, 
 and sometimes so dark that the minister 
 can scarcely see his congregation, the 
 floor of earth and the walls and roof the 
 same, and, instead of cushioned seats, 
 round poles. But in just such churches 
 as this are blessed thousands of souls who 
 will doubtless sing praises to Him who 
 brought them " out of great tribulation, 
 having washed their robes and made 
 them white in the blood of the Lamb." 
 
46 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 One of the places where my husband 
 preached was in the house of the man 
 whose wife had sold him the loaf of bread ; 
 another was six miles up the stream, at the 
 post-ofhce ; and another was in a town of a 
 hundred inhabitants, eight miles west. In 
 this latter place there was but one religious 
 man, and he was the only physician in the 
 vicinity. My husband, after walking from 
 eight to sixteen miles and preaching three 
 times during the Sabbath, would sometimes 
 be too tired to walk home, and under such 
 circumstances he would sleep in the doc- 
 tor's office, on the floor, using a large book 
 for a pillow. But quite frequently, when 
 the stream was frozen over or was not 
 too high for him to wade, he would walk 
 home after the evening service. Som.e- 
 times, while fording this stream, the run- 
 nine ice was so thick that it was both dif- 
 ficult and dangerous to cross. 
 
 During the winter my husband had saved 
 enough to purchase a cow and to partly 
 
PREACHING IN A DUG-OUT. 47 
 
 pay for a team. He accordingly bought a 
 pair of horses and a wagon, and com- 
 menced to haul lumber from W to 
 
 C , a distance of sixty miles through 
 
 an unsettled region. There were four 
 large streams without bridges to be 
 crossed. The load which a pair of horses 
 could draw on the level prairie would make 
 three loads to draw through these streams 
 and up the steep banks ; consequently, he 
 would be delayed two hours at each of 
 these streams. One very cold morning he 
 had crossed the first, but, the second being 
 larger and partly frozen over, he expected 
 to have a hard time in getting safely to the 
 other side with his load. But about the 
 time he came to the stream an old man 
 who was just moving into the country came 
 along. He had a pair of large horses, and, 
 seeing my husband with such a heavy load, 
 asked him if he did not need help in cross- 
 ing the stream. My husband said he did, 
 and would be very thankful if he would as- 
 
48 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 sist him. The old man then fastened his 
 horses in front of my husband's team, and 
 they passed through the stream without 
 difficulty. In like manner he helped him 
 over the other streams, and said it was 
 a pleasure to render such assistance, for 
 he had been in like circumstances himself. 
 That time my husband came home sooner 
 than usual, and said he hoped he could 
 some day recompense the old man for his 
 kindness. But the Lord is not unmindful 
 of such deeds of love to his children, nor 
 will he permit the doers of them to go 
 without reward. 
 
 Along this dreary route the prairie- wolves 
 — called " coyotes " — were very numerous ; 
 sometimes he would see them scattered 
 around over the prairie in large numbers. 
 Once they surrounded him on all sides ; 
 his dog was frightened, and remained un- 
 der the wagon. At another time he saw a 
 large gray wolf but a short distance from 
 him; he thought there might be others 
 
PREACHING IN A DUG-OUT. 49 
 
 near, and drove very fast. The wolf fol- 
 lowed him for several miles. 
 
 But the cold winter soon passed away, 
 and the green grass and the beautiful flow- 
 ers covered the black and charred prairie, 
 over which the fire had swept, burning off 
 the old grass ; and the trees put on their 
 beautiful garment of green, and thus 
 fringed the stream which meandered 
 through the great meadow. The birds, 
 especially the lark, sang very sweetly, and 
 I thought it was the most beautiful country 
 in the world. 
 
 In the beginning of spring I went to see 
 my sister-friend, and she said with a smile 
 as I entered her cabin, " I believe I shall 
 get well now, for I can feel a tingle in my 
 fingers." All these long months she had 
 been more helpless than an infant, not 
 able to move in the least ; but she was 
 right. She now began to improve, and 
 in the month of May was able to walk 
 out a little ; soon she came to visit me, 
 
50 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 and I was quite happy. I had also formed 
 the acquaintance of another lady who be- 
 came very dear to me. She had just come 
 from Kentucky, was a good Christian, a 
 member of the church and an active work- 
 er in the cause of the Master. Her friends 
 had nicknamed her " Duck." I highly ap- 
 preciated her frequent visits and cheerful 
 conversation, and was always glad to see 
 her coming to our cabin. 
 
 Now on Sunday my husband would go 
 to his different appointments on horseback, 
 which made the duties of the holy day 
 more cheerful and pleasant. Instead of 
 returning at eleven o'clock weary and with 
 sore and wet feet, he now came back an 
 hour earlier cheerful and happy. But he 
 
 had no saddle. The people at C , the 
 
 town eight miles to the westward, said it was 
 too bad for a man to ride on horseback so 
 far to preach for them without any saddle, 
 so they found and repaired an old one that 
 had been thrown away, and one Sabbath, 
 
PREACHING IN A DUG-OUT. $1 
 
 after he had preached to them, they gave 
 him the saddle ; and that old saddle did him 
 good service for a long time. This was the 
 first remuneration of an earthly kind he 
 had received for preaching the gospel to 
 these poor frontier settlers, and it might 
 also be considered the first real token of 
 their appreciation. In a short time he de- 
 cided to engage wholly in the work which 
 he so dearly loved. A church was organ- 
 ized at C as the nucleus of a^great 
 
 spiritual harvest -field. The church con- 
 sisted of eleven members, and my friend 
 from Kentucky was one of them. 
 
 We sold one of our horses and his har- 
 ness, paid what we owed for the team, and 
 had a little left to live on until July, when 
 we received from the Presbyterian Board 
 of Home Missions our first quarter's salary, 
 which was one hundred and twenty-five 
 dollars. During this summer we contin- 
 ued to live in our little cabin : it was 
 kitchen, dining-room, parlor, bedroom and 
 
52 SJX YEARS IN THE BORDER. 
 
 Study. My husband and oldest boy slept 
 on the floor. The snakes made us an oc- 
 casional visit, but were not so troublesome 
 as they had been the summer before, as we 
 had ploughed around, and so had a better 
 chance to see them before they reached 
 our cabin than while we were so closely 
 surrounded by the dense forest of wild 
 blue grass and sunflower stalks. The 
 former in many places were eight, while 
 the latter were twelve, feet high. 
 
 In the autumn we concluded to move to 
 
 C . The day we left, my dear friend 
 
 Mrs. G came to our cabin and said 
 
 she did not see how she could have me 
 leave ; although she knew it was best for 
 us, yet she did not know what she would 
 do without me. We agreed to visit each 
 other as often as we possibly could. When 
 she kissed me good-bye, she bathed my 
 face with tears, and, while she wept to 
 have me go, I knew I should never have 
 another friend more true or dear. 
 
PREACHING IN A DUG-OUT. 53 
 
 About this time we received our first 
 missionary-box. The articles were mostly 
 new and of an excellent quality. This 
 box came in a time of need ; for, had it 
 not been sent, we would have suffered 
 for clothing during the winter. 
 
I 
 
 CIIArXKR V. 
 
 FKONTIEK nESPEKADOES. 
 
 T was in the moiUh of OctobcM* that we 
 moved to our new home in C . 
 
 ]\ly twin-boys were a year okl, and they 
 looked so much ahke that I often mistook 
 one for the other. Real young- Westerners 
 they were, born and initiated into the 
 rouoh life of the frontier. We moved 
 into a little house with only one room, but 
 it had a floor and was ceiled wdth boards, 
 and it seemed like a palace. The rent we 
 had to pay was eight dollars a month. 
 Knowino- that we could not live on our 
 small salary and pay such a rent, we 
 concluded to build a house of our own. 
 We moved into our own home after two 
 months, having pardy paid for it. This 
 
 54 
 
I'R ON 7 /A /' /) EUPI-: KA Ij O ES. 5 5 
 
 housf: had two rooms and a ^(ood flrK^r, 
 but b<;lw^:'':n my four liltl'': children and 
 the told winds that bU^w across \}i\<i 
 prairif: thcrf: was only one thickness of 
 siding. Though the winter was not so 
 cold as the previrjus one had been, yet we 
 had some storms that were very disagree- 
 able, and on several mornings our floor 
 was white with snow. 
 
 During the winter a great many of the 
 poor settlers who had been there just long 
 enough to spend all their money and not 
 raise any crop except a little corn suffered 
 very much. One poor Scotchman, whose 
 wife had died and left him with a family of 
 young children, and who lived in a dark 
 and damp '-dug-out'' on the bank of the 
 stream, was an object of pity .such as is 
 seldom seen in any country. Not only 
 was he himsedf sick, but also all of his 
 children ; and, being destitute of food and 
 clothing, their sufferings were almost be- 
 yond imagination. My husband called at 
 
56 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 one cabin, and a man at the door told him 
 he did not know as he could get in, but he 
 might try. It was a very cold day, and he 
 determined to go in and get warm if he 
 could possibly do so. He succeeded in 
 getting into the cabin, but he said it was 
 so full that it was not without much effort 
 that the immates could open the door. 
 The cabin, he thought, was about eight 
 by twelve feet, and in it were an old man 
 and his wife and two daughters. One was 
 married and had a family of small children, 
 and it was her husband who said, '' I do not 
 know as you can get in." That cabin had 
 no roof except an old wagon-sheet spread 
 over it, and that was full of holes ; and the 
 wind, blowing through the walls, which were 
 very open, kept the old canvas fluttering 
 like the torn sail of a vessel in a storm. 
 The whole effort of the distressed ones 
 seemed to be to keep from freezing. The 
 old man said he thought if they could pos- 
 sibly live until spring they would be in bet- 
 
FRONTIER DESPERADOES. 5/ 
 
 ter circumstances by another winter. One 
 man came to our house and said his wife 
 had died a short time before, and he had 
 seven young children, one a babe, and the 
 little ones claimed his whole attention, and 
 without assistance they would certainly per- 
 ish. We divided with them at the time, 
 and soon succeeded in gathering some- 
 thing for their subsistence. My husband 
 went to see them, and said that never be- 
 fore had he seen such suffering human- 
 ity. The babe soon died, and the poor 
 father said, "We shall all get through 
 with this world soon." 
 
 The town was at this time a very rough 
 and wicked place. Two saloons were kept 
 blazing with quarrels and blasphemy day 
 and night, and quite frequently a poor 
 fellow would be sent to a drunkard's 
 eternity without having time to say, *' God 
 be merciful to me, a sinner." 
 
 One night, very soon after dark, I sent 
 my little boy to the post-office, and in a 
 
58 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 moment after he had left the house I heard 
 most dreadful screams and oaths, and sev- 
 eral shots were fired. I ran to the door and 
 said, '' Oh dear ! I will not let Winnie go 
 anywhere another night after dark ;" and 
 as I looked out I heard a ball whistle past 
 my head. In a moment my boy came in 
 and said, "They are having an awful fight." 
 The next morning a young man was lying 
 dead in a house that had been used for a 
 meat-market. I was told that the last 
 words he said were, " Lay me on a soft 
 bed," but they laid him on the hard floor, 
 and there he died. 
 
 One man who boasted of the great num- 
 ber of men he had killed shot a man in the 
 Scotchman's " dug-out." The young man, 
 who was very civil and much respected, 
 saw the ruffian whipping a boy and told 
 him to let the boy alone — that he was do- 
 ing very wrong in whipping him. The 
 ruffian then left the boy and told the 
 young man he would surely kill him in- 
 
FRONTIER DESPERADOES. 59 
 
 side of a week. The young man's friends 
 advised him to leave the place, as the des- 
 perado had threatened to kill him and he 
 certainly would do so ; but he said he 
 would not : if he was killed, it would be all 
 right. After three or four nights of dodg- 
 ing and hiding in order to keep out of the 
 villain's way, he went into the '* dug-out " 
 and went to sleep. But the murderer was 
 on his track. In a few moments he raised 
 the blanket that served for a door and fired 
 several shots. The little children were ter- 
 ribly frightened and screamed, and the 
 young man said, " Don't shoot any more ; 
 I am killed." The assassin then ran. The 
 Scotchman caught his rifle and fired at him 
 without effect ; at the same time, one of the 
 children ran for the physician. The young 
 man reached the Scotchman some papers, 
 and said, " Put these into the fire ; I want 
 to see them burn ;'* and after they were 
 burned he went out in the air and fell 
 down. In a moment he arose, and walked 
 
6o SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 into the dug-out in great agony and cov- 
 ered with perspiration. By this time the 
 doctor came, and after examining the 
 wound he gave him an opiate ; but in one 
 hour he was dead. The ball had passed 
 throug^h his lun^s. 
 
 Shortly after this a well-dressed gentle- 
 man came into the town and was sitting on 
 the counter in one of the stores, when this 
 same desperado made his appearance in 
 the door with revolver in hand, and said, 
 " I wonder if I can shoot a hole through 
 that man's hat?" The gentleman laid his 
 hat on the counter, and said, " Yes, shoot 
 it if you want to." — " I would rather shoot 
 it on your head," said the ruffian. — " None 
 of your shooting here," said the merchant ; 
 but as soon as the man put his hat on his 
 head again he fell to the floor a dead man. 
 The ball passed directly through his brain. 
 The murderer mounted a fast horse and 
 dashed off toward the timber, and in a 
 moment was out of sight. 
 
FRONTIER DESPERADOES. 6 1 
 
 In a few days the town was full of 
 strangers ; they said very Httle, but seemed 
 to notice everything that was said or done. 
 After a while a man came into town and 
 purchased some cheese and crackers, but 
 as he left and was crossing the stream 
 a number of men surrounded him and 
 put a rope around his neck, and told him 
 he was carrying that provision to the man 
 McCarty, who had killed so many, and 
 if he would take them to him they would 
 let him go, otherwise they would hang him 
 that moment without any further ceremony. 
 He acknowledged that the provision was for 
 McCarty, but said that if he betrayed him 
 the ruffian would kill him too, and he sup- 
 posed he might as well die one way as an- 
 other. But the strangers told him if he 
 would take them to McCarty that was all 
 they asked of him, and they could guaran- 
 tee that he would never be harmed by the 
 desperado. To this he consented, and in 
 less than an hour he showed them, in a 
 
62 SIX YEANS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 cluster of trees, a man lying on the ground 
 asleep, and said, " There he is." 
 
 As the men walked toward McCarty he 
 heard their tramp and sprang to his feet, 
 and, seeing the condition he was in, ran 
 for his horse, which was tied to a tree a 
 short distance away. As many balls 
 whistled by his head, he turned and with 
 steady aim began to shoot at his assail- 
 ants ; but ere he fired the third shot a ball 
 struck and shattered his wrist, and his re- 
 volver fell to the ground. He then threw 
 up his hands, walked up to the men, fell on 
 his knees and began to plead for his life. 
 He said he wanted at least a few days to 
 prepare for death before they sent him out 
 of the world. They said they would give 
 him five minutes. He said he was not fit 
 to die. They told him he was not fit to 
 live ; but he crawled up to their feet and 
 begged for his life in a most distressing 
 manner, his lips quivering and tears flow- 
 ing freely. When the five minutes had ex- 
 
FRONTIER DESPERADOES. 63 
 
 pired, one of the party said to a brother 
 of the young man who had been killed in 
 the Scotchman's dug-out, " Now is your 
 chance : give it to him ;" but the young 
 man said he could not do it, and turned 
 around and wept. Then several shots 
 were heard, and the murderer's soul went 
 into the presence of Him before whom he 
 had hastened ihe souls of so many of his 
 fellows. His cries to man for pity instead 
 of to God were hushed, and his body, 
 riddled with balls, was left on the around 
 for the buzzards to eat. "As a man sins, 
 so shall he be punished." The measure 
 this ruffian had meted out to others was 
 finally meted to him. Very brave was he 
 until grim Death looked him in the face, 
 and then a poor coward. 
 
 During the winter my husband held a 
 protracted meeting in the new schoolhouse 
 which had been built in the town, and for 
 several nights both saloons were closed 
 during church-time and nearly all the in- 
 
64 S/.V VJwiA'S ON THE BORDER. 
 
 habitants of the town attended the meet- 
 ings ; and many of the worst and most im- 
 penitent men seemed to be very penitent. 
 One who was considered the most hard- 
 ened sinner in the town said, " This town 
 has been run by the devil long enough, 
 and I think it is time the people began to 
 repent and do better." He said this in the 
 presence of many of the wicked and pro- 
 fane. 
 
 It seemed as though a great revival was 
 about to shine upon the darkness of the 
 place, but the devil was busily at work. A 
 small stack of hay was in dispute between 
 two of the citizens ; it was not worth more 
 than two or three dollars. Two men at- 
 tempted to take the hay ; a battle followed 
 and then a lawsuit, and nearly every one 
 took sides with one party or the other. 
 This strife continued until the Spirit was 
 quenched ; the light which seemed to be 
 dawning on the place disappeared, and 
 the meetings were given up. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 DEATH AND DANGERS. 
 
 IT was on one cold, rainy morning in the 
 month of March that a gentleman came 
 
 to our house to tell us that Mrs. G 
 
 was dead and her husband had sent his 
 team for us. The dreadful news pierced 
 my heart like an arrow. I was just antici- 
 pating a pleasant visit from her whom I 
 loved so dearly, and to be thus so sudden- 
 ly deprived of her society seemed more 
 than I could endure. 
 
 As we rode over the prairie, which was 
 covered with six inches of water ruffled by 
 the strong east wind, I thought there was 
 not a ruffle of sorrow or trouble in the 
 cold bosomi of my friend ; and I almost 
 felt a desire to bid farewell to the world, 
 
 5 65 
 
66 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 with all its cares and disappointments, and 
 go also to the better land. 
 
 When we reached the cabin of our 
 friends, I could scarcely enter the door 
 to gaze upon the pale face of her who 
 had never hung her harp on the willow 
 because she was in a strangfe land. But 
 when I looked upon the cold features, I 
 thought there was still a smile of sweet- 
 ness which the gentle spirit had left upon 
 the clay, as the rays of the sun are seen 
 upon the tinted clouds after it has gone 
 down. That night I sat by the side of the 
 fallen temple whose occupant had gone to 
 dwell in the palace of light. I could not 
 understand why one so lovely and so 
 loving, so full of good deeds and so intelli- 
 gent and spiritually-minded, should be called 
 away so suddenly, while others who never 
 threw any brightness upon the pathway of 
 life were left to spend their days without 
 usefulness. It seemed as though the light 
 of the little neighborhood had been blown 
 
DEATH AND DANGERS. 6/ 
 
 out. I knew she would be missed in the 
 prayer-meeting and in the Sabbath-school, 
 for she delighted to talk about Jesus, whom 
 she daily worshiped. She would be missed 
 also in many a home where her smiles 
 and sweet conversation had so often 
 cheered the lonely ones of her sex. Above 
 all, she would be missed by her husband, for 
 whose sake she had left a beautiful home 
 and cast in her lot with the pioneers 
 of the plains. Why did she die ? Could 
 not a physician have saved her life? "Was 
 there no balm in Gilead, was there no phy- 
 sician there?" and, literally speaking, we 
 
 answer, " No." The physician at C 
 
 had gone East to die, and nearer than 
 twenty-five miles off there was no other 
 that could be relied on. But her time to 
 go home had come, and she was ready. 
 *' She had fought a good fight," and then 
 the Captam of her salvation welcomed her 
 into the rest that remains " for the people 
 of God." 
 
