Missionary Work Among the Ojebway Indians | Page 2

been long 'sitting in darkness, and the
shadow of death.' During the past year sundry improvements have been
made in the Shingwauk Home, which will largely increase the comfort
of the occupants. The most notable event, however, to be recorded in
this connection is the completion and consecration of the 'Bishop
Fauquier Memorial Chapel,' a beautiful and truly ecclesiastical
structure, designed, in even its minutest details, by Mr. Wilson, and
erected by means of funds sent mainly from England, in response to his
earnest appeals for some enduring and useful memorial of the life and
labours of the late revered Bishop of this diocese. Long may it stand, as
a hallowed centre for the diffusion of Gospel light among hundreds yet

unborn, of the Indian tribes he loved so well."

MISSIONARY WORK AMONG THE
OJEBWAY INDIANS.

INTRODUCTORY.
The largest freshwater lake in the world is Lake Superior, through the
centre of which runs the boundary line between the United States of
America and the Dominion of Canada. The Indians call it the "Ojebway
Kecheguramee," that is--literally translated--the Great water of the
Ojebways, or as they are often called the Chippeways.
The Ojebways are an extensive Indian tribe spreading over a large part
of Canada, the Northern States, and the North West; specimens of their
language and customs appear in Longfellow's song of Hiawatha. Lake
Superior may be regarded as the centre of their ancient possessions.
Along its northern shores, and back into the interior they still roam in
wild freedom, hunting, and fishing, and paddling their birch-bark
canoes;--but in more civilized places, they are confined to reserved
lands set apart for them by the Dominion Government, and many of
them now gain their living by farming or by working for the
neighbouring white people.
The Ojebway Indians are now just in that transition stage in which they
particularly require a helping hand to lift them up to a respectable
position in life, and to afford them the means of gaining their livelihood
as a civilised Christian people. As one of their own Chiefs has said,
"the time is passed for my people to live by hunting and fishing as our
forefathers used to do; if we are to continue to exist at all we must learn
to gain our living in the same way as the white people."
It is with the view of making the wants of these poor people known,
and of increasing the interest in a work which amid many difficulties,
has for the past ten years been carried on among them, that these pages
are written. The writer will tell what have been his experiences with the
Indians since he first came to settle among them as a Missionary, and
will describe how God in His providence gradually opened the way for
him, how dangers were met, and difficulties overcome, and how in the
end two Institutions for the Christian training and civilization of Indian

children were brought into existence; the one called the Shinywauk
Home, with accommodation for about seventy Indian boys, and the
other called the Wavanosh Home with room for about thirty Indian
girls,--both of them built, and now in active operation, at Sault Ste.
Marie, Ontario, at the south-eastern extremity of Lake Superior.

CHAPTER I.
HOW IT CAME ABOUT THAT I WENT TO CANADA.
All things are wonderfully ordered for us by God. Such has been my
experience for a long time past. If only we will wait and watch, the way
will open for us.
Where shall I begin with my history as a Missionary? When I was a
child, it was my mother's hope and wish that I should bear the glad
tidings of the Gospel to distant lands. She was a Missionary in heart
herself, and it was her earnest desire that one of her boys would grow
up to devote himself to that most blessed work.
However there seemed little likelihood of her wishes being fulfilled. I
disliked the idea of going to Oxford as my brothers had done. A wild
free life away from the restraints of civilization was my idea of
happiness, and after studying agriculture for a year or two in England, I
bade farewell to my native shores and started for Canada.
Then God took me in hand. I had been only three days in the country
when He put it into my heart to become a Missionary. The impulse
came suddenly, irresistibly. In a few days it was all settled. Farming
was given up, and I entered upon my course as a theological student.
That same summer I spent a month or six weeks on an Indian Reserve,
and became, as people would say, infatuated with the Indians. For this
and other reasons, I preferred remaining in Canada that I might study