LIFE AND LOVE RETURN 291 



— the neime of the priest being, of course, fictitious — merely to 

 point out the kind of missionaries that should never be sent 

 among the Indians, I not only wish to state that they are very 

 much the exception to the rule, but I also want to make known 

 my unbounded respect and admiration for that host of splendid 

 men — and women — of all denominations, who have devoted 

 their lives to the spiritual welfare of the people of the wilder- 

 ness, and some of whom have already left behind them hallowed 

 names of imperishable memory. 



But the lot of the missionary among the Indians is not 

 altogether a joyous one. In his distant and isolated outpost 

 there are privations to endure and hardships to suffer. Fre- 

 quently, too, it happens that he is placed in a position exceed- 

 ingly embarrassing to a man of gentle breeding and kindly 

 spirit. 



A weU-known Canadian priest was being entertained by 

 an Indian family. The hospitable old grandmother undertook 

 to prepare a meal for him. Determined to set before the 

 "black-robe" a really dainty dish — something after the 

 fashion of a Hamburg steak — and possessing no machine for 

 mincing the meat, she simply chewed it up nice and fine in her 

 own mouth. After cooking it to a turn, she set it before her 

 honoured guest, and was at a loss to understand why the good 

 man had so suddenly lost his appetite. 



But there is often a brighter and also a graver side to the 

 missionary's life among the red men. Incidents occur which 

 appeal irresistibly to his sense of humour. 



One Sunday afternoon a certain noted bishop of the English 

 Church in Canada, who had spent most of his life as a mis- 

 sionary in the far Northwest, was discoursing at considerable 

 length to a band of Dog-rib Indians camped at the mouth of 

 Hay River on Great Slave Lake. His Lordship dwelt earnestly 

 upon the virtue of brotherly love, and enlarged upon the beauty 

 of the Divine saying — "It is more blessed to give than to re- 



