as something spoken of in books, but not worth the while of a bon vivant.  The common hands, who paddled canoes and underwent the drudgery of the trade (who were exclusively of the lower order of Canadian peasantry), squared their moral accounts once a year with a well-conducted confessional interview and a crown, and felt as happy as the “Christian Pilgrim” when he had been relieved of his burden.  It would, probably, be wrong to say that the lordly Highlander, the impetuous son of Erin, or the proud and independent Englishman, who vied with each other in feats of sumptuous hospitality during these periods of relaxation, did much better on the score of moral responsibilities.  They broke, generally, nine out of the ten commandments without a wince, but kept the other very scrupulously, and would flash up and call their companions to a duel who doubted them on that point.  But of the practical things of religion, as they are depicted by Paul and the Apostles, they lived in utter disregard; these things were laid aside, like the heavier parts of Dr. Drowsy’s sermon, for “some more fitting opportunity,” that is to say, till a fortune was secured from the avails of “skins and peltries,” and they returned triumphantly to the precincts of civilized and Christian society.  Of the wild and picturesque Indian, who was ever a man most scrupulous of rites and ceremonies, it was hardly deemed worth inquiry whether he had a soul, or whether the deity of the elements, whom he worshiped under the name of the Great Spirit, was not, in the language of the Universalist Poet, “Jehovah, Jove, or Lord.”

A society which, like that of Michilimackinack, was based on such a state of affairs but a few years back, could hardly be regarded without strong solicitude, for my correspondent had been a witness, in the first revival under Mr. Ferry, in 1828, of which he was himself a subject, that there is a “POWER that breaketh the flinty heart in pieces, who also giveth freely and upbraideth not.”  Most, of the subjects of hope at this time were, however, of a younger growth and a more recent type of migration.  “May the spirit of Lord Jesus Christ,” is his pious remark, “be with, and direct you all in the great work of leading souls into the kingdom of his grace!  It is a fearful responsibility, but if you look to him, and him alone, for guidance, he will bless and prosper your efforts.”

19th.  Rev. David Greene, Missionary Rooms, Boston, discusses in a letter of this date, some questions respecting the policy and high function of missionary labor—­the present state of the Mackinack mission; and the character and fitness of educated persons of the native stocks for evangelists, which are of high importance.  He remarks:—­

“All you write respecting the impropriety of being disheartened—­the demand of the Indians on our church, and candidates for missionary service—­the necessity of withdrawing our dependence for success and the work of converting men, from any particular human instruments, and placing them on God alone; and the propriety of having missionaries released from secular cares and labors, as far as practicable, accords perfectly with my own views, and, so far as I know, with those entertained by our committee.