68 SJX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 The next day a goodly number of the 
 people of the settlement came to pay their 
 last respects to the departed sister. Not- 
 withstanding the awful storm which con- 
 tinued to sweep over the region, by ten 
 o'clock the little cabin was filled. My hus- 
 band preached from the words, " Blessed 
 are the dead who die in the Lord." After 
 the sermon we laid her down by her babe 
 in her little garden, beneath a box-elder 
 tree which she had planted with her own 
 hands, and as we stood around that grave 
 and sang " Sister, thou wast mild and love- 
 ly," there were many drops falling to the 
 ground besides those which were left there 
 by the rain. 
 
 In less than three weeks from this time 
 my husband preached the funeral sermons 
 of two other ladies, who died within a mile 
 of this place and were buried with their 
 babes in their arms. And thus on the 
 border hundreds of young mothers sleep 
 beneath the cover which is red, white and 
 
DEA TH AND DANGERS. 69 
 
 blue in spring, green in summer, brown 
 in autumn and black in winter. 
 
 The next day was the Sabbath. My 
 husband left early in the morning to at- 
 tend his different appointments, and the 
 bereft widower went with him, leaving me 
 alone with my little ones and God. The 
 rain had ceased, and the sun occasionally 
 looked down on the little mound of fresh 
 earth beneath the cabin window. The 
 black, heavy clouds were passing away, 
 gradually revealing more and more of the 
 blue sky beyond ; but the clouds of sorrow 
 were not vanishing from my poor heart. 
 It was one of the loneliest days of my life; 
 as with the Psalmist, tears were my meat 
 from morning till night. My little children 
 were out for the first flowers of the season, 
 and sad indeed were the emotions of my 
 soul. 
 
 Oh the cabin so lone and drear ! 
 
 No sister there to greet ; 
 Her voice was music to my ear, 
 
 Her smiles were always sweet. 
 
70 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 In order to fulfill the requirements of the 
 law, we again moved back to our claim, as 
 we were in danger of losing what improve- 
 ments we had made. We now built a 
 cabin, of pine boards, twelve by four- 
 teen feet. 
 
 One day, shortly after we moved into 
 that little house, a thunder-storm came up 
 suddenly from the north-west, and blew it 
 from the foundations with such force that 
 one corner was driven nearly a foot into 
 the ground. Some old boxes and barrels 
 and loose boards were hurled through the 
 , air as though they had been straws. Dur- 
 ing this storm several cabins were blown 
 down. In one two young women were 
 killed. Their father succeeded in orettino^ 
 out of the house, and hastened to remove 
 the roof from his daughters, both of whom 
 were dead, crushed in a shocking manner. 
 
 Here I will mention the peculiar escape 
 of a family which happened some time be- 
 fore this. The cabin in which they lived 
 
DEATH AND DANGERS. 7 1 
 
 was built of very small logs, and was cov- 
 ered with a heavy dirt roof. One night, 
 after a storm, the whole family were 
 seated around the fireplace, which was 
 one of the old-fashioned kind, built on 
 the outside of the house, so that it was 
 not covered by the dirt roof It was late in 
 the evening, and the fire had burned nearly 
 out, when they were startled by a sudden 
 crash, at the sound of which they all sprang 
 into the fireplace. They had probably be- 
 fore thought of adopting this plan, and it 
 proved to be successful, for they all escaped 
 uninjured. As the roof fell in the walls fell 
 out. 
 
 In the following July, Indian troubles 
 commenced anew. For several days we 
 had heard of the atrocious deeds of the 
 savages. We knew that several tribes 
 were on the war-path, and that serious 
 troubles were inevitable. 
 
 On Sunday night my husband returned 
 home very late ; he had preached three 
 
72 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 times and had ridden on his pony nearly 
 thirty miles, and was very weary. He said 
 he thought he should fall from his saddle 
 before he could reach home. We soon 
 retired, and in a short time were fast 
 asleep. About two in the morning we 
 were startled by a loud rap on the door. 
 Two of our neighbors called my husband 
 out, so that the children and myself should 
 not be frightened, and told him some of our 
 neighbors had been killed and scalped, and 
 that his family was the only one left in the 
 neighborhood. The men had their rifles 
 in their hands, and seemed to be much 
 excited and in a great hurry ; so they 
 hastened away, telling my husband to 
 look out for himself and his family. We 
 did not sleep any more that night. We 
 had no horses, and the night was dark ; so 
 we could only pray for God to protect us 
 and our four small children, and wait for 
 the morning light. 
 
 Before coming to the West I had often 
 
DEATH AND DANGERS. 73 
 
 read of those who Hved in constant dread 
 of the arrow and the scalping-knife. and 
 many a time I thought I could tell some- 
 thing about how they felt ; but now I 
 learned that imagination was not reality. 
 Neither were dangers far away like dan- 
 gers near at hand. The reading of these 
 things was like the distant thunder when 
 not a cloud could be seen, but now the 
 heavens were black and the thunderbolt 
 seemed to be striking at my feet. The still- 
 ness of the night, only occasionally broken 
 by the distant howling of wolves or by the 
 barking of a dog, and the thought that the 
 treacherous red men might be stealthily 
 creeping through the awful darkness, and 
 that at any moment we might be surprised 
 by their horrid yells, made the lingering 
 hours of darkness dismal almost beyond 
 endurance. We felt powerless ; we had 
 no weapons of defence except an axe, 
 and our little house, being built of pine, 
 would burn like a torch. But after this 
 
74 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 awful night of suspense we were cheered 
 by the morning Hght. 
 
 Old frontiersmen had told us that Indians 
 often made their attack very early in the 
 morning, and in a few moments two men 
 (not those who came in the night) who 
 were living in a log house a short distance 
 away came to our cabin and said the In- 
 dians were coming, and advised us to take 
 our children to their house, saying that 
 they would defend us, as they were well 
 armed. We had no time to lose, as the In- 
 dians were so near that we could see their 
 red blankets, and were riding very fast ; 
 but we were scarcely in the cabin before 
 they turned and rode off in another di- 
 rection. The house to which we fled for 
 refuge was built of hewed logs, and the 
 Indians are generally very cautious in 
 making an attack upon such houses, from 
 which many of them have been killed by 
 shots fired at them between the logs of the 
 walls. 
 
The Attack of the Indians. 
 
 Page 74. 
 
DEATH AND DANGERS. 75 
 
 By this time the excitement had become 
 so great that few men dared to remain to 
 take care of and defend their property. 
 The men who said they would defend us 
 now concluded to leave, and they kindly 
 offered to take myself and my children 
 with them to a place of safety. My hus- 
 band resolved to remain and take care of 
 our little home and the homes of others 
 who had left the place. 
 
 Shortly before night we came to a place 
 on the bank of a small stream where hun- 
 dreds of men, women and children who 
 were on the retreat had stopped for the 
 night ; and here we concluded to take our 
 chance with the crowd. But few of them 
 were armed, and it seemed to us as though 
 *' the sheep were gathered together for the 
 slauehter." About the middle of the nicrht 
 a man came riding up in haste, and said 
 there were more than a thousand Indians 
 not five miles away and coming directly 
 toward the spot. This caused an alarm- 
 
76 SIX YEAA'S ON THE BORDER. 
 
 ino- stampede. The shrieks and cries of die 
 women and die children made the scene 
 more dismal. In a few moments every 
 man, woman and child had left the place ; 
 and if ever wheels Hew across the prairie, 
 they did then. 
 
 I shall never forget one man who had 
 an ox-team. His wagon was old and the 
 tires on the wheels were loose, and his pre- 
 cious load consisted of his wife and children. 
 That poor man, with whip in one hand, 
 which he used briskly on the oxen, and a 
 stone in the other hand, which he used to 
 keep the tires from coming off the wheels, 
 ran about twelve miles, striking the oxen 
 with one hand and the wheels with the 
 other. He died a short time after, and I 
 believe this niolit hastened his death. 
 
 Whether or not there was any truth in 
 the report that the Indians were so near I 
 could never learn, but I always thought it 
 was much exaggerated. 
 
 The next day I arrived with my children 
 
DhA'JJJ AN /J JJANdhh'S. 77 
 
 at a village forty miles from our home, 
 where I remained a few days ; but, as the- 
 people there were much excited and 
 alarmed, I resolved to go back to my 
 home. 
 
 When I returned, my husband's face was 
 bruised and swollen. He said that the 
 night before he had gone into a cabin to 
 stay with some young men who were keep- 
 ing cattle and horses ; the night was very 
 warm, and they lay down leaving the door 
 open. He thought, before he went to sleep, 
 " Perhaps the red men may use tlieir toma- 
 hawks on our heads before morning;" but 
 instead of an Indian's tomahawk, a large 
 deer's horn which was hanging up in the 
 room fell and struck him in the face. He 
 said that for several minutes he thought he 
 had been struck by an Indian. 
 
 The night I arrived at liome we tied our 
 horse close to the door, and I concluded to 
 have one night's rest even if I should never 
 have another. But in the nic^ht I received 
 
yS SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 a fright that I did not get over for several 
 days. Something pushed against the door 
 with such force that the windows rattled 
 and the whole house shook. My husband 
 sprang from the bed, caught the axe and 
 opened the door. It was the horse rub- 
 bing himself. 
 
 After this we slept for several nights in 
 the corn-field, and many a restless and 
 weary hour did I spend in that field of 
 corn. One night I did not close my eyes 
 in sleep ; I heard noises like the tramping 
 of horses and the rustling of corn, and I 
 knew I could see dark forms moving by at 
 times. My clothing was wet with perspira- 
 tion from within and the heavy night-dew 
 from without. Morning revealed the fact 
 that some horses had jumped out of the 
 pasture and made their way into our 
 field. 
 
 A short time after this the great scare 
 began to abate ; a good many soldiers 
 were sent into the place, and all signs 
 
DEATH AND DANGERS. 79 
 
 of Indians disappeared. The soldiers re- 
 mained about a month. A few of tliem 
 spent much of their time visiting among 
 the settlers. One of them called at a 
 dug-out in which lived a very large family 
 (ten children, besides the parents). This 
 soldier took a seat on the bed, but a sharp 
 cry caused him to spring to his feet: he 
 had sat down on a baby. He excused him- 
 self as the mother endeavored to pacify the 
 little one, and in a moment seated himself 
 at the other end of the bed, when another 
 cry was heard. He then took his hat and 
 left, declaring it was the most prolific coun- 
 try in the world. The woman had twin- 
 babes, and had laid one at each end of 
 the bed. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 WHAT LIQUOR DOES. 
 
 ALTHOUGH the great excitement be- 
 - gan to die away, yet apprehen- 
 sions of danger were still felt by many. 
 Some said the Indians were waiting for 
 the settlers to become quiet and feel se- 
 cure, and then they would make a raid into 
 the settlement and kill and scalp to their 
 hearts' content. This thought caused con- 
 stant dread and uneasiness. 
 
 About this time my husband went to 
 town, and as he rode along the main 
 street a lady at the hotel came out and 
 told him that the shoemaker had just been 
 killed and the murderer had asked to see 
 him. She also said they would hang the 
 man who had committed the crime, and 
 
 80 
 
WHAT LIQUOR DOES. 8 1 
 
 that he wanted to see him as soon as 
 possible. My husband sprang from his 
 horse, and first ran into the shop to see 
 if the shoemaker was really dead, and 
 there he lay, cold and silent, by the side 
 of his bench. He then hastened to the 
 cabin to see the murderer, and to his sur- 
 prise he found a young man, about eigh- 
 teen years of age, with smooth feminine 
 features and well dressed. His hands 
 were tied together, also his feet. My 
 husband asked him why he had commit- 
 ted such a dreadful deed. The young 
 man said he did not intend to kill the 
 shoemaker, but only to scare him, and 
 that he was sorry, and asked my husband 
 to pray for him ; at the same time he told 
 my husband that he was a church-member 
 and had been brought up by religious pa- 
 rents. My husband then prayed for him. 
 The murderer also prayed for God to have 
 mercy upon his poor lost soul, crying very 
 earnestly for the Lord to save him. Al- 
 
82 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 though the night was cold, the young man 
 was in such agony that large drops of sweat 
 kept constantly trickling down his face and 
 neck, and he continued to pray to God for 
 mercy. 
 
 During the first of the evening there 
 was quite a crowd in and around the 
 cabin ; it was in the midst of this crowd 
 of wicked men that my husband prayed 
 and conversed with the murderer about 
 his soul's salvation. About ten o'clock 
 the crowd began to disappear, and by 
 eleven they were all gone except one man, 
 who was left as a guard. Occasionally a 
 man would come and look in at the door. 
 The prisoner begged my husband to re- 
 main until morning, feeling confident that 
 the minister's presence would save his life, 
 — at least, for that night. 
 
 At midnight all was quiet. The prisoner 
 was seated on a block, and a large rough 
 man was standing by his side with a re- 
 volver in his hand ; in one corner of the 
 
WHAT LIQUOR DOES. ^l 
 
 room, burning faintly, was a candle, which 
 flickered as the wind blew through the open 
 walls. A few dim lights could be seen on 
 the distant prairie, and one still lingered in 
 the office of the hotel. The night was 
 dark ; not a star was to be seen. The 
 prisoner said he was reconciled and not 
 afraid to die. The guard promised to pro- 
 tect him if he could ; and after advising 
 him to look to Jesus, who himself died on 
 a tree, my husband left him, mounted his 
 horse and started for home. 
 
 That night, before the sun went down, I 
 had looked a great many times over the 
 hazy prairie to see if my husband was 
 coming. His horse was white, and I could 
 discern it a long distance away ; but I 
 looked and looked in vain until I could 
 no longer distinguish objects on the plains, 
 and then I took my seat by the cabin win- 
 dow, stared through the darkness and lis- 
 tened until after twelve for the familiar 
 tramp of the horse's feet, but no white 
 
84 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 horse could I see. Several times I imag- 
 ined I could hear the sound of the horse's 
 feet, but it would soon die away in the dis- 
 tance, and all would be silent. 
 
 I waited some time after twelve o'clock, 
 and then I resolved to leave the children 
 in bed and go in search of my husband ; 
 for I knew that something serious had 
 happened to him or to some one else, for 
 about that time he was prompt in returning 
 home before dark, unless some of our neigh- 
 bors' wives or daughters were with me. I 
 thought of several things that might have 
 detained him, but my great fear was that 
 a party of red men had detected his white 
 horse and killed and scalped him as they 
 had some of our neighbors. But I had 
 gone only a short distance before I heard 
 the quick click of a horse's feet. Can it be 
 my husband, or is it a party of Indians ? was 
 my thought. I stepped out of the path 
 into a little ravine and watched until I 
 could see the white horse ; and when I 
 
WHAT LIQUOR DOES. 85 
 
 called, my husband was starded to find me 
 so far from the cabin. The next morning 
 the young man was hanging to a limb of a 
 Cottonwood tree. 
 
 If I should be asked what was the cause 
 of this terrible affair, my answer would be, 
 ** Whisky." The day before the murder the 
 shoemaker was intoxicated and used unbe- 
 coming language to some ladies at the 
 hotel. This young man put him out of 
 the house and whipped him, and was 
 praised by the ladies, who said he did a 
 good deed. The next day the young man 
 was drinking. He had heard frontiersmen 
 talk about shooting, and, with his brain 
 fired with liquor, he concluded to show his 
 bravery by killing some one. Although he 
 told my husband he did not intend to kill 
 the man, a boy at the hotel said that the 
 murderer, while loading his revolver, had 
 told him that the shoemaker had only five 
 minutes to live. He doubtless intended to 
 kill him, and thought it would be considered 
 
86 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 a brave and noble act ; which would have 
 been the case had he committed the deed 
 in self-defence. But it was premeditated 
 murder. As he went into the shop the 
 shoemaker raised his hand and said, " Don't 
 shoot !" but the words were no sooner spo- 
 ken than he fell from his bench, and in a 
 moment he was dead. 
 
 A few days after this the murderer's 
 father, an old man with white locks, came 
 into the town and asked a boy to go with 
 him to the cemetery and show him the 
 grave of his son. The old man spent 
 several hours by that grave weeping, and 
 after he had written his son's name on a flat 
 stone and stood it at the head of the p^rave 
 he walked away, and passed out of the town 
 weeping and sobbing as though his aged 
 heart would break. 
 
 About this time the grasshoppers came 
 down upon us. The air was darkened, and 
 in a short time after they commenced to 
 fall I could not find room for the sole of 
 
WHAT LIQUOR DOES. 8/ 
 
 my foot on the ground without crushing 
 vast numbers of them. The roof, and also 
 the walls, of our cabin were covered, and 
 our windows were darkened. The roar of 
 their wings was like the sound of distant 
 and continued thunder. In less than three 
 days nearly every green thing had disap- 
 peared : they devoured even the leaves of 
 the trees. I had experienced terrible storms 
 of sand and dust, but I had never seen 
 such a storm of living creatures before. 
 They swirled in the air, and came down 
 " heaps upon heaps " until the very earth 
 seemed to throb with life. The corn was 
 destroyed, and the little fruit trees were 
 eaten nearly to the ground. This trouble, 
 in addition to the other calamities, so com- 
 pletely discouraged the people that hun- 
 dreds left their improvements and fled 
 from that region ; but such as had no 
 horses or money were compelled to re- 
 main, let the consequence be what it 
 would. 
 
88 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 About this time we moved back to 
 
 C . As a sick woman was occupying 
 
 our house, we rented an old box shanty 
 which stood between the two saloons. 
 Durinor the time we lived in this house 
 
 o 
 
 I experienced more of the horrors of 
 strong drink than I had ever before im- 
 agined could exist anywhere on this fair 
 earth of ours. A thin board partition, 
 which had been perforated with balls and 
 shot, separated our room from one of the 
 dens of vice, which I could not conceive of 
 being surpassed in iniquity and degrada- 
 tion by the "bottomless pit" itself. I need 
 not mention the awful stench — which it was 
 not difficult to imagine as coming from the 
 lower regions — the bitter oaths and obscene 
 language or the shriek and racket as a poor 
 fellow would be felled to the floor when 
 struck on the head by perhaps a brother 
 or a friend; neither need I mention the 
 clatter of broken bottles as the glass would 
 fall to the floor or the mournful and sud- 
 
WHAT LIQUOR DOES. 89 
 
 den cries and unintelligible expressions of 
 such as suffered with delirium tremens ; for 
 all these are the offspring of Bacchus, the 
 outgrowth of such places of death, and 
 branches of the parent stock. 
 
