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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42945 ***
+
+Transcriber's note: Table of Contents added by Transcriber.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS
+
+
+       I.  The Lumberjacks and the Lumberjack Sky Pilot.      13
+
+      II.  The Work at Barnum, Minnesota.                     33
+
+     III.  In the Heart of the Logging District.              51
+
+      IV.  The Lumberjack in the Camps.                       71
+
+       V.  A View of the Camp Services.                       95
+
+      VI.  Itinerating in the Camps.                         123
+
+     VII.  Work in the Lumber Towns.                         153
+
+    VIII.  Muscular Christianity.                            183
+
+      IX.  The Field and Its Possibilities.                  223
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE LUMBERJACK SKY PILOT AND HIS TEAM, FLASH AND SPARK]
+
+
+
+
+    THE
+    LUMBERJACK
+    SKY PILOT
+
+    BY
+    THOMAS D. WHITTLES
+
+    CHICAGO
+    THE WINONA PUBLISHING COMPANY
+    1908
+
+
+
+
+    COPYRIGHT,
+    1908
+    THE WINONA PUBLISHING COMPANY
+
+
+
+
+FOREWORD
+
+
+The intent of this little volume is not to glorify a man, but to
+present the parish of the pines. Imagination has little part in its
+pages, for the incidents are actual happenings and the descriptions are
+taken from life. The condition of the foresters is really the theme,
+although the title draws attention to the missionary. Because the Rev.
+Frank E. Higgins has given himself devotedly to the men of forest and
+river, I have chosen his experiences as hooks on which to hang the
+pictures of pinery life. Mr. Higgins has labored with no thought of
+fame, but with devotion to God and man; and so I write not to exalt the
+missionary, but to introduce you to his interesting parishioners.
+
+I have written with love because I know the Sky Pilot. I have written
+with prayerful longing because I know the lumberjacks. If through
+my unskilled effort you become interested in the isolated, wayward
+woodsmen, I shall be fully repaid.
+
+    March, 1908.      T. D. W.
+
+
+        "Men who plow the sea, spend they may--and free,
+        But nowhere is there prodigal among those careless Jacks
+        Who will toss the hard won spoil of a year of lusty toil
+        Like the Prodigals of Pickpole and the Ishmaels of the Ax."
+
+            --_Holman Day._
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+BY THE
+
+REV. JOHN E. BUSHNELL, D. D.
+
+
+It has long been felt by those familiar with the human side of the
+forest life that its call should be heard, and that the efforts of
+devoted hearts to minister to the peculiar needs of the men behind
+the axe and the saw should be made known. This volume is a timely
+response to that desire. Through a veritable forest of material the
+author safely arrives with us at the camp-fire and heart-fire of the
+lumberjack. Most writers must create their own heroes; ours found his
+awaiting him, for God created Frank E. Higgins, the hero of this book.
+It is just like God to make such a man when there is such a work to be
+done. It shows us how busy Providence is in human affairs. The least we
+can do in return is to know that man and get his message.
+
+The dumb creatures of the wood have just now almost a superfluity of
+exponents and disciples. The humanity of the woods is just beginning
+to have its champions.
+
+The Lure of the Wild has long prevailed to call men forth to kill, or
+prospect, or sin, but in a lovelier guise it will possess the readers
+of this book to make them enter the Wild to pity, love, and save.
+To most of them this narrative will come as a surprise. It may even
+raise the question of possible exaggeration as to the extent of human
+suffering and degradation involved in the simple task of felling the
+forests to meet the needs of a growing nation. To those, however, who
+have been over the trail, it will appeal as a moderate but faithful
+picture of scenes of intensest pathos and tragedy which are but
+commonplace in the parish of the Sky Pilot to the Lumberjacks.
+
+The fierceness with which evil hunts its human prey, and makes strong
+men of our own day and nation no better than the old galley-slave,
+toiling to enrich their brutal masters, can be only partially set forth
+in the limits of these pages. We shall all be made better neighbors
+to our homeless brothers in the wilderness by following Mr. Whittles'
+surprising and fascinating story and by walking in the footsteps of
+the modest missionary of the Cross, of whom he writes, on his round
+of mercy through camp and brush, for whose zeal the winter's blast is
+never too severe, and whose love for souls melts a pathway through
+drifted snow. We shall be reminded afresh of how rough is the work and
+how great the human sacrifice by which the wants of civilization are
+satisfied. We shall also be moved to resolve that the amount of the
+vicarious suffering of men for this end shall be reduced of all that
+portion of it that comes through our indifference and the activity of
+evil. This narrative adds a unique and valuable chapter to the records
+of our country. It will be read with gratitude by every one, who for
+whatever cause seeks wider knowledge of his fellowmen. Most of all will
+it appeal to the Christian hearts of our land to whom these men of the
+woods will seem as brothers, having more than their share of life's
+hardships and temptations and less than their share of its privilege
+and its opportunity.
+
+It is most earnestly to be hoped that it may reach all the homes
+of our land and cause them to rest a while from the fiction of the
+hour, that, in the glow of these human realities, stranger than
+the inventions of fancy, we may learn henceforth to suffer in the
+afflictions of our exceptional members and relieve the conditions which
+make them helpless without our aid.
+
+
+
+
+    THIS
+    LITTLE BOOK
+    I LOVINGLY DEDICATE
+    TO SARAH.
+    MY WIFE.
+
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+THE LUMBERJACKS AND THE LUMBERJACK SKY PILOT.
+
+
+While I waited for a train, a woodsman entered the station. He was
+dressed in a rough Mackinaw jacket; coarse socks held his trousers
+close to his legs, and on his hands were heavy woolen mittens.
+Everything proclaimed him to be a man of the camps.
+
+"Hello, Jack," I said in greeting, "how were the woods this winter?
+Anything new in the camps?"
+
+Jack jammed the Peerless into his strong-smelling pipe, struck a match
+and replied: "Snowed so blank hard that half the gang jumped the job,
+and us fools that stayed worked up to our necks trying to get out the
+stuff. This winter was Hades, but not quite so warm--no, not by a
+jugfull. Why say, neighbor, in our camp the whisky froze up and kept
+the bunch sober until we got a new supply."
+
+He paused, looked me over, and began again:
+
+"You're a preacher, ain't you?"
+
+"I am," I replied.
+
+"Well, then, here's news you'll enjoy. We're all thinking of joining
+the church--us fellows in the camps. Funny, ain't it? The gospel
+sharks are in the tall timber and are getting bags of game that would
+shame a pot hunter. The cloth has donned overalls and is preaching at
+us. Savvy, Preacher?--we've actually got so civilized that they're
+preaching at us God-forsaken lumberjacks. How does that strike you for
+news?"
+
+He paused to see the effect this intelligence was having on me, then
+continued:
+
+"The sermons we get are the real thing. No sun-proof paint on them,
+no 'by-your-leave,' but the straight goods, the pure stuff--chips,
+bark and timber. Everything we get is government sealed, punk proof,
+top-loaded and headed for the landing--which is us. It all comes our
+way and we hold our noses and take the medicine. What party do you
+happen to hitch to?"
+
+"Denomination?" I asked, "I am a Presbyterian."
+
+"Good! So am I. I don't happen to belong yet, but if they keep on
+hewing to the line, I'll have to join--or hike. Our Sky Pilot, Frank
+Higgins, belongs to your crowd. Probably you know him?"
+
+"I have known him a long time," I replied.
+
+"Shake! If you're a friend of his you'll do. He's onto his job, and if
+this keeps up, the guy that splashes ink on the church roll will be
+kept busy adding our names. There's my train."
+
+He was gone. May the day soon come when the half jesting prophecy of
+the lumberjack will be fulfilled.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Stately and green is the forest of the North Star State. From Lake
+Superior the great pineries of Minnesota extend unbroken until the
+fertile silt of the Red River Valley limits the growth of the pines.
+Two hundred miles is the width of the forest and the evergreen covers
+the northern half of the state. This is "the woods" of Minnesota--the
+center of the logging industry.
+
+About five hundred camps mar this beautiful region with their rude
+shacks and temporary shelters, some of them being scores of miles from
+the permanent settlements. During the winter months twenty thousand
+men labor in the scattered camps of this vast territory, removing
+the growth of ages that the farms and cities may have comfort and
+protection. The primeval forest has been invaded, and on the zero air
+of the north the ring of the ax, the tearing of saws and the strange
+oaths of the teamsters mingle with the crash of falling trees.
+
+The workers of the forest are called lumberjacks. In all the country
+there is scarcely a more interesting group of men--interesting
+because so wayward and prodigal in life and habit, while their forest
+home appeals to every leaf-loving soul. They are the nomads of the
+west--farm hands and railroad constructionists in summer, woodsmen in
+winter--with no settled abode, no place they call home. A few years
+ago Michigan claimed them; later their habitat was in the forests of
+Wisconsin; now the woods of Minnesota is their rendezvous.
+
+[Illustration: LUMBER CAMP IN THE LONG, LACE-LIKE NORWAYS]
+
+The typical lumberjack is a man of large heart and little will. He sins
+with willing freedom, because he has almost lost the power to check
+his evil desires, and it is so easy to yield to the vultures who make
+sin convenient and righteousness hard. The saloon and brothel are ever
+alluringly near, while the church and bethel are slow to approach. The
+harpies of sin wait at every turn to prey upon the woodsman--though
+they damn his soul it matters not, if they obtain the cash.
+
+The railroads push their iron arms into the heart of the wooded lands,
+and the villages follow the railways, desiring to be near the camps
+for the trade they bring. Almost without exception the first places
+of business are the saloons, to which are attached the outfits of
+the gamblers, and conveniently near are the places of shame. One new
+town in the pineries had between forty and fifty saloons (forty-six
+I believe is the number), five large brothels, and the gambling
+hells were many, yet the population of the place was little over two
+thousand. It was evident to the casual visitor that its chief industry
+was to separate the campmen from their earnings by preying on their
+weaknesses. Another village is beautifully situated at the junction of
+two rivers. All around it is well timbered land, and from the nature
+of the soil the place is destined to be of importance in the coming
+years, but at the time of this writing the village with its adjacent
+territory only contains a population of about two hundred. The village
+has less than a dozen houses, but six saloons do a thriving business
+and the brothel has appeared. You ask where the places obtain their
+patronage? From the camps. The foresters are the source of profit;
+the population of the town would not be able to keep one saloon in
+business. Nor are these solitary instances. The same conditions are to
+be found in almost every hamlet and village in the woods. Day and night
+they ply their sinful trade, and soon the gold, which the lumberjack
+risked his life to win, jingles in the coffers of the shameless or
+gleams in the till of the saloon or gambling hell.
+
+Sunday is the harvest day of iniquity. The men are released from labor
+and pour into the villages to spend the hours of rest. The wheel,
+whisky and women separate them from their earnings, and like the
+withered leaves of autumn the strong wielders of the ax and canthook
+fall easy victims. One night "to blow in the stake," regrets for a
+moment--then back to the loneliness of the winter woods again. He is
+said to be a poor lumberjack who can keep his wages over night.
+
+Jack is not always a willing victim. Often by knockout drops he is
+reduced to insensibility and robbed. He may complain of the treatment,
+but he is helpless through lack of evidence, and is told to "go up
+river," or is hustled unfeelingly out of town. "He's only a lumberjack
+and is better off when all in." This is all the sympathy the Ishmaelite
+receives. No place is open to him except the one he should avoid. The
+churches are too weak to meet the large demands, and so no place of
+refuge opens its doors of hope to the prodigal. The balm of sympathy
+comes to him limitedly; humanity is as cold as the frozen streams
+of his winter's retreat. Civilization is viewed only as a place of
+unbridled license where the law favors the spoiler. God is dead. Christ
+is only a word of convenient profanity. The church has forgotten the
+prodigal while caring for the souls of the saved. Thus he views life.
+In his wretchedness he labors for the keepers of the gates of death
+and is satisfied, if, by the sweat of his brow, he can win an hour of
+forgetfulness in the place of riot and shame.
+
+No picture was ever painted so dark as to exclude all light. God made
+it so. Even in the neglected sons of the lumber-camps is seen a hopeful
+ray--for their hearts are as rich in charity as their lives are dark
+with sin. Their sympathies can easily be touched. It is through the
+open freedom of their generous nature that the reforming power of the
+gospel can enter. The only remedy for the campmen is the sustaining
+power of the Man of Nazareth. When they shall learn to know the Christ
+of God as the Savior of men, the darkened lives of the foresters will
+be transformed, and the fruits they shall bring forth will be the
+wished for deeds of righteousness.
+
+When the Rev. Francis Edmund Higgins, the Lumberjack Sky Pilot, began
+his work among these neglected Ishmaelites, no religious society was
+making an effort to raise the moral and spiritual condition of the
+campmen. The Catholic church, then as now, devoted itself to the
+hospital work in the nearby towns, but no denomination invaded the
+camps to lead the bunkmen to right living. At the time of this writing
+the Presbyterian church is the only religious organization having
+special missionaries in the lumbercamps.
+
+Regardless of denominational prejudice, the work of Frank Higgins
+appeals to the whole Christian church, not only on account of its
+peculiar type, but also because of the interesting man conducting it.
+Fitted by nature and training for his work, he is striving with heart
+and hand in a large and lonely field. He is the pastor of a large and
+scattered flock which for long and weary years has known no shepherd.
+Depraved men are being reached, lifted and kept for God through
+him--men alone are his parishioners.
+
+Seldom is a pastor more beloved by his people. The rough but kindly
+hearts of the lumberjacks go out to this fearless minister who
+self-sacrificingly breaks the bread of life to the husk-fed prodigals
+of the far north country. The lumberjacks will fight for their Sky
+Pilot; and even the ranks of the enemy--the saloonmen, the gamblers,
+the brothel keepers--are compelled to admire this earnest Christian
+minister who is valiantly fighting a hard battle for God and
+righteousness.
+
+The Rev. Frank Higgins is a resolute character, full of zeal and
+undaunted courage. God gave him a strong body and he is using it for
+the Giver. That rare virtue we call tact, or sanctified common sense,
+shows itself in all his dealings with men. False dignity is absent from
+him, but the dignity of sterling purpose and determined endeavor is
+ever present. He is no slave to custom, but is a man who does things in
+his own way, and does them well. The title the loggers have conferred
+upon him is one of affection; he is the Lumberjack Sky Pilot, and if
+you heard his forest parishioners speak that name, you would realize
+that his ordination was threefold--ordained of God, by the presbytery
+and by the lumberjacks.
+
+Frank E. Higgins was born in the Queen City of the West, Toronto,
+Ontario, on the nineteenth day of August, 1865. He was the seventh
+child to come into the home, but the only one to survive the
+vicissitudes of infancy. His parents were both Irish, but his father,
+Samuel Higgins, was born in the Dominion, and for some years prior to
+his death kept a hotel in Toronto on the site where the Walker House
+now stands. In this house Frank was born. Ann Higgins, the mother,
+first saw the sun in the Ulster settlement of Ireland, her parents
+bringing her to Canada when she was four years old. Samuel Higgins died
+when Frank was seven years of age.
+
+Two years after the death of Frank's father, Ann Higgins married John
+Castle, an Englishman, who shortly afterwards moved the family to
+Shelburne, Dufferin County, Ontario. Here in the untouched wilderness
+the settlers began to force an opening for cabin and crops. The country
+was new. Few white families were near, but on the Higgins homestead
+were several camps of Sioux Indians. The land was forest covered, the
+towering cedar and hemlock stretched their graceful fingers heavenward,
+the spreading maples delighted the eye, and the white robes of the
+slender birch lent variety to the sylvan scene. With painful effort the
+sentinels were felled and squared for cabin and sheds, and fields of
+grain succeeded the fallen forest.
+
+The companions of Frank Higgins were the children of the Sioux Indians,
+whose tepees were near the homestead. With the children of the Indians
+he took his lessons in woodcraft, learned to draw the bow, or
+childishly labored at the tasks of the growing braves. One of his early
+recollections is of secretly carrying a loaf of bread from his home to
+trade with an Indian youth for bow and arrows. Perhaps the subsequent
+strapping he received had something to do with the permanency and
+vividness of the recollection. For three years the Indians were his
+constant playmates. From the warlike Sioux, fearlessness was imbibed,
+their love of the forest became his, and an ineffaceable delight in
+tree and stream was stamped in the character of the growing boy. "I
+feel it now," he said to me, but recently when we were in the city
+together, "I want to get back to the solitudes where the trees have
+voices and every stream a story. I love the camps rather than the
+cities. I have never passed from my boyhood love--my first love--the
+trees, the hills, the brooks. In the pineries I feel as if I were a boy
+back in the old days again."
+
+[Illustration: STEAM-JAMMER AT WORK]
+
+These were days of gold and purple when the child was learning the
+mysteries of life, days of ceaseless roaming in which nature taught her
+truths through leaf and twig, through dew and whispering breeze. He
+was nature taught--all that touches "the wild and pillared shades"
+belongs to his free, frank nature. Unknowingly he was beholding the
+beauty of his future kingdom and unconsciously equipping himself for
+the years of zealous toil among the white nomads whose weapons are the
+ax, the saw and the peavey--a change in equipment and complexion, with
+the same stage setting.
+
+Few school privileges came to the forest lad. When he should have been
+at his studies there was no school to attend; when the school came,
+only brief periods were allowed to him. At twelve he took his place by
+his stepfather's side and assisted in supporting the family. Every hand
+was needed, and the boy's little counted for much. There was ground to
+clear of trees and underbrush, there were rails to split and fields to
+fence, and in the winter logging, claimed his labor for the cash it
+gave in return.
+
+Dufferin County could offer few advantages in those days. Its sparsely
+settled condition meant absence of amusements and communal privileges.
+Most of the new settlers were of English blood, and while they were
+willing to stint and sacrifice, yet they demanded the presence of the
+church. A church was organized near the Castle home, to which John and
+Ann Castle gave their united support. Frank's stepfather was a godly
+man, in whose life was reflected the spirit of our Master's teaching.
+Service and fellowship were the watchwords of the home. Of material
+wealth the cabin could not boast, but in spiritual gifts its occupants
+were far from poor. It was largely through these examples of Christian
+living that Frank Higgins acquired a knowledge and interest in the
+things of God.
+
+When Frank was eighteen years old a wave of religious awakening swept
+through the community, and the stepson of John Castle was one of the
+first to surrender to the Master. Immediately he interested himself
+in the welfare of his companions, doing personal work among them. The
+result was that most of his companions joined the company of believers.
+These young men then organized a semi-weekly prayer meeting in the
+schoolhouse and Frank Higgins led the first meeting. Nine of those who
+attended those prayer meetings have since gone forth to preach the
+everlasting Gospel. There must have been good stuff among the settlers
+of Dufferin County.
+
+The ministry always had its charms for Frank Higgins. Long before
+he united with the church, the desire to preach had possessed him.
+Many were the sermons he delivered to the cattle, stumps and trees,
+while going the rounds of his daily labor. On one occasion the
+stepfather and hired man hid behind the stumps that they might receive
+edification from the discourses that so often wasted their sweetness
+on the desert air. Unaware of their presence, Frank worked a while,
+then, laying aside his ax, mounted a log and began his sermon to the
+stumps. Vigorously he chided them for their inactivity. Emphatic were
+the woes he pronounced upon them who were at ease, while the harvest
+called loudly for workers. Enthusiastically he bade the stumps march
+forward and with unsheathed sword take possession of the Promised
+Land. The hidden ones, suppressing mirth that almost injured them,
+silently thrust their heads above the hiding place and looked with
+forced solemnity at the big, lonely preacher. So unexpected was their
+appearance, that he, who a moment before was willing to lead an army
+of stumps to victory, retreated to the cover of the forest, pursued
+by the convulsing laughter of his friends. Years afterwards, when
+commenting on the above incident, he said: "You see, it was a sermon
+to men after all. I had intended it for stumps, but it produced action
+among men." He laughed.
+
+Men have always been his auditors. From the time of his stump sermon
+they have listened to his story of the Cross, and today among the
+stumps of the pineries he preaches with results that cause the angels
+to laugh in gladness.
+
+At the age of twenty Frank Higgins returned to Toronto, the city of his
+birth, where he resided with relatives. He there entered the public
+schools, taking up the studies which the conditions in Dufferin County
+prevented him from acquiring in boyhood. It took courage to enter
+the sixth grade of the city schools, a big brawny man among babes.
+Unaccustomed to cities and civilization, he felt ill at ease away from
+his native woods. His hands were better acquainted with the ax than
+with the pen and pencil, but he stuck to his task while the blush of
+shame mounted his cheek as he sat among the little children of the
+grade. His teachers did not find him an apt scholar, but they bowed
+before the originality of his untutored mind.
+
+Three years were spent in the grades and two in the high school, after
+which he left the Dominion of Canada and came to Minnesota, at the age
+of twenty-five.
+
+In the fall of 1890 he began lay preaching in the Methodist
+Episcopal church at Annandale, Minnesota, and for two years labored
+in that field; doing very successful work. He was fortunate in the
+companionship of Dr. A. M. Ridgeway, a young physician who had recently
+begun to practice in the village. This friend did all he could to cover
+the defects of the frontiersman and to aid him to self-improvement.
+It was largely through Dr. Ridgeway's persuasion that Higgins gave up
+his work at Annandale and went to Hamline University to continue his
+studies. For two years he applied himself to books, but owing to the
+scarcity of funds he was compelled to preach on the Sabbaths, and the
+small salary thus obtained helped to support him in the University.
+The name of the late Rev. L. M. Merritt, of Onesta M. E. Church,
+Duluth, Minnesota, is held by him in revered memory for the timely
+encouragement and assistance rendered him at this period.
+
+In 1895 the way opened for him to enter the service of his mother
+church. The Presbyterian Church at Barnum, Minnesota, was offered to
+him and the layman found himself in the denomination of his youth. The
+work at Barnum, Minnesota, changed the whole course of his life.
+
+[Illustration: RIVER CREW ON LAKE BEMIDJI]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+THE WORK AT BARNUM, MINNESOTA.
+
+
+The new field to which Mr. Higgins went was a lumber town. Barnum,
+Minnesota, had a population of less than four hundred, but the nearby
+lumber camps added considerably to its business interests. The
+Presbyterian Church at that place was weak, and when Presbytery sent
+the young Canadian there to advance the cause of Christ, it also took
+him under its care as a student for the ministry, and assigned studies
+suited to his special case.
+
+At Barnum, Frank Higgins first came into touch with the loggers of
+Minnesota. On all sides were the camps crowded with men who felled the
+forests during the winter, and in the spring floated the logs over lake
+and river to the large sawmills farther south.
+
+Shortly after he changed his residence to the lumber town, he went with
+several friends across the country to where the river drivers were at
+work on the Kettle River drive. It was spring. The ice-locked lakes and
+rivers were once more open, and now the accumulated logs that had been
+placed on the icy lakes and streams were floating with the current to
+the city mills.
+
+After several hours traveling through a rough and new country, parts
+of which were cut over lands, scenically uninviting, the party arrived
+at the point of the river where the men, who, in the parlance of the
+loggers are called "riverpigs," were at work. In midstream the men were
+sacking logs with peavey, or directing with pike pole. From log to log
+the skillful drivers leaped, now riding on the huge timbers, now wading
+in the shallows, or following the logs from the shore. It seemed an
+easy thing to do, to ride the swift moving logs, but only a master can
+keep his place on the unsteady, rolling steed.
+
+In a bend of the river, below the place where the drivers were working,
+the large flat-boat called the wannigan, was tied. The wannigan is
+a floating bunkhouse, cookshed and store combined. In it the men
+make their home during the drive. The supper hour was near when the
+visitors arrived at Kettle River; the journey had been long, so the
+disturbing blast of the cookee's horn was a welcome sound. In response
+to the call the rivermen hastily made for shore, and headed for the
+grassy place near the wannigan. The example of the workers was followed
+by the visitors, who helped themselves to iron knives and forks, tin
+spoons, cups and dishes. The wet drivers sat around the campfire and
+ate with a heartiness that comes from a life spent in "God's own open
+air."
