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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Western Characters, by J. L. McConnel
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Western Characters
+       or Types of Border Life in the Western States
+
+Author: J. L. McConnel
+
+Illustrator: Darley
+
+Release Date: October 23, 2007 [EBook #23155]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTERN CHARACTERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Marcia Brooks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PEDDLER.]
+
+[Illustration: WESTERN CHARACTERS Redfield.]
+
+
+
+
+WESTERN CHARACTERS
+
+OR
+
+TYPES OF BORDER LIFE
+
+IN THE
+
+WESTERN STATES
+
+BY J. L. McCONNEL
+
+AUTHOR OF "TALBOT AND VERNON,"--"THE GLENNS," ETC.
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY DARLEY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+REDFIELD,
+110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.
+1853.
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853,
+
+BY J. S. REDFIELD,
+
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and
+for the Southern District of New York.
+
+
+STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE,
+13 Chambers Street, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+
+Attempts to delineate local character are always liable to
+misconstruction; for, the more truthful the sketch, the greater is the
+number of persons, to whom resemblance may be discovered; and thus,
+while in fact only describing the characteristics of a class, authors
+are frequently subjected, very unjustly, to the imputation of having
+invaded the privacy of individuals. Particularly is this so, when the
+class is idealized, and an imaginary type is taken, as the
+representative of the species.
+
+I deem it proper, therefore, to say in advance, that no attempt has been
+made in the following pages, to portray any individual; and
+that--although I hope I have not been so unsuccessful, as to paint
+pictures which have no originals--if there be a portrait in any sketch,
+it consists, not in the likeness of the picture to the person, but of
+both to the type.
+
+As originally projected, the book would have borne this explanation upon
+its face; but the circumstances which have reduced its dimensions, and
+changed its plan, have also rendered necessary a disclaimer, which
+would, otherwise, have been superfluous.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One or two of the sketches might have been made more complete had I been
+fortunate enough to meet with certain late publications, in time to use
+them. Such is the elaborate work of Mr. Schoolcraft upon Indian History
+and Character; and such, also, is that of Mr. Shea, upon the voyages and
+labors of Marquette--a book whose careful accuracy, clear style, and
+lucid statement, might have been of much service in writing the sketch
+entitled "_The Voyageur_." Unfortunately, however, I saw neither of
+these admirable publications, until my work had assumed its present
+shape--a fact which I regret as much for my reader's sake as my own.
+
+J. L. McC.
+_July 15, 1853._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                 PAGE.
+
+INTRODUCTORY                         7
+
+I.
+THE INDIAN                          19
+
+II.
+THE VOYAGEUR                        62
+
+III.
+THE PIONEER                        106
+
+IV.
+THE RANGER                         157
+
+V.
+THE REGULATOR                      171
+
+VI.
+THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE           246
+
+VII.
+THE PEDDLER                        268
+
+VIII.
+THE SCHOOLMASTER                   288
+
+IX.
+THE SCHOOLMISTRESS                 319
+
+X.
+THE POLITICIAN                     340
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+        --"Our Mississippi, rolling proudly on,
+    Would sweep them from its path, or swallow up,
+      Like Aaron's rod, those streams of fame and song."
+
+    MRS. HALE.
+
+
+The valley of a river like the channel of a man's career, does not
+always bear proportion to the magnitude or volume of the current, which
+flows through it. Mountains, forests, deserts, physical barriers to the
+former--and the obstacles of prejudice, and accidents of birth and
+education, moral barriers to the latter--limit, modify, and impair the
+usefulness of each. A river thus confined, an intellect thus hampered,
+may be noisy, fretful, turbulent, but, in the contemplation, there is
+ever a feeling of the incongruity between the purpose and the power; and
+it is only when the valley is extended, the field of effort open, that
+we can avoid the impression of energy wasted, and strength frittered
+away. The great intellect, whose scope is not confined by ancient
+landmarks, or old prejudices, is thus typified by the broad, deep river,
+whose branches penetrate the Earth on every hand, and add to the current
+the tributaries of all climes. In this view, how noble an object is the
+Mississippi!
+
+In extent, fertility, variety of scenery, and diversity of climate, its
+valley surpasses any other in the world. It is the great aorta of the
+continent, and receives a score of tributary rivers, the least of which
+is larger than the vaunted streams of mighty empires. It might furnish
+natural boundaries to all Europe, and yet leave, for every country, a
+river greater than the Seine. It discharges, in one year, more water
+than has issued from the Tiber in five centuries; it swallows up near
+fifty nameless rivers longer than the Thames; the addition of the waters
+of the Danube would not swell it half a fathom; and in a single bend,
+the navies of the world might safely ride at anchor, five hundred miles
+from sea.
+
+It washes the shores of twelve powerful states, and between its arms
+lies space enough for twenty more. The rains which fall upon the
+Alleghenies, and the snows that shroud the slopes and cap the summits of
+the Rocky mountains, are borne upon its bosom, to the regions of
+perpetual summer, and poured into the sea, more than fifteen hundred
+leagues from their sources. It has formed a larger tract of land, by the
+deposits of its inundations, than is contained in Great Britain and
+Ireland; and every year it roots up and bears away more trees, than
+there are in the Black Forest. At a speed unknown to any other great
+river, it rolls a volume, in whose depths the cathedral of St. Paul's
+might be sunk out of sight; and five hundred leagues from its mouth, it
+is wider than at thirty.
+
+It annually bears away more acres than it would require to make a German
+principality, engulfing more than the revenues of many a petty kingdom.
+Beneath its turbid waters lie argosies of wealth, and floating palaces,
+among whose gilded halls and rich saloons are sporting slimy creatures;
+below your very feet, as you sail along its current, are resting in its
+bed, half buried in the sand, the bodies of bold men and tender maidens;
+and their imploring hands are raised toward Heaven, and the world which
+floats, unheeding, on the surface. There lies, entombed, the son whose
+mother knows not of his death; and there the husband, for whose
+footstep, even yet, the wife is listening--here, the mother with her
+infant still clasped fondly to her breast; and here, united in their
+lives, not separated in their death, lie, side by side, the bride and
+bridegroom of a day;--and, hiding the dread secrets from all human ken,
+the mighty and remorseless river passes onward, like the stream of human
+life, toward "the land of dreams and shadows!"
+
+To the contemplative mind, there is, perhaps, no part of the creation,
+in which may not be found the seed of much reflection; but of all the
+grand features of the earth's surface, next to a lofty mountain, that
+which impresses us most deeply is a great river. Its pauseless flow, the
+stern momentum of its current--its remorseless coldness to all human
+hopes and fears--the secrets which lie buried underneath its waters, and
+the myriad purposes of those it bears upon its bosom--are all so clearly
+typical of Time. The waters will not pause, though dreadful battles may
+be fought upon their shores--as Time will steadily march forward, though
+the fate of nations hang upon the conflict. The moments fly as swiftly,
+while a mighty king is breathing out his life, as if he were a lowly
+peasant; and the current flows as coldly on, while men are struggling in
+the eddies, as if each drowning wretch were but a floating weed. Time
+gives no warning of the hidden dangers on which haughty conquerors are
+rushing, as the perils of the waters are revealed but in the crashing
+of the wreck.
+
+But the parallel does not stop here. The sources of the
+Mississippi--were it even possible that they should ever be
+otherwise--are still unknown to man. Like the stream of history, its
+head-springs are in the regions of fable--in the twilight of remote
+latitudes; and it is only after it has approached us, and assumed a
+definite channel, that we are able to determine which is the authentic
+stream. It flows from the country of the savage, toward that of
+civilization; and like the gradations of improvement among men, are the
+thickening fields and growing cultivation, which define the periods of
+its course. Near its mouth, it has reached the culmination of
+refinement--its last ripe fruit, a crowded city; and, beyond this, there
+lies nothing but a brief journey, and a plunge into the gulf of
+Eternity!
+
+Thus, an emblem of the stream of history, it is still more like a march
+along the highway of a single human life. As the sinless thoughts of
+smiling childhood are the little rivulets, which afterward become the
+mighty river; like the infant, airy, volatile, and beautiful--sparkling
+as the dimpled face of innocence--a faithful reflex of the lights and
+shadows of existence; and revealing, through the limpid wave, the
+golden sands which lie beneath. Anon, the errant channels are united in
+one current--life assumes a purpose, a direction--but the waters are yet
+pure, and mirror on their face the thousand forms and flashing colors of
+Creation's beauty--as happy boyhood, rapidly perceptive of all
+loveliness, gives forth, in radiant smiles, the glad impressions of
+unfaded youth.
+
+Yet sorrow cometh even to the happiest. Misfortune is as stern a
+leveller as Death; and early youth, with all its noble aspirations,
+gorgeous visions, never to be realized, must often plunge, like the
+placid river over a foaming cataract, down the precipice of
+affliction--even while its current, though nearing the abyss, flow
+softly as "the waters of Shiloah." It may be the death of a mother, whom
+the bereaved half deemed immortal--some disappointment, like the
+falsehood of one dearly loved--some rude shock, as the discovery of a
+day-dream's hollowness; happy, thrice happy! if it be but one of these,
+and not the descent from innocence to sin!
+
+But life rolls on, as does the river, though its wave no longer flows in
+placid beauty, nor reveals the hidden things beneath. The ripples are
+now whirling eddies, and a hundred angry currents chafe along the rocks,
+as thought and feeling fret against the world, and waste their strength
+in vain repining or impatient irritation. Tranquillity returns no more;
+and though the waters seem not turbid, there is a shadow in their
+depths--their transparency is lost.
+
+Tributaries, great and small, flow in--accessions of experience to the
+man, of weight and volume to the river; and, with force augmented, each
+rolls on its current toward the ocean. A character, a purpose, is
+imparted to the life, as to the stream, and usefulness becomes an
+element of being. The river is a chain which links remotest latitudes,
+as through the social man relations are established, binding alien
+hearts: the spark of thought and feeling, like the fluid of the magnet,
+brings together distant moral zones.
+
+On it rushes--through the rapids, where the life receives an
+impulse--driven forward--haply downward--among rocks and dangerous
+channels, by the motives of ambition, by the fierce desire of wealth, or
+by the goad of want! But soon the mad career abates, for the first
+effect of haste is agitation, and the master-spell of power is calmness.
+Happy are they, who learn this lesson early--for, thence, the current
+onward flows, a tranquil, noiseless, but resistless, tide. Manhood,
+steady and mature, with its resolute but quiet thoughts, its deep,
+unwavering purposes, and, more than all, its firm, profound affections,
+is passing thus, between the shores of Time--not only working for itself
+a channel broad and clear, but bearing on its bosom, toward Eternity,
+uncounted wealth of hopes.
+
+But in the middle of its course, its character is wholly changed; a
+flood pours in, whose waters hold, suspended, all impurities. A
+struggle, brief but turbulent, ensues: the limpid wave of youth is
+swallowed up. Some great success has been achieved; unholy passions are
+evoked, and will not be allayed; thenceforward there is no relenting;
+and, though the world--nay! Heaven itself!--pour in, along its course,
+broad tributaries of reclaiming purity, the cloud upon the waters can
+never be dispelled. The marl and dross of Earth, impalpable, but visibly
+corrupting, pervade the very nature; and only when the current ceases,
+will its primitive transparency return.
+
+Still it hurries onward, with velocity augmented, as it nears its term.
+Yet its breadth is not increased; the earth suspended in its waters,
+like the turbid passions of the human soul, prevents expansion;[1] for,
+in man's career through time, the heart grows wider only in the pure.
+
+Along the base of cliffs and highlands--through the deep alluvions of
+countless ages--among stately forests and across extended plains, it
+flows without cessation. Beyond full manhood, character may change no
+more--as, below its mighty tributaries, the river is unaltered. Its full
+development is reached among rich plantations, waving fields, and
+swarming cities; while, but the journey of a day beyond, it rushes into
+Eternity, leaving a melancholy record, as it mingles with the waters of
+the great gulf, even upon the face of Oblivion.
+
+--Within the valley of this river, time will see a population of two
+hundred millions; and here will be the seat of the most colossal power
+Earth has yet contained. The heterogeneous character of the people is of
+no consequence: still less, the storms of dissension, which now and then
+arise, to affright the timid and faithless. The waters of all latitudes
+could not be blended in one element, and purified, without the tempests
+and cross-currents, which lash the ocean into fury. Nor would a stagnant
+calmness, blind attachment to the limited horizon of a homestead, or the
+absence of all irritation or attrition, ever make one people of the
+emigrants from every clime.
+
+And, when this nation shall have become thoroughly homogeneous--when the
+world shall recognise _the race_, and, above this, _the power_ of the
+race--will there be no interest in tracing through the mists of many
+generations, the outlines of that foundation on which is built the
+mighty fabric? Even the infirmities and vices of the men who piled the
+first stones of great empires, are chronicled in history as facts
+deserving record. The portrait of an ancient hero is a treasure beyond
+value, even though the features be but conjectural. How much more
+precious would be a faithful portrait of _his character_, in which the
+features should be his salient traits--the expression, outline, and
+complexion of his nature!
+
+
+To furnish a series of such portraits--embracing a few of the earlier
+characters, whose "mark" is traceable in the growing civilization of the
+West and South--is the design of the present work. The reader will
+observe that its logic is not the selection of actual, but of ideal,
+individuals, each representing a class; and that, although it is
+arranged chronologically, the periods are not historical, but
+characteristic. The design, then, is double; _first_, to select a
+_class_, which indicates a certain stage of social or political
+advancement; and, _second_, to present a picture of an imaginary
+individual, who combines the prominent traits, belonging to the class
+thus chosen.
+
+The series halts, beyond the Rubicon of contemporaneous portraiture, for
+very obvious reasons; but there are still in existence abundant means of
+verifying, or correcting, every sketch. I have endeavored to give the
+consciousness of this fact its full weight--to resist the temptation
+(which, I must admit, was sometimes strong) to touch the borders of
+satire; and, in conclusion, I can only hope that these wishes, with an
+earnest effort at fidelity, have enabled me to present truthful
+pictures.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] "Were it a clear stream, it would soon scoop itself out a channel
+from bluff to bluff."--_Flint's Geography_, p. 103.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE INDIAN.
+
+    "In the same beaten channel still have run
+      The blessed streams of human sympathy;
+    And, though I know this ever hath been done,
+      The why and wherefore, I could never see!"
+
+    PHEBE CAREY.
+
+
+In a work which professes to trace, even indistinctly, the reclamation
+of a country from a state of barbarism, some notice of that from which
+it was reclaimed is, of course, necessary; and an attempt to distinguish
+the successive periods, each by its representative character, determines
+the logic of such notice. Were we as well acquainted with the gradations
+of Indian advancement--for such unquestionably, there were--as we are
+with those of the civilized man, we should be able to distinguish eras
+and periods, so as to represent them, each by its separate _ideal_. But
+civilization and barbarism are comparative terms; and, though it is
+difficult, perhaps impossible, precisely to fix the point at which one
+ceases and the other begins, yet, within that limit, we must consider
+barbarism as _one_ period. Of this period, in our plan, the Indian,
+without reference to distinction of tribe, or variation in degree of
+advancement, is the representative. As all triangles agree in certain
+properties, though widely different in others, so all Indians are alike
+in certain characteristics, though differing, almost radically, each
+from every other: But, as the points of coincidence in triangles are
+those which determine the class, and the differences only indicate
+subspecies, so the similar characteristics in the Indian, are those
+which distinguish the species, and the variations of character are, at
+most, only tribal limits. An Indian who should combine all the
+equivalent traits, without any of the inequalities, would, therefore, be
+the pure ideal of his race. And his composition should include the evil
+as well as the good; for a portrait of the savage, which should
+represent him as only generous and brave, would be as far from a
+complete ideal, as one which should display only his cruelty and
+cunning.
+
+My object in this article is, therefore, to combine as many as
+possible--or as many as are necessary--of the general characteristics of
+the Indian, both good and bad--so as to give a fair view of the
+character, according to the principle intimated above. And I may,
+perhaps without impropriety, here state, that this may be taken as the
+key to all the sketches which are to follow. It is quite probable that
+many examples of each class treated, might be found, who are exceptions
+to the rules stated, in almost every particular; and it is possible,
+that no _one_, of _any_ class treated, combined _all_ the
+characteristics elaborated. Excepting when historical facts are related,
+or well-authenticated legends worked in, my object is not to give
+portraits of individuals, however prominent. As was hinted above--the
+logic of the book points only to the ideal of each class.
+
+
+And this view of the subject excludes all those discussions, which have
+so long puzzled philosophers, about the origin of the race--our business
+is with the question _What is he?_ rather than with the inquiry, _Whence
+did he come?_ The shortest argument, however--and, if the assumption be
+admitted, the most conclusive--is that, which assumes the literal truth
+of the Mosaic account of the creation of man; for from this it directly
+follows, that the aboriginal races are descendants of Asiatic
+emigrants; and the minor questions, as to the route they
+followed--whether across the Pacific, or by Behring's strait--are merely
+subjects of curious speculation, or still more curious research. And
+this hypothesis is quite consistent with the evidence drawn from Indian
+languages, customs, and physical developments. Even the arguments
+against the theory, drawn from differences in these particulars among
+the tribes, lose their force, when we come to consider that the same, if
+not wider differences, are found among other races, indisputably of a
+single stock. These things may be satisfactorily accounted for, by the
+same circumstances in the one case, as in the other--by political and
+local situation, by climate, and unequal progress. Thus, the Indian
+languages, says Prescott, in his "Conquest of Mexico," "present the
+strange anomaly of differing as widely in etymology, as they agree in
+organization;" but a key to the solution of the problem, is found in the
+latter part of the same sentence: "and, on the other hand," he
+continues,[2] "while they bear some slight affinity to the languages of
+the Old World, in the former particular, they have no resemblance to
+them whatever, in the latter." This is as much as if he had said, that
+the incidents to the lives of American Indians, are totally different to
+those of the nations of the Old World: and these incidents are precisely
+the circumstances, which are likely to affect organization, more than
+etymology. And the difficulty growing out of their differences among
+themselves, in the latter, is surmounted by the fact, that there is a
+sufficient general resemblance among them all, to found a comparison
+with "the languages of the Old World." I believe, a parallel course of
+argument would clear away all other objections to the theory.[3]
+
+
+But, as has been said, the scope of our work includes none of these
+discussions; and we shall, therefore, pass to the Indian character,
+abstracted from all antecedents. That this has been, and is, much
+misunderstood, is the first thought which occurs to one who has an
+opportunity personally to observe the savage. Nor is it justly a matter
+of surprise. The native of this continent has been the subject of
+curious and unsatisfactory speculation, since the discovery of the
+country by Columbus: by the very _want_ of those things, which
+constitute the attraction of other nations, he became at once, and has
+continued, the object of a mysterious interest. The absence of dates and
+facts, to mark the course of his migration, remits us to conjecture, or
+the scarcely more reliable resource of tradition--the want of history
+has made him a character of romance. The mere name of Indian gives the
+impression of a shadowy image, looming, dim but gigantic, through a
+darkness which nothing else can penetrate. This mystery not only
+interests, but also disarms, the mind; and we are apt to see, in the
+character, around which it hovers, only those qualities which give depth
+to the attraction. The creations of poetry and romance are usually
+extremes; and they are, perhaps, necessarily so, when the nature of the
+subject furnishes no standard, by which to temper the conception.
+
+"The efforts of a poet's imagination are, more or less, under the
+control of his opinions:" but opinions of men are founded upon their
+history; and there is, properly, _no_ historical Indian character. The
+consequence has been, that poets and novelists have constructed their
+savage personages according to a hypothetical standard, of either the
+virtues or vices, belonging, potentially, to the savage state. The same
+rule, applied to portraiture of civilized men, would at once be declared
+false and pernicious; and the only reason why it is not equally so, in
+its application to the Indian, is, because the separation between him
+and us is so broad, that our conceptions of his character can exert
+little or no influence upon our intercourse with mankind.
+
+Sympathy for what are called the Indian's misfortunes, has, also,
+induced the class of writers, from whom, almost exclusively, our notions
+of his character are derived, to represent him in his most genial
+phases, and even to palliate his most ferocious acts, by reference to
+the injustice and oppression, of which he has been the victim. If we
+were to receive the authority of these writers, we should conclude that
+the native was not a savage, at all, until the landing of the whites;
+and, instead of ascribing his atrocities to the state of barbarism in
+which he lived--thus indicating their only valid apology--we should
+degrade both the white and the red men, by attributing to the former
+all imaginable vices, and, to the latter, a peculiar aptitude in
+acquiring them. These mistakes are natural and excusable--as the man who
+kills another in self-defence is justifiable; but the Indian character
+is not the less misconceived, just as the man slain is not less dead,
+than if malice had existed in both cases. To praise one above his
+merits, is as fatal to his consideration, as decidedly to disparage him.
+In either case, however, there is a chance that a just opinion may be
+formed; but, when both extremes are asserted with equal confidence, the
+mind is confused, and can settle upon nothing. The latter is precisely
+the condition of the Indian; and it is with a view of correcting such
+impressions, that this article is written.
+
+
+The American Indian, then, is the ideal of a savage--no more, no less:
+and I call him the ideal, because he displays _all_ those qualities,
+which the history of the human race authorizes us to infer, as the
+characteristics of an unenlightened people, for many ages isolated from
+the rest of mankind.[4] He differs, in many particulars, from the other
+barbarians of the world; but the broadest distinction lies in this
+_completeness_ of his savage character. The peculiarities of the country
+in which their lives assume their direction, its climate, isolation; or
+connection with the world--all these things contribute to modify the
+aspects presented by native races. In such points as are liable to
+modification by these causes, the American differs from every other
+savage; and without entering into an elaborate comparison of
+circumstances--for which we have neither the material, the inclination,
+nor the space--it may be proper briefly to consider _one_ of these
+causes, and endeavor to trace its effects in the Indian's moral
+physiognomy.
+
+
+The state of this continent, when the first Asiatic wanderers landed
+upon its shores, was, of course, that of a vast, unbroken solitude; and
+the contemplation of its almost boundless extent and profound
+loneliness, was certainly the first, and probably the most powerful
+agency, at work in modifying their original character. What the primary
+effects of this cause were likely to be, we may observe in the white
+emigrants, who have sought a home among the forests and upon the plains
+of the west: whatever they may have been before their migration, they
+soon become meditative, abstracted, and taciturn. These, and especially
+the last, are the peculiar characteristics of the Indian; his
+taciturnity, indeed, amounts to austerity, sometimes impressing the
+observer with the idea of affectation. The dispersion, which must have
+been the effect of unlimited choice in lands--the mode of life pursued
+by those who depended upon the chase for subsistence--the gradual
+estrangement produced among the separate tribes, by the necessity of
+wide hunting-grounds--the vast expanse of territory at command--causes
+operating so long, as to produce a fixed and corresponding nature--are
+the sources, to which we may trace almost all the Indian's distinctive
+traits.
+
+"Isolation," Carlyle says, "is the sum total of wretchedness to man;"
+and, doubtless, the idea which he means to convey is just. "But," in the
+words of De Quincey, "no man can be truly _great_, without at least
+chequering his life with solitude." Separation from his kind, of course,
+deprives a man of the humanizing influences, which are the consequences
+of association; but it may, at the same time, strengthen some of the
+noblest qualities of human nature. Thus, we are authorized to ascribe to
+this agency, a portion of the Indian's fortitude under hardships and
+suffering, his contempt for mere meanness, and above all, the proud
+elevation of his character. The standards of comparison, which were
+furnished by his experience, were few, and, of course, derived from the
+ideas of barbarians; but all such as were in any way modified by the
+solitude of his existence, were rendered impressive, solemn, and
+exalted.
+
+In the vast solitudes of Asia, whence the Indian races migrated to this
+continent, so far as the loneliness of savage deserts and endless plains
+might exert an influence, we should expect to find the same general
+character. But the Asians are almost universally pastoral--the Americans
+never; the wildest tribes of Tartary possess numerous useful
+domesticated animals--the Americans, even in Mexico,[5] had none; the
+Tartars are acquainted with the use of milk, and have been so from time
+immemorial--the Indian, even at this day, has adopted it only in a few
+localities, among the more enlightened tribes. The migration of the
+latter either took place at a period before even his Asiatic father had
+discovered its use, or the accidents which brought him to this
+continent, were such as to preclude importing domesticated animals; and
+the lapse of a few generations was sufficient to obliterate even the
+recollection of such knowledge. "And," says Prescott,[6] "he might well
+doubt, whether the wild, uncouth monsters, whom he occasionally saw
+bounding with such fury over the distant plains, were capable of
+domestication, like the meek animals which he had left grazing in the
+green pastures of Asia." To this leading distinction--the adoption and
+neglect of pastoral habits--may be referred most of the diversities
+among races, unquestionably of one stock.
+
+
+Reasoning from the effects upon human character, produced by the face of
+different countries, we might expect to find, in the Indian, among other
+things, a strong tendency toward poetical thought, embodied, not in the
+mode of expression usually denominated poetry, but in the style of his
+addresses, the peculiarities of his theories, or the construction of his
+mythology, language, and laws. This expectation is totally disappointed;
+but when we examine the _degree_ and _character_ of his advancement,
+and recollect a few of the circumstances, among which the poetry looked
+for would be obliged to grow, our disappointment loses its element of
+surprise. The contemplation of Nature in her primitive, terrible, and
+beautiful forms--the habit of meditation, almost the necessary
+consequence of solitude--the strange, wild enchantment of an adventurous
+life--have failed to develop in the Indian, any but selfish and sensual
+ideas. Written poetry was, of course, not to be expected, even from the
+indigenous civilization of Mexico and Peru; yet we might, with some
+ground for hope, seek occasional traces of poetical thought and feeling.
+We look in vain for any such thing.
+
+"Extremes meet," says one of the wisest of adages; and the saying was
+never more singularly and profoundly vindicated, than in its application
+to civilization and barbarism. The savage rejects all that does not
+directly gratify his selfish wants--the highly-civilized man is, in like
+manner, governed by the principle of _utility_; and, by both, the merely
+fanciful and imaginative is undervalued. Thus, as Mr. Macaulay[7]
+ingeniously says, "A great poem, in a highly-polished state of society,
+is the most wonderful and splendid proof of genius." But, for the same
+reasons, the savage, who should display any remarkably poetical feeling
+or tone of thought, would be quite as great a prodigy. Poetry flourishes
+most luxuriantly midway between the two extremes. Its essence is the
+contemplation of great passions and actions--of love, revenge, ambition.
+Imagination is then vivified by the means of expression or articulation;
+and, in the half-civilized state, neither a refined public sentiment,
+nor the other extreme of barbarous isolation, restrains the exhibition
+of great (and poetical) emotions.
+
+The best of Hazlitt's numerous definitions of poetry, determines it to
+be "the excess of imagination, beyond the actual or ordinary impression
+of any object or feeling."[8] But the Indian was destitute of all
+imagination; apparently, the composition of his nature included no such
+element; and, certainly, the rude exigencies of his life did not admit
+its action. Even the purity of his mythology, compared to that of the
+Greeks and Romans,[9] has been (by Lord Lindsay) attributed to this
+want--though, if such were its only effects, it might very well be
+supplied.
+
+The Indian has no humor, no romance--how could he possess poetical
+feeling? The gratification of sensual wants is the end of his life--too
+often, _literally_ the end! "He considers everything beneath his notice,
+which is not necessary to his advantage or enjoyment."[10] To him a jest
+is as unmeaning as the babbling of a brook; his wife is a beast of
+burden; and even his courting is carried on by gifts of good things _to
+eat_, sent to the parents.[11] Heaven is merely a hunting-ground; his
+language has no words to express abstract qualities, virtues, vices, or
+sentiments.[12] His idea of the Great Spirit, and the word which
+expresses it, may be applied with equal propriety to a formidable
+(though not beneficent) _animal_; indeed, the Indian words which we
+translate "spirit," mean only superior power, without the qualification
+of good or evil. He has not even the ordinary inhabitive instinct of the
+human race; his attachment to any region of country depends upon its
+capacity to furnish game, and the fading of the former keeps pace with
+the disappearance of the latter. "Attachment to the graves of his
+fathers," is an agreeable fiction--unfortunately, only a fiction.[13]
+He has always been nomadic, without the pastoral habits which the word
+supposes: a mere wandering savage, without purpose or motive, beyond the
+gratification of the temporary want, whim, or passion, and void of
+_everything_ deserving the name of sentiment.
+
+
+An extravagant, and, I am sorry to say, groundless, notion has obtained
+currency, among almost all writers upon the Indian character, that he is
+distinguished for his _eloquence_. But the same authors tell us, that
+his language, the vehicle of the supposed eloquence, can express only
+material ideas.[14] Now, if we knew no more of his character than this,
+we should be authorized to infer (what is, indeed, true), that he
+possesses no standard for the distinction of good and evil, and that his
+imagination is bounded by the lines of his sensible experience. How any
+degree of eloquence can be compatible with this state of things, passes
+comprehension. And what reflection would conclude, a little examination
+will confirm. The mistake has, doubtless, grown out of a misconception
+of the nature of eloquence itself.[15] If eloquence were all
+_figure_--even if it were, in any considerable degree, _mere_
+figure--then the tawdriest rhetorician would be the greatest orator. But
+it is not so. On the contrary, the use of many words (or figures) to
+express an idea, denotes not command of language, but the absence of
+that power--just as the employment of numerous tools, to effect a
+physical object, indicates, not skill in the branch of physics, to which
+the object belongs, but rather awkwardness. Of course, much must be
+placed, in both cases, to the account of clumsy instruments; but the
+instrument of speech differs from others in this: it is fashioned _by_,
+as well as _for_, its use; and a rude, unpolished language is,
+therefore, an index, in two ways, of the want of eloquence among the
+people who employ it.
+
+In this view, the figurative elocution of the Indian, so far from
+affording evidence of oratorical power, if it proves anything, proves
+the opposite. It is the barrenness of his language, and not the
+luxuriance of his imagination, which enforces that mode of speech.[16]
+Imagination is the first element of oratory, simplicity its first
+condition. We have seen that the Indian is wholly destitute of the
+former; and the stilted, meretricious, and ornate style, of even his
+ordinary communications, entirely excludes the latter from our
+conception of his character.[17]
+
+For example: take the expressions "bury the hatchet," for "make peace,"
+and "a cloudless sky," for "prosperity"--the latter being the nearest
+approximation to an abstract idea observed in Indian oratory. Upon
+examining these, and kindred forms of speech, we shall at once perceive
+that they are not the result of imagination, but are suggested by
+_material_ analogies. Peace, to the savage, is, at best, but a negative
+idea; and the _state_ of peacefulness, abstracted from the absence of
+war, finds no corresponding word in his language. Even friendship only
+means that relation, in which friends may be of _use_ to each other. As
+his dialects are all synthetic,[18] his ideas are all concrete. To say,
+"_I love_" without expressing _what_ or _whom_ I love, would be, so to
+speak, very bad Indian grammar. He can not even say "two" correctly,
+without applying the numeral to some object. The notion of absolute
+being, number, emotion, feeling, posture, or relation, is utterly
+foreign to his mode of thought and speech.
+
+So, also, of the "cloudless sky," used to express a state of prosperity.
+He does not mean, by the phrase, the serenity of mind which prosperity
+produces, nor any other abstract inflexion or suggestion of the figure.
+He is constantly exposed to the storms of heaven, in the chase, and on
+the war path; and, even in his best "lodge," he finds but little shelter
+from their fury. Clear weather is, therefore, grateful to him--bright
+sunshine associates itself, in his mind, with comfort, or (that
+supremest of Indian pleasures) undisturbed indolence. And the
+transition, though, as we have said, an approach to an abstract
+conception, is easy, even to the mind of a savage. His employment of
+such illustrations is rather an evidence of rudeness, than of
+eloquence--of barrenness, than of luxuriance of idea.[19]
+
+From these considerations, it results, that even the very best specimens
+of Indian oratory, deserve the name of _picturesque_, rather than of
+_eloquent_--two characteristics which bear no greater affinity to each
+other, than do the picture-writing of the Aztec and the alphabetical
+system of the Greek. The speech of Logan--the most celebrated of Indian
+harangues--even if genuine,[20] is but a feeble support to the theory of
+savage eloquence. It is a mixture of the lament and the song of triumph,
+which may be found in equal perfection among all barbarous people; but,
+so far as we are aware, was never elsewhere dignified with that sounding
+name. The slander of a brave and honorable man,[21] which it contains,
+might be the result of a mistake easily made; the wrongs of which this
+chief was the victim, might render even a savage eloquent; and the
+mixture of bloody vaunting with profound grief, is scarcely to be
+expected in any _but_ a savage. "Logan never knew fear," he says; "he
+would not turn on his heel to save his life." This species of boasting
+is perfectly in keeping with the Indian character; but the pathetic
+reason for this carelessness, which follows--"There is no one to mourn
+for Logan"--is one not likely to have occurred to an Indian, even in his
+circumstances. And, granting that the expression _was_ used by the
+orator, and not (as it seems probable it was) added by Jefferson, it is,
+I believe, the only example on record of poetical feeling in any Indian
+speech.
+
+
+The _religion_ of the Indian has given as much troublesome material to
+the builders of systems, as has been furnished by all his other
+characteristics combined. The first explorers of America supposed that
+they had found a people, quite destitute of any religious belief. But
+faith in a higher power than that of man, is a necessity of the human
+mind; and its organization, more or less enlightened, is as natural,
+even to the most degraded savage, as the formation of his language. Both
+depend upon general laws, common to the intellect of all races of men;
+both are affected by the external circumstances of climate, situation,
+and mode of life; and the state of one may always be determined by that
+of the other. "No savage horde has been caught with its language in a
+state of chaos, or as if just emerging from the rudeness of
+indistinguishable sounds. Each appears, not as a slow formation by
+painful processes of invention, but as a perfect whole, springing
+directly from the powers of man."[22] And though this rigor of
+expression is not equally applicable to the Indian's religion, the fact
+is attributable solely to the difference in nature of the subjects. As
+the "primary sounds of a language are essentially the same everywhere,"
+the impulses and instincts of piety are common to all minds. But, as the
+written language of the Indian was but the pictorial representation of
+visible objects, having no metaphysical signification, so the symbols of
+his religion, the objects of his adoration, were drawn from external
+nature.[23] Even his faith in the Great Spirit is a graft upon his
+system, derived from the first missionaries;[24] and, eagerly as he
+adopted it, it is probable that its meaning, to him, is little more
+exalted, than that of the "Great Beaver," which he believes to be the
+first progenitor, if not the actual creator, of that useful animal.
+
+We often see the fact, that the Indian believes in his _manitou_, cited
+as an evidence, that he has the conception of a spiritual divinity. But
+the word never conveyed such a meaning; it is applicable more properly
+to material objects, and answers, with, if possible, a more intense and
+superstitious significance, to the term _amulet_. The Indian's _manitou_
+might be, indeed always was, some wild animal, or some part of a beast
+or bird--such as a bear's claw, a buffalo's hoof, or a dog's tooth.[25]
+And, though he ascribed exalted powers to this primitive guardian, it
+must be remembered that these powers were only physical--such, for
+example, as would enable it to protect its devotee from the knife of his
+enemy, or give him success in hunting.
+
+
+Materialism, then, reigns in the religion, as in the language, of the
+Indian; and its effects are what might be expected. His whole system is
+a degraded and degrading superstition; and, though it has been praised
+for its superior purity, over that of the ancients, it seems to have
+been forgotten, that this purity is only the absence of _one kind_ of
+_im_purity: and that its cruel and corrupting influences, of another
+sort, are ten-fold greater than those of the Greek mythology. The
+faith of the Greek embodied itself in forms, ceremonies, and
+observances--regularly appointed religious rites kept his piety alive;
+the erection of grand temples, in honor of his deity, whatever might be
+his conception of that deity's character, attested his genuine devotion,
+and held constantly before his mind the abstract idea of a higher power.
+The Indian, before the coming of the white man, erected no temples[26]
+in honor of his divinities; for he venerated them only so long as they
+conferred physical benefits[27] upon him; and his idea of beneficence
+was wholly concrete. He had no established form of worship; the
+ceremonies, which partook of a religious character, were grotesque in
+their conception, variable in their conduct, and inhuman in their
+details. Such, for example, are the torturing of prisoners, and the
+ceremonies observed on the occasion of a young Indian's placing himself
+under his guardian power.
+
+
+The dogmas of the Indian religion, until varied by the teaching of
+missionaries, were few and simple--being circumscribed, like everything
+else belonging to him, by the material world. He believed in a good
+spirit, and an evil spirit; but his conception was limited by the ideas
+of benefit or injury, _to himself_; indeed, it may safely be doubted,
+whether the word "spirit," in its legitimate sense, is at all applicable
+to his belief. "Power in a state of exertion," is the more accurate
+description of his imperfect notion: abstract existence he never
+conceived; the verb "_to be_" except as relating to time, place, and
+action, had no meaning in his language.[28] He believed, also, in
+subordinate powers of good and evil; but, since his life was occupied
+more in averting danger and calamity, than in seeking safety or
+happiness, he paid far more respect to the latter than to the former--he
+prayed oftener and more fervently to the devils, than to the angels. His
+clearest notion of divinity, was that of a being able to injure him;
+and, in this sense, his devotion might be given to man, bird, or beast.
+
+There seems to be no doubt, that he believed in a sort of immortality,
+even before the missionaries visited his country. But it was not so much
+a new state of existence, as a continuation of present life.[29] He
+killed horses upon the grave of the departed warrior, that he might be
+mounted for his long journey; and buffalo meat and roasted maize were
+buried with him, that he might not suffer from hunger.[30] On arriving
+in the land of the blest, he believed, that the dead pursued the game of
+that country, as he had done in this; and the highest felicity of which
+he conceived, was the liberty to hunt unmolested by the war-parties of
+his enemies. Heaven was, therefore, in his conception, only a more
+genial earth, and its inheritors but keener sportsmen.
+
+That this idea of immortality involved that of accountability, in some
+form, seems to admit of no doubt; but this doctrine, like almost all
+others belonging to the primitive savage, has been moulded to its
+present definite shape, by the long-continued labors of Christian
+missionaries.[31] He believed, indeed, that the bad Indians never
+reached the happy hunting-grounds, but the distinction between the good
+and the bad, in his mind, was not at all clear; and, since the idea of
+the passage across the gulf of death most prevalent among all tribes,
+is that of a narrow bridge, over which only steady nerves and sure feet
+may carry the wanderer, it seems probable that the line was drawn
+between the brave warrior and the successful hunter, on the one hand,
+and the coward and the unskilful, on the other. If these views be
+correct, the inferences to be drawn from the Indian's belief in
+immortality and accountability, are of but slender significance.
+
+
+Corrupt manners and degrading customs never exist, in conjunction with a
+pure religious system. The outlines of social institutions are
+metaphysically coincident with the limits of piety; and the refinement
+of morals depends upon the purity of faith. We may thus determine the
+prevailing spirit of a national religion, by observation of domestic
+manners and habits; and, among all the relations of life, that of parent
+and child is the best index to degree of advancement. Filial piety is
+but the secondary manifestation of a devotional heart; and attachment
+and obedience to a father on earth, are only imperfect demonstrations of
+love to our Father in heaven. What, then--to apply the principle--is the
+state of this sentiment in the Indian? By the answer to that question,
+we shall be able to estimate the value of his religious notions, and to
+determine the amount of hope, for his conversion, justified by their
+possession. The answer may be given in a few words: There is no such
+sentiment in the Indian character. Children leave their infirm parents
+to die alone, and be eaten by the wolves;[32] or treat them with violent
+indignity,[33] when the necessity of migration gives no occasion for
+this barbarous desertion. Young savages have been known to beat their
+parents, and even to kill them; but the display of attachment or
+reverence for them, is quite unknown. Like the beast of the forest, they
+are no sooner old enough to care for themselves, than they cease even to
+remember, by whose care they have become so; and the slightest
+provocation will produce a quarrel with a father, as readily as with a
+stranger. The unwritten law of the Indian, about which so many writers
+have dreamed, enacts no higher penalty for parricide, than for any other
+homicide; and a command to honor his father and mother because they
+_are_ his father and mother, would strike the mind of an Indian as
+simply absurd.
+
+If the possession of a religion, whose fruits are no better than these,
+can, of itself, give ground for hope to the Christian philanthropist,
+let him cherish it fondly. But it is much to be feared, that the
+existence of such a system indefinitely postpones, if it does not
+entirely preclude, the Indian's conversion. Even a bird which has never
+known the forest, will eventually escape to the wilds which God has made
+its home; and the young Indian, who has been reared in the city, will
+fly to the woods and prairies, and return to the faith of his fathers,
+because these, and only these, will satisfy his nature.[34]
+
+
+A theme of praise, in itself more just, has been the Indian's courage;
+but the same circumstances of poetical interest, which have magnified
+men's views of his other qualities, have contributed to exaggerate this
+also. If calm steadiness of nerve, in the moment of action, be an
+element in true courage, that of the primitive savage was scarcely
+genuine. In all his battles, there were but two possible aspects--the
+furious onset, and the panic retreat: the firmness which plants itself
+in line or square, and stubbornly contends for victory, was no part of
+his character. A check, to him, always resulted in a defeat; and, though
+this might, in some measure, be the consequence of that want of
+discipline, which is incident to the savage state, the remark applies
+with equal justice, whether he fought singly or in a body. He was easily
+panic-struck, because the impulse of the forward movement was necessary
+to keep him strung to effort; and the retrograde immediately became a
+rout, because daring, without constancy, collapses with the first
+reaction.
+
+Notwithstanding the enervating influences attributed to refinement and
+luxury, genuine, steady courage is one of the fruits borne by a high
+civilization. It is the result of combination, thought, and the divinity
+which attaches to the cultivated man. And, though it may seem rather
+unfair to judge a savage by the rules of civilization, it has long been
+received as a canon, that true valor bears an inverse ratio to
+ferocious cruelty. Of all people yet discovered upon earth, the Indian
+is the most ferocious. We must, therefore, either vary the meaning of
+the word, when applied to different people, or deny the savage the
+possession of any higher bravery, than that which lives only through the
+onset.
+
+Cunning supplied the place of the nobler quality; the object of his
+warfare was to overcome by wily stratagem, rather than by open combat.
+"Skill consisted in surprising the enemy. They followed his trail, to
+kill him when he slept; or they lay in ambush near a village, and
+watched for an opportunity of suddenly surprising an individual, or, it
+might be, a woman and her children; and, with three strokes to each, the
+scalps of the victims being suddenly taken off, the brave flew back with
+his companions, to hang the trophies in his cabin."[35] If they
+succeeded in taking prisoners, it was only that they might be reserved
+for the most infernal torments, and the gratification of a brutal
+ferocity, not the trial and admiration of the victim's courage, was the
+purpose of their infliction.[36]
+
+The fortitude of the Indian under suffering, has often been referred to,
+in evidence of moral courage. And it is certainly true, that the display
+so frequently made of triumph in the hour of death by torture,
+indicates,[37] in part, an elevation of character, seldom found among
+more civilized men. It is, however, the elevation of a barbarian; and
+its manifestations are as much the fruit of impotent rage, as of a noble
+fortitude. The prisoner at the stake knows that there is no escape; and
+his intense hatred of his enemies takes the form of a wish, to deprive
+them of a triumph. While his flesh is crisping and crackling in the
+flames, therefore, he sings of the scalps he has taken, and heaps
+opprobrious epithets upon the heads of his tormentors. But his song is
+as much a cry of agony, as of exultation--his pain only adopts this mode
+of expression. It is quite certain, also, that he does not suffer so
+deeply, as would a white man in the same circumstances. By long
+exposure, and the endurance of hardships incident to his savage life,
+his body acquires an insensibility akin to that of wild animals.[38] His
+nerves do not shrink or betray a tendency to spasm, even when a limb is
+amputated. Transmitted from one generation to another, this physical
+nature has become a peculiarity of the race. And when assisted by the
+fierce hatred above referred to, it is not at all strange that it should
+enable him to bear with fortitude, tortures which would conquer the
+firmness of the most resolute white man.[39]
+
+
+The Indian's dignified stoicism has been as much exaggerated, as his
+courage and fortitude. It is not quite true that he never expresses
+surprise, or becomes loquacious. But he has a certain stern
+impassibility of feature--a coldness of manner--which have been mistaken
+for dignity. His immobility of countenance, however, may be the effect
+of sluggish sensibilities, or even of dull perceptions;[40] and the
+same savage vanity, which leads him to make a display of strength or
+agility before friend or enemy, prevents his acknowledging ignorance, by
+betraying surprise.[41] We have been in company with Indians from the
+Far West, while they saw a railroad for the first time. When they
+thought themselves unnoticed, they were as curious about the singular
+machinery of the locomotive, and as much excited by the decorations and
+appointments of the cars, as the most ignorant white man. But the moment
+they discovered that their movements were observed, they resumed their
+dignified composure; and, if you had judged of the Indian country by
+their subsequent deportment, you might have believed that the vast
+prairies of the Missouri were everywhere intersected by railroads--that
+the Indian had, in fact, never known any other mode of travelling. "On
+first seeing a steamboat, however," says Flint, who well understands his
+character, "he never represses his customary '_Ugh_!'"
+
+
+Generally, among white men, he who is fondest of inflicting pain, is
+least able to endure it. But the Indian reverses almost all the
+principles, which apply to civilized life; and, accordingly, we find
+that, with all his so-called fortitude, he is the most intensely cruel
+of all living men. Before possession of the continent was taken by
+Europeans, war was more constantly the occupation of his life, than it
+has been since; but even now his only object in taking his enemies
+alive, is to subject them to the most inhuman tortures.[42] And in these
+brutal orgies, the women are most active, even taking the lead, in
+applying the cord and the brand.[43] Nor is this cruelty confined to
+enemies, as the practice of leaving the aged and infirm to die of
+starvation sufficiently proves.
+
+And his treachery is equal to his cruelty. No treaty can bind him longer
+than superior force compels him to observe it. The discovery that his
+enemy is unprepared for an attack, is sufficient reason to him for
+making it; his only object in concluding peace, is to secure an
+advantage in war; and before the prospect of a bloody inroad, his faith
+melts away, like snow before the sun. The claims of gratitude he seldom
+acknowledges; he cherishes the memory of a benefit, only until he finds
+an opportunity of repaying it with an injury; and forbearance to avenge
+the latter, only encourages its repetition.[44] The numerous pretty
+stories published of Indian gratitude, are either exceptional cases, or
+unmixed romances.
+
+There have been some tribes of Indians in a measure reclaimed from their
+state of barbarism; the Cherokees, I believe, (and perhaps one or two
+other nations,) have even increased in numbers, under the influence of
+civilization. But this is the result of numerous favorable causes
+combined, and proves nothing, from which to infer the Indian's docility.
+Other savages, on coming in contact with civilized men, have discovered
+a disposition to acquire some of the useful arts--their comforts have
+been increased, their sufferings diminished, and their condition
+ameliorated, by the grafting of new ideas upon the old. But, between
+the red man and the white, contiguity has brought about little more than
+an exchange of vices.
+
+Almost the only things coveted by the "redskin" from the "paleface,"
+were his arms, his trinkets, and his "firewater." He could appreciate
+whatsoever gave him superiority in war, gratified his childish vanity,
+or ministered to his brutal appetite. But the greater comfort of the
+white man's house--the higher excellence of his boat--his improved
+agricultural implements or extended learning--none of these things
+appealed to the Indian's passions or desires. The arts of peace were
+nothing to him--refinement was worse than nothing. He would spend hours
+in _decorating_ his person, but not a moment in _cleansing_ it: I
+believe no tradition exists of an Indian ever having used soap or bought
+a fine-tooth comb! He is, indeed, a "pattern of filthiness;" but even in
+civilized life, we find that this is not at all incompatible with an
+extravagant love of ornament; and, in this respect, the savage is not
+behind his more enlightened brethren and sisters. Beads, ribands, and
+scarlet cloth--with powder and lead, guns, tomahawks, and knives--are
+the acquisitions which he prizes most highly.
+
+Pre-eminent, however, above all these in his estimation, is the greatest
+curse which has yet reached him--the liquid fire called whiskey! He is,
+by nature, a drunkard, and the fury of his intoxication equals the
+ferocity of his warfare. "All words would be thrown away," says Mr.
+Flint,[45] "in attempting to portray, in just colors, the effects of
+whiskey upon such a race." Fire should be kept away from
+combustibles--whiskey from the Indian, and for the same reason. With
+drunkenness, he possesses, also, its inseparable companion, the vice of
+gambling.[46] He is the most inveterate gamester: Before the demon of
+avarice everything gives way. He even forgets his taciturnity, in the
+excitement of the game, and becomes loquacious and eager. He will stake
+all his most valuable possessions, and, losing these, will even risk his
+own liberty, or life, on the turn of a card. We were once witness to a
+game in San Antonio (in Western Texas), among a party of Lipans,[47] a
+race of fine-looking men, who range the table-lands north of the
+sources of the Nueces. Two of them, one the handsomest warrior among
+them, lost, first, the money, which they had just received as the price
+of skins, brought to the city for sale. They then staked, successively,
+their horses, their arms, their moccasins, and their blankets. The
+"luck" was against them--everything was lost; and we supposed the game
+was over. But--as a last resource, like drawing blood from their beating
+hearts--each produced a _little leathern bottle_, containing whiskey!
+And, as if these possessed a higher value than all the articles yet
+lost, the game went on with increased interest! Even the potent "spirit"
+thus evoked, could not prevail upon Fortune to change her face: the
+whiskey was lost with the rest! Each rose to his feet, with the usual
+guttural exclamation, and, afoot, and unarmed as he was, silently took
+his way to the prairies; while the winners collected in a group, and
+with much glee, proceeded to consume the liquid poison so cheaply
+obtained.
+
+
+We come, finally to the question of the Indian's fate: What is to become
+of the race? The answer presents no difficulties, save such as grow out
+of men's unwillingness to look unpleasant truths in the face. There has
+been, of late years, much lamentation, among our own people, over the
+gradual extinction of these interesting savages; and in Europe we have
+been made the subject of indignant eloquence, for (what those, who know
+nothing about it, are pleased to call) "our oppression of the Indian."
+But, in the first place, the decay of the American races is neither so
+rapid nor so universal, as is generally supposed;[48] and, in the second
+place, if the fact were otherwise, we could, at the worst, be charged
+only with accelerating a depopulation already begun. "The ten thousand
+mounds in the Mississippi Valley, the rude memorials of an immensely
+numerous former population, but, to our view, no more civilized than the
+present races, are proofs that the country _was depopulated_, when the
+white man first became acquainted with it. If we can infer nothing else
+from these mounds, we can clearly infer, that this country once had its
+millions."[49] What had become of this immense population? The
+successive invasions of new hordes of barbarians from the north,
+intestine wars, and the law, that men shall advance toward civilization,
+or decay from the earth--these are the only causes to which we may
+ascribe their disappearance.
+
+The extinction of the Indian race is decreed, by a law of Providence
+which we can not gainsay. Barbarism _must_ give way to civilization. It
+is not only inevitable, but _right_, that it should be so. The tide of
+empire, which has been flowing since the earliest times, has set
+steadily toward the West. The Indian emigrated in the wrong direction:
+and now, after the lapse of many centuries, the descendants of the first
+Asians, having girdled the globe, meet on the banks of the Mississippi!
+On the one side, are enlightenment, civilization, Christianity: on the
+other, darkness, degradation, barbarism: and the question arises, which
+shall give way? The Indian recedes: at the rate of seventeen miles a
+year,[50] the flood rolls on! Already it has reached the shores of the
+Pacific: One century will reduce the whole continent to the possession
+of the white man; and, then, the lesson which all history teaches, will
+be again taught--that two distinct races cannot exist in the same
+country on equal terms. The weaker must be incorporated with the
+stronger--or exterminated.[51]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] Vol. III., page 394.
+
+[3] There is, however, little necessity for any argument on the subject:
+For, leaving out of the question the highest and most sacred of
+authorities, almost all respectable writers upon ethnology, including
+Buffon, Volney, Humboldt, &c., agree in assigning a common origin to all
+nations,--though the last deduces from many particulars, the conclusion
+that the American Indian was "isolated in the infancy of the world, from
+the rest of mankind."--_Ancient Inhabitants of America_, vol. i., p.
+250.
+
+[4] It will be observed, that I assume the _unity_ of the Indian race;
+and I am not sufficiently acquainted with the recent discussions on the
+subject, to be certain whether the question is still considered open.
+But the striking analogies between the customs, physical formation, and
+languages of all the various divisions, (except the Esquimaux, who are
+excluded), I think, authorize the assumption.
+
+[5] _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. iii., p. 416.
+
+[6] _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. iii., p. 417.
+
+[7] _Essays_--Art. 'Milton.'
+
+[8] _Lectures on English Poets_, p. 4.
+
+[9] No very high compliment, but as high as it deserves. We shall see
+anon.
+
+[10] Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 177.
+
+[11] Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., p. 256.
+
+[12] Hunter's _Memoirs_, p. 236. _Western Annals_, p. 712.
+
+[13] _Flint's Geography_, p. 108.
+
+[14] "All ideas are expressed by figures addressed to the senses."
+_Warburton_, vol. i., p. 175. Bancroft, ut supra.
+
+[15] See Bancroft, Hunter, Catlin, Flint, Jefferson, &c.--passim--all
+supporters of Indian eloquence, but all informing us, that "combinations
+of material objects were his _only_ means of expressing abstract ideas."
+
+[16] Vide Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., pp. 257, 266, etc.
+
+[17] _E. G._ "They style themselves the 'beloved of the Great
+Spirit.'"--_Warburton_, vol. i., p. 186. "In the Iroquois language, the
+Indians gave themselves the appellation of 'Angoueonoue', or 'Men of
+Always.'"--_Chateaubriand's Travels in America_, vol. ii., p. 92. Note,
+also, their exaggerated boastfulness, even in their best speeches:
+"Logan never knew fear," &c.
+
+[18] "The absence of all reflective consciousness, and of all logical
+analysis of ideas, is the great peculiarity of American
+speech."--_Bancroft_, vol. iii., p. 257.
+
+[19] Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 180.
+
+[20] I have seen it hinted, though I have forgotten where, that
+Jefferson, and not Logan, was the author of this speech; but the
+extravagant manner in which Jefferson himself praises it, seems to
+exclude the suspicion. "I may challenge the whole orations of
+Demosthenes and Cicero," he says, "and of any other more eminent orator,
+if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage
+superior to the speech of Logan!" Praise certainly quite high enough,
+for a mixture of lamentation and boastfulness.
