Bayswater, Hampstead, Tooting, Wimbledon, Coleshill, Kensington, Ware,
and many other places; all much of the same character--money was
collected, and photographs and articles of birchbark sold. The Chief
excited much interest by recounting the circumstances of his own
conversion to Christianity. "When I was a little boy, not older than
that little fellow there," he said, pointing to a child in the
assembly, "I was very badly off. My mother was dead, and my father
loved the fire-water. I was often cold and hungry, and at night would
sometimes crawl into the wigwam and lie down beside my drunken father.
After I was grown older, a preacher came into our neighbourhood and
began to preach the Gospel to the Indians, and I used to go sometimes
to listen to him. I thought the words he spoke were very wonderful, and
I was so much impressed by them that I took every opportunity I could
of going to listen. As for my father, he would not go to hear the
preaching, and he did not wish me to go, but I used to go secretly
without telling him. One, evening I was going as usual to hear the
Missionary speak, wending my way alone through the dark lonely bush. My
path led me out into a clearing where I could see the distant horizon,
and the sun was setting in great splendour, the heavens all lighted up
with gold and crimson. Suddenly, like an arrow, there darted into my
breast the words which I had heard the preacher use about the last
great day when the Saviour would return again in glory surrounded by
all the holy angels. I sank upon my knees, and there and then offered
up my first prayer to God. The next morning I called on the Missionary,
and told him that I wished to become a Christian, and a short time
after that I was baptized. Some time after this I was very sick, and my
life was despaired of. My father, though disapproving of my having
accepted Christianity, was nevertheless very fond of me; he was much
grieved that I was sick, and I noticed that he had begun to think more
seriously of the Christian religion, for I had often spoken to him and