+
+The men lounged about the fire after the meal, and the topics of the
+village and the happenings of the river were discussed. Just as the
+sun was tossing back his lingering kisses at the sleepy forest and
+ever wakeful river, the riverpigs requested Mr. Higgins to give them a
+gospel service. It was a surprising request, coming from such a source,
+for the river drivers looked and acted as if they cared not for these
+things. The preacher had heard their fluent profanity as they directed
+the logs, and when they asked for the gospel he could not veil his
+surprise. But the request was in harmony with the hour. Nature was
+worshiping. The solemn hush of the evening was upon tree and stream and
+even the ceaseless babble of the river came only in whispers. Man felt
+a desire to join in the Creator's praise, and where is there a better
+sanctuary than in the cloistered halls of the greenwood, on the banks
+of a crystal stream?
+
+Taking a log for a platform, unaided by Bible or hymn book, Mr. Higgins
+began the service. "Nearer My God to Thee" was the hymn, and the men
+of the pickpole joined heartily in the song, "Jesus Lover of My Soul;"
+they sang until it seemed that the sunset joined in the praise and
+the trees of the field clapped their hands in timely melody. Over
+the running river the tall pines caught up the music and bowed in
+reverence, while the echoes answered back, "Oh, Receive My Soul at
+Last."
+
+With what supreme interest the men about the camp-fire listened to the
+old, old story of Christ who loves the wanderer! The shades of night
+fell low upon the darkening earth while the preacher spoke of The Light
+of The World, and the men sat wrapped in thoughts of things they had
+forgotten or never known. Recollections of the home tree came back to
+some, and the sweet lullaby of a mother stole into minds long forgetful
+of home and other days. At the spring of boyhood they drank again, and
+the counsels of youth came with hallowed sweetness to the men seated in
+the playing shadows of the dying fire.
+
+Faces long strange to tears were furrowed. Wishes were born that later
+became realities of good. Like a voice from another world came the
+benediction to the group about the bright glowing embers. From across
+the stream the echo floated back, and the "amen" of nature came like a
+mother's tender prayer.
+
+On the morrow when the visitors were returning, several of the rivermen
+went to the preacher and spoke of the pleasure they had derived from
+the service.
+
+"We're away out here in the timber and it ain't often the church comes
+our way," said one.
+
+"If some preacher would come here once in a while, he could give us a
+lift. The Lord knows we need it," added another.
+
+"Can't you come and give us a turn?" they asked.
+
+In response to the extended invitations, Mr. Higgins often went to the
+drive on Kettle River. An appreciative audience was always waiting--an
+audience that would gladden the heart of any minister who was anxious
+to deliver God's message.
+
+Prior to his visit to Kettle River, Mr. Higgins had never been on the
+drive. Everything about the work was new to him, but he joined the
+riverpigs on the stream, and added to their merriment by his unskilled
+attempts at logdriving. Taking the long pickpole, the preacher mounted
+the floating log, while every driver looked out of the tail of his eye
+for the soon-coming moment when "his reverence" would descend to the
+depths--"so far," said one of the men, "that he would draw down the log
+with a suction." In the midst of their work the drivers shouted advice
+and encouragement.
+
+But a laugh does not deter a man like Frank Higgins. The love of the
+forest and river was in his blood, and the strong body and determined
+will welcomed the difficulties of the river. Even the discomforts of
+a sudden bath did not cool his zeal. He believed that if these men
+were to be his hearers he must know how to appreciate their labors,
+and that appreciation could only be acquired by passing through
+the intricacies of the calling. So skill came with practice, and a
+knowledge of the drive after many sudden descents into the flowing
+waters.
+
+This was a part of the equipment for ministering--a strange
+preparation--but men whose labors demand strength of limb and skill
+of body are more likely to listen to him who can prove his physical
+ability. In the estimation of some, manual labor may not preserve
+the dignity of the cloth, but it adds to the dignity of the man. The
+lumberjacks and rivermen have no admiration for him who is fearful of
+hardship, or succumbs before the strenuous labor which they themselves
+must daily perform. The pineries is no place for weaklings, nor the
+drive for the fearful. Among these men physical prowess wins where
+mental powers fail to get a hearing, but the combination of both,
+backed by a strong desire to serve, is a combination sure of success.
+
+"When you are in Barnum I want you men to remember me," said the
+preacher to the drivers. "My home and church are open to you. You are
+just as welcome as the people of the village."
+
+Shortly after the above invitation the boys came to town. It was
+Sunday, and the hour of the morning service. Three big rivermen entered
+the church and took seats in the rear of the building. They were
+dressed as the necessities of their vocation require, flannel shirts
+resplendent in fighting colors, broad belts, and heavy spike-soled
+boots. It was no small sensation their presence created. Barnum was a
+lumber town, but although accustomed to the lumberjacks and drivers, it
+had never seen them in church. The saloons were their known retreats.
+
+Before beginning the service Mr. Higgins went down to the drivers and
+bade them welcome.
+
+"We thought we'd drop in and see if you'd make us as welcome in the
+gospel shop as we made you in the bunkhouse," said the spokesman. "I
+guess he has, Bill," he said, turning to his friend.
+
+After that they came to the little church whenever they sundayed in
+town. With the trio came others, for they knew they would be hospitably
+received. This proved to the minister that the man who wants a larger
+parish has only to remove the fence that encloses his present one.
+
+As often as his pressing duties would allow it, the missionary followed
+his new found flock. The distance was great to Kettle River, yet he
+walked to the camp that service might be held on the bank of the
+stream. From the memories of the men who heard and of him who preached,
+the pleasure of those sunset gatherings will never be effaced. Kettle
+River drive was more fruitful than preacher or logger dreamed.
+
+Although Mr. Higgins grew to manhood in a timber country, yet he never
+had visited a large lumbercamp until the winter following his residence
+at Barnum. In his youth he had logged in the forests of Dufferin
+County, Ontario, but the lumbering was on a small scale--it was only
+the logging of farmers. Around Barnum, Minnesota, the camps were
+operated by the lumber kings of the west. The winter's cut was counted
+in millions of feet, not by hundreds or thousands.
+
+In the fall of 1895 a delegation of lumberjacks came to the Sky
+Pilot's home in Barnum and asked to be taken into the circle of his
+ministration.
+
+"We need you just as much as the camp of drivers you preached to in the
+spring," they said, and they looked the part they professed.
+
+Camp after camp petitioned for his services, and so the work grew until
+all the logging camps around the village were receiving occasional
+services from the unordained man who served the Presbyterian Mission
+Church at Barnum. The field was large, white for a willing harvest, but
+the laborers were few, few indeed--only one.
+
+Mr. Higgins had recently married, and through the union encouragement
+and effectiveness was given to his work in village and camp. In October
+of 1895 Mr. Higgins was married to Miss Eva L. Lucas of Rockford,
+Minnesota. Miss Lucas was an active church worker in her own town, and
+after her marriage the bride often went with her husband to the filthy
+camps and furnished music on the little portable organ. Her presence
+was appreciated by the foresters, and with the lead of the organ the
+music was bettered.
+
+These were days of exacting labor and little pay. In his spare moments
+Frank Higgins was trying to supplement the loss of university and
+seminary training, and the midnight lamp glowed in the study as he
+sought to prepare himself for ordination. There were sermons to
+prepare, calls to make, the dead to bury, and a thousand unexpected
+duties that are ever attendant on a village pastorate. But louder than
+all the demands was the ever increasing Macedonian cry from the camps
+for services and assistance. So much to be done and so little one could
+do in comparison to the demand! Frank Higgins never asked for "flowery
+beds of ease." His physical strength was unlimited, and he loved action
+rather than repose. With the joy of a strong man he attacked his work
+and found an increasing happiness in duty done. A few days after one of
+his visits to the camps, two lumberjacks came to his door.
+
+"We want you quick," they said, "we've brought one of the boys from the
+camp to his homestead. He's asking for you. He's a very sick man."
+
+In company with the woodsmen Mr. Higgins went through the forest to the
+log cabin of the homesteader. The doctor had just arrived. Turning to
+Mr. Higgins, the physician said:
+
+"If we could get him to St. Luke's Hospital in Duluth there would be a
+chance for him. He cannot obtain the necessary care here in his shack."
+
+Mr. Higgins volunteered to accompany the sick man. They bundled the
+patient snugly into a sleigh, drove to the depot, and in a short time
+were in the hospital.
+
+Only a few minutes passed before the physician in charge came to Mr.
+Higgins and said:
+
+"There is no chance for your friend's recovery. You had better break
+the news to him, for he is beyond our help."
+
+Gently, tenderly, the rough camp preacher told the dying man of his
+condition and asked him to make preparation for the nearing end.
+
+[Illustration: A SMALL CONGREGATION]
+
+The lumberjack looked up at the weeping minister, and smilingly said:
+"Thank God you came to the camp that night. I heard you preach of a
+Savior, and all my being longed to know him. It was the first time in
+twenty years I had heard the gospel. I was raised in a Christian
+home, and that night all the lessons of childhood came back to me. When
+the lanterns were put out, and the bunkhouse was silent, I got on my
+knees and prayed the forgiving God to forgive the past, and make me a
+better man. That night Jesus Christ brought his strong salvation to me,
+and I was forgiven." He paused through weakness and was still, then
+opening his eyes, now clouded with the mists of death, he looked at the
+minister.
+
+"Brother Higgins, go back to the camps and tell the boys of my Savior.
+Go back and tell the old story to the lumberjacks. They need you worse
+than the towns do. Tell them of Jesus who can make them live, go back
+to the lonely camps." He ceased to speak. More feebly came the breath,
+and soon the spirit returned to the God who gave it.
+
+The minister was left with a problem greater than any he had yet
+attempted to solve. In the corridors of the hospital he walked through
+the long night, carrying a sense of duty and sacrifice he had never
+known before. "Can it be possible that God wants me to take up this
+work?" he asked. "Has God spoken his will through the dying man?"
+Ambition rebelled against the sacrifice; fond wishes refused to be set
+aside, but with every tempting prospect came the command of the dying
+man, "Go back to the boys and carry the story of Jesus." It sounded
+clearly. No man could misunderstand it. That night all his plans were
+changed. Ambitions, such as come to all young men, were swept away.
+The large pulpits of which he had dreamed were superseded by the log
+or barrel which held the Bible in the camp services, and the future
+audiences were men rough clothed, rough visaged, who dwelt not in homes
+of opulence, but slept in the hay-filled bunks in the log camps. That
+night in the hospital he consecrated himself to the service of God in
+the logging camps.
+
+He now began to look about the field in which his life work was to
+be done. The extent of the field and the intensity of the need was
+appalling. While there were Christian men in the camps, and many whose
+lives were moral, yet these were few in comparison to the crowd who
+wasted their lives as did the younger son in the parable.
+
+Ordination was now his great desire, for he wished to go to the men as
+one who could minister to all their spiritual needs. But ordination was
+far off. The studies were not completed, and would not be for several
+years.
+
+The spring after his decision, he was surprised on entering his home to
+find it filled with a crew of lumberjacks who were returning from the
+camps.
+
+"Mr. Higgins," began the spokesman, "We've dropped in today to tell you
+how we've enjoyed the preaching in our camp. The boys want me to make
+a spiel, but the saw is more in my line. You've treated us white, have
+given us more advice than we've digested, and never asked to see the
+color of our money. But this is no one-sided affair. The boys have all
+chipped in, and here's your stake for service rendered." As he closed
+he handed the minister a check for fifty-one dollars.
+
+In all his work the missionary had not asked for financial assistance.
+The boys at first thought he was preaching for "what there was in it,"
+but when he asked not for money, they realized that love and devotion
+was the impelling cause. "The lumberjack is no cheap skate," so they
+gladly gave in return.
+
+Through the benevolence of the woodsmen, Mr. Higgins saw a new
+possibility. He was willing to give himself to the work, but it was
+necessary that living and incidental expenses should be met. How to
+finance the mission work was the question, but now he saw the boys
+would pay a large part of the attendant expenses if some one would
+organize the work. The barriers were being removed; the doors were
+opening. Only, ordination had yet to be received.
+
+The work at Barnum was followed by his taking charge of a church in New
+Duluth, where the mill hands formed a large part of the population.
+Acquaintance with the men and their work led to an interest in him,
+and soon the church was on its feet. The same success that was seen at
+Barnum followed the New Duluth work, and after a short period of labor
+there, he was asked to take the Bemidji church. Here in the heart of
+the logging district the real work of his life began, for as never
+before he learned the ways of the lumberjack.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+IN THE HEART OF THE LOGGING DISTRICT.
+
+
+In the spring of 1899, Frank E. Higgins began his work in Bemidji. The
+Home Missions Committee of Duluth Presbytery had invited him to assist
+the little group of Christians in the new town, where assistance was
+badly needed, for the place was in the heart of the logging district,
+and was infamous for its traffic in evil. The hosts of sin were well
+organized, but righteousness needed the encouragement of a strong man.
+
+The Bemidji field was first opened to Christian work by Mr. S. A.
+Blair, the Sabbath School missionary of Duluth Presbytery, in 1896. In
+those days no railway reached the place, but the pine forest beckoned
+to the logging companies and the Mississippi river offered an outlet
+for the logs. Bemidji could only be reached by following the rough
+trails through the swamps and around the hills from Walker, Minnesota,
+thirty-five miles away. Most of the supplies were carried up the lakes
+and rivers and toted over the portages to the new village.
+
+When Mr. Blair started on his thirty-five mile tramp to Bemidji,
+the Baptist denomination also decided to send a man to organize for
+them. But the rains descended and the floods came, until the poorly
+made roads were more impassable than ever. Not relishing the flooded
+condition, the immersionist gave up the task--for once water interfered
+with the Baptist growth. But Mr. Blair, prior to his conversion, had
+been a lumberjack, and none of these things moved him. Wading the
+depths and fording the streams, he at last arrived at the hamlet on
+Lake Bemidji, and organized the work. Later a church was partly built
+by Mr. Blair, and occasional services were held. It was to take charge
+of this field that Mr. Higgins turned his steps to the north. He had
+seen the conditions of the woodsmen in Barnum and other towns, yet
+he needed the Bemidji experience to show him their real poverty of
+soul, and their utter helplessness in the face of open, alluring vice.
+Here he saw them at their worst, given over to shame, encouraged in
+degradation. They were as sheep without a shepherd, a prey to every
+spoiler and evil designer.
+
+It would require one whose ability is far above mine to pen a picture
+that would adequately set forth the low plane of life found in the
+early days of Bemidji. Since that time it has changed for the better,
+but it is still influenced by the past and is far from a moral Utopia.
+Nature has done everything to make the place attractive and restful.
+Lake Bemidji and Lake Irving are inviting sheets of water with a shore
+line of nearly fifty miles. The great Father of Waters joins their
+crystal bodies, and at the point of meeting the little city of Bemidji
+is built. Every part of the city is pine-covered. Those who platted the
+place removed only the larger trees, and the homes rest in the shelter
+of the constant green. Like a huge emerald in a setting of purest
+silver is the green sheltered city with its rippling lakes and flowing
+river.
+
+Nature had contributed lavishly, but when man came he brought with
+him the defects of humanity and painted the fair location with the
+blackness of unlicensed vice, filling the Eden of beauty with the
+blight of Sodom. It was a town with a wide open policy, in which
+saloons abounded, brothels flourished and gamblers worked unmolested.
+It was known as one of the most shameless places in the state, and in
+those days seemingly lived up to its reputation. The police force was
+little more than a name, for the saloon men were "the powers that be."
+It was to the interest of the liquor men that the town be run as wide
+open as possible, and the business interests as represented by the
+liquor sellers were far from the Puritan mould. A convenient double
+blind was on Justice. The Law was roped and thrown. Rum was the real
+owner of the town. It was above the Law. It was master.
+
+Gambling was connected with most of the saloons and numerous devices
+were in sight to attract the indifferent. Not satisfied with what
+came to them, the runners of the saloons and dens went into the camps
+to drum up trade for their respective places of business--creating a
+sentiment that would induce the boys to visit their dens of vice.
+
+The brothels were large and accessible, being near the center of the
+town. In one of the places a large number of negresses was kept to
+pander to the bestial instincts of the men.
+
+It would be difficult to give a description of those early day
+conditions. A citizen of the town remarked, "You can't put enough black
+in the picture when you try to paint the early Bemidji." In justice
+to the moral element of the place we must add that there were always
+those who strove for better conditions, and the efforts they made have
+met with some success, for the moral conditions of Bemidji in 1907 are
+vastly superior to the conditions at the time of which we write.
+
+It was early in 1899 when Mr. Higgins became a resident of Bemidji.
+The Presbyterian church had been organized but a short time, yet it
+was in a state of coma that was rapidly passing into death. Only
+two members could be found. A church building had been erected, but
+because of financial difficulties it had not been finished and was far
+from attractive or comfortable. Frank Higgins' task was to find the
+scattered adherents, then complete the building.
+
+For want of a more suitable place of residence, the unfinished edifice
+became the meeting place and manse combined. The few houses obtainable
+were mostly rude shacks whose exteriors were covered with tar paper,
+instead of weather boards, and even these temporary structures, poor
+and inadequate, were hard to obtain.
+
+During the early part of the Bemidji ministry, Marguerite, the only
+child of Mr. and Mrs. Higgins, came to bless the parents' hearts and
+add joy to the missionary home.
+
+The years at Bemidji were strenuous, but successful. The unfinished
+edifice was enlarged and completed during the first year of the
+layman's work. The year following found him building the cozy manse,
+while the membership grew with increasing steadiness. In connection
+with the church at Bemidji was a station at Farley, and during the
+third year a little chapel was erected there. By this time the Bemidji
+congregation had outgrown the capacity of the building and in the
+fourth year a more commodious and suitable church was built.
+
+In these full years the camps had not been neglected. With the erection
+of the numerous buildings, to which he had contributed manual labor
+as well as superintendence, Mr. Higgins' hands were seemingly well
+filled. In addition to these duties, however, he every winter gave his
+personal attention to nine camps and regularly visited three of them
+each week. The seven addresses a week, the miles between the camps, and
+the pastoral calls consumed the hours, leaving no time for leisure and
+idleness, while from all sides came the demands of the foresters for
+religious instruction and services.
+
+One morning when he returned from the camps, Mrs. Higgins told him of
+an urgent call from the Sisters' Hospital. Hastily he went to the ward
+and there found Will McDonald, a Highland Scotchman, at the point of
+death. McDonald had met with a serious accident in the camps. The Sky
+Pilot and the teamster were well acquainted. McDonald's boyhood days
+were spent among the bonny hills of the homeland, in a quiet Christian
+home. In early manhood he came to Minnesota and followed the winter
+woods. There, amidst the rough life he forgot his early instruction and
+traveled the ways to which temptation so readily pointed.
+
+On entering the ward the preacher tried to cheer the dying man, but the
+woodsman turned to him and said:
+
+"It's no use, Frank, the jig is up. I've got to go. I'm nearing the
+landing with a heavy load. Do you think I'll make the grade?"
+
+He was a teamster and had hauled many heavy loads up the grade, and
+now he was thinking of the unknown way he was traveling and the
+possibilities of the journey.
+
+"Yes, you can make the grade, Will, but you will have to look for
+help," said the preacher.
+
+"You mean I'll have to get another team of leaders to help me up the
+grade?" he asked.
+
+"That is it," said Mr. Higgins, "but thank God, McDonald, you have
+the greatest Leader to give you a lift--the Lord Jesus Christ. Every
+man he has helped has made the grade. Listen, Will, while I read you
+something." Taking out his pocket testament, he read the story of the
+prodigal, and how by the Father's help he made the grade. Then came the
+strengthening text setting forth God's love for a lost world and the
+needlessness of perishing. "Turn to him, Will, and the grade will be
+easy."
+
+Kneeling by the bed, the missionary prayed to the loving God for help,
+asking that the poor broken prodigal might make the grade and safely
+arrive at the heavenly landing. In the ward the other lumberjacks heard
+the prayer, and while the tears fell over faces unaccustomed to them,
+the boys uttered in silence a sympathetic prayer that Will McDonald
+might reach the hill-top.
+
+A few hours later Mr. Higgins called again at the hospital. The screen
+was around the bed and by the side sat the sister of charity with book
+and beads. The Sky Pilot knelt by the Scotchman's side, and when the
+dying man saw the visitor a smile came upon his face.
+
+"You're right, Frank, a great Leader is Jesus Christ. I couldn't have
+made the grade without him. I needed his help, and he is strong. I'm
+going up the grade easily, we're going to make it sure."
+
+A moment more--the missionary bent close to catch the words, for
+McDonald was passing rapidly away. "Tell the boys I've made the grade,"
+he whispered, and with a smile was gone. He had left the valley; the
+unfading green of heavenly plains was before him. He was with the great
+Leader, through whose divine strength many a poor prodigal has made the
+grade.
+
+The Presbyterian church has always stood for an educated ministry.
+The demands it makes of its candidates for ordination are of the
+highest order, and it is well that this should continue. The system of
+doctrine taught by it demands thorough preparation for the effort of
+Presbyterianism has ever been directed to the intellect rather than to
+the emotions. It believes that men should be educated into the Kingdom
+rather than persuaded into it.
+
+Ever since the night of consecration in St. Luke's Hospital, where the
+dying man pleaded with him to "go back to the camps and tell the boys
+of Jesus Christ," Frank Higgins had desired to devote all his efforts
+to missionary work among the lumberjacks. He felt that he could labor
+more successfully if he went into the camps as an ordained minister
+rather than as a layman. There were many who felt that a layman could
+do the work as effectively as an ordained man, and some even claimed
+that a layman could do better work in such a field. Frank Higgins did
+not agree with the latter, and results have proven the correctness of
+his judgment. "The lumberjacks want no flunkey, but the real thing,"
+as one expressed it. "We don't want a Sunday school teacher, but a
+full baked Sky Pilot who has got all the degrees agoin'." Mr. Higgins
+knew this, and wished to go to them as an ordained man, hence his
+persistence in the pursuit of ordination.
+
+Systematic Theology has its difficulties to the seminarian, but more
+for him who attempts to master it alone. This and other studies
+composed the task that Presbytery had placed before Frank Higgins,
+and it was necessary that a knowledge of these be obtained before the
+coveted "laying-on-of-hands" be granted. In the presence of his studies
+he saw the handicap in which he was placed through lack of scholastic
+training, and with the multitudinous demands of his large field he
+lacked the time for mental attainments. The nearest Presbyterian pastor
+was ninety miles away, so he could look for little assistance from that
+quarter. He could not get advice and instruction from others, he must
+labor alone.
+
+For seven long years he struggled with his studies, often with
+disappointing results and with the feeling that it would never be
+said of him as of Paul, "much learning doth make thee mad,"--although
+his unsuccessful attempts to acquire the desired learning threatened
+to this end. Time and again the Presbytery refused to grant the
+petitioner's request for ordination. Meeting after meeting he came
+before them for examination, but still they did not feel that they
+could solemnly set him aside to the work of the Christian ministry.
+The action of the Presbytery must not be misunderstood. The members
+saw the lack of training, the mental defects of the man, the rough
+exterior of the petitioner--for there was little about him to suggest
+the pulpit--and while they loved and admired the hearty, consecrated
+missionary, they hesitated to confer the rite of ordination upon him.
+They were men who knew the standards of the church and felt that,
+measured by the plumb-line of Presbyterian custom, he did not meet
+all its requirements. They were only men, and as such were compelled
+to judge by exteriors. It was not strange that they hesitated, for
+the sentiment of the church is against the ordination of men who have
+not qualified in the full course. Stones there are, however, that no
+contrivance of man can make to shine, yet they fill a niche in the
+building where a glazed surface would be a conspicuous defect. Such is
+Frank Higgins. Try to polish him and he is still the same, but a rough
+ashler is as necessary to the building as a smooth and perfect one.
