- Were Not A _Physician's_ Cap, An Elegant Morning Gown, And A Grave Suit Of Black Clothes, Made By An European Tailor, More Tempting To Your Imagination, Than This Wretched Blanket, That Is Eternally Slipping From Your Shoulders, Unless It Be Fastened With Skewers, Which Are By No Means Convenient?'

"Pardon me,' replied the Indian, 'if all those blessings and advantages you have mentioned seemed nothing to my view, in comparison with these _divine solitudes_:

Opinion alone is happiness. The _Great Man_, who has chosen his habitation beyond the stars, will dispose of us as he pleases. I am under an obligation of passing happily here that life which he has given me, because in so doing I serve and adore him. I could not but be sorrowful, were I to be removed for ever from this stream. Let me alone, white man; others shall make laws, and pass sleepless nights, for the advantage of the world; sachem Tomo-cheeki will leave all things to the _invisible direction_; and, provided he can be contented in his _wigwam_, the end of his existence is accomplished.

"But,' continued he, 'of what great value can that education be, which does not inculcate moral and social _honesty_ as it's first and greatest principle. The knowledge of all things above and below is of inconsiderable worth, unconnected with the heart of rectitude and benevolence. - Let us walk to the remains of an old indian town; the bones of my ancestors repose in its vicinity.' -

"He had scarcely uttered these words when he seized his staff, and rushed out of the wigwam with a sort of passionate violence, as if deeply agitated at the recollection of the past, present, and future fate of his countrymen. - I followed him with equal celerity. 'But,' said he, 'it is in vain to grieve! In three centuries there will not be one individual of all our race existing upon the Earth. I lately passed this stream, and it being swollen with rains at my return, I could not without the greatest danger cross over it again to my wigwam; the winds raged, the rain fell, and the storms roared around me. I laid me down to sleep beneath a copse of hazles. Immediately the unbodied souls of my ancestors appeared before me. Grief was in their countenances. All fixed their eyes upon me, and cried, one after the other, "_Brother, it is time thou hadst also arrived in our abodes: thy nation is extirpated, thy lands are gone, thy choicest warriors are slain; the very wigwam in which thou residest is mortgaged for three barrels of hard cider! Act like a man, and if nature be too tardy in bestowing the favour, it rests with yourself to force your way into the invisible mansions of the departed_."

"By this time we had arrived at the ruins of the old indian town. The situation was highly romantic, and of that kind which naturally inclines one to be melancholy.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 35 of 66
Words from 18222 to 18722 of 35016