Council.--Discussions.--Anniversaries.--Sabbath.--
Communion.--The Native Missionary Society.

CHAPTER VI.

1905--Sisseton.--John Baptiste Renville.--Presbytery of Dakota.

AMONG THE SIOUX.

PART ONE.

SOWING AND REAPING.

[Illustration: FORT SNELLING.]

They that sow in tears shall reap in joy.
He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing
Precious Seed,
Shall doubtless come again
With rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves.

_Psalm 126._

Chapter I.

_Now appear the flow'rets fair_
_Beautiful beyond compare_
_And all nature seems to say,_
"_Welcome, welcome, blooming May._"

It was 1834. A lovely day--the opening of the merry month of May!

The Warrior, a Mississippi steamer, glided out of Fever River, at
Galena, Illinois, and turned its prow up the Mississippi. Its
destination was the mouth of the St. Peters--now Minnesota River--five
hundred miles to the north--the port of entry to the then unknown land
of the Upper Mississippi.

The passengers formed a motley group; officers, soldiers, fur-traders,
adventurers, and two young men from New England. These latter were two
brothers, Samuel William and Gideon Hollister Pond, from Washington,
Connecticut. At this time, Samuel the elder of the two, was twenty-six
years of age and in form, tall and very slender as he continued through
life. Gideon, the younger and more robust brother was not quite
twenty-four, more than six feet in height, strong and active, a
specimen of well developed manhood. With their clear blue eyes, and
their tall, fully developed forms, they must have attracted marked
attention even among that band of brawny frontiersmen.

In 1831 a gracious revival had occurred in their native village of
Washington. It was so marked in its character, and permanent in its
results, that it formed an epoch in the history of that region and is
still spoken of as "the great revival". For months, during the busiest
season of the year, crowded sunrise prayer-meetings were held daily and
were well attended by an agricultural population, busily engaged every
day in the pressing toil of the harvest and the hayfields. Scores were
converted and enrolled themselves as soldiers of the cross.

Among these were the two Pond brothers. This was, in reality with them,
the beginning of a new life. From this point in their lives, the
inspiring motive, with both these brothers,