+
+One of his examiners asked him, "What seminary did you attend?"
+
+"I never saw a seminary," he answered.
+
+"What is your college?" was asked.
+
+"My college is the Bible and yonder forest, as I believe God intended,"
+he replied. "I do not ask for ordination because I am qualified by the
+schools, but because God calls me, and there is a work waiting for me."
+
+According to custom, the candidate was asked to withdraw while the
+discussion was held. For three hours the presbyters discussed his case
+and when the vote was taken the desired privilege was withheld.
+
+Later in the session, in his remarks before the gathering, Mr.
+Higgins said: "I need not tell you that the decision of this body
+is disappointing, for I have long desired the boon of ordination.
+During the last seven years I have appeared before you many times,
+and asked to be set aside to the ministry. I know my insufficiencies;
+no man can know them better. I do not blame you for with-holding
+"the-laying-on-of-hands," but I was ordained of God long years ago to
+preach the unsearchable riches of Christ, and although unsanctioned by
+man, I shall still preach the message with which he has provided me. I
+have asked ordination for the last time. I am satisfied with the call
+of God. It is sufficient for me. I ask no more." While he spoke, the
+spirit of God told of the inner life of the candidate and the brethren
+saw the consecrated heart.
+
+At a special meeting held shortly afterwards, the Presbytery
+reconsidered its action, and Frank E. Higgins was ordained. While the
+Presbytery had hesitated, it has never regretted its final action.
+It has never ceased to rejoice in the labors of the determined,
+undiscouraged man who amidst manifold labors and difficulties, worked,
+waited and prayed seven years, like Jacob of old.
+
+His oft-repeated prayer for ordination having been answered, he
+looked to the camps as the field of his future endeavor. "Lord, open
+the door," he had asked, and the door was opened. At the time of his
+ordination the Bemidji congregation was building the new church. Mr.
+Higgins helped in the manual labor. One day while he was shingling the
+tower a boy brought him a letter requesting him to come to Winona Lake,
+Indiana, and consult with the Evangelistic Committee relative to the
+conditions in the logging camps. As a result of the conference Frank
+Higgins was commissioned to take charge of this work in Minnesota.
+The appointment was made in August, 1902, and with it came the real
+opportunity for which he had waited since the night in the hospital.
+He was going "to tell the boys of Jesus Christ."
+
+Shortly after his return to Bemidji the Rev. Frank Higgins took a
+strange ministerial, or rather, unministerial vacation. The woodsmen
+of winter are farm hands, railroad constructionists and wanderers in
+summer, and Mr. Higgins decided that he would acquaint himself with the
+summer life of the men. His visits to the camps during the past seven
+years had already given him a knowledge of their winter conditions.
+Donning the clothes of a laboring man, he mounted a freight train and
+started on a long western trip of quiet investigation. In western North
+Dakota he labored for several days as a harvest hand, meeting many of
+the men he had preached to in the Minnesota camps. From this place he
+shipped with a gang of laborers and worked as a scraperman on a new
+railway in Montana. Shortly afterwards he was with the pick and shovel
+gang at The Dalles in Oregon, only to leave and work as a deck hand
+on a boat going down the Columbia river. Portland, Oregon, ended his
+western trip.
+
+In all parts of his hobo trip he found the winter woodsmen, some
+laboring, some leisurely passing the warm and sunny days in idleness.
+Mr. Higgins visited the larger churches wherever he stopped and as a
+workingman entered their doors to see the reception they would tender
+to a man who apparently belonged to the wanderers. The trip broadened
+his experience and gave an insight into the life of the nomads among
+whom he was shortly to take up permanent work. He saw the life as
+one who had lived and experienced a portion of it. He felt the pangs
+of hunger, encountered the slights and rejections, the hardships and
+lovelessness to which their lives were subjected, and out of the
+knowledge came a broader sympathy, a more ready ability to help.
+
+When he returned to Bemidji the new church was ready for dedication and
+after a few weeks he left the pastorate to give himself wholly to the
+twenty thousand men of Minnesota's camps. The field was ready and he
+now became in reality, "The Lumberjack Sky Pilot."
+
+[Illustration: FILLING THE WATER-TANK--THE STREET SPRINKLER OF THE
+FOREST]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+THE LUMBERJACK IN THE CAMPS.
+
+
+A brief description of the camps and of the camp life will add to the
+interest of the reader who is unacquainted with the logging industry.
+
+When a lumber company contemplates logging in a given locality, a
+cruiser is sent through the forest to estimate the amount of lumber it
+will cut. After the report of the cruiser has been received, a crew
+of experienced woodsmen follows, and selects the place for the camp
+or camps, and lays out the logging roads. This latter is not an easy
+task, although to the inexperienced it seems to be, for the road must
+be as nearly level as the possibilities of the land will allow. A
+hill to be surmounted means a reducing of the size of the load and an
+increase in the cost of hauling; a grade scarcely enough to be noticed
+in ordinary traffic also adds danger and uncertainty to the haul. If
+there is a grade, its descent must be towards the landing, hence the
+need of skilled road-makers. It is in the early fall of the year that
+these logging roads are made. Trees are felled, every stump is removed
+and the little hills are leveled until there appears in the forest a
+broad, level, often winding avenue that suggests a city speedway. When
+the cold binding wind of the north has frozen hill and glen and the
+swamp lands have become resistant to the tread, the rut cutter is sent
+over the newly made roads. This heavy, unsightly piece of mechanism
+cuts a deep groove or rut in each side of the road. Later these ruts
+are partly filled with water and in the icy track the great runners of
+the heavy logging sleds travel with ease and safety. The logging sleds
+are huge affairs. The runners are eight feet long. The weight of the
+sled with its chains is about thirty-five hundred pounds--a good load
+in itself under normal conditions. On these sleds the logs are hauled
+to the landing, and from there pass by stream or rail to the distant
+sawmills.
+
+The camp is generally placed near the center of the land or on an
+elevation convenient to water. The buildings of the camp consist of
+a cookshed made large enough for cooking and dining-room purposes, a
+bunkhouse to house the men, a blacksmith shop, barns and office. All
+these are built of logs chinked with clay, and are quite warm, if
+properly constructed.
+
+A view of the interior of the cookshed is always interesting and
+visitors to the camp are apt to journey in that direction first of
+all, not simply because of appetite, but to satisfy their curiosity
+relative to the comforts of the crew. At one end of the room stands a
+large stove. The walls of the place resemble the interior of a country
+store, where all for man or beast is offered to the buyer. The rest of
+the space is reserved for the dining-room, and the tables present the
+appearance of a sea of oilcloth. The table dishes are of tin, but in a
+few camps enamelware has very acceptably been introduced. Substantial
+iron knives and forks, and unsubstantial tin spoons are instruments
+of adornment and utility. The condiments or relishes are in boxes of
+large capacity or in bottles that once did duty for a favorite brand
+of whisky or a much-lauded patent medicine. Often the labels remain on
+the bottles and the visitor is uncertain as to the sociability of the
+place or its unhealthfulness, and if not enlightened by the knowing
+ones he is apt to go without the desired vinegar or catsup--unless he
+is so constituted as to be ever on the lookout for a chance "to wet his
+whistle."
+
+The interior is substantial in appearance, but not altogether conducive
+to good appetite. "We use oleomargarine all the time," says a large
+placard adorning the walls, and the writer has never doubted the
+statement; in fact, he is willing to make an affidavit that it was used
+in every camp he visited, or at least a substitute whose dissembling he
+was willing to believe.
+
+[Illustration: SAID TO BE THE LARGEST LOAD OF LOGS EVER HAULED OUT OF A
+CAMP, 31.480 FEET]
+
+"No talking at the tables" is conspicuous in some camps, and this
+is probably a wise precaution for it saves time, keeps the men from
+quarreling, and in case the food is not up to the standard the grumbler
+is silent until after he has left the table. But the food is generally
+better than the outsider would expect. It is strong, substantial,
+abundant, and of good quality, to which is added variety. The
+fastidious would hardly be satisfied with the service, but it is not
+intended for the fastidious. He who labors in the pine-laden air is
+not likely to quarrel with the service if the quality is right and
+the quantity abundant. Beef, pork, potatoes, beans, peas and other
+seasonable vegetables form the bill of fare of the camps.
+
+The bunkhouses are large and roomy. On the long sides of the building
+double-decked bunks are built with the ends toward the center of the
+room, "muzzle-loaders," the boys call them. Owing to the unsanitary
+conditions, it does not take long to generate a goodly number of
+"company," to use the name by which the woodsmen designate the vermin.
+Fortunately, some of the camps are better kept and the men escape this
+additional irritation. A large cylindrical wood-stove is installed in
+the center of the room, and above it is built a rack for drying the
+clothes of the men. Since every lumberjack wears several pairs of socks
+to keep out the cold, this rack in the evening holds several hundred
+pairs. In the heat of the place the drying socks begin to blossom, and
+it has been noticed by others than botanists that roses and socks do
+not produce a like aroma. Few of the bunkhouses have any tables. Water
+and tin basins are near the door for the use of those acquainted with
+the custom of bathing.
+
+In the office where the clerk, the bosses, scalers and others of more
+pretentious occupation sleep, one corner is set apart for the wannigan,
+as the small camp store is called. Here the workers buy clothing,
+shoes, tobacco and the few articles needed in the camp. The stock is
+not extensive, but the price of the articles is far reaching. One of
+the clerks said, "I have charge of the wannigan--the first graft of the
+lumberjack."
+
+Where once the timid deer cropped the tender herbage, the rough camps
+of the lumbermen are seen. Before the mighty swing of the keen blades
+the solitudes are passing away. In Minnesota, two billion board feet
+of lumber represent the cut of the winter months, and in the camps and
+mills almost forty thousand men are employed. Logging is an extensive
+industry, and it has been brought to a high degree of efficiency in
+Minnesota.
+
+Every day the tote teams pass between the camps and the village
+carrying provisions for man and beast. These teams are the means of
+communication between the foresters and civilization.
+
+Where there are several camps owned by the same company, the most
+important personage is the representative of the company who is known
+among the men as the "walking boss," because he is always passing
+from camp to camp, seeing to the interests of the firm. The "walking
+boss" gives his orders to the subordinate boss who has charge of an
+individual camp. This subordinate is known as the "push." Under the
+"push" is another who goes by the name of the "straw push." The camps
+have their own nomenclature, and some of the names are interesting and
+humorous. The carpenter is the "wood butcher;" the clerk is the "ink
+splasher," or the "bloat that makes the stroke;" the man who tends the
+logging roads and keeps them free from anything that would interfere
+with the heavy sleds is called the "road monkey;" the workman who keeps
+the fires in the bunkhouse and does odd jobs around the camp goes by
+the title of "bull cook," because, in the old days when oxen were used
+his duty was to see to their comfort; the missionary is known as the
+"sky pilot," and the top-loader is called the "sky hooker." Besides
+these named there are the cook and cookees, skidders, teamsters,
+sawyers, swampers, the barn boss and the blacksmith.
+
+"In the works" where the trees are felled, the men work in crews. The
+sawyers bring the giants to the earth and the swampers clear the trunk
+of its branches and make the openings through which the logs are drawn
+to the skidways. After the tree has fallen, a man called the "punk
+hunter" examines it to see if it be sound and marks the dimensions into
+which the log is to be sawn.
+
+The loads hauled from the skidways to the landings average differently
+in the camps, owing to the condition of the roads. Where the roads are
+the best the amount drawn by two or four horses is almost incredible.
+In 1905 a load of logs was hauled into Tenstrike, Minnesota, which
+scaled over twenty thousand feet. One of the camps situated near
+Shell Lake, Wisconsin, is said to have hauled the largest load of
+logs ever drawn out of a camp by four horses. The load contained
+thirty-one thousand four hundred and eighty feet. A thousand feet in
+the green log, with its attendant slabs and bark, will weigh nearly
+eight thousand pounds. The above figures will give some idea of the
+great weight of the loads, and also of the perfection to which the
+road-making must be carried to make such results possible.
+
+Into these camps with the coming of winter the lumberjacks crowd.
+"Why is it that they are willing to go into isolation and hardship?"
+you ask. We can only answer, "Why does the sailor go down to the sea
+in ships?" It seems to get into the blood. Douglas Malloch, in "The
+Calling of the Pine," says:
+
+        "When I listen to the callin' of the pine,
+        When I drink the brimmin' cup of forest wine--
+        Then the path of life is sweet to my travel-weary feet
+        When I listen to the callin' of the pine."
+
+There are lots of men who have followed the camps from boyhood. I met
+one man who had spent forty-four winters in the woods and his brother
+almost as many. It had become a second nature to them and the lure of
+the camps was irresistible.
+
+In the towns and villages adjacent to the camps the lumberjacks are
+seen at their worst because civilization only welcomes them to its
+vices; in the camps the woodsmen are seen at their best because the
+causes of their depravity are absent. These big, hearty fellows may
+be strong in vices, but they are by no means lacking in virtues. They
+have their code of honor, and the man who departs from it will find it
+necessary to depart from the camp. Depraved as are most of them, yet in
+many ways they command the respect of the men who are acquainted with
+their better natures.
+
+The old lumberjack will not tolerate the least word of slander against
+a good woman. If she is entitled to his respect she is entitled to his
+defense. He may be steeped in vice himself, but he esteems those whose
+lives are clean, and a good woman appeals to his chivalry. A woman is
+as safe in the camps as in her own home; her purity is her protection
+and his respect goes out to her. The Sisters of Charity go through
+the camps soliciting for the hospitals and schools. Between the camps
+they are often miles from any habitation and when night overtakes
+them they sleep in the camps. I have never heard of one of them being
+molested in these lonely trips, and among the rough, profane foresters
+they are as safe as behind the carefully locked doors of the convent.
+The lumberjack who would molest one of them, or any good woman, would
+probably not leave the camp alive. Shielded by her womanhood, she is
+safe even among the men who are foreign to restraint.
+
+On one occasion a camp foreman with his wife entered the caboose of a
+logging train. In the car a number of men were drinking. The bottle was
+passed around and all drank, the foreman included. As the bottle went
+the rounds it was offered to the foreman's wife, but scarcely had the
+bottle been extended to her when the husband floored the donor with
+his fist and proceeded to kick him out of the car. He was not going to
+allow any man to treat his wife as a woman of the street.
+
+In the settling of disputes, nature's weapons are the sole instruments
+used. The fist is the arbiter, although the boot is sometimes called
+into exercise. The gloves and wrestling help to pass many lonely hours,
+but sometimes these friendly bouts generate a battle in which hate is
+the ruling passion. Fights due to personal animosity are to be expected
+where men are free from the restraints of civilization. In one of
+the camps an ex-convict worked and for some unknown reason made life
+unbearable to a pleasant, easy-going Irishman. The ex-convict was ever
+trying for a fight, but the Irishman's blood was more sluggish than
+that of the average son of Erin. At last the attacks were more than the
+peace-loving fellow could stand. (How does the proverb read? "Beware of
+the wrath of the silent man.") He went to his bunk and put on his spike
+boots and rushed out to meet the ex-convict. With a blow of his fist
+he floored the former prisoner and, beside himself with rage, kicked
+him until the body of his tormentor was a bloody jelly. Had not the
+loggers interfered the ex-convict would have been murdered. The wounded
+man was taken to the hospital, where he remained for several weeks,
+and on recovering he left for other parts, to the satisfaction of all
+concerned.
+
+Though the labor is hard and the hours long, for the men are at work
+when the sun appears and it is dark when they leave the works, yet
+there is a constant variety in their lives. It takes little to amuse
+them, and less to make them "jump their jobs." The lumberjack is not
+apt to complain when things go wrong, but rather to walk into the
+office and demand his wages, after which he will proceed to another
+camp. Sometimes a whole camp will suddenly leave because of some
+imposition or provocation that may in itself seem slight. One of the
+men last winter "took the cake" in this. He went into the cookshed for
+his breakfast, but being a little late found that the pancake dough was
+all gone and there were no cakes for him. He immediately went to the
+clerk and demanded his wages. Here is another case:
+
+Something had gone wrong and Jack Olson was ready to leave the camp. He
+proceeded to the office and demanded the amount due him, but the clerk
+was a surly bully and in reply tossed the little Norwegian out of the
+office. Against such physical tactics Olson felt he could do nothing,
+so he sat around the bunkhouse until his bunkmate returned from the
+works.
+
+"The bloat wouldn't give you your stake, hey?" said bunky.
+
+"And he kicked me out of the office," added Olson.
+
+Bunky was interested, very interested. His eyes twinkled as he thought
+of the splendid opening the action of the clerk had given him for a
+little added excitement.
+
+"Come on, John, old boy," he said, affectionately taking Olson by the
+waist and leading him to the office. "Come on and watch the free show
+while the bloat makes out your check and mine."
+
+Arriving at the office, bunky entered it with a jar.
+
+"Sit down there, John, in that reserved seat while I raise the curtain
+and turn on the red fire."
+
+Stepping close to the clerk, Olson's husky bunkmate shook his monstrous
+fist under the nose of the astonished time-keeper, and said:
+
+"Are you the guy that splashes ink? Then sprinkle out my walk and do it
+infernally quick. Sprinkle out Olson's, too, and if you don't hurry
+this little shack will look like Hades upset. Splash the ink blank
+lively or I'll make a blotter out of you."
+
+Without a word the "guy that splashes ink" began his work and the walks
+were sprinkled out in record time. Bunky and Olson left the office with
+the air of victorious generals and traveled to the nearest town to blow
+in the stake in fitting celebration.
+
+Card playing is a great time killer in some of the camps and when the
+towns are not accessible the woodsmen often spend the whole of the
+Sabbath playing with the greasy cardboards. Some of the proprietors do
+not allow card playing and they say the prohibition has caused a more
+peaceful state. Since the Logging Camp Mission now distributes large
+quantities of literature a number of the workmen spend their spare
+moments in reading.
+
+Many of them will discuss spiritual matters, and in language that is
+shockingly contrasted with the subject, for so habituated are they
+to profanity that it does not appear to the speaker as in the least
+incongruous.
+
+After one of the meetings it was discovered that Mr. Higgins had left a
+hymn book. The forgotten book fell into the hands of a lumberjack who
+could read music and who possessed a good voice. The following evening
+he began to sing the hymns and the camp gathered to listen.
+
+"That's a d--n fine song," said the singer enthusiastically, "the show
+don't reach it, not by a Hades of a sight."
+
+He sang another and remarked on closing, for the sentiment of the song
+appealed to him:
+
+"How the devil do they think of such fine things? It's the prettiest
+little son of (the nameless) that I ever heard." This was said
+admiringly, and with the intention of expressing appreciation, but
+the habit of the man was profane and he knew not how to express his
+feelings unless with verbal gestures.
+
+Profanity is so common to some of them that they seem to swear with
+every breath they draw. An old-timer told the writer of an incident
+he had witnessed. They were loading cars with a steam jammer. The
+sky-hooker, or top-loader, who was exceptionally profane, was at his
+post on the top of the car. One of the logs did not come up in the way
+that suited him and he broke into a stream of profanity that startled
+even the lumberjacks. The sky-hooker ended his profanity with a direct
+appeal to all the Persons of the God-head--a most unspeakable oath.
+
+"It was the most blasphemous sentence I ever heard," said the
+old-timer, "and we stood around startled." Less than ten minutes
+afterwards the hook broke, and an enormous log weighing several tons
+crushed the body of the hooker to pulp. "The Father had answered,"
+reverently remarked the woodsman. "I used to swear in those days but I
+never have since."
+
+If you wish to meet generous-hearted fellows, visit the logging camps.
+Anyone who has dealings with the lumberjacks will testify to the truth
+of the above statement. The typical lumberjack is large-hearted,
+touched with generous impulse and responsive in his desire to
+ameliorate suffering. Often he will impoverish himself to give to the
+causes that help humanity. Money is of little value to him; it only
+represents the power of producing a short-lived pleasure, and he is
+therefore willing to share with others that they may be happy. As the
+following incidents will illustrate:
+
+One of the men had taken his family to the camp and built a little
+shack in which to house them during the winter. Mr. Higgins had held
+services in the camp, and the logger requested him to baptize their
+baby when he next visited them. Happening to be in the city shortly
+afterwards the missionary mentioned the fact of the coming baptism
+and the ladies of the church in which he was speaking thought they
+would contribute to the happiness of the occasion by sending the baby
+a bundle of clothing. The missionary presented the package after the
+baptismal service was concluded and the parents hastened to view the
+contents.
+
+A crowd of campmen had been invited to witness the christening of "our
+kid," as they called the baby, and when they saw that the articles sent
+to the child were second-hand garments their wrath kindled. "Our kid"
+was insulted and every man resented it.
+
+"We're no paupers," they cried. "What do the city folks mean by
+insulting the kid with duds like these?"
+
+"That kid has got to have the best glad rags. No make-overs for him."
+
+A collection was immediately taken, and every generous soul cast in his
+two bits so that the kid of the camp could hold up his head.
+
+B---- R---- was taken sick and had to leave the camp. For a year
+disease held him in its grip. He was a man of family, having a wife
+and seven children who were dependent on his labors. Death visited the
+home and took one of the children, adding to the financial burden. The
+news of the family's needs came to Wilson Bros.' Camps 2 and 3, and
+immediately ninety dollars was raised and sent to Mr. R---- to help him
+along. The boys were willing to respond and gave gladly.
+
+Many a poor fellow has found true charity among these men, for their
+hearts are large and given to generosity. The dead lumberjack does not
+find a corner in the potter's field, the boys see that he is decently
+interred; the sick do not often fall on the community, for they are
+helped by their fellows. Say what you will about the lumberjack, but
+put the grace of charity to his credit, and let it cover a multitude of
+sins.
+
+There is little chance for personal cleanliness in the camps. No
+facilities are there for bathing unless one is willing to do so in the
+presence of the whole camp; the clothing is often worn much longer than
+is conducive to health, and many of the things we consider so essential
+are missing, yet few of the men are affected with sickness. Unsanitary
+are the surroundings, but the hours in the pure air and the hard,
+active lives of the workers seem to counteract the disease-breeding
+conditions. Most of the cases that go to the hospitals are due to
+accidents rather than to disease. Accidents are all too common in the
+camps. Felling the large trees is never without hazard and the loading
+of the logs is more dangerous still. The heavy hauling adds an element
+of uncertainty, particularly where there are grades to be run on the
+way to the landing. It requires skill to let a load down the grade.
+This is done by means of sand or hay being placed in the ruts so that
+the runners of the sled are retarded in the descent, but if the load be
+checked suddenly it will cause the logs to shift, endangering the life
+of man and beast.
+
+From what has been written in the foregoing chapters we do not desire
+to convey the impression that all the campmen are depraved and sunken
+in vice. There are all kinds and conditions of men among them. Many of
+them have been well educated, have come from homes of refinement and
+ease, but through adversity have gone to lower plains of life. Others
+have followed the woods from youth and feel that they are not fitted
+for any other class of labor, yet amidst surroundings that tempt to
+viciousness they have kept their moral virtues with scrupulous care.
+
+The campmen are a neglected class of men. No one has in past years
+tried to touch them with the elevating power of good. They are what
+they are because their labors have isolated them from civilization and
+its agencies for good, while the vices of the provinces have followed
+them because there were dollars to be gained. The railway men of a
+few years ago were almost in the same condition as the lumberjacks
+of today. The saving power to the railroader was the restraint that
+their homes cast about them, and through their homes the gospel and
+other adjuncts of civilization were possible, but these are men who
+are separated from their homes or unblessed with home ties. When
+Christian indifference was supplanted with Christian activity a change
+was soon noted among the workers on the railroad and they became a
+respectable class of men, of whom the nation is justly proud. Y. M.
