Letter XIX
TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRÉCIS HISTORIQUES, BRUSSELS.
The Sioux.
PARIS, November 17, 1856.
REV. AND DEAR FATHER:
I find with pleasure in your number of the 15th inst., the interesting letter of Father Adrian Hoeken, written to me from the Flat-Head camp, which I sent you from St. Louis before I started for Belgium.
Herewith are four letters of his brother, Father Christian Hoeken, which will, I think, be found as interesting as Father Adrian's. In a few days I shall see you at Brussels.
First Letter of Father Christian Hoeken.-To Father De Smet.
Sioux County, Post Vermilion, Dec. 11, 1850.
REV. AND DEAR FATHER:
You have .doubtless learned, by Father Duerinck's letters, that I set out last June for the Sioux country. The season was quite favorable when I left Kansas, but I had a pretty cold time as I crossed Missouri, Iowa., and Minnesota, till I got to the post of the American Fur Company, called Post Vermilion. My inability to find a good guide to lead me to Fort Pierre, the great post of the Missouri, made me lose five days of excellent weather.
At last I succeeded in finding a companion who had crossed backward and forward, for the last thirty-three years, every plain, mountain, forest, and prairie of the West. I set out the day before the weather changed. On the third day the snow overtook us. On reaching James River we found it impassable; the water was too high and too cold for our horses to swim it. We had to ascend it to find a ford. We travelled eight or nine days without finding any place or means to cross. A violent north wind set in, so that we were nearly frozen to death. We accordingly began to descend the valley of the river, but bad not made over five or six miles when night surprised us, and we had to encamp in a spot which offered scarce wood enough for one night. We had hardly encamped when the north wind began to blow with horrible violence ; the snow fell so thick and fast,; that you would have said the clouds had burst. You may imagine our position, and how much we pitied each other. Sleep was out of the question. The next morning we struck our camp. The snow and wind raged with unabated fury for two days and two nights. In some spots there were six, fifteen, and even twenty feet of snow. Conceive our position if you can, as we made our way along the valley of James River, which runs between two chains of mountains, with deep ravines near each other.
We were almost out of provisions; entirely alone, in a sad desert, where we could see nothing but snow; we had no one to encourage us, except the spirit of divine charity, at whose voice I had undertaken this painful journey. The snow grew high around us, our horses would not proceed. The gloomy thought that we could never cross the river crushed out all courage; but I was consoled when I remembered the words of Divine Wisdom : "It is good for you to suffer temptation." To fill up our misery, rheumatism seized both my knees, so that I could not set one foot before another. One of our horses fell lame and was no better than myself. Moreover, the keen norther froze my ears, nose, and feet, and my companion's feet. The poor man complained of violent pains in the bowels, caused doubtless by fatigue and hunger. The elements seemed to conspire against us; and it is only by a special assistance of heaven that we did not perish in this, strait. "I never saw any thing like it. I have lived, wandered, travelled, for thirty-five years all over the upper Missouri, but never, never was I in such a scrape as this." Such were the frequent exclamations of my guide. For my part, I was forced by a dire necessity to march against my inclination, or rather to drag myself along; as. best I could. I gathered up what little courage I had left. I walked on in the snow from morning to night, praying and weeping in turns, making vows and resolutions. The aspirations of the prophets and apostles were the subject of my communications with Heaven. " Confirm me, 0 Lord, in this hour. Rebuke me not in thy fury, and chastise me not in thy wrath." This I repeated at almost every instant. When I sank to my waist in snow, I cried: "Have mercy, Lord, have mercy on us. For thee and for thine have we come unto this hour. Stretch out thy arm to lead us. Lord, we perish." Meanwhile, we advanced painfully over the mountains of snow, till night summoned us to plant our tent, which consisted, be it said here, of a square piece of a skin tent-cover. We set to work with courage, clearing away the snow, getting down a framework and wood enough for our fires at night. The fire is kindled; we have finished our night prayers; we have only a morsel to eat. Now, then, repose for a few hours. Impossible. Sleep has fled our eyelids; the smoke blinds and stifles us, at almost every instant we had to cough; my companion said that it was impossible to distinguish one object from another, the smoke had so blinded him. How sleep, with the wolves howling and prowling around us! The snow and sometimes rain and hail fell on us all night long. Often, while listening for any , noise, the prayer, " From all danger, rain and hail, deliver us, 0 Lord!" escaped my trembling lips involuntarily. Thank Heaven, the Almighty heard our humble supplication; every day he gave us fine weather, though bitter cold. My greatest fear every morning, was that my companion would bring word that our horses were dead of cold or hunger in those bleak and sterile tracts. Had this loss befallen us, our misfortune would have been complete. I put myself and all belonging to me under the special protection of our good and amiable patroness, the Blessed Virgin Immaculate, and I often reminded her, with filial confidence, that we had been committed to her care at the foot of the cross.
