A treaty at Fond du Lac, 500 miles distant, and the
throwing of a commissariat department through the lake, is no
light task.
_27th_. A moral question of much interest is presented to me in a
communication from the Rev. Alvan Coe. Of the disinterested nature and
character of this man's benevolence for the Indian race, no man knowing
him ever doubted. He has literally been going about doing good among
them since our first arrival here in 1822. In his zeal to shield them
from the arts of petty traders, he has often gone so far as to incur the
ill-will and provoke the slanderous tongues of some few people. That he
should deem it necessary to address me a letter to counteract such
rumors, is the only thing remarkable. Wiser, in some senses, and more
prudent people in their worldly affairs, probably exist; but no man of a
purer, simpler, and more exalted faith. No one whom I ever knew lives
less for "the rewards that perish." Even Mr. Laird, whose name is
mentioned in these records, although he went far beyond him in talents,
gifts, and acquirements of every sort, had not a purer faith, yet he
will, like that holy man, receive his rewards from the same "Master.
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