An Indian, being among his white neighbors, asked for a little tobacco
to smoke, and one of them, having some loose in his pocket, gave him
a handful. The day following the Indian came back, inquiring for the
donor, saying he had found a quarter of a dollar among the tobacco.
Being told that as it was given him he might as well keep it, he
answered, pointing to his breast, "I got a good man, and a bad man
here, and the good man say, 'It ain't yours; you must return it to its
owner:' the bad man say, 'Why, he gave it to you, and it is your own
now:' the good man say, 'That's not right; the tobacco is yours, not
the money:' the bad man say, 'Never mind, you got it, go buy some
dram:' the good man say, 'No, you must not do so:' so I don't know what
to do, and I think I go to sleep; but the good man and the bad keep
talking all night, and trouble me; and now I bring the money back I
feel good."
Another Indian related, that, having got some money, he was, on his
way home, tempted to stop at a tavern and buy some rum; "But," said
he, pointing to his breast, "I have a good boy and a bad boy here; and
the good boy say, 'John, don't you stop there: the bad one say, 'Poh,
John, never mind, you love a good dram:' the good boy say, 'No, John,
you know what a fool you made yourself when you got drunk there before,
don't do so again.' When I come to the tavern, the bad boy say, 'Come,
John, take one dram; it won't hurt you:' the good one say, 'No, John,
if you take one dram, then you take another:' then I don't know what to
do, and the good boy say, 'Run, John, hard as you can'--so I run away,
and then, be sure, I feel very glad."
THE GOOD OLD INDIAN.
Captain James Smith relates, that he was taken prisoner by the Indians
in the year 1755, and lived several years among them. At one time,
he lived with an old man named Tecaughretanego, and his little son,
Nunganny; they were quite alone, and there were not any inhabitants for
many miles around. The old man was too lame to go out hunting; it was
winter; they had no victuals; the snow was on the ground, and so frozen
as to make a great noise when walked on, which frightened away the
deer, and the captain could not shoot anything for some time.
He says: "After I had hunted two days without eating anything, and
had very short allowance for some days before, I returned late in the
evening, faint and weary. When I came into our hut, the old man asked
what success. I told him not any. He asked me if I was not very hungry.
I replied that the keen appetite seemed in some measure abated, but I
was both faint and weary.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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