Not so the ancients of these lands-- The Indian, when from life released, Again is seated with his friends, And shares again the joyous feast.[A] [A] "The North American Indians bury their dead in a sitting posture; decorating the corpse with wampum, the images of birds, quadrupeds, &c: And (if that of a warrior) with bows, arrows, tomhawks, and other military weapons."--_Freneau's note._ His imaged birds, and painted bowl, And venison, for a journey dressed, Bespeak the nature of the soul, Activity, that knows no rest. His bow, for action ready bent, And arrows, with a head of stone, Can only mean that life is spent, And not the old ideas gone. Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way, No fraud upon the dead commit-- Observe the swelling turf, and say They do not lie, but here they sit. Here still a lofty rock remains, On which the curious eye may trace (Now wasted, half, by wearing rains) The fancies of a ruder race. Here still an aged elm aspires, Beneath whose far-projecting shade (And which the shepherd still admires) The children of the forest played! There oft a restless Indian queen (Pale Shebah, with her braided hair) And many a barbarous form is seen To chide the man that lingers there. By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews; In habit for the chase arrayed, The hunter still the deer pursues, The hunter and the deer, a shade![364] And long shall timorous fancy see The painted chief, and pointed spear, And Reason's self shall bow the knee To shadows and delusions here. [363] In the 1788 edition this has the title "Lines Occasioned by a Visit to an old Indian Burying Ground." [364] Campbell borrowed this line for his poem "O'Connor's Child." Stanza IV of the poem begins as follows: "Bright as the bow that spans the storm In Erin's yellow vesture clad, A son of light--a lovely form He comes and makes her glad; Now on the grass-green turf he sits, His tassel'd horn beside him laid; Now o'er the hills in chase he flits, The hunter and the deer a shade!" THE INDIAN STUDENT Or, Force of Nature[365] From Susquehanna's farthest springs Where savage tribes pursue their game, (His blanket tied with yellow strings,) A shepherd of the forest came. Not long before, a wandering priest Expressed his wish, with visage sad-- "Ah, why (he cried) in Satan's waste, "Ah, why detain so fine a lad? "In white-man's land there stands a town "Where learning may be purchased low-- "Exchange his blanket for a gown, "And let the lad to college go."-- From long debate the council rose, And viewing Shalum's tricks with joy To Cambridge Hall,[A] o'er wastes of snows, They sent the copper-coloured boy. [A] Harvard College, at Cambridge in Massachusetts.--_Freneau's note, edition 1788._