The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1928, Page 5

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THE LUTHERAN PIONEER.

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Taking some guns, with the pretense of wanting to
shoot hogs, they shot down Christian in his yam-
patch while he was at work and then killed four
others, Mills, Williams, Martin, and Brown. Adams
was severely wounded, but his life was spared;
Young was hidden by the women, among whom he
was a favorite; Quintal and McUoy succeeded in
finding a safe refuge in the mountains, where they
remained till they were promised safety. But the
four surviving white men felt that the truce would
be only temporary and that their safety lay in the
death of the native men. So they fell upon them
one day and killed them all, the native women
helping in the performance of the gruesome deed.
This was in October, 1793. Not long after, McCoy,
in a drunken delirium, threw himself over a preci-
pice. Next Quintal lost his wife, who fell over the
rocks while hunting birds’ eggs. Then he insisted
upon one of the other two men giving him his wife,
and when this was refused, he became so enraged
that the other two men, Adams and Young, decided
that they must kill him in self-defense. Thus all
but two of the mutineers had come to sudden and
violent deaths — terrible retributions for the crimes
they had committed.

These two men were now the only survivors
of the fifteen men who had landed on Pitcairn
Island seven years before. There were also ten
native women and twenty-three children. Just how
and when these two men experienced a change of
heart is not certain, though it is claimed that Adams
was first moved to think of his childhood’s prayers
by a dream. They sought out the Bible and prayer-
book of Christian, began to give the little company

under their care religious instruction, and they“

themselves led blameless lives. But Young did
not live long to help in this work; a year later, in
1800, he died of asthma. But the year of grace
granted him had been well used, since during this
time he had instructed Adams, who was barely able
to read and wholly unable to write, not only in the
rudiments of secular knowledge, but above all in the
fundamental Christian truths.

After Young’s death Adams, in a spirit of
genuine repentance, devoted himself to the religious
education of the women and children. The time
was favorable, since the oldest of the children were
not more than ten years of age; so, too, the situa-
tion in the seclusion of the island, far removed from
the contamination of evil associations, was all that
could be desired. : 5 .

The day was begun and ended with prayer and
praise to God. Useful occupations filled out the

hours between sunrise and sunset of those who were
old enough to work. The men cultivated the fields,
fished in the waters around the island, and hunted
wild goats and hogs; the women made cloth from
the bark of some trees and from the leaves of others.
As the children grew up to manhood and woman-
hood, they were married by Adams, according to
the prayer-book, and rings fashioned out of sea-
shells were used to seal the marriage vows. As
they were needed, new houses were built for the new
families. The little village took on a more and
more attractive appearance from year to year.

Thus eight years passed in utter and happy
seclusion, and then occurred something to startle
all: a ship visited the island, the first ship to come
since the mutiny. But the visitors were no less
astonished than were the islanders. The aspect of
the little community of forty-six persons amazed ~
them, since they had not expected to find the island
at all inhabited. The captain and crew of the
whaler were heartily welcomed by Adams and the
other Pitcairners and entertained to the best of their
ability. The captain of the whaling ship, upon his
return home, spoke in the highest terms of the Pit-
cairn Islanders.

In 1814 two British frigates visited the island
while searching the Pacific for the famous Amer- -
ican sloop Zssex. They were greatly surprised to
find an island two hundred miles from where they
had expected to find one, and their surprise was still
greater when they saw the well-constructed houses
and cultivated fields on the island. And when two
young men came near the ships and called out in
good English, “Won’t you heave us a rope now?”
they could scarcely believe their ears. The young
men were invited into the cabin to partake of a
repast. But before eating, they asked God’s bless-
ing upon the food, and after the meal they returned
thanks. They told those on board that their pastor,
John Adams, had taught them to do this.

The two captains later landed and met John
Adams and the whole community. Adams at the
time was somewhat past fifty, stout and healthy in
appearance, but with a care-worn expression on his
face. He offered to give himself up to the captains
for trial; but the women, including his blind wife,
pleaded so earnestly that he be permitted to remain
on-the island that the British commanders had not
the courage to take him away. In reporting the
visit, Captain Pipon of one of the frigates spoke
of the attractive persons, gentle manners, and sin-
cere piety of the islanders. He added: “What most
delighted us was the conviction which John Adams

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