e completion of the cottages, to erect an
Episcopal Church of England for the absorption of the Indian converts
from the Methodists into that Church, I resolved to be before them, and
called the Indians together on the Monday morning after the first
Sunday's worship with them, and using the head of a barrel for a desk,
commenced a subscription among them to build a house for the double
purpose of the worship of God and the teaching of their children. Never
did the Israelites, when assembled and called upon by King David, (as
recorded in the 29th chapter of the first book of Chronicles) to
subscribe for the erection of the Temple, respond with more cordiality
and liberality, in proportion to their means, than did these converted
children of the forest come forward and present their humble offerings
for the erection of a house in which to worship God, and teach their
children. The squaws came forward to subscribe from shillings to
dollars, the proceeds of what they might earn and sell in baskets, mats,
moccasins, &c., and the men subscribed with corresponding heartiness and
liberality of the salmon that they should catch--which were then
abundant in the river, and which, I think, sold for about twelve and a
half cents each.

On the same day, a plan of the house was prepared, and I engaged on my
own individual responsibility, a carpenter-mason, by the name of
Priestman (who had been employed by the Government to build the Indian
cottages), to build and finish the house for the double purpose of
worship and school, and then mounted my horse and visited my old friends
in York, on Yonge Street, Hamilton, and Niagara Circuits, and begged
money to pay for all, and at the end of six weeks the house was built
and paid for, while our "swell" friends of the Government and of the
Church of England were consulting and talking about the matter. It was
thus that the Church-standing of these Indian converts was maintained,
and they were enabled to walk in the Lord Jesus as they had found Him.

My labours this season were very varied and severe. I had to travel to
York (eighteen miles) on horseback, often through very bad roads, and
preach two Sundays out of four (my second year in town). After having
collected the means necessary to build the house of worship and
school-house, I showed the Indians how to enclose and make gates for
their gardens, having some knowledge and skill in mechanics.[8]

Between daylight and sunrise, I called o