+
+[21] The evidence in this matter has long ago been thoroughly sifted;
+and it is now certain that, so far from being present aiding at the
+massacre of Logan's family, Colonel Cresap earnestly endeavored to
+dissuade the party from its purpose. And yet the falsehood is
+perpetuated even in the common school-books of the country, while its
+object has been mouldering in his grave for a quarter of a
+century.--_Western Annals_, p. 147. _American Pioneer_, vol. i., p. 7,
+_et seq._
+
+[22] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 254.
+
+[23] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 285.--"The God of the savage was what the
+metaphysician endeavors to express by the word _substance_." But the
+Indian's idea of substance was altogether _concrete_.
+
+[24] The best authority upon this subject is found in the _Jesuit_
+"_Relaciones:_" but it is at least probable, that the preconceptions of
+the good Fathers colored, and, perhaps, shaped, many of the religious
+wonders there related.
+
+[25] "Lettres Edifiantes," vol. vi., p. 200, _et seq._ Warburton, vol.
+i., p. 187.
+
+[26] The extravagant stories told of the Natchez Indians (among whom
+there was said to be a remarkable temple for worship) are quite
+incredible, even if they had not been disproved.
+
+[27] When the _manitou_ of the Indian has failed to give him success in
+the chase, or protection from danger, "he upbraids it with bitterness
+and contempt, and threatens to seek a more effectual protector. If the
+_manitou_ continues useless, this threat is fulfilled." Warb. _ut
+supra_. _Vide_, also, Catlin's "American Indians," vol. i., p. 36, _et
+seq._
+
+[28] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 258.
+
+[29] "He calls it [the soul] the shadow or image of his body, but its
+acts and enjoyments are all the same as those of its earthly existence.
+He only pictures to himself a continuation of present pleasures." Warb.
+vol. i., p. 190. _Vide_, also, Catlin's "_American Indians_," vol. i.,
+p. 158, _et seq._
+
+[30] The Indian never believed in the resurrection of the body; but even
+corn and venison were supposed to possess a spirit, which the spirit of
+the dead warrior might eat.--_Jesuit_ "_Relacion_," 1633, p. 54.
+
+[31] "The idea of retribution," says Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 299, "as
+far as it has found its way among them, was derived from Europeans." And
+the same remark may be made, of most of the other wonders, in which
+enthusiastic travellers have discovered coincidences with Christianity.
+
+[32] James's "_Expedition_," vol. i., p. 237.--Catlin's "_American
+Indians_," vol. i., pp. 216-'18. The latter is a zealous apologist for
+Indian cruelties and barbarisms.
+
+[33] "_Conquest of Canada_," vol. i., pp. 194-'5.
+
+[34] The following may serve to indicate the sort of impression of
+Christianity which even the most earnest and enlightened preaching has
+been able to make upon the Indian mind: "Here I saw a most singular
+union; one of the [Indian] graves was surmounted by a cross, while close
+to it a trunk of a tree was raised, covered with hieroglyphics,
+recording the number of enemies slain by the tenant of the tomb. Here
+presenting a hint to those who are fond of system-making on the religion
+of these people," &c.--_Beltrami's Pilgrimage, &c._, vol. ii., p. 307.
+Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., pp. 303-'4. Flint's _Geography_,
+pp. 109, 126.
+
+[35] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 281.
+
+[36] "To inflict blows that can not be returned," says this historian
+(Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 282), "is a proof of full success, and the
+entire humiliation of the enemy. It is, moreover, an experiment of
+courage and patience." But we think such things as much mere brutality,
+as triumph.
+
+[37] The frequent change of tense in this article, refers to those
+circumstances in which the _present_ differs from the _past_ character
+of the Indian.
+
+[38] "It is to be doubted, whether some part of this vaunted stoicism be
+not the result of a more than ordinary degree of physical
+insensibility."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p. 114.
+
+[39] Many white men, however, have endured the utmost extremities of
+Indian cruelty. See cases of Brebeuf, and Lallemand, in _Bancroft_, vol.
+iii., p. 140.
+
+[40] "It is intellectual culture which contributes most to diversify the
+features."--_Humboldt's Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 228.
+
+[41] "They have probably as much curiosity [as the white], but a more
+stern perseverance in repressing it."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p.
+124.
+
+[42] "The enemy is assailed with treachery, and, if conquered, treated
+with revolting cruelty." * * "A fiendish ferocity assumes full
+sway."--_Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 206.
+
+[43] It is perhaps not very remarkable, however, that the women are most
+cruel to the aged and infirm--the young and vigorous being sometimes
+adopted by them, to console them for the loss of those who have
+fallen.--_Idem_, p. 210.
+
+[44] "We consider them a treacherous people, easily swayed from their
+purpose, paying their court to the divinity of good fortune, and always
+ready to side with the strongest. We should not rely upon their feelings
+of to-day, as any pledge for what they will be to-morrow."--_Flint's
+Geography_, vol. i., p. 120.
+
+[45] "_Geography of the Mississippi Valley_," vol. i., p. 121.
+
+[46] "The Indians are immoderately fond of play."--_Warburton_, vol. i.,
+p. 218.
+
+[47] These used cards; but they have, among themselves, numerous games
+of chance, older than the discovery of the continent.
+
+[48] "The Cherokee and Mobilian families of nations are more numerous
+now than ever."--_Bancroft_, vol. iii., p. 253. In speaking of this
+declamation about the extinction of the race, Mr. Flint very pertinently
+remarks: "One would think it had been discovered, that the population,
+the improvements, and the social happiness of our great political
+edifice, ought never to have been erected in the place of these
+habitations of cruelty."--_Geography_, vol. i., p. 107.
+
+[49] Idem.
+
+[50] This is De Tocqueville's estimate.--_Democracy in America_, vol.
+ii., chap. 10.
+
+[51] "We may as well endeavor to make the setting sun stand still on the
+summit of the Rocky Mountains, as attempt to arrest the final extermination
+of the Indian race!"--_Merivale on Colonization_--_Lecture_ 19.
+
+The principle stated in the text will apply with equal force to the
+negro-race; and those who will look the facts firmly in the face, can
+not avoid seeing, that the ultimate solution of the problem of American
+Slavery, can be nothing but _the sword_.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE VOYAGEUR.
+
+    "Spread out earth's holiest records here,
+    Of days and deeds to reverence dear:
+    A zeal like this, what pious legends tell?"
+
+
+The shapeless knight-errantry of the thirteenth and fourteenth
+centuries, rich as it was in romance and adventure, is not to be
+compared, in any valuable characteristic, to the noiseless self-devotion
+of the men who first explored the Western country. The courage of the
+knight was a part of his savage nature; his confidence was in the
+strength of his own right arm; and if his ruggedness was ever softened
+down by gentler thoughts, it was only when he asked forgiveness for his
+crimes, or melted in sensual idolatry of female beauty.
+
+It would be a curious and instructive inquiry, could we institute it
+with success, how much of the contempt of danger manifested by the
+wandering knight was referable to genuine valor, and what proportion to
+the strength of a Milan coat, and the temper of a Toledo or Ferrara
+blade. And it would be still more curious, although perhaps not so
+instructive, to estimate the purity and fidelity of the heroines of
+chivalry; to ascertain the amount of true devotion given them by their
+admirers, "without hope of reward."
+
+But without abating its interest by invidious and ungrateful inquiries,
+we can see quite enough--in its turbulence, its cruelty, arrogance, and
+oppression--to make us thank Heaven that "the days of chivalry are
+gone." And from that chaotic scene of rapine, raid, and murder, we can
+turn with pleasure to contemplate the truer, nobler chivalry--the
+chivalry of love and peace, whose weapons were the kindness of their
+hearts, the purity of their motives, and the self-denial of their lives.
+
+The term "_voyageur_"[52] literally signifies "traveller;" and by this
+modest name are indicated some of the bravest adventurers the world has
+ever seen. But it is not in its usual, common-place signification that I
+employ the word, nor yet in that which is given it by most writers on
+the subject of early French settlements and explorations. Men are often
+affected by the names given them, either of opprobrium or commendation;
+but words are quite as frequently changed, restricted, or enlarged in
+meaning, by their application to men. For example: you apply the word
+soldier to a class of men; and if robbery be one of the characteristics
+of that class, "soldier" will soon come to mean "robber" too. And thus,
+though the parallel is only logical, has it been with the term
+"_voyageur_." The class of men to whom it is applied were
+travellers--_voyageurs_; but they were _more_; and as the habits and
+qualities of men came in time to be better understood than the meaning
+of French words, the term, used in reference to Western history, took
+much of its significance from the history and character of the men it
+assumed to describe. Thus, _un voyageur_ means not only a traveller, but
+a traveller with a purpose; an adventurer among the Western wilds; a
+chivalrous missionary, either in the cause of science or religion. It
+includes high courage, burning zeal for church and country, and the most
+generous self-devotion. It describes such men as Marquette, La Salle,
+Joliet, Gravier, and hundreds of others equally illustrious, who lived
+and died among the dangers and privations of the wilderness; who opened
+the way for civilization and Christianity among the savages, and won,
+many of them, crowns of martyrdom.
+
+They were almost all Frenchmen. The Spaniards who came to this continent
+were mere gold-seekers, thirsting only for wealth; and if they sought to
+propagate Christianity, or rather the Christian _name_, it was only a
+sanguinary bigotry that prompted them. On the other hand, the English
+emigrants came to take possession of the country for themselves. The
+conversion of the natives, or territorial acquisition for the
+mother-country, were to them objects of barely secondary importance.
+They believed themselves persecuted--some of them _were_ persecuted--and
+they fled: it was only safety for themselves, and the rich lands of the
+Indian, that they sought. Providence reserved for the French chevaliers
+and missionaries the glory of leaving their homes without compulsion,
+real or imaginary, to penetrate an inhospitable wilderness; to undergo
+fatigues; to encounter dangers, and endure privations of a thousand
+kinds; enticed by no golden glitter, covetous of no riches, save such as
+are "laid up in heaven!" They came not as conquerors, but as ministers
+of peace, demanding only hospitality. They never attacked the savages
+with sword or fagot; but extending hands not stained by blood, they
+justified their profession by relief and love and kindly offices.
+Sometimes, indeed, they received little tracts of land; not seized by
+the hand of power, nor grasped by superior cunning, but possessed as the
+free gift of simple gratitude; and upon these they lived in peace,
+surrounded by savages, but protected by the respect inspired by
+blameless and beneficent lives. Many of those whose vows permitted it,
+intermarried among the converted natives, and left the seeds of many
+meliorations in a stony soil; and many of them, when they died, were as
+sincerely mourned by the simple children of the forest, as if they had
+been chiefs and braves.
+
+Such were the men of peace who penetrated the wilderness through the
+French settlements in Canada, and preached the gospel to the heathen,
+where no white man had ever before been seen; and it is particularly to
+this class that I apply the word at the head of this article. But the
+same gentle spirit pervaded other orders of adventurers--men of the
+sword and buckler, as well as of the stole and surplice. These came to
+establish the dominion of _La Belle France_; but it was not to oppress
+the simple native, or to drive him from his lands. Kindness marked even
+the conduct of the rough soldier; and such men as La Salle, and
+Iberville, who were stern enough in war, and rigid enough in discipline,
+manifested always an anxious solicitude for the _rights_, as well as for
+the spiritual welfare of the Indian. They gave a generous confidence
+where they were conscious of no wish to injure; they treated frankly and
+on equal terms, with those whom their religion and their native kindness
+alike taught them to consider brethren and friends. Take, for example,
+that significant anecdote of La Salle, related by the faithful
+chronicler[53] of his unfortunate expeditions. He was building the fort
+of _Crevecoeur_, near the spot where now stands the city of Peoria, on
+the Illinois river; and even the name of his little fortress
+(_Crevecoeur_, Broken Heart) was a mournful record of his shattered
+fortunes. The means of carrying out his noble enterprise (the colonizing
+of the Mississippi valley) were lost; the labor of years had been
+rendered ineffectual by one shipwreck; his men were discontented, even
+mutinous, "attempting," says Hennepin, "first to poison, and then desert
+him;" his mind was distracted, his heart almost broken, by accumulated
+disasters. Surrounded thus by circumstances which might well have
+rendered him careless of the feelings of the savages around him, he
+observed that they had become cold and distant--that in effect they no
+longer viewed him as their friend. The Iroquois,[54] drifting from the
+shores of Lake Ontario, where they had always been the bitterest foes of
+the French, had instilled fear and hatred into their minds; it was even
+said that some of his own men had encouraged the growing discontent. In
+this juncture, what measures does he take? Strengthen his
+fortifications, and prepare for war, as the men of other nations had
+done? Far from it. Soldier and adventurer as he was, he had no wish to
+shed innocent blood; though with his force he might have defied all the
+nations about him. He went as a friend, frankly and generously, among
+them, and demanded the reasons of their discontent. He touched their
+hearts by his confidence, convinced them of his friendship, and attached
+them to himself more devotedly than ever. A whole history in one brief
+passage!
+
+But it is more especially to the _voyageurs_ of the church--the men of
+faith and love--that I wish to direct my readers' attention: To such men
+as Le Caron, a Franciscan, with all the zeal and courage and
+self-abnegation of his order, who wandered and preached among the bloody
+Iroquois, and upon the waters of Huron, as early as 1616: to Mesnard, a
+devoted missionary of the same order, who, in 1660, founded a mission at
+the Sault de Ste. Marie, and then went into the forest to induce the
+savages to listen to the glad tidings he had brought, and never came
+back: to Father Allouez, who rebuilt the mission five years afterward
+(the first of these houses of God which was not destroyed or abandoned),
+who subsequently crossed the lakes, and preached to the Indians on Fox
+river, where, in one of the villages of the Miamis and Mascoutens,
+Marquette found a cross still standing, after the lapse of years, where
+Allouez had raised it, covered with the offerings of the simple natives
+to an unknown God. He is the same, too, who founded Kaskaskia, probably
+the earliest settlement in the great valley, and whose history ends
+(significant fact!) with the record of his usefulness. To Father Pinet,
+who founded Cahokia, and was so successful in the conversion of the
+natives, that his little chapel could not contain the numbers who
+resorted to his ministrations: to Father Marest, the first preacher
+against intemperance; and, finally, to Marquette, the best and bravest
+of them all, the most single-hearted and unpretending!
+
+
+Enthusiasm is a characteristic of the French nation; a trait in some
+individuals elevated to a sublime self-devotion, and in others degraded
+to mere excitability. The vivacity, gesticulation, and grimace, which
+characterize most of them, are the external signs of this nature; the
+calm heroism of the seventeenth century, and the insane devotion of the
+nineteenth, were alike its fruits. The _voyageur_ possessed it, in
+common with all his countrymen. But in him it was not noisy, turbulent,
+or egotistical; military glory had "neither part nor lot" in his
+schemes; the conquests he desired to make were the conquests of faith;
+the dominion he wished to establish was the dominion of Jesus.
+
+In the pursuit of these objects, or rather of this single object, I have
+said he manifested the enthusiasm of his race; but it was the noblest
+form of that characteristic. The fire that burned in his bosom was fed
+by no selfish purpose. To have thought of himself, or of his own
+comforts, or glory, to the detriment of any Christian enterprise,
+however dangerous or unpromising, would, in his eyes, have been a deadly
+sin.
+
+
+At Sault de Ste. Marie, Father Marquette heard of many savages (whom he
+calls "God's children") living in barbarism, far to the west. With five
+boatmen and one companion, he at once set out for an unexplored, even
+unvisited wilderness. He had what they had not--the gospel; and his
+heart yearned toward them, as the heart of a mother toward an afflicted
+child. He went to them, and bound them to him "in the bond of peace." If
+they received him kindly--as they usually did, for even a savage
+recognises and respects genuine devotion--he preached to them, mediated
+among them, softened their hearts, and gathered them into the fold of
+God. If they met him with arms in their hands--as they sometimes did,
+for savages, like civilized men, do not always know their friends--he
+resolutely offered peace; and, in his own simple and pious language,
+"God touched their hearts," and they cast aside their weapons and
+received him kindly.
+
+But the _voyageur_ had higher qualities than enthusiasm. He was capable
+of being so absorbed in a cause as to lose sight of his own identity; to
+forget that he was more than an instrument in the hands of God, to do
+God's work: and the distinction between these traits is broad indeed!
+Enthusiasm is noisy, obtrusive--self-abnegation is silent, retiring;
+enthusiasm is officious, troublesome, careless of time and
+place--self-abnegation is prudent, gentle, considerate. The one is
+active and fragmentary--the other passive, but constant.
+
+Thus, when the untaught and simple native was to be converted, the
+missionary took note of the spiritual capacity as well as of the
+spiritual wants; he did not force him to receive, at once, the whole
+creed of the church, as a mere enthusiast would have done; for _that_
+wisdom would feed an infant with strong meats, even before it had drawn
+its mother's milk. Neither did he preach the gospel with the sword, like
+the Spaniard, nor with fire and fagot, like the puritan. He was wise as
+the serpent, but gentle as the dove. He took the wondering Indian by
+the hand; received him as a brother; won him over to listen patiently;
+and then taught him first that which he could most easily comprehend: he
+led him to address the throne of grace, or, in the language of the time,
+"to embrace the prayer;" because even the savage believed in Deity. As
+his understanding was expanded, and his heart purified--as every heart
+must be which truly lifts itself to God--he gradually taught him the
+more abstruse and wonderful doctrines of the Church of Christ. Gently
+and imperceptibly he led him on, until the whole tremendous work was
+done. The untutored savage, if he knew nothing else, yet knew the name
+of his Redeemer. The bloody warfare, the feuds and jealousies of his
+tribe, if not completely overcome, at least were softened and
+ameliorated. When he could not convert, he endeavored to humanize; and
+among the tribes of the Illinois,[55] though they were never thoroughly
+Christianized, the influence of the good fathers soon prevailed to
+abolish the barbarous practice of torturing captives.[56] For though
+they might not embrace the religion, the savages venerated its
+teachers, and loved them for their gentleness.
+
+And this gentleness was not want of courage; for never in the history of
+the world has truer valor been exhibited than that shown by the early
+missionary and his compeers, the first military adventurers! Read
+Joutel's account of the melancholy life and death of La Salle; read the
+simple, unpretending "Journal" of Marquette;[57] and compare their
+constancy and heroism with that displayed at any time in any cause! But
+the _voyageur_ possessed higher qualities than courage, also; and here
+again we recur to his perfect abnegation of himself; his renunciation of
+all personal considerations.
+
+Courage takes note of danger, but defies it: the _voyageur_ was careless
+of danger, because he counted it as nothing; he gave it no thought,
+because it only affected _himself_; and he valued not his own safety and
+comfort, so long as he could serve the cause by forgetting them. Mere
+courage is combative, even pugnacious; but the _voyageur_ fought only
+"the good fight;" he had no pride of conquest, save in the victories of
+Faith, and rather would suffer, himself, than inflict suffering upon
+others. Mere courage is restless, impatient, purposeless: but the
+_voyageur_ was content to remain wherever he could do good, tentative
+only in the cause of Christ, and distracted by no objects from his
+mission. His religion was his inspiration; his conscience his reward.
+His system may have been perverted, his zeal mistaken, his church a
+sham; we are not arguing that question. But the purity of his
+intentions, the sincerity of his heart, can not be doubted; and the most
+intolerant protestant against "the corruptions of Rome" will, at least,
+admit that even catholicism was better than the paganism of the savage.
+
+"There is not," says Macaulay,[58] "and there never was on this earth, a
+work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman
+Catholic Church." And certainly all other systems combined have never
+produced one tithe of the astounding results brought about by this
+alone. Whether she has taught truth or falsehood; whether, on the whole,
+it had been better or worse for the cause of Christianity, had no such
+organization ever existed; whether her claims be groundless or
+well-founded, are questions foreign to our purpose. But that her polity
+is the most powerful--the best adapted to the ends she has in view--of
+all that man has hitherto invented, there can be no doubt. Her
+missionaries have been more numerous and more successful, ay, and more
+devoted, than those of any other church. They have gone where even the
+sword of the conqueror could not cleave his way. They have built
+churches in the wilderness, which were time-worn and crumbling when the
+first emigrant penetrated the forests. They have preached to youthful
+savages who never saw the face of another white man, though they lived
+to three-score years and ten. They have prayed upon the shores of lonely
+lakes and rivers, which were not mapped by geographers for centuries
+after their deaths. They have travelled on foot, unarmed and alone,
+where an army could not march. And everywhere their zeal and usefulness
+have ended only with their lives; and always with their latest breath
+they have mingled prayers for the salvation of their flocks, with
+aspirations for the welfare of their church. For though countless miles
+of sea and land were between her and them, their loyalty and affection
+to the great spiritual Mother were never forgotten. "In spite of oceans
+and deserts; of hunger and pestilence; of spies and penal laws; of
+dungeons and racks, of gibbets and quartering-blocks," they have been
+found in every country, at all times, ever active and zealous. And
+everywhere, in palace, or hovel, or wilderness, they have been true sons
+of the church, loyal and obedient.
+
+An organization capable of producing such results is certainly well
+worth examination. For the influence she has wielded in ages past gives
+promise of her future power; and it becomes those who think her
+permanence pernicious to the world, to avoid her errors and yet imitate
+her wisdom. If the system be a falsehood and a sham, it is a most
+gigantic and successful one, and it is of strange longevity. It has
+lived now more than fifteen hundred years, and one hundred and fifty
+millions of people yet believe it. If it be a counterfeit, it is high
+time the cheat were detected and exposed. Let those who have the truth
+give forth its light, that the falsehood may wither and die. Unless they
+do so, the life which has already extended over so many centuries may
+gain fresh vigor, and renew its youth. Even yet the vision of the
+essayist may be realized: "She may still exist in undiminished vigor,
+when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast
+solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch
+the ruins of St. Paul's!"
+
+It was to this church that the early _voyageurs_ belonged. And I do not
+use that word "belonged" as it is employed in modern times among
+protestants: I mean _more_ than that convenient, loosely-fitting
+profession, which, like a garment, is thrown on and off, as the
+exigencies of hypocrisy or cupidity may require. These men actually _did
+belong_ to the church. They were hers, soul and body; hers, in life and
+in death; hers to go whithersoever she might direct, to do whatsoever
+she might appoint. They believed the doctrines they taught with an
+abiding, _active_ faith; and they were willing to be spent in preaching
+them to the heathen.
+
+
+It has always been a leading principle in the policy of the Roman
+church, to preserve her unity, and she has been enabled to do so,
+principally by the ramified and elastic polity for which she has been
+distinguished, to which she owes much of her extent and power, as well
+as no small part of the reproach so liberally bestowed upon her in the
+pages of history. There are many "arms" in her service: a man must be
+impracticable indeed, when she can find no place in which to make him
+useful, or to prevent his being mischievous. She never drives one from
+the pale of the church who can benefit it as a communicant, or injure it
+as a dissenter. If he became troublesome at home, she has, in all ages,
+had enterprises on foot in which she might clothe him with authority,
+and send him to the uttermost parts of the earth; thus ridding herself
+of a dangerous member, and, by the same act, enlarging the sphere of her
+own dominion. Does an enthusiast become noisy, or troublesome upon
+unimportant points, the creed is flexible, and the mother will not
+quarrel with her child, for his earnestness may convince and lead astray
+more valuable sons and daughters. She will establish a new order, of
+which the stubborn fanatic shall be founder; the new order is built into
+the old church organization, and its founder becomes a dignitary of the
+ecclesiastical establishment. Instead of becoming a dangerous heretic
+and schismatic, he is attached to orthodoxy by cords stronger than
+steel; henceforth all his earnest enthusiasm shall be directed to the
+advancement of his order, and consequently of his church. Does one
+exhibit inflexibility in some matter of conscience upon which the church
+insists, there are many of God's children in the wilderness starving in
+spirit for the bread of life; and to these, with that bread, shall the
+refractory son be sent. He receives the commission; departs upon his
+journey, glad to forget a difference with his spiritual superiors;
+preaches to the heathen; remembers only that the church is his mother;
+wins a crown of martyrdom, and is canonized for the encouragement of
+others!
+
+Thus she finds a place for all, and work enough for each; and thus are
+thrown off the elements of schism and rebellion. Those who had most
+courage in the cause of right; all who were likely to be guided in
+matters of conscience by their own convictions; the most sincere and
+single-hearted, the firmest and purest and bravest, were, in matters of
+controversy, the most dangerous champions, should they range themselves
+against the teaching of the church. They were consequently, at the
+period of which I am writing, the men whom it was most desirable to send
+away; and they were eminently well fitted for the arduous and wasting
+duties of the missionary.
+
+To this class belonged the large majority of the _voyageur_ priests: men
+who might be inconvenient and obtrusive monitors, or formidable
+adversaries in controversy, if they remained at home; but who could only
+be useful--who of all men could be _most_ useful--in gathering the
+heathen into the fold of the church. There were, doubtless, a few of
+another class; the restless, intriguing, and disobedient, who, though
+not formidable, were troublesome. But even when these joined the
+missionary expeditions, they did but little to forward the work, and are
+entitled to none of the honor so abundantly due to their more sincere
+brethren. To this class, for example, belonged the false and egotistical
+Hennepin, who only signalized himself by endeavoring to appropriate the
+reputation so hardly won by the brave and unfortunate La Salle.[59]
+
+It does not appear upon the record that any of these men--of either the
+restless and ambitious, or of the better class--were literally _sent
+away_. But such has been the politic practice of this church for many
+ages; and we may safely believe, that when she was engaged in an
+unscrupulous and desperate contest for the recovery, by fair means or
+foul, of her immense losses, there might be many in the ranks of her
+pious priesthood whom it would be inconvenient to retain at home. And
+during that conflict especially, with the most formidable enemies she
+ever had, she could not afford to be encumbered.
+
+But whatever may have been the motives of their spiritual superiors, the
+missionaries themselves were moved only by the considerations of which
+we have spoken--the truest piety and the most burning zeal. Of these
+influences they were conscious; but we shall perhaps not do the
+character injustice if we add another spur to action, of which they were
+_not_ conscious. There is a vein of romance in the French composition; a
+love of adventure for the sake of the adventure itself, which, when not
+tamed or directed, makes a Frenchman fitful, erratic, and unreliable.
+When it is toned by personal ambition, it becomes a sort of Paladin
+contempt for danger; sometimes a crazy furor. When accompanied by
+powerful intellect, and strengthened by concentration on a purpose, it
+makes a great commander--great for the quickness of his comprehension,
+the suddenness of his resolutions, the rapidity of their execution. When
+humanized by love, and quickened by religious zeal, it is purified of
+every selfish thought, and produces the chivalrous missionary, whom
+neither fire nor flood, neither desert nor pathless wilderness, shall
+deter from obeying the command of Him who sent his gospel "unto every
+creature." And thus are even those traits, which so often curse the
+world with insane ambition and sanguinary war, turned by the power of a
+true benevolence to be blessings of incalculable value.
+
+Such were the purposes, such the motives, of this band of noble men; and
+whatever may have been their errors, we must at least accord them the
+virtues of _sincerity_, _courage_, _and self-denial_. But let us look a
+little more closely at the means by which they accomplished undertakings
+which, to any other race of men, would have been not only impracticable,
+but utterly desperate. Take again, as the representative of his class,
+the case of Father Marquette, than whom, obscure as his name is in the
+wastes of history, no man ever lived a more instructive and exemplary
+life.
+
+From the year 1668 to 1671,[60] Marquette had been preaching at the
+Sault de Sainte Marie, a little below the foot of Lake Superior. He was
+associated with others in that mission; but the largest type, though it
+thrust itself no higher than the smallest, will make the broadest
+impress on the page of history; and even in the meager record of that
+time, we may trace the influence of his gentle but firm spirit--those by
+whom he was accompanied evidently took their tone from him. But he was
+one of the Church's pioneers; that class whose eager, single-hearted
+zeal is always pushing forward to new conquests of the faith; and when
+he had put aside the weapons that opposed their way, to let his
+followers in, his thoughts at once went on to more remote and suffering
+regions. During his residence at the Sault, rumors and legends were
+continually floating in of the unknown country lying to the west--"the
+Land of the Great River," the Indians called it--until the mind of the
+good father became fully possessed with the idea of going to convert the
+nations who dwelt upon its shores. In the year 1671, he took the first
+step in that direction, moving on to Point St. Ignatius, on the main
+land, north of the island of Mackinac. Here, surrounded by his little
+flock of wondering listeners, he preached until the spring of 1673; but
+all the time his wish to carry the gospel where its sound had never been
+heard was growing stronger. He felt in his heart the impulse of his
+calling, to lead the way and open a path for the advance of light. At
+the period mentioned, he received an order from the wise intendant in
+New France, M. Talon, to explore the pathless wilderness to the
+westward.
+
+Then was seen the true spirit of the man, and of his order. He gathered
+together no armament; asked the protection of no soldiers; no part of
+the cargo of his little boat consisted of gunpowder, or of swords or
+guns; his only arms were the spirit of love and peace; his trust was in
+God for protection. Five boatmen, and one companion, the Sieur Joliet,
+composed his party. Two light bark canoes were his only means of
+travelling; and in these he carried a small quantity of Indian corn and
+some jerked meat, his only means of subsistence.
+
+Thus equipped, he set out through Green Bay and up Fox river, in search
+of a country never yet visited by any European. The Indians endeavored
+to dissuade him, wondering at his hardihood, and still more at the
+motives which could induce him thus to brave so many dangers. They told
+him of the savage Indians, to whom it would be only pastime to torture
+and murder him; of the terrible monsters which would swallow him and his
+companions, "canoes and all;" of the great bird called the _Piasau_,[61]
+which devoured men, after carrying them in its horrible talons to
+inaccessible cliffs and mountains; and of the scorching heat, which
+would wither him like a dry leaf. "I thanked them kindly," says the
+resolute but gentle father, "for their good counsel; but I told them
+that I could not profit by it, since the salvation of souls was at
+stake, for which object I would be overjoyed to give my life." Shaking
+them by the hand, one by one, as they approached to bid him farewell, as
+they thought, for the last time, he turned his back upon safety and
+peace, and departed upon his self-denying pilgrimage.
+
+Let him who sits at ease in his cushioned pew at home--let him who
+lounges on his velvet-covered sofa in the pulpit, while his well-taught
+choir are singing; who rises as the strains are dying, and kneels upon a
+cushioned stool to pray; who treads upon soft carpets while he preaches,
+in a white cravat, to congregations clad in broadcloth, silk, and
+satin--let him pause and ponder on the difference between his works, his
+trials, his zeal--ay, and his glory, both of earth and heaven!--and
+those of Father James Marquette!
+
+The little party went upon their way; the persuasions of their
+simple-hearted friends could not prevail, for the path of duty was
+before them, and the eye of God above. Having passed through Green Bay,
+and painfully dragged their canoes over the rapids of Fox river, they
+reached a considerable village, inhabited by the united tribes of
+Kickapoos, Miamis, and Mascoutimes. Here they halted for a time, as the
+mariner, about to prove the dangers of a long voyage, lingers for a day
+in the last port he is likely to enter for many months. Beyond this
+point no white man had ever gone; and here, if anywhere, the impulses of
+a natural fear should have made themselves felt. But we hear of no
+hesitation, no shrinking from the perilous task; and we know from the
+unpretending "Journal" of the good father, that a retreat, nay, even a
+halt--longer than was necessary to recruit exhausted strength, and renew
+the memory of former lessons among the natives--was never thought of.
+"My companion," said Marquette, referring to Joliet, "is an envoy from
+the king of France, and I am an humble minister of God. I have no fear,
+_because I shall consider it the highest happiness to die in the service
+of my master!_" There was no bravado in this, for, unlike many from
+whom you may, any day, hear the same declaration, he set forth
+immediately to encounter the perils of his embassy.
+
+The Indians, unable to prevail with him to abandon the enterprise, made
+all their simple provision for his comfort; and, furnishing him with
+guides and carriers across the portage to the Wisconsin river, parted
+with him as one bound for eternity. Having brought them safely to the
+river, the guides left them "alone in that unknown country, in the hand
+of God;" and, trusting to the protection of that hand, they set out upon
+their journey down the stream.[62] Seven days after, "with inexpressible
+joy," they emerged upon the bosom of the great river. During all this
+time they had seen no human being, though, probably, many a wandering
+savage had watched them from the covert of the bank, as they floated
+silently between the forests. It was an unbroken solitude, where the
+ripple of their paddles sounded loudly on the ear, and their voices,
+subdued by the stillness, were sent back in lonely echoes from the
+shore.
+
+They were the first white men who ever floated on the bosom of that
+mighty river[63]--"the envoy from the king of France, and the
+embassador of the King of kings." What were their thoughts we know not,
+but from Marquette's simple "Journal;" for, in returning to Quebec,
+Joliet's boat was wrecked in sight of the city, and all his papers
+lost.[64] Of the Sieur himself, we know nothing, save as the companion
+of Marquette on this voyage; but from this alone his fame is
+imperishable.
+
+They sailed slowly down the river, keeping a constant outlook upon the
+banks for signs of those for whose spiritual welfare the good father had
+undertaken his perilous journey. But for more than sixty leagues not a
+human form or habitation could be seen. They had leisure, more than they
+desired, to admire the grand and beautiful scenery of that picturesque
+region. In some places the cliffs rose perpendicularly for hundreds of
+feet from the water's edge; and nodding over their brows, and towering
+against the sky, were stately pines and cedars of the growth of
+centuries. Here, there lay between the river and the cliffs, a level
+prairie, waving in all the luxuriance of "the leafy month of June;"
+while beyond, the bluffs, enclosing the natural garden, softened by the
+distance, and clothed in evergreen, seemed but an extension of the
+primitive savanna. Here, a dense, primeval forest grew quite down to the
+margin of the water; and, hanging from the topmost branches of the giant
+oaks, festoons of gray and graceful moss lay floating on the rippled
+surface, or dipped within the tide. Here, the large, smooth roots of
+trees half undermined, presented seats and footholds, where the pleasant
+shade invited them to rest, and shelter from the sultry summer sun.
+Anon, an open prairie, with no cliff or bluff beyond, extended
+undulating from the river, until the eye, in straining to measure its
+extent, was wearied by the effort, and the plain became a waving sea of
+rainbow colors; of green and yellow, gold and purple. Again, they passed
+a gravelly beach, on which the yellow sand was studded with a thousand
+sets of brilliant shells, and little rivulets flowed in from level
+prairies, or stealthily crept out from under roots of trees or tangled
+vines, and hastened to be hidden in the bosom of the great father of
+waters.
+
+They floated on, through the dewy morning hours, when the leaves were
+shining in the sunlight, and the birds were singing joyously; before the
+summer heat had dried the moisture, or had forced the feathered
+songsters to the shade. At noon, when the silence made the solitude
+oppressive; when the leaves hung wilting down, nor fluttered in the
+fainting wind: when the prairies were no longer waving like the sea, but
+trembling like the atmosphere around a heated furnace: when the _mirage_
+hung upon the plain: tall trees were seen growing in the air, and among
+them stalked the deer, and elk, and buffalo: while between them and the
+ground, the brazen sky was glowing with the sun of June: when nothing
+living could be seen, save when the _voyageur's_ approach would startle
+some wild beast slaking his thirst in the cool river, or a flock of
+waterfowl were driven from their covert, where the willow branches,
+drooping, dipped their leaves of silvery gray within the water. They
+floated on till evening, when the sun approached the prairie, and his
+broad, round disc, now shorn of its dazzling beams, defined itself
+against the sky and grew florid in the gathering haze: when the birds
+began to reappear, and flitted noiselessly among the trees, in busy
+preparation for the night: when beasts of prey crept out from
+lurking-places, where they had dozed and panted through the hours of
+noon: when the wilderness grew vocal with the mingled sounds of lowing
+buffalo, and screaming panther, and howling wolf; until the shadows rose
+from earth, and travelled from the east; until the dew began to fall,
+the stars came out, and night brought rest and dreams of home!
+
+Thus they floated on, "from morn till dewy eve," and still no sign of
+human life, neither habitation nor footprint, until one day--it was the
+twenty-fifth of June, more than two weeks since they had entered the
+wilderness--in gliding past a sandy beach, they recognised the impress
+of a naked foot! Following it for some distance, it grew into a trail,
+and then a path, once more a place where human beings habitually walked.
+
+Whose feet had trodden down the grass, what strange people lived on the
+prairies, they knew not, what dangers might await them, they cared not.
+These were the people whom the good father had come so far to convert
+and save! And now, again, one might expect some natural hesitation; some
+doubt in venturing among those who were certainly barbarians, and who
+might, for aught they knew, be brutal cannibals. We could forgive a
+little wavering, indeed, especially when we think of the frightful
+stories told them by the Northern Indians of this very people. But fear
+was not a part of these men's nature; or if it existed, it lay so deep,
+buried beneath religious zeal and pious trust, that its voice never
+reached the upper air. Leaving the boatmen with the canoes, near the
+mouth of the river now called Des Moines, Marquette and Joliet set out
+alone, to follow up the trail, and seek the people who had made it. It
+led them to an open prairie, one of the most beautiful in the present
+state of Iowa, and crossing this, a distance of six miles, they at last
+found themselves in the vicinity of three Indian villages. The very
+spot[65] where the chief of these stood might now be easily found, so
+clear, though brief, is the description of the simple priest. It stood
+at the foot of a long slope, on the bank of the river Moingona (or Des
+Moines), about six miles due west of the Mississippi; and at the top of
+the rise, at the distance of half a league, were built the two others.
+"We commended ourselves unto God," writes the gentle father; for they
+knew not at what moment they might need his intervention; and crying out
+with a loud voice, to announce their approach, they calmly advanced
+toward the group of lodges. At a short distance from the entrance to the
+village, they were met by a deputation of four old men, who, to their
+great joy, they perceived bore a richly-ornamented pipe of peace, the
+emblem of friendship and hospitality. Tendering the mysterious calumet,
+they informed the Frenchmen that they belonged to one of the tribes
+called "Illinois" (or "Men"), and invited them to enter their lodges in
+peace: an invitation which the weary _voyageurs_ were but too glad to
+accept.
+
+A great council was held, with all the rude but imposing ceremonies of
+the grave and dignified Indian; and before the assembled chiefs and
+braves, Marquette published his mission from his heavenly Master.
+Passing, then, from spiritual to temporal things--for we do not hear of
+any address from Joliet, who probably was no orator--he spoke of his
+earthly king, and of his viceroy in New France; of his victories over
+the Iroquois, the dreaded enemies of the peaceful Western tribes; and
+then made many inquiries about the Mississippi, its tributaries, and
+the nations who dwelt upon their banks. His advances were kindly
+received, his questions frankly answered, and the council broke up with
+mutual assurances of good-will. Then ensued the customary festival.
+Hominy, fish, buffalo, and _dog-meat_, were successively served up, like
+the courses of a more modern table; but of _the last_ "we declined to
+partake," writes the good father, no doubt much to the astonishment and
+somewhat to the chagrin of their hospitable friends; for even yet, among
+the western Indians, dog-meat is a dish of honor.
+
+Six days of friendly intercourse passed pleasantly away, diversified by
+many efforts on the part of Marquette to instruct and convert the docile
+savages. Nor were these entirely without result; they excited, at least,
+the wish to hear more; and on his departure they crowded round him, and
+urgently requested him to come again among them. He promised to do so, a
+pledge which he afterward redeemed. But now he could not tarry; he was
+bent upon his hazardous voyage down the Great River, and he knew that he
+was only on the threshold of his grand discoveries. Six hundred
+warriors, commanded by their most distinguished chief, accompanied him
+back to his boats; and, after hanging around his neck the great calumet,
+to protect him among the hostile nations of the south, they parted with
+him, praying that the Great Spirit, of whom he had told them, might give
+him a prosperous voyage, and a speedy and safe return.
+
+
+These were the first of the nations of the Mississippi Valley visited by
+the French, and it is from them that the state of Illinois takes its
+name. They were a singularly gentle people; and a nature originally
+peaceful had been rendered almost timid by the cruel inroads of the
+murderous Iroquois.[66] These, by their traffic with the Dutch and
+English of New-York, and by their long warfare with the French of
+Canada, had acquired the use of fire-arms, and, of course, possessed an
+immense advantage over those who were armed only with the primitive bow
+and arrow. The restless and ambitious spirit of the singular
+confederacy, usually called the Five Nations, and known among their
+neighbors by the collective name of Iroquois, had carried their
+incursions even as far as the hunting-grounds of the Shawanese, about
+the mouth of the Ohio; and their successes had made them a terror to all
+the western tribes. The Illinois, therefore, knowing the French to be at
+war with these formidable enemies, were the more anxious to form an
+alliance with them; and the native gentleness of their manners was,
+perhaps, increased by the hope of assistance and protection. But,
+whatever motives may have influenced them, besides their natural
+character, their forethought was of vital service to the wanderers in
+the countries of the south, whither they proceeded.
+
+The little party of seven resumed their voyage on the last day of June,
+and floating with the rapid current, a few days afterward passed the
+rocks, above the site of Alton, where was painted the image of the
+ravenous _Piasau_, of which they had been told by the Northern Indians,
+and on the same day reached the mouth of the Pekitanoni, the Indian name
+for the rapid and turbulent Missouri. Inwardly resolving, at some future
+time, to ascend its muddy current, to cross the ridge beyond, and,
+descending some river which falls into the Great South sea (as the
+Pacific was then called), to publish the gospel to all the people of the
+continent, the zealous father passed onward toward the south. Coasting
+slowly along the wasting shore, lingering in the mouths of rivers, or
+exploring dense forests in the hope of meeting the natives, they
+continued on their course until they reached the mouth of a river which
+they called the _Ouabache_, or Wabash, none other than the beautiful
+Ohio.[67] Here they found the advanced settlement of Shawanese, who had
+been pushed toward the southwest by the incessant attacks of the
+Iroquois. But by this time, fired with the hope of ascertaining the
+outlet of the Mississippi, they postponed their visit to these people
+until their return, and floated on.
+
+
+It is amusing, as well as instructive, to observe how little importance
+the travellers gave to the river Ohio, in their geographical
+assumptions. In the map published by Marquette with his "Journal," the
+"_Ouabisquigou_" as he denominates it, in euphonious French-Indian,
+compared to the Illinois or even to the Wisconsin, is but an
+inconsiderable rivulet! The lonely wanderers were much farther from the
+English settlements than they supposed; a mistake into which they must
+have been led, by hearing of the incursions of the Iroquois; for even at
+that early day they could not but know that the head-waters of the Ohio
+were not distant from the hunting-grounds of that warlike confederacy.
+Even this explanation, however, scarcely lessens our wonder that they
+should have known so little of courses and distances; for had this river
+been as short as it is here delineated, they would have been within four
+hundred miles of Montreal.
+
+After leaving the Ohio, they suffered much from the climate and its
+incidents; for they were now approaching, in the middle of July, a
+region of perpetual summer. Mosquitoes and other venomous insects (in
+that region we might even call them _ravenous_ insects) became
+intolerably annoying; and the _voyageurs_ began to think they had
+reached the country of the terrible heats, which, as they had been
+warned in the north, "would wither them up like a dry leaf." But the
+prospect of death by torture and savage cruelty had not daunted them,
+and they were not now disposed to be turned back by any excess of
+climate. Arranging their sails in the form of awnings to protect them
+from the sun by day and the dews by night, they resolutely pursued
+their way.
+
+Following the course of the river, they soon entered the region of
+cane-brakes, so thick that no animal larger than a cat could penetrate
+them; and of cotton-wood forests of immense size and of unparalleled
+density. They were far beyond the limits of every Indian dialect with
+which they had become acquainted--were, in fact, approaching the region
+visited by De Soto, on his famous expedition in search of Juan Ponce de
+Leon's fountain of youth.[68] The country was possessed by the Sioux and
+Chickasaws, to whom the _voyageurs_ were total strangers; but they went
+on without fear. In the neighborhood of the southern boundary of the
+present state of Arkansas, they were met in hostile array by great
+numbers of the natives, who approached them in large canoes made from
+the trunks of hollow trees. But Marquette held aloft the symbol of
+peace, the ornamented calumet, and the hearts of the savages were
+melted, as the pious father believed, by the touch of God. They threw
+aside their weapons, and received the strangers with rude but hearty
+hospitality. They escorted them, with many demonstrations of welcome, to
+the village of Michigamia; and, on the following day, having feasted
+their strange guests plentifully, though not with the unsavory meats of
+the Illinois, they marched in triumphal procession to the metropolis of
+Akansea, about ten leagues distant, down the river.
+
+
+This was the limit of their voyage. Here they ascertained, beyond a
+doubt, that the Mississippi flowed into the gulf of Mexico, and not, as
+had been conjectured, into the great South sea. Here they found the
+natives armed with axes of steel, a proof of their traffic with the
+Spaniards; and thus was the circle of discovery complete, connecting the
+explorations of the French with those of the Spanish, and entirely
+enclosing the possessions of the English. No voyage so important has
+since been undertaken--no results so great have ever been produced by so
+feeble an expedition. The discoveries of Marquette, followed by the
+enterprises of La Salle and his successors, have influenced the
+destinies of nations; and passing over all political speculations, this
+exploration first threw open a valley of greater extent, fertility, and
+commercial advantages, than any other in the world. Had either the
+French or the Spanish possessed the stubborn qualities which _hold_, as
+they had the useful which _discover_, the aspect of this continent
+would, at this day, have been far different.
+
+On the seventeenth of July, having preached to the Indians the glory of
+God and the Catholic faith, and proclaimed the power of the _Grand
+Monarque_--for still we hear nothing of speech-making or delivering
+credentials on the part of Joliet--he set out on his return. After
+severe and wasting toil for many days, they reached a point, as
+Marquette supposed, some leagues below the mouth of the Moingona, or Des
+Moines. Here they left the Mississippi, and crossed the country between
+that river and the Illinois, probably passing through the very country
+which now bears the good father's name, entering the latter stream at a
+point not far from the present town of Peoria. Proceeding slowly up that
+calm river, preaching to the tribes along its banks, and partaking of
+their hospitality, he was at last conducted to Lake Michigan, at
+Chicago, and by the end of September was safe again in Green Bay, having
+travelled, since the tenth of June, more than three thousand miles.
+
+It might have been expected that one who had made so magnificent a
+discovery--who had braved so much and endured so much--would wish to
+announce in person, to the authorities in Canada, or in France, the
+results of his expedition. Nay, it would not have been unpardonable had
+he desired to enjoy, after his labors, something of the consideration to
+which their success entitled him. And, certainly, no man could ever have
+approached his rulers with a better claim upon their notice than could
+the unpretending _voyageur_. But vainglory was no more a part of his
+nature, than was fear. The unaspiring priest remained at Green Bay, to
+continue, or rather to resume, as a task laid aside only for a time, his
+ministrations to the savages. Joliet hastened on to Quebec to report the
+expedition, and Marquette returned to Chicago, for the purpose of
+preaching the gospel to the Miami confederacy; several allied tribes who
+occupied the country between Lake Michigan and the Des Moines river.
+Here again he visited the Illinois, speaking to them of God, and of the
+religion of Jesus; thus redeeming a promise which he had made them, when
+on his expedition to the South.
+
+But his useful, unambitious life was drawing to a close. Let us
+describe its last scene in the words of our accomplished historian:--
+
+"Two years afterward, sailing from Chicago to Mackinac, he entered a
+little river in Michigan. Erecting an altar, he said mass, after the
+rites of the Catholic church; then, begging the men who conducted his
+canoe to leave him alone for a half hour,
+
+            "----'In the darkling wood,
+    Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
+    And offered to the mightiest solemn thanks
+    And supplication.'
+
+"At the end of the half hour they went to seek him, _and he was no
+more_. The good missionary, discoverer of a world, had fallen asleep on
+the margin of the stream that bears his name. Near its mouth, the
+canoe-men dug his grave in the sand. Ever after, the forest rangers, in
+their danger on Lake Michigan, would invoke his name. The people of the
+West will build his monument."[69]
+
+The monument is not yet built; though the name of new counties in
+several of our western states testifies that the noble missionary is not
+altogether forgotten, in the land where he spent so many self-denying
+years.
+
+Such was the _voyageur_ priest; the first, in chronological order, of
+the succession of singular men who have explored and peopled the great
+West. And though many who have followed him have been his equals in
+courage and endurance, none have ever possessed the same combination of
+heroic and unselfish qualities. It ought not to be true that this brief
+and cursory sketch is the first distinct tribute yet paid to his
+virtues; for no worthier subject ever employed the pen of the poet or
+historian.
+
+
+     NOTE.--Struck with the fact that the history of this class of men,
+     and of their enterprises and sufferings, has never been written,
+     except by themselves in their simple "Journals" and
+     "Relations"--for the _résumé_ given of these by Sparks, Bancroft,
+     and others, is of necessity a mere unsatisfactory abstract--the
+     writer has for some time been engaged in collecting and arranging
+     materials, with the intention of supplying the want. The
+     authorities are numerous and widely scattered; and such a work
+     ought to be thoroughly and carefully written, so that much time and
+     labor lies between the author and his day of publication. Should he
+     be spared, however, to finish the work, he hopes to present a
+     picture of a class of men, displaying as much of true devotion,
+     genuine courage, and self-denial, in the humble walk of the
+     missionary, as the pages of history show in any other department of
+     human enterprise.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[52] In common use, this word was restricted so as to indicate only the
+boatmen, the carriers of that time; but I am writing of a period
+anterior, by many years, to the existence of the Trade which made their
+occupation.
+
+[53] Joutel, who was one of La Salle's party, and afterward wrote an
+account of the enterprise, entitled _Journal Historique_, published in
+Paris, 1713. Its fidelity is as evident upon its face, as is the
+simplicity of the historian.
+
+[54] This was in the winter of 1679-'80; and the Five Nations, included
+in the general term Iroquois, had not then made the conquest upon which
+the English afterward founded their claim to the country. They were,
+however, generally regarded as enemies by all the Illinois tribes.
+
+[55] A collective name, including a number, variously stated, of
+different tribes confederated.
+
+[56] _Annals of the West_, by J. H. Perkins and J. M. Peck, p. 679. St.
+Louis. 1850.
+
+[57] The substance of the Journal may be found, republished by Dr.
+Sparks, in the second edition of _Butler's Kentucky_, p. 493, _et seq._,
+and in vol. x. of his _American Biography_.
+
+[58] _Miscellanies_, "Review of Ranke's History of the Popes."
+
+[59] In a book which he published at Utrecht, in 1697, entitled _A New
+Discovery of a Vast Country_, he claims to have gone down the
+Mississippi to its mouth before La Salle. The whole book is a mere
+plagiarism. See Sparks's _Life of La Salle_, where the vain father is
+summarily and justly disposed of.
+
+[60] Most of these dates may be found in Bancroft's _United States_, vol
+iii.
+
+[61] The legend of the Piasau is well known. Within the recollection of
+men now living, rude paintings of the monster were visible on the cliffs
+above Alton, Illinois. To these images, when passing in their canoes,
+the Indians were accustomed to make offerings of maize, tobacco, and
+gunpowder. They are now quite obliterated.
+
+[62] June 10, 1673.
+
+[63] I mean, of course, the upper Mississippi; for De Soto had reached
+it lower down one hundred and thirty-two years before.
+
+[64] It was announced, some months since, that our minister at Rome, Mr.
+Cass, had made discoveries in that city which threw more light upon this
+expedition. But how this can be, consistently with the fact stated in
+the text (about which there is no doubt), I am at a loss to divine.
+
+[65] The place of Marquette's landing--which should be classic
+ground--from his description of the country, and the distance he
+specifies, could not have been far from the spot where the city of
+Keokuk now stands, a short distance above the mouth of the Des Moines.
+The locality should, if possible, be determined.
+
+[66] It was by virtue of a treaty of purchase--signed at Fort Stanwix on
+the 5th of November, 1768--with the Six Nations, who claimed the country
+as their conquest, that the British asserted a title to the country west
+of the Alleghenies, Western Virginia, Kentucky, etc.
+
+[67] The geographical mistakes of the early French explorers have led to
+some singular discussions about Western history--have even been used by
+diplomatists to support or weaken territorial claims. Such, for example,
+is the question concerning the antiquity of Vincennes, a controversy
+founded on the mistake noticed in the text. Vide _Western Annals_. 2d
+Ed. Revised by J. M. Peck.
+
+[68] In 1541, De Soto crossed the Mississippi about the thirty-fifth
+parallel of latitude, or near the northern boundary of the state of that
+name. It is not certain how far below this Marquette went, though we are
+safe in saying that he did not turn back north of that limit.
+
+[69] Bancroft's _History of the United States_, vol. iii., p. 161, _et
+seq._, where the reader may look for most of these dates.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE PIONEER.
+
+    "I hear the tread of pioneers,
+       Of nations yet to be--
+    The first low wash of waves where soon
+       Shall roll a human sea."
+
+    WHITTIER.
+
+    "The axe rang sharply 'mid those forest shades
+    Which, from creation, toward the sky had towered
+    In unshorn beauty."
+
+    SIGOURNEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PIONEER.]
+
+Next, in chronological order, after the missionary, came the military
+adventurer--of which class La Salle was the best representative. But the
+expeditions led by these men, were, for the most part, wild and
+visionary enterprises, in pursuit of unattainable ends. They were,
+moreover, unskilfully managed and unfortunately terminated--generally
+ending in the defeat, disappointment, and death of those who had set
+them on foot. They left no permanent impress upon the country; the most
+acute moral or political vision can not now detect a trace of their
+influence, in the aspect of the lands they penetrated; and, so far from
+hastening the settlement of the Great Valley, it is more probable that
+their disastrous failures rather retarded it--by deterring others from
+the undertaking. Their history reads like a romance; and their
+characters would better grace the pages of fiction, than the annals of
+civilization. Further than this brief reference, therefore, I find no
+place for them, in a work which aims only to notice those who either
+aided to produce, or indicated, the characteristics of the society in
+which they lived.
+
+Soon after them, came the Indian-traders--to whose generosity so many of
+the captives, taken by the natives in those early times, were indebted
+for their ransom. But--notwithstanding occasional acts of charity--their
+unscrupulous rapacity, and, particularly, their introduction of
+spirituous liquors among the savages, furnish good reason to doubt,
+whether, on the whole, they did anything to advance the civilization of
+the lands and people they visited. And, as we shall have occasion to
+refer again, though briefly, to the character in a subsequent article,
+we will pass over it for the present, and hasten on to the _Pioneer_.