 One man in this saloon was dying with 
 delirium tremens. My husband had known 
 him when he was a sober and respectable 
 man, but a few months were sufficient to 
 complete the sad story : he embraced the 
 boisterous society of that saloon instead 
 of giving his heart to the Saviour; and 
 there he drank, and there he died. While 
 my husband conversed with him before he 
 passed away he cried out in his wandering 
 thoughts, " I'll go to church when I get 
 well." A number of his old associates 
 promised to take care of him until morn- 
 ing ; but in the morning he was dead, and 
 his companions in sin, who had promised to 
 watch over him, were all asleep on the floor: 
 he died alone. They brought in a rough 
 box, and one took him by the feet and 
 
90 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 the other by the hair of his head, and 
 they dropped him into that box as though 
 he had been a dead dog. 
 
 How true are the words, " The wages of 
 sin is death"! and how Httle mercy for one 
 another dwells in the hearts of bad men 
 whose ways please not God ! 
 
 As my health was poor, a young friend 
 came to stay with me for a few weeks. One 
 night after she came a terrible uproar was 
 heard in the saloon ; in a moment a crowd 
 gathered in front of our door, and in the 
 midst of horrid yells and curses the crack- 
 ing of pistols commenced. The young lady 
 screamed and wanted to leave the house, 
 for she said we should all be killed before 
 morning. It was a scene to try the strong- 
 est nerves — the constant flash of firearms 
 streaming by the window, accompanied 
 with hoarse voices uttering threats and 
 blasphemous oaths — but the crowd soon 
 dispersed ; and, strange to say, no one 
 was killed, though several were injured. 
 
WHAT LIQUOR DOES. 9 1 
 
 I think it was the next night that a 
 number of herders were becoming very 
 merry, when I heard some one say, '' Boys, 
 boys, keep still ! The preacher lives in 
 there." — "Is that so?" said one. "My 
 father also is a preacher." Thenceforward 
 things were more quiet until we moved into 
 our own house, and then there was a grand 
 rejoicing. We moved about dark, and as 
 soon as we left the young people began to 
 gather in the shanty to have a dance ; and 
 in a short time the vacated room was light- 
 ed brightly and the revel began. One of 
 our church-members, who always claimed 
 that it was no harm to dance, heard the 
 noise, and, not knowing that we had moved, 
 hastened home and told his wife he would 
 never go to hear that minister preach again. 
 "Why?" asked his wife, much surprised. 
 Her husband replied, " His house is full, 
 and they are playing the fiddle and danc- 
 ing." — " Why, Mr. T , you are certain- 
 ly mistaken !" — " I am not mistaken. I was 
 
92 S/.\ i7':.IA\S ON riJE BONDER. 
 
 particular to look in, and saw tluin with 
 my own eyes." The wife then said she 
 would oo and see for herself; so she and 
 her sister went out to convince themselves, 
 and they said they would have to believe it. 
 Then they went home, and in a few min- 
 utes a very wicked and j)rofane man came 
 in, and was told that the preacher was 
 havino- a dance at his house. " That is 
 no more than I should have expected," 
 said the scoffer ; " these preachers are al- 
 ways tellino- others not to do the very 
 thino^s they do themselves. l)ut really I 
 do not think it is any more harm for a 
 preacher to dance than it is for any olIku* 
 
 church-member." — "I do," said Mr. T ; 
 
 " I think a preacher should set a oood 
 example." The youn<>- man replied that 
 if it was a sin for one of Christ's followers 
 to dance, it was a sin for another, preach- 
 er or no preacher ; but if it was no sin, he 
 thouoht a minister should not be censured 
 for dancing or allowing others to dance 
 
IV//A7' IJnlJOJ^ IJO/'.S. 93 
 
 in his house:. l>iil Mr. T and his wife: 
 
 and sister said thai they thought less of 
 the preacher and his wife, and fe-dt as though 
 they would never go to another dance as 
 long as they lived. 
 
 Early the ne^xt morning, as I looked 
 out of the window of my home, I saw 
 this woman go to the house from which 
 we had moved. After rapping two or 
 three times she looked in, and, finding 
 no one there, she came directly to our 
 door. As I opened it and said, " C^ood- 
 morning, Mrs. 'i ," she came in laugh- 
 ing and told me the whole story, and said 
 she never before realized how dreadful it 
 would seem for a minister to have a crowd 
 of rough, wicked people in his house danc- 
 ing, and she had concluded to attend no 
 more dances. I told her that to a minister 
 it seemed as bad to see the members of 
 his church dancing as it did to them to 
 see him dancing. She replied that she had 
 never thought of it in that way before. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. 
 
 ABOUT this time, one morning very 
 ^ early, before the sun had thrown 
 his golden light over the grassy plains, I 
 looked out of the window and saw armed 
 men coming Into the town from every direc- 
 tion. I told my husband that the Indians 
 were certainly near, otherwise there would 
 not be so many armed men around the 
 town so early In the morning. He went 
 out, but soon returned, telling me that 
 the sheriff was In town and had arrested 
 several men for stealing horses. And here 
 let me give a brief description of the men 
 who were arrested. 
 
 First, Mr. M , a man of some prop- 
 erty, lived in a neat log house one mile 
 
 94 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. 95 
 
 from town ; he was a large fleshy man, but 
 crippled with rheumatism. He had kept 
 a dance-house, but it was burned by the 
 citizens, and he had barely escaped with 
 his life. This morning, as the sheriff went 
 into his house, his wife said her husband 
 was sick ; but the sheriff with his men 
 took him out of his bed, saying that he 
 must go to W , sick or well. 
 
 Second, Mr. T , a saloon-keeper 
 
 whose wife was a Catholic. My husband 
 called at their house a short time before 
 this, and she told him that he had better 
 not call again, as her husband did not 
 like preachers, although they both came 
 to hear him preach quite frequently. 
 
 Third, Mr. C , a hotel-keeper, a very 
 
 bad man ; his wife was a very bad woman. 
 Both drank whisky and used profane lan- 
 guage, and quarreled constantly, not only 
 with each other, but also with their neigh- 
 bors. 
 
 Fourth, Mr. H , a young lawyer, 
 
9^ SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 about twenty-two years of age, and con- 
 sidered the most handsome young man 
 in that country. He had been educated 
 in the city of New York, and not only 
 had more than usual ability as an attor- 
 ney, but possessed those qualities which 
 are requisite in any young man in order 
 to make him a gentleman of the first class. 
 But he was not a good man ; he kept bad 
 company and spent more money than he 
 could honorably earn, and seemed to sink 
 gradually into those sins by which the hopes 
 and the prospects of thousands of young 
 men are blasted for time and eternity. A 
 short time before this my husband roomed 
 with him one night ; he seemed very ami- 
 able, but did not want to talk on the subject 
 of religion. 
 
 Fifth, Mr. S , said to have been the 
 
 son of an ex-governor, but very much 
 degraded on account of strong drink ; his 
 right arm had been amputated at the 
 shoulder, so that he could do but little 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. 9/ 
 
 work of any kind. During the previous 
 winter he sat day after day in front of 
 the saloons dressed in the same old brown 
 suit ; his hair was long and matted ; he slept 
 wherever night found him — in the stable, 
 on the saloon floor, and doubtless many 
 a time on the cold ground. He was so 
 completely under the influence of whisky, 
 and so thoroughly controlled by bad men, 
 that he would not listen to any words of 
 friendly counsel from those who would 
 gladly have befriended him. My husband 
 endeavored to encourage him to do right, 
 but with profane language he railed at him 
 and refused to be admonished. After this, 
 when he was more sober, my husband at- 
 tempted to counsel him again. This time 
 he did not seem to be altogether void of 
 feeling ; tears came to his eyes, and a few 
 nights after this we saw him at church for 
 the first time, and, notwithstanding the deg- 
 radation into which vice had plunged him, 
 we thought there was some prospect of his 
 
98 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 reformation. But, instead of yielding his 
 heart to the Saviour at once, he continued 
 to embrace his fetters and kiss the chains 
 that held him, soul and body, to the slow 
 but unquenchable fires of vice. 
 
 Sixth, Mr. B . He had lived at 
 
 C but a short time, and was doubt- 
 less a bad man ; he was very large, and 
 about thirty years of age. The day before 
 the arrest he was in the town with a rifle 
 looking for another desperado that he might 
 kill him ; at the same time the other was 
 lurking around and dodging from place to 
 place, seeking an opportunity to kill Mr. 
 
 B . He lived in a dug-out, half a mile 
 
 from town. When the sheriff and his men 
 
 rode up, Mr. B at first refused to allow 
 
 himself to be taken, and the following: con- 
 versation took place : 
 
 Sheriff. Come out and give yourself up 
 like a man. 
 
 B. You will never take me alive. 
 
 S. If you will give yourself up, I will 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSESTEALING. 99 
 
 defena you from the mob and you shall 
 have a fair trial. 
 
 B, I should never get to W alive. 
 
 S. I have control of my men ; and if you 
 will give yourself up, I pledge my word 
 that you shall have a fair trial. 
 
 B. I know the mob will hang me, and I 
 will not give myself up alive. If you take 
 me, you will take me a dead man ; but I 
 will sell my Hfe as dearly as possible. 
 
 S. I will give you ten minutes to send 
 your wife out of the dug-out. 
 
 B. My wife will assist me ; so proceed 
 as soon as you like. 
 
 kS. Send your wife out, and we will let 
 her depart in peace. I do not wish to 
 fight a woman. 
 
 B. My wife will not leave ; she is a bet- 
 ter warrior than you or any of the men you 
 have in your crowd. 
 
 S. You are foolish to lose your own life 
 and endanger the life of your wife rather 
 than defend yourself before an honorable 
 
lOO SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 court, with the probability of being set at 
 liberty. 
 
 B. I am not afraid of an honorable court, 
 but I understand mob-law too well to ex- 
 pect any such thing as that should I give 
 myself up as a prisoner to-day ; so I shall 
 not throw myself into the hands of a mob. 
 But I do not object to dying here. I have 
 the advantage, and will sell my life as dear- 
 ly as possible. 
 
 S, I have two hundred men, and it will 
 not take long to bring you out. 
 
 B, I know that, but you will exchange a 
 good many lives for mine. I am all ready; 
 so go right ahead without any more talk. 
 
 Mrs. B was small in stature, with 
 
 pale and delicate features, large bright 
 eyes and short curly hair. She had lis- 
 tened to the above conversation without 
 a shudder. She had great confidence in 
 herself, as well as in her husband, and she 
 doubdess thought that within the fort they 
 could cope with the whole crowd. As the 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. lOI 
 
 sheriff was conversing with the men, she 
 said in a low but unfaltering tone, " Will, be 
 firm. I will stand by you to the last. We 
 will either conquer or die together." As 
 she said this she lifted a revolver in one 
 hand and held a knife in the other, firmly 
 grasped ; nor did her slender hands trem- 
 ble. At this time another voice called out 
 to Mr. B (it was that of an old ac- 
 quaintance) and said, *' You are perfectly 
 safe in surrendering; the sheriff tells me 
 there is no danger. I will go with you to 
 
 W and see that you are not harmed ;" 
 
 and upon this Mr. B surrendered, dis- 
 regarding the most earnest entreaties of 
 his wife. 
 
 About the middle of the day the sheriff, 
 with his six prisoners and the posse whom 
 
 he had deputized, left C for W . 
 
 My husband, understanding the storm that 
 was brewing, concluded to follow the pris- 
 oners and befriend them as much as he 
 possibly could. He said he felt very guilty 
 
102 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 to think he had not been more In earnest 
 in seeking the salvation of those poor un- 
 fortunate fellows, who had souls to be saved 
 or lost, and he concluded to make another 
 effort to bring them, like the poor one who 
 died at Jesus' side, within the everlasting 
 arms of love. But, alas ! how suddenly 
 and awfully are our opportunities for use- 
 fulness cut off! 
 
 He arrived in W as the sun was set- 
 ting ; the prisoners were there in the cala- 
 boose. The town was full of men, and all 
 seemed to be much excited. My husband 
 
 had often preached in W , and was 
 
 acquainted with many of the citizens, and 
 with most of the people through the coun- 
 try, for he had conversed with them at their 
 own firesides, and he thouofht he mio-ht in- 
 tercede successfully for the prisoners. He 
 was told that they would certainly be 
 lynched before morning. He then con- 
 cluded to see the sheriff and obtain per- 
 mission to spend the night with them. He 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. IO3 
 
 desired to pray and converse with them, 
 and to save their Hves if possible. He 
 accordingly went to the sheriff's house and 
 asked permission to enter the calaboose 
 and converse with the men who, he be- 
 lieved, would never see the light of an- 
 other morning. But the sheriff said, "Not 
 to-night ; you may go in the morning," and 
 then went out. His wife added that she 
 feared it would be too late by that time. 
 As my husband left the place an old 
 friend met him and said, " You must be 
 careful what you say here to-night. It 
 won't do for you to say anything in favor 
 of those men ; you know a great many of 
 our people have lost their horses, and in- 
 tense excitement prevails." My husband 
 replied that a crowd of two or three hun- 
 dred could not be collected without a laree 
 part of the men being persons known to 
 him, and he would venture at least to inter- 
 cede for the prisoners. His friend said he 
 knew it was not safe, for there would be 
 
104 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 hundreds and most of them would be un- 
 der the Influence of whisky, and in such 
 circumstances men were very different from 
 what they might seem to a minister in 
 their own homes. 
 
 These words, from a man of excellent 
 judgment and a very dear friend, had 
 much force with my husband ; yet still 
 he determined to seek an opportunity to 
 talk with the wretched criminals in the 
 calaboose. His friend told him that his 
 wife would like to see him, and asked 
 him to come to his house ; and as soon 
 as they had entered, the man locked the 
 door and told my husband that he should 
 not go out again that night. The sheriff 
 had refused to let him see the prisoners, 
 and a friend at whose house he had often 
 found a welcome home had, on account 
 of an interest in his personal safety, locked 
 the door and said he must not go out ; so 
 he retired to his room to spend the night 
 in prayer. 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. I05 
 
 It was a beautiful evening. The moon 
 shone brightly ; scarcely a cloud could be 
 seen, and a gentle south-west breeze added 
 to the enjoyment of such as were seeking 
 recreation by walking in the flowery paths 
 that surrounded the village. But about 
 the middle of the night, as he looked out 
 upon the loveliness of nature, he heard 
 the heavy tramp of many feet, and could 
 see groups of men moving quickly along 
 the streets. He then prayed to God to 
 have mercy upon the souls about to leave 
 the bodies of clay and go into his presence, 
 and to foro^ive their sins as well as his own 
 negligence in not being more faithful in the 
 discharge of his duty. 
 
 When the morning dawned he walked 
 out, and the calaboose door was open ; he 
 went down to the stream, and as he was 
 crossing the bridge he saw three forms, 
 
 the bodies of H , S and B , 
 
 suspended to an oak-limb which reached 
 out over the old road that led up from the 
 
I06 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 Stream and was traveled before the bridge 
 
 was built. H , the lawyer, was near the 
 
 end of the limb, and perhaps twenty feet 
 from the ground. His feet were swaying 
 to and fro, and his brown hair, streaming 
 in the wind, occasionally fell over his pur- 
 ple forehead. Next to him was the body 
 of the man with only one arm, dressed 
 in the same old brown jacket and over- 
 alls that he wore the previous winter while 
 sitting in front of the saloons, and near the 
 trunk of the tree was the body of Mr. 
 
 B , whom the sheriff allowed to fall 
 
 into the clutches of a drunken mob, to be 
 murdered by the hands of lawless men, 
 many of whom were doubtless more guilty 
 than himself. 
 
 The bodies were taken down and laid 
 in the court-house, and my husband was 
 
 standing there as Mrs. B came in. She 
 
 had followed her husband twenty-five miles 
 on foot, and she fell down on the floor by 
 his side and wept as though her heart was 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. lO/ 
 
 ready to burst with grief. The sheriff 
 turned to my husband, saying, 
 
 " This is pretty rough." 
 
 " Yes," was the reply ; " hundreds to kill 
 their poor unfortunate brothers, but few to 
 take them by the hand and with kind words 
 encourage them to do better and become 
 honorable men." 
 
 Mrs. B bought a coffin for her hus- 
 band and gave him a decent burial. The 
 others were put in rough boxes and taken 
 to the cemetery, followed by no friends to 
 weep over their remains. 
 
 After the men were incarcerated they 
 sent for two very able and popular law- 
 yers, who told the prisoners that if they 
 would pay them one hundred dollars each 
 
 they would set them at liberty. M , 
 
 T and C were able to raise the 
 
 amount, and so escaped ; the others were 
 left to their fate. 
 
 As they put the rope around the lawyer's 
 neck he said he felt faint and asked for some 
 
I08 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 water, and they went to the stream and 
 brought him some in a hat. He drank, 
 and then said, " Boys, let me go, and I will 
 leave the place and never return ; you will 
 never hear of me acjain." Some hearts 
 were touched ; others cried, " No !" He 
 then said, " My life is of no account, but 
 don't ever let my parents know what 
 became of me : it would break their 
 hearts." 
 
 It is true that many of the people had 
 lost their horses, and this was considered 
 the most effectual means of putting an end 
 to the stealing; which proved true, for 
 after this there was not a horse stolen in 
 the vicinity for more than a year. But it 
 is an awful remedy to take men, with no 
 certainty as to their guilt, and hang them 
 like dogs, without even time or opportunity 
 to repent of their evil deeds. 
 
 In this case we have always thought that 
 the guilty ones escaped and the innocent 
 (as to the crime of which they were ac- 
 
THE PENALTY OF HORSE-STEALING. lOQ 
 
 cused) suffered. My husband preached 
 against diis kind of proceeding, and said 
 it was murder; and he was asked by sev- 
 eral men at the close of different meetings 
 if he thought there was any forgiveness for 
 a man who had taken the life of a fellow- 
 mortal. One man who assisted in this 
 work of death was a praying man. A 
 short time after this he said that he saw 
 the one whom he had tied come into his 
 room in the night, and, being a supersti- 
 tious man, he was so worried that he left 
 the place. I have no doubt that many of 
 those engaged in this violence have seri- 
 ously repented before this. Had the pro- 
 fessed Christians of that mob endeavored 
 as earnestly to bring these wicked men to 
 the Saviour as they did to send them out of 
 the world, they might to-day have been 
 happy Christians, rejoicing with those who 
 showed them the way. But it is so easy 
 to do wrong, and so hard to do right ! 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 A IIAKD WINTER, 
 
 DURING the following winter the suf- 
 fering- of the poor settlers was more 
 severe than in the previous winter. Crops 
 had been almost a failure, and the excite- 
 ment caused by th(i Indians had so inter- 
 fered with the labors of the pcoj^le that 
 many who would have had comfortable 
 houses were compelled to live in hovels 
 or in dug-outs. The cry of distress was 
 heard by the benevolent of almost every 
 State in the Union, and valuable aid in the 
 shape of boxes of clothing, provisions and 
 money was sent for the relief of the suf- 
 ferers. 
 