+C. A.s were established for their benefit, missions were opened where
+they congregated, the church held out its hand in welcome, and under
+the stimulus of gospel encouragement they arose. But what has been done
+for the lumberjack? Almost nothing. In the camps he works through the
+dreary, cruel winter, and when he returns to civilization in the spring
+only the hand of the depraved is extended in welcome.
+
+[Illustration: INTERIOR OF BUNK-HOUSE]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+A VIEW OF THE CAMP SERVICES.
+
+
+"The woods were God's first temples." I cannot pass through the
+pineries, beholding the long fingers of cooling green pointing to the
+eternal blue, without feeling an exaltation of spirit, a desire to
+praise the Creator. The shrub and towering tree, the aisles of the
+woods and the sweet soothing comfort of the silence all conduce to
+prayer and adoration. No temple is more suggestive of worship than
+that whose dome is of sheltering leaves and whose columns are living,
+graceful trees. But the camps are the destroyers of the primitive
+temples, and their denizens are not suggestive of devoutness; yet in
+the rude hewn shacks of the lumberjacks nature is heard speaking and
+her voice is persuasively calling to worship. In the gray of dawn her
+call is clear and sweet, and as the loggers tighten their heavy belts
+and view the new-born day she whispers, "Praise." In the busy noon
+day, amidst the bruised and broken tops, the playing winds repeat the
+echo of the morning, "Praise." Then when the hush of evening falls o'er
+the dying day and the purple of the west shows through the crown of
+richest green, the evening shadows take up the chorus, "Praise him for
+his goodness, for his love to the children of men."
+
+On visiting a camp for the first time Frank Higgins is apt to inquire,
+"Ever had any preachers up this way?"
+
+"No. Nobody cares whether we make the landing in Hades or not," is
+likely to be the answer.
+
+"Preachers are only after the stake," said one. "They don't care for us
+poor devils. Heaven was made for the rich, and not for us lumberjacks.
+We're only welcome down the slide."
+
+"Well, here is one who isn't after the stake," replied the minister,
+"and his interest is in the lumberjack."
+
+"Where is the guy? I'd like to meet him," remarked the woodsman,
+evidently thinking such a preacher must be an unknown variety.
+
+"I'm the fellow," returned the missionary, "and I'll prove it by
+preaching in the bunkhouse tonight. What time will suit? 7:30, you say?
+Well, let all the boys know and come prepared to sing. That's your part
+of the service."
+
+The Rev. Frank Higgins has not much suggestion of "the cloth" about
+him. If you met him on the logging road there is nothing in his
+dress to stamp him as a minister, but everything to proclaim him a
+lumberjack. His dress is that of his parishioners, mackinaw jacket,
+belt, boots, socks and cap suggest the logger. His physical appearance
+is in keeping with the camp; he is broad-shouldered and built for
+endurance. He is not a tall man, being but five feet nine or ten,
+but his weight is two hundred pounds of muscle. He does not look the
+preacher, but ask the lumberjacks about it and they will tell you
+"there is no other."
+
+The supper is over and the men have crowded into the bunkhouse where
+the meeting is to be held. What an audience! It is cosmopolitan; the
+ends of the earth have contributed, except the far east. All classes
+and conditions are in the group, evidences of the best and worst,
+but on all of them the stamp of isolation--they are far from the
+accustomed haunts of men, and everything proclaims it. Sixty to one
+hundred and sixty men are in the log shack. The benches at the end of
+the bunks are filled with waiting men, the bunks above contain many who
+are lounging in attitudes of individual fancy. No straight, erect or
+formal audience is this; it is as free as the forest air, as informal
+as Eden, but not so cleanly. The congregation is coatless, collarless,
+often bootless, for probably half of them are in their stocking feet,
+while the temporarily discarded boots are heaped around the huge
+stove to dry. Pipes send forth long streams of smoke, and in various
+parts of the room card games are in progress. Extra lanterns hang
+around the shack, sending out a dim uncertain light that only partly
+dissipates the gloom of the interior. The cylindrical stove contains
+the crackling logs and the emitted warmth is the only note of cheer.
+The rank odor of cheap tobacco mingles with the nauseating aroma of the
+myriad socks hung above the stove and the poorly ventilated place is
+stifling, oppressive and depressing. Everything is unsuggestive of the
+sanctuary, but the Father of men meets with his children in the heavy
+smelling bunkhouse the same as in the bright, costly cathedral.
+
+Behind the upturned barrel, whose altar cloth is a coarse horse
+blanket, stands the preacher. No Genevan gown lends its grace to his
+figure, but coatless he stands, an earnest man, physically fearless,
+powerful in the love for God and man. The hymnbooks have been passed
+around, some familiar hymn is announced and the command to sing is
+given. Not such music as kisses the ear of the worshiper in the
+fashionable churches, where the trained voices blend in superb harmony,
+is the music in the camps. It lacks in sweetness, but is not deficient
+in volume and heartiness.
+
+Scripture is read, or rather recited, for it is nearly impossible to
+read in the dim light emitted by the lanterns, then the Sky Pilot
+tells what the gospel can do for the loggers and what the Christ can
+accomplish in them. He speaks plainly of their wasted lives, the folly
+of spending their money in the saloons, in gambling dens, in brothels,
+and points them to Christ, who can keep a man from all that links him
+to the pit.
+
+Do the men listen to the story of the Savior? Yes, with an interest
+that can only come from soul-starved men. They have been feeding on the
+husks, have known the companionship of swine in the form of men and
+vampires who resembled women, have wanted love and found only vice; so
+they listen gladly to the news of another life, another world, another
+love that is clean and pure. Their dreams have been of heaven, but
+their lives have been lived in hell, and the Sky Pilot's story seems to
+make the dream attainable.
+
+I well remember a sermon he preached on the Prodigal Son, but the
+environment must be present if one is to reproduce the sermon. It was
+well suited to the audience, plain, too plain for a city audience, but
+an unmistakable message for the men of the forest. Figures of speech
+had little place in it; of poetry there was little except the poetry
+of direct simplicity; it was unadorned Anglo-Saxon with the crash and
+clang of the language in its strength, but it was a story full of love,
+hope and cheer that appealed to the hundred men who breathlessly
+listened while the wind of winter beat the drifting snow against the
+camp.
+
+Here are some extracts given wholly from memory:
+
+"One of the boys stayed at home and one left the old homestead. Now
+it wasn't the fellow that stayed at home that the father was worrying
+about, but the fellow that packed his "turkey" and went out to blow
+his stake. You lumberjacks are in that youngster's place and the old
+folks are wondering where you are and what you are doing. Because a man
+leaves home it isn't necessary to be a prodigal, but his chances to
+make a fool of himself are better if he is away from the old home and
+its memories."
+
+Then came the story of his own home-leaving and how the mother watched
+him until the turn in the road hid him from view.
+
+"That mother's prayers have followed me through life. My story is yours
+with the names changed. Some one wants to hear that you still live.
+Write a letter tonight.
+
+"Because the fellow had money he found friends, but there never was a
+friend worth having who was made or bought through money. This young
+fellow in the parable reminds me of the lumberjack coming down the
+river in the spring and landing in one of the logging towns. Men who
+have never heard of him become his friends at once; the barkers of the
+dens wait at the train to give him the glad hand; he has friends galore
+and is the most popular man that enters the town--he has money. Then
+they bleed him to a finish, as they did the prodigal in the Bible.
+There are men in these towns who have your wages figured up already and
+they smile and chuckle as they toast their shins at the base burner,
+thinking what a good time they will have with your money when you come
+down in the spring. Don't think you are working for yourselves; the
+saloonmen and their crowd are the ones who cash your checks and bank
+your coin. Some of the men in the saloon business that came to these
+parts when I did and were as poor as I am, are now living in the finest
+houses in the north and eat the best the land affords. The wives of
+these men are dressed in silks, and their hands and necks glisten
+with the jewels you bought with your winter's labor--but you still
+wear the coarse socks and haven't a cent in the bank. Now, men, were
+you ever invited into the homes you built for the saloonmen, gamblers
+and brothel keepers? Were you ever given an introduction to the wives
+whom you dressed in silks and jewels? No, and you never will be. They
+don't want you; they are after your cash. That's how they treated the
+prodigal of old; that's how they treat the prodigal lumberjack of today.
+
+"Well, after awhile the prodigal was broke and he asked his friends
+for a lift, but his friends weren't in the lifting business. It was
+their business to help him to spend, but not to spend for him. Do you
+remember when you had spent all at the bar, the wheel, or the brothel,
+how you asked a loan for a lodging of the man in whose till your
+winter's earnings rested, and he gave you a hunch to go up river and
+earn more? Well, the prodigal was in the same boat, for they said to
+him as they said to you, 'Go up the river, old man. It's the husks and
+the hogs for you now.'
+
+"But when the men who rob and spoil will not give you a hand, the
+Father will. In the father's home was the only place the prodigal
+found a hearty reception, and in the Lord Jesus Christ you will find a
+welcome."
+
+Then came the gospel message with its cheer and loving hope, the story
+of how God gave Christ to die that the prodigal might have light and
+love, and how through him the homestead opens, where love undefiled and
+almighty help is given unstintedly.
+
+It was a homely sermon, a plain message, a description of life they too
+well understood because they had too often experienced it. Many a head
+was bowed in shame as the story of the prodigal's life was told, for
+the listeners knew it was a tale, not of the times of Christ, but taken
+from their own lives. When the preacher spoke of the loving Father who
+warmly welcomes the wanderers there was expectancy in the faces of the
+auditors.
+
+It was after Mr. Higgins had preached this sermon on a former occasion
+that a young man came to him for a private conversation. The sermon had
+awakened a longing for a better life in which real love was to take the
+place of shame. He had been carried back to the old home, and heard
+the mother praying for the absent boy.
+
+"Pilot," he said, "I want to pray for myself. Tell me how and I'll do
+it."
+
+"Come on, my boy," said the Pilot, "and under the pines we'll pray
+together."
+
+Out under the tall sentinels they went, and there on the frozen snow
+they knelt while the prayers of the minister and the lumberjack
+ascended to the ever-approachable throne.
+
+The next day the lad wrote home to his old mother in Quebec, telling
+her of his hope in Christ and his new relation to God. She had not
+heard from him in months, and now the news he sent made her join in
+the raptures of the angel chorus. Immediately she wrote a letter of
+gratitude to Mr. Higgins and when the missionary read, "For this my son
+was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found," he saw a new
+figure in the parable--it was the prodigal's mother.
+
+After the meeting is over and the shack is lighted only by the stray
+gleams that steal through the chinks of the stove, some of the men will
+continue to talk to the minister of their far-off homes and the loved
+ones they have not seen for years. The years are reviewed and there is
+a wish that life were different. By the burning fires of the bunkhouse
+many a long closed heart has been opened and many a life surrendered to
+God.
+
+Sometimes a man will come to Mr. Higgins after the services and
+invite the missionary to sleep with him in the bunkhouse. Since the
+missionaries are generously accorded the privileges of the office by
+almost all of the proprietors, the invitation of the lumberjack is one
+that holds in itself no allurement. The bunks in the sleeping quarters
+of the men are often filled with small annoyances that are fruitful
+and multiply and disturb the occupants of the bunks. But when such an
+invitation is given the missionary seldom refuses it. He knows that
+the man who gives it means more than to share the discomforts of his
+lodging--he wishes to get near the messenger so that in the darkness
+and quiet he can secure spiritual aid. In the bunks men have been
+helped over difficulties and have freely surrendered themselves to the
+Divine Son. There may be distasteful things to encounter, but the
+chance to help a man is worth more than the sacrifice of comfort.
+
+It was after a camp service that a young man came to the Pilot and
+asked:
+
+"Isn't there any way that I can make my life count? I'm sick of going
+on this way, Pilot. I'm sledding in the wrong direction. Tonight I'm
+disgusted, so give me a lift."
+
+As a result of the lift he was led to God and encouraged to save his
+money for future schooling. During the evenings of that winter the
+young man spent his time in study and when spring came a large part
+of his earnings were deposited in the bank. The following summer he
+procured work in the saw mill and books were the companions of his
+leisure hours. So absorbed did he become in his new purpose that he
+carried his book to the mill and when the machinery stopped to make
+repairs out came the book. The proprietor of the mill observed the
+diligence of the new hand and changed him to the sawdust pile where he
+could have more time for his books. So absorbed would he become that
+often he allowed the sawdust to take care of itself. The men called him
+"the book worm in the sawdust." School followed his winter's work, and
+now he is a successful civil engineer. In the bunkhouse on the night of
+his surrender a soul and a life were saved.
+
+That sweet old favorite hymn, the favorite of the home and prayer
+meeting, the source of comfort in the house of mourning, is the
+favorite in the camps--"Jesus, Lover of My Soul." Those unloved men
+of the distant places feel the influence of the hymn which speaks of
+the tender Christ opening his bosom to the outcast as well as the
+respected. Its plaintive melody appeals to them, and the lonely men of
+the forest sing it with the spirit of those who long for sympathy and
+unselfish love.
+
+The night before they had sung the old song over and over again. The
+whole camp had joined in with hearty spirit. After the breakfast was
+over the men went to the bunkhouse to wait for the word of the "push"
+ordering them to the morning's labor in the works. While they waited
+one of the men who possessed a rich tenor voice struck up the hymn,
+"Jesus lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly." One by one the
+men joined in the song, and the solo passed into a chorus of one
+hundred voices. Out through the twilight of the morning the melody
+rolled, waking the sleeping pines and crossing the frozen streams.
+The men in the stables, harnessing their horses, heard the song and
+softly whistled it; the cook, busy with his pots and pans, hummed in
+unison, and the swearing cookee closed his profane mouth and listened
+in wonder. Over in the office where the proprietor and others of the
+higher grade of labor made their quarters, the song caused silent
+amazement, for it did not seem like the morning hour of the camp, where
+usually only profane sounds break the stillness.
+
+"Other refuge have I none, Hangs my helpless soul on Thee," sang the
+men. "Leave, ah, leave me not alone," and it came from the hearts of
+men who knew the weight of lonely weeks and months. The Sky Pilot in
+the office turned his face to the wall and prayed while they sang.
+
+"All out," cried the "push," and from the bunkhouse streamed the men,
+singing the song of comfort. Into groups they separated, each going
+his appointed way, but the song still continued in all parts of the
+forest, until the sweet melody of the hymn died to tender murmurs and
+was lost in the distant evergreens. In all that north state no happier
+body of men went forth to toil, for with them went the spirit of the
+song.
+
+Sometimes disturbances mar the meetings. But they are not as frequent
+as in the early days, when it was considered the proper thing in some
+camps to create a row. The earnestness of the man and the strength of
+his body has gained respect for this teacher of righteousness. The
+work, also, is better understood and a realization of the value of
+missionary effort has brought about a change in sentiment. When Mr.
+Higgins first began his work he used a little muscular Christianity as
+well as persuasion in regulating the deportment of the men during the
+services; now he has learned a better way. The Frenchman who undertook
+to create a rough house, and suddenly found himself standing on his
+head in a barrel of water, having been put there by the Rev. Frank
+Higgins, will not feel like disturbing one of his services again.
+The persuasion of a man who can physically take care of a religious
+gathering is a great incentive to undisturbed worship, even though the
+meeting be held in the forest.
+
+The day after the meeting is the time for personal work, for
+hand-picked fruit, for heart-to-heart conversations. While the service
+is in progress the quick eye of the evangelist singles out those who
+are most receptive to the word of life, and on the morrow he goes to
+assist by private word the work done in the public meeting. From the
+clerk he finds where they are working in the forest and goes to join
+them in their labors. Here is where the finely developed body comes
+into play for the King. One of the secrets of aiding workingmen is to
+understand their labors; they admire the man who is capable in their
+individual line, and Frank Higgins is a woodsman who knows how to swing
+the ax and pull the saw. While working with them he talks of Christ and
+tries to draw the worker to him.
+
+In the bunkhouse, during one of the services, an old man sat in his
+bunk with his little nondescript dog in his lap. Loneliness was written
+on his deep-lined face; while the others sang he was silent.
+
+"Don't you sing?" asked the missionary, handing him a book.
+
+"None of your blank business," gruffly mumbled the old man.
+
+All through the service the old fellow was silent, seemingly hearing
+no word of the sermon. The next day the missionary went to the "ink
+splasher" and inquired where the old man could be found.
+
+"That's Old Grouchy. He's the road monkey and you'll find him on the
+east road about this time of day," directed the clerk.
+
+"Good morning," was the greeting of the missionary as he came up to the
+road monkey.
+
+"Mornin'," answered Old Grouchy, in non-committal tones.
+
+"Your roads are in fine shape, almost perfect," said the missionary,
+sparring for an opening.
+
+"Bad, infernally bad," answered the road monkey.
+
+"Like the job?" asked the preacher to encourage conversation.
+
+"Yes, the way the damned like their lodgings," burst out Old Grouchy.
+"But what is it to you whether I like it or not? You can't change it."
+
+Before the preacher could make reply the little dog came out of the
+woods, where he had been in pursuit of a pine squirrel, and came to
+the minister for attention. It was a dog of many breeds, but the road
+monkey's eyes fell upon it lovingly and the minister saw the look.
+
+"A good friend of yours, I suppose," said the Sky Pilot.
+
+"The only friend I have," and the tone was soft and reflective.
+
+The minister knew that he had found the opening to the old man's
+heart and began to talk of his own dog team, the faithfulness and
+intelligence of the animals and the companionship they freely gave. Old
+Grouchy joined in the conversation and discussed with freedom the love
+he felt for the dumb creatures. From this they drifted to matters more
+personal until the whole story of the man's life was narrated and the
+cause of his cynicism was bared.
+
+It was a story of startling disappointment, of a home wrecked through
+unfaithfulness and broken trust. No man could hear the story and remain
+unsympathetic.
+
+"No wonder you see the world darkened," said the preacher; "if I had
+your experience I might feel as you do today."
+
+The missionary talked to the man and tried to lead him to the bright
+paths of peace, but nothing appealed to the sad soul of the lonely man.
+The gospel gave him no hope, the sun was set, and all was covered with
+the curtains of night. God to him was dead and in all the world the
+only love he knew was the dumb affection of the forlorn yellow dog.
+
+When Mr. Higgins went back to that camp in later days the road monkey
+would listen attentively to the presentation of the loving Christ and
+seemed to wonder if it were possible that God could care for him.
+
+"Sing, brother," said the missionary. But the old man only shook his
+head. He would not sing. Nay! he could not. His heart strings were
+withered; melody had left him through the unfaithfulness of woman. He
+had passed into the starless night where no glimmer of hope entered,
+and in his solitude he caressed his little dog and perhaps wondered if
+the great God cared, if any being was interested in him besides the
+faithful little animal.
+
+The Rev. Frank Higgins was preparing for the evening service. He had
+rolled the barrel into the center of the room where it was to do duty
+as a pulpit. The proprietor of the camp came in and seeing the barrel,
+but not knowing its intended purpose, appropriated it as a seat. Not
+wishing to disturb the proprietor, Mr. Higgins stood by his side and
+conducted the service.
+
+The place was well filled and the interest was intense. The men entered
+heartily into the singing, and when the sermon came it was full of
+keen home thrusts. The errors of the lumberjacks were pointed out with
+freedom and a remedy forced with conviction. The proprietor sitting on
+the pulpit enjoyed the straightforward way in which the preacher dealt
+with the lumberjacks, and at every telling shot heartily applauded and
+added some words of encouragement to the speaker.
+
+"Now you're getting them, Higgins; keep the chips a-flying. Give them
+another whirl, Pilot; you have them where the hide is thin." With these
+and other suggestions he added his encouragement.
+
+It happened that while the proprietor was a man whose record as a
+logger was one of the best in the state, being able to get out his logs
+where others would fail, yet his morals were far below his business
+reputation. His son was following in his footsteps, much to the sorrow
+of the mother and the disgust of the father.
+
+After the proprietor had applauded several times and given his advice
+as to the style of preaching suited to the lumberjacks, Mr. Higgins
+turned his guns on the proprietors, contractors and foremen for the
+example some of them set before the men.
+
+"I do not wonder that you lumberjacks live shameless lives, for the
+leaders of the work often set you the worst examples. Some of the
+proprietors, contractors and bosses are to be found drinking, gambling
+and carousing in the villages and towns, and they who should lead you
+into better things are only examples of riot and immorality. They are
+your examples and you are responding to them."
+
+The proprietor sat silent.
+
+"Why don't you applaud that sentiment also?" asked the preacher of the
+proprietor. "It's just as true as the others."
+
+When Mr. Higgins went into the office that night the proprietor was
+there, and as he entered the logger looked up and said: "That was
+pretty blank plain, Pilot."
+
+"I always preach so the audience will understand me," replied the
+minister.
+
+"But you needn't have shouted the whole blank thing before the crowd,"
+returned the proprietor.
+
+"I didn't tell them a thing but what they already knew, Mr. Blank. The
+boys know how you are living and that your son is following pretty
+close in your footsteps. It's time to call a halt, for you can't be
+proud of the example you're setting."
+
+Before the missionary left the camp the proprietor came and thanked
+him for not only fearlessly preaching to the lumberjacks but for being
+equally ready to preach to the lumber kings.
+
+While many refuse the word of life, yet the seed sown often springs up
+in later days to show that a dormant seed may yet come to fruitage.
+
+One who had often attended the services came to no decision as the
+result of the sowing. Shortly afterwards he was seriously hurt and
+carried to the hospital. Mr. Higgins visited him and tried to bring him
+to a decision. Since there was no hope of recovery he was carried to
+his Canadian home to die among his kinsmen. There in the long days of
+pain and waiting the seed scattered in the meetings began to spring and
+come to full fruitage, for the dying man passed over the river lighted
+by the presence of one who said, "I am the light of the world."
+
+While the Sky Pilot preached in a certain camp there was a wondrous
+quiet, for the Spirit of God brooded above the place, and his presence
+always brings life. No one was surprised when a woodsman walked up to
+the preacher and said, "Mr. Higgins, I want you to pray for me right
+now."
+
+The sermon closed without another word and prayer was offered for the
+desiring man who had boldly taken a stand for righteousness. When
+the minister had closed his prayer the man said, "I want to pray for
+myself," and in presence of the watching camp the man made his petition
+for pardon and received it.
+
+Turning to his workmates he told them that this was the end of his old
+life and its works and that in the future he would work for Christ as
+well as trust him.
+
+After supper was over the next evening the men of the camp received a
+new idea of Christian service. The convert of the previous night took
+out his violin and began to play the favorite of the camps--"Jesus
+Lover of My Soul." The lumberjacks listened and their interest turned
+to astonishment when the convert drew out a Bible and began to read
+a chapter to the crowd. But if they were astonished at the reading
+they were dumbfounded when he announced that he was going to give them
+a talk. He had learned the principles of scripture in his youth and
+now he gave the boys the old gospel which was doubly precious to him
+because of his recent experience.
+
+Through the winter he continued to hold meetings with the men, and in
+all the north woods there was no prouder camp, for it claimed to be
+the only one having a settled pastor. When Mr. Higgins returned to the
+camp he found the men happy in the new condition, stimulated with the
+encouragement the convert had given them and more ready to learn of
+the transforming power of the Divine Man of Galilee.
+
+"The woods were God's first temples," and in the green solitudes, under
+the unchanging pines, men are worshiping.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+ITINERATING IN THE CAMPS.
+
+
+In all parts of northern Minnesota are found the logging camps. The
+distances traversed by the missionaries in reaching these outposts
+demand determined purpose, strength of body and love for humanity. The
+lumberjacks that are in a camp this winter are scattered all through
+the north with the opening of the next logging season, for there is
+little to tie a man to one employer in preference to another, and
+those who received the services of the mission workers one year are
+ever ready to claim them in their new place of labor. The result of
+this scattering is that requests come to Mr. Higgins from all parts of
+the lumber district, asking for the services of the missionaries. The
+demand is greater than the possibilities of the exchequer and many who
+ask meet with disappointment. A mission worker is placed over a group
+of camps, from eight to twenty, and from camp to camp he goes with
+his tidings of salvation, holding meetings every night in a different
+camp. The work is strenuous, and he must have a heart warm with the
+love for souls of men who would willingly, faithfully brave the dangers
+and privations consequent to the long distances between the camps. It
+would be hard to find a more devoted set of men than these hardy camp
+preachers, who set at naught the dangers that they may serve God and
+assist their fellows.