+
+Of this class, there are two sub-divisions: the floating, transitory,
+and erratic frontierman--including the hunter, the trapper, the scout
+and Indian-fighter: men who can not be considered _citizens_ of any
+country, but keep always a little in advance of permanent emigration.
+With this division of the class, we have little to do: first, because
+they are already well understood, by most readers in this country,
+through the earlier novels of Cooper, their great delineator; and,
+second, because, as we have intimated, our business is chiefly with
+those, whose footprints have been stamped upon the country, and whose
+influence is traceable in its civilization. We, therefore, now desire to
+direct attention to the other sub-division--the genuine "settler;" the
+firm, unflinching, permanent emigrant, who entered the country to till
+the land and to possess it, for himself and his descendants.
+
+And, in the first place, let us inquire what motives could induce men to
+leave regions, where the axe had been at work for many years--where the
+land was reduced to cultivation, and the forest reclaimed from the wild
+beast and the wilder savage--where civilization had begun to exert its
+power, and society had assumed a legal and determined shape--to depart
+from all these things, seeking a new home in an inhospitable
+wilderness, where they could only gain a footing by severe labor,
+constant strife, and sleepless vigilance? To be capable of doing all
+this, from _any_ motive, a man must be a strange compound of qualities;
+but that compound, strange as it is, has done, and is doing, more to
+reclaim the west, and change the wilderness into a garden, than all
+other causes combined.
+
+
+A prominent trait in the character of the genuine American, is the
+desire "to better his condition"--a peculiarity which sometimes embodies
+itself in the disposition to forget the good old maxim, "Let well-enough
+alone," and not unfrequently leads to disaster and suffering. A thorough
+Yankee--using that word as the English do, to indicate national, not
+sectional, character--is never satisfied with doing well; he always
+underrates his gains and his successes; and, though to others he may be
+boastful enough, and may, even truly, rate the profits of his enterprise
+by long strings of "naught," he is always whispering to himself, "I
+ought to do better." If he sees any one accumulating property faster
+than himself, he becomes emulous and discontented--he is apt to think,
+unless he goes more rapidly than any one else, that he is not moving at
+all. If he can find no one of his neighbors advancing toward fortune,
+with longer strides than he, he will imagine some successful
+"speculator," to whom he will compare himself, and chafe at his
+inferiority to a figment of his own fancy. If he possessed "a million a
+minute," he would cast about for some profitable employment, in which he
+might engage, "to pay expenses." He will abandon a silver-mine, of slow,
+but certain gains, for the gambling chances of a gold "placer;" and if
+any one within his knowledge dig out more wealth than he, he will leave
+the "diggings," though his success be quite encouraging, and go
+quixoting among the islands of the sea, in search of pearls and
+diamonds. With the prospect of improvement in his fortunes--whether that
+prospect be founded upon reason, be a naked fancy, or the offspring of
+mere discontent--he regards no danger, cares for no hardship, counts no
+suffering. Everything must bend before the ruling passion, "to better
+his condition."
+
+His spirit is eminently encroaching. Rather than give up any of his own
+"rights," he will take a part of what belongs to others. Whatever he
+thinks necessary to his welfare, to that he believes himself entitled.
+To whatever point he desires to reach, he takes the straightest course,
+even though the way lie across the corner of his neighbor's field. Yet
+he is intensely jealous of his own possessions, and warns off all
+trespassers with an imperial menace of "the utmost penalty of the law."
+He has, of course, an excellent opinion of himself--and justly: for when
+not blinded by cupidity or vexed by opposition, no man can hold the
+scales of justice with a more even hand.
+
+He is seldom conscious of having done a wrong: for he rarely moves until
+he has ascertained "both the propriety and expediency of the motion." He
+has, therefore, an instinctive aversion to all retractions and
+apologies. He has such a proclivity to the forward movement, that its
+opposite, even when truth and justice demand it, is stigmatized, in his
+vocabulary, by odious and ridiculous comparisons. He is very stubborn,
+and, it is feared, sometimes mistakes his obstinacy for firmness. He
+thinks a safe retreat worse than a defeat with slaughter. Yet he never
+rests under a reverse, and, though manifestly prostrate, will never
+acknowledge that he is beaten. A check enrages him more than a decided
+failure: for so long as his end is not accomplished, nor defeated, he
+can see no reason why he should not succeed. If his forces are driven
+back, shattered and destroyed, he is not cast down, but angry--he
+forthwith swears vengeance and another trial. He is quite insatiable--as
+a failure does not dampen him, success can never satisfy him. His plans
+are always on a great scale; and, if they sometimes exceed his means of
+execution, at least, "he who aims at the sun," though he may lose his
+arrow, "will not strike the ground." He is a great projector--but he is
+eminently practical, as well as theoretical; and if _he_ cannot realize
+his visions, no other man need try.
+
+He is restless and migratory. He is fond of change, for the sake of the
+change; and he will have it, though it bring him only new labors and new
+hardships. He is, withal, a little selfish--as might be supposed. He
+begins to lose his attachment to the advantages of his home, so soon as
+they are shared by others. He does not like near neighbors--has no
+affection for the soil; he will leave a place on which he has expended
+much time and labor, as soon as the region grows to be a "settlement."
+Even in a town, he is dissatisfied if his next neighbor lives so near
+that the women can gossip across the division-fence. He likes to be at
+least one day's journey from the nearest plantation.
+
+I once heard an old pioneer assign as a reason why he must emigrate from
+western Illinois, the fact that "people were settling right under his
+nose"--and the farm of his nearest neighbor was twelve miles distant, by
+the section lines! He moved on to Missouri, but there the same
+"impertinence" of emigrants soon followed him; and, abandoning his
+half-finished "clearing," he packed his family and household goods in a
+little wagon, and retreated, across the plains to Oregon. He is--or was,
+two years ago--living in the valley of the Willamette, where, doubtless,
+he is now chafing under the affliction of having neighbors in the same
+region, and nothing but an ocean beyond.
+
+His character seems to be hard-featured.
+
+But he is neither unsocial, nor morose. He welcomes the stranger as
+heartily as the most hospitable patriarch. He receives the sojourner at
+his fireside without question. He regales him with the best the house
+affords: is always anxious to have him "stay another day." He cares for
+his horse, renews his harness, laughs at his stories, and exchanges
+romances with him. He hunts with him; fishes, rides, walks, talks, eats,
+and drinks with him. His wife washes and mends the stranger's shirts,
+and lends him a needle and thread to sew a button on his only pair of
+pantaloons. The children sit on his knee, the dog lies at his feet, and
+accompanies him into the woods. The whole family are his friends, and
+only grow cold and distant when they learn that he is looking for land,
+and thinks of "settling" within a few leagues. If nothing of the sort
+occurs--and this only "leaks out" by accident, for the pioneer never
+pries inquisitively into the business of his guest, he keeps him as long
+as he can; and when he can stay no longer, fills his saddle-bags with
+flitches of bacon and "pones" of corn-bread, shakes him heartily by the
+hand, exacts a promise to stop again on his return, and bids him
+"God-speed" on his journey.
+
+
+Such is American character, in the manifestations which have most
+affected the settlement and development of the West; a compound of many
+noble qualities, with a few--and no nation is without such--that are not
+quite so respectable. All these, both good and bad, were possessed by
+the early pioneer in an eminent, sometimes in an extravagant degree; and
+the circumstances, by which he found himself surrounded after his
+emigration to the West, tended forcibly to their exaggeration.
+
+But the qualities--positive and negative--above enumerated, were, many
+of them, at least, peculiarities belonging to the early emigrant, as
+much before as after his removal. And there were others, quite as
+distinctly marked, called into activity, if not actually created by his
+life in the wilderness. Such, for example, was his self-reliance--his
+confidence in his own strength, sagacity, and courage. It was but little
+assistance that he ever required from his neighbors, though no man was
+ever more willing to render it to others, in the hour of need. He was
+the swift avenger of his own wrongs, and he never appealed to another to
+ascertain his rights. Legal tribunals were an abomination to him.
+Government functionaries he hated, almost as the Irish hate excisemen.
+Assessments and taxes he could not endure, for, since he was his own
+protector, he had no interest in sustaining the civil authorities.
+
+Military organizations he despised, for subordination was no part of his
+nature. He stood up in the native dignity of manhood, and called no
+mortal his superior. When he joined his neighbors, to avenge a foray of
+the savages, he joined on the most equal terms--each man was, for the
+time, his own captain; and when the leader was chosen--for the
+pioneers, with all their personal independence, were far too rational to
+underrate the advantages of a head in the hour of danger--each voice was
+counted in the choice, and the election might fall on any one. But, even
+after such organization, every man was fully at liberty to abandon the
+expedition, whenever he became dissatisfied, or thought proper to return
+home. And if this want of discipline sometimes impaired the strength,
+and rendered unavailing the efforts, of communities, it at least
+fostered the manly spirit of personal independence; and, to keep that
+alive in the breasts of a people, it is worth while to pay a yearly
+tribute, even though that tribute be rendered unto the King of Terrors!
+
+This self-reliance was not an arrogant and vulgar egotism, as it has
+been so often represented in western stories, and the tours of
+superficial travellers. It was a calm, just estimate of his own
+capabilities--a well-grounded confidence in his own talents--a clear,
+manly understanding of his own individual rights, dignity, and
+relations. Such is the western definition of independence; and if there
+be anything of it in the western character at the present day, it is due
+to the stubborn and intense individuality of the first pioneer. He it
+was who laid the foundation of our social fabric, and it is his spirit
+which yet pervades our people.
+
+
+The quality which next appears, in analyzing this character, is his
+_courage_.
+
+It was not mere physical courage, nor was it stolid carelessness of
+danger. The pioneer knew, perfectly well, the full extent of the peril
+that surrounded him; indeed, he could not be ignorant of it; for almost
+every day brought some new memento, either of his savage foe, or of the
+prowling beast of prey. He ploughed, and sowed, and reaped, and
+gathered, with the rifle slung over his shoulders; and, at every turn,
+he halted, listening, with his ear turned toward his home; for well he
+knew that, any moment, the scream of his wife, or the wail of his
+children, might tell of the up-lifted tomahawk, or the murderous
+scalping-knife.
+
+His courage, then, was not ignorance of danger--not that of the child,
+which thrusts its hand within the lion's jaws, and knows naught of the
+penalty it braves. His ear was ever listening, his eye was always
+watching, his nerves were ever strung, for battle. He was stout of
+heart, and strong of hand--he was calm, sagacious, unterrified. He was
+never disconcerted--excitement seldom moved him--his mind was always at
+its own command. His heart never lost its firmness--no suffering could
+overcome him--he was as stoical as the savage, whose greatest glory is
+to triumph amidst the most cruel tortures. His pride sustained him when
+his flesh was pierced with burning brands--when his muscles crisped and
+crackled in the flames. To the force of character, belonging to the
+white, he added the savage virtues of the red man; and many a captive
+has been rescued from the flames, through his stern contempt for
+torture, and his sneering triumph over his tormentors. The highest
+virtue of the savage was his fortitude; and he respected and admired
+even a "pale face," who emulated his endurance.
+
+But fortitude is only passive courage--and the bravery of the pioneer
+was eminently active. His vengeance was as rapid as it was sometimes
+cruel. No odds against him could deter him, no time was ever wasted in
+deliberation. If a depredation was committed in the night, the dawn of
+morning found the sufferer on the trail of the marauder. He would follow
+it for days, and even weeks, with the sagacity of the blood-hound, with
+the patience of the savage: and, perhaps, in the very midst of the
+Indian country, in some moment of security, the blow descended, and the
+injury was fearfully avenged! The debt was never suffered to accumulate,
+when it could be discharged by prompt payment--and it was never
+forgotten! If the account could not be balanced now, the obligation was
+treasured up for a time to come--and, when least expected, the debtor
+came, and paid with usury!
+
+
+It has been said, perhaps truly, that a fierce, bloody spirit ruled the
+settlers in those early days. And it is unquestionable, that much of
+that contempt for the slow vengeance of a legal proceeding, which now
+distinguishes the people of the frontier west, originated then. It was,
+doubtless, an unforgiving--eminently an unchristian--spirit: but
+vengeance, sure and swift, was the only thing which could impress the
+hostile savage. And, if example, in a matter of this sort, could be
+availing, for their severity to the Indians, they had the highest!
+
+The eastern colonists--good men and true--"willing to exterminate the
+savages," says Bancroft,[70] who is certainly not their enemy, offered a
+bounty for every Indian scalp--as we, in the west, do for the scalps of
+wolves! "To regular forces under pay, the grant was _ten_ pounds--to
+volunteers, in actual service, _twice that sum_; but if men would, of
+themselves, without pay, make up parties and patrol the forests in
+search of Indians, _as of old the woods were scoured for wild beasts_,
+the chase was invigorated by the promised 'encouragement of _fifty_
+pounds per scalp!'" The "fruitless cruelties" of the Indian allies of
+the French in Canada, says the historian, gave birth to these humane and
+nicely-graduated enactments! Nor is our admiration of their Christian
+spirit in the least diminished, when we reflect that nothing is recorded
+in history of "bounties on scalps" or "encouragement" to murder, offered
+by Frontenac, or any other French-Canadian governor, as a revenge for
+the horrible massacre at Montreal, or the many "fruitless cruelties" of
+the bloody Iroquois![71]
+
+The descendants of the men who gave these "bounties" and
+"encouragements," have, in our own day, caressed, and wept and lamented
+over the tawny murderer, Black-Hawk, and his "wrongs" and "misfortunes;"
+but the theatre of Indian warfare was then removed a little farther
+west; and the atrocities of Haverhill and Deerfield were perpetrated on
+the western prairies, and not amid the forests of the east! Yet I do not
+mean, by referring to this passage of history--or to the rivers of
+wasted sentiment poured out a few years ago--so much to condemn our
+forefathers, or to draw invidious comparisons between them and others,
+as to show, that the war of extermination, sometimes waged by western
+rangers, was not without example--that the cruelty and hatred of the
+pioneer to the barbarous Indian, might originate in exasperation, which
+even moved the puritans; and that the lamentations, over the fictitious
+"wrongs" of a turbulent and bloody savage, might have run in a channel
+nearer home.
+
+
+Hatred of the Indian, among the pioneers, was hereditary; there was
+scarcely a man on the frontier, who had not lost a father, a mother, or
+a brother, by the tomahawk; and not a few of them had suffered in their
+own persons. The child, who learned the rudiments of his scanty
+education at his mother's knee, must decipher the strange characters by
+the straggling light which penetrated the crevices between the logs;
+for, while the father was absent, in the field or on the war-path, the
+mother was obliged to bar the doors and barricade the windows against
+the savages. Thus, if he did not literally imbibe it with his mother's
+milk, one of the first things the pioneer learned, was dread, and
+consequently hatred, of the Indian. That feeling grew with his growth,
+strengthened with his strength--for a life upon the western border left
+but few days free from sights of blood or mementoes of the savage. The
+pioneer might go to the field in the morning, unsuspecting; and, at
+noon, returning, find his wife murdered and scalped, and the brains of
+his little ones dashed out against his own doorpost! And if a deadly
+hatred of the Indian took possession of his heart, who shall blame him?
+It may be said, the pioneer was an intruder, seeking to take forcible
+possession of the Indian's lands--and that it was natural that the
+Indian should resent the wrong after the manner of his race. Granted:
+and it was quite as natural that the pioneer should return the enmity,
+after the manner of _his_ race!
+
+But the pioneer was _not_ an intruder.
+
+For all the purposes, for which reason and the order of Providence
+authorize us to say, God made the earth, this continent was
+vacant--uninhabited. And--granting that the savage was in
+possession--for this is his only ground of title, as, indeed, it is the
+foundation of all primary title--there were at the period of the first
+landing of white men on the continent, between Lake Superior and the
+Gulf of Mexico, east of the Mississippi, about one hundred and eighty
+thousand Indians.[72] That region now supports at least twenty millions
+of civilized people, and is capable of containing quite ten times that
+number, without crowding! Now, if God made the earth for any purpose, it
+certainly was _not_ that it should be monopolized by a horde of nomad
+savages!
+
+But an argument on this subject, would not be worth ink and paper; and I
+am, moreover, aware, that this reasoning may be abused. _Any_ attempt to
+construe the purposes of Deity must be liable to the same
+misapplication. And, besides, it is not my design to go so far back; I
+seek not so much to excuse as to account for--less to justify than to
+analyze--the characteristics of the class before me. I wish to establish
+that the pioneer hatred of the Indian was not an unprovoked or
+groundless hatred, that the severity of his warfare was not a mere
+gratuitous and bloody-minded cruelty. There are a thousand actions, of
+which we are hearing every day, that are indefensible in morals: and yet
+we are conscious while we condemn the actors, that, in like
+circumstances, we could not have acted differently. So is it with the
+fierce and violent reprisals, sometimes made by frontier rangers. Their
+best defence lies in the statement that they were men, and that their
+manhood prompted them to vengeance. When they deemed themselves injured,
+they demanded reparation, in such sort as that demand could then be
+made--at the muzzle of a rifle or the point of a knife. They were equal
+to the times in which they lived.--Had they not been so, how many
+steamboats would now be floating on the Mississippi?
+
+
+There was no romance in the composition of the pioneer--whatever there
+may have been in his environment. His life was altogether too serious a
+matter for poetry, and the only music he took pleasure in, was the sound
+of a violin, sending forth notes remarkable only for their liveliness.
+Even this, he could enjoy but at rare periods, when his cares were
+forcibly dismissed. He was, in truth, a very matter-of-fact sort of
+person. It was principally with facts that he had to deal--and
+most of them were very "stubborn facts." Indeed, it may be
+doubted--notwithstanding much good poetry has been written (in cities
+chiefly), on solitude and the wilderness--whether a life in the woods
+is, after all, very suggestive of poetical thoughts. The perils of the
+frontier must borrow most of their "enchantment" from the "distance;"
+and its sufferings and hardships are certainly more likely to evoke
+pleasant fancies to him who sits beside a good coal fire, than to one
+whose lot it is to bear them. Even the (so-called) "varied imagery" of
+the Indian's eloquence--about which so much nonsense has been
+written--is, in a far greater measure, the result of the poverty and
+crude materialism of his language, than of any poetical bias,
+temperament, or tone of thought. An Indian, as we have said before, has
+no humor--he never understands a jest--his wife is a beast of
+burthen--heaven is a hunting-ground--his language has no words to
+express abstract qualities, virtues, or sentiments. And yet he lives in
+the wilderness all the days of his life! The only trait he has, in
+common with the poetical character, is his laziness.
+
+But the pioneer was not indolent, in any sense. He had no
+dreaminess--meditation was no part of his mental habit--a poetical
+fancy would, in him, have been an indication of insanity. If he reclined
+at the foot of a tree, on a still summer day, it was to sleep: if he
+gazed out over the waving prairie, it was to search for the column of
+smoke which told of his enemy's approach: if he turned his eyes toward
+the blue heaven, it was to prognosticate to-morrow's storm or sunshine:
+if he bent his gaze upon the green earth, it was to look for "Indian
+sign" or buffalo trail. His wife was only a help-mate--he never thought
+of making a divinity of her--she cooked his dinner, made and washed his
+clothes, bore his children, and took care of his household. His children
+were never "little cherubs,"--"angels sent from heaven"--but generally
+"tow-headed" and very earthly responsibilities. He looked forward
+anxiously, to the day when the boys should be able to assist him in the
+field, or fight the Indian, and the girls to help their mother make and
+mend. When one of the latter took it into her head to be married--as
+they usually did quite early in life; for beaux were plenty and belles
+were "scarce"--he only made one condition, that the man of her choice
+should be brave and healthy. He never made a "parade" about
+anything--marriage, least of all. He usually gave the bride--not the
+"blushing" bride--a bed, a lean horse, and some good advice: and, having
+thus discharged his duty in the premises, returned to his work, and the
+business was done.
+
+The marriage ceremony, in those days, was a very unceremonious affair.
+The parade and drill which now attend it, would then have been as
+ridiculous as a Chinese dance; and the finery and ornament, at present
+understood to be indispensable on such occasions, then bore no sway in
+fashion. Bridal wreaths and dresses were not known; and white kid gloves
+and satin slippers never heard of. Orange blossoms--natural and
+artificial--were as pretty then as now; but the people were more
+occupied with substance, than with emblem.
+
+
+The ancients decked _their_ victims for the sacrifice with gaudy colors,
+flags, and streamers; the moderns do the same, and the offerings are
+sometimes made to quite as barbarous deities.
+
+But the bride of the pioneer was clothed in linsey-wolsey, with hose of
+woollen yarn; and moccasins of deer-skin--or as an extra piece of
+finery, high-quartered shoes of calf-skin--preceded satin slippers. The
+bridegroom came in copperas-colored jeans--domestic manufacture--as a
+holiday suit; or, perhaps, a hunting-shirt of buckskin, all fringed
+around the skirt and cape, and a "coon-skin" cap, with moccasins.
+Instead of a dainty walking-stick, with an opera-dancer's leg, in ivory,
+for head, he always brought his rifle, with a solid maple stock; and
+never, during the whole ceremony, did he divest himself of powder-horn
+and bullet-pouch.
+
+Protestant ministers of the gospel were few in those days; and the words
+of form were usually spoken by a Jesuit missionary. Or, if the Pioneer
+had objections to Catholicism--as many had--his place was supplied by
+some justice of the peace, of doubtful powers and mythical appointment.
+If neither of these could be procured, the father of the bride, himself,
+sometimes assumed the functions, _pro hâc vice_, or _pro tempore_, of
+minister or justice. It was always understood, however, that such
+left-handed marriages were to be confirmed by the first minister who
+wandered to the frontier: and, even when the opportunity did not offer
+for many months, no scandal ever arose--the marriage vow was never
+broken. The pioneers were simple people--the refinements of high
+cultivation had not yet penetrated the forests or crossed the
+prairies--and good faith and virtue were as common as courage and
+sagacity.
+
+
+When the brief, but all-sufficient ceremony was over, the bridegroom
+resumed his rifle, helped the bride into the saddle--or more frequently
+to the pillion behind him--and they calmly rode away together.
+
+
+On some pleasant spot--surrounded by a shady grove, or point of
+timber--a new log-cabin has been built: its rough logs notched across
+each other at the corners, a roof of oaken clapboards, held firmly down
+by long poles along each course, its floor of heavy "puncheons," its
+broad, cheerful fireplace, large as a modern bed-room--all are in the
+highest style of frontier architecture. Within--excepting some
+anomalies, such as putting the skillet and tea-kettle in the little
+cupboard, along with the blue-edged plates and yellow-figured
+tea-cups--for the whole has been arranged by the hands of the bridegroom
+himself--everything is neatly and properly disposed. The oaken bedstead,
+with low square posts, stands in one corner, and the bed is covered by a
+pure white counterpane, with fringe--an heirloom in the family of the
+bride. At the foot of this is seen a large, heavy chest--like a
+camp-chest--to serve for bureau, safe, and dressing-case.
+
+In the middle of the floor--directly above a trap-door which leads to a
+"potato-hole" beneath--stands a ponderous walnut table, and on it sits a
+nest of wooden trays; while, flanking these, on one side, is a
+nicely-folded tablecloth, and, on the other, a wooden-handled
+butcher-knife and a well-worn Bible. Around the room are ranged a few
+"split-bottomed" chairs, exclusively for use, not ornament. In the
+chimney-corners, or under the table, are several three-legged stools,
+made for the children, who--as the bridegroom laughingly insinuates
+while he points to the uncouth specimens of his handiwork--"will be
+coming in due time." The wife laughs in her turn--replies, "no
+doubt"--and, taking one of the graceful tripods in her hand, carries it
+forth to sit upon while she milks the cow--for she understands what she
+is expected to do, and does it without delay. In one corner--near the
+fireplace--the aforesaid cupboard is erected--being a few oaken shelves
+neatly pinned to the logs with hickory forks--and in this are arranged
+the plates and cups;--not as the honest pride of the housewife would
+arrange them, to display them to the best advantage--but piled away,
+one within another, without reference to show. As yet there is no sign
+of female taste or presence.
+
+
+But now the house receives its mistress. The "happy couple" ride up to
+the low rail-fence in front--the bride springs off without assistance,
+affectation, or delay. The husband leads away the horse or horses, and
+the wife enters the dominion, where, thenceforward, she is queen. There
+is no coyness, no blushing, no pretence of fright or nervousness--if you
+will, no romance--for which the husband has reason to be thankful! The
+wife knows what her duties are and resolutely goes about performing
+them. She never dreamed, nor twaddled, about "love in a cottage," or
+"the sweet communion of congenial souls" (who never eat anything): and
+she is, therefore, not disappointed on discovering that life is actually
+a serious thing. She never whines about "making her husband happy"--but
+sets firmly and sensibly about making him _comfortable_. She cooks his
+dinner, nurses his children, shares his hardships, and encourages his
+industry. She never complains of having too much work to do, she does
+not desert her home to make endless visits--she borrows no misfortunes,
+has no imaginary ailings. Milliners and mantua-makers she
+ignores--"shopping" she never heard of--scandal she never invents or
+listens to. She never wishes for fine carriages, professes no inability
+to walk five hundred yards, and does not think it a "vulgar
+accomplishment," to know how to make butter. She has no groundless
+anxieties, she is not nervous about her children taking cold: a doctor
+is a visionary potentate to her--a drug-shop is a dépôt of abominations.
+She never forgets whose wife she is,--there is no "sweet confidante"
+without whom she "can not live"--she never writes endless letters about
+nothing. She is, in short, a faithful, honest wife: and, "in due time,"
+the husband must make _more_ "three-legged stools"--for the "tow-heads"
+have now covered them all!
+
+
+Such is the wife and mother of the pioneer, and, with such influences
+about him, how could he be otherwise than honest, straightforward, and
+manly?
+
+
+But, though a life in the woods was an enemy to every sort of
+sentimentalism--though a more unromantic being than the pioneer can
+hardly be imagined--yet his character unquestionably took its hue, from
+the primitive scenes and events of his solitary existence. He was, in
+many things, as simple as a child: as credulous, as unsophisticated. Yet
+the utmost cunning of the wily savage--all the strategy of Indian
+warfare--was not sufficient to deceive or overreach him! Though one
+might have expected that his life of ceaseless watchfulness would make
+him skeptical and suspicious, his confidence was given heartily, without
+reservation, and often most imprudently. If he gave his trust at all,
+you might ply him, by the hour, with the most improbable and outrageous
+fictions, without fear of contradiction or of unbelief. He never
+questioned the superior knowledge or pretensions of any one who claimed
+acquaintance with subjects of which _he_ was ignorant.
+
+The character of his intellect, like that of the Indian, was thoroughly
+synthetical: he had nothing of the faculty which enables us to detect
+falsehood, even in matters of which we know nothing by comparison and
+analogy. He never analyzed any story told him, he took it as a unit;
+and, unless it violated some known principle of his experience, or
+conflicted with some fact of his own observation, never doubted its
+truth. At this moment, there are men in every western settlement who
+have only vague, crude notions of what a city is--who would feel
+nervous if they stepped upon the deck of a steamboat--and are utterly at
+a loss to conjecture the nature of a railroad. Upon either of these
+mystical subjects they will swallow, without straining, the most absurd
+and impossible fictions. And this is not because of their ignorance
+alone, for many of them are, for their sphere in life, educated,
+intelligent, and, what is better, sensible men. Nor is it by any means a
+national trait: for a genuine Yankee will scarcely believe the truth;
+and, though he may sometimes trust in very wild things, his faith is
+usually an active "craze," and not mere passive credulity. The pioneer,
+then, has not derived it from his eastern fathers: it is the growth of
+the woods and prairies--an embellishment to a character which might
+otherwise appear naked and severe.
+
+
+Another characteristic, traceable to the same source, the stern reality
+of his life, is the pioneer's gravity.
+
+The agricultural population of this country are, at the best, not a
+cheerful race. Though they sometimes join in festivities, it is but
+seldom; and the wildness of their dissipation is too often in proportion
+to its infrequency. There is none of the serene contentment--none of
+that smiling enjoyment--which, according to travellers like Howitt,
+distinguishes the tillers of the ground in other lands. _Sedateness_ is
+a national characteristic, but the gravity of the pioneer is quite
+another thing; it includes pride and personal dignity, and indicates a
+stern, unyielding temper. There is, however, nothing morose in it: it is
+its aspect alone, which forbids approach; and that only makes more
+conspicuous the heartiness of your reception, when once the shell is
+broken. Acquainted with the character, you do not expect him to _smile_
+much; but now and then he _laughs_: and that laugh is round, free, and
+hearty. You know at once that he enjoys it, you are convinced that he is
+a firm friend and "a good hater."
+
+
+It is not surprising, with a character such as I have described, that
+the pioneer is not gregarious, that he is, indeed, rather solitary.
+Accordingly, we never find a genuine specimen of the class, among the
+emigrants, who come in shoals and flocks, and pitch their tents in
+"colonies;" who lay out towns and cities, projected upon paper, and call
+them New Boston, New Albany, or New Hartford, before one log is placed
+upon another; nor are there many of the unadulterated stock among that
+other class, who come from regions further south, and christen their
+towns, classically, Carthage, Rome, or Athens: or, patriotically, in
+commemoration of some Virginian worthy, some Maryland sharpshooter, or
+"Jersey blue."
+
+The real pioneer never emigrates gregariously; he does not wish to be
+within "halloo" of his nearest neighbor; he is no city-builder; and, if
+he does project a town, he christens it by some such name as Boonville
+or Clarksville, in memory of a noted pioneer: or Jacksonville or
+Waynesville, to commemorate some "old hero" who was celebrated for good
+fighting.[73] And the reason why the outlandish and _outré_ so much
+predominate in the names of western towns and cities, must be sought in
+the fact referred to above, that the western man is not essentially a
+town-projector, and that, consequently, comparatively few of the towns
+were "laid out" by the legitimate pioneer. We shall have more to say of
+town-building under another head; and, in the meantime, having said that
+the pioneer is not gregarious, let us look at the _manner_ of his
+emigration.
+
+
+Many a time, in the western highways, have I met with the sturdy
+"mover," as he is called, in the places where people are stationary--a
+family, sometimes by no means small, wandering toward the setting sun,
+in search of pleasant places on the lands of "Uncle Sam." Many a time,
+in the forest or on the prairie--generally upon some point of timber
+which puts a mile or two within the plain--have I passed the "clearing,"
+or "pre-emption," where, with nervous arm and sturdy heart, the
+"squatter"[74] cleaves out, and renders habitable, a home for himself
+and a heritage for his children.
+
+Upon the road, you first meet the pioneer himself, for he almost always
+walks a few hundred yards ahead. He is usually above the medium height,
+and rather spare. He stoops a little, too; for he has done a deal of
+hard work, and expects to do more; but you see at once, that unless his
+lungs are weak, his strength is by no means broken, and you are quite
+sure that many a stately tree is destined to be humbled by his sinewy
+arm. He is attired in frontier fashion: he wears a loose coat, called a
+hunting-shirt, of jeans or linsey, and its color is that indescribable
+hue compounded of copperas and madder; pantaloons, exceedingly loose,
+and not very accurately cut in any part, of like color and material,
+defend his lower limbs. His feet are cased in low, fox-colored shoes,
+for of boots, he is, yet, quite innocent. Around his throat and wrists,
+even in midsummer, you see the collar and wristbands of a heavy,
+deep-red, flannel-shirt. Examine him very closely, and you will probably
+find no other garment on his person.
+
+His hair is dark, and not very evenly trimmed--for his wife or daughter
+has performed the tonsure with a pair of rusty shears; and the longer
+locks seem changed in hue, as if his dingy wool hat did not sufficiently
+protect them against the wind and rain. Over his shoulder he carries a
+heavy rifle, heavier than a "Harper's ferry musket," running about
+"fifty to the pound." Around his neck are swung the powder-horn and
+bullet-pouch, the former protected by a square of deer-skin, and the
+latter ornamented with a squirrel's tail.
+
+You take note of all these things, and then recur to his
+melancholy-looking face, with its mild blue eyes and sharpened features.
+You think he looks thin, and conjecture that his chest may be weak, or
+his lungs affected, by the stoop in his shoulders; but when he lifts his
+eyes, and asks the way to Thompson's ferry, or how far it is to water,
+you are satisfied: for the glance of his eye is calm and firm, and the
+tone of his voice is round and healthy. You answer his question, he nods
+quietly by way of thanks, and marches on; and, though you draw your
+rein, and seem inclined to further converse, he takes no notice, and
+pursues his way.
+
+A few minutes afterward, you meet the family. A small, light wagon,
+easily dragged through sloughs and heavy roads, is covered with a white
+cotton cloth, and drawn, by either two yokes of oxen, or a pair of lean
+horses. A "patch-work" quilt is sometimes stretched across the flimsy
+covering, as a guard against the sun and rain. Within this vehicle are
+stowed all the emigrant's household goods, and still, it is not
+overloaded.
+
+There is usually a large chest, containing the wardrobe of the family,
+with such small articles as are liable to loss, and the little store of
+money. This is always in silver, for the pioneer is no judge of gold,
+and, on the frontier, paper has but little exchangeable value. There are
+then two light bedsteads--one "a trundle-bed"--a few plain chairs, most
+of them tied on behind and at the sides; three or four stools, domestic
+manufacture; a set of tent-poles and a few pots and pans. On these are
+piled the "beds and bedding," tied in large bundles, and stowed in such
+manner as to make convenient room for the children who are too young to
+walk. In the front end of the wagon, sits the mother of the family: and,
+peering over her head and shoulders, leaning out at her side, or gazing
+under the edge of the cotton-covering, are numerous flaxen heads, which
+you find it difficult to count while you ride past.
+
+
+There are altogether too many of them, you think, for a man no older
+than the one you met, a while ago; and you, perhaps, conjecture that the
+youthful-looking woman has adopted some of her dead sister's children,
+or, perchance, some of her brothers and sisters themselves. But you are
+mistaken, they are all her offspring, and the father of every one of
+them is the stoop-shouldered man you saw ahead. If you look closely, you
+will observe that the mother, who is driving, holds the reins with one
+hand, while, on the other arm, she supports an infant not _more_ than
+six months old. It was for the advent of this little stranger, that they
+delayed their emigration: and they set out while it was very young, for
+fear of the approach of its successor. If they waited for their youngest
+child to attain a year of age, they would never "move," until they would
+be too old to make another "clearing."
+
+You pass on--perhaps ejaculating thanks that your lot has been
+differently cast, and thinking you have seen the last of them. But a few
+hundred yards further, and you hear the tinkling of a bell; two or three
+lean cows--with calves about the age of the baby--come straggling by.
+You look for the driver, and see a tall girl with a very young face--the
+eldest of the family, though not exceeding twelve or thirteen years in
+age. You feel quite sure, that, besides her sun-bonnet and well-worn
+shoes, she wears but one article of apparel--and that a loose dress of
+linsey, rather narrow in the skirt, of a dirty brown color, with a tinge
+of red. It hangs straight down about her limbs, as if it were wet, and
+with every step--for she walks stoutly--it flaps and flies about her
+ankles, as if shotted in the lower hem. She presents, altogether, rather
+a slatternly figure, and her face is freckled and sunburnt.
+
+But you must not judge her too rashly; for her eye is keen and
+expressive, and her mouth is quite pretty--especially when she smiles. A
+few years hence--if you have the _entrée_--you may meet her in the best
+and highest circles of the country. Perhaps, while you are dancing
+attendance upon some new administration, asking for a "place," and
+asking, probably, in vain, she may come to Washington, a beautiful and
+accomplished woman--the wife of some member of Congress, whose
+constituency is numbered by the hundred thousand!
+
+You may pass on, now, and forget her; but, if you stop to talk five
+minutes, she will not forget _you_--at least, if you say anything
+striking or sensible. And when you meet her again, perhaps in a gilded
+saloon, among the brightest and highest in the land--if you seek an
+introduction, as you probably will--she will remind you of the meeting,
+and to your astonishment, will laughingly describe the scene, to some of
+her obsequious friends who stand around. And then she will perhaps
+introduce you, as an old friend, to one of those flax-haired boys, who
+peeped out of the wagon over his mother's shoulder, as you passed them
+in the wilderness: and you recognise one of the members from California,
+or from Oregon, whose influence in the house, though he is as yet a very
+young man, is already quite considerable. If you are successful in your
+application for a "place," it may be that the casual meeting in the
+forest or on the prairie was the seed which, germinating through long
+years of obscurity, finally sprung up _thus_, and bore a crop of high
+official honors!
+
+The next time you meet a family of emigrants on the frontier, you will
+probably observe them a little more closely.
+
+Not a few of those who bear a prominent part in the government of our
+country--more than one of the first men of the nation--men whose names
+are now heard in connection with the highest office of the
+people--twenty years ago, occupied a place as humble in the scale of
+influence, as that flaxen-haired son of the stoop-shouldered emigrant.
+Such are the elements of our civilization--such the spirit of our
+institutions!
+
+
+We have hitherto been speaking only of the American pioneer, and we have
+devoted more space to him, than we shall give to his contemporaries,
+because he has exerted more influence, both in the settlement of the
+country, and in the formation of sectional character and social
+peculiarities, than all the rest combined.
+
+The French emigrant was quite a different being. Even at this day, there
+are no two classes--not the eastern and western, or the northern and
+southern--between whom the distinction is more marked, than it has
+always been between the Saxon and the Frank. The advent of the latter
+was much earlier than that of the former; and to him, therefore, must be
+ascribed the credit of the first settlement of the country. But, for all
+purposes of lasting impression, he must yield to his successor. It was,
+in fact, the American who penetrated and cleared the forest--who subdued
+and drove out the Indian--who, in a word, reclaimed the country.
+
+
+In nothing was the distinction between the two races broader, than in
+the feelings with which they approached the savage. We have seen that
+the hatred, borne by the American toward his red enemy, was to be
+traced to a long series of mutual hostilities and wrongs. But the
+Frenchman had no such injuries to avenge, no hereditary feud to
+prosecute. The first of his nation who had entered the country were
+non-combatants--they came to convert the savage, not to conquer him,
+or deprive him of his lands. Even as early as sixteen hundred and
+eight, the Jesuits had established friendly relations with the Indians
+of Canada--and before the stern crew of the May Flower had landed on
+Plymouth Rock, they had preached the gospel on the shores of Lake
+Huron. Their piety and wisdom had acquired an influence over the
+untutored Indian, long before the commencement of the hostilities,
+which afterward cost so much blood and suffering. They had, thus,
+smoothed the way for their countrymen, and opened a safe path through
+the wilderness, to the shore of the great western waters. And the
+people who followed and accompanied them, were peculiarly adapted to
+improve the advantages thus given them.
+
+They were a gentle, peaceful, unambitious people. They came as the
+friend, not the hereditary enemy, of the savage. They tendered the
+calumet--a symbol well understood by every Indian--and were received as
+allies and brethren. They had no national prejudices to overcome: the
+copper color of the Indian was not an insuperable objection to
+intermarriage, and children of the mixed blood were not, for that
+reason, objects of scorn. An Indian maiden was as much a woman to a
+Frenchman, as if she had been a _blonde_; and, if her form was graceful
+and her features comely, he would woo her with as much ardor as if she
+had been one of his own race.
+
+Nor was this peculiarity attributable only to the native gallantry of
+the French character, as it has sometimes been asserted; the total want
+of prejudice, which grows up in contemplating an inferior race, held in
+limited subjection, and a certain easiness of temper and tone of
+thought, had far more influence.
+
+The Frenchman has quite enough vanity, but very little pride. Whatever,
+therefore, is sanctioned by those who surrounded him, is, in his eyes,
+no degradation. He married the Indian woman--first, because there were
+but few females among the emigrants, and he could not live without "the
+sex;" and, second, because there was nothing in his prejudices, or in
+public sentiment, to deter him. The descendants of these
+marriages--except where, as in some cases, they are upheld by the
+possession of great wealth--have no consideration, and are seldom seen
+in the society of the whites. But this is only because French manners
+and feelings have long since faded out of our social organization. The
+Saxon, with his unconquerable prejudices of race, with his pride and
+jealousy, has taken possession of the country; and, as he rules its
+political destinies, in most places, likewise, gives tones to its
+manners. Had Frenchmen continued to possess the land--had French
+dominion not given place to English--mixture of blood would have had but
+little influence on one's position; and there would now have been, in
+St. Louis or Chicago, as many shades of color in a social assembly, as
+may be seen at a ball in Mexico.
+
+
+The French are a more cheerful people, than the Americans. Social
+intercourse--the interchange of hospitalities--the enjoyment of
+amusements in crowds--are far more important to them than to any other
+race. Solitude and misery are--or ought to be--synonyms in French; and
+enjoyment is like glory--it must have witnesses, or it will lose its
+attraction. Accordingly, we find the French emigrant seeking
+companionship, even in the trials and enterprises of the wilderness. The
+American, after the manner of his race, sought places where he could
+possess, for himself, enough for his wants, and be "monarch of all he
+surveyed."
+
+But the Frenchman had no such pride. He resorted to a town, where the
+amusements of dancing, _fêtes_, and social converse, were to be
+found--where the narrow streets were scarcely more than a division
+fence, "across which the women could carry on their voluble
+conversations, without leaving their homes."[75] This must have been a
+great advantage, and probably contributed, in no slight degree, to the
+singular peace of their villages--since the proximity afforded no
+temptation to going abroad, and the distance was yet too great to allow
+such whisperings and scandal, as usually break up the harmony of small
+circles. Whether the fact is to be attributed to this, or to some other
+cause, certain it is that these little communities were eminently
+peaceful. From the first settlement of Kaskaskia, for example, down to
+the transfer of the western country to the British--almost a century--I
+find no record, even in the voluminous epistolary chronicles, of any
+personal rencontre, or serious quarrel, among the inhabitants. The same
+praise can not be given to any American town ever yet built.
+
+A species of communism seems to be a portion of the French character;
+for we discover, that, even at that early day, _paysans_, or _habitans_,
+collected together in villages, had their _common fields_, where the
+separate portion of each family was still a part of the common
+stock--and their tract of pasture-land, where there was no division, or
+separate property. One enclosure covered all the fields of the
+community, and all submitted to regulations made by the free voice of
+the people.
+
+If one was sick, or employed in the service of the colony, or absent
+on business of his own at planting or harvest time, his portion was
+not therefore neglected: his ground was planted, or his crop was
+gathered, by the associated labor of his neighbors, as thoroughly and
+carefully as if he had been at home. His family had nothing to fear;
+because in the social code of the simple villagers, each was as much
+bound to maintain the children of his friend as his own. This state of
+things might have its inconveniences and vices--of which, perhaps, the
+worst was its tendency to merge the family into the community, and
+thus--by obliterating the lines of individuality and personal
+independence--benumbing enterprise and checking improvements: but it
+was certainly productive of some good results, also. It tended to
+make people careful each of the other's rights, kind to the afflicted,
+and brotherly in their social intercourse. The attractive simplicity
+of manners observable, even at this day, in some of the old French
+villages, is traceable to this peculiar form of their early
+organization.
+
+It would be well if that primitive simplicity of life and manners, could
+be combined with rapid, or even moderate improvement. But, in the
+present state of the world, this can scarcely be; and, accordingly, we
+find the Frenchman of the passing year, differing but little from his
+ancestor of sixteen hundred and fifty--still living in the old
+patriarchal style, still cultivating his share of the common field, and
+still using the antiquated processes of the seventeenth century.
+
+
+But, though not so active as their neighbors, the Americans, they were
+ever much happier. They had no ambition beyond enough for the passing
+hour: with that they were perfectly contented. They were very patient
+of the deprivation, when they had it not; and seasons of scarcity saw
+no cessation of music and dancing, no abridgment of the jest and song.
+If the earth yielded enough in one year to sustain them till the
+next, the amount of labor expended for that object was never
+increased--superfluity they cared nothing for: and commerce, save such
+limited trade as was necessary to provide their few luxuries, was
+beyond both their capacity and desires. The prolific soil was suffered
+to retain its juices; it was reserved for another people to discover
+and improve its infinite productiveness.
+
+They were indolent, careless, and improvident. Great enterprises were
+above or below them. Political interests, and the questions concerning
+national dominion, were too exciting to charm their gentle natures.
+Their intelligence was, of course, not of the highest order: but they
+had no use for learning--literature was out of place in the
+wilderness--the pursuit of letters could have found no sympathy, and for
+solitary enjoyment, the Frenchman cultivates nothing. Life was almost
+altogether sensuous: and, though their morals were in keeping with their
+simplicity, existence to them was chiefly a physical matter. The
+fertility of the soil, producing all the necessaries of life with a
+small amount of labor, and the amenity of the climate, rendering
+defences against winter but too easy, encouraged their indolence, and
+soothed their scanty energy.
+
+"They made no attempt," said one[76] who knew them well, "to acquire
+land from the Indians, to organize a social system, to introduce
+municipal regulations, or to establish military defences; but cheerfully
+obeyed the priests and the king's officers, and enjoyed the present
+without troubling their heads about the future. They seem to have been
+even careless as to the acquisition of property, and its transmission to
+their heirs. Finding themselves in a fruitful country, abounding in
+game--where the necessaries of life could be procured with little
+labor--where no restraints were imposed by government, and neither
+tribute nor personal service was exacted, they were content to live in
+unambitious peace and comfortable poverty. They took possession of so
+much of the vacant land around them, as they were disposed to till, and
+no more. Their agriculture was rude: and even to this day, some of the
+implements of husbandry and modes of cultivation, brought from France a
+century ago, remain unchanged by the march of mind or the hand of
+innovation. Their houses were comfortable, and they reared fruits and
+flowers, evincing, in this respect, an attention to comfort and luxury,
+which has not been practised by the English and American first
+settlers. But in the accumulation of property, and in all the essentials
+of industry, they were indolent and improvident, rearing only the bare
+necessaries of life, and living from generation to generation without
+change or improvement."
+
+"They reared fruits and flowers," he says; and this simple fact denotes
+a marked distinction between them and the Americans, not only in regard
+to the things themselves, as would seem to be the view of the author
+quoted, but in mental constitution, modes of thought, and motives to
+action. Their tastes were elegant, ornate, and refined. They found
+pleasure in pursuits which the American deems trivial, frivolous, and
+unworthy of exertion.
+
+If any trees sheltered the house of the American, they were those
+planted by the winds; if there were any flowers at his door, they were
+only those with which prodigal nature has carpeted the prairies; and you
+may see now in the west, many a cabin which has stood for thirty years,
+with not a tree, of shade or fruit, within a mile of its door!
+Everything is as bare and as cheerless about the door-yard, as it was
+the first winter of its enclosure. But, stretching away from it, in
+every direction, sometimes for miles, you will see extensive and
+productive fields of grain, in the highest state of cultivation. It is
+not personal comfort, or an elegant residence, for which the American
+cares, but the enduring and solid results of unwearied labor.
+
+A Frenchman's residence is surrounded by flower-beds and orchards; his
+windows are covered by creeping-vines and trellis-work; flower-pots and
+bird-cages occupy the sills and surround the corridors; everything
+presents the aspect of elegant taste, comfort, and indolence. The extent
+of his fields, the amount of his produce, the intelligence and industry
+of his cultivation, bear an immense disproportion to those of his less
+ornamental, though more energetic, neighbor.
+
+
+The distinction between the two races is as clear in their personal
+appearance and bearing, as in the aspect of their plantations. The
+Frenchman is generally a spruce, dapper little gentleman, brisk,
+obsequious, and insinuating in manner, and usually betraying minute
+attention to externals. The American is always plain in dress--evincing
+no more taste in costume than in horticulture--steady, calm, and never
+lively in manner: blunt, straightforward, and independent in discourse.
+The one is amiable and submissive, the other choleric and rebellious.
+The Frenchman always recognises and bows before superior rank: the
+American acknowledges no superior, and bows to no man save in courtesy.
+The former is docile and easily governed: the latter is intractable,
+beyond control. The Frenchman accommodates himself to circumstances: the
+American forces circumstances to yield to him.
+
+The consequence has been, that while the American has stamped his
+character upon the whole country, there are not ten places in the valley
+of the Mississippi, where you would infer, from anything you see, that a
+Frenchman had ever placed his foot upon the soil. The few localities in
+which the French character yet lingers, are fast losing the distinction;
+and a score or two of years will witness a total disappearance of the
+gentle people and their primitive abodes. Even now--excepting in a few
+parishes in Louisiana--the relics of the race bear a faded, antiquated
+look: as if they belonged to a past century, as, indeed, they do, and
+only lingered now, to witness, for a brief space, the glaring
+innovations of the nineteenth, and then, lamenting the follies of modern
+civilization, to take their departure for ever!
+
+Let them depart in peace! For they were a gentle and pacific race, and
+in their day did many kindly things!
+
+    "The goodness of the heart is shown in deeds
+    Of peacefulness and kindness."
+
+Their best monument is an affectionate recollection of their simplicity:
+their highest wish
+
+        ----"To sleep in humble life,
+    Beneath the storm ambition blows."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[70] _History of the United States_, vol. iii., p. 336. Enacted in
+Massachusetts.
+
+[71] A detailed and somewhat tedious account of these savage inroads,
+may be found in Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, published by Harpers.
+New-York. 1850.
+
+[72] This is the estimate of Bancroft--and, I think, at least, thirty
+thousand too liberal. If the number were doubled, however, it would not
+weaken the position in the text.
+
+[73] On the subject of naming towns, much might have been said in the
+preceding article in favor of French taste, and especially that just and
+unpretending taste, which led them almost alway to retain the Indian
+names. While the American has pretentiously imported from the Old World
+such names as Venice, Carthage, Rome, Athens, and even London and Paris,
+or has transferred from the eastern states, Boston, Philadelphia,
+Baltimore, and New York, the Frenchman, with a better judgment, has
+retained such Indian names as Chicago, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Cahokia,
+Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Wabash, and Mississippi.
+
+[74] This word is a pregnant memento of the manner in which the vain
+words of flippant orators fall, innocuous, to the ground, when they
+attempt to stigmatize, with contemptuous terms, the truly noble.
+"Squatter" is now, in the west, only another name for "Pioneer," and
+that word describes all that is admirable in courage, truth, and
+manhood!
+
+[75] Perkins's _Western Annals_.
+
+[76] "Sketches of the West," by Judge Hall, for many years a resident of
+Illinois.
+
+[Illustration: THE RANGER.]
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE RANGER.
+
+    "When purposed vengeance I forego,
+    Term me a wretch, nor deem me foe;
+    And when an insult I forgive,
+    Then brand me as a slave, and live."
+
+    SCOTT.
+
+
+In elaborating the character of the pioneer, we have unavoidably
+anticipated, in some measure, that of the Ranger--for the latter was, in
+fact, only one of the capacities in which the former sometimes acted.
+But--since, in the preceding article, we have endeavored to confine
+the inquiry, so as to use the term _Pioneer_ as almost synonymous with
+_Immigrant_--we have, of course, ignored, to some extent, the
+subordinate characters, in which he frequently figured. We therefore
+propose, now, briefly to review one or two of them in their natural
+succession.
+
+The progress of our country may be traced and measured, by the
+representative characters which marked each period. The
+missionary-priest came first, when the land was an unbroken wilderness.
+The military adventurer, seeking to establish new empires, and acquire
+great fortunes, entered by the path thus opened. Next came the hunter,
+roaming the woods in search of wild beasts upon which he preyed. Making
+himself familiar with the pathless forest and the rolling prairie, he
+qualified himself to guide, even while he fled from, the stream of
+immigration. At last came the pioneer, to drive away the savage, to
+clear out the forests, and reclaim the land.
+
+At first, he was _only_ a pioneer. He had few neighbors, he belonged to
+no community--his household was his country, his family were his only
+associates or companions. In the course of time others followed him--he
+could occasionally meet a white man on the prairies; if he wandered a
+few miles from home, he could see the smoke of another chimney in the
+distance. If he did not at once abandon his "clearing" and go further
+west, he became, in some sort, a member of society--was the
+fellow-citizen of his neighbors. The Indians became alarmed for their
+hunting grounds, or the nations went to war and drew them into the
+contest: the frontier became unsafe: the presence of danger drew the
+pioneers together: they adopted a system of defence, and the ranger was
+the offspring and representative of a new order of things.
+
+Rough and almost savage as he sometimes was, he was still the index to a
+great improvement. Rude as the system was, it gave shape and order to
+what had before been mere chaos.
+
+
+The ranger marks a new era, then; his existence is another chapter in
+the history of the west. Previous to his time, each pioneer depended
+only on himself for defence--his sole protection, against the wild beast
+and the savage, was his rifle--self-dependence was his peculiar
+characteristic. The idea of a fighting establishment--the germ of
+standing armies--had never occurred to him: even the rudest form of
+civil government was strange to him--taxes, salaries, assessments, were
+all "unknown quantities."
+
+But, gradually, all this changed; and with his circumstances, his
+character was also modified. He lost a little of his sturdy
+independence, his jealousy of neighborhood was softened--his solitary
+habits became more social--he acknowledged the necessity for concert of
+action--he merged a part of his individuality into the community,
+and--became a ranger.
+
+In this capacity, his character was but little different to what it had
+been before the change; and, though that change was a great improvement,
+considered with reference to society, it may safely be doubted whether
+it made the individual more respectable. He was a better _citizen_,
+because he now contributed to the common defence: but he was not a
+better _man_, because new associations brought novel temptations, and
+mingling with other men wore away the simplicity, which was the
+foundation of his manliness. Before assuming his new character,
+moreover, he never wielded a weapon except in his own defence--or, at
+most, in avenging his own wrongs. The idea of justice--claiming
+reparation for an injury, which he alone could estimate, because by him
+alone it was sustained--protected his moral sense. But, when he assumed
+the vindication of his neighbor's rights, and the reparation of his
+wrongs--however kind it may have been to do so--he was sustained only by
+the spirit of hatred to the savage, could feel no such justification as
+the consciousness of injury.
+
+Here was the first introduction of the mercenary character, which
+actuates the hireling soldier; and, though civilization was not then far
+enough advanced, to make it very conspicuous, there were other elements
+mingled, which could not but depreciate the simple nobility of the
+pioneer's nature. Many of the qualities which, in him, had been merely
+passive, in the ranger became fierce and active. We have alluded, for
+example, to his hatred of the Indian; and this, habit soon strengthened
+and exaggerated. Nothing marks that change so plainly as his adoption of
+the barbarous practice of scalping enemies.
