He Has An Excellent Farm,
Well Fenced And Well Cultivated.
His house is in cottage style, and of
considerable length; spacious, neat, and well furnished.
Arriving at
the door I dismounted, and inquired of his squaw if he was at home.
She sent her little girl out into the field to call him. There,
indeed, in his cornfield, was he at work. He met me very cordially;
and invited me into a room, where he had an interpretor. We held a
protracted and agreeable conversation on Indian matters. He invited me
to dine with him, and nothing but want of time prevented my accepting
his polite invitation. He was very neatly dressed, and is quite
prepossessing in his appearance. He is younger than I supposed before
seeing him. I judge him to be about thirty-four. He is a man of strong
sense, of great sagacity, and considerable ambition.
There is no reason why the Indians should not speedily become
civilized. Those who have longest lived amongst them, and who best
understand their character, tell me so. I fully believe it. The Indian
follows his wild habits because he has been educated to do so. The
education of habit, familiar from infancy, and the influence of
tradition, lead him to the hunt, and as much to despise manual labor.
He does what he has been taught to consider as noble and honorable,
and that is what the most enlightened do. Certainly his course of life
is the most severe and exposed; it is not for comfort that he adheres
to his wild habits. He regards it as noble to slay his hereditary foe.
Hence the troubles which occasionally break out between the Chippewas
and the Sioux. To gain the applause of their tribe they will incur
almost any danger, and undergo almost any privation. Thus, we see that
for those objects which their education has taught them to regard as
first and best, they will sacrifice all their comforts. They have
sense enough, and ambition enough, and fortitude enough. To those they
love they are affectionate almost to excess. Only direct their
ambition in the proper way, and they will at once rise. Teach them
that it is noble to produce something useful by their labor, and to
unite with the great family of man to expand arts and to improve the
immortal mind teach them that it is noble, that there is more
applause to be gained by it, as well as comfort, and they will change
in a generation. They will then apply themselves to civilization with
Spartan zeal and with Spartan virtues.
In a communication to the secretary of war by Gen. Cass in 1821,
relative to his expedition to the sources of the Mississippi, he makes
the following interesting extract from the journal of Mr. Doty, a
gentleman who accompanied the expedition: "The Indians of the upper
country consider those of the Fond-du-Lac as very stupid and dull,
being but little given to war. They count the Sioux their enemies, but
have heretofore made few war excursions.
"Having been frequently reprimanded by some of the more vigilant
Indians of the north, and charged with cowardice, and an utter
disregard for the event of the war, thirteen men of this tribe, last
season, determined to retrieve the character of their nation, by
making an excursion against the Sioux. Accordingly, without consulting
the other Indians, they secretly departed and penetrated far into the
Sioux country. Unexpectedly, at night, they came upon a party of the
Sioux, amounting to near one hundred men, and immediately began to
prepare for battle. They encamped a short distance from the Sioux, and
during the night dug holes in the ground into which they might retreat
and fight to the last extremity. They appointed one of their number
(the youngest) to take a station at a distance and witness the
struggle, and instructed him, when they were all slain, to make his
escape to their own land, and relate the circumstances under which
they had fallen.
"Early in the morning they attacked the Sioux in their camp, who,
immediately sallying out upon them, forced them back to the last place
of retreat they had resolved upon. They fought desperately. More than
twice their own number were killed before they had lost their lives.
Eight of them were tomahawked in the holes to which they had
retreated; the other four fell on the field. The thirteenth returned
home, according to the directions he had received, and related the
foregoing circumstances to his tribe. They mourned their death; but
delighted with the bravery of their friends, unexampled in modern
times, they were happy in their grief.
"This account I received of the very Indian who was of the party and
had escaped." [See Schoolcraft, p. 481.][1]
[1 Pride is a characteristic trait in Indian character. On a recent
occasion when several bands of the Chippewas were at Washington to
negotiate a treaty with the United States, they had an interview with
their Great Father the President. He received them in the spacious
East Room of the executive mansion, in the presence of a large
collection of gentlemen who had gathered to witness the occasion. Each
chief made a speech to the President, which was interpreted as they
spoke. When it came to the turn of Eshkibogikoj (Flat Mouth) that
venerable chief began with great dignity, saying: "Father! Two great
men have met!" Here he paused to let the sentence be interpreted. His
exordium amused not only the whites but the Indians.]
In the contest between the Athenians and the Dorians, an oracle had
declared that the side would triumph whose king should fall. Codrus
the Athenian king, to be more sure of sacrificing himself, assumed the
dress of a peasant, and was soon killed; and the event soon spread
dismay among the enemies of Athens. His patriotism was accounted so
great, that the Athenians declared that there was no man worthy to be
his successor, and so abolished the monarchy.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 17 of 50
Words from 16315 to 17322
of 50597