From clay to day, my guide was the more urgent that we should abandon the lame horse so as not to be frozen for him. We had to lose a good part of the day in unloading and reloading him, because he fell at almost every step on the slippery snow; yet by care, pain, fatigue, and patience, we arrived with our two horses at Post Vermilion. Famished and almost dying as we were (having had nothing to eat for ten (lays, but a little bread and a prairie-hen that my companion killed by chance), sleepless and wearied to death, we reached Vermilion on the 8th of December, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. To express the joy that overflowed my soul on that happy day I would need write in tears, not in ink, and you could trace my feelings better than if delineated with a pen. I was at the end of hunger, cold, snow, rain, hail, tramping, and blasphemy that filled me with horror every time my companion vented his wrath on the horse or the evils we experienced. I rebuked him frequently and begged him to refrain, but in vain; the poor man had always the same excuse : "It was a second nature with him, and he meant no harm." Wretched excuse 1 I suffered more from his troubles and murmurs than from all the other miseries put together. To my prayers of blended hope, and fear, and anguish, succeeded now hymns of gratitude and joy. Instead of my ordinary apirations:"Enough, Lord, it is enough. Command the winds and there shall be a great calm.. Lord, thou hast said: Ask and you shall receive. Give us this day our daily bread," and so on, I now exclaim: " We praise thee, 0 Lord! great is thy power; Lord Clod of hosts."
Mr. Charles Larpenteur, whose hospitality you have often enjoyed when travelling in the desert to visit the Indian tribes, is now in charge of the post, and he received us' with all the- goodness of a father. He procured us all that be could. -May the Lord bless him, for he deserves it. "The Samaritan in the Gospel," said he, "took care of an unfortunate man, and poured oil and wine into his wounds. Sir," he added, "you are welcome. I offer you all I have; I wish to treat you as well as is in my power." The dignity and worth of charity are never better felt than on similar occasions, and by beggars like us.
I shall spend some days instructing and baptizing a score of people who live around here. I shall endeavor to recover from my unusual hardships- before I start. In the mean while the snow will melt, the roads become better, and I will resume my journey.
Receive the assurance of my respect. Present my respects to the Fathers and Brothers, and believe me,
Rev. and dear Father,
Your devoted servant and brother in Christ,
CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J.
You see, Rev. Father, by this letter of Father Hoeken, that the consolations of heaven are constantly tempered by the desolations of earth. This is the support of the laborers in the vineyard of the Lord.
I have come to Europe for missionaries. Belgium has already furnished many. St. Francis Xavier asked for Belgians. Shall I succeed in getting some? Cannot I count on my own land as much as on Holland, France, or Italy?
Second Letter of Father Christian Hoeken.--To Father Elet.
TERRITORY OF THE PLATTE, Dec. 28, 1850.
REVEREND AND DEAR FATHER PROVINCIAL:
According to my express promise in my letters, I write to tell you where I have been, and what I have done since I left the Kansas, till my return from the Upper Missouri.
I travelled by the way of Weston, without a cent in my pocket. I had to trust entirely to Providence. A draft of ten dollars on Father De Smet, enabled me to get the actual necessaries. for my journey. I should have drawn more, but it was all they could let me have.
On the way I met several old friends, whose liberality did not improve my poverty. I reached St. Joseph at the foot of the B1ack-Snake Hills. My horse could not stand the lard travel. Others were of -my opinion, among them was -Mr. Scanlan, who offered me an Indian horse to go as far as Bellevue, and also to take charge of mine. I accepted his kind offer. In two days I was quite disappointed. The horse was very lazy, and weak in the bargain. I changed him at the great Pacoa river for a good horse, whose exterior promised better in the long journey before me. I gave the man a draft on Mr. P. A. Sarpy to pay the difference.
