cy. Notwithstanding it
appeared to me to be the
chastening hand of judgment laid upon her, yet
my
sympathy was touched, to consider if she was my
child, poor and quite
destitute of friends able to
comfort her, how should I feel. Oh! saith my
soul,
that the multiplied mournful instances recited in the
catalogue of
rebellion and disobedience to parents,
might have the happy effect to induce
young people,
early to seek the kingdom of God, and his righteous-
ness:
so would they be preserved out of snares, temp-
tations, and beds of anguish
and sorrow, the sure
rewards of sin and disobedience.
Dined at Abbott’s, a Detroit
merchant,
with all our company, except Joseph
Moore. Indian
affairs was the topic. In the course of the
conver-
sation, I felt some zeal for the testimony to arise;
under which
I spoke plainly to divers points, and
some persons present urged the
necessity of whip-
ping, or further chastising the Indians, and the
im-
possibility of effecting their reformation without it.
Went down the river four miles, and
paid
three or four little visits to some friendly people.
This
afternoon, a vessel arrived from Fort
Erie,
bringing accounts that the Indian deputation had
ar-
rived there, and the commissioners were returned
to Niagara. Which accounts, with no way opening
as
yet, to see the Indians at the Rapids, and no
let-
ters from Philadelphia, make our
situation here, sin-
gularly trying.
A small vessel arrived from Fort Erie,
which brought letters from my wife,
M. Miller,
brother J. L. and Jonathan
and Rumford Dawes,
all fraught with love,
and instructive communication.
This was a joyous feast to my mind, and as marrow