The Iroquois; or, the bright side of Indian characterJohnson, Anna C. (Anna Cummings)
History
The Iroquois; or, the bright side of Indian character
Johnson, Anna C. (Anna Cummings)
Iroquois Indians -- Social life and customs
Logan had listened in boyhood to the instructions of the Moravian
missionaries, and their gentle manners and soothing words, had probably
influenced his character. Whether he was a Christian, I know not; but
there are many who bear the name, in whom there is far less
exemplification of Christian principle. There was about him a quiet and
softened dignity, a refinement of sentiment and delicacy of feeling,
which characterizes none but the lofty, and exhales from none but the
pure. His house, like his father’s, was the Indian’s and the white
man’s home, the dwelling-place of love. Alas! that the milk of human
kindness in his bosom, should ever have been turned to gall, by bitter
and corroding wrongs. In his childhood, a little cousin had been taken
captive by white men, under aggravating circumstances, but for this he
did not become the white man’s foe. “Forgive and forget,” was his
motto, in all things that could be forgiven and forgotten; and he lived
to be an aged man, before vengeance took possession of his soul.
In all the country where he dwelt he was known, and to every cottage
Logan was welcome; terror did not creep into the heart of woman, nor
fear fall upon the little child, when his footsteps were heard at their
doors. And this, as was afterwards proved, was not because he had not
all the traits which make a brave warrior, but from a settled principle
that all men were brothers, and should love one another.
He set forth at one time on a hunting expedition, and was alone in the
forest. Two white hunters were engaged in the same sport, and having
killed a bear in a wild gorge, were about to rest beside a bubbling
spring, when they saw an Indian form reflected in the water. They
sprang to their feet and grasped their rifles, but the Indian bent
forward and struck the rifles from their hands, and spilt the powder
from their flasks. Then stretching forth his open palm in token of
friendship, he seated himself beside them and won his way to their
hearts. For a week they roamed together, hunting and fishing by day,
and sleeping by the same fire at night. It was Logan, and henceforth
their brother. He pursued his way over the Alleghanies, and they
returned to their homes, never again to point the gun at an Indian’s
heart.
Some white men on a journey stopped at his cabin to rest. For amusement
a shooting match was proposed, at which the price was to be a dollar a
shot. During the sport Logan lost five shots, and when they had
finished, he entered his lodge and brought five deer-skins for the
redemption of his forfeit, as a dollar a skin was the established price
in the market, and the red man’s money. But his guests refused to take
them, saying they had only been shooting for sport, and wished no
forfeit. But the honorable Indian would take no denial, replying, “If
you had lost the shots I should have taken your dollars, but as I have
lost, take my skins.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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