 But, on account of the many drainings 
 
 of selfishness on either side, the stream of 
 no 
 
A HARD WIXTER. Ill 
 
 I charity became very small by the tune it 
 reached the extreme border. Men who 
 were in good circumstances grasped more 
 eagerly for the aid sent to the sufferers 
 than did the actually destitute and needy. 
 
 j A car-load of corn was shipped to the near- 
 est railroad station, to be divided among the 
 
 ! needy ones of our country, and to be used 
 only for seed. One man who had a hun- 
 dred head of catde, a hundred acres sown 
 to wheat, and several horses, also land and 
 money, took one of his independent neigh- 
 bors with him, and the two managed to se- 
 cure all the corn for themselves ; so that the 
 poor and suffering ones never received a 
 kernel of it, to my knowledge. 
 
 The frontier, where men and women are 
 separated from those influences by which 
 they were surrounded before leaving their 
 homes in the East, and living among 
 strangers far away on the plains, is one 
 of the best places in the world to study 
 human nature and to learn the utter de- 
 
112 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 pravlty of mankind. Here the passions 
 of avarice, lust and oppression are not re- 
 strained by public sentiment. The hyp- 
 ocrite reveals himself in his true light. 
 Here is seen the cloven foot of the beast, 
 the fangs of the serpent and the poison of 
 the adder. Many a father would blush 
 with shame if he knew the disgraceful 
 deeds committed by ' his once seemingly 
 noble boy. Many a mother would weep 
 tears of anguish could she know the depths 
 of wretchedness into which her daughter 
 has fallen. Many a school-teacher- would 
 be astonished if he knew how the bright 
 boy and the beautiful girl who were once 
 ornaments in his school are now living in 
 the West. Many a pastor would be greatly 
 humbled, and would feel as did the proph- 
 et when he cried out " How is the gold 
 become dim ! How is the most fine gold 
 changed !" if he knew the conduct of the 
 man whom he once thought to be almost 
 a saint. 
 
A HARD WINTER. 113 
 
 It is an actual fact that many died for 
 the want of the very assistance intended 
 for them, but which was snatched away 
 from their mouths by the greedy hands 
 of selfishness. 
 
 During this winter my husband preached 
 but litde. In the autumn he contracted a 
 heavy cold, which finally setded in his eyes, 
 causing him much pain and comparative 
 blindness until the next spring. Our house 
 was still unplastered, having only the siding 
 between my five children and the cold 
 prairie storms. With my afflicted hus- 
 band, and people constantly coming, I en- 
 dured the winter as one of extreme toil 
 and anxiety. Our meetings were well at- 
 tended during the autumn, until my hus- 
 band's eyes became so inflamed and pain- 
 ful that he was compelled to give up the 
 work. He had just commenced a pro- 
 tracted meeting, and I have no doubt that 
 the anxiety which he had for Christ's 
 cause in that dark land, with much study 
 
114 ^V.r YEAJ^S ON THE BORDER. 
 
 and readinor at nioht and oroino; from hot 
 rooms so often out in the cold air, were 
 the main causes of his sad affliction. 
 
 One very cold morning, about the time 
 he gave up his ministerial work on account 
 of his eyes, the aged man who helped him 
 over the streams when he was haulin^r lum- 
 ber came into town with a load of wood 
 to exchange for provisions. After unload- 
 ing it at the hotel he came into our house 
 to o^et warm. As he drew his chair close 
 to the fire and shivered, he said he could 
 not face the cold storms as he could once. 
 He wore an old brown hat tied under his 
 chin ; on his jacket patch had been added 
 to patch until the original had nearly dis- 
 appeared. As he sat by the fire there ran 
 from his eye down over his withered cheek 
 a tear, the track of which he wiped away 
 with his rough hand. My husband, re- 
 membering the kindness of the old man 
 when first they met as strangers, now felt 
 greatly stimulated to repay him. He ac- 
 
A HARD WINTER. II5 
 
 cordingly pulled off his coat and told Mr. 
 
 A to put it on ; the old man hesitated 
 
 a moment, and then did so. He then gave 
 the old man an overcoat, which he took 
 from a box that had been sent for the 
 poor, and he put that on also ; and when 
 he left the house, he was not only warm 
 and comfortable, but very thankful and 
 happy. 
 
 This winter was the hardest on the poor 
 settlers of any we had experienced. As the 
 spring came again thousands hailed it with 
 joy and gladness, and the little children 
 went forth from their home prisons to 
 gather beautiful flowers, to play in the 
 running streams, and to enjoy the sweet 
 breezes that breathed so musically through 
 the tree-tops, where the birds were singing 
 and the buds bursting. 
 
 It was early in the month of May my 
 friend " Duck " came to visit me. I was 
 alarmed to see how poor and pale she was. 
 She said she had been " real sick." Her 
 
Il6 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 husband was herding catde out on die 
 plains. They had no children. She was 
 a brave woman — had fought the wolves 
 in front of her cabin door, had traveled 
 around with her husband on horseback, 
 and had learned much of the nomadic life 
 of the plains. She had been with me only 
 a short time before I concluded, judging 
 from the hollow cough, the sunken eye — 
 which had lost its natural lustre — the pale 
 features and the quick pulse, that she was 
 a consumptive. I told her she must re- 
 main a while with me, and I would take 
 care of her. But, instead of improving, 
 she continued to fail very fast until the 
 middle of June, when it became evident 
 to her as well as to her friends that her 
 days in this world were few. Her hus- 
 band was sent for ; he seemed much af- 
 fected to find his wife so low. He sent 
 sixty miles for a physician, who gave him 
 no encouragement. She continued to get 
 weaker until the eighth day of July, when 
 
A HARD WINTER. 11/ 
 
 she peacefully crossed over the dark river. 
 Before she passed away she conversed with 
 me about the love of Jesus and her willing- 
 ness to trust him, but said she was so sorry 
 for her poor husband. And thus joined the 
 heavenly company one of whom it could 
 well have been said, 
 
 *• None knew her but to love her, 
 None named her but to praise." 
 
 During the spring w^e built to our house 
 an addition which we intended for two bed- 
 rooms, but at this time a quilt answered for 
 a partition. About a week before my friend 
 died, my husband was taken sick with ma- 
 larial fever, and was now very low. He 
 was not able to attend the funeral. Mr. 
 
 C , the widower, said he could not 
 
 have his wife buried without a sermon. 
 My husband told him of a minister twenty- 
 five miles away, who was the nearest clergy- 
 man of any evangelical Church. This min- 
 ister was sent for, and conducted the funeral 
 
Il8 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 services. Before Mrs. C died she want- 
 ed me by her side nearly all the time. With 
 her in one room and my sick husband in the 
 other, and all my little children to look after 
 and care for, my strength failed, and as soon 
 as she breathed her last I was prostrate and 
 not able to do any work for nearly two 
 weeks, at which time my husband was so 
 reduced that our neighbors said he would 
 be the next to be carried from that town 
 to the cemetery. But God willed it other- 
 wise; he has lived to see laid in their graves 
 many of those who were then strong and 
 healthy. 
 
 At that time our friends were very kind, 
 and we were well cared for ; but as we be- 
 gan to recover we found our financial cir- 
 cumstances very embarrassing. Our doc- 
 tor's bills had broken in heavily upon our 
 small income, and it was only by very strict 
 economy and pinching that we were en- 
 abled to pay our debts and keep our credit 
 good. We had two cows, but before this 
 
A HARD WINTER. I IQ 
 
 they both died. Our salary was five hun- 
 dred dollars from the Board of Home Mis- 
 sions, and we did not receive as much from 
 the people with whom we were laboring as 
 we gave to the sufferers, for we were con- 
 stantly dividing with those who were more 
 needy than ourselves. 
 
 A family consisting of husband, wife and 
 twelve children lived in a little shanty near 
 the town. They were very destitute. One 
 day I went to their place. Some of the lit- 
 tle ones were out playing without any cloth- 
 ing on ; they were as brown as buns. The 
 mother said it was impossible to keep them 
 clothed. I filled a pillow-case with such 
 articles as I could spare, and gave it to 
 her. A short time after this the eldest 
 girl (and eldest child) married our baker. 
 He was a stirring young man, and by hard 
 work and economy had been able to pur- 
 chase a few groceries to sell in connection 
 with his bakery. His property, including 
 his house and lot, could not have been 
 
I20 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 sold for more than five hundred dollars ; 
 but the young and foolish girl thought 
 she had married the richest man in all 
 the country. The baker soon found that 
 he had married not only the girl, but the 
 whole of her family ; for he had them all 
 to maintain, which soon caused serious 
 trouble. 
 
 My husband called on one family and 
 asked the woman to come to church and 
 Sabbath-school with her children. She said 
 they were too poor and had no clothing 
 good enough to wear. " Well," said he, 
 " mend and put on the best you have ; 
 do your duty and worship God, and per- 
 haps you will have better after a while." 
 — " Yes," replied the old lady ; " the Bible 
 says, ' Patch up your old coat and wear it 
 until you are able to buy a new one,' " and 
 said she knew she was not mistaken, for 
 she had read it in the Bible many a time. 
 He advised her to obey that command, but 
 she did not. Such is the ignorance con- 
 
A HARD WINTER. 121 
 
 cerning the Bible which prevails among a 
 certain class on the border. 
 
 In the autumn my husband went out 
 with a party to hunt buffaloes. After one 
 day's drive there came up a fearful storm, 
 and they all remained under their wagon- 
 covers and shivered, while the poor horses 
 shivered standing by the wagons. The 
 storm lasted nearly twenty-four hours, and 
 the prairie was flooded and the streams in 
 the ravines were so swollen as to make 
 the attempt to cross them very unsafe. 
 But they were soon enabled to travel by 
 keeping on the highest ground. In a short 
 time, as they passed over a little hill, they 
 found themselves within a few rods of an 
 Indian village. The Indians saw them and 
 came streaming out of their wigwams and 
 surrounded them on every side. Some 
 had bows and arrows, some had rifles and 
 others had knives. My husband said that 
 for a moment he thought his time had come 
 to die. But one of the party had been an 
 
122 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 Indian-trader, and the Indians knew him. 
 The chief spoke a few words to his braves, 
 and they laid down their arms. A negro 
 was among the party of hunters, and some 
 of the young Indians seemed determined 
 to have his scalp. They gathered around 
 him with long sharp knives, and would 
 probably have scalped him had not the 
 chief interfered. The Indians soon went 
 back to their wigwams, and the hunters 
 were permitted to go along unmolested. 
 The poor negro, however, kept feeling the 
 top of his head, and continued to groan 
 until the next morning. A few days after 
 this a party of hunters were actually killed 
 and scalped near this place. 
 
 The next day the hunting-party went out 
 in the morning, leaving my husband to take 
 care of the stuff and prepare dinner. In 
 a short time a large brown bear came 
 around the side of one of the hills, 
 walked close to the camp and stood on 
 his hind feet, and there remained for near- 
 
A HARD WINTER. 1 23 
 
 ly a half hour. My husband did not have 
 a gun, or even an axe : the party had taken 
 all the arms with them. He knew it would 
 be useless to run ; so he stood and watched 
 the bear, and the bear watched him. After 
 getting tired. Bruin dropped down on his 
 fore feet and walked back slowly behind 
 the hill. My husband then went and found 
 the rest of the party, about a mile away. 
 They had killed a buffalo, and were bring- 
 ing in some of the meat for dinner. They 
 moved to another camping-place, and con- 
 cluded to let the bear alone, if he should 
 not be the first a^eressor. 
 
 Another hunting-party were out about 
 fifty miles from home ; they had been very 
 successful, had their wagons loaded with 
 choice buffalo meat and hides, antelopes 
 and turkeys, and intended to start for 
 home in the morning. As they had seen 
 no signs of Indians, they were careless and 
 neglected to keep a guard ; and in the 
 morning one of their wagon-wheels was 
 
124 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 gone, a prop had been put under the axle- 
 tree to support the load and the wheel had 
 been taken away. This left the party in a 
 bad condition, as the others would not go 
 away and leave their comrade in distress. 
 In this situation they remained until 
 about ten o'clock, not knowing what to 
 do. Finally a party of six Indians came 
 in sight, and rode slowly along as if they 
 were going in another direction, but con- 
 cluded to call and see what was the diffi- 
 culty with the hunters. As they came up 
 one of the party approached them, and 
 told them of their bad condition. The 
 Indians said they would get the wheel and 
 bring it to them if each of the party would 
 pay them two dollars; to this the hunte-rs 
 agreed, and in less than three hours they 
 came with the wheel. They put a stick 
 through the hub, and two were rolling it 
 along through the grass. They said they 
 took it from another tribe. The hunters 
 knew they had taken it themselves, but 
 
A HARD WINTER. 12$ 
 
 they paid them according to contract, and 
 were very glad to get the wheel back at 
 such a low price. The Indians divided the 
 money and rode off, and the party rolled 
 out for home and did not give the red 
 men a chance to steal another of their 
 wheels. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 BRIDAL AND DEATH. 
 
 THIS summer the crops were good. 
 Wheat averaged nearly twenty bush- 
 els to the acre, corn about forty, and oats 
 fifty. Vegetables were an excellent yield, 
 and all the poor settlers could indulge 
 freely in the luxury of watermelons. The 
 people were now greatly encouraged ; real 
 estate rose fifty per cent, in value. Immi- 
 gration began to pour into the place, and 
 better times were not only anticipated, but 
 experienced by all. 
 
 About this time my husband said I could 
 have all his marriage fees to purchase such 
 articles as I needed in the house. Some 
 of the newly-married grooms were quite 
 liberal, but among the rest of the happy 
 
 126 
 
BRIDAL AND DEATH. 127 
 
 couples there came a young man and a 
 young lady to be married. I brushed up 
 the lady's clothing and assisted her in get- 
 ting ready, called in some of our friends, 
 and after the ceremony prepared dinner 
 for all, expecting to be remunerated with 
 a five-dollar bill ; but the young lady had 
 
 lived near us before we moved to C , 
 
 and one day, while she was visiting at our 
 house, we were speaking of a friend who 
 was just married, and my husband said to 
 her, " If you will get married, I will mar- 
 ry you for nothing ;" so now she said she 
 should hold him to his promise, and they 
 never o^ave us a cent. 
 
 Another man asked, after the ceremony, 
 " How much do you charge for marrying 
 people?" My husband said he made no 
 charge ; but, as the young man continued 
 to insist on knowing the amount of his 
 bill, he said the law allowed a justice of 
 the peace three dollars. "Three dollars 
 for a little job that can be done in ten 
 
128 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 minutes !" said the newly-married man. — 
 " Give me what you think it is worth," said 
 my husband ; and the man gave him two 
 dollars, and said he considered that a very 
 large price — more than he could earn in a 
 whole day. The next happy man was 
 more liberal : he gave two dollars and 
 twenty-five cents. But this was quite as 
 good pay as that received by our friend 
 
 the Rev. Mr. H , of a neighboring 
 
 town, who went several miles into the coun- 
 try to marry a couple ; after the ceremony 
 the man said he had no money, but had 
 some very nice pups, which were as good 
 as money, and the minister could have one 
 of them. 
 
 When Thanksgiving Day came we re- 
 ceived a very pleasant surprise. A young 
 lady kindly offered to care for the children 
 in the evening and let me go to church. 
 We were very much disappointed to find 
 absent so many whom we expected to see 
 there, and after service those who were 
 
BRIDAL AND DEATH. 1 29 
 
 present hastened from the house, scarcely 
 stopping to speak to us. We went slowly- 
 home, thinking it very strange that our 
 friends should act in such a manner. But 
 when we opened the door, there stood a 
 table loaded with a bountiful supper, and 
 the rooms were full of smilinor faces. All 
 that before seemed strange was now ac- 
 counted for, and our hearts were gladdened 
 with such a token of the love and esteem 
 of those with whom we were laboring for 
 the Master. 
 
 We were fortunate enough this autumn 
 to get our house plastered ; it was the first 
 plastered house in the town. 
 
 During the winter my husband was called 
 to visit a dying man who lived in a little 
 cabin about seven miles from the town. 
 The sick man was about sixty years of 
 age, and had a wife, a daughter and two 
 sons living with him. He had been ill with 
 malarial fever, which soon threw him into 
 quick consumption. He was now dying, 
 
130 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 but not without the strong- abiding faith in 
 the Lord Jesus that always casts a shining 
 lustre on the pathway to the tomb. He 
 conversed freely with my husband about 
 his departure to the other world, and just 
 before his spirit left the falling house of 
 clay he opened his dim eyes and, gazing 
 upward, cried out, " Oh, that beautiful 
 river !" A young man noted for his pro- 
 fanity was standing by the bedside watch- 
 ing the change that came gradually over 
 the features of this aged veteran of the 
 cross. As a neighbor closed the eyes of 
 the good old man the young man said to 
 him, " Mr. S , I never realized it be- 
 fore ; but it is an awful thing to die." 
 From that time he began to give his 
 heart to the Lord and call upon the name 
 of Christ, whose " blood cleanseth from all 
 sin," that he might "die the death of the 
 righteous, and that his last end might be 
 like his." So far as I know, he never 
 uttered another oath. 
 
BRIDAL AND DEATH. I3I 
 
 This young man had been deeply and 
 truly in love with the daughter of the man 
 who had now departed this life, and had 
 sought her heart and hand, but was per- 
 sistently refused on account of his profan- 
 ity and wickedness. The father of the 
 young lady had not long been laid away 
 when she was taken with a cough, and in 
 a short time the physician said he could do 
 nothing for her; she had pulmonary con- 
 sumption. She had become so changed 
 and emaciated that all knew she would 
 follow her father in a few months. The 
 young man had now given up his evil 
 habits and was living a life of prayer, 
 but he still loved her, and again asked 
 her to be his wife. She said she could 
 live only a short time, and such a union 
 would make parting more bitter. The 
 young man insisted upon marrying her 
 and taking her to his home to care for 
 her while she did live. In a few days 
 they came to our house and were united 
 
132 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 in marriage. I thought it was one of the 
 most solemn scenes I had ever witnessed 
 — a trembUng, wasted form leaning against 
 a strong young man, vowing to be his faith- 
 ful, loving wife until death. The slender, 
 delicate hand that was clasped in his was 
 not that of a beautiful bride who expect- 
 ed a life of happiness in this world, but 
 one that soon must be given up to the 
 icy grasp of Death ; the crimson glow upon 
 her cheek was not the healthful flush that 
 adorns the features of the happy young 
 bride, but simply the sign-painting of 
 Death, where in fever-letters I could read 
 the solemn words, "Be ye also ready." 
 As I looked into her large bright eyes 
 I thought, "Must they so soon be closed 
 upon the one who would gladly give his 
 life for her?" Her lips were parched and 
 quivering, and as the tears dropped from 
 her blue eyes others were rolling down 
 the cheeks of the young man who stood 
 by her side. Her husband took her to 
 
BRIDAL AND DEATH. 1 33 
 
 his home and watched over her day and 
 night. She was very patient, and daily 
 led her kind companion nearer and near- 
 er the dear Saviour who was now her 
 comfort and support, and who had prom- 
 ised to accompany her through the dark 
 valley of death. But she soon died, in 
 her husband's arms ; and, though he wept 
 bitterly over her sleeping form, he has 
 learned to love the Saviour in whom she 
 trusted, and through whose death, merits 
 and intercession he expects to meet the 
 loved one where death has no claim. 
 
