I never have had courage to renew the subject. Miss McLush seems to have forgotten it altogether. Upon reflection, too, I am convinced she would not survive the excitement of the ceremony, unless, indeed, she should sleep between the responses and the prayer. I am still devoted, however, and if there should come a war or an earthquake, or if the millennium should commence, as it is expected, in 1833, or if anything happens that can keep her waking so long, I shall deliver a declaration abbreviated for me by a scholar friend of mine, which he warrants may be articulated in fifteen minutes—without fatigue. _Nathaniel Parker Willis._ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ _A LONG TIME AGO._ (FROM ACT I. OF “THE WHITE FEATHER.” A RED INDIAN COMEDY.) _Owosco._ Here, here, enough of this nonsense! Why should you sing about that which you think peculiar to yourselves, when, as a matter of fact, all tribes, nations, and classes are alike? _Wanda._ But are you sure all are alike? _Owosco._ Certainly. We are all tarred with the same stick. _Sings_: The same black tar, By the same black stick, No matter who we are, Is laid on thick. If poor, we’re marred, If rich, we kick, But we’re all of us tarred With the same black stick. If successful in our enterprise, our ways are never scanned, We’re applauded by the populace, and praised by every tongue. But if a fell disaster crown the efforts we have planned, Our methods are at once condemned by old as well as young. _All._ The same black tar, By the same black stick, No matter who we are, Is laid on thick. If poor, we’re marred, If rich, we kick, But we’re all of us tarred With the same black stick. _Owosco_ (_derisively_). Ah! here comes our worthy apology for a chief. _Otsiketa._ And our equally worthy medicine man. _Owosco._ They make a gay old couple. The one is about as useful as the other. [Illustration: “OLD CHIEF (TO MEDICINE MAN): ‘WHAT SHALL I SAY TO THESE YOUNG MEN?’”] (_Enter Old Chief, closely followed by Medicine Man, both old and ugly._) _Old Chief sings_: I’m chief of the tribe of the Wa-wa-ta-see, As savage a savage as savage can be; I’ve scalped and I’ve murdered full many a foe— _Owosco._ Yes, yes; but that happened a long time ago. _All._