The closing years of her life were spent with her nephew the great Indian missionary the Rev. John P. Williamson D.D. at Greenwood, South Dakota. There at noon of March 24, 1895, the light of eternity dawn-
; 8 AMONG THE SIOUX.
ed upon her and she entered into that sabbattic rest, which remains for the people of God. Such is the stors' of Aunt Jane, modest and unassuming—a real heroine,, who travelled sixteen hundred miles all the way on horseback and spent several months that she might rescue two poor colored persons whom she had never seen or even known.
Without husband or children, alone in the world, she did not repine, but made herself useful, wherever she was, in teaching secular learning and religiou.s truth, and in ministering to the sick and afflicted, the down-trodden and oppressed. She never sought to d^-any wonderful things,—but whatever her ^hand found to do, she did it with her might and with an eye to the honor and glory of God. Hers was a very long and most complete Christian life. Should it ever be forgotten? Certainly not. while our Christian religion endures.
'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works do follow them.'
—Rev. 14: 13.
ARTEMAS, THE WARRIOR PREACHER
He was one of the fiercest of the Sioux warriors. He fought the Ojibways in his youth; danced the scalp-dance on the present site of MinneapoHs, and waged war against the whites in '62. He was converted at Mankato, Minnesota, in the prison-pen, and for thirty-two years, he was pastor of the Pilgrim Congregational church at Santee, Nebraska.
Artemas Ehnamane was born in 1825, at Red Wing, Minnesota, by the mountain that stands sentinel at the head of Lake Pepin. ''Walking Along' is the English translation of his jaw-breaking surname. As a lad, he played on the banks of the mighty Mississippi. As a youth, he hunted the red deer in the lovely glades of Minnesota and Wisconsin. He soon grew tall and strong and became a famous hunter. The war-path, also, opened to him in the pursuit of his hereditary foes, the Chippewas. He danced the scalp-dance on the present site of Minneapolis, when it was only a wind-swept prairie.
While in his youth, his tribe ceded their ancestral lands along the Mississippi and removed to the Sioux Reservation on the Minnesota River. But not for long, for the terrible outbreak of 1862, scattered everything and landed all the leading men of that tribe in prison. Artemas was one of them. He was convicted, condemned to death, and pardoned by Abraham Lincoln. While in the prison-pen at Mankato,
Su AMONG THE SIOUX.
he came into a new life ''that thinketh no evil of his neighbor.' The words of the faithful missionaries, Pond and Williamson and Riggs, sank deep into his heart. His whole nature underwent a change. Arte-mas once explained his conversion thus:
. *'We had planned that uprising wisely and secretly. We had able leaders. We were well organized and thoroughly armed. The whites were weakened by the Southern war. Everything was in our favor. We had prayed to our gods. But when the conflict came, we wTre beaten so rapidly and completely, I felt tlliat the white man's God must be greater than all the Indians' gods; and I detemiined to look Him up, and I found Him, All-Powerful and precious to my soul.'
Faithfully he studied his letters and learned his Dakota Bible, which became more precious to him than any record of traditions and shadows handed down, from mouth tO' mouth by his people. He soon became possessed of a great longing to let his tribe know his great secret of the God above. So when the j>rison-ers were restored to their families in the Missouri Val-Iv in Nebraska, Artemas was soon chosen one of the preachers of the reorganized tribe. His first pastorate was that of the Pilgrim Congregational Church at Santee, Nebraska, in 1867. It was also his last, for he was ever so beloved and honored by his people, that they would not consider any proposal for separation.
No such proposition ever met with favor in the Pilgrim Church for Artemas finnly held first place in the affections of the people among whom he labored so earnestlv. He served this church for thirtv-two vcars
and passed on to take his place among the Shining Ones, on the eve of Easter Sabbath, 1902.
Artemas seldom took a vacation. In fact there is only one on record. In 1872, his church voted a vacation of six weeks. True to his Indian nature, he planned a deer hunt. He turned his footsteps to the wilds of the Running Water (Niobrara River), where his heart grew young and his rifle cracked the death-knell of the deer and antelope. One evening, in the track of the hostile Sioux and Pawnees, he found himself near a camp of the savage Sicaugu. He was weak and alone. They were strong and hostile.
He had tact as well as courage. He invited those savage warriors to a feast. His kettle was brimming, and as the Indians filled their mouths with the savory meat, he filled their ears with the story of the gospel, and gave them their first view of that eternal life, purchased by the blood of Christ.
The deer-hunt became a soul-hunt. The wild Sicaugu grunted their amicable 'Hao' as they left his teepee, their mouths filled with venison and their hearts planted with the seeds of eternal truth.
Again he went on a deer-hunt, when he crossed another trail, that of hunters from another hostile tribe. In the camp he found a sick child, the son of Samuel Heart, a Yankton Sioux. But let Heart tell the story himself in his simple way:
'I was many days travel away in the wilderness. My child was very sick. I felt much troubled. A man of God came to my tent. I remember all he said. He told me not to be troubled, but to trust in God, and
all would be well. He prayed; he asked God to strengthen the child so I could bring him home. God heard him. My child lived to get home. Once my heart would have been very sad, and I would have done something very wicked. I look forward and trust Jesus.'
This is how Rev. Artemas Ehnamane spent his vacations, hunting for wild souls instead of wild deer.
He was a scriptural, personal and powerful preacher.
Faith in a risen Saviour, was the keynote of his ministry. As he said: 'Who of all the Saviours of the Indian people has risen from the dead? Not one.' 'Our fathers told us many things and gave us many customs, but they were not true.' 'I ^ grew up believing in what my father taught me, but when I knew of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I believed in Him and put aside all my ways.' It was to him in truth, the coming out of darkness into light. 'Sins are like wolves,' he said. 'They abound in the darkness and destroy men. When we enter the way, Jesus watches