 My husband again endeavored to hold a 
 protracted meeting, but the wicked and pro- 
 fane resolved to break up the services and 
 turn the schoolhouse into a dancing-hall. 
 The board of trustees were ungodly men, 
 and in his sermons he reproved their wick- 
 edness ; so they determined to put an end 
 to his preaching in the schoolhouse. They 
 accordingly locked the door. On Sunday 
 morning a great many came to the house, 
 
134 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 and, not being able to enter, went away. 
 Many of the people were so displeased 
 with this act of the trustees that they said 
 they would never again support them for 
 any office. The trustees, finding that they 
 had incurred the disapprobation of the peo- 
 ple, soon unlocked the door and gave their 
 consent to our having religious services in 
 the house. But for a long time they would 
 gather in that house every Saturday night 
 and dance until nearly daylight, and on 
 Sunday mornings the schoolhouse would 
 be in a condition not very befitting a 
 place of worship. The seats would be 
 all thrown out and piled on the ground, 
 the stove put in one corner of the room 
 and the floor covered with dirt. 
 
 My husband was advised by some very 
 good people not to preach against dancing, 
 because they thought that by such preach- 
 ing certain ones might be kept away who 
 otherwise would be benefited, and perhaps 
 won, by the glorious gospel of the Son of 
 
BRIDAL AND DEATH. 135 
 
 God. He concluded to take their advice, 
 but soon learned that dancing men and 
 women were not apt to be won by the 
 gospel unless the Spirit of God first made 
 them sick of sin, and that it was better to 
 obey the injunction of Scripture which says, 
 " Reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suf- 
 fering." 
 
CHAPTER XL 
 
 BAD INDIANS. 
 
 IN the month of March two sisters who 
 had been carried away by the Indians 
 came to our house, and there, from the 
 Hps of the eldest, I learned the following 
 sad story: 
 
 ''We were crossing the plains with an 
 ox-team, going to the Rocky Mountains, 
 and were about fourteen miles from any 
 settlement. We left camp in the morning, 
 and had gone about one hundred yards 
 when seventeen Indians and two squaws 
 came over a little hill from the river. I 
 was about fifty yards from the wagon, with 
 my mother and sister aged fifteen. Four 
 came toward us, and one shot an arrow at 
 me, but it did not hit me. I then ran to- 
 
 136 ^ 
 
BAD INDIANS. 137 
 
 ward my brother, nineteen years old, who 
 was hunting an antelope. My sister was 
 walking near the wagon with father ; my 
 oldest sister was driving the oxen. We 
 had two cows and two yearlings tied be- 
 hind the wagon. The Indians shot my 
 father through the back ; he fell, and never 
 moved. My oldest sister jumped out of 
 the wagon with the axe, and ran to them 
 and struck one on the arm and knocked 
 the gun out of his hands, but another shot 
 her dead. Mother ran to father and knelt 
 down over him, and they shot her ; she 
 fell by his side. As I ran toward my 
 brother I saw him fall : an Indian called 
 Medicine Water shot him. I ran back to 
 the wagon. The Indians stood me by the 
 side of my sister fifteen years old, and 
 after they had looked at us a moment 
 they shot my sister. They scalped my 
 mother and oldest sister, both of whom 
 had long hair. I was in hopes they 
 would kill us all. One was about to 
 
138 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 shoot my little sister of five, but one of 
 the squaws took her from before the gun 
 and saved her life. My other sister, of 
 seven, they decided to take with them. 
 The squaw who saved my little sister took 
 her on her pony, and an Indian tied the 
 one of seven to his saddle behind him. 
 They put me on one pony, and my other 
 living sister on another. In a short time 
 they tore all our clothing from us and gave 
 us an old blanket each, and in this condi- 
 tion we traveled nearly two weeks. We 
 had something to eat once a day nearly all 
 the time, but sometimes only every other 
 day. 
 
 '• The Indians carried mother's and sis- 
 ter's scalps in front of us, hanging to the 
 points of their spears and bows. They did 
 not wash off the blood, and no one can 
 imagine how we felt. 
 
 "After a while the troops came near, and 
 the savao^es left our little sisters on the 
 prairie, but took us and fled. I was much 
 
BAD INDIANS. 1 39 
 
 in hopes the soldiers would find us, but 
 they did not then. After six days some 
 of the Indians went back to that place and 
 found our sisters who had been left, and 
 brought them into the new camp. We 
 were very glad to see them alive. Whilst 
 alone on the prairie they wandered up and 
 down the stream, and found the place 
 where the soldiers had camped and left 
 some crackers and dry bread and scraps 
 of meat, on which they lived ; they told us 
 that some dogs came up one night and 
 walked around and smelt them, but we 
 knew it must have been wolves. 
 
 "The Indians had a fearful war-dance over 
 the scalps of our mother and sister. After 
 we camped for the winter each of us had 
 the wood to gather for one lodge. The 
 weather was very cold, and I froze my feet 
 so that my toe-nails came off. We were 
 whipped and starved by the squaws. Our 
 only hope was that we should be found by 
 the troops. After untold suffering we were 
 
I40 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 surrounded by the soldiers, and the Lord 
 only knows how happy we were to find 
 ourselves once more with white men." 
 
 I have endeavored to give a statement 
 of the facts of the painful and heartrend- 
 ing endurances of these young girls as 
 near as I can remember their conversation 
 with me, and also from a few notes taken 
 by my husband at the time. But the sad 
 countenances, the melancholy tones, the 
 emaciated forms, the watery eyes, the 
 browned skin and parched lips, told more 
 plainly the tale of wretchedness and hor- 
 ror than words could possibly do. These 
 girls were very intelligent, and I should 
 judge that before their captivity they were 
 unusually handsome. After they were re- 
 captured they were taken to the nearest 
 settlement, where they might receive cloth- 
 ing and have an opportunity to rest and 
 rally from their prostrate condition. The 
 lady where they were taken said she never 
 saw such objects of pity in her life ; their 
 
BAD INDIANS. I4I 
 
 slender limbs, scratched and bruised and 
 bleeding, were but partially covered with 
 the old dingy and greasy blankets which 
 they endeavored to hold around their wast- 
 ed forms. 
 
 I leave my readers to fill up the true pict- 
 ure by imagining themselves in the place 
 of sensitive and delicate girls. Destruction 
 comes upon them while in the midst of the 
 family and under the care and smiles of 
 loving parents, and sweeps them away 
 from all earthly peace and joy. They see 
 their parents fall without the opportunity 
 of saying farewell to their children. They 
 see their brother drop from his horse to 
 suffer and die alone on the plains, with no 
 kind friend to moisten his dying lips. They 
 behold their sisters pierced by Indian bul- 
 lets, and witness deeds still more atrocious 
 and heartrending. They stand silent and 
 speechless and see the scalps torn from 
 the heads of their mother and sister. 
 They see the bodies mutilated in a shock- 
 
142 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 ing manner, then covered with their bed- 
 ding, dry grass and portions of their 
 wagon, and burned. All this takes place 
 in a few moments, and the unfortunate 
 captives find themselves tied on Indian 
 ponies and moving rapidly over the plains, 
 every leap of the ponies carrying them 
 farther and farther from the smouldering 
 remains of their parents and sisters and 
 all white settlements. The Indians have no 
 mercy upon them, and during the long day 
 they are jolted and jostled along through 
 the dry grass by the plunging ponies. 
 They know it is not a dream, a horrible 
 nightmare, for they see the dark hair of 
 their mother and their sister waving before 
 them in the breeze. They come to a stream, 
 and the ponies stop to drink ; and here the 
 poor sufferers look down in the clear water 
 and wish they might be buried there for 
 ever, but they are bound to the beasts that 
 are carrying them. In a zigzag path they 
 ascend the other bank, and are soon put- 
 
BAD INDIANS. 1 43 
 
 tinof distance between them and the leaf- 
 less branches of the trees. Finally night 
 comes down upon them, and they know 
 not where they are. The Indians are hap- 
 py, seeming to rejoice over the misery of 
 their captives. A blazing fire is made, 
 which shines through the tree-tops, but 
 it does not cheer the throbbinor hearts of 
 the sorrow-stricken girls. Near the fire 
 are driven in the ground, two stakes on 
 which are hung the flowing tresses of their 
 sister and the locks of their mother, which 
 are slightly intermingled with gray. They 
 had looked upon those locks from their 
 earliest recollections, their little hands had 
 dallied with them in their infancy, but they 
 never expected to see that loved hair a tro- 
 phy of savages — the object of a frightful In- 
 dian war- dance away on the plains. Around 
 these scalps their captors and tormentors 
 commence their orgies, and as they whirl 
 around and leap the night is made dismal 
 with their unearthly yells, which drown the 
 
144 ^^^ y/iAA'S ON THE BORDER. 
 
 faint moans and si;;;hs of the defenceless 
 girls, who lean their weary heads upon 
 each other. They cannot eat, but, weary 
 and exhausted, they soon fall asleep ; yet 
 in their dreams they see the bloody knife, 
 and dying groans disturb their slumbers, 
 Jn the morning the sun shines brightly 
 upon them, but how differently are they 
 situated from what they were the morn- 
 ing before, when all was prosperous and 
 joyous around them ! 
 
 This is no exaggerated picture of the 
 imagination ; indeed, it fails to present to 
 the mind of the reader half the depths of 
 misery into which these girls, and many 
 others like them, have been plunged by 
 these cruel murderers of the plains. 
 Those who live on the extreme frontier, 
 and thus prepare the way for permanent 
 settlement and good society, live in con- 
 stant dread (A the outrages of the Indians; 
 and not without cause. 
 
 I have seen our little town full of them, 
 
B,4£i /XD/AXS. 145 
 
 their red blankets tiashing in ever\* direc- 
 tion. They would purchase tobacco, cof- 
 fee, sugar, bacon, fowls and fruit, and. in 
 tact eventhing they desired, and \\'ith 
 plenty- of money they would prowl around 
 through the country, following the different 
 streams, to the oreat terror of women and 
 children : and often they would commit the 
 most foul and bloody deeds, the blame of 
 which not unfrequently they endeavored to 
 charge on other tribes. 
 
 A number of men had been kilievi vind 
 scalped in the cedar hills. The settlers 
 along the stream resolved to prepare for 
 an attack, which they expected ever\- day. 
 A partv was soon detected comino^ toward 
 tlie settlement, A number of young men 
 mounted their horses and rode out to meet 
 them, and made si^ns for them to eo back, 
 1 iioy paid no attention, but continued K> 
 approach, carrying their rities in fa^nt of 
 them. The settlers fired the first volley, 
 killlno- two or three, and the others tlcxi. 
 
 u> 
 
146 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 In a lew days I read an account of this in 
 an Eastern paper, which said a party of civil 
 Indians passing through a settlement, hunt- 
 ing buffalo, were attacked by the settlers 
 and several of them killed. This I knew 
 to be a serious mistake. Why did they 
 come into the white settlement to hunt 
 buffalo ? 
 
 Two of another tribe went to a cabin 
 where a woman was alone with her two 
 children, her husband being absent. They 
 asked the woman for bread and meat and 
 coffee ; she brought forward the food and 
 placed it on the table, but the bread was 
 corn-bread. The Indians looked at the 
 woman and said, with a scowl, " Biscuit !" 
 She said she had no Hour in the house, 
 and could make them no biscuit. One of 
 the Indians said, '' White woman lie !" The 
 woman then took her husband's revolver 
 from a shelf, leveled it at his head and said, 
 " Now you go !" They left the house, beg- 
 ging her, " Not shoot ! Good Indian !" 
 
BAD rNDIANS. 14/ 
 
 Some of the Indians came to a party of 
 surveyors near our town and told them 
 that they had just killed three men, and 
 said, " You can find them covered up in 
 the sand," at such a place. The surveyors 
 went to the spot, and found the dead bodies 
 as the Indians had said. They were young 
 men, and all had been scalped. About the 
 same time one of our neighbors (his name 
 was Watkins) was killed and scalped near 
 his own home, and a party of freighters 
 were tied to their wagons and burned. 
 
 Settlers on the frontier who have suf- 
 fered and seen others suffer thus must 
 be pardoned if they show less love for 
 the Indians than those who live a thou- 
 sand miles away from them. 
 
 Yet many of these cruel and bloodthirsty 
 wild men of the plains have been brought 
 to the Saviour, and are now not only good 
 citizens, but earnest and efficient workers 
 in the cause which we all so much desire 
 to see progressing. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE INFIDEL. 
 
 DURING the winter my husband went 
 to W to hold a protracted meet- 
 ing. While stopping at the hotel a gentle- 
 man said, " Here is Mr. B , one of the 
 
 best men in town, but he is killing himself 
 with strong drink. Go and see him ; if 
 your religion can do any good for him, 
 I will have some confidence in it." 
 
 " Where is he ?" said my husband. 
 
 "You will find him around one of the 
 saloons," was the reply. 
 
 My husband then went to one of the 
 
 saloons and asked if Mr. B was there. 
 
 They pointed to a sad, forlorn-looking fel- 
 low and said that was Mr. B . He 
 
 told him that he would like to go with 
 
 148 
 
THE INFIDEL. 149 
 
 him to his room, as he wanted to talk 
 with him a few moments. "AH right," 
 
 replied Mr. B , and then accompanied 
 
 my husband to his room, which was a mis- 
 erable one over a handsome store. 
 
 My husband conversed with him, asking 
 him many questions. He learned that Mr. 
 
 B was from Vermont ; that his mother 
 
 was living and an earnest Christian woman, 
 ever praying for him ; that he knew he was 
 killing himself drinking whisky; that he 
 was unhappy and miserable and wanted 
 to reform. Then my husband asked him 
 if he had ever thought of what Jesus had 
 said: "Come unto me, all ye that labor 
 and are heavy laden, and I will give 
 
 you rest." Here Mr. B burst into 
 
 loud sobs and tears; so that his cries 
 were heard in the street below. My hus- 
 band then asked him if he would kneel 
 down while he prayed for him. He said, 
 "Yes, I will," falling on his knees at the 
 same moment. 
 
150 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER, 
 
 After spending a short time in prayer 
 
 they arose, and Mr. B continued to 
 
 wipe the tears from his eyes with his old 
 sleeve, at the same time saying, " God have 
 mercy on my soul !" 
 
 That night my husband preached be- 
 tween the two saloons, and the room, 
 which would accommodate about one hun- 
 dred and fifty persons, was crowded. Mr. 
 
 B while listening outside fell on the 
 
 sidewalk as though he had been shot, and 
 was immediately carried into one of the 
 nearest rooms. The next day my hus- 
 band could not see him, as the doctor 
 had forbidden any one except a nurse to 
 talk with him, or even to enter his room. 
 
 About a year from this time, while my 
 husband was passing through the town in 
 the stage, he asked the driver how Mr. 
 
 B was prospering. " Nicely," was the 
 
 reply. " He has not tasted a drop of 
 whisky since the revival last winter ; he has 
 two pair of horses, and is now doing well.'' 
 
THE INFIDEL. I51 
 
 My husband also went to E , forty- 
 five miles from our town, and preached 
 every night for nearly two weeks. Sev- 
 eral persons were converted and much 
 good was done ; but in the place there 
 was one very wicked infidel who had 
 broken up several meetings and a short 
 time before this had driven a minister out 
 of the town. Several of the citizens 
 warned my husband to be on his guard, 
 for, as some souls were being converted, 
 the devil would not allow this infidel to 
 be quiet. 
 
 My husband preached on Sunday morn- 
 ing, and Sabbath-school immediately fol- 
 lowed. At the close of the Sabbath-school, 
 before the people had left the schoolhouse, 
 the unbeliever reached him a New Testa- 
 ment with his finger on the twenty-sixth 
 verse of the fourteenth chapter of Luke, 
 and said, with a sneer, " I want you to tell 
 me if you would advise me to leave and 
 hate my wife and children and go after 
 
152 SIX YEARS ON TJIL liONDER. 
 
 Jesus Christ. I want you to come and see 
 mv wife: and little children, and then tell 
 me if you think 1 ought to hate them and 
 love Christ." 
 
 My husband told him he did not under- 
 stand the Scriptures, i le then talked loud- 
 ly and boisterously, vehemently shakini^ his 
 fist, and for some time would not give my 
 husband a chance to say a word. 
 
 Finally my husband said he would like 
 to ask a few cjuestions. The infidel said, 
 "All right; go ahead." lie then asked 
 him if he had been brought up by relig- 
 ious parents. 
 
 " I was," he replied. 
 
 "Is your mother living?" 
 
 " No ; she has been dead some time." 
 
 " Do you think she was a Christian ?" 
 
 " Yes, if r:ver there was one in this 
 world." 
 
 " Did she ever pray for you ?" 
 
 " Yes, many a time ;" and here the infidel 
 wiped a tear from his eye. At the same 
 
THE IXFIDEL, I 55 
 
 inoinoiu he reached my husband one dol- 
 lar, saving'. •' Take this and buy a botde ot" 
 vinegar bitters ; it is the best ague medicine 
 in the world." M\' husband took the money 
 and thanked him. and the crowd dispersed, 
 nian\- oi the \'oung people laughing" heartily. 
 The next morning he went ic^ the intidel's 
 house. The nian's wite seemed like an ex- 
 cellent woman and he had a tanuK' ot' tine 
 children, but the imbelie\er would not be 
 perstiaded to surrender his heart to the 
 Saviour, The next time my husband was 
 
 at \\ he was told that the intidel had 
 
 lett his wite and children not to go with 
 Christ, but ^vitll his hired ;^irl. 
 
cii A r'n'.K X 1 1 1. 
 
 OlM\ little chiifch at C was all this 
 timr oratlually incrc^asiiii;- in niimbrrs, 
 interest and iiseliiln(\ss. I>iit in such a 
 borcU r villai^c, whc^e the only rhiirch is 
 compostnl ol mnnhers Irom near!)' t^very 
 Christian denomination, the pastor, and 
 also his wilr, nuist always riMiUMnhc^r the 
 words o\ our Lord: "He ye wise as ser- 
 pents and haiinl(\ss as doves." 
 
