Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 2 (of 2): being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian CollectionCatlin, George
History
Adventures of the Ojibbeway and Ioway Indians in England, France, and Belgium; Vol. 2 (of 2): being Notes of Eight Years' Travels and Residence in Europe with his North American Indian Collection
Catlin, George
England -- Description and travel; France -- Description and travel; Indians of North America
The thrilling effect produced by the Doctor's boast brought him showers
of applause, which touched his vanity, and at the close of the dance
he imagined all eyes in admiration fixed upon him, and no doubt felt
himself called upon for the following brief but significant speech
which he delivered, waving his right hand over the heads of the
audience from the front of the platform where he stood, and from which
he dropped his most humble and obsequious smiles upon the groups of
ladies who were near him, and applauding at the end of every sentence:--
"My Friends,--It makes me very happy to see so many smiling faces
about me, for when people smile and laugh, I know they are not
angry--"
_Jeffrey_, the _Interpreter_, now made _his_ début; the Doctor had
beckoned him up by his side to interpret his speech to the audience,
and when he explained the above sentence, the "Doctor" received a round
of applause, and particularly from the ladies, who could not but be
pleased with the simple vanity of the speaker and the self-complacent
smiles which he always lavished upon the fair sex who were around him.
The Doctor, though advanced to the sound and efficient age of 45,
had never taken to him a wife; and, like too many of his fraternity,
had always lived upon the excessive vanity of believing that he was
the _beau idéal_ of his tribe, and admired too much by all to be a
legitimate subject of exclusive appropriation to any particular one.
And more than this (which may not have quite fallen to the happy lot
of any of his brother bachelors in the polished world), from the sort
of _charitable_ habit he had of spreading his glowing smiles upon the
crowds about him, one would almost be of opinion that, in his own
community, under the aids and charms of his profession, he in a measure
had existed upon the belief that his smiles were food and clothing for
the crowds upon whom they were bestowed.
The Doctor yet stood, the concentration of smiles and anxious looks
from every part of the room, and at length proceeded (_Plate No. 10_):--
"My Friends,--I see the ladies are pleased, and this pleases
me--because I know, that if they are pleased, they will please the
men."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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