"Sam": or The history of mystery./ By C. W. Webber.

" SAM:" Olt, THE HISTORY o0 MYSTERY. victims to the fury of Mohawks. No age, however tender, excites mercy; no feebleness of sex Wills compassion. A group of women and children fly to him to escape the tomahawk-as if his lips, uttering messages of love, could pronounce a spell that would curb the madness of destruction. Those who had formerly scoffed his mission, implore the benefit of baptism. He bids them ask forgiveness of God, and, dipping his handkerchief in water, baptizes the crowd of suppliants by aspersion. Just then, the palisades are forced. Should he fly? He first ran to the wigwams to baptize the sick; he next pronounced a general absolution on all who sought it, and then prepared to resign his life as a sacrifice to his vows. (1648.) The wigwams are set on fire; the Mohawks approach the chapel, and the consecrated envoy serenely advances to meet them. Astonishment seized the barbarians. At length, drawing near, they discharge at him a flight of arrows. All gashed and rent by wounds, he still continued to speak with surprising energy-now inspiring fear of the divine anger, and again, in gentle tones, yet of more piercing power than the whoops of the savages, breathing the affectionate messages of mercy and grace. Such were his actions till he received a death-blow from a halbert. The victim to the heroism of charity died, the name of Jesus on his lips; the wilderness gave him a grave; the Huron nation were his mourners. By his religious associates it was believed that he appeared twice after his death, youthfully radiant in the sweetest form of celestial glory; that, as the reward for his torments, a crowd of souls, redeemed from purgatory, were his honoring escort into heaven." One more glimpse of these poetic pictures, and we shall turn to common sense. The prevalence of peace now favored the advance of the French, or rather Jesuit, dominion. "For the succeeding years, the illustrious triumvirate, Alloiiez, Dablon, and Marquette, were employed in confirming the influence of France in the vast regions that extend from Green Bay to the head of Lake Superior-mingling happiness with suffering, and winning enduring glory by their fearless perseverance. For to what inclemenaies, from nature and from man, was each missionary among the barbarians exposed! He defies the severity of climate, wading through water or through snows, without the comfort of fire; having no bread 164 I

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Title
"Sam": or The history of mystery./ By C. W. Webber.
Author
Webber, Charles W. (Charles Wilkins), 1819-1856.
Canvas
Page 164
Publication
Cincinnati,: H. M. Rulison;
1855.
Subject terms
United States -- History

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""Sam": or The history of mystery./ By C. W. Webber." In the digital collection Making of America Books. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/abl0422.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed June 24, 2025.
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