 One o{ our elders was a oood man, hut, 
 beino" inlluenced b)' his wile, sta)ed away 
 from our services and wouUl ha\ c! nothing- 
 to do with the interests of the church. 
 The cause o( this otfence was my hus- 
 band's i)reachino- against dancing. This 
 elder and his wife believed it no harm 
 
(, (J J J ' .V /J H.CJI'I. /Nh . 155 
 
 to danc:, and cons^rqu^rntly <':ncoiira^(f:d 
 th^'jr childr^-.n in aU/;ndin^( tlu: ni^ditjy 
 r^:vf:ls, which wr:n: conducU:d in such a 
 mann^:r tliat it was nrnth^rr };rojj':r nor 
 saf^: for any r^^spectahh: lady to aU/:fjfJ 
 them. Aft^rr th^: wholo family had ahan- 
 don^:d thf: church and rented ()\\f: of their 
 houses for a drinkin^-saloon, where the 
 poison was daily dealt out to the weak- 
 minded youn^ men of the place, rny hus- 
 band asked two hrother-rninisters what 
 they thought he ou^ht to do in such a 
 case. They l^oth advised him to have 
 them brou;/ht before the session and dealt 
 with according to the rules of the Church. 
 But a complete session could not be had 
 without the head of this family. I Jf, hnally 
 
 mentioned the trouble to Rev. Mr. H 
 
 of W , who advised my husband to use 
 
 all forbearance and patience. lor, said 
 he, "Such a case of discipline would be 
 likely to rend the little church in a sad 
 and lamentaljle manner." He concluded 
 
156 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 to take this advice, and presented the 
 whole matter to God, asking him to take 
 the case into his own hands, to chastise 
 the wrong-doers for their waywardness, 
 and to bring them back penitent to the 
 fold. 
 
 In a few weeks my husband said he 
 trembled to think in what a fearful way 
 his prayers had been answered. One of 
 the little girls of this family, about eight 
 years of age, was suddenly taken sick, and 
 died. The parents sent for my husband to 
 conduct the funeral service. He addressed 
 them sympathetically and admonished them 
 to let their affections follow the spirit of 
 their dear child to the better world; but 
 after the funeral they remained indifferent 
 to the welfare of the little band of believers 
 who were struggling to hold up the stand- 
 ard of purity and godliness in the dark land 
 of the buffalo and the savage. 
 • In a short time the oldest son was killed 
 in a manner sufficient to try the faith of 
 
GOD'S DISCIPLINE. 157 
 
 any parent. The boy was about seven- 
 teen years of age a member of the 
 church and naturally a good, quiet boy, 
 but, being allowed by his parents to spend 
 his evenings around the drinking-saloons 
 and to attend the low and boisterous 
 dances, with the excuse that children must 
 have some resort for amusement, he soon 
 concluded that in order to be a man he 
 must, like other young men of the place, 
 carry a revolver. He accordingly pur- 
 chased one and took it to the saloon. 
 He had been there but a short time be- 
 fore he fell into a dispute with a border 
 ruffian. In order to show his bravery and 
 intimidate his opponent, he raised his re- 
 volver with a sort of flourish, but was 
 instantly shot through the head by the 
 other. 
 
 The boy had no idea of shooting, for 
 there was no load in his revolver, but he 
 had never learned the fact that on the 
 border a man must never say "shoot" 
 
158 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 while- disputing with another, unless he is 
 an expert in using the weapon and intends 
 to shoot, and that quickly. He did not 
 know that a revolver was a thousand times 
 more of an enemy than a friend to an in- 
 experienced youth like himself. 
 
 This was a terrible blow to the parents, 
 but still their hearts were not subdued. 
 
 After this the elder daughter was seized 
 with a violent cough. She traveled sev- 
 eral hundred miles, and consulted differ- 
 ent physicians, but with no good effect ; it 
 soon became evident that she must die. 
 After she gave up the last hope of recov- 
 ering, and her parents knew she would 
 soon leave them, they sent for my hus- 
 band. As he entered the room where the 
 young woman lay he knew that death was 
 calling. Her long yellow hair, which at 
 one time barely escaped falling into the 
 hands of the Indians, lay in golden waves 
 on the pillow, but, instead of the health- 
 tinted cheeks that she had so often carried 
 
GOD'S DISCIPLINE. 1 59 
 
 to the dancing-room, there was now the 
 pallor of death. She grasped my husband 
 by the hand and through a flood of tears 
 looked him in the face, but said not a 
 word. 
 
 In a moment the mother said, "You 
 must forgive my daughter." He said he 
 had nothing to forgive, but she must look 
 to God for pardon in the name of his well- 
 beloved Son, whose blood " cleanseth from 
 all sin." 
 
 After the minister had read the Bible 
 and prayed with the dying girl and the sor- 
 rowing parents and brothers and sister, the 
 departing one faintly uttered words like 
 these : 
 
 " Oh, when I had health and strength, 
 how litde did I think of this! If I had 
 my life to live again, how differently would 
 I spend the precious moments ! But now 
 I must die. God have mercy — have mercy 
 — mercy ! Save my soul !" 
 
 As the dying girl said these words the 
 
l60 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 tears were falling like raindrops from the 
 eyes of her father. 
 
 When my husband came home, I hasten- 
 ed to the house. That night the poor peni- 
 tent peacefully passed away to join the 
 blood-washed company in the presence 
 of " the sinner's Friend." Her young 
 friends came in, not to greet her within 
 the merry walls of mirth, but to bid a 
 long and last adieu to her who had so 
 often added ringing music to the fleeting 
 pleasures of the dance. 
 
 " Old Time will fling his clouds ere long 
 
 Upon those sunny eyes ; 
 The voice whose every word is song 
 
 Will set itself to sighs ; 
 Your quiet slumbers, hopes and fears 
 
 Will chase their rest away ; 
 To-morrow you'll be shedding tears : 
 
 Laugh on, laugh on, to-day." 
 
 The next Wednesday evening this Scotch- 
 man and his wife were at the prayer-meet- 
 ing, and for the first time for over a year 
 
GOD'S DISCIPLINE. l6l 
 
 we heard his voice in prayer. It is bless- 
 ed for the Christian to know that God 
 deals with him as a loving father, and not 
 as an angry judge. Some men's sins go 
 to judgment before them, and some fol- 
 low after. Blessed are all whose sins go 
 over before them, for in the day of reck- 
 oning they will not be called to account 
 for them. 
 
 Some time before this the Rev. Mr. Wil- 
 son came to this region, and was located 
 twenty-five miles from our town. He built 
 a little house on a claim in another county, 
 intending to send for his family. But it was 
 soon completely demolished by one of the 
 terrific storms which are so common on the 
 plains. The boards of which it was built 
 were scattered in such a manner that many 
 of them were never found. 
 
 After he had been some time at our 
 
 county-seat preaching the gospel of Jesus 
 
 he said to one of the leading members of 
 
 the church, " You business men are all 
 11 
 
GOD'S DISCIPLINE. 1 63 
 
 down in the old farm-wagon and invoked 
 the divine blessing. His prayer was hum- 
 ble, personal and earnest. He prayed for 
 his loved ones far away, and my husband, 
 my children and myself were not forgotten. 
 Until late in the night he continued to tell 
 my husband about God's dealings with him 
 and how his prayers had that day been 
 answered. He had been praying for God 
 to provide some means for him to go with 
 his baggage to the nearest railroad-station 
 — a distance of thirty-five miles. He said 
 that during the day his heavenly Father 
 whispered gently to his soul, and said, 
 " My son, don't fret and worry ; I will take 
 care of you." And now he felt very thank- 
 ful and happy, and realized that the arms of 
 Jesus' love were around him. 
 
 W and O were fields that were 
 
 all white and ready to harvest. Mr. Wil- 
 son, though somewhat advanced in years, 
 possessed as much vitality as a young man. 
 He traveled on foot from one town to the 
 
164 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 Other, a distance of twelve miles, and it 
 seemed too bad for such a man to be com- 
 pelled to leave such a field for the want of 
 an adequate support at the hands of the 
 
 church. A gentleman at O said that 
 
 when he heard Mr. Wilson preach he al- 
 ways had something to carry away with 
 him. 
 
 I know I am safe In saying — and no per- 
 son of experience will say otherwise — that 
 a minister with a family can live better on 
 a salary of two hundred and fifty dollars 
 a year in an Eastern town than he can on 
 one of five hundred a year on the Western 
 border. 
 
 The next Saturday my husband, not hav- 
 ing a horse at this time, walked to O , 
 
 about forty miles, to attend Brother Wil- 
 son's appointment. On Monday, while re- 
 turning, he took the wrong road and went 
 several miles out of his way. By doing 
 this he came to a settlement late in the 
 afternoon, and stopped at the first cabin 
 
GOD'S DISCIPLINE. 165 
 
 and asked if he could get some dinner. 
 The woman of die house went out into 
 the field and gathered a few ears of worm- 
 eaten sod-corn. This she grated and made 
 a little bread, of which, with the addition 
 of some venison, he made a good dinner, 
 and paid her fifty cents. He learned that 
 there were several families living in the 
 settlement, and that there had never been 
 a sermon preached in the place. He 
 thought there was now an opportunity to 
 do good ; so he resolved to stay and 
 preach for the people that night. At 
 dark a good congregation gathered in 
 one of the cabins to listen to the glori- 
 ous old gospel of the Son of God. 
 
 The next day he visited the people from 
 house to house, and at night preached in 
 another cabin. The next morning one of 
 the men sent his boy with two ponies to 
 forward him on his journey a distance of 
 five miles. So his losing his way was over- 
 ruled for good by the God of providence. 
 
I 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 DEATH IX THE HOME. 
 
 N the followino- Auo^ust one of our twin- 
 
 o o 
 
 boys, now nearly four years old, was 
 seized with membranous croup, and after 
 four days of extreme suffering died. When 
 he was first taken, we thought it was only 
 common croup and were not particularly 
 alarmed. On Thursday a gentleman came 
 to the house and told my husband that the 
 next Sunday he was to be married, and 
 asked him if he could perform the cere- 
 mony. He replied that, as he had no ap- 
 pointment at that hour, he could do so. 
 But he did not know that God had made 
 an appointment for him to attend at that 
 hour which would be one of the saddest 
 he ever attended in his life. It was on 
 
 166 
 
DEATH IN THE HOME. 1 6/ 
 
 Saturday that our boy died. It was the 
 first time death had broken our Httle band 
 in the land of strangers, and it was so sud- 
 den that we were stunned by the terrible 
 blow. We could only whisper, " Thy will, 
 O God, be done !" 
 
 We sent to W for a minister. Al- 
 though we had been so long in that region, 
 still the nearest clergyman was twenty-five 
 miles away. He reached our house about 
 the hour at which my husband had agreed 
 to perform the marriage ceremony. He 
 was also a missionary of our Church, and 
 
 had been at W only a few months. 
 
 He preached a very comforting sermon, 
 and I shall never forget his words to me 
 as we left the house to otq to the orrave : 
 " Do not grieve about your child : we are 
 short-lived creatures at best." 
 
 As we rode toward the graveyard I said 
 to my husband (and oh the bitter anguish 
 of the thought!), "This is the last ride we 
 shall all take together." 
 
1 68 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 In a short time from this we had a visit 
 from the Rev. Mr. Harsen and wife, whose 
 place of residence and missionary field were 
 
 sixty miles from C . I can assure my 
 
 readers that a visit from such Christian 
 friends, at so sad a time and in a place 
 like this, was very comforting. 
 
 The first time my husband met this good 
 
 man was at C , about one year before 
 
 we moved there. He preached in the 
 morning the first sermon that was ever 
 heard in that town. His subject was "the 
 penitent thief," a fitting one for such a 
 place. My husband preached in the after- 
 noon. Mr. Harsen at this time was sixty 
 miles from home, looking after the scat- 
 tered lambs of the fold. One very cold 
 day that same winter my husband was 
 hauling lumber. Mr. Harsen saw him, 
 and, pulling off his overcoat, reached it 
 to him, saying, " Put this on ; I see you 
 need it." That night my husband slept 
 on the ground ; the wind blew cold from 
 
DEATH IN THE HOME. 169 
 
 the north, bringing sleet, and then snow ; 
 and, had it not been for that coat, he would 
 have suffered very much. 
 
 At another time this same servant of 
 God went on horseback to a poor settle- 
 ment on Sunday afternoon to preach 
 Christ and also to break the bread of 
 life to a little company of believers who 
 had no pastor. As he was returning the 
 sun went down and the heavens were cov- 
 ered with heavy black clouds. When he 
 was about six miles from his home he lost 
 his way, and was soon wandering around 
 in the tall grass, feeling his way through 
 the intense darkness of the night. At 
 this time his congregation w^ere waiting 
 patiently for their minister ; but, as he did 
 not come, they became very anxious and 
 desirous of knowing why he was thus de- 
 tained. Could the wolves have devoured 
 him, or was he lost ? Yes, he was actually 
 lost. About the middle of the nig-ht he 
 came to an old cabin where no one lived, 
 
170 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 and after tying his horse to a sunflower- 
 stalk he found a shelter until morning. 
 
 In his town or vicinity there were few, if 
 any, poor and sorrowing ones who were 
 not comforted by the presence, counsel 
 and prayers of this devoted servant of 
 Jesus. At one time he invited my hus- 
 band to ofo with him to make a few calls. 
 The first house they entered was a little 
 hovel. The man of the house was very 
 low with consumption, and his wife made a 
 living by washing. Mr. Harsen conversed 
 kindly and freely with the sick man, then 
 knelt down by his side and besought the 
 mercy of Jehovah to rest upon him and to 
 bless him and his family, and just before 
 leaving he put some money in the hand 
 of the poor heartbroken woman. 
 
 Althouorh this devoted servant of Christ 
 is now laboring for the Master in the East, 
 there are in the West thousands who will 
 remember him with love and gratitude as 
 long as they live. A thousand just such 
 
DEA TH IN THE HOME. 1 7 1 
 
 earnest, self-sacrificing ministers are need- 
 ed to-day in the great West. 
 
 During his visit at the time of our afHic- 
 tion he preached for my husband three 
 times, and visited a good many of those 
 with whom he was acquainted. Many of 
 the rough and ungodly old frontiersmen 
 were glad to see him, because they re- 
 spected him as a true and sincere servant 
 of the most hioh God. 
 
 His wife was an excellent singer, and 
 one of those sweet and pleasant women 
 who are so fitted to drive gloom and sad- 
 ness from the hearts of all with whom they 
 associate. When they left our home, we 
 watched their buggy until it disappeared 
 over the hill, nearly a mile away. Then 
 we asked God to go with them and to bless 
 them abundantly. 
 
 About two weeks from this time my 
 youngest child — a little girl whom I had 
 named Laura, after my dear departed 
 prairie-sister — was suddenly taken with 
 
172 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 the same disease. On the Sabbath-day I 
 had been several miles from home on 
 horseback to assist the parents of a child 
 who had just died ; they also had another 
 child very sick. When I returned at night 
 my little darling came running to meet me, 
 and seemed so full of life that I did not 
 dream she was so soon to be taken from 
 me. Being very weary, I retired early. 
 After my husband came home from church 
 he said he feared she was taking the croup, 
 for she had a fever and was covered with 
 an unnatural perspiration. His words 
 startled me as though the house had 
 been shaken by an earthquake. We sent 
 for some of our neighbors and endeavored 
 to check the formation of the false mem- 
 brane, but all in vain. 
 
 In the morning my husband went to 
 
 W in the stage for a physician, but 
 
 at night he returned alone. The physician 
 arrived the next day. He looked at her 
 and shook his head, saying, '' She has lost 
 
DEATH IN THE HOME. 173 
 
 her voice." I said, " Oh, doctor, can you 
 do nothing for my child ? Must she die ?" 
 He said, " There is only one hope, and that 
 is very slight : a few such cases have been 
 saved by the surgical operation of trache- 
 otomy, and I will try it if you think best." 
 We told him, if that was the only hope, to 
 do the best he could. In a few moments 
 he was ready. Several of the neighbors 
 were in the room. My husband and I 
 went into another room and fell on our 
 knees. In a short time the doctor tapped 
 on the door and said, '' It is all over." I 
 sprang to my feet, ran to the door, and as 
 I opened it I said, "Is she alive?" He said, 
 " No, she is gone." I went into the room to 
 embrace the lifeless form of my dear child, 
 who two days before seemed so full of life. 
 We knew it was God's will and we endeav- 
 ored to be reconciled, but we feel the ach- 
 ing void until the present time. The phy- 
 sician, who was an upright Christian man, 
 then read a portion of the Holy Scriptures 
 
1/4 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 and prayed God to give us strength to en- 
 dure the sad bereavement. 
 
 We could have no sermon preached over 
 
 our precious babe, as Mr. M had left 
 
 W and we knew of no minister nearer 
 
 than thirty-five miles. But one of our 
 elders prayed at the house, and also at 
 the grave, where we laid her down on her 
 second birthday, by the side of her little 
 brother, and both were buried close to the 
 grave of our dear friend " Duck," whose 
 arms had so often clasped the little ones 
 to as pure a heart as ever beat within a 
 woman's breast. It seemed to me that she 
 would still love and protect my darling 
 babes ; and would they not need it in 
 such a cemetery as this, with graves of 
 murderers and thieves on every side ? 
 
 But was not this viewing^ this serious 
 subject from a wrong standpoint? Were 
 not the souls of my precious children in 
 the world of glory, near and dear to the 
 spirit of my friend who died in my arms ? 
 
DEATH IN THE HOME. 1/5 
 
 But one blow after another had fallen upon 
 me, until, like Job's friends, I felt like sitting 
 down on the ground seven days in silence. 
 The sweetest earthly music had died away 
 in the darkness of the tomb. Two of the 
 bright flowers on the family tree had been 
 smitten by the frost of death. It was au- 
 tumn to my poor trembling, shivering soul, 
 and the cold drops were raining on the 
 leaves already fallen. 
 
 After this two others of our children 
 were very sick, and for a long while we 
 watched them day and night ; but finally, 
 with God's blessing, they both recovered. 
 Our faithful friend, the doctor, would ac- 
 cept of no compensation for his unwearied 
 services. 
 
 Shortly after this a bill of ten dollars for 
 poor little Laura's coffin was handed in, 
 and we had no money to pay it. Other 
 small bills were pressing heavily upon us, 
 and for a great many days we carried this 
 financial burden ; it seemed as though we 
 
l/C) S/X r/'./A'.s (KY rill- A'('A7)AA*. 
 
 foiiKl not ilispost' ol it. I'in.ilU in\ liiis- 
 Iwiul rcsoK chI to w lilo U> a hul\ in ( )hii> 
 \\\\o luul wnilcMi lis scxrral \ cm y cMU\)iir- 
 aiL^iiiL; KitcMs, aiul who luul. in c^onntuiion 
 \\\{\\ tlu^ olluM- hulii\s ot iho ("luirch lo whic-li 
 slu' hrK>ni;c\l. scmU ns nuirh aul allrr ihr 
 i^rasshopjHM' S(.'(>ni'i^c\ and loll Ium' 1u>\\ wc 
 ^\ cM'o sitiiahHl. In a low days wo toc'cmxchI 
 tort\ i.K>llars. which holpod us i^nwlK' in our 
 siiaiUMiod and cMubarrassiuL; rircnunstanros. 
 
 Wo wtM'c^ now ri\HM\ini^ onl\ ihrcn- hun- 
 ch't\l dollars j>cm' \oar IrcMU iho Ht>ard ol 
 J lonu^ Missions. Tho iwhu'lion was mado 
 on acccnnU o{ \\\c nian\- rails and llu^ srar- 
 citN' ot funds. .At such a distance^ from tho 
 railroad all necessaries — orocorios especial- 
 h' — wore st>ld at an cMiornunis price. 
 
