It Laughs All the Time

 •  2 min. read  •  grade level: 4
 
Bishop Whipple, of Minnesota, says, "One who had been a heathen red man came 600 miles to visit me in my home. As he entered the door, he knelt at my feet and said: 'I kneel to tell you of my gratitude. You pitied the red man.'
"He then told me this simple, artless story: 'I was a wild man, living beyond the Turtle Mountain. I knew that my people were perishing. They had no hope. I never looked into the face of my child that my heart was not sick with fear for him. My fathers and the old chiefs told me there was a Great Spirit. Believing them, I have often gone to the deep woods and cried to Him for help. For answer I only got the sound of my own voice.'
"Then looking into my face in that childlike way, he said, 'You do not know what I mean. You never stood in the dark and reached out your hand and took hold of nothing.'
"One day, an Indian came to my wigwam. He told me he had heard you make a great revelation at Red Lake. You had said that the Great Spirit's Son had come down to earth to help and to save those who needed Him. You had proclaimed the reason the white man was so much more blessed than the red man was because he knew and worshiped the beloved only Son of the Great Spirit. Then I said, "I must see that man."
“‘When they told me you would be at the Red Lake crossing, I traveled the 200 miles there. When I asked for you, they said you were sick and that I should see a missionary. Then I said, "Where can I see a missionary?"
" 'I came 150 miles more, and I found the missionary. He was a red man like myself. My father, I have been with him three moons. He has told me the sweet story of Jesus and I have the story in my heart. Now, wherever I am, I can reach out my hand. Jesus is there. My heart is no longer dark and sad. It laughs all the time!' "
"Happy they who trust in Jesus;
Sweet their portion is and sure,
When the foe on others seizes,
He will keep His own secure.
Happy people!
Happy, though despised and poor.