IVo. 97. 



HISTORY OF OLD SHUSCO. 




Old Shusco, as he was commonly called, was an Ojibwa 
Indian. It is not known where he was horn, hut it is be- 
lieved to have been near the island of Mackinaw, in the 
strait which connects lakes Michigan and Huron. He was 
left an orphan when about ten days old, and came under 
the care of six different persons during his childhood and 
youth. When he was about fifteen, his grandfather un- 
dertook to make him a juggler, which is thought by the 
Indians to be an office of great honor and importance. They 
suppose that a juggler, or "mystery man," as he is some- 
times called, can cure diseases, bring rain to water the earth, 
vol. in. 33 



2 



HISTORY OF OLD SHUSCO. 



cause the wild deer to come within reach of the hunter's 
spear, and do many other wonderful things. 

To make Shusco a juggler, his grandfather hlackened his 
face with coal, and made him fast ten days ; the only food 
he had during this time heing one cup of broth. This long 
abstinence nearly caused his death. But Shusco thought he 
had not been thoroughly made a " mystery man," and there- 
fore fasted a second time, for five days, after which he was 
regarded as a wise man among his people. He now prac- 
tised many deceitful arts upon them, to support his influence 
over their minds ; arid in addition, he became a notorious 
drunkard. 

Shusco's wife went to hear the missionaries, and became 
converted. As Jesus now was precious to her soul, she felt 
concerned that her husband should know and love him too. 
His account of the efforts which his wife made to lead him to 
the knowledge of the Saviour, is in substance as follows. " I 
did not know that the practices of Indian jugglers were made 
up of great and sinful errors, till my wife, whose heart had 
been turned, told me that such was the case. I had no pleas- 
ure in hearing her speak of the Christian religion, and said I 
was satisfied with the religion of my forefathers. She still 
told me who God is, and what sin is, as it is written in his 
book. I had before believed that there was one Great 
Spirit ; but she explained to me the true character of this 
Great Spirit, made me understand the sinfulness of the 
heart, and the way in which it is turned from evil to good 
by believing in Christ Jesus. She told me that the Holy 
Spirit alone could make my heart better ; and that all who 
died without having felt this power, would be for ever mis- 
erable. I did not like these words, but I could not forget 
them. When I thought of them, my heart was not fixed 
and unshaken as it was before. I began to determine that 
I would not practise the juggler's arts any more, and that I 
would give heed to what was declared in the Scriptures." 

It was in the year 1828 that Shusco felt convinced that 
he was a sinner, and for some time he was overwhelmed 



HISTORY OF OLD SHUSCO. 



3 



with a view of his past sins. His wife observed that he 
was distressed, and • asked him the cause. He replied, he 
was sick at heart. "You must pray," she said, "to God, 
and he will forgive you." " How can he forgive so great a 
sinner as I am ? I have spent all my life in sinning against 
him." "But," she answered, "he will forgive you for the 
sake of Christ, who died for us, if you pray to him ; for he 
forgave me, and I know that he will forgive you also." 
Shusco tried to pray, but found no relief. Two weeks passed 
away, and his sins still rose, as it were, before his view, so 
that it seemed to him that God could not have mercy on him. 
There was one evil habit to which he had given way, that 
he now earnestly wished to be delivered from — the sinful 
practice ol drunkenness. He struggled and prayed against 
it, and against all sin. One night he arose from his bed in 
great agony of mind, and went to his usual place of prayer, 
and there he cried to God until, as he said, " he found his 
burden gone, the hard thing in his heart taken away, and 
he was not sick any more." In describing the morning that 
succeeded this conflict, he said, " My heart was filled with 
love to God and his children. I went out of doors. Oh, it 
was very pleasant : the sun shone bright ; the trees and 
every thing around looked as they had never looked before. 
"When I sat down to eat my breakfast, Sarah said to me, 
' How do you feel now ? ' ' Very happy ; my heart is not 
sick now, and I think I love God.' ' What day,' said she, 
1 is it to-day, Shusco ?' I told her prayer-day, (the Lord's 
day.) 'We must not work to-day, but pray to God.' We 
both then prayed, and were very happy." Thus the first 
impulse of this converted son of the forest was, to remember 
the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. 

He now thought of the missionaries at the island of 
Mackinaw. He had formerly shunned them, but now felt a 
desire to see them. " I want to tell them I love God now, 
and am very happy." The news of his conversion soon 
spread. All who heard of it said, " What hath God 
wrought !" At first it could scarcely be believed, that he 



4 



HISTORY OF OLD SHUSCO. 



had become a disciple of Christ ; hut when his deep humil- 
ity, and love to all, especially to Christians, were seen, there 
was no room for doubt. 