+
+For this there might be some little palliation in the fact, that the
+savage never considered a warrior overcome, though he were killed,
+unless he lost his scalp; and so long as he could bring off the dead
+bodies of his comrades, not mutilated by the process, he was but
+partially intimidated. Defeat was, in that case, converted to a sort of
+triumph; and having gone within one step of victory--for so this
+half-success was estimated--was the strongest incentive to a renewal of
+the effort. It might be, therefore, that the ranger's adoption of the
+custom was a measure of self-defence. But it is to be feared that this
+consideration--weak as it is, when stated as an excuse for cruelty so
+barbarous--had but little influence in determining the ranger. Adopting
+the code of the savage, the practice soon became a part of his warfare;
+and the taking of the scalp was a ceremony necessary to the completion
+of his victory. It was a bloody and inhuman triumph--a custom, which
+tended, more forcibly than any other, to degrade true courage to mere
+cruelty; and which, while it only mortified the savage, at the same
+time, by rendering his hatred of the white men more implacable,
+aggravated the horrors of Indian warfare. But the only measure of
+justice in those days, was the _lex talionis_--"An eye for an eye," a
+scalp for a scalp; and, even now, you may hear frontiermen justify,
+though they do not practise it, by quoting the venerable maxim, "Fight
+the devil with fire."
+
+
+But, though the warfare of the ranger was sometimes distinguished by
+cruelty, it was also ennobled by features upon which it is far more
+pleasant to dwell.
+
+No paladin, or knight, of the olden times, ever exhibited more wild,
+romantic daring, than that which formed a part of the ranger's daily
+action. Danger, in a thousand forms, beset him at every step--he defied
+mutilation, death by fire and lingering torture. The number of his
+enemies, he never counted, until after he had conquered them--the power
+of the tribe, or the prowess of the warrior, was no element in his
+calculations. Where he could strike first and most effectually, was his
+only inquiry. Securing an avenue for retreat was no part of his
+strategy--for he had never an intention or thought of returning, except
+as a victor. "Keeping open his communications," either with the rear or
+the flanks, had no place in his system; "combined movements" he seldom
+attempted, for he depended for victory, upon the force he chanced to
+have directly at hand. The distance from his "base of operations" he
+never measured; for he carried all his supplies about his person, and he
+never looked for reinforcements. Bridges and wagon-roads he did not
+require, for he could swim all the rivers, and he never lost his way in
+the forest. He carried his artillery upon his shoulder, his tactics were
+the maxims of Indian warfare, and his only drill was the "ball-practice"
+of the woods. He was his own commissary, for he carried his "rations" on
+his back, and replenished his havresack with his rifle. He needed no
+quartermaster; for he furnished his own "transportation," and selected
+his own encampment--his bed was the bosom of mother-earth, and his tent
+was the foliage of an oak or the canopy of heaven. In most
+cases--especially in battle--he was his own commander, too; for he was
+impatient of restraint, and in savage warfare knew his duty as well as
+any man could instruct him. Obedience was no part of his
+nature--subordination was irksome and oppressive. In a word, he was an
+excellent soldier, without drill, discipline or organization.
+
+He was as active as he was brave--as untiring as he was fearless.
+
+A corps of rangers moved so rapidly, as apparently to double its
+numbers--dispersing on the Illinois or Missouri, and reassembling on the
+Mississippi, on the following day--traversing the Okan timber to-day,
+and fording the Ohio to-morrow. One of them, noted among the Indians for
+desperate fighting, and personally known for many a bloody meeting,
+would appear so nearly simultaneously in different places, as to acquire
+the title of a "Great Medicine;" and instances have been known, where as
+many as three distinct war-parties have told of obstinate encounters
+with the same men in one day! Their apparent ubiquity awed the Indians
+more than their prowess.
+
+
+General Benjamin Howard, who, in eighteen hundred and thirteen resigned
+the office of governor of Missouri, and accepted the appointment of
+brigadier-general, in command of the militia and rangers of Missouri
+and Illinois, at no time, except for a few weeks in eighteen hundred and
+fourteen, had more than one thousand men under his orders: And yet, with
+this inconsiderable force, he protected a frontier extending from the
+waters of the Wabash, westward to the advanced settlements of
+Missouri--driving the savages northward beyond Peoria, and intimidating
+them by the promptitude and rapidity of his movements.
+
+
+Our government contributed nothing to the defence of its frontiers,
+except an act of Congress, which authorized them to defend themselves!
+The Indians, amounting to at least twenty tribes, had been stirred up to
+hostility by the British, and, before the establishment of rangers, were
+murdering and plundering almost with impunity. But soon after the
+organization of these companies, the tide began to turn. The ranger was
+at least a match for the savage in his own mode of warfare; and he had,
+moreover, the advantages of civilized weapons, and a steadiness and
+constancy, unknown to the disorderly war-parties of the red men.
+
+He was persevering beyond all example, and exhibited endurance which
+astonished even the stoical savage. Three or four hours' rest, after
+weeks of hardship and exposure, prepared him for another expedition. If
+the severity of his vengeance, or the success of a daring enterprise,
+intimidated the Indian for a time, and gave him a few days' leisure, he
+grew impatient of inactivity, and was straightway planning some new
+exploit. The moment one suggested itself, he set about accomplishing
+it--and its hardihood and peril caused no hesitation. He would march, on
+foot, hundreds of miles, through an unbroken wilderness, until he
+reached the point where the blow was to be struck; and then, awaiting
+the darkness, in the middle of the night, he would fall upon his
+unsuspecting enemies and carry all before him.
+
+
+During the war of independence, the rangers had not yet assumed that
+name, nor were they as thoroughly organized, as they became in the
+subsequent contest of eighteen hundred and twelve. But the same material
+was there--the same elements of character, actuated by the same spirit.
+Let the following instance show what that spirit was.
+
+In the year seventeen hundred and seventy-seven, there lived at
+Cahokia--on the east side of the Mississippi below Saint Louis--a
+Pennsylvanian by the name of Brady--a restless, daring man, just made
+for a leader of rangers. In an interval of inactivity, he conceived the
+idea of capturing one of the British posts in Michigan, the nearest
+point of which was at least three hundred miles distant! He forthwith
+set about raising a company--and, at the end of three days, found
+himself invested with the command of _sixteen men_! With these, on the
+first of October, he started on a journey of more than one hundred
+leagues, through the vast solitudes of the prairies and the thousand
+perils of the forest, to take a military station, occupied by a
+detachment of British soldiers! After a long and toilsome march, they
+reached the banks of the St. Joseph's river, on which the object of
+their expedition stood. Awaiting the security of midnight, they suddenly
+broke from their cover in the neighborhood, and by a _coup de main_,
+captured the fort without the loss of a man! Thus far all went well--for
+besides the success and safety of the party, they found a large amount
+of stores, belonging to traders, in the station, and were richly paid
+for their enterprise--but having been detained by the footsore, on their
+homeward march, and probably delayed by their plunder, they had only
+reached the Calumet, on the borders of Indiana, when they were overtaken
+by three hundred British and Indians! They were forced to surrender,
+though not without a fight, for men of that stamp were not to be
+intimidated by numbers. They lost in the skirmish one fourth of their
+number: the survivors were carried away to Canada, whence Brady, the
+leader, escaped, and returned to Cahokia the same winter. The twelve
+remained prisoners until seventeen hundred and seventy-nine.
+
+
+Against most men this reverse would have given the little fort
+security--at least, until the memory of the disaster had been obscured
+by time. But the pioneers of that period were not to be judged by
+ordinary rules. The very next spring (1778), another company was raised
+for the same object, and to wipe out what they considered the stain of a
+failure. It was led by a man named Maize, over the same ground, to the
+same place, and was completely successful. The fort was retaken, the
+trading-station plundered, the wounded men of Brady's party released,
+and, loaded with spoil, the little party marched back in triumph!
+
+
+There is an episode in the history of their homeward march, which
+illustrates another characteristic of the ranger--his ruthlessness. The
+same spirit which led him to disregard physical obstacles, prevented his
+shrinking from even direful necessities. One of the prisoners whom they
+had liberated, became exhausted and unable to proceed. They could not
+carry him, and would not have him to die of starvation in the
+wilderness. They could not halt with him, lest the same fate should
+overtake them, which had defeated the enterprise of Brady. But one
+alternative remained, and though, to us, it appears cruel and inhuman,
+it was self-preservation to them, and mercy, in a strange guise, to the
+unhappy victim--_he was despatched by the hand of the leader_, and
+buried upon the prairie! His grave is somewhere near the head-waters of
+the Wabash, and has probably been visited by no man from that day to
+this!
+
+Mournful reflections cluster round such a narrative as this, and we are
+impelled to use the word "atrocious" when we speak of it. It was
+certainly a bloody deed, but the men of those days were not nurtured in
+drawing-rooms, and never slept upon down-beds. A state of war, moreover,
+begets many evils, and none of them are more to be deplored than the
+occasional occurrence of such terrible necessities.
+
+The ranger-character, like the pioneer-nature of which it was a phase,
+was compounded of various and widely-differing elements. No one of his
+evil qualities was more prominent than several of the good; and, I am
+sorry to say, none of the good was more prominent than several of the
+bad. No class of men did more efficient service in defending the western
+settlements from the inroads of the Indians; and though it seems hard
+that the war should sometimes have been carried into the country of the
+untutored savage by civilized men, with a severity exceeding his own, we
+should remember that we can not justly estimate the motives and feelings
+of the ranger, without first having been exasperated by his sufferings
+and tried by his temptations.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE REGULATOR.
+
+    "Thieves for their robbery have authority,
+    When judges steal themselves."--
+
+    MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
+
+
+At the conclusion of peace between England and America, in eighteen
+hundred and fifteen, the Indians, who had been instigated and supported
+in their hostility by the British, suddenly found themselves deprived of
+their allies. If they now made war upon the Americans, they must do so
+upon their own responsibility, and, excepting the encouragement of a few
+traders and commanders of outposts, whose enmity survived the general
+pacification, without assistance from abroad. They, however, refused to
+lay down their arms, and hostilities were continued, though languidly,
+for some years longer. But the rangers, now disciplined by the
+experience of protracted warfare, and vastly increased in numbers, had
+grown to be more than a match for them, so that not many years elapsed
+before the conclusion of a peace, which has lasted, with but occasional
+interruptions, to the present day.
+
+When danger no longer threatened the settlements, there was no further
+call for these irregular troops. The companies were disbanded, and those
+who had families, as a large proportion of them had, returned to their
+plantations, and resumed the pursuits of industry and peace. Those who
+had neither farms nor families, and were unfitted by their stirring life
+for regular effort, emigrated further west. Peace settled upon our
+borders, never, we hope, to be seriously broken.
+
+
+But as soon as the pressure of outward danger was withdrawn, and our
+communities began to expand, the seeds of new evils were
+developed--seeds which had germinated unobserved, while all eyes were
+averted, and which now began to shoot up into a stately growth of vices
+and crimes. The pioneers soon learned that there was among them a class
+of unprincipled and abandoned men, whose only motive in emigrating was
+to avoid the restraints, or escape the penalties, of law, and to whom
+the freedom of the wilderness was a license to commit every sort of
+depredation. The arm of the law was not yet strong enough to punish
+them.
+
+The territorial governments were too busy in completing their own
+organization, to give much attention to details: where states had been
+formed, the statute-book was yet a blank: few officers had been
+appointed, and even these were strangers to their duties and charge of
+responsibility. Between the military rule of the rangers--for they were
+for internal police as well as external defence--and the establishment
+of regular civil government, there was a sort of interregnum, during
+which there was neither law nor power to enforce it. The bands of
+villains who infested the country were the only organizations known;
+and, in not a few instances, these bands included the very magistrates
+whose duty it was to see that the laws were faithfully executed. Even
+when this was not the case, it was a fruitless effort to arrest a
+malefactor; indeed, it was very often worse than fruitless, for his
+confederates were always ready to testify in his favor: and the usual
+consequence of an attempt to punish, was the drawing down upon the head
+of the complainant or prosecutor, the enmity of a whole confederacy.
+Legal proceedings, had provision been made for such, were worse than
+useless, for conviction was impossible: and the effort exasperated,
+while the failure encouraged, the outlaw spirit.
+
+An _alibi_ was the usual defence, and to those times may be referred the
+general prejudice entertained among our people, even at the present day,
+against that species of testimony. A jury of western men will hardly
+credit an _alibi_, though established by unexceptionable witnesses; and
+the announcement that the accused depends upon that for his defence,
+will create a strong prejudice against him in advance. Injustice may
+sometimes be done in this way, but it is a feeling of which our people
+came honestly in possession. They established a habit, in early days, of
+never believing an _alibi_, because, at that time, nine _alibis_ in ten
+were false, and habits of thought, like legal customs, cling to men long
+after their reason has ceased. It is right, too, that it should be so,
+on the principle that we should not suspend the use of the remedy until
+the disease be thoroughly conquered.
+
+
+In a state of things, such as we have described, but one of two things
+could be done: the citizens must either abandon all effort to assert the
+supremacy of order, and give the country over to thieves and robbers,
+or they must invent some new and irregular way of forcing men to live
+honestly. They wisely chose the latter alternative. They consulted
+together, and the institution of _Regulators_ was the result of their
+deliberations.
+
+These were small bodies of men, chosen by the people, or voluntarily
+assuming the duty--men upon whom the citizens could depend for both
+discretion and resolution. Their duties may be explained in a few words:
+to ferret out and punish criminals, to drive out "suspicious
+characters," and exercise a general supervision over the interests and
+police of the settlements, from which they were chosen. Their
+statute-book was the "code of Judge Lynch"--their order of trial was
+similar to that of a "drum-head court-martial"--the principles of their
+punishment was certainty, rapidity, and severity. They were judges,
+juries, witnesses, and executioners.
+
+
+They bound themselves by a regular compact (usually verbal, but
+sometimes in writing[77]), to the people and to each other, to rid the
+community of all thieves, robbers, plunderers, and villains of every
+description. They scoured the country in all directions and in all
+seasons, and by the swiftness of their movements, and the certainty of
+their vengeance, rivalled their predecessors, the rangers. When a
+depredation had been committed, it was marvellous with what rapidity
+every regulator knew it; even the telegraph of modern days performs no
+greater wonders: and it frequently happened, that the first the quiet
+citizens heard of a theft, or a robbery, was the news of its punishment!
+Their acts may sometimes have been high-handed and unjustifiable, but on
+the whole--and it is only in such a view that social institutions are to
+be estimated--they were the preservers of the communities for whom they
+acted. In time, it is true, they degenerated, and sometimes the corps
+fell into the hands of the very men they were organized to punish.
+
+
+Every social organization is liable to misdirection, and this, among
+others, has been perverted to the furtherance of selfish and
+unprincipled purposes; for, like prejudices and habits of thought,
+organized institutions frequently survive the necessities which call
+them into existence. Abuses grow up under all systems; and, perhaps, the
+worst abuse of all, is a measure or expedient, good though temporary,
+retained after the passing away of the time for which it was adopted.
+
+
+But having, in the article "Pioneer," sufficiently elaborated the
+_character_--for the regulator was of course a pioneer also--we can best
+illustrate the mode of his action by a narrative of facts. From the
+hundreds of well-authenticated stories which might be collected, I have
+chosen the two following, because they distinguish the successive stages
+or periods of the system. The first relates to the time when a band of
+regulators was the only reliable legal power, and when, consequently,
+the vigilance of the citizens kept it comparatively pure. The second
+indicates a later period, when the people no longer felt insecure, and
+there was in fact no necessity for the system; and when, not having been
+disused, it could not but be abused. We derive both from an old citizen
+of the country, who was an actor in each. One of them, the first, has
+already been in print, but owing to circumstances to which it is
+needless to advert, it was thought better to confine the narrative to
+facts already generally known. These circumstances are no longer
+operative, and I am now at liberty to publish entire the story of "The
+First Grave."
+
+
+THE FIRST GRAVE.
+
+At the commencement of the war of eighteen hundred and twelve, between
+Great Britain and the United States, there lived, in the western part of
+Virginia, three families, named, respectively, Stone, Cutler, and
+Roberts. They were all respectable people, of more than ordinary wealth;
+having succeeded, by an early emigration and judicious selection of
+lands, in rebuilding fortunes which had been somewhat impaired east of
+the Blue Ridge. Between the first and second there was a relationship,
+cemented by several matrimonial alliances, and the standing of both had
+been elevated by this union of fortunes. In each of these two, there
+were six or seven children--the most of them boys--but Captain Roberts,
+the head of the third, had but one child, a daughter, who, in the year
+named, was approaching womanhood.
+
+She is said to have been beautiful: and, from the extravagant admiration
+of those who saw her only when time and suffering must have obscured her
+attractions, there can be little doubt that she was so. What her
+character was, we can only conjecture from the tenor of our story:
+though we have reason to suspect that she was passionate, impulsive,
+and somewhat vain of her personal appearance.
+
+At the opening of hostilities between the two countries, she was wooed
+by two suitors, young Stone, the eldest of the sons of that family, and
+Abram Cutler, who was two or three years his senior. Both had recently
+returned home, after a protracted absence of several years, beyond the
+mountains, whither they had been sent by their ambitious parents, "to
+attend college and see the world." Stone was a quiet, modest, unassuming
+young man, rather handsome, but too pale and thin to be decidedly so.
+Having made the most of his opportunities at "William and Mary," he had
+come home well-educated (for that day and country) and polished by
+intercourse with good society.
+
+His cousin, Abram Cutler, was his opposite in almost everything. He had
+been wild, reckless, and violent, at college, almost entirely giving up
+his studies, after the first term, and always found in evil company. His
+manners were as much vitiated as his morals, for he was exceedingly
+rough, boisterous, and unpolished: so much so, indeed, as to approach
+that limit beyond which wealth will not make society tolerant. But his
+freedom of manner bore, to most observers, the appearance of generous
+heartiness, and he soon gained the good will of the neighborhood by the
+careless prodigality of his life. He was tall, elegantly formed, and
+quite well-looking; and though he is said to have borne, a few years
+later, a sinister and dishonest look, it is probable that most of this
+was attributable to the preconceived notions of those who thus judged
+him.
+
+
+Both these young men were, as we have said, suitors for the hand of
+Margaret Roberts, and it is possible that the vain satisfaction of
+having at her feet the two most attractive young men in the country, led
+her to coquet with them both, but decidedly to prefer neither. It is
+almost certain, that at the period indicated, she was sufficiently
+well-pleased with either to have become his wife, had the other been
+away. If she _loved_ either, however, it was Stone, for she was a little
+timid, and Cutler sometimes frightened her with his violence: but the
+preference, if it existed at all, was not sufficiently strong to induce
+a choice.
+
+About this time, the elder Cutler died, and it became necessary for
+Abram, as executor of a large estate, to cross the mountains into the
+Old Dominion, and arrange its complicated affairs. It was not without
+misgiving that he went away, but his duties were imperative, and his
+necessities, produced by his spendthrift habits, were pressing. He
+trusted to a more than usually favorable interview with Margaret, and
+full of sanguine hopes, departed on his journey.
+
+Whether Stone entertained the idea of taking an unfair advantage of his
+rival's absence, we can not say, but he straightway became more
+assiduous in his attentions to Margaret. He was also decidedly favored
+by Captain Roberts and his wife, both of whom had been alarmed by the
+violent character of Cutler. Time soon began to obscure the recollection
+of the absent suitor, and Stone's delicate and considerate gallantry
+rapidly gained ground in Margaret's affections. It was just one month
+after Cutler's departure that his triumph was complete; she consented to
+be his wife so soon as the minister who travelled on that circuit should
+enter the neighborhood. But the good man had set out on his circuit only
+the day before the consent was given, and it would probably be at least
+a month before his return. In the meantime, Cutler might recross the
+mountains, and Stone had seen quite enough of Margaret's capriciousness
+to tremble for the safety of his conquest, should that event occur
+before it was thoroughly secured.
+
+This was embarrassing: but when a man is in earnest, expedients are
+never wanting.
+
+
+There was an old gentleman living a few miles from the valley, who had
+once held the commission of a justice of the peace, and though he had
+not exercised his functions, or even claimed his dignity, for several
+years, Stone was advised that he retained his official power "until his
+successor was appointed and qualified," and that, consequently, any
+official act of his would be legal and valid. He was advised, moreover,
+and truly, that even if the person performing the ceremony were not a
+magistrate, a marriage would be lawful and binding upon the simple
+"consent" of the parties, properly published and declared.
+
+Full-freighted with the happy news, he posted away to Captain Roberts,
+and without difficulty obtained his sanction. He then went to Margaret,
+and, with the assistance of her mother, who stood in much dread of
+Cutler's violence, succeeded in persuading her to consent. Without
+delay, the _cidevant_ magistrate was called in, the ceremony was
+performed, and Margaret was Stone's wife!
+
+The very day after this event, Cutler returned! What were his thoughts
+no one knew, for he spoke to none upon the subject. He went, however,
+to see "the bride," and, in the presence of others, bantered her
+pleasantly upon her new estate, upon his own pretensions, and upon the
+haste with which the ceremony had been performed. He started away with
+the rest of the company present; but, on reaching the door--it was
+afterward remembered--pretended to have forgotten something, and ran
+back into the room where they had left Margaret alone. Here he remained
+full ten minutes, and when he came out walked thoughtfully apart and
+disappeared. What he said to Margaret no one knew; but, that evening,
+when they were alone, she asked anxiously of her husband, "whether he
+was quite sure that their marriage had been legal?" Stone reassured her,
+and nothing more was said upon the subject.
+
+
+Cutler had brought with him, over the mountains, the proclamation of the
+governor of Virginia, announcing the declaration of war, and calling
+upon the state for its quota of troops to repel invasion. He manifested
+a warm interest in the enrolling and equipment of volunteers, and, in
+order to attest his sincerity, placed his own name first upon the roll.
+A day or two afterward, on meeting Stone, in the presence of several
+others who had enrolled themselves, he laughingly observed, that the new
+bridegroom "was probably too comfortable at home, to desire any
+experience in campaigning:" and, turning away, he left the company
+laughing at Stone's expense.
+
+This touched the young man's pride--probably the more closely, because
+he was conscious that the insinuation was not wholly void of truth--and,
+without a moment's hesitation, he called Cutler back, took the paper,
+and enrolled his name. Cutler laughed again, said _he_ would not have
+done so, had he been in Stone's circumstances, and, after some further
+conversation, walked away in the direction of Stone's residence. Whether
+he actually entered the house is not known; but when the young husband
+returned home, a few hours afterward, his wife's first words indicated
+that she knew of his enrolment.
+
+"Is it possible," said she, with some asperity, "that you already care
+so little for me as to enrol yourself for an absence of six months?"
+
+Stone would much have preferred to break the news to her himself, for he
+had some foreboding as to the view she might take of his conduct. He had
+scarcely been married a week, and he was conscious that a severe
+construction of the act of enrolment, when there was notoriously not
+the least necessity for it, might lead to inferences, than which,
+nothing could be more false. If he had said, at once, that he had been
+taunted by his old rival, and written his name under the influence of
+pride, all would have been well, for his wife would then have
+understood, though she might not have approved his action. But this
+confession he was ashamed to make, and, by withholding it, laid the
+foundation for his own and his wife's destruction. He at once
+acknowledged the fact, disclaiming, however, the indifference to her,
+which she inferred, and placing the act upon higher ground:--
+
+"The danger of the country," he said, "was very imminent, and it became
+every good citizen to do all he could for its defence. He had no idea
+that the militia would be called far from home, or detained for a very
+long time; but, in any event, he felt that men were bound, in such
+circumstances, to cast aside personal considerations, and contribute,
+each his share, to the common defence."
+
+His wife gazed incredulously at him while he talked this high
+patriotism: and well she might, for he did not speak as one moved by
+such feelings. The consciousness of deceit, of concealment, and of
+childish rashness, rendered his manner hesitating and embarrassed.
+Margaret observed all this, for her jealousy was aroused and her
+suspicions sharpened; she made no reply, however, but turned away, with
+a toss of the head, and busied herself, quite fiercely, with her
+household cares. From that moment, until the day of his departure, she
+stubbornly avoided the subject, listening, but refusing to reply, when
+her husband attempted to introduce it. When Cutler came--rather
+unnecessarily, as Stone thought--to consult him about the organization
+of a spy-company, to which both were attached, she paid no attention to
+their conversation, but walked away down a road over which she knew
+Cutler must pass on his return homeward. Whether this was by appointment
+with him is not known: probably, however, it was her own motion.
+
+
+We need not stay to detail all that took place between her and her
+former suitor, when, as she had expected, they met in a wood some
+hundreds of yards from her home; its result will sufficiently appear in
+the sequel. One circumstance, however, we must not omit. She recurred to
+a conversation which had passed sometime before, in relation to the
+legality of her marriage; and though Cutler gave no positive opinion,
+his parting advice was nearly in the following words:--
+
+"If you think, from your three weeks' experience, that Stone cares
+enough for you to make it prudent, I would advise you to have the
+marriage ceremony performed by Parson Bowen, immediately upon his
+return; and if you care enough for him to wish to retain him, you had
+better have it performed _before he goes away_."
+
+With these words, and without awaiting an answer, he passed on, leaving
+her alone in the road. When she returned home, she did not mention the
+subject; and though Parson Bowen returned to the neighborhood quite a
+week before Stone went away, she never suggested a repetition of the
+ceremony. When Stone manifested some anxiety on the subject, she turned
+suddenly upon him and demanded--
+
+"You do not think our marriage legal, then?"
+
+He assured her that he only made the suggestion for her satisfaction,
+entertaining no doubt, himself, that they were regularly and lawfully
+married.
+
+"I am content to remain as I am," she said, curtly, and the parson was
+not summoned.
+
+Five days afterward the troops took up the line of march for the
+frontier. Hull had not yet surrendered Michigan; but Proctor had so
+stirred up the Indians (who, until then, had been quiet since the battle
+of Tippecanoe), as to cut off all communication with the advanced
+settlements, and even to threaten the latter with fire and slaughter.
+Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, were then overrun by British and Indians;
+for Hopkins had not yet commenced his march from Kentucky, and Congress
+was still debating measures for protection. Hull's surrender took place
+on the sixteenth of August, eighteen hundred and twelve, and in the
+following month, General Harrison, having been appointed to the chief
+command in the northwest, proceeded to adopt vigorous measures for the
+defence of the country. It was to one of the regiments organized by him,
+that our friends from Virginia found themselves attached. They had
+raised a company of spies, and in this both Stone and Cutler held
+commissions.
+
+
+They marched with the regiment, or rather in advance of it, for several
+weeks. By that time, they had penetrated many miles beyond the
+settlements, and Harrison began to feel anxious to ascertain the
+position of General Hopkins, and open communications with him. For this
+service Cutler volunteered, and was immediately selected by the
+general. On the following morning, he set out with five men to seek the
+Kentuckians. He found them without difficulty and delivered his
+despatches; but from that day he was not seen, either in the camp of
+Hopkins or in that of Harrison! It was supposed that he had started on
+his return, and been taken or killed by the Indians, parties of whom
+were prowling about between the lines of the two columns.
+
+
+Stone remained with his company two or three months longer, when, the
+enterprise of Hopkins having failed, and operations being suspended for
+the time, it was thought inexpedient to retain them for the brief period
+which remained of their term of enlistment, and they were discharged.
+Stone returned home, and, full of anticipations, the growth of a long
+absence, hastened at once to his own house. The door was closed, no
+smoke issued from the chimney, there was no one there! After calling in
+vain for a long time, he ran away to her father's, endeavoring to feel
+certain that he would find her there. But the old man received him with
+a mournful shake of the head. Margaret had been gone more than a month,
+no one knew whither or with whom!
+
+A report had been in circulation that Cutler was seen in the
+neighborhood, a few days before her disappearance; but no news having
+been received of his absence from the army, it had not been generally
+credited. But now, it was quite clear!
+
+
+The old man invited Stone to enter, but he declined. Sitting down on a
+log, he covered his face with his hands, for a few moments, and seemed
+buried in grief. It did not last long, however: he rose almost
+immediately, and going a little aside, calmly loaded his rifle. Without
+noticing the old man, who stood gazing at him in wonder, he turned away,
+and, with his eyes fixed upon the ground, took the path toward his own
+house. He was seen to break the door and enter, but he remained within
+only a few minutes. On coming out, he threw his rifle over his shoulder,
+and walked away through the forest. Half an hour afterward, smoke was
+seen issuing from the roof of the house in several places, and on
+repairing thither, the neighbors found the whole place in a bright
+flame! It was of no use to attempt to save it or any of its contents. An
+hour afterward, it was a heap of smouldering ruins, and its owner had
+disappeared from the country!
+
+
+Seven years passed away.
+
+The war was over: the Indians had been driven to the north and west, and
+the tide of emigration had again set toward the Mississippi. The
+northwestern territory--especially that part of it which is now included
+within the limits of Illinois and Indiana--was rapidly filling up with
+people from the south and east. The advanced settlements had reached the
+site of Springfield, in the "Sangamon country,"[78] now the capital of
+Illinois, and a few farms were opened in the north of Madison
+county--now Morgan and Scott. The beautiful valley, most inaptly called,
+of the _Mauvaisterre_, was then an unbroken wilderness.
+
+The grass was growing as high as the head of a tall man, where now
+well-built streets and public squares are traversed by hurrying crowds.
+Groves which have since become classic were then impenetrable thickets;
+and the only guides the emigrant found, through forest and prairie, were
+the points of the compass, and the courses of streams. But in the years
+eighteen hundred and seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen, the western
+slope of the Sangamon country began rapidly to improve. Reports had gone
+abroad of "the fertility of its soil, the beauty of its surface, its
+genial climate, and its many advantages of position"--and there is
+certainly no country which more richly deserves these praises.
+
+
+But the first emigrant who made his appearance here, in the autumn of
+eighteen hundred and nineteen, was probably moved by other
+considerations. It was none other than Abram Cutler! And his family
+consisted of a wife and three young children! That wife was Margaret
+Roberts--or rather Margaret Stone; for, notwithstanding the
+representations of Cutler, her union with Stone had been perfectly
+legal. By what arts he had succeeded in inducing her to elope with him,
+we can only judge from his previous proceedings; but this is certain,
+that resentment toward Stone, who, she probably believed, had unfairly
+trapped her, was as likely to move her impulsive and unstable spirit, as
+any other motive. Add to this, the wound given to her vanity by the
+sudden departure of her young husband upon a long campaign, with the
+acuteness given to this feeling by the arts of Cutler, and we shall not
+be at a loss to explain her action.
+
+Whether she had not bitterly repented her criminal haste, we know not;
+but that hardship and suffering of some sort had preyed upon her spirit,
+was evident in her appearance. Her beauty was much faded; she had grown
+pale and thin; and though she was scarcely yet in the prime of
+womanhood, her step was heavy and spiritless. She was not happy, of
+course, but her misery was not only negative: the gnawings of remorse
+were but too positive and real!
+
+Cutler was changed almost as much as his victim. The lapse of seven
+years had added a score to his apparent age; and, if we are to credit
+the representations of persons who were probably looking for signs of
+vice, the advance of time had brought out, in well-marked lineaments,
+upon his countenance, the evil traits of his character. His cheeks were
+sunken, his features attenuated, and his figure exceedingly spare, but
+he still exhibited marks of great personal strength and activity. His
+glance, always of doubtful meaning, was now unsettled and furtive; and I
+have heard one of the actors in this history assert, that it had a
+scared, apprehensive expression, as if he were in constant expectation
+of meeting a dangerous enemy.
+
+Nor is this at all improbable, for during the seven years which had
+elapsed since the consummation of his design upon Margaret, he had
+emigrated no less than three times--frightened away, at each removal, by
+some intimation, or suspicion, that the avenger was on his track! No
+wonder that his look was wary, and his face pale and haggard!
+
+
+On this, his fourth migration, he had crossed the prairies from the
+waters of the Wabash; and having placed the wide expanse of waving plain
+between him and the settlements, he at length considered himself safe
+from pursuit. Passing by the little trading-station, where Springfield
+now stands, he traversed the beautiful country lying between that and
+the Mauvaisterre. But the alternation of stately timber and lovely
+prairie had no charms for him: he sought not beauty or fertility, but
+seclusion; for his pilgrimage had become wearisome, and his step was
+growing heavy. Remorse was at his heart, and fear--the appealing face of
+his patient victim kept his crime in continual remembrance--and he knew,
+that like a blood-hound, his enemy was following behind. It was a weary
+load! No wonder that his cheeks were thin or his eyes wild!
+
+
+He passed on till he came to a quiet, secluded spot, where he thought
+himself not likely soon to be disturbed by emigration. It was sixteen
+miles west of the place where Jacksonville has since been built, upon
+the banks of the lower Mauvaisterre, seven miles from the Illinois
+river. The place was long known as Cutler's grove, but a town grew up
+around it, and has been christened by the sounding name of Exeter. Those
+who visit it now, and have heard the story of Cutler, will commend his
+judgment in selecting it for retirement; for, town as it is, a more
+secluded, dreamy little place is nowhere to be found. It would seem that
+the passage of a carriage through its _street_--for it has but
+one--would be an event in its history; and the only things which redeem
+it, in the fancy, from the category of visionary existences, are a
+blacksmith's shop and a mill!
+
+
+But Cutler's trail was seen upon the prairies, and the course of many an
+emigrant was determined by the direction taken by his predecessor. It
+was not long before others came to "settle" in the neighborhood.
+Emigration was gradually encroaching, also, from the south; families
+began to take possession of the river "bottoms;" the smoke from frontier
+cabins ascended in almost every point of timber; and by the summer of
+eighteen hundred and twenty, Cutler found himself as far from the
+frontier as ever! But he was resolved not to move again: a dogged
+spirit--half weariness, half despair--had taken possession of him. "I
+have moved often enough," he said to Margaret, "and here I am determined
+to remain, come what may!"
+
+
+Actuated by such feelings--goaded by a fear which he could not conquer,
+and yet was resolute not to indulge--the lurking devil in his nature
+could not long remain dormant. Nothing develops evil tendencies so
+rapidly as the consciousness of wrong and the fear of punishment. His
+life soon became reckless and abandoned, and the first sign of his
+degradation was his neglect of his household. For days together Margaret
+saw nothing of him; his only companions were the worthless and outlawed;
+and, when intoxicating liquors could be procured, which was,
+fortunately, not often, he indulged in fearful excesses.
+
+Of evil company, there was, unhappily, but too much; for the settlement
+was cursed with a band of desperadoes, exiles from organized society,
+who had sought the frontier to obtain impunity for their misdeeds. The
+leaders of this band were three brothers, whom no law could control, no
+obligation restrain; and with these men Cutler soon formed a close and
+suspicious intimacy. The eyes of the citizens had been for some time
+directed toward the companions, by circumstances attending various
+depredations; and, though unknown to themselves, they were constantly
+watched by many of their neighbors. It is uncertain whether Cutler was
+acquainted with the character of the men when his association with them
+first commenced, for in none of the places where he had lived, had he
+hitherto been suspected of crime. It is most probable that he sought
+their company because they were "dissipated" like himself; and that, in
+the inception of their acquaintance, there was no other bond between
+them than the habit of intoxication.
+
+
+Had we time and space, we would fain pause here to reflect upon the
+position and feelings of the false wife--deserted, in her turn, by him
+for whom she had given up truth and honor--alone in the wilderness with
+her children, whose birth she could not but regret, and harassed by
+thoughts which could not but be painfully self-condemning. But we must
+hasten on.
+
+
+In the autumn of eighteen hundred and twenty, information was brought to
+the settlement, that a store at Springfield (as it is now called), had
+been entered and robbed--that the leaders of the desperadoes above
+alluded to, were suspected--and that the goods stolen were believed to
+be concealed in Cutler's grove, where they lived. Warrants were issued,
+and the three were arrested; but the magistrate before whom they were
+taken for examination, was a timid and ignorant man; and by the
+interference of Cutler, who assumed to be a lawyer, they were examined
+separately, and allowed to testify, each for the other! An officer who
+knew no more than to permit this, of course could do no less than
+discharge them. The arrest and examination, however, crude and informal
+as they were, confirmed the suspicions of the citizens, and directed
+them, more vehemently than ever, against Cutler, as well as his friends.
+It satisfied them, moreover, that they would never be able to reach
+these men through the ordinary forms of law, and strengthened the
+counsels of those who had already suggested the organization of a
+company of regulators.
+
+While these things were fermenting in the minds of the people, the
+desperadoes, encouraged by their success, and rendered bold by impunity,
+committed their depredations more frequently and openly than ever. It
+was remarked, too, that Cutler, having committed himself at the
+examination of friends, was now more constantly and avowedly their
+associate; and, since he was not a man to play a second part, that they
+deferred to him on all occasions, never moving without him, and treating
+him at all times as an acknowledged leader. The people observed,
+moreover, that from being, like his neighbors, a small farmer of limited
+possessions, he rose rapidly to what, on the frontier, was considered
+affluence. He soon ceased to labor on his lands, and set up a very
+considerable "store," importing his goods from Saint Louis, and, by
+means of the whiskey he sold, collecting all the idle and vicious of the
+settlement constantly about him. His "store" was in exceedingly bad
+repute, and the scanty reputation which he had retained after the public
+part he had taken before the magistrate, was speedily lost.
+
+
+Things were in this state in the spring of eighteen hundred and
+twenty-one, when an old gentleman of respectable appearance, who had
+emigrated to this country by water, having been pleased with the land in
+the neighborhood of the place where the town of Naples now stands,
+landed his family and effects, and settled upon the "bottom." It was
+soon rumored in the settlement, that he had brought with him a large
+amount of money; and it was also remarked that Cutler and his three
+companions were constantly with him, either at the "Grove" or on the
+"bottom." Whether the rumor was the cause of their attention, or their
+assiduity the foundation of the report, the reader must determine for
+himself.
+
+
+One evening in May, after a visit to this man, where Cutler had been
+alone, he came home in great haste, and suddenly announced to Margaret
+his intention to "sell out," and move further westward! His unhappy
+victim supposed she knew but too well the meaning of this new movement:
+she asked no questions, but, with a sigh of weariness, assented. On the
+following day, he commenced hastily disposing of his "store," his stock,
+his cabin--everything, in fact, save a few farming utensils, his
+furniture, and a pair of horses. It was observed--for there were many
+eyes upon him--that he never ventured out after twilight, and, even in
+the broad sunshine, would not travel far, alone or unarmed. In such
+haste did he seem, that he sold many of his goods at, what his friends
+considered, a ruinous sacrifice. The fame of great bargains brought many
+people to his counter, so that, within ten days, his arrangements were
+complete; and, much to the satisfaction of his neighbors, he set out
+toward the river.
+
+Two of his associates accompanied him on his journey--a precaution for
+which he would give no reason, except that he wished to converse with
+them on the way. He crossed the Illinois near the mouth of the
+Mauvaisterre, and, turning northward, in the evening reached a cabin on
+the banks of M'Kee's creek, not more than ten miles from his late
+residence. This house had been abandoned by its former occupant, on
+account of the forays of the Indians; but was now partially refitted, as
+for a temporary abode. Here, the people about "the grove" were surprised
+to learn, a few days after Cutler's departure, that he had halted with
+the apparent intention to remain, at least for some time.
+
+
+Their surprise was dissipated, however, within a very few weeks. The old
+gentleman, spoken of above, had left home upon a visit to Saint Louis;
+and during his absence, his house had been entered, and robbed of a
+chest containing a large amount of money--while the family were
+intimidated by the threats of men disguised as savages.
+
+
+This was the culmination of villany. The settlement was now thoroughly
+aroused; and, when one of these little communities was once in earnest,
+it might safely be predicted that _something_ would be _done_!
+
+The first step was to call "a meeting of the friends of law and order;"
+but no proclamation was issued, no handbills were circulated, no notices
+posted: not the least noise was made about the matter, lest those
+against whom it was to act, might hear of and prepare for it. They came
+together quietly but speedily--each man, as he heard of the appointment,
+going forthwith to his neighbor with the news. They assembled at a
+central point, where none need be late in coming, and immediately
+proceeded to business. The meeting was not altogether a formal one--for
+purposes prescribed by law--but it was a characteristic of those men, to
+do everything "decently and in order"--to give all their proceedings
+the sanction and solemnity of mature deliberation. They organized the
+assemblage regularly--calling one of the oldest and most respectable of
+their number "to the chair" (which, on this occasion, happened to be the
+root of a large oak), and appointing a younger man secretary (though
+they gave him no desk on which to write). There was no man there who did
+not fully understand what had brought them together; but one who lived
+in the "bottom," and had been the mover of the organization, was still
+called upon to "explain the object of the meeting." This he did in a few
+pointed sentences, concluding with these significant words: "My friends,
+it is time that these rascals were punished, and it is our duty to
+punish them."
+
+He sat down, and a silence of some moments ensued, when another arose,
+and, without any preliminary remarks, moved that "a company of
+regulators be now organized, and that they be charged with the duty of
+_seeing the law administered_." The motion was seconded by half a dozen
+voices--the question was put in due form by the chairman, and decided
+unanimously in the affirmative.
+
+A piece of paper was produced, and the presiding officer called on the
+meeting for volunteers. Ten young men stepped forward, and gave their
+names as rapidly as the secretary could enrol them. In less than five
+minutes, the company was complete--the chairman and four of the meeting,
+as a committee, were directed to retire with the volunteers, and see
+that they were fully organized--and the meeting adjourned. All, except
+the volunteers and the committee, went directly home--satisfied that the
+matter needed no further attention. Those who remained entered the house
+and proceeded to organize in the usual manner.
+
+A "compact" was drawn up, by the terms of which the regulators bound
+themselves to each other, and to their neighbors, to ferret out and
+punish the perpetrators of the offences, which had recently disturbed
+the peace of the settlement, and to rid the country of such villains as
+were obnoxious to the friends of law and order. This was then signed by
+the volunteers as principals, and by the committee, as witnesses; and
+was placed in the hands of the chairman of the meeting for safekeeping.
+It is said to be still in existence, though I have never seen it, and do
+not know where it is to be found.
+
+When this arrangement was completed, the committee retired, and the
+company repaired to the woods, to choose a leader. They were not long
+in selecting a certain Major B----, who had, for some weeks, made
+himself conspicuous, by his loud denunciations of Cutler and his
+associates, and his zealous advocacy of "strong measures." They had--one
+or two of them, at least--some misgivings about this appointment; for
+the major was inclined to be a blusterer, and the courage of these men
+was eminently silent. But after a few minutes' discussion, the matter
+was decided, and the leader was chosen without opposition. They at once
+dispersed, to make arrangements for the performance of their
+duties--having first appointed an hour and a place of meeting. They were
+to assemble at sunset on the same day, at the point where the state road
+now crosses the "bluff;" and were to proceed thence, without delay, to
+Cutler's house on M'Kee's creek, a distance of little more than eight
+miles. There they were to search for the stolen property, and whether
+they found it or not, were resolved to notify Cutler to leave the
+country. But under no circumstances were they to take his life, unless
+it became necessary in self-defence.
+
+
+The hour came, and with it, to the bluff, came all the regulators--_save
+one_. But that one was a very important personage--none other, indeed,
+than the redoubtable major, who was to head the party. The nine were
+there a considerable time before sunset, and waited patiently for their
+captain's arrival; though, already, there were whisperings from those
+who had been doubtful of him in the outset, that he would not keep his
+appointment. And these were right--for, though they waited long beyond
+the time, the absentee did not make his appearance. It was afterward
+ascertained that he excused himself upon the plea of sudden illness; but
+he was very well again on the following day, and his excuse was not
+received. The ridicule growing out of the affair, and his reduction from
+the rank of major to that of captain, in derision, finally drove him in
+disgrace from the country.
+
+His defection left the little company without a leader; and though they
+were determined not to give up the enterprise, an obstacle to its
+prosecution arose, in the fact that no one was willing to replace the
+absent captain. Each was anxious to play the part of a private, and all
+had come prepared to discharge the duties of the expedition, to the
+utmost of their ability. But they were all young men, and no one felt
+competent to take the responsibility of command.
+
+They were standing in a group, consulting eagerly about their course,
+and, as one of them afterward said, "nearly at their wits' end," when
+the circle was suddenly entered by another. He had come upon them so
+noiselessly, and they had been so much absorbed in their council, that
+no one saw him until he stood in their midst. Several of them, however,
+at once recognised him, as a hunter who had recently appeared in the
+southern part of the county, and had lived a singularly solitary life.
+No one knew his name, but, from his mode of life, he was already known
+among those who had heard of him, as "the wild hunter." He was but
+little above the medium height, and rather slender in figure; but he was
+well and firmly built, and immediately impressed them with the idea of
+great hardihood and activity. His face, though bronzed by exposure, was
+still handsome and expressive; but there was a certain wildness in the
+eye, and a compression about the mouth, which gave it the expression of
+fierceness, as well as resolution. He was dressed in a hunting-shirt and
+"leggings" of deer-skin, fringed or "fingered" on the edges; and his
+head and feet were covered, the one by a cap of panther's hide, and the
+others by moccasins of dressed buckskin. At his belt hung a long knife,
+and in his hand he carried a heavy "Kentucky rifle."
+
+As he entered the circle, he dropped the breech of the latter to the
+ground, and, leaning calmly upon the muzzle, quietly surveyed the
+countenances of the group, in profound silence. The regulators were too
+much surprised to speak while this was going on; and the stranger seemed
+to be in no haste to open the conversation. When he had finished his
+scrutiny, however, he stepped back a pace or two, and resuming his easy
+attitude, addressed them:--
+
+"You must pardon me, my friends," he commenced, "when I tell you, that I
+have overheard all you have said in the last half hour. I did not remain
+in that thicket, however, for the purpose of eaves-dropping; but having
+accidentally heard one of you mention a name, the sound of which touches
+a chord whose vibrations you can not understand, I remained, almost
+against my own will, to learn more. I thus became acquainted with the
+object of your meeting, and the dilemma in which you find yourselves
+placed by the absence of your leader. Now, I have but little interest in
+this settlement, and none in the preservation of peace, or the
+vindication of law, anywhere: but I have been seeking this man, Cutler,
+of whom you spoke, nearly nine years. I supposed, a few days ago, that I
+had at last found him; but on going to his house, I learned that he had
+once more emigrated toward the west. You seem to know where he is to be
+found, and are without a leader: I wish to find him, and, if you will
+accept my services, will fill the place of your absent captain!"
+
+He turned away as he finished, allowing them an opportunity for
+consultation among themselves. The question was soon decided: they
+called him back--announced their willingness to accept him as their
+leader--and asked his name.
+
+"My name is _Stone_," he replied.
+
+
+It was after nightfall when the little party set out from the bluff.
+They had, then, more than eight miles to travel, over a country entirely
+destitute of roads, and cut up by numberless sloughs and ponds. They
+had, moreover, a considerable river to cross, and, after that, several
+miles of their way lay through a dense and pathless forest. But they
+were not the men to shrink from difficulties, at any time; and now they
+were carried along even more resolutely, by the stern, unwavering spirit
+of their new leader. Having once learned the direction, Stone put
+himself at the head of the party, and strode forward, almost "as the
+bird flies," directly toward the point indicated, regardless of slough,
+and swamp, and thicket. He moved rapidly, too--so rapidly, indeed, as to
+tax the powers of some of his followers almost too severely.
+Notwithstanding this swiftness, however, they could not avoid a long
+delay at the river; and it was consequently near midnight, when, having
+at last accomplished a crossing, they reached the bank of M'Kee's creek,
+and turned up toward Cutler's house.
+
+This stood in the centre of a "clearing," some two or three acres in
+extent; and upon reaching its eastern limit, the little company halted
+to reconnoitre. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, they
+discovered that the people of the house were still awake; and by a
+bright light, which streamed through the open door, they could see
+several men, sitting and standing about the room.
+
+"We shall make a good haul," said one of the regulators; "the whole gang
+is there." And immediately the party were for rushing forward. But Stone
+restrained them.
+
+"My friends," said he, "you have taken me for your leader, and must obey
+my directions."
+
+He then announced his determination to go forward alone; instructing his
+men, however, to follow at a little distance, but in no case to show
+themselves until he should give the signal. They agreed, though
+reluctantly, to this arrangement, and then--silently, slowly, but
+surely--the advance commenced. The hour had at last arrived!
+
+
+In the meantime, Cutler and his three friends were passing the time
+quite pleasantly over a bottle of backwoods nectar--commonly called
+whiskey. They seemed well pleased, too, with some recent exploit of
+theirs, and were evidently congratulating themselves upon their
+dexterity; for, as the "generous liquid" reeked warmly to their brains,
+they chuckled over it, and hinted at it, and winked knowingly at each
+other, as if they enjoyed both the recollection and the whiskey--as they
+probably did, exceedingly. There were four present, as we said--Cutler
+and the three worthies so often alluded to. These last sat not far from
+the open door; and each in his hand held a kerchief, or something of
+that description, of which the contents were apparently very precious;
+for, at intervals of a few moments, each raised his bundle between him
+and the light, and then were visible many circular prints, as if made
+by the coinage of the mint. This idea was strengthened, too, by several
+piles of gold and silver, which lay upon the table near the bottle, to
+which Cutler directed no infrequent glances.
+
+They had all been indulging pretty freely in their devotions to the
+mythological liquid--rewarding themselves, like soldiers after storming
+a hostile city, for their hardships and daring. There were a few coals
+in the chimney, although it was early in the autumn; and on them were
+lying dark and crumpled cinders, as of paper, over which little sparks
+were slowly creeping, like fiery insects. Cutler turned them over with
+his foot, and there arose a small blue, flickering blaze, throwing a
+faint, uncertain light beneath the table, and into the further corners
+of the room, and casting shadows of the money-bundles on the open door.
+
+
+If the betrayer could have known what eyes were strained upon him, as he
+thus carelessly thrust his foot among the cinders, how changed his
+bearing would have been. Stone had now approached within fifty paces of
+the house, and behind him, slowly creeping after, were the regulators. A
+broad band of light streamed out across the clearing from the door,
+while, on each side of this, all lay in shadow deepened by the contrast.
+Through the shadows, cautiously and silently came the footsteps of the
+avenger! There was no trepidation, no haste--the strange leader rather
+lingered, with a deadly slowness, as if the movement was a pleasant one,
+and he disliked to end it. But he never halted--not even for a
+moment--he came, like fate, slowly, but surely!
+
+"Come, boys," said Cutler, and his voice penetrated the stillness quite
+across the clearing, "let us take another drink, and then lie down; we
+shall have a long journey to-morrow."
+
+They all advanced to the table and drained the bottle. Cutler drank
+last, and then went back to the fire. He again stirred the smouldering
+cinders with his foot, and, turning about, advanced to close the door.
+But--he halted suddenly in the middle of the room--his face grew ashy
+pale--his limbs trembled with terror! Stone stepped upon the threshold,
+and, without speaking, brought his rifle to his shoulder! Cutler saw
+that it pointed to his heart, but he had not the power to speak or move!
+
+"Villain!" said Stone, in a low, suppressed voice, "your hour has come,
+at last!"
+
+Cutler was by no means a coward; by any one else he would not have been
+overcome, even for an instant. As it was, he soon recovered himself and
+sprang forward; but it was only to fall heavily to the floor; for at the
+same moment Stone fired, and the ball passed directly through his heart!
+A groan was the only sound he uttered--his arm moved, as in the act of
+striking, and then fell to the ground--he was dead!
+
+The regulators now rushed tumultuously into the house, and at once
+seized and pinioned the three desperadoes; while Stone walked slowly to
+the hearth, and resting the breech of his gun upon the floor, leaned
+calmly upon its muzzle. He had heard a scream from above--a voice which
+he knew too well. Margaret had been aroused from sleep by the report of
+the gun; and now, in her night-dress, with her hair streaming in masses
+over her shoulders, she rushed down the rude stairway. The first object
+that met her wild gaze was the body of Cutler, stretched upon the floor
+and already stiffening in death. With another loud scream, she threw
+herself upon him--mingling lamentations for his death, with curses upon
+his murderers.
+
+Stone's features worked convulsively, and once or twice his hand
+grasped the hilt of the knife which hung at his belt. At last, with a
+start, he drew it from the sheath. But, the next moment, he dashed it
+into the chimney, and leaning his gun against the wall, slowly advanced
+toward the unhappy woman. Grasping her arm, he lifted her like a child
+from the body to which she clung. Averting his head, he drew her,
+struggling madly, to the light; and having brought her face full before
+the lamp, suddenly threw off his cap, and turned his gaze directly into
+her eyes. A scream, louder and more fearful than any before, rang even
+to the woods beyond the clearing; she closed her eyes and shuddered, as
+if she could not bear to look upon him, whom she had so deeply wronged.
+He supported her on his arm, and perused her sunken and careworn
+features, for many minutes, in silence. Then slowly relaxing his grasp--
+
+"You have been punished sufficiently," he said; and seating her gently
+upon the floor, he quietly replaced his knife in its sheath, resumed his
+rifle, and left the house.
+
+
+He was never again seen by any of the parties, except Margaret. She,
+soon after this event, returned to Virginia; and here Stone paid her an
+annual visit. He always came without notice, and departed as suddenly,
+always bearing his rifle, and habited as a hunter. At such times he
+sought to be alone with her but a few moments, and never spoke more than
+three words: "Your punishment continues," he would say, after gazing at
+her worn and haggard face for some minutes; and, then, throwing his
+rifle over his shoulder, he would again disappear for twelve months
+more.
+
+And truly her punishment _did_ continue; for though no one accurately
+knew her history, she was an object of suspicion to all; and though she
+led a most exemplary life, her reputation was evil, and her misery was
+but too evident. One after the other, her children died, and she was
+left utterly alone! At last _her_ lamp also began to flicker, and when
+Stone arrived in the country, upon his twelfth annual visit, it was but
+to see her die, and follow her to the grave! He received her last
+breath, but no one knew what passed between them in that awful hour. On
+the day after her burial he went away and returned no more.
+
+
+The regulators hastily dug a grave on the bank of the creek, and in the
+silence of the night placed Cutler within it. Then, taking possession
+of the stolen money, they released their prisoners, notifying them to
+leave the country within ten days, and returned to the east side of the
+river. A few years ago, a little mound might be seen, where they had
+heaped the dirt upon the unhappy victim of his own passions. It was
+"_the first grave_" in which a white man was buried in that part of the
+Illinois valley.
