laid up for repairs
A letter from Rev. S. Sheldon, Yankton, Dakota Territory, dated 1878, with a note that "six Dakota winters have not frozen either the brain or the heart of our brother." Rev. Stewart Sheldon was in Dakota as part of the Home Missionary Society. In July 1876, Sheldon had been appointed General Missionary in Dakota Territory.

"I said in my last that I was like the bullock represented on an ancient medal, as standing between a plow and an alter, with the inscription, 'Ready for either.' It was the altar that the Lord had awaiting me, in the form of a severe trial. I froze my foot on a trip to Swan Lake in the early part of the winter. I had no thought of freesing, till it was too late; but I suppose my system was just right for it. I was under the care of the doctor for a month, spent several sleepless nights, applied to the unfortunate member over 100 poultices, and submitted to three incisions from the lancet. Beginning to mend, I hobbled about with a crutch; after a little, advanced to a came, and am now able to dispense with both. I wear a laced boot, limping but a little, and shall be 'all right' in a week or two. Of course I have been kept from field work save as I have done a little at Swan Lake, a town about fifty miles form Yankton, and rapidly growing. The way is now prepared for holding this place, in connection with Lincoln Center, twenty miles below the Lake, if the right man can be found. While shut up, I have corresponded with several young men with reference to Dakota as their future field of labor, and hope to secure them. I have also secured three communion-sets from Eastern friends, for Elk Point, Vermillion, and Springfield..."
- posted by pioneergirl at 7:35 PM