Stories of Great Americans for Little AmericansEggleston, Edward
History
Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans
Eggleston, Edward
United States -- Biography -- Juvenile literature
When Mar-quette and his men left the Il-li-nois, they went on down the
river. The friendly Il-li-nois had told them that the Indians they
would see were bad, and that they would kill any one who came into
their country.
The Frenchmen had heard before this that there were demons and monsters
in the river. One day they saw some high rocks with pictures painted on
them. The ugly pictures made them think of these monsters. They were
painted in red, black, and green colors. They were pictures of two
Indian demons or gods.
Each one of these monsters was about the size of a calf. They had horns
as long as those of a deer. Their eyes were red. Their faces were like
a man’s, but they were ugly and frightful. They had beards like a
tiger’s. Their bodies were covered with scales like those on a fish.
Their long tails were wound round their bodies, and over their heads,
and down between their legs. The end of each tail was like that of a
fish.
The Indians prayed to these ugly gods when they passed in their canoes.
Even Mar-quette and his men were a little frightened when they saw such
pictures in a place so lonely. The Frenchmen went down the river about
twelve hundred miles. Some-times the Indians tried to kill them, but by
showing the peace pipe they made friends. At last they turned back.
Jo-li-et went to Can-a-da. Mar-quette preached to the Indians in the
West till he died.
WILLIAM PENN AND THE INDIANS.
The King of England gave all the land in Penn-syl-va-ni-a to William
Penn. The King made Penn a kind of king over Penn-syl-va-ni-a. Penn
could make the laws of this new country. But he let the people make
their own laws.
Penn wanted to be friendly with the Indians. He paid them for all the
land his people wanted to live on. Before he went to Penn-syl-va-ni-a
he wrote a letter to the Indians. He told them in this letter that he
would not let any of his people do any harm to the Indians. He said he
would punish any-body that did any wrong to an Indian. This letter was
read to the Indians in their own lan-guage.
Soon after this Penn got into a ship and sailed from England. He sailed
to Penn-syl-va-ni-a. When he came there, he sent word to the tribes of
Indians to come to meet him.
The Indians met under a great elm tree on the bank of the river.
Indians like to hold their solemn meetings out of doors. They sit on
the ground. They say that the earth is the Indian’s mother.
When Penn came to the place of meeting, he found the woods full of
Indians. As far as he could see, there were crowds of Indians. Penn’s
friends were few. They had no guns.
Penn had a bright blue sash round his waist. One of the Indian chiefs,
who was the great chief, put on a kind of cap or crown. In the middle
of this was a small horn. The head chief wore this only at such great
meetings as this one.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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