Shusco's lodge, or hut, now ceased to be a place for drunk- 
enness and revelry ; for such it had ever been when strong 
liquor could be obtained. It became the resort of the In- 
dians who loved to pray and praise. One circumstance will 
show how much he felt his dependence on the Holy Spirit, 
and how earnestly he sought his aid. He was told that 
some Indians were coming to the island where he lived ; 
and he had many fears, as some of them were his wife's rela- 
tions, lest he should fall into temptation. When they came, 
he resorted, as usual, to prayer. One morning he was gone 
out a long time : his wife did not know what had become 
of him, and she began to fear that he had gone and joined 
her brethren in drinking. At length he returned, and told 
her he had been engaged in prayer, and that now he could 
visit her friends. He went, and found them lying round a 
pail of whiskey, in a state of drunkenness. They tried to 
induce him to drink ; but they could not prevail. They 
said, " Why is it, Shusco, that you will not drink with us 
now, when you always did formerly, and loved it so much ?" 
He replied, that the Lord helped him — that formerly, when 
he tried to leave off drinking, he attempted it in his own 
strength, and failed ; but that now he had obtained strength 
from God, and had no desire for ardent spirits, and was re- 
solved never more to touch them. In the evening he ob- 
served to a missionary, he had never in his life been so hap- 
py as on that day. His being able to overcome a love for 
whiskey and other strong drink is the more remarkable, as 
the Indians will sell all they have to obtain it. Shusco was 
never known to taste it from the time of his conversion. 

On Saturday it was the practice of Shusco to go round 
to all the huts of the Indians, to tell them that the following 
day would be the Lord's day, and that they must all go to the 
house of God. When away from the island of Mackinaw, 
he had no means of knowing the day of the week, as he 



HISTORY OF OLD SHUSCO. 



5 



could not read. But he prepared a stick to serve as an 
almanac. Upon this he cut a notch for each day as it 
passed. At one, time he was upon another island at some 
distance from home, making sugar, and he forgot to cut a 
notch ; consequently, he missed a day. When the Lord's 
day came, he arose, ate his breakfast, and went out to work 
as usual. Soon a person who was passing, told him it was 
the sacred day. He immediately dropped his work, went 
into the hut, and told his wife what day it was. During 
the folloAviiig week he returned home. As he entered the 
mission house, he was observed to look pale. The first 
words he spoke were, " I am very sorry ; perhaps you will be 
very sorry for what I have done." " Why, what have you 
done, Shusco ?" " I have broken the Sabbath-day," he said ; 
and then he explained how it had happened. " I thought," 
he continued, " that I would come and tell you of it myself, 
and not wait till all the Christians heard of it." He then 
threw away the stick which he had hitherto used as an 
almanac, and prepared another. 

He showed much gratitude for any kindness done to him. 
Whenever a friend gave him any thing, he would first look 
up, and thank the Lord, and then would express his grati- 
tude to the giver. At one time he went in company with 
his wife to an island where they had previously planted po- 
tatoes, for the purpose of digging them. He found that the 
crop promised to yield abundantly. " Before digging a hill," 
said he, " we had a prayer-meeting, to thank the Lord for 
them." 

Shusco's attachment to the word and the house of God 
was remarkable ; and often did he visit the missionaries on 
week-days, to hear them read and explain the Scriptures. 
The missionaries being about to remove from the island, he 
said to them, "I see you all now, but by and by I shall see 
you no more in this world, and I shall be very lonely, for we 
shall have none to teach us on the Sabbath ; but I shall soon 
see you all again in heaven ; this makes me thankful. I 
feel that I shall soon go where Jesus is." After most ot 
vol. in. 33* 



0 



HISTORY OF OLD SHCSCO. 



the missionaries had left, a female member of the mission, 
before her departure, went to see Shusco. By her he sent a 
special message to another female member of the mission, 
who had anxiously sought his spiritual good, and said, 

" Do not forget any thing I tell you. Tell her that I am 
well, and am very happy in my mind ; and if I never see her 
again in this world, I hope to meet her in heaven. Still, I 
^am but half happy ; for I am half sorry because there are so 
many drunken Indians around, serving the devil as I once 
did. How good God has been to me, to make me one of his 
children. Why did he choose me when I was so great a 
sinner, and like these poor drunken Indians ? But I pity • 
them, talk to them, and tell them it is the work of the devil 
to do so ; yet they will not listen. Sometimes they try to 
get me to drink ; but God keeps me from it. At times I run 
away from them ; then again I sit still in my hut when they 
come. Tell her, that perhaps the next time I am sick, I 
shall go home ; and that she must pray for me, that I may 
see her in heaven. I will not forget what she has told me 
about the Bible ; for a great many times I have gone to the 
mission house hungry, and she has fed me with God's word. 
Sometimes, as we sit here, we feel sad, because we have no 
one to read to us ; still, we will remember what Ave have 
heard, and leave ourselves with God, for he knows what is 
best. When the Sabbath comes, I go to the house of God, 
and as I sit there, I am happy ; for I think God is there. 
As I look round the house, and see how nice every thing is, 
I think how much more beautiful God's house above will 
be when I get there." 

