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of Dr. Wheelock. So established was his integrity; so wise were his arrangements; so evidently noble and excellent his undertaking, that the most respectable legislators on the continent honored themselves by assisting him in his labors. The province of Massachusetts voted "that Dr. Wheelock should be allowed to take under his care six children of the Six Nations," and they would bear the expense of their "education, clothing and boarding for one year." These were obtained and admitted into the school.

About this time Mr. Wheelock invited the following gentlemen to associate with him and undertake in trust to manage the concerns of his Indian school; viz. Elisha Williams, Esq. late Rector of Yale College, and the Rev. Messrs. Samuel Mosely, of Windham, and Benjamin Pomroy, of Hebron. They readily accepted the invitation, and subscribed a covenant to that effect. In the infancy of the school, Mr. Joshua Moor, a respectable farmer in Mansfield, made the first considerable donation to it. It consist

ed of a convenient tenement for a school house, and about two acres of land contiguous to Mr. Wheelock's mansion; and in honor of the donor, the institution was named Moor's Indian Charity School.

As the property of the school increased considerably, from the generosity of its friends, and as it was probable, that it would enjoy extensive patronage, it was thought best, by gentlemen of the law, that an act of incorporation should be obtained. Measures were accordingly pursued to obtain a charter from England, and also from the Governor of Connecticut; but the commencement of war between England and

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France, in which the colonies were deeply involved, rendered the design unpopular, and the attempt unsuccessful. The greater part of the Indians united with the French of Canada, and spread desolation on the frontiers. The army of Gen. Braddock was defeated, and for a season the enemy triumphed. The school, however, in this season of distress increased, "and such," Mr. Wheelock observes, "was the orderly and good behavior of the Indian boys, through the "blessing of God on instruction and discipline, "that enemies could find but little or nothing “that was true, wherewith they might reproach "the design." Several of Mr. Wheelock's friends, who were enraged at the horrid barbarities, committed by the Indians upon the defenceless inhabitants on the frontiers, advised him to abandon his object. His persevering zeal to promote their salvation was not in any measure damped, but rather animated by these apparent discouragements. He was persuaded that the most effectual method to bring them to a friendly and perpetual alliance, was to conciliate them by kindness, and bind them to us by kind offices. His wisdom and foresight have been manifested by subsequent facts. Those tribes, among whom his missionaries and school masters had mostly labored, were friendly to the colonies, and generally observed neutrality in the wars with the French, and since, in the late revolutionary wars with Great Britain.

Great was the faith and charity of the pious founder of the school, during the distressing war, of the French and Indians, and heaven smiled on his unshaken perseverance. In that dark period, the infant institution found many able friends, whose zeal for the glory of God, in the conversion of the heathen, triumphed over that

resentment and revenge, which the natural heart was ready to indulge. At that time, some openly opposed the school, others labored by secret arts to destroy its credit.

When the war closed, in 1763, the threatening cloud dispersed. The hearts of the liberal were opened, and donations flowed in from various quarters. The number of Indian youth in the school, from the Mohawks, the Delawares, Mohegan and Narragansetts, soon increased to twelve. Seven Indian girls from those nations, were also received and placed in good families, in the vicinity, where they were taught domestic business, instructed in reading and writing.

Sir William Johnson, superintendant of Indian affairs in North America, was very friend-. ly to the designs of Mr. Wheelock, and at his request, sent to the school at various times, several boys of the Mohawks, to be instructed. One of these was, the since, celebrated Joseph Brant, who, after receiving his education, was particularly noticed by Sir William, and employed by him in public business. He has been very useful in advancing the civilization of his countrymen, and for a long time past has been a military officer, of extensive influence among the Indians in Upper Canada. The expense of clothing so many naked youth from the wilderness, their board, their instructors, and persons to take the immediate oversight of them, was unavoidably great, notwithstanding the most careful economy. Mr. Wheelock was indefatigable in labor. He repeatedly journeyed through the neighboring colonies, soliciting benefactions of the liberal; his success often exceeded his most sanguine expectations, and excited his grateful acknowledgments to heaven. He generously gave all the expenses of his journey, his

own time and labor. In the term of eight years from his commencing the education of Indians, as a chief object, his expenditures amounted to two thousand five hundred and sixteen dollars, and his receipts, in donations, to two thousand two hundred and sixty two dollars.

In June, 1763, Mr. Charles Jeffrey Smith, of Long Island, was ordained to the work of the gospel ministry at Lebanon, with a view to his performing a mission to remote tribes of Indians. Mr. Smith was a worthy, pious young gentleman, zealous in religion, compassionate to the heathen, and of an accomplished education. He possessed a handsome estate and devoted a large proportion of it to charitable uses. He had itinerated some time, as a preacher, among the poor and destitute settlements in the southern colonies. He was successful, particularly in Virginia, in bringing the wretched children of Africa to the knowledge of Christ. He was universally respected for amiable manners, great benevolence, and popular talents as a preacher. The hostile disposition of some of the Indians for a time delayed his mission. At his ordination Mr. Wheelock preached a sermon from Isaiah ii. 2d and 3d. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations. shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. His sermon was afterwards printed in Edinburgh, and also in London. Its leading sentiment is deduced from the obligations of christians, to

make the Redeemer known among the heathen. The doctrine of it is, That the manifestation of Jesus Christ, among the heathen, will powerfully and effectually, draw them unto him. This doctrine is illustrated by shewing, how Christ is to be made known, in order to win the nations to him; that this is the divinely appointed means of gathering the heathen to Christ; and that all who are thus brought to Christ, come most freely. In the application of the discourse, he exhibits many weighty and forcible considerations, to awaken the attention, and animate the exertions of Christians to this great duty. Among others he endeavours to excite compassion, for their miserable condition in this life, and gives the following just and truly characteristic description of the wretchedness of savage life; a description which probably equals, if it does not excel, any which has been given in so short a compass : "I may also add, that their wretched "outward condition should move our compas"sions towards them. Half naked, and almost "starved a great part of their time; without any habitations, which are a suitable defence, "from the cold or storm; accommodated only "with a matt of flags or bulrushes to lodge upon; a kettle, a wooden dish, and a wooden

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spoon or two. And if I omit any thing in "their inventory, it is neither in weight or bulk "so much, that it may not, when the covering "of their habitation is also added, be easily "transported by one or two of their females, to "a distant place, by a spring of water, or near "some hideous swamp, where they may be plen"tifully supplied with materials for their low "manufactures, and to which their hunters may "make their retreat from their distant rambles. “Strangers to the sweets of friendship, and all

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