The Daily Minnesota Pioneer

A Sailor's Idea of Missions.

At the anniversary of the London Missionary Society, Rev. Mr. McLeod related the following incident:

"Twenty-one years ago he had read in the account of some voyage, things to the discredit of the Missionaries of this Society. Shortly after, meeting with the captain of a ship that voyaged to the South Seas, I inquired of him, he said—'Do you think that Missions have done much good in the South Seas?' He looked at me and said:

'I do not know what you know about Missions, but I will tell you a fact. Last year I was wrecked in one of these Islands, and I knew that eight years before, an American whaler had been shipwrecked on the same Island; that the crew had been murdered; and no doubt you can judge my feelings, when we anticipated that we should either be dashed to pieces on the rocks during the night, or if we survived to the morning, subjected to a dreadful death. As soon as the day broke, I saw a number of canoes, manned, pulling away between the Island and the ship. We prepared for the worst consequences. Judge of our amazement when the natives came on board in a European dress, and spoke to us in English. In that very Island I heard the gospel on the Sabbath day, and sat down at the communion table, and sang the same psalms that I sang in Scotland.' He added, 'I do not know what you think of Missions, but I know what I think of them.'"