 About this time a nouul; niinistor was 
 
 sent lo W , bul roniainod o\\\\ lluw^ 
 
 nionths. 1 \c told my husband ho did nc>t 
 think it was his dut\" lo roniain liuM'o and 
 ruin his health. He was a hue soruioni/or, 
 bul had not nuich ot a niissioiKir\'s s[)iril. 
 
Our town and nt:\'A\\i()r\v)<A sc<:nn<:d now 
 lo \)<: (.\v.i\\'^\n'^ wcry r;j.j>id)y for t.Iv-. ])<A.V:r. 
 It is trijf: th<: rourdi \jor(\<:r r;lr:mr:nt con- 
 tinued with us, i^ut now min^ded wit!) it 
 were the better principles of tlie ;/ospel 
 of Christ. We Ijud scattered religious 
 literature for miles in every direction ; orje 
 could scarcely enter a cabin without find- 
 in;/ tracts from our Hoard of l^iblication. 
 ]'*eople seemed to he thirsting for th^: bread 
 of eternal life. QuiV: frequently about this 
 time they would come a distance of t^-.n 
 miles to hear the v/ord of ^'^od. 
 
 Three (Quaker l^retljren v/ere passing 
 through our town on their way to an In- 
 dian agency, but stopped over the Sabbath. 
 My husband, having an appointment to 
 preach in a new school-house four miles 
 east, asked the Quaker brothers if they 
 would go and conduct the service. They 
 said they would, and my husband went fiva 
 miles in another direction and orr^anized a 
 Sabbath-school. The Quakers v/eni early 
 
 12 
 
178 S/X VEAKS ON THK BORDKR. 
 
 to the house, and, as they saw no one mov- 
 ing and only a few Httle cabins in the dis- 
 tance, they thought they might as well go 
 back, for there would be no one there that 
 day to preach to. But in a few moments 
 wagons were seen coming from every di- 
 rection, and in a short time the house was 
 crowded. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A BLESSED HARVEST. 
 
 ABOUT the first of the next November 
 . my husband again commenced a 
 series of services and preached every 
 night, holding meetings of inquiry after 
 the sermons. During the first week there 
 seemed to be but sHght interest manifested, 
 but the httle band of Christians be^an to 
 pray with more earnestness. The prayer 
 of a few Christians, both by day and by 
 night, was, '' O Lord, revive thy work ! 
 Convict these Christless souls, and may 
 we hear them crying to thee for mercy !" 
 One night the schoolhouse was crowded, 
 and after my husband had preached from 
 the text, " We beseech you in Christ's stead 
 be ye reconciled to God," a number arose 
 
 179 
 
l8o SIX YE A lis ON THE BORDER. 
 
 for prayers, and some said they had de- 
 cided to come over to the Lord's side. 
 Strong men wept in every part of the 
 house. Several Httle children arose and 
 said they wanted to love Jesus and go to 
 heaven. While some one was speaking 
 a lady began to cry and scream in such 
 a manner that some thought she was dying 
 or going into a fit. I went to her and said, 
 
 *' Mrs. B , do not allow yourself to be 
 
 so excited ; please do be quiet," and other 
 ladies endeavored to pacify her; but, like 
 blind Bartimeus, she cried the louder for 
 Jesus to have mercy on her soul and par- 
 don her sins. She sprang to her feet ; her 
 hat fell from her head ; her hair dropped 
 down over her shoulders and the large 
 tears rolled over her cheeks. A profane 
 skeptic said either God Almighty or the 
 devil was there, he did not know which. 
 But in a few minutes she became calm, 
 took her seat, and after looking over the 
 congregation a moment she began to sing 
 
A BLESSED HARVEST. l8l 
 
 "Whiter than Snow." On her counte- 
 nance there was a heavenly smile such as 
 never beamed there before. She was a 
 fine singer, but I am sure she had never 
 sung as she sang that night. There was 
 not a dry eye in the house, and many 
 sobbed aloud. About a dozen young 
 ladies who previous to this had cared 
 but little for anything else than to romp 
 and dance now kneeled down and asked 
 God to wash them in Jesus' blood and 
 make them "whiter than snow." By this 
 time crowds were gathered around every 
 window. The service continued until near- 
 ly midnight. 
 
 This glorious work went on until the 
 place seemed completely revolutionized. 
 The saloons were comparatively deserted ; 
 quietness and decorum existed throughout 
 the town and country — not only on the 
 Sabbath, but also during the week. Twen- 
 ty converts united with our little church, and 
 two other churches received a good many 
 
1 82 SJX y^AA'S ON THE BORDER. 
 
 members. One church had been organized 
 previous to the revival, and the other after, 
 but, as the inhabitants of the place consist- 
 ed largely of a floating population, many 
 who received the blessing and participated 
 in the revival did not unite with any church, 
 as they expected soon to leave the town. 
 Thus the spirit and the power of the gos- 
 pel were carried in burning hearts to other 
 places, and the great day alone will reveal 
 the amount of good accomplished during 
 this glorious refreshintr from on hioh. 
 
 When so many of the young men and 
 women of the place came forward to re- 
 ceive the ordinance of baptism and unite 
 with the church on profession of their faith, 
 we indeed saw the silver lining to the black 
 and heavy clouds which had been hanging 
 so heavily over us for these many years. 
 It had been a long, dark night, but the rosy 
 lioht of the mornino- could now be seen ; 
 and it was with great joy that we could 
 exclaim, " * The winter is past, the rain is 
 
A BLESSED HARVEST. 1 83 
 
 over and gone ; the flowers appear on the 
 earth ; the time of the singing of birds is 
 come, and the voice of the turtle is heard 
 in our land.' 'They that sow in tears shall 
 reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weep- 
 eth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless 
 come again with rejoicing, bringing his 
 sheaves with him.' " 
 
 After the revival the people made us a 
 very surprising donation. Although the 
 night chosen by our friends was cold and 
 disagreeable, they came from miles around 
 and filled our little house, and spread a 
 bountiful table with more luxuries than 
 we had seen since coming from the East — 
 roast chicken, cakes, pies and fruit in abun- 
 dance ; and when the company dispersed, 
 they left us not only many valuable articles 
 of provision, but also about forty dollars 
 in money. One man, who was not a 
 church-member, said, " Mr. Rideout has 
 preached and labored among us all these 
 years, and we have paid him but a mere 
 
1 84 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 trifle. He has been willing to rough it and 
 live as the rest of us have lived, and cer- 
 tainly we should begin to pay him for his 
 services." 
 
 The people were now greatly encour- 
 aged; the prospects for a railroad to the 
 town were good, and we all believed that 
 our town and neighborhood had seen their 
 darkest days. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 SHADOW AND SUNSHINE. 
 
 AS the soft south wind began to blow 
 XI. over the prairie, bringing with it gen- 
 tle showers, and the daisies and the violets 
 were seen in sheltered places along the 
 streams, and the branches of the trees 
 were so loaded with blackbirds I could 
 almost imagine them as being burdened 
 with animated fruit, and the clear water 
 of Fall Creek was splashing musically over 
 the rocks, forming the falls from which it de- 
 rived its name, there was only gloom and 
 sadness locked in my own heart. I say 
 " locked " because I never told my grief to 
 others. While I knew that " earth has no 
 sorrow that heaven cannot heal," I also 
 knew that earth has sorrows that heaven 
 does not heal in this life. 
 
 185 
 
1 86 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 When Jesus said to his disciples, " In the 
 world ye shall have tribulation," I believe 
 he meant until the end of this life ; and, 
 while there are thousands of happy and 
 rejoicing Christians in our world, I believe 
 our heavenly Father has, and until the end 
 of time will continue to have, his suffering 
 witnesses. When our Saviour was on earth, 
 he had not even a place to rest his weary 
 head: "Jesus a man of constant grief, a 
 mourner all his days." And many of the 
 blood-washed company who are now prais- 
 ing God among " the spirits of the just 
 made perfect" passed all the way through 
 this world in the bloodstained footsteps of 
 their blessed Master : 
 
 " Once they were mourners here below, 
 And wet their couch with tears." 
 
 One bright day my little boy, whose mate 
 had died, came in and said, " Mamma, where 
 is Percy ? Why don't he come home ?" 
 
 I told him Percy was in heaven. He 
 
SHADOW AND SUNSHINE. 1 8/ 
 
 then looked up with tears in his eyes and 
 said, 
 
 " Will he never come back to play with 
 me any more?" 
 
 I replied, 
 
 '' No ; you will never see your little broth- 
 er again in this world." 
 
 He then said, 
 
 " I want him to come home, so I can give 
 him some of my pretty flowers." 
 
 After this, for months, as I would see my 
 dear lonely little boy at play, the words 
 of Mrs. Hemans kept ringing constantly 
 through my mind : 
 
 " Go, call my brother back to me : 
 I cannot play alone. 
 The spring returns with flower and bee : 
 Where has my brother gone?" 
 
 This spring I often scattered tears over 
 the little grave on the lonely prairie. How 
 sweet were the flowers that bloomed over 
 the lowly bed of my sleeping children ! 
 How richly did the setting sun shine upon 
 
1 88 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 the high waves of the rolling prairie ! 
 What beautiful birds did I see around 
 those graves ! How lightly did the ten- 
 der blades of grass bow before the breeze! 
 Yet what deathly silence reigned there ! I 
 scarcely dared to speak aloud ; tears flowed 
 without a sigh or a groan. Even my 
 prayers were smothered to a whisper. 
 None but the loving mother who has 
 laid her little ones away under like cir- 
 cumstances can understand my grief But 
 in the midst of all this sorrow there was 
 one joyful thought: "There is sweet rest 
 in heaven." This thought was particular- 
 ly precious, on account of the fact that for 
 more than five years I had been sur- 
 rounded by those whose daily cry seemed 
 to be, 
 
 " O land of rest, for thee I sigh ! 
 When will the moment come 
 When I shall lay my armor by 
 And dwell with Christ at home ?" 
 
 On every flower that looked sweetly to- 
 
SHADOW AND SUNSHINE. 1 89 
 
 ward the sun, on every leaf that fluttered 
 in the breeze and on every sunbeam that 
 smiled through our window-pane seemed 
 to be written the precious word " Rest." 
 I heard it in every murmur of the wind 
 and in every warble of the lark. I saw 
 it on the pale features of my friends as 
 one after the other their weary heads 
 were laid on their coflin-pillow. There 
 were a few wealthy ones in the vicinity, 
 but on every side were poverty, sickness 
 and death. 
 
 One day my husband was called to go to 
 an adjoining county to attend the funeral 
 of a young man who had died with pneu- 
 monia, and his little nephew, who died 
 about the same time. This family were 
 the only white people who lived in the 
 
 county. A great many went from C 
 
 to the one sad and gloomy home in H 
 
 County. My husband said it was a scene 
 he could never forget. The dug-out was 
 long and narrow and the day was cloudy 
 
190 SIX YEARS ON THE BONDER. 
 
 and dark. In the end farthest from the 
 door, in one corner, lay the body of the 
 young man whose spirit had returned " to 
 God who gave it," and directly opposite, 
 in the other corner, lay his brother — anoth- 
 er young man — very low with the same dis- 
 ease. My husband endeavored to talk with 
 him about his spiritual condition and his 
 prospects of "glory, honor and immortality 
 beyond the grave," but it was so dark that 
 the face of the young man could scarcely 
 be seen. My husband, by stooping very 
 low, could barely detect the feeble motion 
 of his lips and the occasional lifting of his 
 eyelids, but could not understand a word 
 he endeavored to utter. He then prayed 
 for the Lord to raise him up ; and in due 
 time God answered his prayer, for the 
 young man was restored to health. 
 
 The father of the young men stood weep- 
 ing in the centre of the dug-out, and his 
 father — an old man of more than eighty 
 years — leaned his wrinkled forehead against 
 
SHADOW AND SUNSHINE. I9I 
 
 the wall, of ^' Mother Earth." There were 
 present several women who lived in our 
 county, but near this dug-out. How pale 
 and wretched they looked ! Fever and 
 ague seemed to be written upon the pallid 
 cheeks, the bloodless lips and the sunken 
 eyes. On a dry knoll near the dug-out they 
 lowered the young man into his grave, and 
 his little nephew by his side, the first known 
 grave of a white man in this county. 
 
 " Howl, O ye winds, around this grave, 
 And, grasses, burn, and, coyotes, bark ! 
 Ye cannot wake the sleeping ones 
 
 Till Christ shall bid them rise, depart !" 
 
 Yet with these dark shadows all was not 
 gloom, and we turned from them to fields 
 on which the bright sunshine gleamed. 
 
 This summer our Sabbath- school was in 
 a flourishing condition ; nearly every one 
 seemed to be interested in having it pros- 
 per. On the Fourth of July we had a nice 
 picnic for the school. The merchants gave 
 candy, raisins, nuts, etc., to make the litde 
 
192 SIX YE A US ON THE BORDER. 
 
 ones happy. The children formed a pro- 
 cession at the schoolhouse and marched to 
 a lovely grove by the side of a sparkling 
 little stream, carrying a banner on which 
 was inscribed " Stand up for Jesus." Seats 
 had been previously arranged, and a large 
 company gathered in the grove and the 
 day passed pleasantly to all. It was a 
 great pleasure to us to see so many tak- 
 ing such an interest in the Sabbath- school. 
 During the five years my little class had 
 increased from two — and they my own chil- 
 dren — to more than twenty, all happy little 
 boys and girls except one, and she an In- 
 dian girl nearly grown, but as childish as 
 any in the class. A lady in the town gave 
 her a night-dress trimmed a little with em- 
 broidery ; the next Sabbath she wore it to 
 school as an outer dress, tied around the 
 waist with a pink ribbon. She always paid 
 good attention, and was greatly pleased 
 with the little papers and cards given 
 her. 
 
SJ/AJJOIV AND SUNSHINE. 1 93 
 
 We could only account for the fact that 
 nearly all the people of the place seemed 
 to be interested in the church and Sabbath- 
 school by believing that it was the work of 
 God in fulfillmrmt of his promise that his 
 word should not return unto him void, but 
 that it should accomplish that whereunto 
 he sent it. 
 
 One Sunday morning about three years 
 before this time my husband left our ** Fam- 
 ily Bible" in the schoolhouse, intending to 
 preach again in the evening, but during the 
 day some rough and ungodly fellows went 
 in and tore the Bible in pieces, scattering 
 the leaves from one side of the house to 
 the other and trampling them beneath their 
 feet. Near the door, and nearly covered 
 with mud, lay the covers, still bearing the 
 inscription " Holy Bible," but by ungodly 
 hands they had been robbed of their pre- 
 cious contents. That Bible we had brought 
 with us from the old " Pine Tree State ;" it 
 
 contained a concordance and a dictionary, 
 1:^ 
 
194 ^^^ YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 also essays on the authenticity of the Script- 
 ures and Doddridge's sermons on the evi- 
 dences of Christianity and our Family Rec- 
 ord. We considered it a serious loss. 
 But the devil could not destroy the work 
 in this way, for the leaven was already 
 working- in many hearts, and with God's 
 blessing it continued to work until many 
 precious souls were brought into the king- 
 dom of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. 
 
 THE following summer my labors seem- 
 ed as arduous as ever. My husband 
 made it a rule to visit all strangers as soon 
 as they moved into the neighborhood and 
 invite them to our services; accordingly, 
 on the Sabbath, people often came six or 
 eight miles to hear the gospel. 
 
 One man lived five miles from town, in a 
 little log cabin. He was very poor. He had 
 a yoke of oxen, but one died, and he work- 
 ed the other alone. My husband was pass- 
 ing the cabin, and resolved to go in and 
 talk with the family about their souls' sal- 
 vation. This man was considered one of 
 the worst men living in that region ; he 
 was known by the name of " Old John." 
 
196 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 When my husband went into the cabin the 
 family received him very kindly, and after 
 conversing a while with them he asked if 
 they had a Bible. The woman went to a 
 box, took out an old leather-covered Bible 
 and handed it to him. He read a portion 
 from that blessed book, and then knelt 
 down and prayed for the blessing of God 
 to rest on the family. 
 
 In a short time this poor man purchased 
 another ox, and regularly every Sabbath he 
 came with his wife and little girl and sev- 
 eral of his neighbors and their children to 
 church and Sabbath-school. The whole 
 family united with the church, and seemed 
 to rejoice that the Lord had sent some 
 one to reclaim them and draw them to the 
 Saviour. They had been members of the 
 Presbyterian Church in other days. 
 
 My husband preached in the schoolhouse 
 every Sabbath morning, and we had Sab- 
 bath-school in the afternoon, which he did 
 not attend, as he had appointments at dif- 
 
FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. 1 97 
 
 ferent places in the country to preach in 
 the afternoon, but he came back to town 
 and preached in the evening. Many who 
 came to the morning service, wishing to 
 remain to the evening meeting, would go 
 home with us ; and thus the day which was 
 given for rest was often for me the hardest 
 day of the seven. I generally prepared 
 dinner for from six to twelve besides my 
 own family, and, as my husband was the 
 only minister of any denomination nearer 
 than twenty-five miles, we had a large 
 number of callers during the week. 
 
 Often poor people coming into the neigh- 
 borhood without home or money would 
 come to our house for shelter until 
 they could build a cabin or dug-out, and 
 against such our doors were never closed. 
 During the rainy season those who lived 
 on the bottom lands were often driven 
 from their dug-outs by rising streams 
 flooding the low lands of the country. I 
 have seen the water flowing through the 
 
198 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 tops of large cottonwood trees with the 
 force of a mighty river, and the bottom 
 lands would resemble great lakes. Dur- 
 ing such times as these many would seek 
 shelter beneath our roof. 
 
 Mr. M , who had recently come from 
 
 the East, looked at this with surprise, if not 
 with indignation. Visiting us when our 
 
 house was full, he said that Mrs. M 
 
 would not be imposed upon in such a 
 manner a single moment. I told him to 
 wait until they had been in the West a 
 year, and perhaps they would both think 
 differently. 
 
 Some time after this a young man who 
 was more willing to beg than to work called 
 
 at the house of Brother M late in the 
 
 evening and wanted supper, lodging and 
 
 breakfast. Mr. M said, "We cannot 
 
 accommodate you ; you will have to go to 
 the hotel." But the young man replied 
 that he had no money, and insisted on 
 staying, claiming a right to the minister's 
 
FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. I99 
 
 hospitality. Brother M then took the 
 
 young man to the hotel and told the land- 
 lord to furnish him supper, bed and break- 
 fast and he would pay the bill. It is no 
 light affair for one who claims to be led by 
 the Spirit of Christ to turn away one who 
 asks for food and shelter. 
 
 This summer an aged minister and his 
 wife moved into our town, where they lived 
 a short time, and then they built a sod 
 house. Such a house is made by plough- 
 ing a piece of prairie and then cutting the 
 sod in square pieces and laying it up like 
 bricks in a brick house. This is covered 
 with dirt, leaving the ground for a floor. 
 The old lady hung sheets around the walls, 
 which, after hanging her pictures, gave the 
 cabin a neat, cozy appearance. She said 
 it was much better than no home, but she 
 lived in daily dread of visits from snakes. 
 