+
+Rev. Frank E. Higgins is superintendent of the camp work and tries
+to reach every camp in which any of his workers are laboring. He is
+constantly on the go, "a sort of walking boss for the Sky Route Co."
+The scattered flock is loved by the shepherd and he will brave any
+danger to serve the people he has chosen to reach.
+
+Minnesota's winters are severe. It seldom thaws after November and
+the thermometer often registers thirty degrees below zero, not seldom
+reaching a much lower mark. If a strong wind is blowing when the
+temperature is low the cold penetrates even the warmest furs and
+pierces the wayfarer with its keen arctic shafts.
+
+[Illustration: TOTING WITH FLASH]
+
+Beautiful is the deep mantle of pinery snow. No soot or stain is on the
+bosom of the earth, only the long stretch of "the white silence." But
+too often the work of the missionaries is increased by the heavy snows,
+and the delight of the forest is lost in the heart-breaking labor of
+the journeys from camp to camp. Put your "turkey" on your back and try
+the trudge through the deep snows, and see if the romance does not
+depart as weariness enters the limbs. Step forward in the early morning
+through the new fallen snow. The north wind is visiting the earth, and
+his breath is penetrating even the furry clothing. Go on! The camp
+that ends the journey is only the little distance of ten long, lonely,
+humanless miles. The pack may be heavy when you start, but before long
+you are transporting a mountain that has developed from a peak to an
+endless range of Himalayas. The fun has departed and only the hard
+spirit of fatigue is your company. Every step is an effort, every blast
+of the wind reaches the marrow: the exposed face feels like cold onyx,
+and the wind-inflamed eyes look through frozen lashes for the smoke of
+the cookshed above the distant trees. The fingertips send to the brain
+their protest against the numbing cold that stiffens them, and the arms
+are swinging to aid the frozen blood to reach the pained extremities.
+Mile after mile, endlessly the trail stretches into the forest; mile
+after mile the pain and suffering continue; mile after mile the weary
+feet drag the heavy burden to carry the message of a Savior to the
+neglected men who, far from civilization, work in the pine forests of
+the North Star State. At last, yonder above the green sea of Norway
+lances, the column of smoke rises like a beacon to tell of warmth and
+food, and the safe companionship of men. The sight of the unconscious
+smoke acts like a stimulant. At last the view of the crude camp breaks
+in fulness on your eyes. Moses saw the Promised Land from a distance,
+but the sight of that collection of log shacks means more to you, tired
+and almost frozen, than the land beyond muddy Jordan did to the writer
+of the Pentateuch. It means a chance to rest, to warm--and to the
+missionary, who is daily making this journey through the frozen forest,
+a chance to preach the unsearchable riches of the world's Savior.
+
+Night after night the missionary holds his meetings, each night in a
+different camp. The day is spent in passing from one camp to another,
+for often the camps are far apart and transportation is primitive; it
+depends on first principles.
+
+During the first three years of Mr. Higgins' work he found that while
+a man could do much, a man and two dogs could do more. He secured two
+large St. Bernard dogs and by means of his dog team made the long
+journey between the camps. The idea of using a dog team is a very
+practical one. It furnished an easy means of locomotion, the task of
+stabling was not difficult and the cost of food nothing. When the run
+was to be made between points on the railway the dogs and sled could
+easily be placed in the baggage car and be ready for the drive to the
+camp as soon as the train stopped.
+
+In all new work prejudice must be met, and in this respect the mission
+to the camps was no exception. Some thought it a new species of graft,
+others desired to be left to the old ways and many had a prejudice
+due to another form of religion. It is not often that dogs assist in
+breaking religious prejudices, but Flash and Spark had a large part in
+assisting the logging camp mission into easy paths. The lumberjacks
+are passionately fond of animals, and the advent of the dog team
+made a favorable first impression in almost every camp. The doors of
+many bunkhouses are secured by a sliding latch, and when pressure is
+brought to bear against the outside of the door it will open without
+the raising of the latch. On arriving at the camp in the evening the
+missionary would drive his team against the door and right into the
+bunkhouse. The sudden, unexpected arrival immediately created interest,
+and while the men crowded around the handsome dogs the minister would
+explain his business and announce the time of meeting. The dogs were
+protectors as well as workers and at the beginning of this work the
+faithful animals silenced many a menace.
+
+The dogs were good travelers. Over the rough forest trails they would
+drag their sled at the rate of six or eight miles an hour and be none
+the worse for thirty or forty miles.
+
+On a journey from Northome to International Falls, Minnesota, the Sky
+Pilot lost his way on the Little Fork River. When night came on and it
+was evident that no sheltered lodging could be found the minister and
+his dogs prepared to camp under the zero sky. A large fire was built
+around a pine stump and wood collected for the night. The only food Mr.
+Higgins had with him was a rabbit he had shot, and this was divided
+between himself and the dogs. It was the only food since breakfast.
+The sweet green boughs of the pines furnished a bed above the snow
+and the robes from the sled gave a degree of comfort to the resting
+place, whose canopy was the frozen dome of heaven. By his side the dogs
+pressed closely for the warmth. The dark depths of night hung like a
+spangled sheet above, but nearer than the shades which surrounded the
+sleeper was the One who never slumbereth.
+
+During the night the howling of the timber wolves awakened the
+missionary and in the dark circle around him he could see the fireballs
+of their eyes, while their voices were distinct and near. Arising, the
+missionary replenished the fire, and when it broke into a cheery blaze
+the howling of the disappointed wolves grew fainter until the silence
+of the forest again took up its interrupted reign.
+
+Early the next morning the minister was on his way and soon arrived at
+the village of Little Forks, where he conducted the first religious
+service ever held in that place.
+
+On another occasion, when passing from one distant camp to another,
+Mr. Higgins was overtaken by a severe snowstorm and in a few minutes
+all sense of direction was lost in the raging blizzard. The dog team
+wandered from the beaten path into the muskeg and in the swamp they
+were compelled to spend most of the day. Toward evening the worst of
+the blizzard had passed and he was able to complete his long and weary
+journey.
+
+After supper Mr. Higgins went to the barn to feed his dog team, but to
+his astonishment the dogs refused all food. He had driven them hard and
+long, so when they refused to eat he naturally thought it was due to
+overwork and reproached himself for being thoughtless of his friends.
+Later he went to them again, but they would not touch a morsel of
+food. With a sore heart the preacher retired to his bed, but his rest
+was disturbed with dreams of the overdriven dogs. He arose early, and
+when going towards the barn met the proprietor, whose face was red with
+anger.
+
+"Is them blank dogs yours?" asked the angry man.
+
+"They are," said the missionary, wondering if the man was going to add
+to the reproach by telling him that the dogs were dead.
+
+"Then pay for the pork that the brutes chewed up while you were at
+supper last night. The hungry cannibals swiped half a hog and ate it. I
+ain't got nothin' but eggs and salt meat to give the boarders today."
+
+While the enraged hotel keeper was narrating his tale of woe a load of
+anxiety passed from the preacher's mind and before, the proprietor had
+finished he found his auditor laughing with hearty spirit. Mr. Higgins
+paid for the meal of the "hungry cannibals," but he remarked in telling
+it:
+
+"I did not object, for it was the only time I was ever asked to pay
+their board, and I assure you they earned it while we were trying to
+find our way in the blizzard."
+
+Snow storms come up suddenly, and when the wind whirls the sheet of
+fallen flakes, all points of the compass are soon lost even to the well
+tried woodsman. The description of a blizzard may form an interesting
+page in fiction, but the experience adds to gray hairs and unending
+memory.
+
+In January, 1906, Rev. Frank Higgins was crossing Red Lake, when the
+snow began to fall. The uninterrupted wind, as it swept down the long
+stretch of ice, caught the loose snow and filled the air with its
+choking mass. The wooded shore was soon hidden by the veiling snow and
+all sense of direction had disappeared. Down the twenty miles of the
+lake the crystal clouds swept with increasing volume. Night was coming
+on, and yet the darkness could scarcely add to the helplessness of the
+wanderers.
+
+To the Father, who ruleth the rain of summer and the snow of winter,
+the missionary raised his prayer for help, and what man could not do
+was done by the leading of the ever-helpful God. He who guideth the
+stars in their courses led the lost to the wooded shore.
+
+On the shore not a human habitation was to be seen, neither did the
+minister know the direction to the nearest village. For several hours
+he wandered in the unbroken forest, and near the low hour of midnight
+he came to the miserable shack of an Indian squaw. His scanty knowledge
+of the Indian tongue came into happy use and the lonely inhabitant
+granted him permission to sleep on the floor until morning came and the
+blizzard had spent itself.
+
+When the Camp Mission first began to distribute literature, it caused
+a change in the means of transportation, for there were heavy boxes of
+old magazines to carry to the camps and horses were needed to haul the
+loads. Mr. Higgins had noticed that there was little to amuse the men
+of the camps and nothing helpful for their leisure hours. He therefore
+wrote to the churches in the state asking them to collect old magazines
+and ship them to him for distribution. The churches responded and soon
+he and his helpers were distributing literature to about one hundred
+camps. From five to seven tons of magazines are distributed in a
+season. Great good has come from this feature of the work; it gave the
+mind another channel for vent, the filthy conversation so common in the
+camps has largely passed away, and through reading the men are less
+inclined to quarrels. It has been noticed by the logging contractors
+that even the illiterate find recreation in the illustrations and many
+a dark hour has been brightened to the men who never read a line.
+
+On going into a camp which he was visiting for the first time, Mr.
+Higgins held his service and afterwards distributed his magazines.
+Immediately there was a rush for the reading matter and then for the
+wannigan to buy lanterns by which to read. In a few minutes the clerk
+had sold every lantern he had in stock and could have disposed of
+several more, had they been on hand.
+
+"What are you doing?" asked the cranky clerk when the Sky Pilot entered
+the office a little later. "Are you trying to turn the bunkshack into
+a night school? I've sold every lantern in the place and the Jacks are
+crying like fiends for more."
+
+"I've only distributed a few magazines so the boys can read a little
+improving matter," said the minister.
+
+"Lumberjacks improving their minds?" sarcastically replied "the guy
+that splashes ink." "This neck of the woods will have a university
+extension course next, if this thing keeps up."
+
+"You surely don't object to the boys reading?" asked the minister.
+
+"Not at all," said the clerk sulkily, "but you might have remembered
+that a clerk has lots of time to read and have left a few of your
+mind-improvers for his use also."
+
+The clerk received his share of the reading matter before the Pilot
+left the camp.
+
+Often when a box of magazines is brought into the camp the men who have
+gone to their bunks will arise and greedily come forward to receive
+their share in the distribution. These magazines are passed from one to
+another until they are read and reread, or worn out from much handling.
+Of the lonely lives cheered by them, God only could give the number.
+
+In a warehouse in Akeley, Minnesota, a bundle of magazines addressed
+to Rev. Frank E. Higgins was waiting for the tote-team to carry it to
+a neighboring camp. The tote-team driver came in, somewhat the worse
+for the liquid refreshment he had taken. While looking over the bundles
+waiting for his load he espied the one addressed to the Rev. Frank E.
+Higgins. The bundle interested him and he read aloud:
+
+"The Rev. Frank E. Higgins. Say, penpusher, who is this for? Is it for
+our Frank Higgins, the Sky Pilot?"
+
+"That's the man," replied the clerk.
+
+"The Rev. Frank E. Higgins," read again the driver, "some mistake here,
+penpusher, the Sky Pilot's no reverend, he's a Christian. That man's no
+reverend, he's a Christian."
+
+Shouldering the bundle he carried it to the sleigh, still mumbling,
+"He's no reverend, he's a Christian."
+
+Pertaining to the use of the title "Sky Pilot," a little story is told.
+
+A minister who was going through the camps investigating the work of
+the mission referred to the various workers as "Sky Pilot Davis," "Sky
+Pilot Date," and others. He had heard the term used in reference to Mr.
+Higgins and naturally assumed that it was a title common to all the
+camp preachers. The push in one of the camps heard him, and turning to
+the clerk, asked:
+
+"What the devil does he mean by Sky Piloting around that way? You'd
+think the woods were full of Sky Pilots, while we all know there's only
+one, that's Higgins."
+
+The tendency of the lumberjack is to give the title to Mr. Higgins
+alone, although it is occasionally given to the others, but seldom by
+the old time lumberjacks. Higgins alone is the Sky Pilot to them.
+
+Among the rigid Catholics there is naturally a prejudice against
+Protestant work, but it seems that the work must be done by Protestants
+or left undone. A priest could hardly do the work. It would be
+difficult to go through the forms and ceremonies of Catholicism in the
+camps. Forms and ceremonies are not successful when interruptions are
+common and likely to occur at any time.
+
+But Mike Sullivan was no bigot. He could appreciate the idea that all
+men were striving to please God and hoping to reach the same Heaven.
+
+"This idea of having many churches don't bother me any more," he said.
+"I think I get the idea. It's like this: these camps around here's all
+working for one company. O'Brien is push on section nine, Johnson's
+boss at Camp 2 on fourteen, Kirk is foreman on the north half of
+twenty-six and White sees to the cuttin' on thirty-six, while every
+gang is landing its stuff on the same lake and in the spring they'll
+make the drive together down the river. Gettin' out logs is what
+they're paid for and the lumber king in Minneapolis foots the bill for
+the whole works. So what's the use of jawin' if the push in our camp
+wears a different kind o' shirt than the push on thirty-six. Logs is
+what the man in Minneapolis wants and he don't care how them different
+foremen skids the logs so long as they get the stuff to the landing.
+That's my way of looking at the churches."
+
+Now the work has proved itself, it is much better understood and more
+highly appreciated by men of all religious persuasions. Many of the
+Catholics are deeply interested in the progress of the work, for they
+know that it does not strive to make Protestants of them, but that its
+end and aim is to lead the lumberjacks to a better life through the
+simple presentation of Jesus Christ. The result is that all classes
+and conditions crowd into the place of meeting and give respectful
+attention to the word of life.
+
+One night at Stewart's camp, out from Blackduck, Minnesota, the meeting
+was in full swing when two teamsters entered the bunkhouse and took
+their seats by the fire. It was after eight o'clock, and they had
+just returned from Blackduck where they had been with their loads.
+On returning to the camp they learned that the Sky Pilot was holding
+service and came in supperless to enjoy the meeting. Few of our towns
+people would forego the pleasures of the table, after the appetite had
+been sharpened by hours of labor in the keen air of winter, in order to
+attend a religious service. Such a desire for the gospel on the part of
+the men fills the missionary with a desire to impart the truth. It is
+an inspiration to preach to an eager audience.
+
+The toil of the missionary increases with each day. Exposure robs the
+body of its vitality, the severe temperature and the strong breath of
+the wind diminish the powers of the men who must endure them, be they
+ever so strong.
+
+The Sky Pilot had been hard at work for several months and the arduous
+labor had told on his unusual strength. He had taken cold through
+exposure, but the work was calling and he pushed on to the waiting
+camps. It was storming and the pack he was carrying grew heavier with
+every tired step. He thought that the exercise of the journey would
+in itself work a cure, but the pain increased and the wretchedness
+was accentuated by the cold. Drearily he plodded on, hoping that some
+tote-team would come that way and carry him to the camp, but no welcome
+conveyance appeared. Unable to proceed any further, he at last sat down
+in the drifted snow to rest. Through the cut over lands the cold wind
+swept its unobstructed way, chilling the sick man to the marrow. Off in
+the far north the tall Norways lifted their long arms to heaven, while
+the blasts of the wind waved them like the grain fields of the treeless
+prairie. Miles to the southward lay the habitations of men, and yonder
+in the hiding groves to the north was the camp he was hoping to reach.
+There was warmth there, and to the sick man the uninviting camp seemed
+a palace of comfort. If he could only reach the shacks, if he could
+reach the boys, that was all he asked.
+
+Gathering his remaining strength, he struggled to his feet and pressed
+slowly towards the goal. At last he entered the uncut timber where
+the strength of the blast was broken by the trees. On through the
+untrodden snow he tramped, bent with weariness, worn and pained,
+pressing on in spite of illness until the smoke of the cookshed showed
+itself above the hollow in which the buildings were located. There the
+lumberjacks found him and assisted him to the shelter of the camp,
+where they tenderly worked to warm and comfort the man who had so often
+stood between them and death. Everything that they could do for the
+missionary was gladly done, but they were limited by isolation and the
+minister was very sick. After supper the men in the bunkhouse discussed
+the situation:
+
+"The Sky Pilot's a pretty sick man," said the bull cook, "and we
+ought to do something to help the poor devil." This was rough but
+affectionate.
+
+"Whiskey's a good thing for one that's ailin'," suggested one.
+
+"Whiskey?" remarked another, "what's the use of talking about whiskey
+in this camp? You know that Sweeny's tongue has been hanging out for a
+week and that's proof there isn't a drop in the camp."
+
+Various remedies were suggested but they were not to be found. The men
+were discouraged in their helplessness.
+
+"We ought to do something for him," said a Christian sawyer, "we can't
+give him any medicine for we haven't it, but I'll tell you boys, we can
+pray for the man that is always praying for us."
+
+The men were silent for a moment, then a driver said, "I guess it's
+the only thing we can do, but we've never logged much on that land.
+You start the deal, Johnson, for you're onto that game more than the
+rest of the push. You say it aloud, Johnson, and we'll sort of keep you
+company."
+
+Reverently the men stood with bowed heads while the Christian
+lumberjack led in a rude prayer, and silently the men, who prayed not
+for themselves, joined in the petition for the man who "was always
+praying for them."
+
+That night when the missionary heard of the praying lumberjacks
+he thanked God and wept himself to sleep. The morning brought a
+brighter day to the men, for they heard that their prayers had been
+answered,--the Sky Pilot was on the way to recovery.
+
+Whiskey, the Wheel and Women are the Three Fates of the woodsmen. If
+the lumberjacks could be separated from these the chances for lifting
+them to a higher level would be increased. Whiskey is the worst of
+them and leads to the others. For self protection the proprietors and
+contractors of the camps are compelled to watch that no liquor enters;
+with its introduction trouble begins and a reduced output of logs is
+the result. Yet in spite of the care exercised by respectable foremen,
+it makes its way into the camp, being carried by the tote-teams, the
+bootlegger, and the men when returning from the neighboring towns. Men
+with strong appetites generally find a way to satisfy their desires.
+The camp may be miles from civilization, but the curse of Olympic gods
+and depraved men makes its way into the inaccessible places. Where a
+camp is near a village alcohol is easy to obtain, and Sunday, being a
+day of rest, is likely to be a day of carousing and shame.
+
+There were several camps near Island Lake, and on the Sunday that
+Frank Higgins visited the camps there the boys had been "tanking up"
+with squirrel whiskey from early morn. At the afternoon meeting the
+spirit of whiskey showed itself in many disturbances. One intoxicated
+man was worse than the others and was finally thrown out of the
+bunkhouse by the minister, and after that things went smoothly.
+
+Later in the day the missionary was in the village of Island Lake and
+while talking to a friend, the lumberjack he had ejected from the camp
+came staggering up. The campman was accompanied by a score of his mates
+who were also under the influence of liquor.
+
+"Are you the blank preacher that fired me out of the camp?" asked
+the man of the sudden exit. There was passion in his tone and he was
+evidently anxious for a row.
+
+"I am the man," replied the brawny preacher, drawing himself up and
+advancing toward the lumberjack, "what have you to say against it?"
+
+The drunken man looked at the minister as steadily as his unsteady legs
+would allow him, and suddenly changed his mind about the intended row.
+
+[Illustration: THE SKY PILOT TAKING A MAN TO THE HOSPITAL]
+
+"Not a word, preacher, not a word. I ain't got a word to say against
+it. Preacher, don't you ever think I want to say anything against it. I
+just wanted to know if you was the man, that's all. You're all right,
+preacher, you're all right. 'Twas a blank good throw. I ain't got
+nothin' against it."
+
+Turning to the other lumberjacks, Mr. Higgins said:
+
+"Boys, did you ever know Higgins to do you a bad turn? Can you show
+me where I have not tried to help you? Yet for the sport of the thing
+you try to get this poor, drunken fellow to cause trouble, just for a
+moment's laughter. Is that a proper return?"
+
+The men made no answer, but shame rested on many a winter beaten cheek.
+That night in a nearby camp almost every man of them came to the
+preacher after the meeting.
+
+"Forget it, Pilot," said the spokesman, "We're ashamed of the way we
+came at you, but you know it wasn't us, it was Whiskey. That's your
+only enemy in these woods. Say you'll forget it and shake."
+
+"Thanks, boys, I have already. Give me your hands."
+
+The pastorate has its trials, as every minister knows, but for
+unbounded variety of the unexpected the camp missionary has the city
+man far in the rear. Church quarrels have bounds, but where are the
+limits of the quarrels of the lumberjacks? From words they readily pass
+to blows and in a moment's flight blood-shed results. In February of
+this year the writer received a letter from Mr. Higgins, describing a
+railway trip. A portion is appended:
+
+"I recently left Deer River on the Itasca Logging Railroad for
+Fourtown, and experienced the worst trip it was ever my lot to take.
+The car was crowded with lumberjacks, few of whom were sober. The
+woodsmen had over twenty quarts of Deer River squirrel whiskey, and in
+a short time things were moving at a terrific rate. You may call it a
+tempest in a teapot, but never have I seen anything like the affair; no
+human tongue could describe the sight. The Irish, the Swedes and the
+Glengarry Scotch were filled with whiskey, and every man was out for
+blood, and blood they had,--an abundance of it. An old time lumberjack
+said that in all his days in the woods he has yet to see the equal of
+the scene.
+
+"I took a hand in trying to keep the boys in order and although I
+succeeded in preventing three fights, the conditions were soon beyond
+me, for it was impossible, even for a traveling missionary, to be in
+more than one part of the car at the same time and the performance was
+more than a three ring affair.
+
+"When matters got to this pace I had to content myself with taking a
+hand only when it seemed that permanent injury would be done to the
+participants. One old man, very much under the influence of liquor, had
+his face battered beyond recognition. I pulled off the chastiser, but
+did not succeed in releasing the old man before one of his eyes had
+been closed and the mouth and face were covered with blood. No sooner
+had the champion of this affair been separated from the old man than
+another lumberjack was at the bully and the bully was taking the same
+medicine he had so liberally given to the old fellow. This second scrap
+placed another patient on my hands.
+
+"When we came to the different camps and the men began to get off the
+train, I had to literally drag them through the snow away from the
+track, so they would not be killed, for many of them were too drunk
+and excited to realize the danger.
+
+"I hope I shall never see such a condition again. Was it not Paul who
+said, 'I have fought with beasts at Ephesus.' I had a like experience
+on that logging train. A sober woodsman who saw the fight of the
+drunken lumberjacks said, 'Pilot, why do you continue to work among
+such men?' and I made answer, 'Because my Master died to save such.'
+This is to me a sufficient answer. The conditions need changing, and
+the only thing that will bring about a change is the Gospel."
+
+In the sleigh of the Sky Pilot antiseptic bandages and a few medicines
+are carried. Through them he is able to relieve the wounded and assist
+the sick. His sleigh is often converted into an ambulance and men
+who have met with accidents are carried to the nearest hospital for
+treatment. If the accident is severe he visits the wounded to give
+cheer and hope. There, in the hospital, the men have time to think of
+eternal things, and the comfort of Christ is often the stimulus of the
+recovering and the solace of the dying.
