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SOUTH DAKOTA
SCHOOL OF MINES
& TECHNOLOGY
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Mary Rowlandson
I really enjoyed Mary Rowlandson narrative of her capture. It painted a very vivid picture of what it must have been like. I had heard of Mary Rowlandson before but I had never read her account.
Her description of the attack on her village made if seems as if I was there watching the violence unfold. “ Some in our house were fighting for their lives, others wallowing in their blood, the house on fire over our heads, and the bloody Heathen ready to knock us on the heard if we stirred out.” This quote captures the helplessness the villagers must have felt when they were attacked. Even so thorough the entire ordeal, Mary Rowlandson kept her faith in God and continually prayed and made mention to scripture, “ The Lord renewed my strength still.” The Lord even worked so that she would be able to have a Bible, “ I cannot but take notice of the wonderful mercy of God to me in those afflictions, in sending me a Bible.”
After the capture by the Indians, Mary says her used to think she would rather die in an attack than to be taken as a captive. After the attack, she changes her opinion and decides to go with the Indians. What a decision that would have been, to chose to die with one’s loved ones or to go as a captives not knowing what may happen to you in the future.
As Mary’s journey with the Indians begins, she describes them as “Barbarous Creatures.” “The place a lively resemblance of hell,” is the description of camp the first night. Then her baby’s death, such hardships many people today could not fathom. To endure such trials and hardships must have been interminably difficult. In spite of it all, at the end Mary still is praising God and clinging to her faith in him. “ I have learned to look beyond present and smaller troubles, and to be quieted under them,” is how Mary chooses to close her narrative of her capture and escape.
September 12, 2001
Contact: Cassady Marshall
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Last Modified: 12/15/2001 |
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