+
+
+At the expiration of the ten "days of grace," it became the duty of the
+regulators to see that their orders had been obeyed; and, though the
+death of Cutler had been more than they had designed or foreseen, they
+had no disposition to neglect it. They met, accordingly, on the morning
+of the eleventh day, and having chosen a new leader, proceeded to
+Cutler's grove. They found the houses of all those to whom they had
+given "notice" deserted _excepting one_. This was the cabin of the
+youngest of the three brothers; and declaring his intention to remain,
+in defiance of regulators and "Lynch law," he put himself upon his
+defence. Without ceremony the regulators set fire to the house in which
+he had barricaded himself, and ten minutes sufficed to smoke him out.
+They then discovered what they had not before known: that his elder
+brothers were also within; and when the three rushed from the door,
+though taken by surprise, they were not thrown off their guard. The trio
+were at once seized, and, after a sharp struggle, securely pinioned. A
+short consultation then decided their course.
+
+Leaving the house to burn at leisure, they posted away for the river,
+driving their prisoners before them, and a march of three hours brought
+them to the mouth of the Mauvaisterre. Here they constructed a "raft",
+by tying half-a-dozen drift-logs together, and warning them that death
+would be the penalty of a return, they placed their prisoners upon it,
+pushed it into the middle of the stream, and set them adrift without oar
+or pole! Although this seems quite severe enough, it was a light
+punishment compared to that sometimes administered by regulators; and in
+this case, had not blood been spilt when they did not intend it, it is
+probable that the culprits would have been first tied to a tree, and
+thoroughly "lynched."
+
+The involuntary navigators were not rescued from their unpleasant
+position until they had nearly reached Saint Louis; and though they all
+swore vengeance in a loud voice, not one of them was ever again seen in
+the Sangamon country.
+
+Vigorous measures, like those we have detailed, were usually effectual
+in restoring good order. Where there was no trial, there was no room for
+false witnesses; and where a punishment, not unfrequently
+disproportioned to the offence, so rapidly and certainly followed its
+commission, there was little prospect of impunity, and therefore slight
+inducement to violate the law. In most localities, it required but few
+severe lessons to teach desperadoes that prudence dictated their
+emigration; and, it must be acknowledged, that the regulators were
+prompt and able teachers.
+
+But we should give only a partial and incomplete view of this
+institution (for such, in fact, it was), were we to notice its uses and
+say nothing of its abuse; because, like everything else partaking so
+largely of the mob element, it was liable to most mischievous
+perversions. Had the engine been suffered to rest, when it had performed
+its legitimate functions, all would have been well; but the great vice
+of the system was its obstinate vitality: it refused to die when its
+life was no longer useful.
+
+As soon as the danger was past, and the call for his services had
+ceased, the good citizen, who alone could confine such a system to its
+proper limits, retired from its ranks: it was consequently left, with
+all its dangerous authority, in the hands of the reckless and violent.
+The selfish and designing soon filled up the places of the sober and
+honest, and from being a terror to evil-doers, and a protection to the
+peaceful citizen, it became a weapon in the hands of the very men
+against whom it should have been directed.
+
+When this came to be the case, the institution was in danger of doing
+more harm in its age, than it had accomplished of good in its youth. But
+it must not thence be inferred that it should never have been adopted,
+or that it was vicious in itself. In seasons of public danger,
+extraordinary powers are often intrusted to individuals--powers which
+nothing but that danger can justify, and which would constitute the
+dictators intolerable despots, if they were retained after the crises
+are passed. The Congress of our confederacy, for example, found it
+necessary, at one period of our Revolutionary struggle, to invest
+Washington with such authority; had he exercised it beyond the pressure
+of immediate peril, the same outcry which has been made against others
+in similar circumstances, would have been justly raised against him. And
+most men, less soberly constituted than Washington, would have
+endeavored to retain it; for power is a pleasant thing, which few have
+the self-denial to resign without a struggle. The wrong consists not in
+the original delegation of the authority--for that is justified by the
+highest of all laws, the law of self-preservation--but in its retention
+and exercise, when the exigency no longer supports it.
+
+
+Having parted with the authority to redress grievances, and provide for
+protection and defence, the citizen can not at once recover it--it
+remains for a time in the hands of the representative, and is always
+difficult to regain. But it does not therefore follow, that he should
+never intrust it to another, for the inconvenience sometimes resulting
+from its delegation, is one of the incidents to human life, teaching,
+not obstinacy or jealousy, but circumspection.
+
+
+The following story, related by one who is well-acquainted with the
+early history of this country, will illustrate the manner in which the
+regulator system was sometimes made subservient to men's selfish
+purposes; and there have, unhappily, been too many instances, in which
+such criminal schemes were more successful than they were in this. I
+have entitled it "The Stratagem."
+
+
+THE STRATAGEM.
+
+Robert Elwood emigrated from Kentucky to Illinois, about the year in
+which the latter was erected into a state, and passing to the northwest
+of the regions then occupied by the French and Virginians, pitched his
+tent upon the very verge of the frontier. He was a man of violent
+passions, impatient of the restraints of law--arrogant, overbearing, and
+inclined to the use of "the strong-hand." His removal had been caused by
+a difficulty with one of his neighbors, in which he had attempted to
+right himself without an appeal to the legal tribunals. In this attempt,
+he had not only been thwarted, but also made to pay rather roundly for
+his temerity; and, vexed and soured, he had at once abandoned his old
+name, and marched off across the prairies, seeking a country in which,
+as he said, "a man need not meet a cursed constable every time he left
+his own door." His family consisted of three sons and one daughter, the
+latter being, at the time of his emigration, about sixteen years of age.
+
+
+In journeying toward the north, he halted one day, at noon, within a
+"point" of timber, which extended a mile into the prairie, and was
+surrounded by as beautiful a piece of rolling meadow-land, as one need
+wish to see. He was already half-a-day's journey beyond the thicker
+settlements; and, indulging a reasonable hope that he would not speedily
+be annoyed by neighbors, he at once determined here to erect his
+dwelling and open a new farm. With this view, he marked off a tract of
+about four hundred acres, including the point of timber in which he was
+encamped; and before the heats of summer came on, he had a cabin ready
+for his reception, and a considerable amount of grain planted.
+
+About a mile to the south, there was a similar strip of timber,
+surrounded, like that of which he took possession, by a rich tract of
+"rolling prairie;" and this he at once resolved to include in his farm.
+But, reflecting that it must probably be some years, before any one else
+would enter the neighborhood to take it up--and having only the
+assistance of his sons, but two of whom had reached manhood--he turned
+his attention, first, to the tract upon which he lived. This was large
+enough to engross his efforts for the present; and, for two years, he
+neglected to do anything toward establishing his claim to the land he
+coveted. It is true, that he told several of his neighbors, who had now
+begun to settle around him, that he claimed that piece, and thus
+prevented their enclosing it; but he neither "blazed" nor marked the
+trees, nor "staked off" the prairie.
+
+
+In the meantime emigration had come in, so much more rapidly than he had
+expected, that he found himself the centre of a populous neighborhood;
+and among other signs of advancing civilization, a company of regulators
+had been organized, for the protection of life and property. Of this
+band, Elwood, always active and forward, had been chosen leader; and the
+vigor and severity with which he had exercised his functions, had given
+a degree of quiet to the settlements, not usually enjoyed by these
+frontier communities. One example had, at the period of the opening of
+our story, but recently been made; and its extreme rigor had frightened
+away from the neighborhood, those who had hitherto disturbed its peace.
+This was all the citizens desired; and, having accomplished their ends,
+safety and tranquillity, those whose conservative character had
+prevented the regulator system from running into excesses, withdrew from
+its ranks--but took no measures to have it broken up. It was thus left,
+with recognised authority, in the hands of Elwood, and others of his
+violent and unscrupulous character.
+
+Things were in this position, when, on his return from an expedition of
+some length, Elwood bethought him of the handsome tract of land, upon
+which he had so long ago set his heart. What were his surprise and rage
+on learning--a fact, which the absorbing nature of his regulator-duties
+had prevented his knowing sooner--that it was already in possession of
+another! And his mortification was immeasurably increased, when he was
+told, that the man who had thus intruded upon what he considered his own
+proper demesne, was none other than young Grayson, the son of his old
+Kentucky enemy! Coming into the neighborhood, in the absence of Elwood,
+the young man, finding so desirable a tract vacant, had at once taken
+possession; and by the return of the regulator had almost finished a
+neat and "roomy" cabin. He had "blazed" the trees, too, and "staked off"
+the prairie--taking all those steps then deemed necessary, on the
+frontier, to complete appropriation.
+
+Elwood's first step was to order him peremptorily, to desist, and give
+up his "improvement"--threatening him, at the same time, with certain
+and uncertain pains and penalties, if he refused to obey. But Grayson
+only laughed at his threats, and went stoutly on with his work. When the
+young men, whom he had hired to assist him in building his house, gave
+him a friendly warning, that Elwood was the leader of a band of
+regulators, and had power to make good his menaces, he only replied that
+"he knew how to protect himself, and, when the time came, should not be
+found wanting." Elwood retired from the contest, discomfited, but
+breathing vengeance; while Grayson finished his house and commenced
+operations on his farm. But those who knew the headlong violence of
+Elwood's character, predicted that these operations would soon be
+interrupted; and they were filled with wonder, when month after month
+passed away, and there were still no signs of a collision.
+
+
+In the meantime, it came to be rumored in the settlement, that there was
+some secret connection between Grayson and Elwood's daughter, Hannah.
+They had been seen by several persons in close conversation, at times
+and places which indicated a desire for concealment; and one person even
+went so far as to say, that he had been observed to kiss her, on
+parting, late in the evening. Whatever may have been the truth in that
+matter, it is, at all events, certain, that Grayson was an unmarried
+man; and that the quarrel between the parents of the pair in Kentucky,
+had broken up an intimacy, which bade fair to issue in a marriage; and
+it is probable, that a subordinate if not a primary, motive, inducing
+him to take possession of the disputed land, was a desire to be near
+Hannah. Nor was this wish without its appropriate justification; for,
+though not strictly beautiful, Hannah was quite pretty, and--what is
+better in a frontier girl--active, fresh, and rosy. At the time of
+Grayson's arrival in the settlement, she was a few months past eighteen;
+and was as fine material for a border wife, as could be found in the new
+state. The former intimacy was soon renewed, and before the end of two
+months, it was agreed that they should be married, as soon as her
+father's consent could be obtained.
+
+But this was not so easily compassed; for, all this time, Elwood had
+been brooding over his defeat, and devising ways and means of recovering
+the much-coveted land.
+
+At length, after many consultations with a fellow named Driscol, who
+acted as his lieutenant in the regulator company, he acceded to a
+proposition, made long before by that worthy, but rejected by Elwood on
+account of its dishonesty. He only adopted the plan, now, because it was
+apparently the only escape from permanent defeat; and long chafing under
+what he considered a grievous wrong, had made him reckless of means, and
+determined on success, at whatever cost.
+
+
+One morning, about a week after the taking of this resolution, it was
+announced that one of Elwood's horses had been stolen, on the night
+before; and the regulators were straightway assembled, to ferret out and
+punish so daring an offender. It happened (accidently, _of course_) to
+be a horse which had cast one of its shoes, only the day before; and
+this circumstance rendered it easy to discover his trail. Driscol,
+Elwood's invaluable lieutenant, discovered the track and set off upon
+it, almost as easily as if he had been present when it was made. He led
+the party away into the prairie toward the east; and though his
+companions declared that they could now see nothing of the trail, the
+sharp-sighted lieutenant swore that it was "as plain as the nose on his
+face"--truly, a somewhat exaggerated expression: for the color, if not
+the size, of that feature in his countenance, made it altogether too
+apparent to be overlooked! They followed him, however, convinced by the
+earnestness of his asseverations, if not by their own eyes, until, after
+going a mile toward the east, he began gradually to verge southward,
+and, having wound about at random for some time, finally took a direct
+course, for the point of timber on which Grayson lived!
+
+On arriving at the point, which terminated, as usual, in a dense
+hazel-thicket, Driscol at once pushed his way into the covert, and lo!
+there stood the stolen horse! He was tied to a sapling by a halter,
+which was clearly recognised as the property of Grayson, and leading off
+toward the latter's house, was traced a man's footstep--_his_, of
+course! These appearances fully explained the theft, and there was not a
+man present, who did not express a decided conviction that Grayson was
+the thief.
+
+Some one remarked that his boldness was greater than his shrewdness,
+else he would not have kept the horse so near. But Driscol declared,
+dogmatically, that this was "the smartest thing in the whole business,"
+since, if the trail could be obliterated, no one would think of looking
+_there_ for a horse stolen only a mile above! "The calculation" was a
+good one, he said, and it only failed of success because he, Driscol,
+happened to have a remarkably sharp sight for all tracks, both of horses
+and men. To this proposition, supported by ocular evidence, the
+regulators assented, and Driscol stock, previously somewhat depressed by
+sundry good causes, forthwith rose in the regulator market to a
+respectable premium!
+
+Having recovered the stolen property, the next question which presented
+itself for their consideration, was in what way they should punish the
+thief. To such men as they, this was not a difficult problem: without
+much deliberation, it was determined that he must be at once driven from
+the country. The "days of grace," usually given on such occasions, were
+ten, and in pursuance of this custom, it was resolved that Grayson
+should be mercifully allowed that length of time, in which to arrange
+his affairs and set out for a new home: or, as the regulators expressed
+it, "make himself scarce." Driscol, having already, by his praise-worthy
+efforts in the cause of right, made himself the hero of the affair, was
+invested with authority to notify Grayson of this decree. The matter
+being thus settled, the corps adjourned to meet again ten days
+thereafter, in order to see that their judgment was duly carried into
+effect.
+
+Meantime, Driscol, the official mouthpiece of the self-constituted court
+of general jurisdiction, rode away to discharge himself of his onerous
+duties. Halting at the low fence which enclosed the scanty door-yard he
+gave the customary "Halloo! the house!" and patiently awaited an answer.
+It was not long, however, before Grayson issued from the door and
+advanced to the fence, when Driscol served the process of the court _in
+hæc verba_:--
+
+"Mr. Grayson, the regulators of this settlement have directed me to give
+you ten days' notice to leave the country. They will meet again one week
+from next Friday, and if you are not gone by that time, it will become
+their duty to punish you in the customary way."
+
+"What for?" asked Grayson, quietly.
+
+"For stealing this horse," the functionary replied, laying his hand on
+the horse's mane, "and concealing him in the timber with the intention
+to run him off."
+
+"It's Elwood's horse, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," answered Driscol, somewhat surprised at Grayson's coolness.
+
+"When was he stolen?" asked the notified.
+
+"Last night," answered the official; "I suppose you know very well
+without being told."
+
+"Do you, indeed?" said Grayson, smiling absently. And then he bent his
+eyes upon the ground, and seemed lost in thought for some minutes.
+
+"Well, well," said he at length, raising his eyes again. "I didn't steal
+the horse, Driscol, but I suppose you regulators know best who ought to
+be allowed to remain in the settlement, so of course I shall have to
+obey."
+
+"I am glad to find you so reasonable," said Driscol, making a movement
+to ride away.
+
+"Stop! stop!" said Grayson: "don't be in a hurry! I shall be gone before
+the ten days are up, and you and I may not meet again for a long time,
+so get down and come in: let us take a parting drink together. I have
+some excellent whiskey, just brought home."
+
+Now, the worthy functionary, as we have intimated, or as the aforesaid
+nose bore witness, was "quite partial" to this description of produce:
+some of his acquaintances even insinuating that he took sometimes "a
+drop too much;" and though he felt some misgiving about remaining in
+Grayson's company longer than his official duties required, the
+temptation was too strong for him, and, silencing his fears, he sprang
+to the ground.
+
+"Tie your horse to the fence, there," said Grayson, "and come in."
+Driscol obeyed, and it was not long before he was seated in the cabin
+with a tin-cup in his hand, and its generous contents finding their way
+rapidly down his capacious throat.
+
+"Whiskey is a pleasant drink, after all, isn't it?" said Grayson,
+smiling at the gusto with which Driscol dwelt upon the draught, and at
+the same moment he rose to set his cup on the table behind the official.
+
+"Very pleasant indeed," said Driscol, in reply, and to prove his
+sincerity, he raised his cup again to his lips. But this time he was not
+destined to taste its contents. It was suddenly dashed from his hand--a
+saddle-girth was thrown over his arms and body--and before he was aware
+of what was being done, he found himself securely pinioned to the chair!
+A rope was speedily passed round his legs, and tied, in like manner,
+behind, so that he could, literally, move neither hand nor foot! He made
+a furious effort to break away, but he would not have been more secure
+had he been in the old-fashioned stocks! He was fairly entrapped, and
+though he foamed, and swore, and threatened, it all did no manner of
+good. Of this he at length became sensible, and grinding his teeth in
+impotent rage, he relapsed into dogged silence.
+
+Having thoroughly secured his prisoner, Grayson, who was something of a
+wag, poured out a small quantity of the seductive liquor, and coming
+round in front of the ill-used official, smiled graciously in his face,
+and drank "a health"--
+
+"Success to you, Mr. Driscol," said he, "and long may you continue an
+ornament to the distinguished company of which you are an honored
+officer!"
+
+Driscol ground his teeth, but made no reply, and the toast was drunk,
+like some of those impressive sentiments given at public dinners, "in
+profound silence!"
+
+Having drained the cup, Grayson deposited it upon the table and himself
+in a chair; and, drawing the latter up toward his companion, opened the
+conference thus:--
+
+"I think I have you pretty safe, Driscol: eh!"
+
+The lieutenant made no reply.
+
+"I see you are not in a very sociable humor," continued Grayson; "and,
+to tell you the truth, I am not much that way inclined myself: but I am
+determined to get to the bottom of this affair before you shall leave
+the house. I am sure you know all about it; and if you don't, why the
+worse for you, that's all."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Driscol, speaking for the first time.
+
+"I mean this," Grayson answered sternly: "I did not take that horse from
+Elwood's--_but you did_: I saw you do it. But since my testimony will
+not be received, I am determined that you shall give me a certificate in
+writing that such is the fact. You needn't look so obstinate, for by the
+God that made us both! you shall not leave that chair alive, unless you
+do as I say!"
+
+Grayson was a large, rather fleshy man, with a light complexion and blue
+eyes; and, though good-natured and hard to arouse, when once in earnest,
+as now, like all men of his stamp, he both looked, and was, fully
+capable of carrying his menaces into execution. The imprisoned
+functionary did not at all like the expression of his eye, he quailed
+before it in fear and shame. He was, however, resolved not to yield,
+except upon the greatest extremity.
+
+"Come," said Grayson, producing materials for writing; "here are pen,
+ink, and paper: are you willing to write as I dictate?"
+
+"No," said Driscol, doggedly.
+
+"We'll see if I can't make you willing, then," muttered his captor; and,
+going to the other end of the cabin, he took down a coil of rope, which
+hung upon a peg, and returned to his captive. Forming a noose at one
+end, he placed it about Driscol's neck, and threw the other end over a
+beam which supported the roof.
+
+"Are you going to murder me?" demanded the official in alarm.
+
+"Yes," answered Grayson, drawing the loose end down, and tightening the
+noose about Driscol's throat.
+
+"You'll suffer for this," said the lieutenant furiously.
+
+"That won't help _you_ much," coolly replied Grayson, tugging at the
+rope, until one leg of the chair gave signs of rising from the floor,
+and Driscol's face exhibited unmistakable symptoms of incipient
+strangulation.
+
+"Stop! stop!" he exclaimed, in a voice reduced to a mere wheeze--and
+Grayson "eased off" to hear him.
+
+"Won't anything else satisfy you but a written certificate?" he
+asked--speaking with difficulty, and making motions as if endeavoring to
+swallow something too large to pass the gate of his throat.
+
+"Nothing but that," answered Grayson, decidedly; "and if you don't give
+it to me, when your regulator friends arrive, instead of me, they will
+find you, swinging from this beam by the neck!" And, seeing his victim
+hesitate, he again tugged at the rope, until the same signs were
+exhibited as before--only a little more apparently.
+
+"Ho--hold, Grayson!" begged the frightened and strangling lieutenant;
+and, as his executioner again relaxed a little, he continued: "Just let
+me up, and I'll do anything you want."
+
+"That is to say," laughed Grayson, "you would rather take the chances of
+a fight, than be hung up like a sheep-stealing dog! Let you up, indeed!"
+And once more he dragged the rope down more vigorously than ever.
+
+"I--didn't--mean that--indeed!" gulped the unhappy official, this time
+almost strangled in earnest.
+
+"What _did_ you mean then?" sternly demanded Grayson, relaxing a little
+once again.
+
+"I will write the certificate," moaned the unfortunate lieutenant, "if
+you will let one arm loose, and won't tell anybody until the ten days
+are out--"
+
+"Why do you wish it kept secret!"
+
+"If I give such a certificate as you demand," mournfully answered the
+disconsolate officer, "I shall have to leave the country--and I want
+time to get away."
+
+"Oh! that's it, is it? Well--very well."
+
+About an hour after this, Driscol issued from the house, and, springing
+upon the horse, rode away at a gallop toward Elwood's. Here he left the
+animal, but declined to enter; telling Hannah, who happened to be in the
+yard, to say to her father that "it was all right," he pushed on toward
+home--tenderly rubbing his throat, first with the right hand and then
+with the left, all the way. Three days afterward, he disappeared from
+the settlement, and was heard of no more.
+
+Grayson waited until near nightfall, and then took his way, as usual, to
+a little clump of trees, that stood near Elwood's enclosures, to meet
+Hannah. Here he stayed more than an hour, detailing the circumstances of
+the accusation against him, and laughing with her, over the ridiculous
+figure cut by her father's respectable lieutenant. Before they parted
+their plans were all arranged, and Grayson went home in excellent humor.
+What these plans were, will be seen in the sequel.
+
+
+Eight days went by without any event important to our story--Hannah and
+Grayson meeting each evening, in the grove, and parting again
+undiscovered. On the ninth day, the former went to the house of a
+neighbor, where it was understood that she was to remain during the
+night, and return home on the following morning. Grayson remained on his
+farm until near sunset, when he mounted his horse and rode away. This
+was the last of his "days of grace;" and those who saw him passing along
+the road, concluded that he had yielded to the dictates of prudence, and
+was leaving the field.
+
+On the following morning, the regulators assembled to see that their
+orders had been obeyed; and, though Elwood was a little disconcerted by
+the absence of Driscol, since it was understood that Grayson had left
+the country, the meeting was considered only a formal one, and the
+presence of the worthy lieutenant was not indispensable. They proceeded
+in high spirits to the premises, expecting to find the house deserted
+and waiting for an occupant. Elwood was to take immediate possession,
+and, all the way across the prairie, was felicitating himself upon the
+ease and rapidity of his triumph. What was their surprise, then, on
+approaching the house, to see smoke issuing from the chimney, as
+usual--the door thrown wide open, and Grayson standing quietly in front
+of it! The party halted and a council was called, but its deliberations
+were by no means tedious: it was forthwith determined, that Grayson
+stood _in defiance of the law_, and must be punished--that is,
+"lynched"--without delay! The object of this fierce decree, all unarmed
+as he was, still stood near the door, while the company slowly
+approached the fence. He then advanced and addressed them:--
+
+"I think the ten days are not up yet, gentlemen," said he mildly.
+
+"Yes, they are," answered Elwood quickly; "and we are here to know
+whether you intend to obey the authorities, and leave the country?"
+
+"I think, Elwood," said the young man, not directly replying, "this
+matter can be settled between you and me, without bloodshed, and even
+without trouble. If you will come in with George and John [his sons], I
+will introduce you to my wife, and we can talk it over, with a glass of
+whiskey."
+
+Another consultation ensued, when, in order to prove their dignified
+moderation, they agreed that Elwood and his sons should "go in and see
+what he had to say."
+
+Elwood, the elder, entered first: directly before him, holding her sides
+and shaking with laughter, stood his rosy daughter, Hannah!
+
+"_My wife_, gentlemen," said Grayson, gravely introducing them. Hannah's
+laughter exploded.
+
+"O, father, father, father!" she exclaimed, leaning forward and
+extending her hands; "ain't you caught, beautifully!"
+
+The laugh was contagious; and though the elder knit his brows, and was
+evidently on the point of bursting with very different emotions, his
+sons yielded to its influence, and, joining Hannah and her husband,
+laughed loudly, peal after peal!
+
+The father could bear it no longer--he seized Hannah by the arm and
+shook her violently, till she restrained herself sufficiently to speak;
+as for him, he was speechless with rage.
+
+"It's entirely too late to make a 'fuss,' father," she said at length,
+"for here is the marriage-certificate, and Grayson is your son!"
+
+"I have not stolen your horse, Elwood," said the bridegroom, taking the
+paper which the father rejected, "though I have run away with your
+daughter. And," he added, significantly, "since if you had this land,
+you would probably give it to Hannah, I think you and I had better be
+friends, and I'll take it as her marriage-portion."
+
+"If you can show that you did not take the horse, Grayson," said George,
+the elder of the two sons, "I'll answer for that: but----"
+
+"That I can do very easily," interrupted the young husband, "I have the
+proof in my pocket."
+
+He caught Elwood's eye as he spoke, and reassured him with a look, for
+he could see that the old man began to apprehend an exposure in the
+presence of his sons. This forbearance did more to reconcile him to his
+discomfiture than aught else, save the influence of George; for, like
+all passionate men, he was easily swayed by his cooler children. While
+Hannah and her brothers examined the marriage certificate, and laughed
+over "the stratagem," Grayson drew Elwood aside and exhibited a paper,
+written in a cramped, uneven hand, as follows:--
+
+     "This is to certify, that it was not Josiah Grayson who took Robert
+     Elwood's horse from his stable, last night--but I took him myself,
+     by arrangement, so as to accuse Grayson of the theft, and drive him
+     to leave his new farm.
+
+     "THOMAS DRISCOL."
+
+Elwood blushed as he came to the words "by arrangement," but read on
+without speaking. Grayson then related the manner in which he had
+entrapped the lieutenant, and the joke soon put him in a good humor. The
+regulators were called in, and heard the explanation, and all laughing
+heartily over the capture of Driscol, they insisted that Hannah and her
+husband should mount, and ride with them to Elwood's. Neither of them
+needed much persuasion--the whole party rode away together--the "lads
+and lasses" of the neighborhood were summoned, and the day and night
+were spent in merriment and dancing.
+
+
+Grayson and his wife returned on the following morning to their new
+home, where a life of steady and honorable industry, was rewarded with
+affluence and content. Their descendants still live upon the place, one
+of the most beautiful and extensive farms upon that fertile prairie. But
+on the spot where the disputed cabin stood, has since been built a
+handsome brick-house, and I pay only a just tribute to amiable
+character, when I say that a more hospitable mansion is not to be found
+in the western country.
+
+
+This was the last attempt at "regulating" in that region, for emigration
+came in so rapidly, that the supremacy of the law was soon asserted and
+maintained. Whenever this came to be so, the regulators, of course,
+ceased to be types of the state of society, and were succeeded by other
+characters and institutions.
+
+To these we must now proceed.
+
+
+     [NOTE.--The following is a copy of a compact, such as is spoken of
+     in the story of the "The First Grave," entered into by a company of
+     regulators in somewhat similar circumstances. I am not sure that I
+     can vouch for its authenticity, but all who are familiar with the
+     history of those times, will recognise, in its peculiarities, the
+     characteristics of the people who then inhabited this country. The
+     affectation of legal form in such a document as this, would be
+     rather amusing, were it not quite too significant; at all events,
+     it is entirely "in keeping" with the constitution of a race who had
+     some regard for law and its vindication, even in their most
+     high-handed acts. The technical phraseology, used so strangely, is
+     easily traceable to the little "Justice's Form Book," which was
+     then almost the only law document in the country; and though the
+     words are rather awkwardly combined, they no doubt gave solemnity
+     to the act in the eyes of its sturdy signers:--
+
+     "_Know all men by these presents:_
+
+     "That we [_here follow twelve names_], citizens of ---- settlement,
+     in the state of Illinois, have this day, _jointly and severally_,
+     bound ourselves together as a company of Rangers and Regulators, to
+     protect this settlement against the crimes and misdemeanors of, all
+     and singular, every person or persons whomsoever, and especially
+     against _all horse-thieves, renegades, and robbers_. And we do by
+     these presents, hereby bind ourselves, jointly and severally as
+     aforesaid, unto each other, and to the fellow-citizens of this
+     settlement, to punish, according to the code of his honor, Judge
+     Lynch, all violations of the law, _against the peace and dignity of
+     the said people of_ ---- settlement; and to discover and bring to
+     speedy punishment, _all illegal combinations_--to rid the country
+     of such as are dangerous to the welfare of this settlement--to
+     preserve the peace, and _generally to vindicate the law_, within
+     the settlement aforesaid. All of which purposes we are to
+     accomplish as peaceably as possible: _but we are to accomplish
+     them one way or another_.
+
+     "In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and affixed
+     our seals, this twelfth day of October, _Anno Domini_, eighteen
+     hundred and twenty.
+
+                         "(Signed by twelve men.)
+
+     "Acknowledged and subscribed in the presence of
+                              "C---- T. H----n,
+                              "J---- P. D----n,"
+
+     and five others, who seem to have been a portion of "the
+     fellow-citizens of this settlement," referred to in the document.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[77] See note at the close of this article.
+
+[78] The "Sangamon country," as the phrase was then used, included all
+the region watered by the river of that name, together with the counties
+of Cass, Morgan, and Scott, as far south as Apple creek.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.
+
+                "I beseech you,
+    Wrest once the law to your authority:
+    To do a great right, do a little wrong."--
+
+    MERCHANT OF VENICE.
+
+
+The reign of violence, when an evil at all, is an evil which remedies
+itself: the severity of its proceeding hastens the accomplishment of its
+end, as the hottest fire soonest consumes its fuel. A nation will
+endure oppression more patiently immediately after a spasmodic rebellion
+or a bloody revolution, than at any other time; and a community requires
+less law to govern it, after a violent and illegal assertion of the
+law's supremacy, than was necessary before the outbreak. After having
+thrown off the yoke of a knave--and perhaps hung the knave up by the
+neck, or chopped his head off with an axe--mankind not unfrequently fall
+under the control of a fool; frightened at their temerity in dethroning
+an idol of metal, they bow down before a paltry statue of wood.
+
+Men are not easily satiated with power, but when it is irregular, a
+pause in its exercise must eventually come. And there is a principle of
+human nature, which teaches, that whatsoever partakes of the mob-spirit
+is, at best, but temporary, and ought to have a speedy end. This is
+especially true of such men as first permanently peopled the western
+country; for though they sometimes committed high-handed and
+unjustifiable acts, the moment it was discovered that they had
+accomplished the purposes of order, they allowed the means of
+vindication to fall into disuse. The regulator system, for example, was
+directed to the stern and thorough punishment of evil men, but no sooner
+was society freed from their depredations, than the well-meaning
+citizens withdrew from its ranks; and, though regulator companies still
+patrolled the country, and, for a time, assumed as much authority as
+ever, they were not supported by the solid approbation of those who
+alone could give them lasting strength. They did many outrageous things
+for which they were never punished, and for some years, the shield which
+the good citizen had raised above his head for protection and defence,
+threatened to fall upon and crush him. But the western people are not
+the first who have been temporarily enslaved by their liberators,
+though, unlike many another race, they waited patiently for the changes
+of years, and time brought them a remedy.
+
+
+As the government waxed stronger, and public opinion assumed a
+direction, the regulators, like their predecessors, the rangers, found
+their "occupation gone," and gradually faded out from the land.
+Proclamations were issued--legislatures met--laws were enacted, and
+officers appointed to execute them; and though forcing a legal system
+upon a people who had so long been "a law unto themselves," was a slow
+and difficult process, it was powerfully assisted by the very disorders
+consequent upon their attempts at self-government. They had burnt their
+hands by seizing the hot iron-rod of irregular authority, and were,
+therefore, better inclined to surrender the baton to those who could
+handle it. Like Frankenstein, they had created a power which they could
+not immediately control: the regulators, from being their servants, had
+come to be their masters: and they willingly admitted any authority
+which promised deliverance. They had risen in wrath, and chastised, with
+no hesitating hand, the violators of their peace; but the reaction had
+taken place, and they were now content to be governed by whatsoever
+ruler Providence might send them.
+
+The state governments were established, then, without difficulty, and
+the officers of the new law pervaded every settlement. The character
+which I have selected as the best representative of this period, is one
+of these new officers--_the early justice of the peace_.
+
+
+So far as history or tradition informs us, there was never yet a country
+in which appointments to office were invariably made with reference only
+to qualification, and though the west is an exception to more than one
+general rule, in this respect we must set it down in the common
+category. The lawyer-period had not yet arrived; and, probably, there
+was never an equal number of people in any civilized country, of whom a
+larger proportion were totally ignorant of legal forms. There were not
+three in each hundred who had ever seen the inside of a courthouse, and
+they were quite as few who had once looked upon a law-book! Where such
+was the case, some principle of appointment was of course necessary,
+other than that which required fitness, by training, for the office
+conferred; and it is probable that the rule adopted was but little
+different to that in force among those who have the appointing power,
+where no such circumstances restrict the choice.
+
+
+Men were appointed conservators of the _peace_, because they had
+distinguished themselves in _war_; and he who had assumed the powers of
+the law, as a regulator, was thought the better qualified to exercise
+them, as a legal officer! Courage and capacity, as an Indian-fighter,
+gave one the prominence requisite to his appointment; and zeal for the
+preservation of order, exhibited as a self-constituted judge and
+executioner, was a guaranty for the faithful performance of new and
+regular duties.
+
+Nor was the rule a bad one. A justice of the peace chosen upon this
+principle, possessed two qualities indispensable to an efficient
+officer, in the times of which we write--he was prompt in the discharge
+of his duties, and was not afraid of responsibility. To obviate the
+danger, however, which might arise from these, he had also a rigid sense
+of justice, which usually guided his determinations according to the
+rights of parties in interest. This, the lawyers will say, was a very
+questionable trait for a judicial officer; and perhaps it _is_ better
+for society, that a judge should know the law, and administer it
+without reference to abstract justice, than that his own notions of
+right and wrong should be taken, however conscientiously, as the
+standard of judgment: for in that case, we shall, at least, have
+uniformity of adjudication; whereas, nothing is more uncertain, than a
+man's convictions of right.
+
+But, in the times of which we are writing, society was not yet
+definitely shaped--its elements were not bound together by the cohesive
+power of any legal cement--and no better rule was, therefore, to be
+expected, than the spontaneous suggestions of common sense. The minds of
+men were, moreover, habituated to a certain course of thought and
+action--(such as naturally obtains in a new state of society, where the
+absence of organization remits them to their own exertions for
+safety)--and it was, therefore, impossible that any artificial system
+should be at once adopted. The people had been accustomed to such
+primitive associations, as they had entered into "for the common defence
+and general welfare" of their infant communities; the rule of action had
+been swift, and sometimes very informal punishment, for every
+transgression; and this rule, having very well answered its purpose,
+though at the expense of occasional severity and injustice, they could
+not immediately understand the necessity for any other course of
+proceeding.
+
+
+One of the characteristics of the early justice, then, was a supreme
+contempt for all mere form. He called it "nonsense" and could never
+comprehend its utility. To him, all ceremony was affectation, and the
+refinements of legal proceeding were, in his estimation, anti-republican
+innovations upon the original simplicity of mankind. Technicalities he
+considered merely the complicated inventions of lawyers, to exhibit
+their perverse ingenuity--traps to catch the well-meaning or unwary, or
+avenues of escape for the guilty. The rules of evidence he neither
+understood nor cared for; he desired "to hear all about" every cause
+brought before him; and the idea of excluding testimony, in obedience to
+any rule, he would never entertain. He acted upon the principle--though
+he probably never heard of the maxim--that "the law furnishes a remedy
+for every wrong;" and, if he knew of none in positive enactment, he
+would provide one, from the arsenal of his own sense of right. He never
+permitted anything to obstruct the punishment of one whom he had
+adjudged guilty; and, rather than allow a culprit to escape, he would
+order his judgment to be carried at once into effect, in the presence,
+and under the direction of the court.
+
+He had a strong prejudice against every man accused of crime; and
+sometimes almost reversed the ancient presumption of the law, and held
+the prisoner guilty, until he proved himself innocent. He had unbounded
+confidence in the honesty of his neighbors and friends, and was
+unwilling to believe, that they would accuse a man of crime or
+misdemeanor, without very good cause. When it was proven that a crime
+_had been committed_, he considered the guilt of the prisoner already
+half established: it was, in his judgment, what one, better acquainted
+with legal terms, might have called "a _prima facia_ case," devolving
+the _onus probandi_ (or burthen of proof) upon the accused. And this may
+have been one cause of the frequent resort to _alibis_--a mode of
+defence which, as we have already remarked, is even yet in great
+disrepute. If a defence, of some sort, was not, then, very clearly and
+satisfactorily made out, the justice had no hesitation in entering
+judgment, and ordering immediate punishment; for the right of appeal was
+not generally recognised, and the justice took original and final
+jurisdiction, where now his duties are merely those of preliminary
+examination and commitment.
+
+
+In civil controversies--where such causes were presented for
+adjudication, which, however, was not very often--the order of
+proceeding was quite as summary. The justice heard the statements of the
+parties, and sometimes, not always, would listen to witnesses, also;
+then, taking the general "rights, interests, claims, and demands," of
+both sides into consideration--and viewing himself, not as a judicial
+officer, but as a sort of referee or arbitrator--he would strike a
+balance between the disputants, and dismiss them to their homes, with a
+significant admonition to "keep the peace." He usually acted upon the
+principle--no very erroneous one, either--that, when two respectable men
+resort to the law, as arbitrator of their controversies, they are both
+about equally blamable; and his judgments were accordingly based upon
+the corollary, that neither deserved to have all he claimed. This was
+the practice when any decision was made at all; but, in most cases, the
+justice acted as a pacificator, and, by his authority and persuasion,
+induced the parties to agree upon a compromise. For this purpose, he not
+unfrequently remitted both fees and costs--those due to the constables,
+as well as his own.
+
+An instance of this pacific practice has been related to me as follows:
+Two neighbors had quarrelled about a small amount of debt, and, after
+sundry attempts to "settle," finally went to law. The justice took them
+aside, on the day of trial, and proposed a basis of settlement, to which
+they agreed, _on condition_, that all costs should be remitted, and to
+this the magistrate at once pledged himself. But a difficulty arose: the
+constable, who had not been consulted in the arrangement, had had a long
+ride after the defendant, and having an unquestionable right to demand
+his fees, was unwilling to give them up. The justice endeavored to
+prevail with him by persuasion, but in vain. Finally, growing impatient
+of his obstinacy, he gave him a _peremptory order_ to consent, and, on
+his refusal, _fined him_ the exact amount of his fees _for contempt_,
+entered up judgment on the basis of the compromise, and adjourned the
+court!
+
+The man who thus discourages litigation at the expense of his own
+official emoluments, may be forgiven a few irregularities of proceeding,
+in consideration of the good he effects; for although under such a
+system it was seldom that either party obtained his full and just
+rights, both were always benefited by the spirit of peace infused into
+the community. It would, perhaps, be well for the country now, were our
+legal officers actuated by the same motives; unfortunately, however,
+such men belong only to primitive times.
+
+
+But the love of peace was not accompanied, in this character, as it
+usually is, by merciful judgment, for, as he was very swift in
+determining a prisoner's guilt, he was equally rigid in imposing the
+penalty. The enactments of the criminal code were generally so worded as
+to give some scope for the exercise of a compassionate and enlightened
+discretion; but when the decision lay in the breast of our justice, if
+he adjudged any punishment at all, it was usually the severest provided
+for by the statute. Half-measures were not adapted to the temper of the
+times or the character of the people; indeed, they are suited to _no_
+people, and are signal failures at all times, in all circumstances.
+Inflicting light punishments is like firing blank cartridges at a mob,
+they only irritate, without subduing; and as the latter course usually
+ends in unnecessary bloodshed, the former invariably increases the
+amount of crime.
+
+_Certainty_ of punishment may be--unquestionably _is_--a very important
+element in the administration of justice, but as nothing so strongly
+disinclines a man to entering the water as the sight of another
+drowning, so nothing will so effectually deter him from the commission
+of crime, as the knowledge that another has been severely punished for
+yielding to the same temptation. The justice, however, based the rigor
+of his judgments upon no such argument of policy. His austerity was a
+part of his character, and had been rendered more severe by the
+circumstances in which he had lived--the audacity of law-breakers, and
+the necessity for harsh penalties, in order for protection.
+
+
+It will be observed that I say nothing of juries, and speak of justices
+of the peace, as officers having authority to decide causes alone. And,
+it must be recollected, that in the days of which I am writing, resort
+was very seldom had to this cumbersome and uncertain mode of
+adjudication. In civil causes, juries were seldom empanelled, because
+they were attended by very considerable expense and delay. The chief
+object, in going to law, moreover, was, in most cases, to have _a
+decision_ of the matter in dispute; and juries were as prone to "hang"
+then as now. Suitors generally, therefore, would rather submit to the
+arbitration of the justice, than take the risk of delay and uncertainty,
+with a jury. In criminal causes, the case was very similar: the accused
+would as lief be judged by one prejudiced man as by twelve; for the same
+rigorous spirit which actuated the justice, pervaded also the juries;
+and (besides the chance of timidity or favor in the justice) in the
+latter he must take the additional risks of personal enmity and
+relationship to the party injured. Thus, juries were often discarded in
+criminal causes also, and we think their disuse was no great sacrifice.
+Such a system can derive its utility, in this country, only from an
+enlightened public sentiment: if that sentiment be capricious and
+oppressive, as it too often is, juries are quite as likely to partake
+its vices as legal officers: if the sentiment be just and healthy, no
+judicial officer dare be guilty of oppression. So that our fathers lost
+nothing in seldom resorting to this "palladium of our liberties," and,
+without doubt, gained something by avoiding delay, uncertainty, and
+expense.
+
+The reader will also observe, that I say nothing of higher courts. But
+the lines between the upper and lower tribunals were not so strictly
+drawn then as they now are, and the limits of jurisdiction were,
+consequently, very indefinite. Most of the characteristics, moreover,
+here ascribed to the justice of the peace, belonged, in almost an equal
+degree, to the judges of the circuit courts; and, though some of the
+latter were men of respectable legal requirements, the same off-hand
+mode of administering the law which distinguished the inferior
+magistrates, marked the proceedings of their courts also. Both
+occasionally assumed powers which they did not legally possess; both
+were guided more by their own notions of justice, than by the rules of
+law; and both were remarkable for their severity upon all transgressors.
+Neither cared much for the rules of evidence, each was equal to any
+emergency or responsibility, and both had very exalted ideas of their
+own authority.
+
+But the functions of the justice were, in his estimation, especially
+important--his dignity was very considerable also, and his powers
+anything but circumscribed. A few well-authenticated anecdotes, however,
+will illustrate the character better than any elaborate portraiture.
+And, for fear those I am about to relate may seem exceptions, not fairly
+representing the class, I should state, in the outset, that I have
+selected them from a great number which I can recall, particularly
+because they are _not_ exceptive, and give a very just impression of the
+character which I am endeavoring to portray.
+
+
+Squire A---- was a plain, honest farmer, who had distinguished himself
+as a pioneer and ranger, and was remarkable as a man of undoubted
+courage, but singularly peaceable temper. In the year eighteen hundred
+and twenty, he received from Governor Bond of Illinois, a commission as
+justice of the peace, and though he was not very clear what his duties,
+dignities, and responsibilities, precisely were, like a patriot and a
+Roman, he determined to discharge them to the letter. At the period of
+his appointment, he was at feud with one of his neighbors about that
+most fruitful of all subjects of quarrel, a division-fence; and as such
+differences always are, the dispute had been waxing warmer for several
+months. He received his docket, blanks, and "Form-Book," on Saturday
+evening, and though he had as yet no suits to enter and no process to
+issue, was thus provided with all the weapons of justice. On the
+following Monday morning, he repaired, as usual, to his fields, about
+half-a-mile from home, and though full of his new dignity, went quietly
+to work.
+
+He had not been there long, before his old and only enemy made his
+appearance, and opened upon him a volley of abuse in relation to the
+division-fence, bestowing upon his honor, among other expressive titles,
+the euphonious epithet of "jackass." A---- bore the attack until it came
+to this point--which, it would seem, was as far as a man's patience
+ought to extend--and, it is probable, that had he not been a legal
+functionary, a battle would have ensued "then and there." But it was
+beneath the dignity thus outraged, to avenge itself by a vulgar
+fisticuff, and A---- bethought him of a much better and more honorable
+course. He threw his coat across his arm, and marched home. There he
+took down his new docket, and upon the first page, recorded the case of
+the "_People of the State of Illinois_ vs. _John Braxton_" (his enemy).
+He then entered up the following judgment: "_The defendant in this case,
+this day, fined ten dollars and costs, for_ CONTEMPT OF COURT, _he
+having called_ US _a jackass_!" On the opposite page is an entry of
+satisfaction, by which it appears that he forthwith issued an execution
+upon the judgment, and collected the money!
+
+This pretext of "contempt" was much in vogue, as a means of reaching
+offences not expressly provided for by statute; but the justice was
+never at a loss for expedients, even in cases entirely without
+precedent, as the following anecdote will illustrate:--
+
+
+A certain justice, in the same state of Illinois, was one day trying,
+for an aggravated assault, a man who was too much intoxicated fully to
+realize the import of the proceedings or the dignity of the court. He
+was continually interrupting witnesses, contradicting their testimony,
+and swearing at the justice. It soon became evident that he must be
+silenced or the trial adjourned. The justice's patience at length gave
+way. He ordered the constable to take the obstreperous culprit to a
+creek, which ran near the office, "and duck him until he was sober
+enough to be quiet and respect the court!" This operation the constable
+alone could not perform, but in due time he brought the defendant back
+dripping from the creek and thoroughly sobered, reporting, at the same
+time, that he had availed himself of the assistance of two men, Messrs.
+B---- and L----, in the execution of his honor's commands. The trial
+then went quietly on, the defendant was fined for a breach of the peace,
+and ordered to pay _the costs_: one item of which was two dollars to
+Messrs. B---- and L---- "for assisting the constable in ducking the
+prisoner!" But, as the justice could find no form nor precedent for
+hydropathic services, he entered the charge as "_witness fees_," and
+required immediate payment! The shivering culprit, glad to escape on any
+terms, paid the bill and vanished!
+
+
+Whatever might have been the prevailing opinion, as to the legality of
+such a proceeding, the ridicule attaching to it would effectually have
+prevented any remedy--most men being willing to forgive a little
+irregularity, for the sake of substantial justice and "a good joke." But
+the summary course, adopted by these magistrates, sometimes worked even
+greater injustice--as might have been expected; and of this, the
+following is an example:--
+
+About the year eighteen hundred and twenty-six, there lived, in a
+certain part of the west, a man named Smedley, who, so far as the
+collection of debts was concerned, was entirely "law-proof." He seemed
+to have a constitutional indisposition to paying anything he owed: and,
+though there were sundry executions in the hands of officers against
+him--and though he even seemed thrifty enough in his pecuniary
+affairs--no property could ever be found, upon which they could be
+levied. There was, at the same time, a constable in the neighborhood, a
+man named White, who was celebrated, in those days of difficult
+collections, for the shrewdness and success of his official exploits;
+and the justice upon whom he usually attended, was equally remarkable,
+for the high hand with which he carried his authority. But, though two
+executions were placed in the hands of the former, upon judgments on the
+docket of the latter, months passed away, without anything being
+realized from the impervious defendant, Smedley.
+
+Whenever the constable found him in possession of property, and made a
+levy, it was proven to belong to some one else; and the only result of
+his indefatigable efforts, was the additions of heavy costs to the
+already hopeless demand.
+
+At length, however, White learned that Smedley had _traded horses_ with
+a man named Wyatt, and he straightway posted off to consult the
+magistrate. Between them, the plan of operations was agreed upon. White
+levied first upon the horse then in the possession of Smedley, taking
+him under _one_ of the two writs: he then levied _the other_ execution
+upon the horse which Smedley had traded to Wyatt. The latter,
+apprehending the loss of his property, claimed the first horse--that
+which he had traded to Smedley. But, upon the "trial of the right of
+property," the justice decided that the horse was found in the
+possession of Smedley, and was, therefore, subject to levy and sale. He
+was accordingly sold, and the first judgment was satisfied. Wyatt then
+claimed the _second_ horse--that which he had received from Smedley.
+But, upon a similar "trial"--after severely reprimanding Wyatt for
+claiming _both_ horses, when, on his own showing, he never owned but
+_one_--the justice decided that the property in dispute had been in the
+possession of Smedley at the rendition of the judgment, and was
+therefore, like the other, subject to a lien, and equally liable to levy
+and sale! And accordingly, this horse, also, was sold, to satisfy the
+second execution, and Wyatt was dismissed by the justice, with no gentle
+admonition, "to be careful in future with whom he swapped horses!" A
+piece of advice which he probably took, and for which he ought to have
+been duly grateful! Fallen humanity, however, is very perverse; and it
+is at least supposable, that, having lost his horse, he considered
+himself hardly used--an opinion in which my legal readers will probably
+concur.
+
+Before leaving this part of my subject, I will relate another anecdote,
+which, though it refers more particularly to constables, serves to
+illustrate the characteristics of the early officers of the
+law--justices, as well as others:--
+
+The constable who figured so advantageously in the anecdote last
+related, had an execution against a man named Corson, who was almost as
+nearly "law proof" as Smedley. He had been a long time endeavoring to
+realize something, but without success. At length, he was informed, that
+Corson had sued another man, upon an account, before a justice in a
+distant part of the same county. This, the delinquent officer at once
+saw, gave him a chance to secure something; and, on the day of trial,
+away he posted to the justice's office. Here, he quietly seated himself,
+and watched the course of the proceeding. The trial went on, and, in due
+time, the justice decided the cause in favor of Corson. At this
+juncture, White arose, and, while the justice was entering up judgment,
+approached the table. When the docket was about to be laid aside, he
+interposed:--
+
+"Stop!" said he, placing his hand upon the docket, "_I levels on this
+judgment_!" And, giving no attention to remonstrances, he demanded and
+obtained the execution. On this he collected the money, and at once
+applied it to that, which he had been so long carrying--thus settling
+two controversies, by diligence and force of will. He was certainly a
+valuable officer!
+
+
+Thus irregular and informal were many of the proceedings of the
+primitive legal functionaries; but a liberal view of their characters
+must bring us to the conclusion, that their influence upon the progress
+of civilization of the country, was, on the whole, decidedly
+beneficial.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+THE PEDDLER.
+
+    "This is a traveller, sir; knows men and
+    Manners."--
+
+    BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
+
+
+Previous to the organization of civil government, and "the form and
+pressure" given to the times by this and its attendant circumstances,
+the primitive tastes and habits of the western people, excluded many of
+those artificial wants which are gratified by commerce, and afforded no
+room for traders, excepting those who sold the absolute necessaries of
+life.
+
+In those days, housekeeping was a very simple matter. Neither
+steam-engines nor patent cook-stoves were yet known, as necessary
+adjuncts to a kitchen; the housewife would have "turned up her nose" in
+contempt of a bake-oven: would have thrown a "Yankee reflector" over the
+fence, and branded the innovator with the old-fashioned gridiron. Tin
+was then supposed to be made only for cups and coffee-pots: pie-pans
+had not yet even entered "the land of dreams;" and the tea-kettle, which
+then "sang songs of family glee," was a quaint, squat figure, resembling
+nothing so much as an over-fed duck, and poured forth its music from a
+crooked, quizzical spout, with a notch in its iron nozzle. If its
+shut-iron lid was ornamented with a brass button, for a handle, it was
+thought to be manufactured in superior style. Iron spoons were good
+enough for the daintiest mouth; and a full set of pewter was a household
+treasure. China dishes and silver plate had been heard of, but belonged
+to the same class of marvellous things, with Aladdin's lamp and
+Fortunatus's purse. Cooking was not yet reduced to a science, and eating
+was like sleep--a necessity, not a mere amusement. The only luxuries
+known, were coffee and sugar; and these, with domestics and other cotton
+fabrics, were the chief articles for which the products of the earth
+were bartered.
+
+French cloths and Parisian fashions were still less known than silver
+spoons and "rotary stoves." The men wore homemade jeans, cut after the
+_mode_ of the forest: its dye a favorite "Tennessean" brownish-yellow;
+and the women were not ashamed to be seen in linsey-wolsey, woven in the
+same domestic loom. Knitting was then not only an accomplishment, but a
+useful art; and the size which a "yarn" stocking gave to a pretty ankle,
+was not suffered to overbalance the consideration of its comfort. The
+verge of nakedness was not then the region of modesty: the neck and its
+adjacent parts were covered in preference to the hands; and, in their
+barbarous ignorance, the women thought it more shame to appear in public
+half-dressed, than to wear a comfortable shoe.
+
+They were certainly a very primitive people--unrefined, unfashionable,
+"coarse"--and many of their sons and daughters are even now ashamed to
+think what "savages" their parents were! In their mode of life, they
+sought comfort, not "appearances;" and many things which their more
+sophisticated descendants deem necessaries, they contemned as luxuries.
+
+
+But, in the course of time, these things began to change, for simplicity
+is always "primitive," and the progress of refinement is only the
+multiplication of wants. As the country was reduced to cultivation, and
+peace settled upon its borders, new classes of emigrants began to take
+possession of the soil; and, for the immediate purposes of rapid
+advancement, and especially of social improvement, they were better
+classes than their predecessors: for, as the original pioneers had
+always lived a little beyond the influences of regular civilization,
+these had remained within its limits until the pressure of legal
+organization began to grow irksome to their partially untamed spirits.
+There was, indeed, an unbroken gradation of character, from the nearly
+savage hunter, who visited the country only because it was uninhabited,
+except by wild beasts, to the genuine _citizen_, who brought with him
+order, and industry, and legal supremacy.
+
+The emigrants, of whom we are now writing, constituted the third step in
+this progression; and they imported along with them, or drew after them,
+the peculiarities belonging to their own degree of advancement. Their
+notions of comfort and modes of living, though still quite crude,
+indicated an appreciable stage of refinement. They were better supplied,
+for example, with cooking utensils--their household furniture was not so
+primitive--and in wearing apparel, they manifested some regard to
+elegance as well as comfort. Social intercourse disseminated these ideas
+among those to whom they were novel; where, previously, the highest
+motive to improvement had been a desire for convenience, the idea of
+gentility began to claim an influence; and some of the more moderate
+embellishments of life assumed the place of the mere necessaries.