+
+When death is approaching, the last letters are written and assurance
+of decent interment is given. The poor lumberjack may have no money
+to meet the expense, but the minister makes all arrangements for the
+funeral and after the body is entombed he goes back to the camp and
+tells the boys of their comrade's request for Christian burial. The
+campmen pay back every cent the Sky Pilot has expended.
+
+"Tell the boys that in this hour Jesus Christ brought his strong
+salvation to me," said a dying man. "Ask them to trust him."
+
+When the missionary goes back to the camp with such a message from
+the dead the interest is profound. Coming from one of themselves it
+seems more real than if it were the message of the preacher. When the
+testimony comes from their own mates they are more receptive to the
+gentle Gospel of the Cross. Often in death a lumberjack, by his message
+to the foresters, has accomplished more than in his years of life.
+
+While speaking of this itinerating work we must add a paragraph
+concerning the homesteaders. In this forest region is much land that
+is open to settlement. The little cabins of the homesteaders, who
+have taken up claims, are seen in many parts of the forest, and the
+small clearings tell of man's presence. When the settlers hear that
+Rev. Frank E. Higgins is to hold services in a neighboring camp they
+are often found at the bunkhouse meetings. Mr. Higgins is practically
+the only pastor who visits the scattered peasantry; he conducts their
+marriage ceremonies, baptizes their children and speaks the last words
+over their dead. Into these homes he alone comes bearing spiritual
+tidings. Some of these homesteaders work their farms in summer and
+in the winter help out the scanty increase of the little fields by
+working in the logging camps. So in passing the new homes he leaves the
+literature, "speaks a good word for Jesus Christ," adds a sentence of
+comfort and passes along the trail,--like a true servant of him who was
+gladly received by the common people because he went about doing good.
+"Go ye into the highways and hedges," said the Nazarene.
+
+
+
+
+Work in the Lumber Towns
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+WORK IN THE LUMBER TOWNS.
+
+
+In the camps the missionary is largely a preacher; in the lumber
+towns the work he must do is cut to no design or pattern. One might
+call it pastoral work, and in a free use of the term it is, but I
+know of no pastor who is doing work of this nature unless it be the
+men in the city missions. It is work which consists largely of the
+unexpected--changing a chance circumstance into Christian activity.
+
+The villages and towns have followed the railways, bringing in the many
+alluring vices of civilization. Through the approaches of vice the
+campmen have been demoralized, their lives made almost worthless, and
+their characters seared with the brand of iniquity. The contractors
+find it a task to obtain suitable men for their crews, for the
+saloon and its concomitant evils have made many of the lumberjacks
+irresponsible and incapable. The men will leave their work on the
+least provocation to spend a few days in debauchery. Often a contractor
+finds himself, in the parlance of the camps, "with one crew coming to
+camp, another working, and another leaving camp." This means loss on
+the part of the men and inability on the part of the contractor to
+deliver his contract of logs. As one contractor expressed it: "The
+jacks work until their hides begin to crack, then follow their tongues
+to the nearest irrigation plant, tank up until the stake is blown, then
+mosey to a camp to dry out again." The village and town saloons are
+largely the cause of this. The rum shops, and worse, are ever on the
+lookout for the boys, and he who escapes the clutches of the godless
+crowd must indeed be immune to temptation.
+
+Mr. Higgins was in a hotel in Tenstrike, Minnesota, when a lumberjack
+who had finished his winter's work came into the house to wait for the
+train going south. Immediately the saloon men and gamblers were after
+him but he resisted and left the village with his check uncashed. The
+gamblers learned that he was going to Bemidji so they wired to the
+gamblers of that place to meet him. When the woodsman left the train
+he was hailed by a waiting "toot." The "toot" was genial, gracious,
+sympathetic, and to cement the friendship, the one must treat and
+the other do likewise. While they drank the attendant at the wheel
+made music with the roulette ball and soon in response to the siren's
+singing the lumberjack was seated at the wheel where he lost in a few
+hours the wages it had taken him months to earn. When he left the place
+he was drunken, penniless, forsaken.
+
+The writer and Frank Higgins were going through a gambling den in one
+of the northern towns. At the roulette wheel sat a young traveling
+man playing his chips with liberal hand. Merrily the ivory rattled
+in the groove and settled in the space. Now he lost, now he won. Joy
+or anguish was on his face as he played to increase his winnings or
+retrieve his losses. It was interesting to watch the play of the man's
+passions as expressed in his countenance. Hour after hour the game
+dragged on. We visited other resorts of the lumberjack and returned
+at midnight, but the traveling man was still at the wheel. Hope still
+lingered, but from the haggard, drawn expression of his face we
+could tell that he had lost heavily. It was 1:30 A. M., when the game
+ended and the man was without a cent. Mr. Higgins spoke to him in the
+lobby of the hotel. Despair was depicted on the man's face. Worn with
+anxiety, he staggered like one under the power of liquor, although not
+a drop had passed his lips, and the wild look of his eyes suggested the
+haunted mien of one who might attempt his own life.
+
+When Mr. Higgins spoke to him, he replied:
+
+"I am an embezzler tonight. I have spent all my own money and all
+the money with which my employer had trusted me. I deserve the
+penitentiary."
+
+Continuing, he told us his story. He was trained to a profession
+but the confinement of his vocation brought on ill health and he
+had begun to travel for a well known firm. He was the only child of
+respectable parents, and in his present wretchedness he thought of the
+disappointment and grief coming to these aged ones as a result of his
+folly. I could not but admire the handsome fellow, foolish though he
+was, for his apparent love for his home.
+
+"I have disgraced them," he said in anguish, "and when they hear of my
+dishonesty it will kill them."
+
+He went to the desk and wrote a letter to the firm telling them of his
+fall and how he had lost their money in gambling. When he was about to
+mail the letter Mr. Higgins went to him again and tried to induce him
+to go to bed.
+
+"No," he said, "I could not sleep, and if I could, I have no money to
+pay for a room. I have been dishonest enough already without wronging
+the proprietor."
+
+"Clerk, give him a room and charge it to me," said Mr. Higgins, taking
+the matter into his own hands. "Now, brother, you go to bed and stay
+there until I call you, and we'll see what we can do. Don't mail that
+letter. Perhaps it won't be necessary in the morning."
+
+He went to breakfast with us. After the meal the missionary went out to
+interview the town and county officials. The result of the conference
+was that the gambler turned over to the traveling man the amount of
+money embezzled and took his note for the same. The traveling man
+pledged his word never to gamble again and went on his way sadder, and
+we hope wiser, because of the experience.
+
+The same night on which the above incident occurred, we entered a
+palatial saloon and gambling place and found but few men present, for
+it was a season when most of the men were in camp after spending the
+Christmas holidays in town. We entered into conversation with the
+proprietor of the place.
+
+"Things are pretty quiet," said Mr. Higgins, "I suppose you are not
+making expenses just now?"
+
+"Hardly," answered the proprietor, "but I needn't worry, it will come
+in later." He nodded to the camps west of town, "All the boys are
+working."
+
+This is the attitude of these keepers. They consider the earnings of
+the lumberjack as their legitimate spoil and part of their yearly
+income.
+
+The wife of one of the saloon proprietors, overhearing a remark
+concerning her jewels and apparel, said:
+
+"I can afford to wear rich clothing. My husband has about a thousand
+men working for him in the woods." The meaning was obvious: that these
+men would spend their earnings in the saloon, at the gaming table, and
+in the retreats connected with her husband's establishment.
+
+The brazen effrontery of those engaged in this business is
+indescribable. The flesh and blood of men is to be lowered to the level
+of the brutes, appetites of lust are to be satisfied, passions of evil
+are to be encouraged, and no shade of shame is to be found on the
+countenances of this depraving element. Where money is to be had the
+souls of men are not to be considered. Human misery is nothing. There
+is money in the damning business--then damn the soul and get the money
+is the policy.
+
+An extensive self-satisfaction, a mantle of self-righteousness, clothes
+the men of this vocation.
+
+"Bad? Of course it's a bad business," said one, "but if we don't sell
+the stuff some one else will. As long as there are fools to buy it we
+intend to supply them. It's their lookout, not ours."
+
+"But don't you think you are morally responsible for tempting men?" I
+asked.
+
+"All a man is responsible for is being honest," he replied. "I have
+been honest in all I have done. No man was ever robbed in my place,
+and the games are straight. I may go to hell when I am through here,
+but my job will be shoveling coal to make it hotter for the hypocrites
+who profess to be honest and then steal when they get the chance."
+
+They talked freely of their business and one gambler had the courage to
+make this assertion:
+
+"There isn't a more honest set of men in the country than the
+professional gamblers. They are all right, but the associations are
+bad."
+
+The above may be a description of some gamblers, but not of all, for
+it is well known that the games are often crooked and by mechanical
+devices are made a sure thing for the house.
+
+In one of the range towns a cruiser entered a gambler's place with
+several thousand dollars in his possession. It was not long before he
+had lost all. Satisfying himself that the game was not "on the square,"
+he drew his gun and shot up both the gambler and the wheel, took his
+money from the till and left the place. The gambler was maimed for life.
+
+The saloons and gambling places are palatial and attractive. They
+are fitted with the best the town affords, resplendent with glitter
+and flash of lights, showy woodwork and decorated walls. Courtesy
+and attention await the victims, for an army of men is ready to
+respond to any desire the lumberjacks may express, no matter how low.
+Everything is designed to allure. No wonder the men who have known
+only the discomforts of the camps, with their hard, grinding labor and
+unaesthetic surroundings, are easily caught in the net that is spread
+at their feet.
+
+Because of this lawless element so common in the lumber towns, and the
+unrestrained ways in which almost all of the towns are run, the "open"
+policy being the common one, there is work for the camp missionary to
+do. The Rev. Frank Higgins goes into the saloons to find the stray
+sheep. His errands of mercy have led him into hundreds of dram shops
+and gambling places.
+
+The writer was with him in one of the towns and the following incidents
+are only a part of that day's work of helpfulness:
+
+Having heard from a contractor that one of the boys had been reduced to
+helplessness through drink, and more than drink, Mr. Higgins started
+for the saloons and continued his search through many groggeries until
+at last he found the man. The poor drunken wretch was lying on the
+floor behind the stove, and the missionary put his strong arms around
+the besotted being and almost carried him to a lodging place where his
+needs were supplied.
+
+After that we visited the hospital to call on the camp boys. There he
+heard of a lumberjack who had been dismissed from the hospital that
+morning. The man was able to be around but too weak to work, and was
+penniless. So the second search began and the man was located in the
+lobby of a cheap hotel. Mr. Higgins went to the proprietor, guaranteed
+him against loss, and went on his way leaving the lumberjack free from
+care while regaining his strength. The man had been converted in the
+camps that winter, but so miserable had been his morals that no one
+trusted him. That was two years ago; today he is a respected Christian
+worker.
+
+Later came the assisting of another helpless lumberjack and the day
+closed with the incident of the gambling traveling man, described in
+this chapter.
+
+It is helpfulness that counts. On the banks of the Galilean lake our
+Master, who never wearied of doing good, met his disciple Peter and
+said unto him, "Simon, lovest thou me?"
+
+Peter replied to the question, "Yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love
+thee." Then the divine lips opened and gave to Peter and to us the end
+and aim of the Christian's relation to man--"Feed my sheep." If we love
+our Master, Christian activity in the form of assisting men should be
+an ever-present result.
+
+In instances like the following the flesh may rebel, but the command
+still remains:
+
+For three weeks Mike had been on a drunken spree; during the days and
+nights of debauchery he had not changed his clothes or even washed his
+hands. This was his condition when Mr. Higgins found him senseless
+with drink in the "snake room." The missionary took him to a lodging
+house and bathed the body from which the cleansing water had so long
+been absent. The man's feet were so swollen that the heavy boots were
+removed with difficulty and when the socks were taken off the skin came
+with them. It was no wonder that the effluvium drove the minister
+from the room. It was a hard task, against which the flesh rebelled,
+but the Master gave the command, "Feed my sheep," and here was one who
+needed attention. Tenderly the Sky Pilot watched over the poor fellow,
+supplying his needs until a few days later he was able to return to the
+camp. The man thus helped had been educated for the Catholic priesthood
+and drink had ruined him.
+
+Actions such as these may not result in the great end of conversion,
+but they do result in aiding the cause of Christ, for the men see in
+the missionary the spirit of the helpful Master.
+
+Many times during the period of Mr. Higgins' residence at Bemidji, Mrs.
+Higgins was awakened at night by some poor, spent lumberjack who came
+to the Sky Pilot's home to ask for assistance. Although she was alone,
+Mr. Higgins being in the camps, she would arise and feed the hungry man
+and then direct him to some place where he could spend the night.
+
+"Who is that man?" asked a stranger who had been watching Mr. Higgins
+as he went among the lumberjacks in the village street.
+
+[Illustration: LOADING FROM A LAKE]
+
+"That's the Lumberjack Sky Pilot, a fellow who never turned a
+lumberjack down," said the woodsman, and added, "His job is keeping us
+out of hell." It was crudely expressed, but it represents the sentiment
+of the boys; with them Christianity must act as well as speak.
+
+When a lumberjack is in trouble with the police he is quite sure to
+send for Mr. Higgins if the Sky Pilot happens to be in the village. Mr.
+Higgins is well known in these communities and the officials respect
+him for the interest he shows in his wayward flock. Many a poor fellow,
+who awakens from a drunken sleep to find himself in the lockup, wonders
+if the Sky Pilot is near. The missionary has often pleaded for a light
+sentence or asked for the case to be annulled.
+
+On one occasion he had been called to the justice court to plead for a
+woodsman who was charged with being drunk and disorderly. The preacher
+asked the justice to make the sentence as light as possible and to
+allow the man to go after giving him a reprimand. The judge was an old
+friend of the missionary, and at the time of the trial could hardly be
+called sober. Often he would appear in his office the worse for liquor
+and dispense justice to the petty offenders. In spite of his failing,
+the justice had a shrewd sense of right and a great respect for the
+dignity of his office.
+
+After hearing the plea that Mr. Higgins made for the lumberjack the
+judge decided to reprimand the man and dismiss the case. He tried to
+sober himself that the dignity of the law might not suffer through the
+weakness of the dispenser. He knew that the office called for erect
+deportment, so the bench straightened his figure and impressively began
+the reprimand:
+
+"W-whiskey is-s a bad thing. It ma-akes a f-fool of an h-honest man and
+a d-d--n f-fool of a f-fool. It s-shouldn't be used by l-lumberjacks;
+t-they belong to the l-last c-class already. It ma-akes a f-fool of
+every man t-that touches it. If you don't believe it, j-just l-look at
+the j-judge who has the p-power of sentencing you. See w-what w-whiskey
+has done for him. B-because of my f-friend Higgins I'll let y-you
+off this t-time, but remember the j-judge and let w-whiskey alone.
+Dis-dismissed."
+
+The example was a good one. Even Solomon could not have chosen a more
+timely illustration, for the judge vividly set forth in his own person
+what whiskey could do for a man, and the woodsman appreciated the force
+of the advice. Taking the missionary with him, the lumberjack went
+to the hotel and drew off his shoes. From the toes of the shoes he
+extracted a roll of bills containing one hundred and fifty dollars.
+
+"If those blood suckers, who made me drunk, had known I had this, they
+would have robbed me of it the same as they did of the rest and I
+wouldn't have a cent now. Well, Pilot, I'm through with it. By God's
+help, this is the last."
+
+The man went to North Dakota and settled on a farm. Today he is the
+proud owner of three hundred and twenty acres, and is prospering.
+
+The writer is only trying to pen a brief picture of the field as it
+presents itself to the missionary. No man can give a full description
+of the wide privilege that is open to the minister in these places
+where the lumberjacks congregate. He is required to perform varying
+duties whether they are related to the minister's calling or not.
+Often, in the regular ministrations, elements are introduced that
+suggest the burlesque rather than the solemn services common to the
+ministry, as the following incident will illustrate:
+
+It was the last day of the drive and the riverpigs were coming into
+town after their labors on the lakes and rivers. The town was reaping
+its harvest--at least the saloons and other evils were. As the Rev.
+Frank E. Higgins walked the street, he was approached by a drunken
+riverpig.
+
+"Say, Pilot," he began, "one of our crew fell off a log, pulled the
+hole in after him and is at the coffin shop ready for the boneyard. We
+uns want him planted like a decent Christian; he wa'n't no squaw man or
+Indian. See to the trimmings, will you? Do the job up right if you have
+to buy out every wannigan in town. Are you on, Pilot? When you're ready
+call for us at Blank's saloon, for we want to go with you to Jim's
+bunking place."
+
+The driver left him and entered Blank's saloon to report progress to
+the boys and the minister proceeded to the undertaker's establishment
+to make the necessary arrangements for the funeral. He ordered a plain
+pine coffin, and after procuring a dray for a hearse, drove up to
+Blank's saloon for the boys.
+
+Out on the sidewalk the riverpigs came noisily, but when they saw the
+dray with its burden they stopped abruptly.
+
+"It won't go, Pilot," said the one who had made the arrangements. "This
+is no jack-pine farmer's funeral; we're no cheap skates. This camp's
+got money and intends to blow it. See? Give us a run for our money."
+
+Then another rum-soaked riverpig spoke up: "If this was a tin-horn
+gambler or a bloated saloon-keeper they'd have a hearse and a brass
+band. Jim's only a riverpig, but he's got to be planted with the frills
+just the same."
+
+"Get a decent box and hearse and call again, Pilot," they shouted as
+they backed into the saloon to "keep their hides from cracking."
+
+The funeral procession had a more imposing appearance when it drew
+up a second time at Blank's saloon. A hearse led the procession and
+six carriages completed the cortege. By this time the mourners were
+in a state of intoxication, in which feelings of the sublime and the
+ridiculous blend without effort.
+
+"This is the way to do it," cried one of the riverpigs as he viewed the
+hearse and carriages. "Wouldn't Jim be tickled to death if he saw this
+show and knew that he was the whole blank thing?"
+
+"Say, Pilot," said one whom Mr. Higgins was helping into a carriage,
+"when we meet Jim later he'll say, 'I'm proud of the way you fellows
+rid me out of town.'"
+
+"Pretty near two months' wages gone for a box, but what's expense when
+we're planting Jim," weepingly commented his bunkmate. "He'd 'a done as
+much for me if I'd 'a give him a show. It's his last blow out anyway."
+
+All the way to the cemetery the mourners talked in the above strain,
+constantly expressing their satisfaction over the "frills" of the
+obsequies and the "agony" they were showing for Jim. There was an
+undertone of complaint because poor drowned Jim did not come forward
+and personally thank them for the honor they had conferred.
+
+Around the grave the riverpigs staggered and it looked as if more than
+Jim were going to occupy the grave, for with difficulty they were kept
+from tumbling in on the corpse. The minister spoke a few words on the
+uncertainty of life and the need of preparation for eternity, but his
+brief address was interrupted by the weeping of the drunken attendants
+and their interjected praises of the dead.
+
+"Speak a good word for Jim, Pilot," said a weeping poleman. "Tell the
+Lord he could ride a log as well as the best of us."
+
+"Get him through if you can; he wasn't so bad," was the parenthesis of
+a French-Canadian.
+
+"Good bye, Jim. Our turn's comin'."
+
+The last words were said, the benediction pronounced, and the Sky Pilot
+turned to leave the cemetery.
+
+"Hold on, there," cried the foreman to the minister. "This is no pauper
+you buried, but a man whose friends ain't broke."
+
+Taking off his hat, he turned to the crew. "Shell out, you blank sons
+of the nameless. Jim's been planted O. K., now pay the Sky Pilot for
+the words he shed over his bones. This is no poor farm job."
+
+The boys shelled out eight dollars and sixty cents for the preacher's
+services.
+
+The lumberjacks, the homesteaders, the saloon men and the prostitutes
+claim the missionary as their spiritual friend. It is on him they
+call when sickness enters their places of abode, and his response is
+willing and natural. He, as the servant of Christ, is the messenger to
+the poor and outcast; conditions of life are not considered.
+
+One night, when the Pilot was in a brothel praying with a woman who was
+passing through the dark waters, the girls of the house crowded around
+to listen to the prayers and see the end. One of the girls invited him
+to a private conversation and in it told him the story of her life and
+the nearness of her death. The physician had informed her that six
+months was all she could hope to live. "I'll make a short six months of
+it, for this life is hell, and hell can't be any worse than this," she
+said.
+
+When the church service closed on the following Sunday evening a
+messenger was waiting at the Bemidji church to ask him to come at once
+to the brothel. There he found the girl with whom he had talked. She
+had taken blue vitrol and this was the end. She had been true to her
+statement and had made a short six months of it.
+
+The scarlet women turn to him naturally for aid, for they know that he
+will do all he can to assist in their reformation. His ready sympathy
+appeals to the outcasts.
+
+On a train leaving Blackduck the Sky Pilot was sitting several seats
+from a woman whose business was unmistakable. The car was filled with
+men and the scarlet one was known to many in the coach. As the train
+started she beckoned to the preacher to come and sit beside her. A
+smile passed over the faces of the wise ones as the missionary took a
+seat at her side.
+
+But this is the woman's story: She had recognized Mr. Higgins, having
+seen him when he visited a woman who was dying in a brothel. She was
+leaving the place of her sin and degradation and did not know which
+way to turn for help. Would he assist her? She was tired of it all and
+wanted to live a better life, but knew of no place that would open
+except such as linked her to the old.
+
+Mr. Higgins knew of a place where the hands of Christians would welcome
+her and the doors were always open--a Christian refuge in the city of
+Duluth. Acting on his advice, and assisted by a letter of introduction,
+she went to the place and today leads a respectable life under the
+influence of a Savior. Did not the One of Nazareth say unto such, "Go,
+and sin no more?"
+
+Such is the condition that confronts the missionary in the towns and
+villages near the camps. You may ask, "Are not the spoilers unfriendly,
+antagonistic to the missionary, since they see that his work is in
+opposition to theirs?" While they recognize Mr. Higgins as against
+their nefarious traffic, yet they admire his sincerity and honesty,
+and prove their respect for him by calling for his services in case of
+death. They know that their business is under the ban, but they also
+know that his Christian zeal causes him to love the men while he is
+still an enemy to the business. In one of the saloons where the writer
+accompanied Frank Higgins, the saloon man asked us to take a drink of
+seltzer water.
+
+"I wouldn't take even a drink of water in one of your saloons," replied
+Mr. Higgins. "You know I am against your whole business."
+
+"We know it," returned the saloon man, "but while you fight us, you do
+it fair, and although you hurt us, we like you in spite of it."
+
+So without enemies, even among his opponents, he goes from place to
+place, helping pointing to Christ the lumberjacks, the saloon men, the
+gamblers and the prostitutes, doing a work few are fitted to do.
+
+The logging camp mission work must of necessity be a disconnected one,
+and the missionary often does not see the final results of his labors
+as in a settled pastorate, but the churches reap the benefit of what
+is accomplished in the camps. Many are brought to Christ who would
+never have been touched by his saving power if it had not been for the
+itinerating work of the pineries. The church has too long neglected
+this large field. Now she is attempting to redeem the time, but the
+present effort is a small supply for such a large demand.
+
+What is being done to counteract the influence that is thrown around
+the lumberjacks in the towns? At present there is practically nothing
+outside the two Bethels at Duluth, to help them, with the exception of
+a small effort in the way of reading rooms, and I know of only two of
+these, one in the town of Akeley, Minnesota, and the other in Bemidji,
+Minnesota. About a year ago Mrs. T. B. Walker and the M. E. Church of
+Akeley opened a public reading room particularly for the mill hands
+and employees of the Red River Lumber Company. A little later Mrs.
+Thomas Shevlin established the Crookston Lumber Company's Club Room in
+the town of Bemidji. Here the men can congregate and read the papers
+and magazines provided. But these are lonely exceptions of helpfulness.