 A short time before this one of our 
 neighbor's children — their only girl, about 
 three years old — was playing near the door 
 
200 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 when she was bitten on her foot by a very 
 small rattlesnake. The bite was so trifling 
 that her mother did not apprehend the least 
 danger, and consequently she did nothing 
 for the child for several hours. As the 
 wound, which at first resembled two very 
 slight scratches of a pin, began to assume 
 a more serious aspect, and her foot became 
 seriously swollen and inflamed, they sent 
 for a physician, who told the parents that 
 the child was in a very critical condition. 
 After several months of extreme suffering 
 the little girl began to recover, but it was 
 feared she would be a cripple, as a large 
 portion of the flesh dropped from her foot 
 and ankle. If the mother had been sup- 
 plied with spirits of ammonia, and had 
 applied it immediately to the wound, how 
 much misery she would have saved her 
 little daughter ! How essential it is for 
 parents to watch their children and apply 
 the proper remedies, both physical and 
 moral, before it is too late ! 
 
FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. 201 
 
 A business man of our village came to 
 my husband and said, " There is a man in 
 the town whom I have decided to kill." 
 He then held up a new revolver, which 
 he said he had purchased for that very 
 purpose. My husband, already knowing 
 something about the cause of this hasty 
 decision on the part of this man, asked 
 him why he had decided to commit such 
 a terrible deed. 
 
 The man replied that he had hired Mr. 
 
 C and had been paying him good 
 
 wages, but that, instead of taking an in- 
 terest in his business, he had become won- 
 derfully interested in his family. 
 
 My husband said, " Does your wife care 
 anything for him ?" — *' Indeed she does," 
 was the reply ; " she loves him dearly, for 
 she told me so this morning." He also 
 
 said he had forbidden Mr. C to speak 
 
 to his wife, but it did no good, as they im- 
 proved every opportunity to talk to each 
 other. "And now," he continued, " I am 
 
202 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 determined to kill him, if I do not live 
 another minute." 
 
 My husband said, ''You must not do it. 
 You must not make yourself wretched for 
 life. You had better give up your wife, if 
 she cares more for him than she does for 
 you. Think of the many poor fellows who 
 are now wretched and miserable on account 
 of like deeds performed in such haste. If 
 you take the life of this man, your wife 
 will certainly leave you. You will always 
 be followed by rippling streams of blood, 
 and his dying groans will disturb the latest 
 moments of your life. Now, take the ad- 
 vice of a friend, and remember that if you 
 commit such a crime you will repent of it a 
 thousand times." 
 
 The man answered that perhaps that 
 was all true, but he would rather die 
 than have his family broken up by such 
 an intruder. 
 
 My husband advised him to rule his 
 spirit and not be hasty ; to ask God to di- 
 
FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. 203 
 
 rect him aright, to converse with his wife 
 on the subject of her duty to God and to 
 God's law and call, and to pray with her 
 and ask her to love Jesus. 
 
 He said he would try it. He did so, and 
 the next Sabbath they both united with the 
 
 church ; and in less than a week Mr. C 
 
 left the place, and we saw him no more. 
 
 " When Christians pray the devil runs, 
 And leaves the field to Zion's sons." 
 
 About this time my husband received a 
 note from a gentleman who lived six miles 
 in the country, saying that a member of 
 his family had become very anxious con- 
 cerning the future life, and desired him to 
 come over immediately. When he arrived 
 at the house the lady told him that her 
 daughter, about fourteen years of age, was 
 so distressed on account of her sins that 
 she could neither eat nor sleep, but con- 
 tinued to cry day and night. Her mother 
 said that for several weeks her daupfhter's 
 
204 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 grief had become deeper and deeper, and 
 all on account of the belief that she was 
 too great a sinner to be saved. My hus- 
 band conversed with her a long time, en- 
 deavoring to explain the Scriptures and 
 show her that she must put her trust in 
 Christ for the forgiveness of her sins, until 
 she said she began to feel as though she 
 might be saved. After he prayed with 
 them she became quite joyful, and asked 
 her mother if she could join the church. 
 But her mother thought she had better 
 wait a while ; she did not think it best for 
 young people to be too hasty. But the 
 girl soon united with the church, and what 
 a faithful little Christian she continued to 
 be! 
 
 One place where my husband preached 
 was in a schoolhouse three miles from this 
 girl's home, and every Sabbath on which 
 he held service there she came to hear the 
 gospel which she loved. One Sabbath 
 morning the congregation gathered, but 
 
FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. 205 
 
 Emma was not there. My husband won- 
 dered why she was absent ; but about the 
 time he commenced his sermon he looked 
 out of the window and saw her coming 
 through the grass, which in many places 
 was higher than her head. She was late, 
 and had left the road to come through the 
 tall grass in her haste to get there in 
 time. 
 
 By this time the people in the town and 
 through the country had become much in- 
 terested in the welfare of the litde church 
 that had been planted under so many dif- 
 ficulties. The tender plant had taken root 
 in the wild and uncultivated soil of the dis- 
 tant prairie, and, being warmed by the rays 
 of the Sun of righteousness, it had flour- 
 ished like the cedars of Lebanon. The 
 tramp of the buffalo did not injure it ; the 
 terrible prairie fires, with flames darting 
 thirty feet in the air, could not burn it ; the 
 drouth could not wither it, for it was wa- 
 tered with tears ; the Indian's arrow could 
 
206 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 not penetrate It, for it had on the " armor 
 of God;" and after the grasshoppers had 
 devoured every green thing for many miles 
 around, the air was still fragrant with the 
 flowers that bloomed on this heavenly 
 plant. It caused the wilderness and the 
 solitary places to be glad, for in the desert 
 it rejoiced and " blossomed like the rose." 
 The Indian saw it, and the knife dropped 
 from his hand ; the thief saw it, and the 
 stolen horse was returned ; the murderer 
 saw it, and his weapon was thrown into the 
 stream ; and many a weary soul found a 
 resting-place beneath the branches of this 
 gospel tree. 
 
 The doctor on whose office floor my hus- 
 band had slept so many nights deeded 
 twelve lots to the trustees of the church. 
 He did this only a few days before he died, 
 in Quincy, Illinois, and now an effort was 
 made to raise money for the purpose of 
 building an edifice. Five hundred dollars 
 were subscribed, besides town lots and la- 
 
FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. 20/ 
 
 bor, and arrangements were made to build 
 the church the next spring. 
 
 In November my husband went to 
 W again to hold a series of meet- 
 ings, but was there only a few days when 
 he had a serious attack of pleurisy. Dr. 
 
 C advised him to give up preaching 
 
 and go home and rest. 
 
 When he returned, I was very busy as- 
 sisting the ladies in preparing for a fes- 
 tival on Thanksgiving. It was to be the 
 
 first effort of the kind ever made at C , 
 
 and we were much interested in its success, 
 as the proceeds were to be invested in a 
 Christmas tree for the Sabbath-school. It 
 was very cold on the night of the festival, 
 but many more were there than we expect- 
 ed. I was very busy all the evening, and 
 felt quite happy to see so many present. 
 
 While there I sought an opportunity to 
 ask our physician — a young man who had 
 
 been at C only a few months — what 
 
 he thought about the condition of my hus- 
 
208 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 band's health. His reply was something 
 like this: "Your husband is a candidate 
 for consumption ; and unless he gives up 
 preaching and stays in the house when the 
 weather is cold or stormy and takes the 
 very best care of himself, he will die in less 
 than a year." This unexpected message 
 disqualified me for any further duties of 
 the evening. In a few moments a lady 
 asked me why I was so nervous and what 
 made my hands tremble. I told her what 
 the doctor had just told me, and to com- 
 fort me she said that was the general 
 opinion of the people. I left the room as 
 soon as possible, and, hastening home, told 
 my husband what the doctor had said. He 
 replied : " I shall preach the gospel as long 
 as I can, and leave the result with God." 
 He continued to grow worse, and was not 
 able to preach again until the ist of Jan- 
 uary. 
 
 On Christmas Eve the schoolhouse was 
 crowded ; there was a present for every 
 
FRUITS OF FAITHFULNESS. 209 
 
 child that belonged to the school, and can- 
 dy and popcorn for every one in the house. 
 The Indian girl of my class was there ; she 
 received a silk necktie, but brought it to 
 me and said she did not want it, but she 
 wanted a little doll. 
 
 14 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. 
 
 ONE cold day I called on a Mrs. 
 H . She was a Christian, but 
 
 her husband had been a degraded inebri- 
 ate who for several months had been en- 
 deavoring to reform. After I had entered 
 the house and seated myself in a chair, this 
 woman came and dropped her head in my 
 lap and wept bitterly. She said her little 
 home was gone and they would be turned 
 out of doors with no shelter from the cold 
 storms of winter. After weeping a long 
 time she wiped her eyes with her apron, 
 and, rocking herself to and fro, said, 
 "What shall I do? My health is not 
 good; this is my only dress, and here 
 are my children covered with rags. My 
 
 210 
 
THE CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. 211 
 
 little home is gone, my husband is again 
 intoxicated, and I know not which way to 
 turn." 
 
 The house in which they lived had be- 
 longed to her, and, as her husband had 
 been sober for several weeks, she had 
 sold the house with the intention of build- 
 ing another on a claim two miles from the 
 town. But, instead of going to the railroad 
 herself to purchase the lumber, she sent her 
 husband, who by this time had so greatly im- 
 proved that she imagined he could never 
 be intoxicated again. But, once within the 
 city, old associates gathered around him, 
 and ere he was aware he had fallen a vic- 
 tim to the monster that *' biteth like a ser- 
 pent and stingeth like an adder." After 
 several days he returned, a poor miserable 
 drunkard, without a foot of lumber or a 
 dollar of his wife's money. After the poor 
 fellow became sober he wept bitterly, and 
 asked God to forgive him and to give him 
 strength to overcome the evil. He soon 
 
212 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 united with the church, and I have never 
 known or heard of his being intoxicated 
 since. 
 
 My husband preached nearly every Sab- 
 bath through the remainder of the winter, 
 but did not attempt to hold a series of 
 special meetings. A few united with the 
 church ; the congregations were good, and 
 the Sabbath-school was very interesting and 
 well attended. But I noticed that his 
 cough continued, and as the weather be- 
 gan to grow warm he commenced to fail 
 very fast. I asked the doctor what I could 
 do for him : he said there was a possibility 
 that a trip to the Rocky Mountains would 
 benefit him. I went home and told him we 
 would go to Colorado. To this he replied 
 that it would never do for us to go among 
 strangers with our young family and him-- 
 self an invalid. I told him if I had health 
 I could make a living for the family in the 
 mountains, and we would go, trusting the 
 Lord to care for us. 
 
THE CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. 213 
 
 The I St of April we bade farewell to our 
 
 friends and started for the town of E , 
 
 where our Presbytery was to meet, neariy 
 a hundred miles from our home. Our con- 
 veyance was a common farm-wagon drawn 
 by a pair of very slow mules. One of the 
 elders of the church and his wife accom- 
 panied us. 
 
 The first day we came to W • The 
 
 next day we expected to reach the nearest 
 railroad town ; but when we were withm 
 twelve miles of that town the sun went 
 down, and it was soon dark. About ten 
 o'clock we missed the road, and found 
 ourselves wandering on the prairie. In 
 crossing a ravine the mules and wagon 
 sank in the mud. After a long time we 
 succeeded in extricating the mules, but the 
 wheels of the wagon were sunk so deep 
 that we could not move them. My hus- 
 band started on one of the mules to find 
 some one to assist us. The elder and his 
 wife and myself pulled dry grass and kept 
 
214 ^^^ YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 a blazing fire for a beacon-light for him. 
 After two or three hours he came back, 
 bringing another man, with a team and a 
 spade, and by the light of our grass fire 
 they succeeded in freeing the wagon from 
 the " miry clay." After we were safely out 
 of the " Slough of Despond " we went to 
 the house of the man who assisted us, and 
 remained until morning. It was a log cab- 
 in, and we all slept on the floor. 
 
 The next day, at ten o'clock, we reached 
 the railroad, and I saw a train of cars for 
 the first time in more than six years. I 
 also heard a church-bell ring; there was 
 music in it, for I had not heard such a 
 sound in all these years. 
 
 When we were on our way to N 
 
 we passed through this town, and there 
 were then about one hundred inhabitants. 
 Lots were selling on the main street for 
 twenty-five dollars each. There was no 
 railroad, and the town consisted of a few 
 little cabins away on the prairie. But now 
 
THE CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. 21 5 
 
 all was chanored. It was a railroad town 
 of nearly seven thousand inhabitants, with 
 solid blocks of brick houses and capacious 
 churches, and, instead of lots selling for 
 twenty-five dollars, they were worth from 
 one thousand to five thousand dollars. 
 Here I met several of my friends who 
 
 had lived at C , among others Mrs. 
 
 S , a woman who seemed to scorn and 
 
 laugh at everything of a religious nature 
 
 when we first went to C ; but during 
 
 a night of the manifestation of God's pow- 
 er to save, although she was dressed in 
 costly garments, she knelt down on the 
 floor of the schoolhouse and there ofave 
 her heart to the Saviour. She was now 
 living in this place, and I was happy to find 
 that she was still living in the triumphs of 
 faith. I also met a young girl about fifteen 
 years of age who was converted during the 
 
 revival at C . I think she was one of 
 
 the sweetest little Christians I ever saw ; 
 but she said the people there were not 
 
2l6 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 very friendly, and she thought It was on 
 account of her clothing not being very nice. 
 I told her to introduce herself to the min- 
 ister, and he would make her feel at home 
 in the church and Sabbath-school. 
 
 The next day we went to E , a dis- 
 tance of thirty miles, to attend the Pres- 
 bytery, but I did not enjoy the exercises 
 very much. The ride of one hundred miles 
 over the prairie had exhausted me, and the 
 hotel where we stopped was nearly a mile 
 from the church. 
 
 My husband coughing day and night and 
 the sad thought of leaving our friends at 
 
 C and going to a strange land with 
 
 only one hundred dollars to pay all our 
 expenses, — these things so burdened my 
 mind that I was glad when the Presbytery 
 adjourned. 
 
 Here I met Brother M , and asked 
 
 him how his wife was prospering. He said 
 she was overrun with company, as whole 
 wagon -loads often came from the country 
 
THE CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. 21/ 
 
 to spend the day. I said, " Mrs. M 
 
 would not be imposed upon ;" and, as the 
 good-natured clergyman laughed heartily, I 
 thought of what the rough frontiersman 
 who drove the horses when we were just 
 from the East and on our way to the bor- 
 der said : " You'll soon get used to this if 
 you stay in the West." 
 
 In the morning, after taking leave of our 
 good elder and his wife, I soon found my- 
 self seated in the railway-cars for the first 
 time for more than six years. But I was 
 not going East to visit my friends, as I had 
 often desired, but farther away from the 
 home of my childhood. It was long be- 
 fore day ; my husband and my children had 
 fallen asleep ; the car was but dimly light- 
 ed ; a few passengers were half reclining 
 in their seats, and, as a thousand sorrow- 
 ful thoughts passed through my mind, I 
 could not refrain from weeping. 
 
 Shortly after sunrise the conductor pass- 
 ed through the car and cried out, " New- 
 
2l8 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 ton." I wiped my eyes and looked out to 
 see the little town where we left the cars 
 and began our overland route over six 
 years before this time, but I could not see 
 it. The dozen little cabins were gone, and 
 large brick buildings were standing in their 
 places. Several church- spires were point- 
 ing toward the heavens. My six years' 
 experience seemed to me like the dream 
 of a night. 
 
 At the present time C is a fine rail- 
 road city surrounded by a beautiful and 
 rich agricultural country. The little cabins 
 and dug-outs have given way to pleasant 
 residences, and many of those who lived 
 so long on corn-bread and wild game are 
 now able to cut the white loaf and live on 
 the rich viands of the country. Where I 
 have seen the buffalo, the deer and the 
 wolf roaming at large, there are splendid 
 roads, over which fine carriages daily roll ; 
 and where the deadly serpent stretched his 
 form across the wild grapevine and moved 
 
THE CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. 219 
 
 noiselessly through the tall grass, stand 
 beautiful orchards, fields of waving grain 
 and lovely gardens. The little church 
 which so long struggled in the midst of 
 perils on every side now worships in a 
 commodious sanctuary. The railroad not 
 only brings a daily mail, but has brought 
 down the prices of lumber, clothing, fuel 
 and groceries. Excellent crops have this 
 year been harvested, and the whole region 
 abounds with plenty and prosperity. These 
 people have well chosen for their motto Ad 
 astra per aspera.^ 
 
 But, while this town and neighborhood 
 have mounted to the bright stars of wealth 
 through ten thousand difficulties, other 
 towns far beyond are springing up, de- 
 termined in like manner to go on through 
 every difficulty to success and happiness. 
 I know that hundreds of these places are 
 without the blessed life-giving gospel of the 
 Son of God. To-day the Macedonian cry, 
 
 * " Through hardships to the stars." 
 
220 SIX YEARS ON THE BORDER. 
 
 " Come over and help us," is ringing in the 
 ears of the Church from more than a thou- 
 sand dark and destitute fields in the great 
 West. This soul-penetrating cry comes 
 alike from the white man, the Indian and 
 the Mexican, and cannot be disregarded 
 with impunity. 
 
 While the Church, arrayed in garments 
 of white, stands up and invites poor sinners 
 to the Saviour, let her also reach out her 
 hand and lead the weary and heavy-laden 
 to his blessed feet. Who are willing to 
 give up the pleasures of this life for Christ 
 and his cause, and go among the poor and 
 needy to bear afflictions as good soldiers 
 of the cross ? Who are willing to give as 
 the Lord has prospered them for the sup- 
 port of this glorious work ? " No man 
 that warreth entangleth himself with the 
 affairs of this life ; that he may please Him 
 who hath chosen him to be a soldier." 
 
 See the grain all ripe and falling, 
 Harvest ready : come and reap, 
 
THE CLOSE OF THE CONFLICT. 221 
 
 Jesus to his children calling, 
 " Simon Peter, feed my sheep." 
 
 Hear the blessed Saviour saying, 
 
 " In my vineyard work to-day ;" 
 
 Hear the frontier settlers praying 
 
 For the word without delay. 
 
 Hear the ciy from Indian nation 
 To the rich, the learned, the wise : 
 " Here poor Indians need salvation ; 
 Bring us Christ, and we'll arise." 
 
 Hear the far-off Christian sister, 
 In the land of waving green. 
 To her little children whisper, 
 " You have ne'er a preacher seen." 
 
 See the drunkard as he tumbles 
 In the ditch to moan and die ; 
 Who will whisper to that brother, 
 « You through Christ may live on high " ? 
 
 Oh, my brother, oh, my sister. 
 Can you sit and fold your hands, 
 
 While your days are passing swifter 
 Than the river o'er the sands ? 
 
 THE END. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
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