A desire to do good to others marked the conduct of 
Shusco. He was happy himself, and he desired that others 
might partake of the rich blessings which he had received 
through Christ Jesus. A few weeks before his death the 
family of his grandson came to visit him ; all the family 
were in pagan darkness. Every morning he went to their 
hut, to talk and pray with them. Soon after their arrival 
he became so lame that he could not walk ; but this did not 



HISTORY OF OLD SHUSCO. 



7 



keep him from seeking to do them good ; he crept to their 
hut upon his hands and knees. 

The female friend before referred to returned, and hear- 
ing that he was ill, went to see him. After making some 
inquiries, he asked her to give him her hand, as he was now 
blind. " Perhaps now," he said, "I am going home. I am 
very sick, but it will only be a little while that I shall en- 
dure pain." " Do you feel happy?" she inquired ; "and are 
you willing to go now, if it be the Lord's will ?" " Yes, 
very willing," was the reply. " But do you not desire to 
get well again, if it be the Lord's will ?" "Yes, if it is the 
Lord's will. I leave all in his hands. I thank the Lord for 
sending his children here to see me when I am sick. He is 
always very kind to his children, and merciful." He re- 
quested the friend to sing his favorite hymn. " I am too 
sick to join with you," he said ; " but I want to hear it once 
more." She then sung the hymn beginning, 

" On Jordan's rugged banks I stand, 
And cast a wishful eye 
To Canaan's fair and happy land, 
Where my possessions lie." 

On the morning before his death, his wife, seeing that he 
was very ill, sat down and wept by his side. " Do not 
weep," he said, " because I am going to leave you, for God 
will take care of you ; but weep rather for your sins. God 
has promised to take care of his children. Look to him in 
prayer ; he has promised, you know, that what we ask* in 
prayer he will give us. Remember what I say, for perhaps 
this is the last time I shall speak to you. ' Perhaps you also 
will soon come where I am going. To-morrow, or next day, 
perhaps I shall go ; but love God." His wife went out to 
fetch some wood ; and when she returned he was committing 
his soul to his Saviour, and commending her also to his 
fatherly care; shortly after which he ceased to breathe. He 
was calm and happy to the last hour of his life, which ended 
on the 30th of September, 1837. 



8 



HISTORY OF OLD SHUSCO. 



From this short history of a converted heathen juggler, 
we see that true religion shows itself in the same way in 
the experience of men, of whatever tribe or nation. The 
Gospel is not only suited to those born in a professedly Chris- 
tian land, but to those also who have been brought up in 
the darkness of heathenism. When it is applied by the 
Holy Spirit, -it produces the same confidence in God, the 
same love to Christ, the "like precious faith" in his blood 
and righteousness as the ground of a sinner's acceptance, the 
same delight in the Scriptures and in prayer, the same re- 
gard for the Sabbath and the people of God, the same ha- 
tred to sin and desire to " follow after holiness," the same 
good hope of heaven and zeal for the salvation of others. 
By these tests let us examine ourselves : are they to be seen 
in our lives and experience ? 

Let it also be observed, that not only those who have 
been born heathen like poor Shusco, but every man, must 
be converted, or he cannot be saved. " Ye must be born 
again." John 3:7. " Except ye be converted, and be- 
come as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom 
of heaven." Matt. 18:3. Men in every country, and in 
every age, inherit a fallen and depraved nature, and left to 
themselves, they go on adding sin to sin : so that every mouth 
is stopped, and all the world is guilty before God. Rom. 
3:19. May the Holy Spirit renew our hearts, that we may 
be "new creatures in Christ Jesus;" then we shall joy- 
fully receive that "faithful saying, and worthy of all ac- 
ceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save 
sinners," even the chief, 1 Tim. 1:15; then we shall find, 
to our unspeakable happiness, that "we have redemptiou 
through his blood, even the forgiveness of our sins." 



P W-rv, TV acta o f- 

y UBHSHKP B Y— THE AMERICAN TRACT SOCIETY. ),-_ 

1^ 