+
+The particular need of the lumbertown is a well-equipped, furnished
+and up-to-date Bethel, for at present the only places open to the
+lumberjacks are degrading--tending to produce poverty of soul and of
+purse. The churches of these towns are not strong enough to carry on
+the work unaided. If the demands are to be met, outside help must be
+extended. The churches are willing, for the members see the need of
+Bethels, but their own work calls for larger finances than at present
+they are able to command.
+
+If there is no place for him to enter except the saloons, then of
+course we must expect the lumberjack to go where he will find a
+welcome. Open a place where he can find rest apart from the tentacles
+of temptation and we shall have done our part, and the forester will
+do his. A Bethel will be to him a haven towards which his weary feet
+and hungering social nature will turn with readiness, and in many
+cases with more readiness than they now turn to the saloons. All men
+are social creatures; the lumberjack is no exception. He wants to be
+where his fellows are, to join in their conversations and to take part
+in their interests, but the saloon is the only place that furnishes a
+convenient rallying point.
+
+"I don't like the saloon, I don't care to drink," said one, "but all
+the fellows who are willing to talk to me are there and I must go
+where they are." To meet the needs of the homeless the Bethel must be
+substituted for the saloon. Since something is bound to grow, plant a
+virtue where you uproot a vice.
+
+The Bethel is not an untried theory, but a proven success. Where these
+institutions have been introduced they have been well patronized and
+great good has been accomplished. A gentleman of Duluth, Minnesota,
+told of being on the bowery in that city, and noticed a lumberjack
+looking at every sign as he passed along. The man wondered if he was
+having difficulty in finding a saloon where saloons were so numerous.
+Suddenly the woodsman's face lighted up as he came in sight of a
+building bearing the sign of "Branch Bethel," and as he entered he
+seemed to say, "Thank God, this is for me. Here I shall find friends."
+
+Once such rest places are opened they can be made self-supporting,
+or very nearly so. The lodging part of the plan would pay a good
+return, an employment agency could be carried on that, in itself,
+would be very helpful both to the men and employers, and add to the
+profits, while the missionary and Christian woodsmen would advertise
+the effort and largely add to its support. But apart from this, the
+good they would accomplish can only be appreciated by those who know
+the present surroundings of the campmen in town. When temptation is
+reduced the increase in virtue is proportionate, where the stimulus to
+righteousness is given men must respond. To prevent evil is as much a
+Christian work as saving the fallen, and prevention would give less
+need for cure.
+
+In the establishment of a system of Bethels in the logging centers
+there is a fine opening for Christian philanthropy. The men who have
+made their fortunes through the labors of the woodsmen should be the
+first to look to the uplifting of the fallen men in their employ.
+In dollars and cents it would pay the lumber kings, and many of the
+difficulties now present in the employment of men would be gradually
+reduced. The lumbermen are becoming interested, but it is a work that
+calls forth the interest of every lover of humanity.
+
+[Illustration: CLARK AND JACKSONS LANDING ON THE ST. LOUIS RIVER.
+18,000,000 FEET]
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+MUSCULAR CHRISTIANITY.
+
+
+Muscular Christianity has a rather far-off sound in this matter-of-fact
+age where indifference is present and many a church is under the blight
+of apathy. But on the part of the logging camp missionary there is no
+apathy. His ministry is twofold: it is spiritual and muscular.
+
+Let some one who is more interested in the dead past write the story of
+the rough but earnest Crusaders, who fought in the name of the gentle
+Christ with flesh-piercing spear and blood-letting sword. That is a
+tale, foreign, distant and past; the narrative I bring is native, near
+and present. This warfare is not with the weapons which are the product
+of the fire and anvil, yet it is muscular and strenuous; its purpose is
+not death, but life, and its spirit is love. The banner alone is the
+same--the Sign of the Cross.
+
+Physical fitness of no common order is required of the missionary of
+the forest. In our northern pineries strength of limb, endurance and
+hardiness are the necessary capital of the workers. When the frolicsome
+winds drive the mercury thirty or forty degrees below zero and hold it
+in that low retreat for days, the men who work under the open sky must
+be vigorous to stand the taunts of the north wind and strong to resist
+the fettering cold. The pineries is no place for weaklings, either as
+pastor or logger. Brawn is an asset not despised, muscle is honored,
+and endurance is the ideal of the lumberjack.
+
+The city pastor finds that head and heart predominate in his work for
+souls; the missionary of the logging camps soon realizes that the first
+essential is bodily excellency--heart and head are secondary in the
+estimation of the woodsmen. They pity a weakling, they respect a strong
+man. But to strength must be added devotion if the man who comes as
+Christ's messenger is to win. They will willingly listen to the rough
+address of a rough and ready man who can fell a tree with precision and
+ease; the argument of the man who is scientific of fist and nimble of
+leg is sure of a ready reception.
+
+It follows that the same kind of ministry we look for in the city is
+not asked for in the camps. The object of the work is the same--the
+souls of men--but the methods and means are more varied. The man of
+tact soon sees that the body can be used to do a glorious work for the
+King, and that he who is fearful of manual exercise cannot be a winning
+ambassador for his Master.
+
+Physical Christianity sounds like a story of the middle ages, but this
+form of godliness is being used successfully to point men to Christ in
+the great north woods. It is not forcing men to accept his teaching,
+but doing with physical might for him whatever the hands find to do.
+
+Of more value than discussion will be the narrative, and so I present
+to the reader a few plain tales of the lights and shadows, the labors
+and losses in the life of the missionary who spends his all for the men
+who are far from civilization, far from Christ, lonely, wayward, rough,
+but still our brothers for whom our Master died.
+
+The village was little more than a collection of rude shacks. In its
+confines two hundred people made their homes. Even in the logging
+district one would search long for a place more under the influence of
+open sin. The camps were near and the village traffic was evil--almost
+exclusively evil. Nine saloons were the ornaments of the place and the
+large brothel occupied a prominent place in the social life. There was
+little in the village to commend, much to condemn. Its influence was
+vicious and its efforts were to impoverish the campmen.
+
+It was nearing the spring of 1905. The camps would soon break up for
+the winter, and the Rev. Frank E. Higgins, while making his rounds,
+found himself, after nightfall, in the village described above. The
+lunchroom was in the rear of a saloon and there the missionary took his
+belated meal. Many drinking lumberjacks were at the bar and soon they
+crowded around the minister with invitations to drink with them.
+
+"I'll tell you what I'll do, boys; if my dog will drink the stuff you
+fellows are imbibing I'll drink with you," said Mr. Higgins.
+
+He called his dog to him, and at his command Bess placed her front
+feet on the bar, but on smelling the beverage turned away.
+
+"Can't do it, boys; I'd hate to set a bad example to my dog. You had
+better follow her lead. She has good sense, as you all know."
+
+The men enjoyed the incident, and the tired preacher went to his room.
+The sleeping place was over the barroom, but in spite of the carousing,
+he was soon asleep.
+
+Shortly after midnight the minister was awakened by a loud noise in the
+room below. The sound of breaking glass and furniture, the curses and
+cries of men rang loudly through the house. A fight was in progress
+and it was evident to the missionary that it was more than a trivial
+affair. Hastily he drew on some clothing and rushed down the stairway
+which opened into the barroom.
+
+In the middle of the saloon stood F----, a foreman from a nearby
+camp. He was crazed with liquor and his powerful frame shook with the
+excitement of the contest. Over his head he held a heavy barroom chair,
+and lying near him were three men whom he had felled with the ready
+weapon. The bartender had taken refuge under the counter and outside
+of the open door were four lumberjacks who had fled into the cold,
+but now inviting, street. F---- was in possession of the field and the
+chair was both a weapon and a banner of victory.
+
+"Canada against the world! The Scotch and nae ithers!" cried the
+drunken logger in delight as he viewed the vanquished.
+
+Rushing in, Mr. Higgins grabbed the foreman. "F----, think what you're
+doing, old man. Do you want to kill some one?"
+
+"A Hooligan struck me. Think of a Canadian being struck by a Hooligan!
+Its mair than flesh an' bluid can stan'," replied the foreman as he
+menacingly moved in the direction of the door where the enemy had
+retreated.
+
+"You can't afford to become a murderer because a man lost his temper,"
+said the preacher. "Put down that chair and show that you can control
+yourself, even if others can't."
+
+Placing the chair on the floor, F---- watched Mr. Higgins assist the
+others to their feet, but the men in the street did not venture into
+the room until the preacher had led F---- up stairs.
+
+The Sky Pilot took the foreman to his room, and when he saw him soundly
+sleeping, crept in beside him and soon was lost to the day's tasks
+and disturbances. But the missionary's sleep was not destined to be
+undisturbed, for soon drunken oaths, the shriek of a terrified woman
+and the heavy blows of an ax falling on a door made the preacher rush
+from his bed into the hall, where he found the proprietor of the place
+trying to break into his wife's room.
+
+During the previous afternoon the proprietor's wife had learned that
+her husband was in a disreputable place and had gone to the brothel to
+persuade him to accompany her home. Her efforts were unavailing and he
+remained there drinking and carousing until midnight. When he returned
+home under the influence of liquor, his offended dignity sought
+retaliation in the murder of his wife.
+
+With the assistance of the bartender, who by this time had gotten over
+his previous fright, Mr. Higgins disarmed the drunken proprietor and
+led him into another room, where the missionary remained with him until
+sleep held him fast.
+
+The next day was the Sabbath. When the missionary had finished his
+breakfast he placed his phonograph on the table of the roulette wheel
+and started "Rock of Ages." The crowd of loungers had increased to a
+considerable number by the time several selections had been played, and
+when the song, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight," came to a close, it
+was in a receptive mood. Portions of the Old Book were read and a heart
+to heart talk followed.
+
+The proprietor refused to serve any drinks while this strange service
+was being held, and at the close of the meeting he asked the minister
+to remember him in prayer.
+
+Shortly after the affair in the saloon the Sky Pilot was in the camp
+where F---- was foreman. It was the time when the annual offering was
+to be given for the support of the mission work. Mr. Higgins arrived at
+the hour of the evening meal and learned that the Sisters of Charity
+had been in the camp at noon soliciting for the hospital work. When
+the intelligence came to him he decided to defer his request for an
+offering and visit the camp a few days later.
+
+After service Mr. Higgins said to the men: "It was my intention to ask
+you to contribute to this work tonight, but since the Sisters have
+canvassed the camp today we will let it go until my next visit."
+
+The preacher had scarcely finished the announcement when F----, the
+foreman, sprang to his feet.
+
+"Sit doon, Pilot," he said. "You dinna need to ask ony collection in
+this shanty. We ken a guid thing an' are willin' to pay for't. I'll
+tak' up the collection, although it's a new job to me. Shell oot, lads;
+remember the Lord and F---- love a cheerfu' giver."
+
+When F---- had completed his self-imposed task he handed the missionary
+forty-seven dollars and fifty cents.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+There is persuasiveness in a well-rounded muscular development. Some
+people are impervious to argument and some to courtesy, but few will
+fail to respond to the persuasiveness of a strong man with a mighty
+arm. Now I am not attempting to prove that this is best, nor would I
+care even to leave that intimation, but I remember the days when the
+rod properly applied was far more productive of good than all the
+homilies--in fact, the homilies were heard only because of the birch
+that, like Damocles' sword, was ever waiting to fall. But this is not
+autobiography.
+
+Some men remain children, and only the potentials that produced results
+in childhood will aid to fruitage in their manhood. Corporal punishment
+was effective for good then, and if you read the next incident you
+will realize that it has its force after they have passed through the
+vicissitudes of youth and have attained the physical weight of manhood.
+
+The bunkhouse meeting was in full swing. The singing was hearty, strong
+and free. When the lumberjacks wish to sing they produce a volume
+that is inspiring in spite of discords. Well, these men in Parker's
+Camp felt the spirit of song--but not all of them. An undertone of
+discontent came from a group of Frenchmen who sat together at the end
+of the shack. They did not relish the Protestant religion and intended
+to show their indigestion. The majority of the camp was in harmony with
+the preacher, but a small minority can easily turn peace into turmoil.
+
+[Illustration: A CAMP CREW]
+
+As the service progressed the opposition grew louder and remarks came
+freely from the French end of the house. Mr. Higgins went to the
+disturbers while the rest were singing and requested them to allow the
+others to enjoy the service. A second time the preacher solicited
+their sympathy and all went well until the address began. As the
+missionary proceeded in his message the rumble of the disturbers grew
+in volume until the address could not be heard. Patience was no longer
+a virtue, but an assistant to evil. Rolling up his sleeves, for he was
+preaching with his coat off, the minister left his barrel pulpit and
+visited the Frenchmen, not as an angel of mercy, but as a son of Mars.
+Taking a position that could not be misunderstood, he addressed them:
+
+"You pea soup eaters will do one of two things," said the brawny
+evangelist, "you are going to listen to the gospel or take a thrashing.
+Speak up, which do you want?"
+
+"Throw them through the roof, Pilot, we'll see fair play," cried a
+sympathizer.
+
+"Take them one at a time, they won't last long," came from another.
+"Give them both the thrashing and the preaching," said the swamper.
+"You've got to puncture the hide of that outfit to get any decency into
+their heads."
+
+Then came a deep silence. Only the winter wind outside and the roar of
+the stove within were heard. During the quiet the Frenchmen carefully
+viewed this muscular exponent of Christianity. On the preacher's
+arms stood the muscles in rounded hills and in his face was depicted
+determination and fearlessness. The examination was satisfactory;
+it was easy to decide in favor of a gospel message under such
+circumstances. The eyes of the Frenchmen dropped and the preacher had
+won.
+
+"I would rather preach anyway," said the minister as he walked back to
+the barrel and took up the interrupted discourse.
+
+Among the firm friends of the Sky Pilot that group of Frenchmen are now
+to be found. The coatless figure, burning with righteous indignation,
+powerful in right and backed with physical prowess, won the admiration
+of the disturbers. Conviction and fearlessness always open a way for
+him who is desirous of carrying the Cross. Even the opponents learn the
+lesson of respect.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+On every fruit-bearing tree the worthless fruit clings with the good
+and mellow. Every effort is not a success, as all can testify. Some
+seed falls by the wayside and is trodden down. Again, the sower is
+not even allowed to sow by the wayside. The devil is not dead and
+his agents are faithful to their commander. As long as man is sinful,
+opposition will show itself, but the darkness of night makes the day
+more resplendent by contrast.
+
+In the month of January, 1906, our missionary procured a letter of
+introduction from the proprietor of a camp near Kelliher, Minnesota
+to the foreman in charge. The letter gave Mr. Higgins the privilege
+of holding service in the bunkhouse. Armed with this letter, and
+accompanied by Mr. F. E. Davis, one of the camp workers, Mr. Higgins
+entered the camp.
+
+On arriving they went immediately to the office and left their personal
+effects and a box of literature, and then proceeded to find the foreman
+in order to present their credentials. Near the cookshed they came
+across a burly Irishman who immediately bristled up and without waiting
+for any greeting began:
+
+"Are you Higgins?"
+
+"I am," answered the missionary. "Is this--"
+
+"I am G--," he interrupted.
+
+"I was looking for you Mr. G--. I have a letter of introduction from
+the proprietor," said the missionary, at the same time producing the
+letter.
+
+"I don't care a d--n if you have a letter from God Almighty," profanely
+burst out the push; "you can't preach in this camp. Get your things out
+of the office blank quick and get to Hades out of these works. I won't
+have any blank preachers among my men."
+
+Mr. Higgins looked at the profane man and quietly answered: "I am in no
+haste about leaving, Mr. G--, in fact this camp has an added interest
+since I met you."
+
+"Get out, or I'll throw you to Hades out of here," said the wrathy
+foreman.
+
+"Not so hasty, Mr. G--," said the Sky Pilot. "I should be present
+during the disturbances and some one might get hurt. Is your hospital
+ticket good?"
+
+While the minister looked at the cursing foreman he felt a strong
+desire to enforce a lesson in common courtesy,--that part of the
+foreman's education having evidently been neglected. But he thought,
+if I should do this physical duty the lumberjacks who are my friends
+will refuse to work for the foreman and the proprietor's kindness will
+be repaid with loss. He therefore decided to forego the privilege of
+improving the foreman's manner's, and for the proprietor's sake to say
+nothing that would come to the ears of the lumberjacks.
+
+When the missionaries left the camp Mr. G-- was not through with the
+incident, for the foreman's remarks had been overheard by some of the
+men and were soon the common property of the camp. The next day the
+foreman went into the blacksmith shop, and not being over civil to
+the vulcan in charge, was suddenly seized, dragged over the anvil and
+kicked out into the snow by the wrathy smith. As G-- was gathering
+himself up, the man of metals gave him an extra kick and accompanied it
+with this enlightening remark:
+
+"There, blast your Hades seared hide, is an extra one for the glad hand
+you gave the Sky Pilot yesterday. You son of the nameless, I'll teach
+you how to treat your betters and make your blank soul respect the
+clergy."
+
+As a result of the incident a number of the men quit the camp, refusing
+to work for a "push who ain't got no decency."
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Men who serve the Master will at the same time serve men. It seems
+but proper to demand of the Christian that he prove his profession
+by his love of humanity. The religion that is only preached meets few
+demands, the religion that is lived satisfies human wants. Jesus Christ
+bore a relation of helpfulness to the burdened world; the disciples of
+the Nazarene cannot do less than follow the example of the man loving
+Master. At least, this is the expectancy of the men, they simply take
+the Christian at his word. Mr. Higgins has instanced this many times,
+for his parishioners feel that when a man is needed the Christian
+should be the first to respond.
+
+"Pilot," said a lumberjack to Mr. Higgins, "I've got a friend in the
+saloon over yonder and the drunken fool is blowing his stake as fast
+as he can throw it over the bar. I ain't able to get him out and the
+bar tender would give me a hunch to get out myself if I tried. Will you
+help me?"
+
+"Come on," said the preacher. "We'll see what we can do together."
+
+As they entered the barroom the woodsman pointed out his friend. Paddy
+was in that hilarious state of intoxication where liberality knows no
+bounds. He staggered up to the bar and in drunken happiness cried:
+
+"Here, bung swater, set up to the house. Hades while the dough lasts.
+Turn the spigot and give us a beer bath."
+
+Paddy generously emptied his pockets on the metal counter and a roll of
+bills and a handful of silver lay before the crowd.
+
+The bar tender reached for the cash to sweep it into the till, but he
+was not quick enough, for the large hand of the missionary covered the
+roll of bills.
+
+"I'll take this for my treat, Paddy," said Mr. Higgins in a quiet but
+decisive tone.
+
+"No you don't," said the saloon man and he hastened to attack the
+intruder.
+
+"Stand back," said the preacher. "You're not in my class, and I can't
+reduce my heft to accommodate a middle weight at this late hour."
+
+The bar tender was full of fight and menacingly waved a weapon at the
+preacher, and several seconded him in the contest.
+
+"Sit down, you heated fools," cried a campman; "that's the Sky Pilot,
+and the man that tackles him tackles me and some others."
+
+"Paddy has had more than enough liquor already," continued the
+preacher, "the silver I left on the bar is more than sufficient to
+treat the crowd at his expense, so I'll keep the rest as Paddy's banker
+until he is in a condition to know the value of it." Turning to the
+saloonman, he said, "You call yourself a man and yet you would take all
+the winter's earnings of a poor fellow who is not in his right mind.
+You are a scoundrel or you would have sent this fellow away long ago."
+
+Mr. Higgins and his friend got Paddy on the train and carried him to
+Bemidji where they put him to bed.
+
+Next morning Paddy wandered into the lobby where the preacher was
+sitting. "Some one robbed me last night," he began; "they took every
+cent I had and pinched my hat and coat. What am I goin' to do?"
+
+"Go home. That's what you're going to do," said the preacher with
+decision. "Nobody robbed you Paddy, nobody needed to. When I met you
+last night you were throwing your money away faster than they could
+take it from you. You had already lost your coat and you threw your hat
+out of the car window on the way here. But we managed to save a little
+for you, enough to get you back home." The preacher handed him the roll
+of bills he had saved. It contained forty dollars.
+
+Paddy took the advice of the Sky Pilot and left at once for home, never
+again to appear among his old associates in the pineries. He is the
+brother of a respected Catholic priest, and comes of a prominent family.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The proverb reads, "A man is known by the company he keeps." In the
+main the proverb is true, but it is not always applicable. A slum
+worker differs from his associates; a camp worker is with the worst
+element of the camps more than with the men who walk straight; he goes
+where he is needed, and, like the Master, he is a friend of publicans
+and sinners. But he who lifts another does not lower himself, even if
+he has to stoop in order to lift. In fact, I doubt if there be even the
+suggestion of stooping. Although the physical figure implies the act--I
+rather believe that the good man lifts himself when he extends his hand
+down to another. Let me tell you a story, one that is well known in the
+northern woods:
+
+A---- was built for doing things, and looked the part. If you were
+judging from appearances you would say that he was one of the best, and
+if you asked for confirmation of your opinion the lumberjack would
+answer regarding him, "None better in all the north woods,"--a high
+physical certification.
+
+For some time A---- had been a foreman. His abilities won the
+admiration of the men and his habits of life made him feared,--it was
+another case of what whiskey can do with a man.
+
+Once when Mr. Higgins was preaching in A----'s camp, A---- came into
+the meeting and drunkenly listened to the minister as he pleaded with
+the men to forsake evil and get right with God. A tense stillness hung
+over the bunkhouse and all the audience listened in sympathy.
+
+Suddenly another voice broke into the harmony. It was A---- crying in
+fervid encouragement: "Lace it to them, Higgins, give them hell, old
+boy, the drunken sons of the nameless need a dose of religion to make
+them log right."
+
+"Don't notice him, boys," said Mr. Higgins; "that is whiskey that is
+talking. A---- would be ashamed of that sort of thing if he were sober,
+but whiskey isn't ashamed of anything."
+
+At the end of Frank Higgins' first year in Bemidji, when the camps were
+pouring their men into the towns, he happened to visit the little town
+of Farley, Minnesota. The lumberjacks owned the town. The long drought
+of winter was turned into a deluge and it was the evident intention of
+the foresters to consume in a day enough to make up for the enforced
+abstinence. A stream of coin passed over the bar and a tide of liquor
+came from the other side.
+
+Near a saloon a laughing crowd watched the antics of a powerful fellow
+who drunkenly wallowed in the mud. Bewilderingly fluent and ingeniously
+profane was the man in the gutter, and his drunken comrades raised
+their laughter of approval at his antics and remarks. Pushing his way
+through the crowd, Mr. Higgins came upon the object of their mirth--it
+was A----, the foreman, too drunk to care about or to understand his
+degradation.
+
+The missionary helped the foolish fellow to his feet and, leaning him
+against a building for support, scraped the filth from his garments
+with a shovel.
+
+The father and brother-in-law of A---- were in the village and to them
+the missionary, took his drunken charge. A---- had been working but a
+few miles from home but had not visited his people for two years. When
+the relatives saw their son and brother, at the same time realizing his
+helplessness in the presence of temptation, they asked the missionary
+to take him to the Keeley Cure at Minneapolis, two hundred miles away.
+
+Mr. Higgins was not anxious for the task, but he knew that there was
+a chance for at least a partial reformation, and anything was an
+improvement on the present way of living. The only way to accomplish
+the journey with an unwilling patient was to keep the man drunk and get
+him to the institute while under the influence of his enemy--this was
+beating the devil with his first lieutenant. So the minister packed
+his grip with unministerial baggage--whiskey--and patiently waited his
+train. It took three men to get the logger into the car, and with the
+beginning of the journey the real troubles of the temperance worker
+began. On one side was the grip loaded with bottles, on the other a man
+loaded with whiskey. The only thing that suggested the ministry was the
+half fare permit, and that was out of sight.
+
+No wonder the conductor smiled when the minister presented his
+credentials. As the railroader punched the ticket, he said: "Are you
+on your way to Presbytery with a lay delegate, or are you both bound
+for a distillery convention?"
