WILLIAM had come back from
the plains, bring- ing some provisions—not very much, but sufficient to make
us all feel thankful. Mr. Woolsey had sent him to Edmonton to bring some
horses he had left there, and when he returned he had another "refuge
seeker," this time a young man, the son of one of our ministers in Ontario,
Williston by name. He had started to cross the mountains with some others,
but reaching the Kootanie Pass, their provisions and pluck both dwindled
away. They wandered hack along the mountains and came to Edmonton in a
famished condition, and Williston, being "dead- broke," heard of Mr.
Woolsey, and came down with William. Of course Mr. Woolsey, because of his
being the son of a brother minister, took him in.
And now snow came, and
Williston and I, each with a dog-train, made several trips to the lake for
fish.
These trips were hard work;
the man, besides walking and running all the time over the home stretch, had
to push and pull and strain, and hold back to get his load up and down the
many hills and over the logs, which were legion, and which would have taken
more time than we had to clear out of the way.
About this time we made a
trip to White-fish Lake for some stuff Mr. Woolsey had in store there. We
found Mr. Steinhauer and family well, and hard at work among their people,
for things were now getting into shape at this mission, and the Indians were
gathering in and looking upon it as a home. Mr. Steinhauer was an ideal
missionary—capable and practical and earnest, a guide and leader in all
matters to his people. Heart and soul, he was in his work. |