day. At first it was a matter of surprise to me that
our Christian Indians put up with some of these irregularities. I was
very much astounded one day by the entrance of an old Indian called
Tapastonum, who, rattling his ornaments, and crying, "Ho! Ho!" came
into the church in a sort of trot, and gravely kissed several of the men
and women. As my Christian Indians seemed to stand the interruption, I
felt that I could. Soon he sat down, at the invitation of Big Tom, and
listened to me. He was grotesquely dressed, and had a good-sized
looking-glass hanging on his breast, kept in its place by a string hung
around his neck. To aid himself in listening, he lit his big pipe and
smoked through the rest of the service. When I spoke to the people
afterwards about the conduct of this man, so opposite to their quiet,
respectful demeanour in the house of God, their expressive, charitable
answer was: "Such were we once, as ignorant as Tapastonum is now. Let
us have patience with him, and perhaps he, too, will soon decide to give
his heart to God. Let him come; he will get quiet when he gets the
light."

The week evenings were nearly all filled up with services of one kind or
another, and were well attended, or otherwise, according as the Indians
might be present at the village, or away hunting, or fishing, or
"tripping" for the Hudson's Bay Company. What pleased us very much was
the fact that in the homes of the people there were so many family
altars. It was very delightful to take a quiet walk in the gloaming
through the village, and hear from so many little homes the voice of the
head of the family reading the precious volume, or the sounds of prayer
and praise. Those were times when in every professed Christian home in
the village there was a family altar.

CHAPTER FOUR.

CONSTANT PROGRESS--WOMAN'S SAD CONDITION IN PAGANISM--ILLUSTRATIONS--
WONDROUS CHANGES PRODUCED BY CHRISTIANITY--ILLUSTRATIONS--NEW YEAR'S DAY
CHRISTIAN FESTIVAL--THE AGED AND FEEBLE ONES FIRST REMEMBERED--CLOSING
THANKSGIVING SERVICES.

We found ourselves in a Christian village surrounded by paganism. The
contrast between the two classes was very evident.

Our Christians, as fast as they were able to build, were living in
comfortable houses, and earnestly endeavouring to lift themselves up in
the social circle. Their personal appearance was better, and
cleanliness was accepted as next to godliness. On the Sabbaths they
were well dres