+
+The smoking car was crowded with woodsmen on their way to the city.
+A---- was in fighting trim and only the ever present bottle could keep
+him from stirring up the crowd. Every few minutes the minister passed
+him the bottle and it acted like paregoric on a colicky baby. "It was
+the only time I tended bar all day, and I am not anxious to repeat the
+experience," said Mr. Higgins.
+
+At Spur 25, A---- was sufficiently sober to recognize a friend who was
+waiting on the platform, and immediately he cried to the ministerial
+bar tender, "Here, Sky Pilot, give Kirk a drink. Hand him the glass
+works and let him sample the cold tea."
+
+Between Farley and Walker the effluvia from bodies long immune to
+water, the disregard of sanitary requirements, the expectorations and
+the foul air of the crowded car became unbearable. The missionary felt
+it very necessary that he should go elsewhere and breathe a cleaner
+atmosphere, so he called a teamster and installed him as bartender
+while he went into the day coach to breathe. A----'s father was in the
+day coach but did not dare to approach his drunken son.
+
+The missionary had not counted all the possible exigencies when he
+pressed the teamster into service. The substitute bartender had solaced
+himself with the liquid goods before entering the train, and was soon
+in a rapturous state from the mixture brought about from imbibing
+A----'s whiskey. Every time A---- demanded a drink the driver took one
+himself, and being a frugal soul, drank largely because another was
+paying the bill. He was a happy jack and expressed himself in song.
+It was the eighteenth of March, the day after St. Patrick's Day. On
+the platform at Walker a crowd of Irishmen were lounging, the green
+ribbons of yesterday's celebration adorning their lapels. The maudlin
+teamster was a protestant Irishman, and the green streamers aroused in
+his befuddled mind visions of glorious Londonderry days where the fist
+played a larger part in religion than it does in Minnesota. Leaning
+far out the window, until he seemed to balance on his belt buckle,
+he began the soul stirring melody "Protestant Boys." At least it
+was soul stirring to the Catholic Irish. At the depot the old scenes
+of Londonderry were renewed and a blow drove the teamster across the
+car and jammed him between the seats on the filthy floor. The feet of
+the Orangeman stuck high in the air, and though the trainmen tried to
+release him, they could not.
+
+Unaware of what was happening in the next car, the minister was talking
+with A----'s father when the conductor broke into the conversation.
+
+"Come into the smoker and take care of your parishioners, Mr. Higgins,"
+he said hurriedly, "we can't handle that booze-soaked crew."
+
+When Mr. Higgins entered the car he found that he had two patients that
+needed his immediate attention.
+
+At Brainerd they changed cars and waited two hours for the Minneapolis
+train. The minister took his charge into the station. Here A---- gave
+an exhibition of drunken hilarity that drove out the self-respecting
+loungers and caused the station master to demand A----'s exit. The
+streets received the minister and his charge, but after a few improper
+acts and worse remarks an officer ordered them off the streets.
+
+The only places open to the strollers were the saloons, and the
+minister led his companion into one of them. The saloonmen, because
+of the natural results of their business can stand considerable of
+the unusual, but this woodsman was able to give the denizens of
+Billingsgate advance instruction in the unprintable and nauseating.
+Not having lost all sense of the fitness of things, the saloon keeper
+escorted the woodsman to the door and Mr. Higgins again linked himself
+to the staggering man.
+
+From one side of the walk to the other the powerful logger dragged
+the husky preacher, and as they continued through the streets the
+blasphemy and filth flowed on. It was the expected that happened; a
+representative of law and order threatened to lock up both pedestrians
+in the city jail--for the logger dragged the minister in his zig-zag
+course and both appeared drunken. But in spite of the rough clothes,
+the policeman soon recognized the Sky Pilot and placed the city jail at
+his disposal while waiting for the south bound train.
+
+When A---- realized he was in the police station his temper suddenly
+arose and he rushed with closed fist at his companion. Mr. Higgins
+anticipated the attack and deftly stepped aside. The heavy blow fell on
+the panel of the station door, and a split panel and bruised knuckles
+were the results.
+
+After some hours Minneapolis was reached, a cab took them to the
+Institute and the worst was over.
+
+The minister and the patient entered the big rest room of the Institute
+just as the bell signaled the patients to prepare for treatment. The
+inmates began to remove their coats and to roll up their shirt sleeves
+so that the treatment could be injected into their arms. The removing
+of coats pleased A----, for it savored of a fight and he began to
+prepare for a conflict. Hastily he removed his coat and with raised
+guard and closed fist staggeringly advanced towards the coatless men
+who had fallen into line to march past the doctor. Instead of the
+anticipated fight, A---- received his first treatment,--the course in
+the Keeley Cure had begun.
+
+Several years have passed since the above incident, but A---- is still
+a sober man. Respected for his ability, honored by those who employ
+him, he stands high in the confidence of one of the largest lumber
+companies, and large interests are in his hands. While not a professing
+Christian, yet he is a strong advocate of temperance, for, having known
+the degradation of drink, he now appreciates the virtue of sobriety.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+Quebec, with its French population, raises many loyal Catholic
+sons. The training of the province does not develop a bias towards
+Protestantism. Anything savoring of it is distasteful to them, due
+to centuries of training. When these sons migrate to the woods of
+Minnesota the inherited and trained prejudice is likely to accompany
+them. On the above paragraph a story hinges.
+
+In the north woods of Tenstrike worked a French Canadian, whom, for
+obvious reasons as well as convenience, we will call "Old Quebec." Now,
+"Old Quebec" was neither a scholar nor a fool. He knew a few things,
+and the many things of which he knew nothing did not disturb his mental
+bias or unsettle his decision. He was a man of likes and dislikes and
+he gave his whole strength to either; he never asked himself whether
+his likes or dislikes were reasonable, he was simply satisfied to be
+out-and-out in opposition or comradeship. What he hated he cursed;
+what he respected he was always on hand to assist. Well, he cursed the
+Sky Pilot whenever he saw him.
+
+"Old Quebec" had no love for religion of any kind, but if a man wished
+to profess any spiritual relationship, Quebec was so trained that only
+Catholicism was acceptable to him. Therefore, when the Rev. Frank E.
+Higgins came to the camp in which Old Quebec worked the Frenchman
+thought him a non-entity because he was religious and a fool because
+he was not a Catholic. If you had asked Old Quebec, "Aren't you
+prejudiced?" he would have laughed, probably have sworn you out of
+countenance, and in his blasphemous way have given you the information,
+"What I know I know." His answer would have satisfied him and his
+profanity have settled you.
+
+So, at the meeting, on the missionary's first appearance, Old Quebec
+did all he could to disturb and interfere. When asked to give the
+others the privilege of hearing, he replied with a torrent of
+invective, blasphemy and vulgarity that shocked the ears of every
+decent man in the camp. Now there are some men whom one can not easily
+eject. Old Quebec was probably one of these, at least, the missionary
+decided that discretion was the better part of valor. For once
+there were two speakers at the meeting, and Mr. Higgins, being more
+accustomed to public speaking, won out.
+
+Few men could equal Old Quebec with the peavy. When there were logs
+to sack in the shallows of the river he was the man to keep the stuff
+from jamming, or when they jammed, to find the key log and break the
+obstruction. He was strong as hammered steel and bore himself as the
+king of the crew. He satisfied himself by cursing the missionary on
+all occasions, and the missionary was satisfied to talk him to a stand
+still. True, the missionary had tried to win the man, but Old Quebec
+was unapproachable.
+
+One Sunday night the missionary went to a hotel in Tenstrike and after
+spending some time in conversation with the loungers, he started for
+the barn to see if his dog team was comfortable for the night. On the
+way to the barn he passed the ice house, before which lay several cakes
+of ice. As he passed between the cakes the missionary stumbled over the
+body of a man. The body was motionless and cold, and although he felt
+for evidence of life he could discover none. Rushing into the hotel
+saloon, the preacher called for assistance. Old Quebec was at the bar
+drinking.
+
+"Come on, Quebec," cried Mr. Higgins, "get the lantern and help me with
+a dead or dying man."
+
+Procuring a lantern, the missionary and the Frenchman hurried into the
+yard.
+
+"Take hold of his feet, Quebec," said the preacher as he put his arms
+around the cold body, but Old Quebec, true to his superstition, refused
+to touch what was apparently a dead body.
+
+The missionary got the body on his back, Quebec held the lantern, and
+the body was carried into the saloon. Fortunately the man was not dead,
+but was drunk and frozen, and, had it not been for the timely aid would
+soon have succumbed. In the saloon the missionary worked over the
+helpless man until consciousness returned.
+
+"Take care of him," said the minister to the hotel man, "for I must
+leave early. Charge the expense to me."
+
+Old Quebec heard the remark.
+
+In the course of a few days the Sky Pilot visited the camp in which
+Old Quebec worked. The service began, but no word from the old man,
+although he sat in a prominent place.
+
+"I suppose Quebec's waiting till the preaching commences," whispered
+one of the boys to a neighbor.
+
+The preaching began. Through it all Quebec listened with attention, no
+sign of interruption came from him.
+
+"What's the matter with Old Quebec?" the minister asked himself, "is
+the fellow sick, there's so little action in him?"
+
+After the meeting was over the Frenchman beckoned to the preacher.
+Wonderingly, Mr. Higgins approached him.
+
+"There it is, Pilot," said the Frenchman, extending his hand, "that's
+yours now. Will you shake it? I've been pretty rough on you. I ain't
+got much time for religion, but after what I saw that Sunday night in
+Tenstrike, I'm settled. You're willing to do for us poor fools what we
+ain't got sense enough to do for ourselves. Anything I can do for you,
+Pilot, I do. What I know I know. I'm with you."
+
+As strong in his friendship as he was in his hatred is Old Quebec, ever
+ready to give a helping hand to the missionary, and as a contrast to
+the past he now feels that he is responsible for the decorum of the
+camp. Woe be it to the jack who dares to interfere with one of Mr.
+Higgins' meetings if Old Quebec is present. Once in Bemidji a crowd of
+lumberjacks was standing on the sidewalk when Old Quebec, who was in
+the group, saw Mr. Higgins approaching.
+
+"Open up the road for the Pilot," cried Old Quebec, "he's made the
+sledding easy for many a one of us, so I'll road monkey for him."
+
+(The road monkey is the man who keeps the ice roads clean.)
+
+The old fellow listens now, and others listen at his bidding,--Faith
+cometh by hearing, so Old Quebec's chances are bettered, for the word
+is like leaven.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+It is not preaching alone that is needed in the solitudes of the
+forest; even here pastoral work has its place, often a large place. Had
+the apostle Paul been visiting the lumber camps of Asia Minor when he
+wished to be all things to all men, or had he just beheld the ancient
+lumberjacks as they poured into the Athenian bowery after a winter's
+chopping on the slopes of God forsaken Olympia? Whatever the cause of
+the thought, it expresses the need of the missionary who would work in
+the camps. But Paul was himself a missionary, and that explains why he
+knew the qualities of heart and hand essential to successful work.
+
+Frank Higgins is a pastor, preacher, friend and brother to his
+heterogeneous flock. Their concerns are his interests and they know
+that if they need assistance this minister will extend it gladly. The
+following incident will illustrate this point:
+
+A. M. was a man who had followed the camps for years. In his years of
+logging he had acquired a little property, was happily married, and
+several children came to lighten his home. His wages were above his
+expenditures and he was making financial progress. But if you wish to
+introduce a change in the even march of progress, introduce drink. This
+is what A. did.
+
+[Illustration: A HOMESTEADER'S SHACK]
+
+It was then the old, old story of retrogression through alcohol. The
+property he prized as the fruit of industry gradually passed into other
+hands and a darker side of life was seen, in which the woodsman, his
+wife and children were all involved. The saloons handled his wages
+and a respected man sank into the maw of appetite.
+
+In one of the saloons the Rev. F. E. Higgins found the rum-soaked
+Scotchman on the verge of delirium tremens. The missionary took the
+helpless man to his home in the forest and began to nurse him back to
+health and sobriety. Two days and nights he sat beside the bed until
+the drunken visions passed and reason began to return.
+
+While the missionary was attending his self-assumed patient he gathered
+every piece of the man's clothing into a bundle and sent them over to
+the home of a neighbor. Not a single garment belonging to the man was
+left in the house. It was a course of heroic treatment that was in
+store for the patient.
+
+When M. began to regain his reason he was besides himself for liquor,
+but there was none to be had. Leaping from the bed he sought in all
+parts of the house for his clothing so he could return to the saloons
+and quench the consuming thirst, but no successful find rewarded his
+diligence. He begged for his clothing, but the man who sat beside
+his bed was deaf to entreaty. It was a seige in which the besieged
+could not even claim the primitive fig leaf. If the watcher had not
+restrained him he would have rushed out of the house, but the man who
+had sent his clothes away never relaxed his vigilance The house was a
+prison.
+
+The hours passed and the man became milder. The Sky Pilot drew out
+memories of better days; the long-closed chambers of memory slowly
+opened, and with the return came the recollections of the days when
+freedom crowned the life and evil habits were as yet unborn. Such
+remembrances create the desire to reproduce again the life of freedom.
+While M. was sighing for the past joys, Mr. Higgins was pointing him
+to the One who said, "I came that ye might have life, and have it
+more abundantly." At last in the shadow of the sin absorbing Cross
+the brawny preacher and weakened slave knelt side by side. To him who
+proclaimed liberty to the captive and to them that are bound they
+prayed, and when they arose two freemen clasped hands in friendship and
+Christian fellowship.
+
+M. realized that while he was free, yet sin had weakened him, so he
+gathered his belongings together and with his family left the place of
+his temptation and fall and emigrated to Manitoba. While I write, a
+letter is on my desk. It is from M.'s wife telling of his later life.
+She who wrote the letter was a Catholic, but she tells of the God-given
+strength that came to M., how during the years since his conversion he
+had lived under the sustaining grace of Christ. "Both my husband and
+son united with the Presbyterian Church here, and when at last they
+brought the father from a northern camp, bruised and dying, his faith
+held fast to the Savior who took him from the pit."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+THE FIELD AND ITS POSSIBILITIES.
+
+
+The Evangelistic Committee of the Presbyterian Church has been active
+in the logging camp work since 1902, when it first sent missionaries to
+preach in the camps of Minnesota and Wisconsin.
+
+The first missionaries it appointed to this work were Rev. Jos. Oliver
+Buswell and Rev. F. E. Higgins, the former taking the work in Wisconsin
+and the latter in Minnesota. Both these men had been carrying on
+private work in the camps near their pastorates. Prior to 1907 the work
+was largely experimental and on a small scale, but in the summer of the
+above-named year a strong sub-committee of the Evangelistic committee
+took charge of the logging camp mission work and an aggressive campaign
+was inaugurated.
+
+In the foregoing pages of this little volume we have considered the
+work in Minnesota exclusively and presented only the part which came
+directly under the hand of Mr. Higgins: now we desire to give a brief
+view of a more extended field.
+
+The sub-committee known as the Lumberman's Evangelistic Council is
+composed of men who are individually interested in this work. They are
+prominent lumbermen or well-known ministers, as the personnel of the
+committee shows:
+
+    Mr. W. A. Holt, Oconto, Wis.
+    Mr. Arthur D. Wheeler, Chicago, Ill.
+    Mr. C. A. Barton, Minneapolis, Minn.
+    Mr. E. T. Buxton, Duluth, Minn.
+    Dr. J. M. Gray, Chicago, Ill.
+    Dr. W. O. Carrier, Waukesha, Wis.
+    Mr. Dewitt Van Ostrand, Philips, Wis.
+    Dr. J. Beveridge Lee, Chicago, Ill.
+    Dr. W. J. Darby, Evansville, Ind.
+
+The officers of the council are:
+
+    Hon. Hugh H. Hanna, Chairman, Indianapolis, Ind.
+    Mr. J. E. Defebaugh, Vice Chairman, Chicago, Ill.
+    Dr. P. E. Zartman, Secretary and Treasurer, Winona Lake, Ind.
+    Rev. F. E. Higgins, Superintendent of Camp Work, Rockford, Minn.
+    Rev. J. O. Buswell, General Superintendent, Lumber Exchange,
+          Minneapolis, Minn.
+
+The desire of the Lumberman's Evangelistic Council is to place the
+services of the missionaries at the disposal of all the lumber camps in
+the west, so that the general morals of the workers may be raised and a
+corresponding plain of righteousness and ability be reached.
+
+[Illustration: THE STEAM HAULER]
+
+The superintendents of this work are well equipped for the task before
+them. Mr. Buswell has been an interested worker in the camps for some
+years. He felt that God called him to this particular work, and has
+been instrumental in leading many of the foresters to Christ.
+
+The reader of these pages knows that Mr. Higgins brings to the work the
+practical experience of twelve years, and a devotion to God and man
+that brings results.
+
+Through Mr. Buswell and Mr. Higgins the claims of the lumberjacks
+have been presented to the churches and by their efforts almost all
+the money used to carry on the work in the past, except their own
+salaries, has been raised. Under their direction a number of helpers
+have been at work in the field, the superintendents being individually
+responsible for their salaries and expenses.
+
+Beyond the States of Minnesota and Wisconsin, a little work was also
+done in Michigan and Washington. In the State of Washington Mr. Higgins
+spent the last two summers, taking with him, in 1907, two of his best
+camp chaplains.
+
+The future is ruddy with promise. With the more extensive organization
+come hopes of greater efficiency and broader possibilities. The
+desires of a few men have become the wishes and prayers of a greater
+number. The sub-committee's intention is to reach all the western and
+southwestern States in which the men of ax and peavey are at work.
+
+As yet only the edges of the field have been approached; even in
+Minnesota where the work is more extended, only one hundred camps
+are touched, while four hundred other camps are left entirely to
+themselves. Many of the States are without any organized work in the
+lumber regions.
+
+A view of the States west and south will reveal larger timber districts
+where this mission work will find a welcome and where aggressive
+extension is immediately imperative.
+
+Western Montana has its camps on the tree-covered mountain slopes.
+Idaho computes its timbered acres at ten millions. Timber is one of the
+principal resources of the State of Washington. The western slopes of
+the Cascades are heavily wooded with fir and on the eastern side blue
+and yellow pine predominate. Oregon is proud of its pine forests, the
+density of the woods is inviting to industry and solitude. The Douglas
+spruce has made this State a world-famous mart for masts and spars.
+California is the home of the redwood, and all the world reads of its
+mammoths of the forest; but in the northern part of the State pine,
+oak and fir lure the lumber companies, and there the lumberjacks are
+calling for services.
+
+Southwest of Minnesota the numerous camps of the timbered Black Hills
+catch the eye, then come the sixteen million mountain acres of forest
+land in the neighboring State of Wyoming, and an almost equal stretch
+in Colorado. Missouri is also well wooded, in all except the northern
+and western parts, and the State of Arkansas has twenty-five million
+acres of timber wealth. Louisiana has more than half of the timber
+acreage of Arkansas. The State of Texas does not count its wooded lands
+by acres; it presents the figures of sixty-four thousand square miles.
+
+The possibilities of this evangelistic work are noticeable in the
+above sketch of the western and southern forests. Where the lumber is
+to be obtained, there are the lumber camps and the lumberjacks. The
+surroundings of the men are much the same as in Minnesota, with the
+restraints of civilization removed and the agents of viciousness always
+at hand. The foresters present a picture at which the angels weep and
+the devils are joyful.
+
+Lumbering has been a prominent industry for many years in Michigan,
+Wisconsin and Minnesota, and it will continue to play a large part in
+the industry of these States for twenty years to come. In such States
+the camps are large, grouped and accessible therefore the mission work
+can be done with greater ease and economy than in the older States of
+the east where the lumbercamps are far apart and small. In the west a
+camp chaplain can serve as high as fifteen camps, giving them each a
+service at least twice a month.
+
+Seventy-five dollars a month will support a chaplain. Since the logging
+season is short, in Minnesota about five and a half months, it will
+be seen that a large amount of good can be accomplished at a small
+expenditure. A chaplain will preach to from sixty to one hundred and
+sixty men every night in the week and on Sunday perhaps preach in three
+different camps. He is the representative of spiritual truths to from
+six hundred to one thousand men. Where, at so little cost, are the
+possibilities of good so great? Where are these camp preachers to be
+obtained? "I believe that God will call to this work the men of the
+pineries rather than the men of the seminaries," said the Rev. F. E.
+Higgins. This has been so in the past. The men who are converted in the
+camps are equipped with a knowledge of conditions through experience,
+and where mental and spiritual ability are present they can do
+excellent work.
+
+Several of the successful workers in the camp mission were once
+lumberjacks. Mr. Fred Davis, who, since the promotion of Mr. Higgins,
+is superintendent of the Minnesota work, was at one time a lumberjack.
+Mr. Davis refused an excellent business position in order to spend his
+life reaching the foresters.
+
+Another worker is Mr. L. C. Michells, a former cruiser and estimator.
+Mr. Michells is not only a strong preacher, but is physically able to
+care for himself when opposition is presented,--to this the ex-mayor
+of a lumber town can testify to his sorrow, as can others who saw the
+fallen political boss hauled home on a dray after the encounter with
+right and might. At the time of writing, Mr. Michells is preaching in
+the camps of Washington.
+
+God is raising up men. Will the Christian church raise the means?
+
+Through the work done in Minnesota and Wisconsin an introduction has
+been secured to all the Western States; the timber lands of the west
+are owned largely by the firms who have exploited the woods adjacent to
+the Great Lakes, and these companies know the good accomplished here,
+hence a ready welcome is given to the missionary going to more western
+fields. The lumberjacks are naturally wanderers and in the camps of the
+Pacific slopes the Minnesota and Wisconsin woodsmen are already there
+to give the chaplains welcome. Mr. Higgins tells of preaching in a town
+on the Tacoma Eastern Railway in Washington:
+
+"In one town where no religious organization was at work, I held
+services in a dance hall, and seventy-five persons were present, sixty
+of whom were loggers. After the service two lumberjacks came up to me
+and said: 'Hello, Pilot, don't you know us? We're a couple of your
+Minnesota boys. Don't you remember preaching in the Clearwater Camps on
+'The Chances a Fellow Has if He'll Take Them?' Well, we broke away from
+the gang, came out here, have saved our money, and are the ones who
+rustled the crowd for you tonight.'
+
+"On another occasion I was to speak in the open air, when an old
+Minnesota campman brought a pitcher of lemonade and placed it by my
+side. After the meeting he invited me to his home and wanted me to make
+it mine while I labored in that place. Such kindness from the men who
+had been my boys in the North Star pineries did much to make my work in
+Washington a pleasure."
+
+By the past work the doors of the present have been forced open. The
+waiting men are inviting the bearers of good tidings to enter--shall we
+refuse? Where there is a need shall not the Christian Church supply it?
+
+Douglas Malloch, the lumbermen's poet, presents us a picture of the
+field in the following poem:
+
+THE PARISH OF THE PINES
+
+        "Where the winter's chill is deep and still,
+          Where summer days are long,
+        Where sighing breeze and branches fill
+          The air with sob and song,
+        There lies a parish of the Lord
+          No wall or street confines:
+        There 'waits the coming of the Lord
+          The Parish of the Pines.
+
+        "No tower uplifts its gilded spire
+          Above a house of prayer,
+        No organ tower or swaying choir
+          Makes sweetest music there,
+        For 'tis a vineyard choked with weeds
+          And lush with tangled vines;
+        Yea, much it lacks and much it needs--
+          The Parish of the Pines.
+
+        "Yet word of God is word of God
+          In camp or pulpit told,
+        And men of forest and of sod
+          Await the story old.
+        'Tis time to hew away the sin
+          That now the soul confines,
+        And let a little sunshine in
+          The Parish of the Pines."
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Notes:
+
+
+Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
+preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.
+
+Simple typographical errors were corrected.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's The Lumberjack Sky Pilot, by Thomas D. Whittles
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42945 ***