ter. He could even practice the legitimate deceptions of war when necessary to frustrate the plans of an enemy. While he never himself carried arms -or at least we have no record that he did -he aided his traveling companions in their means of defense, and would undoubtedly have helped them in battle if the necessity had arisen.
But when it came to situations where the sacrifice of his life might promote the welfare of others, he did not hesitate. Three times, at least, he went forth to meet hostile bands when it was believed that a white man could not approach them without certain death. And he informs us that he did this in perfect calmness and with a sense of security which could come only from his faith in the protecting care of Providence. It is a singular fact that in all his experience in the Indian country, during the period of general wars, he saw very little, if any, actual bloodshed. In 1846 he said, " I have never witnessed the shedding of one drop of human blood"-and the same good fortune accompanied him during the remainder of his life.
It is entirely in harmony with a nature like that of Father De Smet, that he should be an enthusiastic lover of the beauties of Nature. Whether on sea or land, among the mountains or on the prairie, he saw beauty and goodness in all that God had made. His writings are full of his observations upon these subjects. He tells us, for instance, how on one occasion, when nearing New York from Europe, a long spell of rough weather was followed by a perfect day in which everything combined to make Nature appear at her best. There was a glorious sunset which drew from Father De Smet the exquisite reflection that the setting of the sun at sea is " among the great wonders of the Lord." He sat up that night until two in the morning, drinking in this natural elixir of life, and was up again in time to see the rising of a May sun. This is the way it appeared to him "The sky was clear, the sea was tranquil, hardly a ripple stirred the surface of its waters, and from its bosom rose the