On reaching Bellevue, I learned from Mr. Sarpy that Messrs. Bruyère and'Argot had started the day before, and that I could easily overtake them; that there was no guide for me, and they knew none about there. 'I bought the necessary utensils, a little pot, tin-pans, provisions, &e., and started in pursuit of the gentlemen, who live about thirty miles below Post Vermilion at the mouth of the great Sioux. I overtook them next day at Boyer River. I travelled in their company seven days, when we reached the great Sioux.
I spent three days there instructing the people, and baptized fourteen persons. They treated me with great kindness, and expressed their extreme delight at the prospect of the establishment of a Sioux mission. They promised to pay for their children's board. They are not only full of good-will, but capable of acting.
As for the mixed race of the Santies (a Sioux tribe), they receive from government about a thousand dollars a head, according to the treaty made last year at St. Peter's River in the Upper Missouri. You see, then, Reverend Father, that if we defer founding a mission among them, they will send their children elsewhere. Do not imagine that the number of these poor children, all baptized by Father De Smet and others, is insignificant., .The halfbreeds exist in great numbers everywhere, with thousands of Indians. Must all these children, of whom several thousand have already received holy baptism, perish for want of instruction ? Are they doomed to remain sitting in the shadow of death ? May I not announce to them all, the precious tidings of vocation to grace? I trust, in God's mercy, the day of their deliverance is at band; that they will soon perceive the aid of the Saviour and Redeemer. My daily prayer is (above all at the Holy Altar) that their expectations and frequent appeals may at length find a term. .
I forgot to say, that on arriving at Linden, a village situated eight miles below the River Nishnebatlana, I found Major Matlock very dangerously ill with dysentery. He recognized me at once, and cried out: "Father Hoeken, I am extremely glad to see you. I wished to see you much a long time; but I am so indisposed at this moment that I can not converse with you. Could you not come a little later?" “Most willingly," I replied: "I will see you by and by." An hour after I returned to his room in the hotel; I found him half asleep. He heard my voice, and after having dismissed those who were with him, he spoke to me of his religious convictions. He informed me that he had been brought up in the Methodist sect, but that he did not believe in their views, and that his most ardent desire was to become a Catholic. He then made his confession to me; after which I baptized him conditionally. He appeared to me to be perfectly contented and resigned to die. I have since learned that he did not long survive his baptism. May he rest in peace.
I commend myself to your Father Provincial,
Your most humble servant,
CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J.
Third Letter of Father Christian Hoeken.-To Father Elet.
St. Joseph's, Jan. 8, 1851.
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER PROVINCIAL:
I was obliged to wait in order to regulate my account with Mr. P. A. Sarpy, who was absent when I arrived at Council Bluffs. That time was not lost. I had the happiness of baptizing a great number of children of the Omaha tribe, and I met the young chief, Logan Foutenelle. He is a spiritual child of Father De Smet. He is very worthy of the post he fills in his tribe, and will do all in his power to convert his people and bring them to the true faith.* .
I quitted Council Bluffs on the 27th of December. I arrived on the River Nishnebatlana at a place called French Village. It is occupied almost exclusively by Canadians, by half-breeds, and -a mixture of Indians united among themselves. I was received with much kindness, and employed Saturday and Sunday in confirming and strengthening them in the faith.
As soon as my arrival was known, the people collected on, all sides, in order to secure to their children the grace of baptism. You can easily imagine what a consolation it was to me after the fatigues of the late journey. On examining the state of things, I found that those people needed instruction in regard to the sacrament of marriage. They listened to me with profound attention, and followed my advice on this point. . I baptized sixteen persons, among whom was one converted from Mormonism and one Sioux squaw. I gave the nuptial benediction to three couples. In the midst of a meeting held in a private house, the conversation fell on the construction of a village church; each one offered his services, and promised to approach the sacraments. How great and. plentiful is the harvest, but alas, how few are the reapers ! We must, in truth, but in sadness, repeat with the prophet Jeremy: "The children ask bread and there is no one to break it to them." What a vast field for them of whom the Scripture says : "How beautiful upon the moun
(*He fell, in 1855 ,in a. combat against a great war-party of the Sioux. --(Note by Father De Smet.)