+
+The transition was not rapid nor violent, like all permanent changes, it
+was the work of years, marked by comparatively slow gradations. First,
+tin-ware, of various descriptions, became necessary to the operations of
+the kitchen; and that which had been confined to one or two articles,
+was now multiplied into many forms. A housewife could no more bake a pie
+without a "scalloped" pie-pan, than without a fire: a tin-bucket was
+much more easily handled than one of cedar or oak; and a pepper-box, of
+the same material, was as indispensable as a salt-cellar. A little tea
+was occasionally added to the ancient regimen of coffee, and thus a
+tin-canister became necessary for the preservation of the precious drug.
+With tea came queensware: and half-a-dozen cups and saucers, usually of
+a dingy white, with a raised blue edge, were needful for the pranking of
+the little cupboard.
+
+
+But it was not only in the victualing department that the progress of
+refinement could be traced; for the thrifty housewife, who thought it
+proper to adorn her table, and equip her kitchen with all the late
+improvements, could not, of course, entirely overlook "the fashions:"
+the decoration of her person has been, in all ages, the just and honest
+pride of woman. Linsey-wolsey began to give place to calicoes and
+many-colored prints; calf-skin shoes were antiquated by the use of kid;
+and ribands fluttered gracefully upon new-fashioned bonnets. Progress of
+this kind never takes a step backward: once possessed of an improvement
+in personal comfort, convenience, or adornment, man--or woman--seldom
+gives it up. Thus, these things, once used, thenceforth became wants,
+whose gratification was not to be foregone: and it is one of the
+principles governing commerce, that the demand draws to it the supply.
+
+There were few "country stores," in those days, and the settlements were
+so scattered as to make it sometimes very inconvenient to visit them.
+From ten to twenty miles was a moderate distance to the dépôt of
+supplies; and a whole day was usually consumed in going and returning.
+The visits were, therefore, not very frequent--the purchases for many
+weeks--perhaps months--being made on each occasion. This was a very
+inconvenient mode of "shopping," even for the energetic women of that
+day; and, since the population would not justify more numerous
+"stores," it was desirable that some new system should be introduced,
+capable of supplying the demand at the cost of less trouble, and fewer
+miles of travel. To answer this necessity there was but one way--the
+"storekeeper" must carry his wares to the doors of his customers. And
+thus arose the occupation of the _Peddler_, or, as he called himself,
+the "travelling merchant."
+
+The population of the country was then almost exclusively
+agricultural--the mechanic arts belong to a more advanced period. The
+consequence was, that the first articles carried about from house to
+house, were such as are manufactured by artisans--and the chief of these
+was tin-ware.
+
+The tinkers of the rural districts in older countries, were, however,
+not known in this--they were not adapted to the genius of the people.
+The men who sold the ware were, scarcely ever, the same who made it;
+and, though the manual dexterity of most of these ready men, might
+enable them to mend a broken pan, or a leaky coffeepot, their skill was
+seldom put in requisition. Besides, since the mending of an old article
+might interfere with the sale of a new one, inability to perform the
+office was more frequently assumed than felt.
+
+In the course of time--as the people of the country began to acquire new
+ideas, and discover new wants--other articles were added to the
+peddler's stock. Calicoes were often carried in the same box with tin
+pans--cotton checks and ginghams were stowed away beneath tin-cups and
+iron-spoons--shining coffee-pots were crammed with spools of thread,
+papers of pins, cards of horn-buttons, and cakes of shaving-soap--and
+bolts of gaudy riband could be drawn from pepper-boxes and
+sausage-stuffers. Table-cloths, of cotton or brown linen, were displayed
+before admiring eyes, which had turned away from all the brightness of
+new tin plates; and knives and forks, all "warranted pure steel,"
+appealed to tastes, which nothing else could excite. New razors touched
+the men "in tender places," while shining scissors clipped the purses of
+the women. Silk handkerchiefs and "fancy" neckcloths--things till then
+unknown--could occupy the former, while the latter covetously turned
+over and examined bright ribands and fresh cotton hose. The peddler was
+a master of the art of pleasing all tastes: even the children were not
+forgotten; for there were whips and jew's-harps for the boys, and nice
+check aprons for the girls. (The taste for "playing mother" was as much
+an instinct, with the female children of that day, as it is in times
+more modern; but life was yet too earnest to display it in the dressing
+and nursing of waxen babies.) To suit the people from whom the peddler's
+income was derived, he must consult at least the appearance of utility,
+in every article he offered; for, though no man could do more, to coax
+the money out of one's pocket, without leaving an equivalent, even _he_
+could not succeed in such an enterprise, against the matter-of-fact
+pioneer.
+
+
+The "travelling merchants" of this country were generally what their
+customers called "Yankees"--that is, New-Englanders, or descendants of
+the puritans, whether born east of the Hudson or not. And, certainly, no
+class of men were ever better fitted for an occupation, than were those
+for "peddling." The majority of them were young men, too; for the
+"Yankee" who lives beyond middle age, without providing snug quarters
+for the decline of life, is usually not even fit for a peddler. But,
+though often not advanced in years, they often exhibited qualities,
+which one would have expected to find only in men of age and experience.
+They could "calculate," with the most absolute certainty, what precise
+stage of advancement and cultivation, was necessary to the introduction
+of every article of merchandise their stock comprised. Up to a certain
+limit, they offered, for example, linen table-cloths: beyond that,
+cotton was better and more saleable; in certain settlements, they could
+sell numbers of the finer articles, which, in others, hung on their
+hands like lead; and they seemed to know, the moment they breathed the
+air of a neighborhood, what precise character of goods was most likely
+to pay.
+
+Thus--by way of illustration--it might seem, to one not experienced in
+reading the signs of progress, a matter of nice speculation and subtle
+inquiry, to determine what exact degree of cultivation was necessary, to
+make profitable the trade in _clocks_. But I believe there is no
+instance of an unsuccessful clock-peddler on record; and, though this
+fact may be accounted for, superficially, by asserting that time is
+alike important to all men, and a measure of its course, therefore,
+always a want, a little reflection will convince us, that this
+explanation is more plausible than sound.
+
+
+It is, perhaps, beyond the capacity of any man, to judge unerringly, by
+observation, of the usual signs of progress, the exact point at which a
+community, or a man, has arrived in the scale of cultivation; and it may
+seem especially difficult, to determine commercially, what precise
+articles, of use or ornament, are adapted to the state indicated by
+those signs. But that there are such indications, which, if properly
+attended to, will be unfailing guides, is not to be denied. Thus, the
+quick observation of a clock-peddler would detect among a community of
+primitive habits, the growing tendency to regularity of life; for, as
+refinement advances, the common affairs of everyday existence, feeling
+the influence first, assume a degree of order and arrangement; and from
+the display of this improvement, the trader might draw inferences
+favorable to his traffic. Eating, for example, as he would perceive, is
+done at certain hours of the day--sleep is taken between fixed periods
+of the night and morning--especially, public worship--which is one of
+the best and surest signs of social advancement--must be held at a time
+generally understood.
+
+The peddler might conclude, also, when he saw a glazed window in a
+house, that the owner was already possessed of a clock--which, perhaps,
+needed repairing--or, at least, was in great need of one, if he had not
+yet made the purchase. One of these shrewd "calculators" once told me,
+that, when he saw a man with four panes of glass in his house, and no
+clock, he either sold him one straightway, or "set him down crazy, or a
+screw."
+
+"Have you no other 'signs of promise'"? I asked.
+
+"O yes," he replied, "many! For instance: When I am riding past a
+house--(I always ride slowly)--I take a general and particular survey of
+the premises--or, as the military men say, I make a _reconnaissance_;
+and it must be a very bare place, indeed, if I can not see some 'sign,'
+by which to determine, whether the owner needs a clock. If I see the
+man, himself, I look at his extremities; and by the appearance of hat
+and boot, I make up my opinion as to whether he knows the value of time:
+if he wears anything but a cap, I can pretty fairly calculate upon
+selling him a clock; and if, to the hat, he has added _boots_, I halt at
+once, and, without ceremony, carry a good one in.
+
+"When I see the wife, instead of the husband, I have no difficulty in
+making up my mind--though the signs about the women are so numerous and
+minute, that it would be hard to explain them. If one wears a
+check-apron and sports a calico dress, I know that a 'travelling
+merchant' has been in the neighborhood; and if he has succeeded in
+making a reasonable number of sales, I am certain that he has given her
+such a taste for buying, that I can sell her anything at all: for
+purchasing cheap goods, to a woman, is like sipping good liquor, to a
+man--she soon acquires the appetite, and thenceforward it is insatiable.
+
+"I have some customers who have a _passion_ for clocks. There is a man
+on this road, who has one for every room in his house; and I have
+another with me now--with a portrait of General Jackson in the
+front--which I expect to add to his stock. There is a farmer not far
+from here, with whom I have 'traded' clocks every year since I first
+entered the neighborhood--always receiving about half the value of the
+article I sell, in money, 'to boot.' There are clock-fanciers, as well
+as fanciers of dogs and birds; and I have known cases, in which a man
+would have two or three time-pieces in his house, and not a pair of
+shoes in the family! But such customers are rare--as they ought to be;
+and the larger part of our trade is carried on, with people who begin to
+feel the necessity of regularity--to whom the sun has ceased to be a
+sufficient guide--and who have acquired some notions of elegance and
+comfort. And we seldom encounter the least trouble in determining, by
+the general appearance of the place, whether the occupant has arrived at
+that stage of refinement."
+
+
+We perceive that the principal study of the peddler is human nature; and
+though he classifies the principles of his experience, more especially
+with reference to the profits of his trade, his rapid observation of
+minor traits and indications, is a talent which might be useful in many
+pursuits, besides clock-peddling. And, accordingly, we discover that,
+even after he has abandoned the occupation, and ceased to be a bird of
+passage, he never fails to turn his learning to a good account.
+
+
+He was distinguished by energy as well as shrewdness, and an
+enterprising spirit was the first element of his prosperity. There was
+no corner--no secluded settlement--no out-of-the way place--where he was
+not seen. Bad roads never deterred him: he could drive his horses and
+wagon where a four-wheeled vehicle never went before. He understood
+bearings and distances as well as a topographical engineer, and would
+go, whistling contentedly, across a prairie or through a forest, where
+he had not even a "trail" to guide him. He could find fords and
+crossings where none were previously known to exist; and his pair of
+lean horses, by the skilful management of their driver, would carry him
+and his wares across sloughs and swamps, where a steam-engine would have
+been clogged by the weight of a baby-wagon. If he broke his harness or
+his vehicle in the wilderness, he could repair it without assistance,
+for his mechanical accomplishments extended from the shoeing of a horse
+to the repair of a watch, and embraced everything between. He was never
+taken by surprise--accidents never came unexpected, and strange events
+never disconcerted him. He would whistle "Yankee Doodle" while his
+horses were floundering in a quagmire, and sing "Hail Columbia" while
+plunging into an unknown river!
+
+He never met a stranger, for he was intimately acquainted with a man as
+soon as he saw him. Introductions were useless ceremonies to him, for he
+cared nothing about names. He called a woman "ma'am" and a man "mister,"
+and if he could sell either of them a few goods, he never troubled
+himself or them with impertinent inquiries. Sometimes he had a habit of
+learning each man's name from his next neighbor, and possessing an
+excellent memory, he never lost the information thus acquired.
+
+When he had passed through a settlement once, he had a complete
+knowledge of all its circumstances, history, and inhabitants; and, the
+next year, if he met a child in the road, he could tell you whom it most
+resembled, and to what family it belonged. He recollected all who were
+sick on his last visit--what peculiar difficulties each was laboring
+under--and was always glad to hear of their convalescence. He gathered
+medicinal herbs along the road, and generously presented them to the
+housewives where he halted, and he understood perfectly the special
+properties of each. He possessed a great store of good advice, suited to
+every occasion, and distributed it with the disinterested benevolence of
+a philanthropist. He knew precisely what articles of merchandise were
+adapted to the taste of each customer; and the comprehensive "rule of
+three" would not have enabled him to calculate more nicely the exact
+amount of "talk" necessary to convince them of the same.
+
+His address was extremely insinuating, for he always endeavored to say
+the most agreeable things, and no man could judge more accurately what
+would best please the person addressed. He might be vain enough, but his
+egotism was never obtruded upon others. He might secretly felicitate
+himself upon a successful trade, but he never boasted of it. He seemed
+to be far more interested in the affairs of others than in his own. He
+had sympathy for the afflictions of his customers, counsel for their
+difficulties, triumph in their success.
+
+
+Before the introduction of mails, he was the universal news-carrier, and
+could tell all about the movements of the whole world. He could gossip
+over his wares with his female customers, till he beguiled them into
+endless purchases, for he had heard of every death, marriage, and birth
+within fifty miles. He recollected the precise piece of calico from
+which Mrs. Jones bought her last new dress, and the identical bolt of
+riband from which Mrs. Smith trimmed her "Sunday bonnet." He knew whose
+children went to "meeting" in "store-shoes," whose daughter was
+beginning to wear long dresses, and whose wife wore cotton hose. He
+could ring the changes on the "latest fashions" as glibly as the
+skilfulest _modiste_. He was a _connoisseur_ in colors, and learned in
+their effects upon complexion. He could laugh the husband into
+half-a-dozen shirts, flatter the wife into calico and gingham, and
+praise the children till both parents joined in dressing them anew from
+top to toe.
+
+He always sold his goods "at a ruinous sacrifice," but he seemed to have
+a dépôt of infinite extent and capacity, from which he annually drew new
+supplies. He invariably left a neighborhood the loser by his visit, and
+the close of each season found him inconsolable for his "losses." But
+the next year he was sure to come back, risen, like the Phoenix, from his
+own ashes, and ready to be ruined again--in the same way. He could never
+resist the pleading look of a pretty woman, and if she "jewed" him
+twenty per cent. (though his profits were only two hundred), the
+tenderness of his heart compelled him to yield. What wonder is it, then,
+if he was a prime favorite with all the women, or that his advent, to
+the children, made a day of jubilee?
+
+
+But the peddler, like every other human "institution," only had "his
+day." The time soon came when he was forced to give way before the march
+of newfangledness. The country grew densely populated, neighborhoods
+became thicker, and the smoke of one man's chimney could be seen from
+another's front-door. People's wants began to be permanent--they were no
+longer content with transient or periodical supplies--they demanded
+something more constant and regular. From this demand arose the little
+neighborhood "stores," established for each settlement at a central and
+convenient point--usually at "cross-roads," or next door to the
+blacksmith's shop--and these it was which superseded the peddler's
+trade.
+
+
+We could wish to pause here, and, after describing the little dépôt,
+"take an account of stock:" for no store, not even a sutler's, ever
+presented a more amusing or characteristic assortment. But since these
+modest establishments were generally the _nuclei_, around which western
+towns were built, we must reserve our fire until we reach that subject.
+
+
+But the peddler had not acquired his experience of life for nothing, he
+was not to be outdone, even by the more aristocratic stationary
+shop-keeper. When he found his trade declining, he cast about him for a
+good neighborhood, still uninvaded by the Lombards, and his extensive
+knowledge of the country soon enabled him to find one. Here he erected
+his own cabin, and boldly entered the lists against his new
+competitors. If he could find no eligible point for such an
+establishment, or if he augured unfavorably of his success in the new
+walk, he was not cast down. If he could not "keep store," he could at
+least "keep tavern," an occupation for which his knowledge of the world
+and cosmopolitan habits, admirably fitted him. In this capacity, we
+shall have occasion to refer to him again; and have now only to record,
+that in the progress of time, he grew rich, if not fat, and eventually
+died, "universally regretted."
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE SCHOOLMASTER.
+
+    "There, in his quiet mansion, skilled to rule,
+    The village _master_ taught his little school.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "I knew him well, and every truant knew:
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Yet he was kind; or, if severe in aught,
+    The love he bore to learning was in fault.
+    The village all declared how much he knew:
+    'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too."--
+
+    GOLDSMITH'S "DESERTED VILLAGE."
+
+
+[Illustration: THE SCHOOLMASTER.]
+
+In the progress of society, the physical wants are felt before the
+intellectual. Men appreciate the necessity for covering their backs and
+lining their stomachs before storing their minds, and they naturally
+provide a shelter from the storms of heaven, before they seek (with
+other learning) a knowledge of the heavenly bodies. Thus the rudest
+social system comprises something of the mechanic arts--government
+begins to advance toward the dignity of a science--commerce follows the
+establishment of legal supremacy--and the education of the citizen
+comes directly after the recognition of his social and political rights.
+So, the justice of the peace (among other legal functionaries) indicates
+subjection, more or less complete, to the regulations of law; the
+peddler represents the beginning of commercial interests; and the
+schoolmaster succeeds him, in the natural order of things.
+
+It may be possible to preserve a high respect for a _calling_, while we
+despise the men who exercise it: though I believe this is not one of the
+rules which "work both ways," and the converse is, therefore, not
+equally true. A man's occupation affects _him_ more nearly than _he_
+does his occupation. A thousand contemptible men will not bring a
+respectable profession into so much disrepute, as a contemptible
+profession will a thousand respectable men. All the military talents,
+for example, of the commander-in-chief of our armies, would not preserve
+him from contempt, should he set up a barber-shop, or drive a milk-cart;
+but the barber, or the milkman, might make a thousand blunders at the
+head of an army, should extravagant democracy elevate him to that
+position, and yet the rank of a general would be as desirable, because
+as honorable, as ever.
+
+It is certainly true, however, that the most exalted station may be
+degraded by filling it with a low or despicable incumbent, for the
+mental effort necessary to the abstraction of the employment from him
+who pursues it, is one which most men do not take the trouble to make:
+an effort, indeed, which the majority of men are _incapable_ of making.
+A vicious priest degrades the priestly vocation--a hypocrite brings
+reproach upon the religious profession--a dishonest lawyer sinks the
+legal character--and even the bravest men care but little for promotion
+in an army, when cowardice and incompetency are rewarded with rank and
+power. But manifest incapacity, culpable neglect of duty, or even a
+positively vicious character, will not reduce a calling to contempt, or
+bring it into disrepute so soon, as any quality which excites ridicule.
+
+An awkward figure, a badly-shaped garment, or an ungainly manner, will
+sometimes outweigh the acquirements of the finest scholar; and the cause
+of religion has suffered more, from the absence of the softer graces, in
+its clerical representations, than from all the logic of its
+adversaries. A laugh is more effectual to subvert an institution, than
+an argument--for it is easier to make men ashamed, than to convince
+them. Truth and reason are formidable weapons, but ridicule is stronger
+than either--or both.
+
+Thus: All thinking men will eagerly admit, that the profession of the
+schoolmaster is, not only respectable, but honorable, alike to the
+individual, and to the community in which he pursues it: yet, rather
+than teach a school for a livelihood, the large majority of the same men
+would "split rails" or cut cord-wood! And this is not because teaching
+is laborious--though it _is_ laborious, and thankless, too, beyond all
+other occupations; but because a number and variety of causes, into
+which we need not inquire, have combined to throw ridicule upon him, who
+is derisively called the pedagogue--for most men would rather be shot
+at, than laughed at. Cause and effect are always inter-reactive: and the
+refusal of the most competent men, to "take up the birch"--which is the
+effect of this derision--has filled our school-rooms with men, who are,
+not unfairly, its victims. Thus the profession--(for such is its
+inherent dignity)--itself, has fallen into discredit--even though the
+judgment of men universally is, that it is not only useful, but
+indispensable.
+
+Nor is that judgment incorrect. For, though home-education may sometimes
+succeed, it is usually too fragmentary to be beneficial--private tutors
+are too often the slaves of their pupils, and can not enforce "attention,"
+the first condition of advancement, where they have not the paraphernalia
+of command--and, as for self-education, logically there can be no such
+thing: "one might as well attempt to lift himself over the fence, by the
+straps of his boots," as to educate himself "without a master."
+
+
+The schoolmaster, then, is a useful member of society--not to be spared
+at any stage of its progress. But he is particularly necessary to
+communities which are in the transition state; for, upon the
+enlightenment of the rising generation depend the success and
+preservation of growing institutions. Nor does his usefulness consist
+altogether--or even in a great measure--in the number of facts,
+sciences, or theories, with which he may store the minds of his pupils.
+These are not the objects of education, any more than a knowledge of the
+compartments in a printer's "letter-case," is the ultimate result of the
+art of printing. The types are so arranged, in order to enable the
+compositors more conveniently to attain the ends, for which that
+arrangement is only a preparation: facts and sciences are taught for
+the improvement of the faculties, in order that they may work with more
+ease, force, and certainty, upon other and really important things; for
+education is only the marshalling of powers, preliminary to the great
+"battle of life."
+
+The mind of an uneducated man, however strong in itself, is like an army
+of undisciplined men--a crowd of chaotic, shapeless, and often
+misdirected elements. To bring these into proper subjection--to enable
+him to bind them, with anything like their native force, to a given
+purpose--a prescribed "training" is necessary; and it is this which
+education supplies. If you can give a mind the _habit of attention_, all
+the power it has will be made available: and it is through this faculty,
+that even dull minds are so frequently able to mount the car of triumph,
+and ride swiftly past so many, who are immeasurably their superiors. The
+first element of the discipline which develops this power, is submission
+to control; and without such subordination, a school can not exist.
+Thus, the first lesson that children learn from the schoolmaster, is the
+most valuable acquisition they can make.
+
+
+But it was no easy task to teach this principle to the sturdy children
+of the early Western "settler;" in this, as in all other things, the
+difficulty of the labor was in exact proportion to its necessity. The
+peculiarities of the people, and the state of the country, were not
+favorable to the establishment of the limited monarchy, requisite to
+successful teaching. In the first place, the parents very generally
+undervalued, what they called "mere book-learning." For themselves, they
+had found more use for a rifle than a pen; and they naturally thought it
+a much more valuable accomplishment, to be able to scalp a squirrel with
+a bullet, at a hundred paces, than to read the natural history of the
+animal in the "picture-book." They were enthusiastic, also, upon the
+subject of independence; and, though they could control their children
+sternly enough at home, they were apt to look, with a jealous eye, upon
+any attempt to establish dominion elsewhere. The children partook
+largely of the free, wild spirit of their fathers. They were very prompt
+to resist anything like encroachment upon their privileges or rights,
+and were, of course, pretty certain to consider even salutary control an
+attempt to assert a despotism. I believe history contains no record,
+whatever the annals of fiction may display, of a boy, with much spirit,
+submitting without a murmur to the authority of the schoolmaster: if
+such a prodigy of enlightened humility ever existed, he certainly did
+not live in the west. But a more important difficulty than either of
+these, was the almost entire want of money in the country; and without
+this there was but little encouragement for the effort to overcome other
+obstacles. Money _may_ be only a _representative_ of value, but its
+absence operates marvellously like the want of the value itself, and the
+primitive people of those days, and especially that class to which the
+schoolmaster belonged, had a habit, however illogical, of considering it
+a desirable commodity, _per se_.
+
+All these impediments, however, could, in the course of time, be
+conquered: the country was improving in social tone; parents must
+eventually take some pride even in the accomplishments they despised;
+and patience and gentleness, intermingled, now and then, with a little
+wholesome severity, will ultimately subdue the most stubborn spirit. As
+for the pecuniary difficulty, it was, as the political economists will
+tell us, only the absence of a medium at the worst: and, in its stead,
+the master could receive boarding, clothing, and the agricultural
+products of the country. So many barrels of corn, or bushels of wheat,
+"per quarter," might not be so conveniently handled, but were quite as
+easy to be counted, as an equal number of dollars; and this primitive
+mode of payment is even yet practised in many rural districts, perhaps,
+in both the east and west. To counter-balance its inconvenience of bulk,
+this "currency" possessed a double advantage over the more refined
+"medium of exchange" now in use: it was not liable to counterfeits, and
+the bank from which it issued was certain not to "break."
+
+So the schoolmaster was not to be deterred from pursuing his honorable
+calling, even by the difficulties incident to half-organized
+communities. Indeed, teaching was the resort, at least temporary, of
+four fifths of the educated, and nearly an equal number of the
+uneducated young men, who came to the west: for certainly that
+proportion of both classes arrived in the country, without money to
+support, friends to encourage, or pride to deter them.
+
+
+They were almost all what western people call "Yankees"--born and bred
+east of the Hudson: descendants of the sturdy puritans--and
+distinguished by the peculiarities of that strongly-marked people, in
+personal appearance, language, manners, and style and tone of thought.
+Like the peddlers, they were generally on the sunny side of thirty, full
+of the hopeful energy which belongs to that period of life, and only
+submitting to the labors and privations of the present, because through
+these they looked to the future for better and brighter things.
+
+The causes which led to their emigration, were as many and as various as
+the adventurers whom they moved. They were, most of them, mere boys:
+young Whittingtons, whom the bells did _not_ ring back, to become
+lord-mayors; who, indeed, had not even the limited possessions of that
+celebrated worthy; and, thus destitute, they wandered off, many hundreds
+of miles, "to see the world and make their fortunes," at an age when the
+youth of the present day are just beginning to think of college. They
+brought neither money, letters of introduction, nor bills of exchange:
+they expected to find neither acquaintance nor relatives. But they
+knew--for it was one of the wise maxims of their unromantic
+fathers--that industry and honesty must soon gather friends, and that
+all other desirable things would speedily follow. They had great and
+just confidence in their own abilities to "get along;" and if they did
+not actually think that the whole world belonged to them, they were
+well-assured, that in an incredibly short space of time, they would be
+able to possess a respectable portion of it.
+
+
+A genuine specimen of the class to which most of the early schoolmasters
+belonged, never felt any misgivings about his own success, and never
+hesitated to assume any position in life. Neither pride nor modesty was
+ever suffered to interfere with his action. He would take charge of a
+numerous school, when he could do little more than write his own name,
+just as he would have undertaken to run a steamboat, or command an army,
+when he had never studied engineering or heard of strategy. Nor would he
+have failed in either capacity: a week's application would make him
+master of a steam-engine, or a proficient (after the _present manner_ of
+proficiency) in tactics; and as for his school, he could himself learn
+at night what he was to teach others on the following day! Nor was this
+mere "conceit"--though, in some other respects, that word, in its
+limited sense, was not inapplicable--neither was it altogether ignorant
+presumption; for one of these men was seldom known to fail in anything
+he undertook: or, if he did fail, he was never found to be cast down by
+defeat, and the resiliency of his nature justified his confidence.
+
+
+The pursuit of a certain avocation, for a long period, is apt to warp
+one's nature to its inequalities; and as the character gradually assumes
+the peculiar shape, the personal appearance changes in a corresponding
+direction and degree. Thus, the blacksmith becomes brawny, square, and
+sturdy, and the characteristic swing of his arm gives tone to his whole
+bearing: the silversmith acquires a peering, cunning look, as if he were
+always examining delicate machinery: the physician becomes solemn,
+stately, pompous, and mysterious, and speaks like "Sir Oracle," as if he
+were eternally administering a bread-pill, or enjoining a regimen of
+drugs and starvation: the lawyer assumes a keen, alert, suspicious
+manner, as if he were constantly in pursuit of a latent perjury, or
+feared that his adversary might discover a flaw in his "case:" and so
+on, throughout the catalogue of human avocations. But, among all these,
+that which marks its votaries most clearly, is school-teaching.
+
+There seems to be a sort of antagonism between this employment and all
+manner of neatness, and the circle of the schoolmaster's female
+acquaintance never included the Graces. Attention to personal decoration
+is usually, though not universally, in an inverse ratio to mental
+garniture; and an artistically-tied cravat seems inconsistent with the
+supposition of a well-stored head above it. A mind which is directed
+toward the evolution of its own powers, has but little time to waste in
+adorning the body; and a fashionable costume would appear to cramp the
+intellect, as did the iron-vessel the genius of the Arabian tale.
+Although, therefore, there are numerous exceptions--persons whose
+externals are as elegant as their pursuits are intellectual--men of
+assiduously-cultivated minds are apt to be careless of appearances, and
+the principle applies, with especial force, to those whose business it
+is to develop the minds of others.
+
+Nor was the schoolmaster of early days in the west, an exception to the
+rule. He might not be as learned, nor as purely intellectual, as some of
+our modern college-professors, but he was as ungraceful, and as
+awkwardly clad, as the most slovenly of them all. Indeed, he came of a
+stock which has never been noted for any of the lighter accomplishments,
+or "carnal graces;" for at no period of its eventful history, has the
+puritan type been a remarkable elegant one. The men so named have been
+better known for bravery than taste, for zeal than polish; and since
+there is always a correspondence between habits of thought and feeling
+and the external appearance, the _physique_ of the race is more
+remarkable for rigor of muscle and angularity of outline, than for
+accuracy of proportion or smoothness of finish. Neither Apollo nor
+Adonis was in any way related to the family; and if either had been, the
+probability is that his kindred would have disowned him.
+
+Properly to represent his lineage, therefore, the schoolmaster could be
+neither dandy nor dancing-master; and, as if to hold him to his
+integrity, nature had omitted to give him any temptation, in his own
+person, to assume either of these respectable characters. The tailor
+that could shape a coat to fit _his_ shoulders, never yet handled
+shears; and he would have been as ill at ease, in a pair of fashionable
+pantaloons, as if they had been lined with chestnut-burrs. He was
+generally above the medium height, with a very decided stoop, as if in
+the habit of carrying burthens; and a long, high nose, with light blue
+eyes, and coarse, uneven hair, of a faded weather-stain color, gave his
+face the expression answering to this lathy outline. Though never very
+slender, he was always thin: as if he had been flattened out in a
+rolling-mill; and rotundity of corporation was a mode of development not
+at all characteristic. His complexion was seldom florid, and not often
+decidedly pale; a sort of sallow discoloration was its prevailing hue,
+like that which marks the countenance of a consumer of "coarse" whiskey
+and strong tobacco. But these failings were not the cause of his
+cadaverous look--for a faithful representative of the class held them
+both in commendable abhorrence--_they were not the vices of his nature_.
+
+There was a sub-division of the class, a secondary type, not so often
+observed, but common enough to entitle it to a brief notice. _He_ was,
+generally, short, square, and thick--the latitude bearing a better
+proportion to the longitude than in his lank brother--but never
+approaching anything like roundness. With this attractive figure, he had
+a complexion of decidedly bilious darkness, and what is commonly called
+a "dish-face." His nose was depressed between the eyes, an arrangement
+which dragged the point upward in the most cruel manner, but gave it an
+expression equally ludicrous and impertinent. A pair of small, round,
+black eyes, encompassed--like two little feudal fortresses, each by its
+moat--with a circle of yellowish white, peered out from under brows like
+battlements. Coarse, black hair, always cut short, and standing erect,
+so as to present something the appearance of a _chevaux de frise_,
+protected a hard, round head--a shape most appropriate to his
+lineage--while, with equal propriety, ears of corresponding magnitude
+stood boldly forth to assert their claim to notice.
+
+Both these types were distinguished for large feet, which no boot could
+enclose, and hands broad beyond the compass of any glove. Neither was
+ever known to get drunk, to grow fat, to engage in a game of chance, or
+to lose his appetite: it became the teacher of "ingenuous youth" to
+preserve an exemplary bearing before those whom he was endeavoring to
+benefit; while respectable "appearances," and proper appreciation of the
+good things of life, were the _alpha_ and _omega_ of his system of
+morality.
+
+
+But the schoolmaster--and we now include both sub-divisions of the
+class--was not deficient as an example in many other things, to all who
+wished to learn the true principles of living. Among other things, he
+was distinguished for a rigid, iron-bound economy: a characteristic
+which it might have been well to impart to many of his pupils. But that
+which the discreet master denominated _prudence_, the extravagant and
+wrong-headed scholar was inclined to term _meanness_: and historical
+truth compels us to admit, that the rigor of grim economy sometimes wore
+an aspect of questionable austerity. Notwithstanding this, however, when
+we reflect upon the scanty compensation afforded the benefactor of the
+rising generation, we can not severely blame his penurious tenacity any
+more than we can censure an empty wine-cask for not giving forth the
+nectar which we have never poured into it. If, accordingly, he was out
+at the elbows, we are bound to conclude that it was because he had not
+the money to buy a new coat; and if he never indulged himself in any of
+the luxuries of life, it was, probably, because the purchase of its
+necessaries had already brought him too near the bottom of his purse.
+
+He was always, moreover, "a close calculator," and, with a wisdom worthy
+of all imitation, never mortgaged the future for the convenience of the
+present. Indeed, this power of "calculation" was not only a talent but a
+passion: you would have thought that his progenitors had been
+arithmeticians since the time of Noah! He could "figure up" any
+proposition whatsoever: but he was especially great upon the question,
+how much he could save from his scanty salary, and yet live to the end
+of the year.
+
+In fact, it was only _living_ that he cared for. The useful, with him,
+was always superior to the ornamental; and whatever was not absolutely
+necessary, he considered wasteful and extravagant. Even the profusion of
+western hospitality was, in his eyes, a crime against the law of
+prudence, and he would as soon have forgiven a breach of good morals as
+a violation of this, his favorite rule.
+
+As might have been expected, he carried this principle with him into the
+school-room, and was very averse to teaching anything beyond what would
+certainly "pay." He rigidly eschewed embellishment, and adorned his
+pupils with no graceful accomplishments. It might be that he never
+taught anything above the useful branches of education, because he had
+never learned more himself; but it is certain that he would not have
+imparted merely polite learning, had his own training enabled him to do
+so: for he had, constitutionally, a high contempt for all "flimsy"
+things, and, moreover, he was not employed or paid to teach rhetoric or
+_belles-lettres_, and, "on principle," he never gave more in return
+than the value of the money he received.
+
+With this reservation, his duties were always thoroughly performed, for
+neither by nature, education, nor lineage, was he likely to slight any
+recognised obligation. He devoted his time and talents to his school, as
+completely as if he had derived from it the income of a bishop; and the
+iron constitution, of both body and mind, peculiar to his race, enabled
+him to endure a greater amount of continuous application than any other
+man. Indeed, his powers of endurance were quite surprising, and the
+fibre of his mind was as tough as that of his body. Even upon a quality
+so valuable as this, however, he never prided himself; for, excepting
+the boast of race, which was historical and not unjustifiable, he _had_
+no pride. He might be a little vain; and, in what he said and did, more
+especially in its manner, there might occasionally be a shade of
+self-conceit: for he certainly entertained no mean opinion of himself.
+This might be a little obtrusive, too, at times; for he had but slight
+veneration for men, or their feelings, or opinions; and he would
+sometimes pronounce a judgment in a tone of superiority justly
+offensive. But he possessed the uncommon virtue of sincerity: he
+thoroughly believed in the infallibility of his own conclusions; and
+for this the loftiness of his tone might be forgiven.
+
+The most important of the opinions thus expressed, were upon religious
+subjects, for Jews, puritans, and Spaniards, have always been very
+decided controversialists. His theology was grim, solemn, and angular,
+and he was as combative as one of Cromwell's disputatious troopers. In
+his capacious pocket, he always carried a copy of the New Testament--as,
+of old, the carnal controvertists bore a sword buckled to the side. Thus
+armed, he was a genuine polemical "swash-buckler," and would whip out
+his Testament, as the bravo did his weapon, to cut you in two without
+ceremony. He could carve you into numerous pieces, and season you with
+scriptural salt and pepper; and he would do it with a gusto so serious,
+that it would have been no unreasonable apprehension that he intended to
+eat you afterward. And the value of his triumph was enhanced, too, by
+the consideration that it was won by no meretricious graces or
+rhetorical flourishes; for the ease of his gesticulation was such as you
+see in the arms of a windmill, and his enunciation was as nasal and
+monotonous as that of the Reverend Eleazar Poundtext, under whose
+ministrations he had been brought up in all godliness.
+
+But he possessed other accomplishments beside those of the polemic. He
+was not, it is true, overloaded with the learning of "the schools"--was,
+in fact, quite ignorant of some of the branches of knowledge which he
+imparted to his pupils: yet this was never allowed to become apparent,
+for as we have intimated, he would frequently himself acquire, at night,
+the lessons which he was to teach on the morrow. But time was seldom
+wasted among the people from whom he sprang, and this want of
+preparation denoted that his leisure hours had been occupied in
+possessing himself of other acquirements. Among these, the most elegant,
+if not the most useful, was music, and his favorite instrument was the
+flute.
+
+In "David Copperfield," Dickens describes a certain flute-playing tutor,
+by the name of Mell, concerning whom, and the rest of mankind, he
+expresses the rash opinion, "after many years of reflection," that
+"nobody ever could have played worse." But Dickens never saw Strongfaith
+Lippincott, the schoolmaster, nor heard his lugubrious flute, and he
+therefore knows nothing of the superlative degree of detestable playing.
+
+There _are_ instruments upon which even an unskilful performer may make
+tolerable music, but the flute is not one of them--the man who murders
+_that_, is a malefactor entitled to no "benefit of clergy:" and our
+schoolmaster _did_ murder it in the most inhuman manner! But, let it be
+said in mitigation of his offence, he had never received the benefit of
+any scientific teaching--he had not been "under the tuition of the
+celebrated Signor Wheeziana," nor had he profited by "the invaluable
+instructions of the unrivalled Bellowsblauer"--and it is very doubtful
+whether he would have gained much advantage from them, had he met the
+opportunity.
+
+He knew that, in order to make a noise on the flute, or, indeed,
+anywhere else, it was necessary to _blow_, and blow he did, like Boreas!
+He always carried the instrument in his pocket, and on being asked to
+play--a piece of politeness for which he always looked--he drew it out
+with the solemnity of visage with which a tender-hearted sheriff
+produces a death-warrant, and while he screwed the joints together,
+sighed blasts like a furnace. He usually deposited himself upon the
+door-sill--a favorite seat for him--and collecting the younger members
+of the family about him, thence poured forth his strains of concentrated
+mournfulness.
+
+He invariably selected the most melancholy tunes, playing, with a more
+profound solemnity, the gloomiest psalms and lamentations. When he
+ventured upon secular music, he never performed anything more lively
+than "The Mistletoe Bough," or "Barbara Allen," and into each he threw a
+spirit so much more dismal than the original, as almost to induce his
+hearers to imitate the example of the disconsolate "Barbara," and "turn
+their faces to the wall" in despair of being ever again able to muster a
+smile!
+
+He was not a scientific musician, then--fortunately for his
+usefulness--because thorough musicians are generally "good-for-nothing"
+else. But music was not a science among the pioneers, though the
+undertone of melancholy feeling, to which all sweet sounds appeal, was
+as easily reached in them as in any other people. Their wants in this,
+as in other things, were very easily satisfied--they were susceptible of
+pleasure from anything which was in the least commendable: and not
+feeling obliged, by any captious canon, to condemn nine true notes,
+because of the tenth false one, they allowed themselves to enjoy the
+best music they could get, without thinking of the damage done their
+musical and critical reputation.
+
+But his flute was not the only means of pleasing within the
+schoolmaster's reach: for he could flatter as well as if the souls of
+ten courtiers had transmigrated into his single body. He might not do it
+quite so gracefully as one of these, nor with phrases so well-chosen, or
+so correctly pronounced, but what he said was always cunningly adapted
+to the character of the person whom he desired to move. He had "a deal
+of candied courtesy," especially for the women; and though his sturdy
+manhood and the excellent opinion of himself--both of which came to him
+from his ancestry--usually preserved him from the charge of servility,
+he was sometimes a "cozener" whose conscience annoyed him with very few
+scruples. Occasionally he might be seen fawning upon the rich; but it
+was not with him--as it usually is with the parasites of wealthy
+men--because he thought Dives more respectable, but more _useful_, on
+account of his money: the opulent possessed what the indigent wanted,
+and the shortest road to the goal of Cupidity, lay through the region of
+Vanity. There was none of that servility which Mr. Carlyle has attempted
+to dignify with the name of "hero-worship," for the rich man was rather
+a bird to be plucked, than a "hero" to be worshipped. And though it may
+seem that I do the schoolmaster little honor by the distinction, I can
+not but think cupidity a more manly trait than servility: the beast of
+prey a more respectable animal than the hound.
+
+But the schoolmaster's obsequiousness was more in manner than in
+inclination, and found its excuse in the dependence of his
+circumstances. It has been immemorially the custom of the world,
+practically to undervalue his services, and in all time teaching and
+poverty have been inseparable companions. Nobody ever cared how poorly
+he was clad, how laborious his life, or how few his comforts; and if he
+failed to attend to his own interests by all the arts in his power, no
+one, certainly, would perform the office for him. He was expected to
+make himself generally useful without being particular about his
+compensation: he was willing to do the one, but was, very naturally,
+rather averse to the other: that which justice would not give him, he
+managed to procure by stratagem.
+
+His manners thus acquired the characteristics we have enumerated, with
+also others. He was, for example, very officious; a peculiarity which
+might, perhaps, be derived from his parentage, but which was never
+repressed by his occupation. The desire to make himself agreeable, and
+his high opinion of his ability to do so, rendered his tone and bearing
+very familiar; but this was, also, a trait which he shared with his
+race, and one which has contributed, as much as any other, to bring the
+people called "Yankees" into contempt in the west. The men of that
+section are not themselves reserved, and hate nothing more than
+ceremonious politeness: but they like to be the first to make advances,
+and their demonstrations are all hearty, blunt, and open. They therefore
+disliked anything which has an insinuating tone, and the man who
+attempts to ingratiate himself with them, whether it be by elaborate
+arts or sidelong familiarity, at once arms them against them.
+
+The schoolmaster was inquisitive, also, and to that western men most
+decidedly object. They have little curiosity themselves, and seldom ask
+impertinent questions. When they do so, it is almost always for the
+purpose of insulting the man to whom they are put, and _never_ to make
+themselves agreeable. The habit of asking numerous questions was,
+therefore, apt to prejudice them against men whose characteristics might
+be, in other respects, very estimable; and it must be acknowledged, that
+vulgar and obtrusive impertinence is an unfortunate accompaniment to an
+introduction. But the schoolmaster never meant to be impertinent, for
+he was far from being quarrelsome (except with his scholars), and the
+idea that any one could be otherwise than pleased with his notice,
+however given, never entered his mind. Though his questions were, for
+the most part, asked to gratify a constitutional curiosity, he was
+actuated in some degree, also, by the notion that his condescension
+would be acceptably interpreted by those whom he thus favored. But, like
+many other benevolent men, who put force upon their inclinations for the
+benefit of their neighbors, he was mistaken in his "calculation;" and
+where he considered himself a benefactor, he was by others pronounced a
+"bore." The fact is, he had some versatility, and, like most men of
+various powers, he was prone to think himself a much greater man than he
+really was.
+
+He was not peculiarly fitted to shine as a gallant "in hall or bower,"
+but had he been the climax of knightly qualities, the very impersonation
+of beauty, grace, and accomplishment, he could not have been better
+adapted than, in his own estimation, he already was, to please the fancy
+of a lady. He was blissfully unconscious of every imperfection; and
+displayed himself before what he thought the admiring gaze of all
+_dames_ and _demoiselles_, as proudly as if he had been the
+all-accomplished victor in some passage of arms. Yet he carried
+himself, in outward appearance, as meekly as the humblest Christian, and
+took credit to himself accordingly. He seldom pressed his advantages to
+the utter subjugation of the sighing dames, but deported himself with
+commendable forbearance toward the weak and defenceless whom his
+perfections had disarmed. He was as merciful as he was irresistible: as
+considerate as he was beautiful.
+
+     "What a saint of a knight is the knight of Saint John!"
+
+The personal advantages which he believed made him so dangerous to the
+peace of woman, were counteracted, thus, by his saintly piety. For--as
+it became him to be, both in the character of a man, and in that of a
+descendant of the puritans--he was always habited in "the livery of
+heaven." Some ill-natured and suspicious people, it is true, were
+inclined to call his exemplary "walk" hypocritical, and to stigmatise
+his pious "conversation" as _cant_. But the ungodly world has always
+persecuted the righteous, and the schoolmaster was correct in
+attributing their sneers to the rebuke which his example gave to their
+wickedness, and to make "capital" out of the "persecution." And who
+shall blame him--when in the weary intervals of a laborious and
+thankless profession, fatigue repressed enthusiasm--if he sometimes eked
+out the want of inspiration by a godly snuffle? True piety reduces even
+the weapons of the scorner to the service of religion, and the citadel
+of the Gloomy Kingdom is bombarded with the artillery of Satan! Thus,
+the nose, which is so serviceable in the production of the devilish and
+unchristian sneer, is elevated by a saintlike zeal, to the expression of
+a devout whine: and this I believe to be the only satisfactory
+explanation which has ever been given, of the connection, in so many
+good men, between the _nasal_ and the _religious_!
+
+
+But the schoolmaster usually possessed genuine religious feeling, as
+well as a pious manner; and, excepting an occasional display of
+hereditary, and almost unconscious, cunning, he lived "a righteous and
+upright life."
+
+
+The process of becoming a respectable and respected citizen was a very
+short and simple one--and whether the schoolmaster designed to remain
+only a lord of the ferrule, or casting the insignia of his office behind
+him, to seek higher things, he was never slow in adopting it. Among his
+scholars, there were generally half-a-dozen or more young
+women--marriageable daughters of substantial men; and from this number
+he selected, courted, and espoused, some healthy, buxom girl, the
+heiress of a considerable plantation or a quantity of "wild land." He
+always sought these two requisites combined--for he was equally fond of
+a fine person and handsome estate. Upon the land, he generally managed
+to find an eligible town-site; and, being a perfect master of the art of
+building cities on paper, and puffing them into celebrity, his sales of
+town-lots usually brought him a competent fortune. As years rolled on,
+his substance increased with the improvement of the country--the rougher
+points of his character were gradually rubbed down--age and gray hairs
+thickened upon his brow--honors, troops of friends, and numerous
+children, gathered round him--and the close of his career found him
+respected in life and lamented in death. His memory is a monument of
+what honesty and industry, even without worldly advantages, may always
+accomplish.
+
+
+     [NOTE.--A friend expresses a doubt whether I have not made the
+     foregoing portrait too hard-featured for historical accuracy; and,
+     by way of fortifying his opinion, points to illustrious examples of
+     men who have taught schools in their youth--senators and
+     statesmen--some of whom now hold prominent positions before the
+     people, even for the highest offices in their gift. But these men
+     never belonged to the class which I have attempted to portray.
+     Arriving in this country in youth, without the means of
+     subsistence--in many cases, long before they had acquired the
+     professions which afterward made them famous--they resorted to
+     school-teaching as a mere expedient for present support, without
+     any intention to make it the occupation of their lives, or the
+     means of their advancement. They were moved by an ambition which
+     looked beyond it, and they invariably abandoned it so soon as they
+     had prepared themselves for another pursuit.
+
+     But the genuine _character_ took it up as a permanent
+     employment--he looked to it not only as a means of temporary
+     subsistence, but as a source, by some of the direct or indirect
+     channels which we have indicated, of lasting income--and he never
+     threw it up until he had already secured that to which the other
+     class, when _they_ abandoned the occupation, were still looking
+     forward. In the warfare against Ignorance, therefore, these, whom
+     we have described, were the regular army, while the exceptions were
+     but volunteers for a limited period, and, in the muster-roll of
+     permanent strength, they are, therefore, not included.]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE SCHOOLMISTRESS.]
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+THE SCHOOLMISTRESS
+
+    "And yet I love thee not--thy brow
+    Is but the sculptor's mould:
+    It wants a shade, it wants a glow--
+    It is less fair than cold."
+
+    L. E. L.
+
+
+But the family of the pioneer consisted of girls as well as boys; and
+though the former were never so carefully educated as the latter, they
+were seldom allowed to go wholly untaught.
+
+The more modern system, which separates the sexes while infants, and
+never suffers them to come together again until they are "marriageable,"
+was not then introduced; and we think it would have been no great
+misfortune to the country had it remained in Spain, whence it would seem
+to have been imported. Children of both sexes were intended to grow up
+together--to be educated in company--at least until they have reached
+the points where their paths naturally diverge, for thus only can they
+be most useful to each other, in the duties, trials, and struggles, of
+after life. The artificial refinement which teaches a little girl that a
+boy is something to be dreaded--a sort of beast of prey--before she
+recognises any difference, save in dress, can never benefit her at best;
+for by-and-by she will discover the falsehood: the very instincts of her
+nature would unveil it, did she learn it in no other way: and as action
+and reaction are equal, the rebound may cause her to entertain opinions
+altogether too favorable to those whom she has so foolishly been taught
+to fear.
+
+Nor is the effect of such a system likely to be any better upon the
+other sex: for it is association with females (as early as possible,
+too, all the better), which softens, humanizes, graces, and adorns the
+masculine character. The boy who has been denied such association--the
+incidents to whose education have made him shy, as so many are, even of
+little girls--is apt to grow up morose and selfish, ill-tempered, and
+worse mannered. When the impulses of his developing nature finally force
+him into female society, he goes unprepared, and comes away without
+profit: his ease degenerates into familiarity, his conversation is, at
+best, but washy sentimentalism, and the association, until the
+accumulated rust of youth is worn away, is of very doubtful benefit to
+both parties. Indeed, parents who thus govern and educate their
+children, can find no justification for the practice, until they can
+first so alter the course of Nature, as to establish the law, that each
+family shall be composed altogether of girls, or shall consist
+exclusively of boys!
+
+
+But these modern refinements had not obtained currency, at the period of
+which we are writing; nor was any such nonsense the motive to the
+introduction of female teachers. But one of the lessons learned by
+observation of the domestic circle, and particularly of the influence of
+the mother over her children, was the principle, that a woman can teach
+males of a certain age quite as well as a man, and _females much
+better_; and that, since the school-teacher stands, for the time in the
+place of the parent, a _mistress_ was far more desirable, especially for
+the girls, than a _master_. Hence, the latter had exercised his vocation
+in the west, but a few years, before he was followed by the former.
+
+
+New England was the great nursery of this class, as it was of so many
+others, transplanted beyond the Alleghenies. Emigration, and the
+enticements and casualties of a seafaring life--drawing the men into
+their appropriate channels of enterprise and adventure, had there
+reduced their number below that of the women--thus remitting many of the
+latter, to other than the usual and natural occupations of "the sex."
+Matrimony became a remote possibility to large numbers--attention to
+household matters gave place to various kinds of light labor--and, since
+they were not likely to have progeny of their own to rear, many resorted
+to the teaching of children belonging to others. Idleness was a rare
+vice; and New England girls--to their honor be it spoken--have seldom
+resembled "the lilies of the field," in aught, save the fairness of
+their complexions! They have never displayed much squeamishness--about
+work: and if they could not benefit the rising generation in a maternal,
+were willing to make themselves useful in a tutorial capacity. The
+people of that enlightened section, have always possessed the learning
+necessary to appreciate, and the philanthropy implied in the wish to
+dispel, the benighted ignorance of all other quarters of the world; and
+thus a competent number of them have ever been found willing to give up
+the comforts of home, for the benefit of the "barbarous west."
+
+The schoolmistress, then, generally came from the "cradle" of
+intelligence, as well as "of liberty," beyond the Hudson; and, in the
+true spirit of benevolence, she carried her blessings (herself the
+greatest) across the mountain barrier, to bestow them, _gratis_, upon
+the spiritually and materially needy, in the valley of the Mississippi.
+Her vocation, or, as it would now be called, her "mission" was to teach
+an impulse not only given by her education, but belonging to her nature.
+She had a constitutional tendency toward it--indeed, a genius for it;
+like that which impels one to painting, another to sculpture--this to a
+learned profession, that to a mechanical trade. And so perfectly was she
+adapted to it, that "the ignorant people of the west" not recognising
+her "divine appointment," were often at a loss to conjecture, who, or
+whether anybody, could have taught _her_!
+
+For that same "ignorant," and too often, ungrateful people, she was full
+of tender pity--the yearning of the single-hearted missionary, for the
+welfare of his flock. _They_ were steeped in darkness, but _she_ carried
+the light--nay, she _was_ the light! and with a benignity, often evinced
+by self-sacrifice--she poured it graciously over the land--
+
+    "Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do:
+    Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
+    Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike
+    As if we had them not."
+
+For the good of the race, or of any (male) individual, she would
+immolate herself, even upon the altar of Hymen; and, since the number,
+who were to be benefited by such self-devotement, was small in New
+England, but large in the west, she did well to seek a field for her
+benign dedication, beyond the Alleghenies! Honor to the all-daring
+self-denial, which brought to the forlorn bachelor of the west, a
+companion in his labors, a solace in his afflictions, and a mother to
+his children!
+
+
+Her name was invariably Grace, Charity, or Prudence; and, if names had
+been always descriptive of the personal qualities of those who bore
+them, she would have been entitled to all three.
+
+
+In the early ages of the world, names were, or, at least, were supposed
+to be, fair exponents of the personal characters of those, upon whom
+they were bestowed. But, _then_, the qualities must be manifested,
+before the name could be earned, so that all who had never distinguished
+themselves, in some way, were said to be "nameless." In more modern
+times, however, an improvement upon this system was introduced: the
+character was anticipated, and parents called their children what they
+_wished_ them to be, in the hope that they would grow to the standard
+thus imposed. And it is no doubt, true, that names thus bestowed had
+much influence in the development of character--on the same principle,
+upon which the boards, to which Indian women lash their infants soon
+after birth, have much to do with the erect carriage of the mature
+savage. Such an appellation is a perpetual memento of parental
+counsels--a substitute for barren precept--an endless exhortation to
+Grace, Charity, or Prudence.
+
+I do not mean, that calling a boy Cicero will certainly make him an
+orator, or that all Jeremiahs are necessarily prophets; nor is it
+improbable, that the same peculiarities in the parents, which dictate
+these expressive names, may direct the characters of the children, by
+controlling their education; but it is unquestionable, that the
+characteristics, and even the fortunes of the man, are frequently
+daguerreotyped by a name given in infancy. There is not a little wisdom
+in the advice of Sterne to godfathers--not "to Nicodemus a man into
+nothing."--"Harsh names," says D'Israeli, the elder, "will have, in
+spite of all our philosophy, a painful and ludicrous effect on our ears
+and our associations; it is vexatious, that the softness of delicious
+vowels, or the ruggedness of inexorable consonants, should at all be
+connected with a man's happiness, or even have an influence on his
+fortune."
+
+            "That which we call a rose,
+    By any other name would smell as sweet;"
+
+but this does not touch the question, whether, if it had not smelt as
+sweet we would not have given it some other name. The celebrated
+demagogue, Wilkes, is reported to have said, that, "without knowing the
+comparative merits of the two poets, we would have no hesitation in
+preferring John Dryden to Elkanah Settle, _from the names only_." And
+the reason of this truth is to be found in the fact, that our
+impressions of both men and things depend upon associations, often
+beyond our penetration to detect--associations with which _sound_,
+depending on hidden laws, has quite as much to do, as _sense_.
+
+
+Among those who have carried the custom of picturesque or expressive
+naming, to an extent bordering on the ridiculous, were the hard-headed
+champions of the true church-militant, the English puritans--as Hume,
+the bigoted old Tory, rather ill-naturedly testifies! And the puritans
+of _New_ England--whatever advancing intelligence may have made them in
+the present--were, for a long time, faithful representatives of the
+oddities, as well as of the virtues, of their fathers.
+
+And, accordingly, we find the schoolmistress--being a descendant of the
+Jason's-crew, who landed from the Argo-Mayflower, usually bearing a name
+thus significant, and manifesting, even at her age, traits of character
+justifying the compellation. What that age precisely _was_, could not
+always be known; indeed, a lady's age is generally among indeterminate
+things; and it has, very properly, come to be considered ungallant, if
+not impertinent, to be curious upon so delicate a subject. A man has no
+more right to know how many years a woman has, than how many skirts she
+wears; and, if he have any anxiety about the matter, in either case, his
+eyes must be the only questioners. The principle upon which the women
+themselves proceed, in growing old, seems to be parallel to the law of
+gravitation: when a stone, for example, is thrown into the air the
+higher it goes the slower it travels; and the momentum toward Heaven,
+given to a woman at her birth, appears to decrease in about the same
+ratio.
+
+We will not be so ungallant, then, as to inquire too curiously into the
+age of the schoolmistress; but, without disparagement to her
+youthfulness, we may be allowed to conjecture that, in order to fit her
+so well for the duties of her responsible station (and incline her to
+undertake such labors), a goodly number of years must needs have been
+required. Yet she bore time well; for, unless married in the meanwhile,
+at thirty, she was as youthful in manners, as at eighteen.
+
+But this is not surprising: for, even as early as her twelfth year, she
+had much the appearance of a mature woman--something like that noticed
+in young quakers, by Clarkson[79]--and her figure belonged to that
+rugged type, which is adapted to bear, unscathed, more than the ravages
+of time. She was never above the medium height, for the rigid rule of
+economy seemed to apply to flesh and blood, as to all other things
+pertaining to her race; at all events, material had not been wasted in
+giving her extra longitude--at the ends. Between the extremities, it
+might be different--for she was generally very long-waisted. But this
+might be accounted for in the process of _flattening out_: for like her
+compeer, the schoolmaster, she had much more breadth than thickness. She
+was somewhat angular, of course, and rather bony; but this was only the
+natural correspondence, between the external development, and the mental
+and moral organization. Her eyes were usually blue, and, to speak with
+accuracy, a little cold and grayish, in their expression--like the sky
+on a bleak morning in Autumn. Her forehead was very high and prominent,
+having, indeed, an _exposed_ look, like a shelterless knoll in an open
+prairie: but, not content with this, though the hair above it was often
+thin, she usually dragged the latter forcibly back, as if to increase
+the altitude of the former, by extending the skin. Her mouth was of that
+class called "primped," but was filled with teeth of respectable
+dimensions.
+
+Her arms were long, and, indeed, a little skinny, and she swung them
+very freely when she walked; while hands, of no insignificant size,
+dangled at the extremities, as if the joints of her wrists were
+insecure. She had large feet, too, and in walking her toes were
+assiduously turned out. She had, however, almost always one very great
+attraction--a fine, clear, healthy complexion--and the only blemishes
+upon this, that I have ever observed, were a little _red_ on the tip of
+her nose and on the points of her cheek-bones, and a good deal of _down_
+on her upper lip.
+
+
+In manners and bearing, she was brisk, prim, and sometimes a little
+"fidgety," as if she was conscious of sitting on a dusty chair; and she
+had a way of searching nervously for her pocket, as if to find a
+handkerchief with which to brush it off. She was a very fast walker, and
+an equally rapid talker--taking usually very short steps, as if afraid
+of splitting economical skirts, but using very long words, as if
+entertaining no such apprehension about her throat. Her gait was too
+rapid to be graceful, and her voice too sharp to be musical; but she was
+quite unconscious of these imperfections, especially of the latter: for
+at church--I beg pardon of her enlightened ancestors! I should say at
+"_meeting_"--her notes of praise were heard high over all the tumult of
+primitive singing; and, with her chin thrown out, and her shoulders
+drawn back, she looked, as well as sounded, the impersonation of
+_melody_, as contra-distinguished from _harmony_!
+
+
+But postponing, for the present, our consideration of her qualifications
+as a teacher, we find that her characteristics were still more
+respectable and valuable as a private member of society. And in this
+relation, her most prominent trait, like that of her brother teacher,
+was her stainless piety. In this respect, if in no other, women are
+always more sincere and single-hearted than men--perhaps because the
+distribution of social duties gives her less temptation to
+hypocrisy--and even the worldly, strong-minded, and self-reliant
+daughter of the church-hating Puritan-Zion, displayed a tendency toward
+genuine religious feeling.[80]
+
+But in our subject, this was not a mere bias, but a constant, unflagging
+sentiment, an everyday manifestation. She was as warm in the cause of
+religion on one day as upon another, in small things as in great--as
+zealous in the repression of all unbecoming and ungodly levity, as in
+the eradication of positive vice. Life was too solemn a thing with her
+to admit of thoughtless amusements--it was entirely a state of
+probation, not to be enjoyed in itself, or for itself, but purgatorial,
+remedial, and preparatory. She hated all devices of pleasure as her
+ancestors did the abominations of popery. A fiddle she could tolerate
+only in the shape of a bass-viol; and dancing, if practised at all, must
+be called "calisthenics." The drama was to her an invention of the Enemy
+of Souls--and if she ever saw a play, it must be at a _museum_, and not
+within the walls of that temple of Baal, the theatre. None but "serious"
+conversation was allowable, and a hearty laugh was the expression of a
+spirit ripe for the destination of unforgiven sinners.
+
+Errors in religion were too tremendous to be tolerated for a moment, and
+the form (or rather anti-form) of worship handed down by her fathers,
+had cost too much blood and crime to be oppugned. She thought
+Barebones's the only godly parliament that ever sat, and did not hate
+Hume half so much for his infidelity, as for his ridicule of the
+roundheads. Her list of martyrs was made up of the intruders ousted by
+Charles's "Act of Conformity," and her catalogue of saints was headed by
+the witch-boilers of Massachusetts Bay. She abhorred the memory of all
+_popish_ persecutions, and knew no difference between catholic and
+cannibal. Her running calendar of living saints were born "to inherit
+the earth," and heaven, too: they possessed a monopoly of all truth, an
+unlimited "indulgence" to enforce conformity, and, in their zeal, an
+infallible safeguard against the commission of error. She had no
+patience with those who could not "see the truth;" and he who reviled
+the puritan mode of worship, was "worse than the infidel." The only
+argument she ever used with such, was the _argumentum ad hominem_, which
+saves the trouble of conviction by "giving over to hardness of heart."
+New England was, to her, the land of Goshen--whither God's people had
+been led by God's hand--"the land of the patriarchs, where it rains
+righteousness"[81]--and all the adjacent country was a land of Egyptian
+darkness.
+
+
+She was commendably prudent in her personal deportment: being thoroughly
+pure and circumspect herself, she could forgive no thoughtless
+imprudence in her sister-woman: but she well-understood metaphysical
+distinctions, and was tolerant, if not liberal, to marriageable men.
+These she could hope to reform at some future time: and she had,
+moreover, a just idea of the weakness of man's nature. But being a
+woman, and a staid and sober-minded woman, she could never understand
+the power of temptation upon her own sex, or the commonest impulses of
+high spirits. Perhaps she was a little deficient in charity: but, as we
+have seen, it was chiefly toward her female friends, and since none can
+bear severe judgment more safely than woman, her austerity did little
+harm.
+
+But she sincerely regretted what she could never palliate; she hated not
+the guilty, though she could not forgive the sin; and no one was more
+easily melted to tears by the faults, and particularly by the _follies_,
+of the world. Wickedness is a very melancholy thing, but it is to be
+punished as well as lamented: and like the unfortunate governor who was
+forced to condemn his own son, she wept while she pronounced judgment.
+But earthly sorrow, by her, was given only to earthly faults: violations
+of simple good morals, crimes against heavenly creeds and forms (or
+rather _the_ form) of worship, claimed no tear. Her blood rose to
+fever-heat at the mention of an unbeliever, and she would as soon have
+wept for the errors of the fallen angels, as for those of
+anti-Robinsonians.
+
+
+But though thus rigid and austere, I never heard that she was at all
+disinclined to being courted: especially if it gave her any prospect of
+being able to make herself useful as a wife, either to herself, her
+husband, or her country. She understood the art of rearing and managing
+children, in her capacity as a teacher: she was thus peculiarly
+well-fitted for matrimonial duties, and was unwilling that the world
+should lose the benefit of her talents. But the man who courted her must
+do so in the most sober, staid, and regulated spirit, for it was seldom
+any unmixed romance about "love and nonsense," which moved _her_ to the
+sacrifice: if she entertained notions of that sort, they were such only
+as could find a place in her well-balanced mind, and, above all, were
+the subject of no raptures or transports of delight. If she indulged any
+enthusiasm, in view of the approaching change, it was in the prospect of
+endless shirt-making, and in calculations about how cheaply (not how
+happily) she could enable her husband to live. She had no squeamish
+delicacy about allowing the world to know the scope and meaning of her
+arrangements, and all her friends participated in her visions of comfort
+and economy. False modesty was no part of her nature--and her sentiment
+could be reduced to an algebraic formula--excluding the "unknown
+quantities" usually represented by the letters _b_, _c_, and _d_:
+meaning "bliss," "cottages," and "devotion."
+
+Yet, though she cared little for poetry, and seldom understood the
+images of fancy, she was not averse to a modicum of scandal in moments
+of relaxation: for the faults of others were the illustrations of her
+prudent maxims, and the thoughtlessness of a sister was the best
+possible text for a moral homily. The tense rigidity of her character,
+too, sometimes required a little unbending, and she had, therefore, no
+special aversion to an occasional surreptitious novel. But this she
+would indulge only in private; for in her mind, the worst quality of
+transgression was its bad example; and she never failed, in public, to
+condemn all such things with becoming and virtuous severity. Nor must
+this apparent inconsistency be construed to her disadvantage; for her
+strong mind and well-fortified morals, could withstand safely what would
+have corrupted a large majority of those around her; and it was meet,
+that one whose "mission" it was to reform, should thoroughly understand
+the enemy against which she battled. And these things never unfavorably
+affected her life and manners, for she was as prudent in her deportment
+(ill-natured people say _prudish_) as if some ancestress of hers had
+been deceived, and left in the family a tradition of man's perfidy and
+woman's frailty.
+
+She was careful, then, of three things--her clothes, her money, and her
+reputation: and, to do her justice, the last was as spotless as the
+first, and as much prized as the second, and that is saying a good deal,
+both for its purity and estimation. Neat, economical, and prudent, were,
+indeed, the three capital adjectives of her vocabulary, and to deserve
+them was her eleventh commandment.
+
+With one exception, these were the texts of all her homilies, and the
+exception was, unluckily, one which admitted of much more argument.
+
+It was the history of the puritans. But upon this subject, she was as
+dexterous a special pleader as Neale, and as skilful in giving a false
+coloring to facts, as D'Aubigné. But she had the advantage of these
+worthies in that her declamation was quite honest: she had been taught
+sincerely and heartily to believe all she asserted. She was of the
+opinion that but two respectable ships had been set afloat since the
+world began: one of which was Noah's ark, and the other the Mayflower.
+She believed that no people had ever endured such persecutions as the
+puritans, and was especially eloquent upon the subject of "New England's
+Blarney-stone," the Rock of Plymouth.
+
+Indeed, according to the creed of her people, historical and religious,
+this is the only piece of granite in the whole world "worth speaking
+of;" and geologists have sadly wasted their time in travelling over the
+world in search of the records of creation, when a full epitome of
+everything deserving to be known, existed in so small a space! All the
+other rocks of the earth sink into insignificance, and "hide their
+diminished heads," when compared to this mighty stone! The Rock of
+Leucas, from which the amorous Lesbian maid cast herself disconsolate
+into the sea, is a mere pile of dirt: the Tarpeian, whence the Law went
+forth to the whole world for so many centuries, is not fit to be
+mentioned in the same day: the Rock of Cashel, itself, is but the
+subject of profane Milesian oaths; and the Ledge of Plymouth is the real
+"Rock of Ages!" It is well that every people should have something to
+adore, especially if that "something" belongs exclusively to themselves.
+It elevates their self-respect: and, for this object, even historical
+fictions may be forgiven.
+
+
+But, as we have intimated, in the course of time the schoolmistress
+became a married woman; and as she gathered experience, she gradually
+learned that New England is not the whole "moral vineyard," and that
+one might be more profitably employed than in disputing about
+questionable points of history. New duties devolved upon her, and new
+responsibilities rained fast. Instead of teaching the children of other
+people, she now raised children for other people to teach. New sources
+of pride were found in these, and in her husband and his prosperity. She
+discovered that she could be religious without bigotry, modest without
+prudery, and economical without meanness: and, profiting by the lessons
+thus learned, she subsided into a true, faithful, and respectable
+matron, thus, at last, fulfilling her genuine "mission."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[79] Author of the Life of William Penn, whose accuracy has lately been
+questioned.
+
+[80] By this form of expression, which may seem awkward, I mean to
+convey this idea: That consistency of character would seem to preclude
+any heartfelt reverence in the descendant of those whose piety was
+manifested more in the _hatred of earthly_, than in _the love of
+heavenly_, things.
+
+[81] The language of a precious pamphlet, even now in circulation in the
+west.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE POLITICIAN.
+
+    "All would be deemed, e'en from the cradle, fit
+    To rule in politics as well as wit:
+    The grave, the gay, the fopling, and the dunce,
+    Start up (God bless us!) statesmen all at once!"
+
+    CHURCHILL.
+
+
+In a country where the popular breath sways men to its purposes or
+caprices, as the wind bends the weeds in a meadow, statesmanship may
+become a _system_, but can never rise to the dignity of a _science_; and
+politics, instead of being an _art_, is a series of _arts_.
+
+A system is order without principle: a science is order, based upon
+principle. Statesmanship has to do with generalities--with the relations
+of states, the exposition and preservation of constitutional provisions,
+and with fundamental organizations. Politics relates to measures, and
+the details of legislation. The _art_ of governing is the accomplishment
+of the true politician: the _arts_ of governing are the trickeries of
+the demagogue. _Right_ is the key-note of one: _popularity_ of the
+other.
+
+
+The large majority of men are sufficiently candid to acknowledge--at
+least to themselves--that they are unfit for the station of law-giver;
+but the vanity and jealousy begotten by participation in political
+power, lead many of them, if not actually to believe, at all events to
+_act_ upon the faith, that men, no more able than themselves, are the
+best material for rulers. It is a kind of compromise between their
+modesty and self-love: not burthening them with the trials and
+responsibilities of positions for which they feel incompetent, but
+soothing their vanity by the contemplation of office-holders not at all
+their superiors. Below a certain (or uncertain) grade, therefore,
+political stations are usually filled by men of very moderate abilities:
+and their elevation is favored--indeed, often effected--by the very
+causes which should prevent it. Such men are prone to thrust themselves
+upon public notice, and thus secure, by persistence and impudence, what
+might not be awarded them on the score of merit.
+
+It is a trite remark, that people are inclined to accept a man's
+estimate of himself, and to put him in possession of that place, in
+their consideration, which he has the hardihood to claim. And the
+observation is just, to this extent: if the individual does not respect
+himself, probably no one else will take that trouble. But in a country
+where universal suffrage reigns, it may be doubted whether the elevation
+of an ordinary man indicates any recognition of the justice of his
+claims. On the contrary, they may be endorsed precisely because they are
+false: that is, because he really possesses no other title to the
+support of common men, than that which is founded upon fellow-feeling or
+sympathy of character. Many a man, therefore, who receives his election
+as a compliment from the voters, if he understood the motives of their
+action, would throw up his office in disgust; for in a large majority of
+cases, the popular choice, so far from being an assertion of the
+candidate's peculiar fitness to be singled out from among his brethren,
+is only a declaration that neither talent nor character entitles him to
+the distinction. The cry that a man is "one of the people," will bring
+him great strength at the ballot-box: but this is a phrase which means
+very different things, according as it is used by the candidate or the
+voter; and, in many cases, if they could thoroughly understand each
+other, the latter would not give his support, and the former would not
+ask it.
+
+
+These remarks are applicable to all stages of society's progress; for,
+if the world were so enlightened, that, in the scale of intellect, such
+a man as Daniel Webster could only be classed as an idiot, there would
+still be the "ignorant vulgar," the "uneducated classes." Society is one
+entire web--albeit woven with threads of wool and silk, of silver and
+gold: turn it as you will, it must all turn together; and if a whirlwind
+of enlightenment should waft it to the skies, although each thread would
+be immeasurably above its present condition, the relation of one to
+another would still be the same. If the baser wool should be transmuted
+into gold, the very same process would refine and sublimate the precious
+metal, in a corresponding ratio; and the equilibrium of God's appointed
+relations would remain undisturbed.
+
+
+But it is more especially in the primitive periods, before the great
+political truths become household words, and while the reign of law and
+municipal organization is a vague and distant thing, that most citizens
+shrink from official duties. Diffidence, in this matter is,
+fortunately, a disease which time will alleviate--a youthful weakness,
+which communities "outgrow," as children do physical defects; and, I
+believe, of late years, few offices have "gone begging," either east or
+west of the great barrier of the Allegheny.
+
+In the earlier periods of its history, we have seen that the western
+country was peculiarly situated. The settlements were weak and the
+population small; with the exception of a few narrow fields, in the
+vicinity of each frontier fort, or stockade, the land was a wilderness,
+held in undisturbed possession by the savages and wild beasts. The great
+struggle, which we call the Revolution, but which was, in fact, only a
+justifiable and successful rebellion, had exhausted the force and
+drained the coffers of the feeble federal government; had plunged the
+infant states into enormous debts; and the only means of paying these
+were the boundless but unclaimed lands of the west, which the same
+causes rendered them unable to protect. The scattered settlements on the
+Mississippi side of the Alleghenies, were thus left to their own scanty
+resources; and the distance was so great, that, had the older states
+been able to afford assistance, the delays and losses attendant upon its
+transmission across so wide a tract of wilderness, would have made it
+almost nugatory.
+
+In those times, therefore, though a few were looking forward to separate
+political organization and the erection of new states, the larger number
+of the western people were too constantly occupied with their defence,
+to give much attention to internal politics. Such organization as they
+had was military, or patriarchal: the early pioneer, who had
+distinguished himself in the first explorations of the country, or by
+successfully leading and establishing a new settlement, as he became the
+commander of the local fort, was also the law-giver of the community.
+The pressure of external danger was too close to allow a very liberal
+democracy in government; and, as must be the case in all primitive
+assemblages of men, the counsels and commands of him whom they knew to
+be the _most able_, were always observed. He who had proven himself
+competent to lead was, therefore, the leader _ipso facto_ and _de jure_;
+and the evidence required was the performance of such exploits, and the
+display of such courage and sagacity, as were necessary to the defence,
+well-being, and protection of the community.
+
+It is obvious that no mere pretender could exhibit these proofs; and
+that, where they were taken as the sole measure of a man's worth,
+dexterity with a rifle must be of more value than the accomplishments of
+a talker--Indian-fighting a more respectable occupation than
+speech-making. Small politicians were, therefore, very small men, and
+saying that one had "a turn for politics," would have been equivalent to
+calling him a vagabond. The people had neither time nor patience to
+listen to declamation--the man who rose in a public assembly, and called
+upon his neighbors to follow him in avenging a wrong, made the only
+speech they cared to hear. "Preambles and resolutions" were unmeaning
+formalities--their "resolutions" were taken in their own minds, and, to
+use their own expressive words, they executed them "without preamble."
+An ounce of lead was worth more than a pound of advice; and, in the
+vindication of justice, a "charge" of gunpowder was more effectual than
+the most tedious judicial harangue. It is, even now, a proud, but
+well-founded boast, of western men, that these traits have been
+transmitted to them from their fathers--that they are more remarkable
+for _fighting_ than for _wrangling_, for _acting_ than for _talking_.
+
+In such a state of society, civil offices existed scarcely in name, and
+were never very eagerly sought. That which makes official station
+desirable is obedience to its authority, and if the title of "captain"
+gave the idea of more absolute power than that of "sheriff," one would
+rather command a company of militia than the "_posse comitatus_."
+Besides, the men of the frontier were simple-hearted and unambitious,
+desiring nothing so much as to be "left alone," and willing to make a
+compact of forbearance with the whole world--excepting only the Indians.
+They had never been accustomed to the restraints of municipal
+regulations, they were innocent of the unhealthy pleasures of
+office-holding, or the degrading impulses of office-seeking. Their lives
+had given them little or no knowledge of these things; experience had
+never suggested their importance, for their acquaintance with life was,
+almost exclusively, such as could be acquired in the woods and forest
+pathways.
+
+But as time rolled away, and the population of the country became more
+dense--as the pressure of external danger was withdrawn, and the
+necessities of defence grew less urgent--the rigor of military
+organization came gradually to be somewhat irksome. The seeds of civil
+institutions began to germinate among the people, while the extending
+interests of communities required corresponding enactments and
+regulations. The instincts of social beings, love of home and family,
+attachment to property, the desire of tranquillity, and, perhaps, a
+leaven of ambition for good estimation among neighbors, all combined to
+open men's eyes to the importance of peaceful institutions. The day of
+the rifle and scalping-knife passed away, and justice without form--the
+rule of the elementary strong-hand--gave place to order and legal
+ceremony.
+
+
+Then first began to appear the class of politicians, though, as yet,
+office-seeking had not become a trade, nor office-holding a regular
+means of livelihood. Politics had not acquired a place among the arts,
+nor had its professors become the teachers of the land. There were few,
+indeed, who sought to fill civil stations; and, although men's
+qualifications for office were, probably, not any more rigidly examined
+then than now, those who possessed the due degree of prominence, either
+deemed themselves, or were believed by their fellow-citizens, peculiarly
+capable of discharging such functions. They were generally men who had
+made themselves conspicuous or useful in other capacities--who had
+become well or favorably known to their neighbors through their zeal,
+courage, sagacity, or public spirit. A leader of regulators, for
+example, whose administration of his dangerous powers had been marked by
+promptitude and severity, was expected to be equally efficient when
+clothed with more regular authority. A captain of rangers, whose
+enterprises had been remarkable for certainty and _finish_, would, it
+was believed, do quite as good service, in the capacity of a civil
+officer. A daring pioneer, whose courage or presence of mind had saved
+himself and others from the dangers of the wilderness, was supposed to
+be an equally sure guide in the pathless ways of politics. Lawyers were
+yet few, and not of much repute, for they were, for the most part,
+youthful adventurers, who had come into the field long before the
+ripening of the harvest.
+
+
+There was another class, whose members held prominent positions, though
+they had never been distinguished for the possession of any of the
+qualifications above enumerated. These might be designated as the
+_noisy_ sort--loud-talking, wise-looking men, self-constituted oracles
+and advice-givers, with a better opinion of their own wisdom than any
+one else was willing to endorse. Such men became "file-leaders," or
+"pivot-men," because the taciturn people of the west, though inclined to
+undervalue a mere talker, were simple-minded enough to accept a man's
+valuation of his own powers: or easy-tempered enough to spare themselves
+the trouble of investigating so small a matter. It was of little
+consequence to them, whether the candidate was as wise as he desired to
+be thought; and since, in political affairs, they knew of no interest
+which they could have in disputing it, for _his_ gratification they were
+willing to admit it. These were halcyon days for mere pretenders--though
+for no very flattering reason: since their claims were allowed chiefly
+because they were not deemed worth controverting. Those days, thanks to
+the "progress of intelligence!" are now gone by: the people are better
+acquainted with the natural history of such animals, and--witness, ye
+halls of Congress!--none may now hold office except capable, patriotic,
+and disinterested men!
+
+Nor must we be understood to assert that the primitive politician was
+the reverse of all this, save in the matter of capability. And, even in
+that particular, no conception of his deficiency ever glimmered in his
+consciousness. His own assumption, and the complaisance of his
+fellow-citizens, were inter-reactive, mutually cause and effect. _They_
+were willing to confirm his valuation of his own talents: _he_ was
+inclined to exalt himself in their good opinion. Parallel to this, also,
+was the oracular tone of his speech: the louder he talked, the more
+respectfully silent were his auditors; and the more attentive _they_
+became, the noisier _he_ grew. Submission always encourages oppression,
+and admiration adds fuel to the fire of vanity. Not that the politician
+was precisely a despot, even over men's opinions: the application of
+that name to him would have been as sore a wound to his self-respect as
+the imputation of horse-stealing. He was but an oracle of opinion, and
+though allowed to dictate in matters of thought as absolutely as if
+backed by brigades of soldiers, he was a sovereign whose power existed
+only through the consent of his subjects.
+
+
+In personal appearance, he was well-calculated to retain the authority
+intrusted to him by such men. He was, in fact, an epitome of all the
+physical qualities which distinguished the rugged people of the west:
+and between these and the moral and intellectual, there is an invariable
+correspondence--as if the spirit within had moulded its material
+encasement to the planes and angles of its own "form and pressure."
+
+
+National form and feature are the external marks of national character,
+stamped more or less distinctly in different individuals, but, in the
+aggregate, perfectly correspondent and commensurate. The man, therefore,
+who possesses the national traits of character in their best
+development, will be, also, the most faithful representative of his race
+in physical characteristics. At some periods, there are whole classes of
+these types; and if there be any _one_ who embodies the character more
+perfectly than all others, the tranquillity of the age is not calculated
+to draw him forth. But in all times of trouble--of revolution or
+national ferment--the perfect Man-emblem is seen to rise, and (which is
+more to the purpose) is sure to stand at the head of his fellows: for he
+who best represents the character of his followers, becomes, by God's
+appointment, their leader. To this extent, the _vox populi_ is the _vox
+Dei_; and the unfailing success of every such man, throughout his
+appointed term, is the best possible justification of the choice.
+
+What was Washington, for example, but an epitome of the steady and noble
+qualities combined of cavalier and puritan, which were then coalescing
+in the American character? And what more perfect correspondence could be
+conceived between the moral and intellectual and the physical outlines?
+What was Cromwell but _the Englishman_, not only of his own time, but of
+all times? And the testimony of all who saw him, what is it, but that a
+child, who looked upon him, could not fail to see, in his very
+lineaments, the great and terrible man he was? And Napoleon, was he
+aught but an abridgment of the French nation, the sublimate and "proof"
+essence of French character? Not one, of all the great men of history,
+has possessed, so far as we know, a physical constitution more perfectly
+representing, even in its advancing grossness, both the strength and
+weakness of the people he led.
+
+In tranquil times, these things are not observed in one individual more
+than in others of his class, and we are, therefore, not prepared to
+decide whether, at such periods, _the one man_ exists. The great
+Leviathan, the king of all the creatures of the ocean, rises to the
+surface only in the tumult of the storm; his huge, portentous form, lies
+on the face of the troubled waters only when the currents are changed
+and the fountains of the deep are broken up.
+
+Nature does no superfluous work, and it may require the same causes
+which produce the storm to organize its Ruler. If a great rebellion is
+boiling among men, the mingling of the elements is projecting, also, the
+Great Rebel: if a national cause is to be asserted, the principles upon
+which it rests will first create its appropriate Exponent. But when no
+such agitation is on the point of breaking out--when the crisis is not
+near, and the necessity for such greatness distant--national character
+probably retains its level; and though there be no _one_ whom the people
+will recognise as the arch-man, the representatives, losing in intensity
+what they gain in numbers, become a class. They fill the civil stations
+of the country, and are known as men of mark--their opinions are
+received, their advice accepted, their leading followed. No one of them
+is known instinctively, or trusted implicitly, as the leader of Nature's
+appointment: yet they are, in fact, the exponents of their time and
+race, and in exact proportion to the degree in which they possess the
+character, will they exhibit, also, the physical peculiarities.
+
+
+Thus it was at the time of which we are writing, with the class to which
+belonged the politician, and a description of his personal appearance,
+like that of any other man, will convey no indistinct impression of his
+internal character.
+
+Such a description probably combined more characteristic adjectives than
+that of any other personage of his time--adjectives, some of which were
+applicable to many of his neighbors, respectively, but _all_ of which
+might be bestowed upon him _only_. He was tall, gaunt, angular, swarthy,
+active, and athletic. His hair was, invariably, black as the wing of the
+raven; even in that small portion which the cap of raccoon-skin left
+exposed to the action of sun and rain, the gray was but thinly
+scattered; imparting to the monotonous darkness only a more iron
+character. As late as the present day, though we have changed in many
+things, light-haired men seldom attain eminence among the western
+people: many of our legislators are _young_ enough, but none of them are
+_beardless_. They have a bilious look, as if, in case of illness, their
+only hope would lie in calomel and jalap. One might understand, at the
+first glance, that they are men of _talent_, not of _genius_; and that
+physical energy, the enduring vitality of the body, has no
+inconsiderable share in the power of the mind.
+
+Corresponding to the sable of the hair, the politician's eye was usually
+small, and intensely black--not the dead, inexpressive jet, which gives
+the idea of a hole through white paper, or of a cavernous socket in a
+death's-head; but the keen, midnight darkness, in whose depths you can
+see a twinkle of starlight--where you feel that there is meaning as well
+as color. There might be an expression of cunning along with that of
+penetration--but, in a much higher degree, the blaze of irascibility.
+There could be no doubt, from its glance, that its possessor was an
+excellent hater; you might be assured that he would never forget an
+injury or betray a friend.
+
+A stoop in the shoulders indicated that, in times past, he had been in
+the habit of carrying a heavy rifle, and of closely examining the ground
+over which he walked; but what the chest thus lost in depth it gained in
+breadth. His lungs had ample space in which to play--there was nothing
+pulmonary even in the drooping shoulders. Few of his class have ever
+lived to a very advanced age, but it was not for want of
+iron-constitutions, that they went early to the grave. The same services
+to his country, which gave the politician his prominence, also shortened
+his life.
+
+From shoulders thus bowed, hung long, muscular arms--sometimes, perhaps,
+dangling a little ungracefully, but always under the command of their
+owner, and ready for any effort, however violent. These were terminated
+by broad, bony hands, which looked like grapnels--their grasp, indeed,
+bore no faint resemblance to the hold of those symmetrical instruments.
+Large feet, whose toes were usually turned in, like those of the Indian,
+were wielded by limbs whose vigor and activity were in keeping with the
+figure they supported. Imagine, with these peculiarities, a free, bold,
+rather swaggering gait, a swarthy complexion, and conformable features
+and tones of voice: and--excepting his costume--you have before your
+fancy a complete picture of the early western politician.
+
+But the item of costume is too important to be passed over with a mere
+allusion. As well might we paint a mountain without its verdant
+clothing, its waving plumes of pine and cedar, as the western man
+without his picturesque and characteristic habiliments. The first, and
+indispensable article of dress, was the national hunting-shirt: a
+garment whose easy fit was well-adapted, both to the character of his
+figure and the freedom of his movements. Its nature did not admit much
+change in fashion: the only variations of which it was capable, were
+those of ornament and color. It might be fringed around the cape and
+skirt, or made plain; it might be blue, or copper-colored--perhaps
+tinged with a little madder. And the variety of material was quite as
+limited, since it must be of either jeans or deer-skin.
+
+Corresponding to this, in material, style, and texture, he wore, also, a
+pair of wide pantaloons--not always of precisely the proper length for
+the limbs of the wearer, but having invariably a broad waistband, coming
+up close under the arms, and answering the purpose of the modern vest.
+People were not so dainty about "set" and "fit," in those days, as they
+have since become; and these primitive integuments were equally
+well-adapted to the figure of any one to whose lot they might fall. In
+their production, no one had been concerned save the family of the
+wearer. The sheep which bore the wool, belonged to his own flock, and
+all the operations, subsequent to the shearing, necessary to the
+ultimate result of shaping into a garment, had been performed by his
+wife or daughter. Many politicians have continued this affectation of
+plainness, even when the necessity has ceased, on account of its effect
+upon the masses; for people are apt to entertain the notion, that
+decent clothing is incompatible with mental ability, and that he who is
+most manifestly behind the improvements of the time, is best qualified
+for official stations.
+
+A neck-cloth, or cravat, was never seen about the politician's throat;
+and for the same reason of expediency: for these were refinements of
+affectation which had not then been introduced; and a man who thus
+compassed his neck, could no more have been elected to an office, than
+if he had worn the cap and bells of a Saxon jester. The shirt-bosoms of
+modern days were in the same category; and _starch_ was an article
+contraband to the law of public sentiment--insomuch that no epithet
+expressed more thorough contempt for a man, than the graphic word
+"starched." A raccoon-skin cap--or, as a piece of extravagant finery, a
+white-wool hat--with a pair of heavy shoes, not unfrequently without the
+luxury of hose--or, if with them, made of blue-woollen yarn, from the
+back of a sheep of the aforesaid flock--completed the element of
+costume.
+
+He was not very extravagantly dressed, as the reader sees; but we can
+say of him--what could not be as truly spoken of many men, or, indeed,
+of many women, of this day--that his clothing bore distinct reference to
+his character, and was well-adapted to his "style of beauty." In fact,
+everything about him, form, face, manners, dress, was in "in keeping"
+with his characteristics.
+
+
+In occupation, he was usually a farmer; for the materials of which
+popular tribunes are made in later times--such as lawyers, gentlemen of
+leisure, and pugnacious preachers--were not then to be found. The
+population of the country was thoroughly agricultural; and though (as I
+believe I have elsewhere observed) the rural people of the west were
+neither a cheerful nor a polished race, as a class, they possess, even
+yet, qualities, which, culminating in an individual, eminently fit him
+for the _rôle_ of a noisy popular leader.
+
+But a man who is merely fitted to such a position, is a very different
+animal to one qualified to give laws for the government of the citizen.
+After all our vain boasting, that public sentiment is the law of our
+land, there is really a very broad distinction between forming men's
+opinions and controlling their action. If the government had been so
+organized, that the pressure of popular feeling might make itself felt,
+directly, in the halls of legislation, our history, instead of being
+that of a great and advancing nation, would have been only a chronicle
+of factious and unstable violence. It does not follow, that one who is
+qualified to lead voters at the polls, or, as they say here, "on the
+stump," will be able to embody, in enlightened enactments, the sentiment
+which he contributes to form, any more than that the tanner will be able
+to shape a well-fitting boot from the leather he prepares. "_Suum cuique
+proprium dat Natura donum_."[82] A blacksmith, therefore, is not the
+best manufacturer of silver spoons, a lawyer the ablest writer of
+sermons, nor either of them necessarily the safest law-maker.
+
+But those things to which his qualifications were appropriate, the
+politician did thoroughly and well. For example, he was a skilful
+farmer--at least in the leading branches of that calling, though he gave
+little or no attention to the merely ornamental. For the latter, he had
+neither time nor inclination. Even in the essentials, it was only by
+working, as he expressed it, "to the best advantage,"--that is,
+contriving to produce the largest amount of results with the least
+expenditure of labor and patience--that he got sufficient leisure to
+attend to his public duties; and as for "inclination," no quaker ever
+felt a more supreme contempt for mere embellishment.
+
+
+He was seldom very happy in his domestic relations; for, excepting at
+those seasons when the exigencies of his calling required his constant
+attention, he spent but little of his time at his own fireside. He
+absented himself _until_ his home became strange and uncomfortable to
+him: and he then did the same, _because_ it had become so. Every man who
+may try the experiment will discover that these circumstances mutually
+aggravate each other--are, interchangeably, cause and effect. His
+children were, however, always numerous, scarcely ever falling below
+half-a-dozen, and not unfrequently doubling that allowance. They
+generally appeared upon the stage in rapid succession--one had scarcely
+time to get out of the way, before another was pushing him from his
+place. The peevishness thus begotten in the mother--by the constant
+habit of nursing cross cherubs--though it diminished the amount of
+family peace, contributed, in another way, to the general welfare: it
+induced the father to look abroad for enjoyment, and thus gave the
+country the benefit of his wisdom as a political counsellor. Public
+spirit, and the consciousness of ability, have "brought out" many
+politicians: but uncomfortable homes have produced many more.
+
+
+He was an oracle on the subject of hunting, and an unerring judge of
+whiskey--to both which means of enjoyment he was strongly attached. He
+was careful, however, neither to hunt nor drink in solitude, for even
+his amusements were subservient to his political interests. To hunt
+alone was a waste of time, while drinking alone was a loss of
+good-fellowship, upon which much of his influence was founded. He was
+particularly attached to parties of half-a-dozen, or more; for in such
+companions, his talents were always conspicuous. Around a burgou[83]
+pot, or along the trenches of an impromptu barbecue, he shone in
+meridian splendor; and the approving smack of his lips, over a bottle of
+"backwoods' nectar," was the seal of the judgment which gave character
+to the liquor.
+
+"Militia musters" were days in his calendar, "marked with a
+white-stone;" for it was upon these occasions that he appeared in his
+utmost magnificence. His grade was never lower than that of colonel, and
+it not unfrequently extended to, or even beyond, the rank of
+brigadier-general. It was worth "a sabbath-day's journey" on foot, to
+witness one of these parades; for I believe that all the annals of the
+burlesque do not furnish a more amusing caricature of the "pomp and
+circumstance" of war. Compared to one of those militia regiments,
+Falstaff's famous corps, whose appearance was so unmilitary as to
+prevent even that liberal-minded gentleman from marching through
+Coventry in their company, was a model of elegance and discipline.
+Sedenó's cavalry in the South American wars, though their uniform
+consisted only of "leggings," a pair of spurs, and a Spanish blanket,
+had more the aspect of a regular _corps d'armée_ than these! A mob of
+rustics was never armed with a more extensive variety of weapons; and no
+night's "haul" of a recruiting sergeant's net, ever made a more
+disorderly appearance, when mustered in the morning for inspection.
+
+The "citizen-soldier" knew no more about "dressing the line," than about
+dressing himself, and the front of his company presented as many
+inequalities as a "worm-fence." Tall men and short men--beaver hats and
+raccoon-skin caps--rusty firelocks and long corn-stalks--stiff brogans
+and naked feet--composed the grand display. There were as many officers
+as men, and each was continually commanding and instructing his
+neighbor, but never thinking of himself. At the command "Right dress!"
+(when the officer _par excellence_ knew enough to deliver it) some
+looked right, others left--some thrust their heads out before--some
+leaned back to get a glimpse behind--and the whole line waved like a
+streamer in the wind. "Silence in line!" produced a greater clamor than
+ever, for each repeated the command to every other, sending the order
+along the ranks like a rolling fire, and not unfrequently enforcing it
+with the push of a corn-stalk, or a vigorous elbow-hint. When a movement
+was directed, the order reached the men successively, by the same
+process of repetition--so that while some files were walking slowly, and
+looking back to beckon on their lagging fellow-soldiers, others were
+forced to a quick run to regain their places, and the scramble often
+continued many minutes after the word "halt!" The longer the parade
+lasted, the worse was the drill; and after a tedious day's "muster,"
+each man knew less, if possible, of military tactics, than he did in the
+morning.
+
+But the most ludicrous part of the display, was the earnest solemnity
+with which the politician-colonel endeavored "to lick the mass into
+shape." If you had judged only by the expression of his face, you would
+have supposed that an invading army was already within our borders, and
+that this democratic army was the only hope of patriotism to repel the
+foreign foe. And, indeed, it might not be too much to say, that some
+such idea actually occupied his mind: for he was so fond of "supposing
+cases," that bare possibilities sometimes grew in his mind to actual
+realities; and it was a part of his creed, as well as his policy to
+preach, that "a nation's best defence" is to be found in "the
+undisciplined valor of its citizens." His military maxims were not based
+upon the history of such countries as Poland and Spain--and Hungary had
+not then added her example to the list. He never understood the relation
+between discipline and efficiency; and the doctrine of the "largest
+liberty" was so popular, that, on his theory, it must be universally
+right. Tempered thus, and modified by some of the tendencies of the
+demagogue, his love of military parade amounted to a propensity, a trait
+which he shared with most of the people among whom he lived.
+
+The inference from this characteristic, that he possessed what
+phrenologists used to call "combativeness," is not unavoidable, though
+such was the fact. He was, indeed, quite pugnacious, ready, at all
+times, to fight for himself or for his friends, and never with any very
+special or discriminating reference to the cause of quarrel. He was,
+however, seldom at feud with any one whose enmity could materially
+injure him: extensive connections he always conciliated, and every
+popular man was his friend. Nor was he compelled, in order to compass
+these ends, to descend to any very low arts; for "the people," were not
+so fastidious in those days, as they seem since to have become; and a
+straightforward sincerity was then the first element of popularity. The
+politician was not forced to affect an exemplary "walk and
+conversation;" nor was an open declaration of principle or opinion
+dangerous to his success.
+
+This liberality in public sentiment had its evils: since, for example,
+the politician was not generally the less esteemed for being rather a
+hard _swearer_. In the majority of the class, indeed, this amounted only
+to an energetic or emphatic mode of expression; and such the people did
+not less respect, than if, in the same person, they had had reason to
+believe the opposite tone hypocritical. The western people--to their
+honor be it written!--were, and are, mortal enemies to everything like
+_cant_: though they might regret, that one's morals were no _better_
+than they appeared, they were still more grieved, if they found
+evidence, that they were _worse_ than they claimed to be.
+
+
+But, though the politician was really very open and candid in all the
+affairs of life, in his own estimation he was a very dexterous and
+dangerous intriguer: he often deceived himself into the belief, that the
+success, which was in fact the result of his manly candor, was
+attributable only to his cunning management. He was always forming, and
+attempting to execute, schemes for circumventing his political
+opponents; but, if he bore down all opposition, it was _in spite of_ his
+chicanery, and not by its assistance. Left-handed courses are never
+advantageous "in the long run;" and, perhaps, it would be well if this
+lesson were better understood by politicians, even in our own
+enlightened day.
+
+For the arts of rhetoric he had small respect; in his opinion, the man
+who was capable of making a long, florid speech, was fit for little
+else. His own oratorical efforts were usually brief, pithy, and to the
+point. For example, here follows a specimen, which the writer heard
+delivered in Illinois, by a candidate for the legislature:--
+
+"Fellow-citizens: I am no speech-maker, but what I say, _I'll do_. I've
+lived among you twenty years, and if I've shown myself a clever fellow,
+you know it, _without_ a speech: if I'm not a clever fellow, you know
+that, too, and wouldn't forget it _with_ a speech. I'm a candidate for
+the legislature: if you think I'm 'the clear grit,' _vote_ for me: if
+you think Major R---- of a better 'stripe' than I am, vote for _him_.
+The fact is, that either of us will make a devilish good
+representative!"
+
+For the satisfaction of the reader, we should record that the orator was
+triumphantly elected, and, though "no speech-maker," was an excellent
+member for several years.
+
+
+The saddest, yet cheerfullest--the quaintest, yet most unaffected of
+moralists, has written "A Complaint upon the Decay of Beggars," which
+will not cease to be read, so long as pure English and pure feeling are
+understood and appreciated. They were a part of the recollections of his
+childhood--images painted upon his heart, impressions made in his soft
+and pitying nature; and the "besom of societarian reformation,"
+legislating busybodies, and tinkers of the general welfare, were
+sweeping them away, with all their humanizing influences, their deep
+lessons of dire adversity and gentle charity.
+
+There are some memories of the childhood of western men--unlike, and yet
+similar in their generous persuasions on all pure young hearts--upon
+whose "Decay" might, also, be written a "Complaint," which should come
+as truly, and yet as sadly, from the heart of him, who remembers his
+boyhood, as did that from the heart of Elia. Gatherings of the militia,
+burgou-hunts, barbecues, and anniversaries--phases of a primitive, yet
+true and hearty time!--are fast giving way, before the march of a
+barbarous "progress" (erroneously christened) "of intelligence." The
+hard spirit of money-getting, the harder spirit of education-getting,
+and the hardest of _all_ spirits, that of pharisaical morality, have
+divorced our youth, _a vinculo_, from every species of amusement; and
+life has come to be a probationary struggle, too fierce to allow a
+moment's relaxation. The bodies of children are drugged and worried into
+health, their intellects are stuffed and forced into premature
+development, or early decay--but their _hearts_ are utterly forgotten!
+Enjoyment is a forbidden thing, and only the miserable cant of
+"intellectual pleasure" is allowed. _Ideas_--of philosophy, religious
+observance, and mathematics--are supplied _ad nauseam_; but the
+encouragement of a generous _impulse_, or a magnanimous _feeling_, is
+too frivolous a thing to have a place in our vile system. Children are
+"brought up," and "brought out," as if they were composed exclusively of
+intellect and body: And, since the manifestations of any other element
+are pronounced pernicious--even if the existence of the element itself
+be recognised--the means of fostering it, innocent amusements, which
+make the sunshine brighter, the spirits more cheerful, and the heart
+purer and lighter, are sternly prohibited. Alas! for the generation
+which shall grow up, and be "educated" (God save the mark!) as if it had
+no heart! And wo to the blasphemy which dares to offer, as service to
+Heaven, an arrogant contempt of Heaven's gifts, and claims a reward,
+like the self-tormentors of the middle ages, for its vain
+mortifications.
+
+But, in the time of the politician, of whom we write, these things were
+far different. We have already seen him at a "militia muster," and fain
+would we pause here, to display him at a barbecue. What memories,
+sweet, though sad, we might evoke of "the glorious fourth" in the olden
+time! How savory are even the dim recollections of the dripping viands,
+which hung, and fried, and crisped, and crackled, over the great fires,
+in the long deep trenches! Our nostrils grow young again with the
+thought--and the flavor of the feast floats on the breezes of memory,
+even "across the waste of years" which lie between! And the cool,
+luxuriant foliage of the grove, the verdant thickets, and among them
+pleasant vistas, little patches of green sward, covered with gay and
+laughing parties--even the rosy-cheeked girls, in their rustling gingham
+dresses, cast now and then a longing glance, toward the yet forbidden
+tables! how fresh and clear these images return upon the fancy!
+
+And then the waving banners, roaring cannon, and the slow procession,
+moving all too solemnly for our impatient wishes! And finally, the
+dropping of the ropes, the simultaneous rush upon the open feast, and
+the rapid, perhaps ravenous consumption of the smoking viands, the jest,
+the laugh, all pleasant merriment, the exhilaration of the crowd, the
+music, and the occasion! What glories we heard from the orator, of
+victories achieved by our fathers! How we longed--O! brief, but
+glorious dream! to be one day spoken of like Washington! How wildly our
+hearts leaped in our boyish bosoms, as we listened to the accents of the
+solemn pledge and "declaration"--"our lives, our fortunes, and our
+sacred honor!" The whole year went lighter for that one day, and at each
+return, we went home happier, and better!
+
+How measureless we thought the politician's greatness then! This was his
+proper element--here he was at home; and, as he ordered and directed
+everything about him, flourishing his marshal's baton, clearing the way
+for the march of the procession--settling the "order of exercises," and
+reading the programme, in a stentorian voice--there was, probably in his
+own estimation, and certainly in ours, no more important or honored
+individual in all that multitude!
+
+In such scenes as these, he was, indeed, without a rival; but there were
+others, also, in which he was quite as useful, if not so conspicuous. On
+election days, for instance, when a free people assembled to exercise
+their "inestimable privilege," to choose their own rulers--he was as
+busy as a witch in a tempest. His talents shone forth with especial and
+peculiar lustre--for, with him, this was "the day for which all other
+days were made." He marshalled his retainers, and led them to "the
+polls"--not as an inexperienced tactician would have done, with much
+waste of time, in seeking every private voter, but after the manner of
+feudal times--by calling upon his immediate dependants, captains over
+tens and twenties, through whom he managed the more numerous masses.
+These were the "file-leaders," the "fugle-men," and "heads of messes;"
+and it was by a judicious management of these, that he was able to
+acquire and retain an extensive influence.
+
+The first article of his electioneering creed was, that every voter was
+controlled by somebody; and that the only way to sway the privates was,
+to govern the officers: and, whether true or not, it must be admitted
+that his theory worked well in practice. He affected to entertain a high
+respect for those whom he described as "the boys from the heads of the
+hollows"--men who were never seen beyond the precincts of their own
+little "clearings," except upon the Fourth of July and election day,
+from one end of the year to the other. With these he drank bad whiskey,
+made stale jokes, and affected a flattering condescension. With others,
+more important or less easily imposed upon, he "whittled" sociably in
+the fence-corners, talked solemnly in conspicuous places, and always
+looked confidential and mysterious.
+
+But, however earnestly engaged, he never forgot the warfare in which he
+was chief combatant. Like a general upon a field of battle, with his
+staff about him, he had sundry of his friends always near, to undertake
+any commission, or convey any order, which he desired to have executed;
+and not a voter could come upon the ground, whom there was the remotest
+chance to influence, that his vigilance did not at once discover and
+seize upon, through some one of these lieutenants. He resorted to every
+conceivable art, to induce the freemen to vote _properly_; and, when he
+could not succeed in this, his next study was to prevent their voting
+_at all_. The consequence usually was, that he secured his own election,
+or that of his chosen candidate; for, in him, vigilance and shrewdness
+were happily combined.
+
+
+But, perhaps fortunately for the country, his ambition was generally
+limited to such small offices, as he was quite capable of filling. The
+highest point at which he aimed, was a seat in the state legislature;
+and on reaching that goal, he signalized his term, chiefly, if at all,
+in advocating laws about division fences, and trespassers upon
+timber--measures which he deemed desirable for his own immediate
+constituency, with very little care for the question of their general
+utility. Indeed, he never went to the capital, without having his
+pockets full of "private bills," for the gratification of his personal
+friends, or near neighbors; and if, after a reasonable term of service,
+he had succeeded in getting all these passed into laws, he came home,
+contented to "subside," and live the remainder of his days, upon the
+recollection of his legislative honors.
+
+In the course of time, like all other earthly things, his class began to
+decay. The tide of immigration, or the increasing intelligence of the
+people, raised up men of larger views; and he speedily found himself
+outstripped in the race, and forgotten by his ancient retainers.
+Then--like his predecessor, the original frontierman--disgusted with
+civilization and its refinements--he migrated to more congenial regions,
+and, in the scenes of his former triumphs, was heard of no more.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[82] Translate "_donum_," talent.
+
+[83] A kind of soup, made by boiling all sorts of game with corn,
+onions, tomatoes, and a variety of other vegetables. When skilfully
+concocted and properly seasoned, not at all unsavory. So called from a
+soup made by seamen.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+
+Here we must pause.
+
+On the hither side of the period, represented by the early politician,
+and between that and the present, the space of time is much too narrow,
+to contain any distinct development: those who superseded the primitive
+oracles, are yet in possession of the temple. We could not, therefore,
+pursue our plan further, without hazarding the charge of drawing from
+the life.
+
+It is remarkable, that anything like a fair or candid estimate of--for
+example--a public man's character, while he is yet favored with the
+people's suffrages, is very certain to be pronounced a caricature; and
+it is not less singular, that, while the complaints of popular critics,
+in effect, affirm that there is fidelity enough in the picture to enable
+even obtuse minds to fit the copy to the original, they at the same time
+vehemently assert that the whole portrait is a libel. A just
+admeasurement of a demagogue's ability is thus always abated by the
+imputation of partisan falsehood or prejudice; and whosoever declines to
+join in the adulation of a temporary idol, may consider himself
+fortunate, if he escape with only the reproach of envy. Sketches of
+contemporaneous character--if they seek recognition among the masses,
+must, therefore, not reduce the altitude which blind admiration has
+assigned, nor cut away the foreign lace, nor tear the ornaments, with
+which excited parties have bedaubed their images of clay. And, yet, so
+prone are men to overrate their leaders, that no estimate of a prominent
+man can be just, without impugning popular opinion.
+
+There is probably no other ground quite so perilous as politics, unless
+it be literature: and, as yet, the west is comparatively barren of those
+"sensitive plants," literary men. But any attempt to delineate society,
+by portraiture of living characters, even though the pictures were
+purely ideal, would, upon the present plan, involve the suspicion (and
+perhaps the temptation to deserve it), indicated above. Before venturing
+upon such uncertain paths, therefore, we must display a little
+generalship, and call a halt, if not a council of war. Whether we are to
+march forward, will be determined by the "General _Orders_."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+J. S. REDFIELD,
+
+110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK,
+
+HAS JUST PUBLISHED:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_EPISODES OF INSECT LIFE._
+
+By ACHETA DOMESTICA. In Three Series: I. Insects of Spring.--II. Insects
+of Summer.--III. Insects of Autumn. Beautifully illustrated. Crown 8vo.,
+cloth, gilt, price $2.00 each. The same beautifully colored after
+nature, extra gilt, $4.00 each.
+
+     "A book elegant enough for the centre table, witty enough for after
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+     nature. Nothing is made in vain not only, but nothing is made ugly
+     or repulsive. A charm is thrown around every object, and life
+     suffused through all, suggestive of the Creator's goodness and
+     wisdom."--_N. Y. Evangelist._
+
+     "Moths, glow-worms, lady-birds, may-flies, bees, and a variety of
+     other inhabitants of the insect world, are descanted upon in a
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+
+     "The book includes solid instruction as well as genial and
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+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_MEN AND WOMEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY._
+
+By ARSENE HOUSSAYE, with beautifully Engraved Portraits of Louis XV.,
+and Madame de Pompadour. Two volume 12mo. 450 pages each, extra
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+
+     CONTENTS.--Dufresny, Fontenelle, Marivaux, Piron, The Abbé Prevost,
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+     the Gay, Marie Antoinette, Made. de Pompadour, Vadé, Mlle. Camargo,
+     Mlle. Clairon, Mad. de la Popelinière, Sophie Arnould, Crébillon
+     the Tragic, Mlle. Guimard, Three Pages in the Life of Dancourt, A
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+
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+     Enquirer._
+
+     "This is a most welcome book, full of information and amusement, in
+     the form of memoirs, comments, and anecdotes. It has the style of
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+     Commonwealth._
+
+     "A BOOK OF BOOKS.--Two deliciously spicy volumes, that are a
+     perfect _bonne bouche_ for an epicure in reading."--_Home Journal._
+
+
+_PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES_
+
+By ARSENE HOUSSAYE. With beautifully-engraved Portraits of Voltaire and
+Mad. Parabère. Two vols., 12mo, price $2.50.