tains are the footsteps of those who proclaim the glad tidings of peace and salvation" A month's travelling in the desert through which these people are wandering deprived of instruction, would bestow on our missionaries greater experience of the evils of ignorance and of superstition, than many years passed in studying them in books and writings, and one hour of conversation would inspire Christian hearts with sentiments of more real compassion, than all the discourses of rhetoric and all the artifices of eloquence could ever produce. If the Catholics of civilized countries, and provided with all the advantages that civilization offers for the soul and for the body, could, during one single week, experience what is endured in the midst of the ravages and violence of this poor Indian country, their hearts would open to the sentiments of a truly active compassion, and they would extend a charitable hand to relieve the misery and mitigate the bitterness of their wretched and afflicting condition. There are in human life certain marks of degradation which, at first sight, awaken the tender sentiments of a Christian heart; there are interior trials and sorrows which need to be related to excite charity towards those who suffer them. Such are, my dear Father, the troubles and sufferings of the Indians. Deprived of , civilized society, destitute of all the advantages of social life, ignorant of the very elements of individual duty, they are a prey to exterior deceptions, to interior illusions, and their days are counted by overwhelming evils and misfortunes as numerous as the hours which mark their duration. But when it pleases a wise Providence to permit that they be visited by other and extraordinary trials, as it happened to the Potawatomies, who lost their harvest, their ills are increased a hundredfold, and nothing but the consolations of the Gospel are capable of ameliorating the hard lot of barbarism and the anguish of ignorance. May Heaven deign to inspire a large number of worthy ministers of the Church with a zeal in conformity with the will of God, and inspire also a great number of Christians with that charity which covers a multitude of sins, in order that they may come to their aid amid the painful sufferings which they are at this moment undergoing.
My respects to all,
Rev. Father Provincial,
Your most humble servant,
CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J.
Fourth Letter.-To Rev. Father Elet.
BELLEVUE, December 23, 1850.
REV. AND VERY DEAR FATHER PROVINCIAL:
I left Post Vermilion on the third Sunday of Advent; I descended the Great Sioux as far as its confluence. There I met with Major Halton, who is agent for the Upper
Missouri.
He employed all his eloquence to persuade me to accompany him as far as Fort Pierre, which is the post of the Little Missouri. ' He will probably stop there, at about the middle of January. God alone knows what the weather will prove at that time, Ile presented us a beautiful 'buffalo-robe, and told me, that if we would establish a mission in these sections, he would contribute annually a hundred dollars. Another gentleman added, I have three children to educate ; I will furnish three hundred dollars per year, and be assured, continued he, that every white man residing in this locality, that has a family of mixed race (and there are a great number of them), will assist you to the best of their ability --one in one manner and another in another, according to their means. The Brulés, the Jantons, and the other Sioux tribes, assembled in council said: "The missionaries shall not perish with hunger among us; we will bring them an abundance of buffalo-robes and buffalo-meat, so that they can purchase clothes for the children who will be confided to them."
For the love of God and of souls, I conjure you, reverend Father, not to defer any longer. All the good that Father De Smet and others have produced by their labors and visits will be lost and forgotten,. if these Indians are disappointed in their expectations. They weigh men's characters in the balance of honesty; in their eyes whosoever does not fulfil his promises is culpable; they do not regard or consider whether it be done for good reasons, or that there is an impossibility in the execution. Some of them have sent their children to Protestant schools, and they will continue to do ,so as long as we form no establishments among them.
From all this you may easily conclude that there is apostasy and all its attendant evils. Immortal souls are precious' in the sight of God. You are acquainted with my dispositions-arrange every thing according to your own good will and pleasure. My sole desire is to endure fatigue and suffering, as much as I can with God's assisting grace, and as long as I shall live. I have deposited my hopes in the bosom of my God; I expect my recompense from his goodness, not in this life, but in the next.
Yours, &c.,
CHRISTIAN HOEKEN, S. J.
These four letters of Rev. Father Hoeken show sufficiently, my dear and reverend Father, the spiritual wants of these nations and their desire of being assisted. Apostasy is more frequent than is generally believed in Europe. Oh ! if the zealous priests of the Continent knew what we know, had they seen what we have witnessed, their generous hearts would transport them beyond the seas, and they-would hasten to consecrate their lives to a ministry fruitful in salutary results. Time presses; already the sectaries of various shades are preparing to penetrate more deeply into the desert, and will wrest from those degraded and unhappy tribes their last hope-that of knowing and practising the sole and true faith. Shall they, in fine, obtain the Blackgowns, whom they have expected and called for during so many years?
Accept, Rev. Father, the assurance of my sincere friendship.
P. J. DE SMET.