+
+     "We have here the most charming book we have read these many
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+     hours from our imperious labors or needful slumbers, by the
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+     of the prolific field of literature of the present
+     season."--_Portland Eclectic._
+
+     "Two brilliant and fascinating--we had almost said,
+     bewitching--volumes, combining information and amusement, the
+     lightest gossip, with solid and serviceable wisdom."--_Yankee
+     Blade._
+
+     "It is a most admirable book, full of originality, wit, information
+     and philosophy. Indeed, the vividness of the book is extraordinary.
+     The scenes and descriptions are absolutely life-like."--_Southern
+     Literary Gazette._
+
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+     whose rhetoric does justice to those times, and in fascination of
+     description and style equal the fascinations they descant
+     upon."--_New Orleans Commercial Bulletin._
+
+     "The author is a brilliant writer, and serves up his sketches in a
+     sparkling manner."--_Christian Freeman._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_ANCIENT EGYPT UNDER THE PHARAOHS._
+
+By JOHN KENDRICK, M. A. In 2 vols., 12mo, price $2.50.
+
+     "No work has heretofore appeared suited to the wants of the
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+     Branch._
+
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+
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+     Commerce._
+
+     "The descriptions are very vivid and one wanders, delighted with
+     the author, through the land of Egypt, gathering at every step, new
+     phases of her wondrous history, and ends with a more intelligent
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+     Pharaohs."--_American Spectator._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_COMPARATIVE PHYSIOGNOMY_;
+
+Or Resemblances between Men and Animals. By J. W. REDFIELD, M.D. In one
+vol., 8vo, with several hundred illustrations, price, $2.00.
+
+     "Dr. Redfield has produced a very curious, amusing, and instructive
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+
+     "The whole work exhibits a good deal of scientific research,
+     intelligent observation, and ingenuity."--_Daily Union._
+
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+     the science."--_Detroit Daily Advertiser._
+
+     "This is a remarkable volume and will be read by two classes, those
+     who study for information, and those who read for amusement. For
+     its originality and entertaining character, we commend it to our
+     readers."--_Albany Express._
+
+     "It is overflowing with wit, humor, and originality, and profusely
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+     knowledge."--_Knickerbocker._
+
+     "The plan is a novel one; the proofs striking, and must challenge
+     the attention of the curious."--_Daily Advertiser._
+
+
+_MOORE'S LIFE OF SHERIDAN._
+
+Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, by THOMAS
+MOORE, with Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds. Two vols., 12mo, cloth,
+$2.00.
+
+     "One of the most brilliant biographies in English literature. It is
+     the life of a wit written by a wit, and few of Tom Moore's most
+     sparkling poems are more brilliant and fascinating than this
+     biography."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+     "This is at once a most valuable biography of the most celebrated
+     wit of the times, and one of the most entertaining works of its
+     gifted author."--_Springfield Republican._
+
+     "The Life of Sheridan, the wit, contains as much food for serious
+     thought as the best sermon that was ever penned."--_Arthur's Home
+     Gazette._
+
+     "The sketch of such a character and career as Sheridan's by such a
+     hand as Moore's, can never cease to be attractive."--_N. Y. Courier
+     and Enquirer._
+
+     "The work is instructive and full of interest."--_Christian
+     Intelligencer._
+
+     "It is a gem of biography; full of incident, elegantly written,
+     warmly appreciative, and on the whole candid and just. Sheridan was
+     a rare and wonderful genius, and has in this work justice done to
+     his surpassing merits."--_N. Y. Evangelist._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_BARRINGTON'S SKETCHES._
+
+Personal Sketches of his own Time, by SIR JONAH BARRINGTON, Judge of the
+High Court of Admiralty in Ireland, with Illustrations by Darley. Third
+Edition, 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+     "A more entertaining book than this is not often thrown in our way.
+     His sketches of character are inimitable; and many of the prominent
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+
+     "He was a very shrewd observer and eccentric writer, and his
+     narrative of his own life, and sketches of society in Ireland
+     during his times, are exceedingly humorous and interesting."--_N.
+     Y. Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "It is one of those works which are conceived and written in so
+     hearty a view, and brings before the reader so many palpable and
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+
+     "This is one of the most entertaining books of the season."--_N. Y.
+     Recorder._
+
+     "It portrays in life-like colors the characters and daily habits of
+     nearly all the English and Irish celebrities of that period."--_N.
+     Y. Courier and Enquirer._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_JOMINI'S CAMPAIGN OF WATERLOO._
+
+The Political and Military History of the Campaign of Waterloo, from the
+French of Gen. Baron Jomini, by Lieut. S. V. BENET, U. S. Ordnance, with
+a Map, 12mo, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+     "Of great value, both for its historical merit and its acknowledged
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+
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+     his final and most disastrous defeat, is considered as instructive,
+     as it is interesting."--_Arthur's Home Gazette._
+
+     "It is a standard authority and illustrates a subject of permanent
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+     be a favorite reference, and for the general reader it possesses
+     great value and interest."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+     "It throws much light on often mooted points respecting Napoleon's
+     military and political genius. The translation is one of much
+     vigor."--_Boston Commonwealth._
+
+     "It supplies an important chapter in the most interesting and
+     eventful period of Napoleon's military career."--_Savannah Daily
+     News._
+
+     "It is ably written and skilfully translated."--_Yankee Blade._
+
+
+_NOTES AND EMENDATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE._
+
+Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare's Plays, from the Early
+Manuscript Corrections in a copy of the folio of 1632, in the possession
+of JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., F.S.A. Third edition, with a facsimile of
+the Manuscript Corrections. 1 vol. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
+
+     "It is not for a moment to be doubted, we think, that in this
+     volume a contribution has been made to the clearness and accuracy
+     of Shakespeare's text, by far the most important of any offered or
+     attempted since Shakespeare lived and wrote."--_Lond. Exam._
+
+     "The corrections which Mr. Collier has here given to the world are,
+     we venture to think, of more value than the labors of nearly all
+     the critics on Shakespeare's text put together."--_London Literary
+     Gazette._
+
+     "It is a rare gem in the history of literature, and can not fail to
+     command the attention of all the amateurs of the writings of the
+     immortal dramatic poet."--_Ch'ston Cour._
+
+     "It is a book absolutely indispensable to every admirer of
+     Shakespeare who wishes to read him understandingly."--_Louisville
+     Courier._
+
+     "It is clear from internal evidence, that for the most part they
+     are genuine restorations of the original plays. They carry
+     conviction with them."--_Home Journal._
+
+     "This volume is an almost indispensable companion to any of the
+     editions of Shakespeare, so numerous and often important are many
+     of the corrections."--_Register, Philadelphia._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES._
+
+By JOSEPH FRANÇOIS MICHAUD. Translated by W. Robson, 3 vols. 12mo.,
+maps, $3.75.
+
+     "It is comprehensive and accurate in the detail of facts,
+     methodical and lucid in arrangement, with a lively and flowing
+     narrative."--_Journal of Commerce._
+
+     "We need not say that the work of Michaud has superseded all other
+     histories of the Crusades. This history has long been the standard
+     work with all who could read it in its original language. Another
+     work on the same subject is as improbable as a new history of the
+     'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'"--_Salem Freeman._
+
+     "The most faithful and masterly history ever written of the wild
+     wars for the Holy Land."--_Philadelphia American Courier._
+
+     "The ability, diligence, and faithfulness, with which Michaud has
+     executed his great task, are undisputed; and it is to his
+     well-filled volumes that the historical student must now resort for
+     copious and authentic facts, and luminous views respecting this
+     most romantic and wonderful period in the annals of the Old
+     World."--_Boston Daily Courier._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_MARMADUKE WYVIL._
+
+An Historical Romance of 1651, by HENRY W. HERBERT, author of the
+"Cavaliers of England," &c., &c. Fourteenth Edition. Revised and
+Corrected.
+
+     "This is one of the best works of the kind we have ever read--full
+     of thrilling incidents and adventures in the stirring times of
+     Cromwell, and in that style which has made the works of Mr. Herbert
+     so popular."--_Christian Freeman, Boston._
+
+     "The work is distinguished by the same historical knowledge,
+     thrilling incident, and pictorial beauty of style, which have
+     characterized all Mr. Herbert's fictions and imparted to them such
+     a bewitching interest."--_Yankee Blade._
+
+     "The author out of a simple plot and very few characters, has
+     constructed a novel of deep interest and of considerable historical
+     value. It will be found well worth reading."--_National Ægis,
+     Worcester._
+
+=Life under an Italian Despotism!=
+
+LORENZO BENONI,
+
+OR
+
+PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF AN ITALIAN.
+
+_One Vol., 12mo, Cloth--Price $1.00._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.=
+
+     "The author of 'Lorenzo Benoni' is GIOVANNI RUFFINI, a native of
+     Genoa, who effected his escape from his native country after the
+     attempt at revolution in 1833. His book is, in substance, an
+     authentic account of real persons and incidents, though the writer
+     has chosen to adopt fictitious and fantastic designations for
+     himself and his associates. Since 1833, Ruffini has resided chiefly
+     (if not wholly) in England and France, where his qualities, we
+     understand, have secured him respect and regard. In 1848, he was
+     selected by Charles Albert to fill the responsible situation of
+     embassador to Paris, in which city he had long been domesticated as
+     a refugee. He ere long, however, relinquished that office, and
+     again withdrew into private life. He appears to have employed the
+     time of his exile in this country to such advantage as to have
+     acquired a most uncommon mastery over the English language. The
+     present volume (we are informed on good authority) is exclusively
+     his own--and, if so, on the score of style alone it is a remarkable
+     curiosity. But its matter also is curious."--_London Quarterly
+     Review for July._
+
+     "A tale of sorrow that has lain long in a rich mind, like a ruin in
+     a fertile country, and is not the less gravely impressive for the
+     grace and beauty of its coverings ... at the same time the most
+     determined novel-reader could desire no work more fascinating over
+     which to forget the flight of time.... No sketch of foreign
+     oppression has ever, we believe, been submitted to the English
+     public by a foreigner, equal or nearly equal to this volume in
+     literary merit. It is not unworthy to be ranked among contemporary
+     works whose season is the century in which their authors
+     live."--_London Examiner._
+
+     "The book should be as extensively read as 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,'
+     inasmuch as it develops the existence of a state of slavery and
+     degradation, worse even than that which Mrs. Beecher Stowe has
+     elucidated with so much pathos and feeling."--_Bell's Weekly
+     Messenger._
+
+     "Few works of the season will be read with greater pleasure than
+     this; there is a great charm in the quiet, natural way in which the
+     story is told."--_London Atlas._
+
+     "The author's great forte is character-painting. This portraiture
+     is accomplished with remarkable skill, the traits both individual
+     and national being marked with great nicety without
+     obtrusiveness."--_London Spectator._
+
+     "Under the modest guise of the biography of an imaginary 'Lorenzo
+     Benoni,' we have here, in fact, the memoir of a man whose name
+     could not be pronounced in certain parts of northern Italy without
+     calling up tragic yet noble historical recollections.... Its
+     merits, simply as a work of literary art, are of a very high order.
+     The style is really beautiful--easy, sprightly, graceful, and full
+     of the happiest and most ingenious turns of phrase and
+     fancy."--_North British Review._
+
+     "This has been not unjustly compared to '_Gil Blas_,' to which it
+     is scarcely inferior in spirited delineations of human character,
+     and in the variety of events which it relates. But as a description
+     of actual occurrences illustrating the domestic and political
+     condition of Italy, at a period fraught with interest to all
+     classes of readers, it far transcends in importance any work of
+     mere fiction."--_Dublin Evening Mail._
+
+
+"SHAKESPEARE AS HE WROTE IT."
+
+THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE,
+
+_Reprinted from the newly-discovered copy of the Folio of 1632 in the
+possession of J. Payne Collier, containing nearly_
+
+=Twenty Thousand Manuscript Corrections=,
+
+_With a History of the Stage to the Time, an Introduction to each Play,
+a Life of the Poet, etc._
+
+BY J. PAYNE COLLIER, F.S.A.
+
+_To which are added, Glossarial and other Notes, the Readings of Former
+Editions, a_ PORTRAIT _after that by Martin Droeshout, a_ VIGNETTE TITLE
+_on Steel, and a_ FACSIMILE OF THE OLD FOLIO, _with the Manuscript
+Corrections_. 1 vol., Imperial 8vo. Cloth $4.00.
+
+The =WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE= the same as the above. Uniform in Size with
+the celebrated Chiswick Edition, 8 vols. 16mo, cloth $6.00. Half calf or
+moroc. extra.
+
+These are _American Copyright Editions_, the Notes being expressly
+prepared for the work. The English edition contains simply the text,
+without a single note or indication of the changes made in the text. In
+the present, the variations from old copies are noted by reference of
+all changes to former editions (abbreviated f.e.), and every indication
+and explanation is given essential to a clear understanding of the
+author. The prefatory matter, Life, &c., will be fuller than in any
+American edition now published.
+
+     "This is the only correct edition of the works of the 'Bard of
+     Avon' ever issued, and no lover or student of Shakespeare should be
+     without it."--_Philadelphia Argus._
+
+     "Altogether the most correct and therefore the most valuable
+     edition extant."--_Albany Express._
+
+     "This edition of Shakespeare will ultimately supersede all others.
+     It must certainly be deemed an essential acquisition by every lover
+     of the great dramatist."--_N. Y. Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "This great work commends itself in the highest terms to every
+     Shakespearian scholar and student."--_Philadelphia City Item._
+
+     "This edition embraces all that is necessary to make a copy of
+     Shakespeare desirable and correct."--_Niagara Democrat._
+
+     "It must sooner or later drive all others from the market."--_N. Y.
+     Evening Post._
+
+     "Beyond all question, the very best edition of the great bard
+     hitherto published."--_New England Religious Herald._
+
+     "It must hereafter be the standard edition of Shakespeare's
+     plays."--_National Argus._
+
+     "It is clear from internal evidence that they are genuine
+     restorations of the original plays."--_Detroit Daily Times._
+
+     "This must we think supersede all other editions of Shakespeare
+     hitherto published. Collier's corrections make it really a
+     different work from its predecessors. Compared with it we consider
+     them hardly worth possessing."--_Daily Georgian, Savannah._
+
+     "One who will probably hereafter be considered as the only true
+     authority. No one we think, will wish to purchase an edition of
+     Shakespeare, except it shall be conformable to the amended text by
+     Collier."--_Newark Daily Advertiser._
+
+     "A great outcry has been made in England against this edition of
+     the bard, by Singer and others interested in other editions; but
+     the emendations commend themselves too strongly to the good sense
+     of every reader to be dropped by the public--the old editions must
+     become obsolete."--_Yankee Blade, Boston._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Western Characters, by J. L. McConnel
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTERN CHARACTERS ***
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+
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Western Characters, by J. L. McConnel
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Western Characters
+       or Types of Border Life in the Western States
+
+Author: J. L. McConnel
+
+Illustrator: Darley
+
+Release Date: October 23, 2007 [EBook #23155]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTERN CHARACTERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Marcia Brooks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+</pre>
+
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 442px;">
+<img src="images/illus-001.jpg" width="442" height="500" alt=""  />
+<span class="caption">THE PEDDLER</span></div>
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 326px;">
+<img src="images/illus-002.jpg" width="326" height="500" alt=""  />
+<span class="caption">Title Page</span></div>
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[Pg 1]</a></span></p>
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h1>WESTERN CHARACTERS</h1>
+
+<h4>OR</h4>
+
+<h3>TYPES OF BORDER LIFE</h3>
+
+<h4>IN THE</h4>
+
+<h3>WESTERN STATES</h3>
+
+<h2>BY J. L. McCONNEL</h2>
+<h5>AUTHOR OF &ldquo;TALBOT AND VERNON,&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;THE GLENNS,&rdquo; ETC.</h5>
+
+<h4>WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY DARLEY</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 127px;"><img src="images/illus-390-1.jpg" width="127" height="123" alt=""  /></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[Pg 2]</a></span></p>
+<h4>
+REDFIELD,<br />
+110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.<br />
+1853.</h4>
+
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<center>
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853,<br />
+<span class="smcap">By J. S. REDFIELD,</span><br />
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and for<br />
+the Southern District of New York.<br />
+</center>
+<hr style="width: 45%;" />
+<div style="text-align: center;">
+STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE,<br />
+13 Chambers Street, N. Y.</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[Pg 3]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="PREFATORY_NOTE" id="PREFATORY_NOTE"></a>PREFATORY NOTE.</h2>
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>Attempts to delineate local character are always
+liable to misconstruction; for, the more truthful the
+sketch, the greater is the number of persons, to whom
+resemblance may be discovered; and thus, while in
+fact only describing the characteristics of a class,
+authors are frequently subjected, very unjustly, to
+the imputation of having invaded the privacy of individuals.
+Particularly is this so, when the class
+is idealized, and an imaginary type is taken, as the
+representative of the species.</p>
+
+<p>I deem it proper, therefore, to say in advance,
+that no attempt has been made in the following
+pages, to portray any individual; and that&mdash;although
+I hope I have not been so unsuccessful, as
+to paint pictures which have no originals&mdash;if there
+be a portrait in any sketch, it consists, not in the
+likeness of the picture to the person, but of both to
+the type.</p>
+
+<p>As originally projected, the book would have
+borne this explanation upon its face; but the circumstances
+which have reduced its dimensions, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[Pg 4]</a></span>
+changed its plan, have also rendered necessary a
+disclaimer, which would, otherwise, have been superfluous.</p>
+<br />
+
+<p>One or two of the sketches might have been made
+more complete had I been fortunate enough to meet
+with certain late publications, in time to use them.
+Such is the elaborate work of Mr. Schoolcraft upon
+Indian History and Character; and such, also, is
+that of Mr. Shea, upon the voyages and labors of
+Marquette&mdash;a book whose careful accuracy, clear
+style, and lucid statement, might have been of much
+service in writing the sketch entitled &ldquo;<i>The Voyageur</i>.&rdquo;
+Unfortunately, however, I saw neither of
+these admirable publications, until my work had assumed
+its present shape&mdash;a fact which I regret as
+much for my reader's sake as my own.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right;"><span class="smcap">J. L. McC.</span></p>
+<p><i>July 15, 1853.</i></p>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[Pg 5]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<a name="toc" id="toc"></a>
+<h2>CONTENTS.</h2>
+
+<ul>
+<li><a href="#PREFATORY_NOTE"><b>PREFATORY NOTE.</b></a></li>
+<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li>
+<li><span class="ralign">PAGE.</span></li>
+<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li>
+<li><a href="#INTRODUCTORY"><span class="smcap">Introductory</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_7">7</a></span></li>
+<li>I.</li>
+<li><a href="#I"><span class="smcap">The Indian</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_19">19</a></span></li>
+<li>II.</li>
+<li><a href="#II"><span class="smcap">The Voyageur</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_62">62</a></span></li>
+<li>III.</li>
+<li><a href="#III"><span class="smcap">The Pioneer</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_106">106</a></span></li>
+<li>IV.</li>
+<li><a href="#IV"><span class="smcap">The Ranger</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_157">157</a></span></li>
+<li>V.</li>
+<li><a href="#V"><span class="smcap">The Regulator</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_171">171</a></span></li>
+<li>VI.</li>
+<li><a href="#VI"><span class="smcap">The Justice of the Peace</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_246">246</a></span></li>
+<li>VII.</li>
+<li><a href="#VII"><span class="smcap">The Peddler</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_268">268</a></span></li>
+<li>VIII.</li>
+<li><a href="#VIII"><span class="smcap">The Schoolmaster</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_288">288</a></span></li>
+<li>IX.</li>
+<li><a href="#IX"><span class="smcap">The Schoolmistress</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_319">319</a></span></li>
+<li>X.</li>
+<li><a href="#X"><span class="smcap">The Politician</span></a><span class="ralign"><a href="#Page_340">340</a></span></li>
+<li style="list-style:none"><br /></li>
+<li><a href="#EPILOGUE"><b>EPILOGUE.</b></a></li>
+</ul>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_6" id="Page_6">[Pg 6]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[Pg 7]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="INTRODUCTORY" id="INTRODUCTORY"></a>INTRODUCTORY.</h2>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i10">&mdash;&ldquo;Our Mississippi, rolling proudly on,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Would sweep them from its path, or swallow up,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Like Aaron's rod, those streams of fame and song.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Mrs. Hale.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The valley of a river like the channel of a
+man's career, does not always bear proportion
+to the magnitude or volume of the current,
+which flows through it. Mountains, forests,
+deserts, physical barriers to the former&mdash;and
+the obstacles of prejudice, and accidents of
+birth and education, moral barriers to the latter&mdash;limit,
+modify, and impair the usefulness
+of each. A river thus confined, an intellect
+thus hampered, may be noisy, fretful, turbulent,
+but, in the contemplation, there is ever a
+feeling of the incongruity between the purpose
+and the power; and it is only when the valley
+is extended, the field of effort open, that we
+can avoid the impression of energy wasted, and
+strength frittered away. The great intellect,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[Pg 8]</a></span>
+whose scope is not confined by ancient landmarks,
+or old prejudices, is thus typified by the
+broad, deep river, whose branches penetrate the
+Earth on every hand, and add to the current
+the tributaries of all climes. In this view, how
+noble an object is the Mississippi!</p>
+
+<p>In extent, fertility, variety of scenery, and
+diversity of climate, its valley surpasses any
+other in the world. It is the great aorta of
+the continent, and receives a score of tributary
+rivers, the least of which is larger than the
+vaunted streams of mighty empires. It might
+furnish natural boundaries to all Europe, and
+yet leave, for every country, a river greater than
+the Seine. It discharges, in one year, more
+water than has issued from the Tiber in five
+centuries; it swallows up near fifty nameless
+rivers longer than the Thames; the addition
+of the waters of the Danube would not swell it
+half a fathom; and in a single bend, the navies
+of the world might safely ride at anchor, five
+hundred miles from sea.</p>
+
+<p>It washes the shores of twelve powerful states,
+and between its arms lies space enough for twenty
+more. The rains which fall upon the Alleghenies,
+and the snows that shroud the slopes and
+cap the summits of the Rocky mountains, are
+borne upon its bosom, to the regions of perpet<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span>ual
+summer, and poured into the sea, more than
+fifteen hundred leagues from their sources. It
+has formed a larger tract of land, by the deposits
+of its inundations, than is contained in
+Great Britain and Ireland; and every year it
+roots up and bears away more trees, than there
+are in the Black Forest. At a speed unknown
+to any other great river, it rolls a volume, in
+whose depths the cathedral of St. Paul's might
+be sunk out of sight; and five hundred leagues
+from its mouth, it is wider than at thirty.</p>
+
+<p>It annually bears away more acres than it
+would require to make a German principality,
+engulfing more than the revenues of many a
+petty kingdom. Beneath its turbid waters lie
+argosies of wealth, and floating palaces, among
+whose gilded halls and rich saloons are sporting
+slimy creatures; below your very feet, as you
+sail along its current, are resting in its bed,
+half buried in the sand, the bodies of bold men
+and tender maidens; and their imploring hands
+are raised toward Heaven, and the world which
+floats, unheeding, on the surface. There lies,
+entombed, the son whose mother knows not of
+his death; and there the husband, for whose
+footstep, even yet, the wife is listening&mdash;here,
+the mother with her infant still clasped fondly
+to her breast; and here, united in their lives,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>
+not separated in their death, lie, side by side,
+the bride and bridegroom of a day;&mdash;and,
+hiding the dread secrets from all human ken,
+the mighty and remorseless river passes onward,
+like the stream of human life, toward
+&ldquo;the land of dreams and shadows!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>To the contemplative mind, there is, perhaps,
+no part of the creation, in which may not be
+found the seed of much reflection; but of all
+the grand features of the earth's surface, next to
+a lofty mountain, that which impresses us most
+deeply is a great river. Its pauseless flow, the
+stern momentum of its current&mdash;its remorseless
+coldness to all human hopes and fears&mdash;the secrets
+which lie buried underneath its waters,
+and the myriad purposes of those it bears upon
+its bosom&mdash;are all so clearly typical of Time.
+The waters will not pause, though dreadful battles
+may be fought upon their shores&mdash;as Time
+will steadily march forward, though the fate
+of nations hang upon the conflict. The moments
+fly as swiftly, while a mighty king is
+breathing out his life, as if he were a lowly
+peasant; and the current flows as coldly on,
+while men are struggling in the eddies, as if
+each drowning wretch were but a floating weed.
+Time gives no warning of the hidden dangers
+on which haughty conquerors are rushing, as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>
+the perils of the waters are revealed but in the
+crashing of the wreck.</p>
+
+<p>But the parallel does not stop here. The
+sources of the Mississippi&mdash;were it even possible
+that they should ever be otherwise&mdash;are
+still unknown to man. Like the stream of history,
+its head-springs are in the regions of fable&mdash;in
+the twilight of remote latitudes; and it is
+only after it has approached us, and assumed a
+definite channel, that we are able to determine
+which is the authentic stream. It flows from
+the country of the savage, toward that of civilization;
+and like the gradations of improvement
+among men, are the thickening fields and
+growing cultivation, which define the periods
+of its course. Near its mouth, it has reached
+the culmination of refinement&mdash;its last ripe
+fruit, a crowded city; and, beyond this, there
+lies nothing but a brief journey, and a plunge
+into the gulf of Eternity!</p>
+
+<p>Thus, an emblem of the stream of history, it
+is still more like a march along the highway
+of a single human life. As the sinless thoughts
+of smiling childhood are the little rivulets,
+which afterward become the mighty river;
+like the infant, airy, volatile, and beautiful&mdash;sparkling
+as the dimpled face of innocence&mdash;a
+faithful reflex of the lights and shadows of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>
+existence; and revealing, through the limpid
+wave, the golden sands which lie beneath.
+Anon, the errant channels are united in one
+current&mdash;life assumes a purpose, a direction&mdash;but
+the waters are yet pure, and mirror on their
+face the thousand forms and flashing colors of
+Creation's beauty&mdash;as happy boyhood, rapidly
+perceptive of all loveliness, gives forth, in radiant
+smiles, the glad impressions of unfaded
+youth.</p>
+
+<p>Yet sorrow cometh even to the happiest.
+Misfortune is as stern a leveller as Death; and
+early youth, with all its noble aspirations, gorgeous
+visions, never to be realized, must often
+plunge, like the placid river over a foaming
+cataract, down the precipice of affliction&mdash;even
+while its current, though nearing the abyss,
+flow softly as &ldquo;the waters of Shiloah.&rdquo; It may
+be the death of a mother, whom the bereaved
+half deemed immortal&mdash;some disappointment,
+like the falsehood of one dearly loved&mdash;some
+rude shock, as the discovery of a day-dream's
+hollowness; happy, thrice happy! if it be but
+one of these, and not the descent from innocence
+to sin!</p>
+
+<p>But life rolls on, as does the river, though its
+wave no longer flows in placid beauty, nor reveals
+the hidden things beneath. The ripples<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>
+are now whirling eddies, and a hundred angry
+currents chafe along the rocks, as thought and
+feeling fret against the world, and waste their
+strength in vain repining or impatient irritation.
+Tranquillity returns no more; and
+though the waters seem not turbid, there is
+a shadow in their depths&mdash;their transparency
+is lost.</p>
+
+<p>Tributaries, great and small, flow in&mdash;accessions
+of experience to the man, of weight and
+volume to the river; and, with force augmented,
+each rolls on its current toward the ocean.
+A character, a purpose, is imparted to the life,
+as to the stream, and usefulness becomes an
+element of being. The river is a chain which
+links remotest latitudes, as through the social
+man relations are established, binding alien
+hearts: the spark of thought and feeling, like
+the fluid of the magnet, brings together distant
+moral zones.</p>
+
+<p>On it rushes&mdash;through the rapids, where the
+life receives an impulse&mdash;driven forward&mdash;haply
+downward&mdash;among rocks and dangerous
+channels, by the motives of ambition, by
+the fierce desire of wealth, or by the goad of
+want! But soon the mad career abates, for
+the first effect of haste is agitation, and the
+master-spell of power is calmness. Happy are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>
+they, who learn this lesson early&mdash;for, thence,
+the current onward flows, a tranquil, noiseless,
+but resistless, tide. Manhood, steady and mature,
+with its resolute but quiet thoughts, its
+deep, unwavering purposes, and, more than all,
+its firm, profound affections, is passing thus, between
+the shores of Time&mdash;not only working
+for itself a channel broad and clear, but bearing
+on its bosom, toward Eternity, uncounted
+wealth of hopes.</p>
+
+<p>But in the middle of its course, its character
+is wholly changed; a flood pours in, whose
+waters hold, suspended, all impurities. A
+struggle, brief but turbulent, ensues: the limpid
+wave of youth is swallowed up. Some
+great success has been achieved; unholy passions
+are evoked, and will not be allayed;
+thenceforward there is no relenting; and,
+though the world&mdash;nay! Heaven itself!&mdash;pour
+in, along its course, broad tributaries of
+reclaiming purity, the cloud upon the waters
+can never be dispelled. The marl and dross
+of Earth, impalpable, but visibly corrupting,
+pervade the very nature; and only when the
+current ceases, will its primitive transparency
+return.</p>
+
+<p>Still it hurries onward, with velocity augmented,
+as it nears its term. Yet its breadth<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span>
+is not increased; the earth suspended in its
+waters, like the turbid passions of the human
+soul, prevents expansion;<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> for, in man's career
+through time, the heart grows wider only in
+the pure.</p>
+
+<p>Along the base of cliffs and highlands&mdash;through
+the deep alluvions of countless ages&mdash;among
+stately forests and across extended plains,
+it flows without cessation. Beyond full manhood,
+character may change no more&mdash;as, below
+its mighty tributaries, the river is unaltered.
+Its full development is reached among rich plantations,
+waving fields, and swarming cities;
+while, but the journey of a day beyond, it
+rushes into Eternity, leaving a melancholy record,
+as it mingles with the waters of the great
+gulf, even upon the face of Oblivion.</p>
+
+<p>&mdash;Within the valley of this river, time will see
+a population of two hundred millions; and here
+will be the seat of the most colossal power
+Earth has yet contained. The heterogeneous
+character of the people is of no consequence:
+still less, the storms of dissension, which now
+and then arise, to affright the timid and faithless.
+The waters of all latitudes could not be
+blended in one element, and purified, without<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>
+the tempests and cross-currents, which lash the
+ocean into fury. Nor would a stagnant calmness,
+blind attachment to the limited horizon
+of a homestead, or the absence of all irritation
+or attrition, ever make one people of the emigrants
+from every clime.</p>
+
+<p>And, when this nation shall have become
+thoroughly homogeneous&mdash;when the world
+shall recognise <i>the race</i>, and, above this, <i>the
+power</i> of the race&mdash;will there be no interest in
+tracing through the mists of many generations,
+the outlines of that foundation on which is
+built the mighty fabric? Even the infirmities
+and vices of the men who piled the first stones
+of great empires, are chronicled in history as
+facts deserving record. The portrait of an ancient
+hero is a treasure beyond value, even
+though the features be but conjectural. How
+much more precious would be a faithful portrait
+of <i>his character</i>, in which the features
+should be his salient traits&mdash;the expression,
+outline, and complexion of his nature!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>To furnish a series of such portraits&mdash;embracing
+a few of the earlier characters, whose
+&ldquo;mark&rdquo; is traceable in the growing civilization
+of the West and South&mdash;is the design of the
+present work. The reader will observe that its<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>
+logic is not the selection of actual, but of ideal,
+individuals, each representing a class; and that,
+although it is arranged chronologically, the periods
+are not historical, but characteristic. The
+design, then, is double; <i>first</i>, to select a <i>class</i>,
+which indicates a certain stage of social or political
+advancement; and, <i>second</i>, to present a
+picture of an imaginary individual, who combines
+the prominent traits, belonging to the
+class thus chosen.</p>
+
+<p>The series halts, beyond the Rubicon of contemporaneous
+portraiture, for very obvious reasons;
+but there are still in existence abundant
+means of verifying, or correcting, every sketch.
+I have endeavored to give the consciousness of
+this fact its full weight&mdash;to resist the temptation
+(which, I must admit, was sometimes
+strong) to touch the borders of satire; and, in
+conclusion, I can only hope that these wishes,
+with an earnest effort at fidelity, have enabled
+me to present truthful pictures.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> &ldquo;Were it a clear stream, it would soon scoop itself out a
+channel from bluff to bluff.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Flint's Geography</i>, p. 103.</p></div>
+</div>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<h2><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE INDIAN.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">&ldquo;In the same beaten channel still have run<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">The blessed streams of human sympathy;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">And, though I know this ever hath been done,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">The why and wherefore, I could never see!&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Phebe Carey.</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In a work which professes to trace, even indistinctly,
+the reclamation of a country from a
+state of barbarism, some notice of that from
+which it was reclaimed is, of course, necessary;
+and an attempt to distinguish the successive
+periods, each by its representative character,
+determines the logic of such notice. Were we
+as well acquainted with the gradations of Indian
+advancement&mdash;for such unquestionably,
+there were&mdash;as we are with those of the civilized
+man, we should be able to distinguish eras
+and periods, so as to represent them, each by
+its separate <i>ideal</i>. But civilization and barbarism
+are comparative terms; and, though it is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span>
+difficult, perhaps impossible, precisely to fix the
+point at which one ceases and the other begins,
+yet, within that limit, we must consider barbarism
+as <i>one</i> period. Of this period, in our plan,
+the Indian, without reference to distinction of
+tribe, or variation in degree of advancement, is
+the representative. As all triangles agree in
+certain properties, though widely different in
+others, so all Indians are alike in certain characteristics,
+though differing, almost radically, each
+from every other: But, as the points of coincidence
+in triangles are those which determine
+the class, and the differences only indicate subspecies,
+so the similar characteristics in the
+Indian, are those which distinguish the species,
+and the variations of character are, at most,
+only tribal limits. An Indian who should combine
+all the equivalent traits, without any of
+the inequalities, would, therefore, be the pure
+ideal of his race. And his composition should
+include the evil as well as the good; for a portrait
+of the savage, which should represent him
+as only generous and brave, would be as far
+from a complete ideal, as one which should
+display only his cruelty and cunning.</p>
+
+<p>My object in this article is, therefore, to combine
+as many as possible&mdash;or as many as are
+necessary&mdash;of the general characteristics of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>
+Indian, both good and bad&mdash;so as to give a
+fair view of the character, according to the
+principle intimated above. And I may, perhaps
+without impropriety, here state, that this
+may be taken as the key to all the sketches
+which are to follow. It is quite probable that
+many examples of each class treated, might
+be found, who are exceptions to the rules
+stated, in almost every particular; and it is
+possible, that no <i>one</i>, of <i>any</i> class treated, combined
+<i>all</i> the characteristics elaborated. Excepting
+when historical facts are related, or well-authenticated
+legends worked in, my object is
+not to give portraits of individuals, however
+prominent. As was hinted above&mdash;the logic
+of the book points only to the ideal of each
+class.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>And this view of the subject excludes all
+those discussions, which have so long puzzled
+philosophers, about the origin of the race&mdash;our
+business is with the question <i>What is he?</i> rather
+than with the inquiry, <i>Whence did he come?</i>
+The shortest argument, however&mdash;and, if the
+assumption be admitted, the most conclusive&mdash;is
+that, which assumes the literal truth of the
+Mosaic account of the creation of man; for
+from this it directly follows, that the aboriginal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>
+races are descendants of Asiatic emigrants; and
+the minor questions, as to the route they followed&mdash;whether
+across the Pacific, or by Behring's
+strait&mdash;are merely subjects of curious
+speculation, or still more curious research. And
+this hypothesis is quite consistent with the evidence
+drawn from Indian languages, customs,
+and physical developments. Even the arguments
+against the theory, drawn from differences
+in these particulars among the tribes,
+lose their force, when we come to consider that
+the same, if not wider differences, are found
+among other races, indisputably of a single
+stock. These things may be satisfactorily accounted
+for, by the same circumstances in the
+one case, as in the other&mdash;by political and
+local situation, by climate, and unequal progress.
+Thus, the Indian languages, says Prescott,
+in his &ldquo;Conquest of Mexico,&rdquo; &ldquo;present
+the strange anomaly of differing as widely in
+etymology, as they agree in organization;&rdquo; but
+a key to the solution of the problem, is found
+in the latter part of the same sentence: &ldquo;and,
+on the other hand,&rdquo; he continues,<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a> &ldquo;while they
+bear some slight affinity to the languages of
+the Old World, in the former particular, they
+have no resemblance to them whatever, in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>
+latter.&rdquo; This is as much as if he had said, that
+the incidents to the lives of American Indians,
+are totally different to those of the nations of
+the Old World: and these incidents are precisely
+the circumstances, which are likely to
+affect organization, more than etymology. And
+the difficulty growing out of their differences
+among themselves, in the latter, is surmounted
+by the fact, that there is a sufficient general resemblance
+among them all, to found a comparison
+with &ldquo;the languages of the Old World.&rdquo;
+I believe, a parallel course of argument would
+clear away all other objections to the theory.<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, as has been said, the scope of our work
+includes none of these discussions; and we
+shall, therefore, pass to the Indian character,
+abstracted from all antecedents. That this has
+been, and is, much misunderstood, is the first
+thought which occurs to one who has an oppor<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>tunity
+personally to observe the savage. Nor is
+it justly a matter of surprise. The native of this
+continent has been the subject of curious and
+unsatisfactory speculation, since the discovery
+of the country by Columbus: by the very <i>want</i>
+of those things, which constitute the attraction
+of other nations, he became at once, and has
+continued, the object of a mysterious interest.
+The absence of dates and facts, to mark the
+course of his migration, remits us to conjecture,
+or the scarcely more reliable resource of tradition&mdash;the
+want of history has made him a
+character of romance. The mere name of Indian
+gives the impression of a shadowy image,
+looming, dim but gigantic, through a darkness
+which nothing else can penetrate. This mystery
+not only interests, but also disarms, the
+mind; and we are apt to see, in the character,
+around which it hovers, only those qualities
+which give depth to the attraction. The creations
+of poetry and romance are usually extremes;
+and they are, perhaps, necessarily so,
+when the nature of the subject furnishes no
+standard, by which to temper the conception.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The efforts of a poet's imagination are, more
+or less, under the control of his opinions:&rdquo; but
+opinions of men are founded upon their history;
+and there is, properly, <i>no</i> historical Indian<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>
+character. The consequence has been, that
+poets and novelists have constructed their savage
+personages according to a hypothetical
+standard, of either the virtues or vices, belonging,
+potentially, to the savage state. The same
+rule, applied to portraiture of civilized men,
+would at once be declared false and pernicious;
+and the only reason why it is not equally
+so, in its application to the Indian, is, because
+the separation between him and us is so broad,
+that our conceptions of his character can exert
+little or no influence upon our intercourse with
+mankind.</p>
+
+<p>Sympathy for what are called the Indian's
+misfortunes, has, also, induced the class of writers,
+from whom, almost exclusively, our notions
+of his character are derived, to represent him
+in his most genial phases, and even to palliate
+his most ferocious acts, by reference to the injustice
+and oppression, of which he has been
+the victim. If we were to receive the authority
+of these writers, we should conclude that
+the native was not a savage, at all, until the
+landing of the whites; and, instead of ascribing
+his atrocities to the state of barbarism in which
+he lived&mdash;thus indicating their only valid
+apology&mdash;we should degrade both the white
+and the red men, by attributing to the former<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>
+all imaginable vices, and, to the latter, a peculiar
+aptitude in acquiring them. These mistakes
+are natural and excusable&mdash;as the man
+who kills another in self-defence is justifiable;
+but the Indian character is not the less misconceived,
+just as the man slain is not less dead,
+than if malice had existed in both cases. To
+praise one above his merits, is as fatal to his
+consideration, as decidedly to disparage him.
+In either case, however, there is a chance that
+a just opinion may be formed; but, when both
+extremes are asserted with equal confidence,
+the mind is confused, and can settle upon nothing.
+The latter is precisely the condition of
+the Indian; and it is with a view of correcting
+such impressions, that this article is written.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The American Indian, then, is the ideal of a
+savage&mdash;no more, no less: and I call him the
+ideal, because he displays <i>all</i> those qualities,
+which the history of the human race authorizes
+us to infer, as the characteristics of an unenlightened
+people, for many ages isolated from
+the rest of mankind.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> He differs, in many<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>
+particulars, from the other barbarians of the
+world; but the broadest distinction lies in this
+<i>completeness</i> of his savage character. The peculiarities
+of the country in which their lives
+assume their direction, its climate, isolation; or
+connection with the world&mdash;all these things contribute
+to modify the aspects presented by native
+races. In such points as are liable to modification
+by these causes, the American differs from
+every other savage; and without entering into
+an elaborate comparison of circumstances&mdash;for
+which we have neither the material, the inclination,
+nor the space&mdash;it may be proper briefly
+to consider <i>one</i> of these causes, and endeavor
+to trace its effects in the Indian's moral physiognomy.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The state of this continent, when the first
+Asiatic wanderers landed upon its shores, was,
+of course, that of a vast, unbroken solitude;
+and the contemplation of its almost boundless
+extent and profound loneliness, was certainly
+the first, and probably the most powerful agency,
+at work in modifying their original character.
+What the primary effects of this cause<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>
+were likely to be, we may observe in the white
+emigrants, who have sought a home among the
+forests and upon the plains of the west: whatever
+they may have been before their migration,
+they soon become meditative, abstracted,
+and taciturn. These, and especially the last,
+are the peculiar characteristics of the Indian;
+his taciturnity, indeed, amounts to austerity,
+sometimes impressing the observer with the
+idea of affectation. The dispersion, which must
+have been the effect of unlimited choice in
+lands&mdash;the mode of life pursued by those who
+depended upon the chase for subsistence&mdash;the
+gradual estrangement produced among the separate
+tribes, by the necessity of wide hunting-grounds&mdash;the
+vast expanse of territory at command&mdash;causes
+operating so long, as to produce
+a fixed and corresponding nature&mdash;are the
+sources, to which we may trace almost all the
+Indian's distinctive traits.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Isolation,&rdquo; Carlyle says, &ldquo;is the sum total
+of wretchedness to man;&rdquo; and, doubtless, the
+idea which he means to convey is just. &ldquo;But,&rdquo;
+in the words of De Quincey, &ldquo;no man can be
+truly <i>great</i>, without at least chequering his life
+with solitude.&rdquo; Separation from his kind, of
+course, deprives a man of the humanizing influences,
+which are the consequences of associa<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>tion;
+but it may, at the same time, strengthen
+some of the noblest qualities of human nature.
+Thus, we are authorized to ascribe to this agency,
+a portion of the Indian's fortitude under
+hardships and suffering, his contempt for mere
+meanness, and above all, the proud elevation
+of his character. The standards of comparison,
+which were furnished by his experience, were
+few, and, of course, derived from the ideas of
+barbarians; but all such as were in any way
+modified by the solitude of his existence, were
+rendered impressive, solemn, and exalted.</p>
+
+<p>In the vast solitudes of Asia, whence the Indian
+races migrated to this continent, so far as
+the loneliness of savage deserts and endless
+plains might exert an influence, we should expect
+to find the same general character. But
+the Asians are almost universally pastoral&mdash;the
+Americans never; the wildest tribes of
+Tartary possess numerous useful domesticated
+animals&mdash;the Americans, even in Mexico,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a>
+had none; the Tartars are acquainted with the
+use of milk, and have been so from time immemorial&mdash;the
+Indian, even at this day, has
+adopted it only in a few localities, among the
+more enlightened tribes. The migration of the
+latter either took place at a period before even<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>
+his Asiatic father had discovered its use, or the
+accidents which brought him to this continent,
+were such as to preclude importing domesticated
+animals; and the lapse of a few generations
+was sufficient to obliterate even the
+recollection of such knowledge. &ldquo;And,&rdquo; says
+Prescott,<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> &ldquo;he might well doubt, whether the
+wild, uncouth monsters, whom he occasionally
+saw bounding with such fury over the distant
+plains, were capable of domestication, like the
+meek animals which he had left grazing in the
+green pastures of Asia.&rdquo; To this leading distinction&mdash;the
+adoption and neglect of pastoral
+habits&mdash;may be referred most of the diversities
+among races, unquestionably of one stock.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Reasoning from the effects upon human character,
+produced by the face of different countries,
+we might expect to find, in the Indian,
+among other things, a strong tendency toward
+poetical thought, embodied, not in the mode of
+expression usually denominated poetry, but in
+the style of his addresses, the peculiarities of his
+theories, or the construction of his mythology,
+language, and laws. This expectation is totally
+disappointed; but when we examine the
+<i>degree</i> and <i>character</i> of his advancement, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>
+recollect a few of the circumstances, among
+which the poetry looked for would be obliged
+to grow, our disappointment loses its element
+of surprise. The contemplation of Nature in
+her primitive, terrible, and beautiful forms&mdash;the
+habit of meditation, almost the necessary
+consequence of solitude&mdash;the strange, wild
+enchantment of an adventurous life&mdash;have
+failed to develop in the Indian, any but selfish
+and sensual ideas. Written poetry was, of
+course, not to be expected, even from the indigenous
+civilization of Mexico and Peru; yet
+we might, with some ground for hope, seek
+occasional traces of poetical thought and feeling.
+We look in vain for any such thing.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Extremes meet,&rdquo; says one of the wisest of
+adages; and the saying was never more singularly
+and profoundly vindicated, than in its
+application to civilization and barbarism. The
+savage rejects all that does not directly gratify
+his selfish wants&mdash;the highly-civilized man is,
+in like manner, governed by the principle of
+<i>utility</i>; and, by both, the merely fanciful and
+imaginative is undervalued. Thus, as Mr.
+Macaulay<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> ingeniously says, &ldquo;A great poem,
+in a highly-polished state of society, is the
+most wonderful and splendid proof of genius<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>.&rdquo;
+But, for the same reasons, the savage, who
+should display any remarkably poetical feeling
+or tone of thought, would be quite as great a
+prodigy. Poetry flourishes most luxuriantly
+midway between the two extremes. Its essence
+is the contemplation of great passions and actions&mdash;of
+love, revenge, ambition. Imagination
+is then vivified by the means of expression
+or articulation; and, in the half-civilized state,
+neither a refined public sentiment, nor the
+other extreme of barbarous isolation, restrains
+the exhibition of great (and poetical) emotions.</p>
+
+<p>The best of Hazlitt's numerous definitions
+of poetry, determines it to be &ldquo;the excess of
+imagination, beyond the actual or ordinary impression
+of any object or feeling.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> But the
+Indian was destitute of all imagination; apparently,
+the composition of his nature included
+no such element; and, certainly, the rude exigencies
+of his life did not admit its action.
+Even the purity of his mythology, compared to
+that of the Greeks and Romans,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> has been (by
+Lord Lindsay) attributed to this want&mdash;though,
+if such were its only effects, it might very well
+be supplied.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The Indian has no humor, no romance&mdash;how
+could he possess poetical feeling? The
+gratification of sensual wants is the end of his
+life&mdash;too often, <i>literally</i> the end! &ldquo;He considers
+everything beneath his notice, which is
+not necessary to his advantage or enjoyment.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
+To him a jest is as unmeaning as the babbling of
+a brook; his wife is a beast of burden; and even
+his courting is carried on by gifts of good things
+<i>to eat</i>, sent to the parents.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Heaven is merely a
+hunting-ground; his language has no words to
+express abstract qualities, virtues, vices, or sentiments.<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a>
+His idea of the Great Spirit, and the
+word which expresses it, may be applied with
+equal propriety to a formidable (though not
+beneficent) <i>animal</i>; indeed, the Indian words
+which we translate &ldquo;spirit,&rdquo; mean only superior
+power, without the qualification of good or
+evil. He has not even the ordinary inhabitive
+instinct of the human race; his attachment to
+any region of country depends upon its capacity
+to furnish game, and the fading of the former
+keeps pace with the disappearance of the latter.
+&ldquo;Attachment to the graves of his fathers,&rdquo; is an
+agreeable fiction&mdash;unfortunately, only a fic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>tion.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
+He has always been nomadic, without
+the pastoral habits which the word supposes:
+a mere wandering savage, without purpose or
+motive, beyond the gratification of the temporary
+want, whim, or passion, and void of <i>everything</i>
+deserving the name of sentiment.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>An extravagant, and, I am sorry to say, groundless,
+notion has obtained currency, among almost
+all writers upon the Indian character, that
+he is distinguished for his <i>eloquence</i>. But the
+same authors tell us, that his language, the vehicle
+of the supposed eloquence, can express only
+material ideas.<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> Now, if we knew no more
+of his character than this, we should be authorized
+to infer (what is, indeed, true), that he possesses
+no standard for the distinction of good
+and evil, and that his imagination is bounded
+by the lines of his sensible experience. How
+any degree of eloquence can be compatible
+with this state of things, passes comprehension.
+And what reflection would conclude, a little
+examination will confirm. The mistake has,
+doubtless, grown out of a misconception of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>
+nature of eloquence itself.<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> If eloquence were
+all <i>figure</i>&mdash;even if it were, in any considerable
+degree, <i>mere</i> figure&mdash;then the tawdriest rhetorician
+would be the greatest orator. But it is
+not so. On the contrary, the use of many
+words (or figures) to express an idea, denotes
+not command of language, but the absence of
+that power&mdash;just as the employment of numerous
+tools, to effect a physical object, indicates,
+not skill in the branch of physics, to which the
+object belongs, but rather awkwardness. Of
+course, much must be placed, in both cases, to
+the account of clumsy instruments; but the
+instrument of speech differs from others in this:
+it is fashioned <i>by</i>, as well as <i>for</i>, its use; and a
+rude, unpolished language is, therefore, an index,
+in two ways, of the want of eloquence
+among the people who employ it.</p>
+
+<p>In this view, the figurative elocution of the Indian,
+so far from affording evidence of oratorical
+power, if it proves anything, proves the opposite.
+It is the barrenness of his language,
+and not the luxuriance of his imagination,
+which enforces that mode of speech.<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> Imagi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>nation
+is the first element of oratory, simplicity
+its first condition. We have seen that the Indian
+is wholly destitute of the former; and the
+stilted, meretricious, and ornate style, of even
+his ordinary communications, entirely excludes
+the latter from our conception of his character.<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a></p>
+
+<p>For example: take the expressions &ldquo;bury
+the hatchet,&rdquo; for &ldquo;make peace,&rdquo; and &ldquo;a cloudless
+sky,&rdquo; for &ldquo;prosperity&rdquo;&mdash;the latter being
+the nearest approximation to an abstract idea
+observed in Indian oratory. Upon examining
+these, and kindred forms of speech, we shall at
+once perceive that they are not the result of
+imagination, but are suggested by <i>material</i>
+analogies. Peace, to the savage, is, at best,
+but a negative idea; and the <i>state</i> of peacefulness,
+abstracted from the absence of war, finds
+no corresponding word in his language. Even
+friendship only means that relation, in which
+friends may be of <i>use</i> to each other. As his
+dialects are all synthetic,<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> his ideas are all con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span>crete.
+To say, &ldquo;<i>I love</i>&rdquo; without expressing
+<i>what</i> or <i>whom</i> I love, would be, so to speak,
+very bad Indian grammar. He can not even
+say &ldquo;two&rdquo; correctly, without applying the numeral
+to some object. The notion of absolute
+being, number, emotion, feeling, posture, or relation,
+is utterly foreign to his mode of thought
+and speech.</p>
+
+<p>So, also, of the &ldquo;cloudless sky,&rdquo; used to express
+a state of prosperity. He does not mean,
+by the phrase, the serenity of mind which prosperity
+produces, nor any other abstract inflexion
+or suggestion of the figure. He is constantly exposed
+to the storms of heaven, in the chase, and
+on the war path; and, even in his best &ldquo;lodge,&rdquo;
+he finds but little shelter from their fury. Clear
+weather is, therefore, grateful to him&mdash;bright
+sunshine associates itself, in his mind, with comfort,
+or (that supremest of Indian pleasures)
+undisturbed indolence. And the transition,
+though, as we have said, an approach to an
+abstract conception, is easy, even to the mind
+of a savage. His employment of such illustrations
+is rather an evidence of rudeness, than of
+eloquence&mdash;of barrenness, than of luxuriance
+of idea.<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From these considerations, it results, that
+even the very best specimens of Indian oratory,
+deserve the name of <i>picturesque</i>, rather
+than of <i>eloquent</i>&mdash;two characteristics which
+bear no greater affinity to each other, than do
+the picture-writing of the Aztec and the alphabetical
+system of the Greek. The speech of
+Logan&mdash;the most celebrated of Indian harangues&mdash;even
+if genuine,<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> is but a feeble support
+to the theory of savage eloquence. It is
+a mixture of the lament and the song of triumph,
+which may be found in equal perfection
+among all barbarous people; but, so far as we
+are aware, was never elsewhere dignified with
+that sounding name. The slander of a brave
+and honorable man,<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> which it contains, might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>
+be the result of a mistake easily made; the
+wrongs of which this chief was the victim,
+might render even a savage eloquent; and the
+mixture of bloody vaunting with profound
+grief, is scarcely to be expected in any <i>but</i> a
+savage. &ldquo;Logan never knew fear,&rdquo; he says;
+&ldquo;he would not turn on his heel to save his
+life.&rdquo; This species of boasting is perfectly in
+keeping with the Indian character; but the
+pathetic reason for this carelessness, which
+follows&mdash;&ldquo;There is no one to mourn for Logan&rdquo;&mdash;is
+one not likely to have occurred to an
+Indian, even in his circumstances. And, granting
+that the expression <i>was</i> used by the orator,
+and not (as it seems probable it was) added by
+Jefferson, it is, I believe, the only example on
+record of poetical feeling in any Indian speech.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The <i>religion</i> of the Indian has given as much
+troublesome material to the builders of systems,
+as has been furnished by all his other
+characteristics combined. The first explorers
+of America supposed that they had found a
+people, quite destitute of any religious belief.
+But faith in a higher power than that of man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>
+is a necessity of the human mind; and its organization,
+more or less enlightened, is as natural,
+even to the most degraded savage, as the
+formation of his language. Both depend upon
+general laws, common to the intellect of all
+races of men; both are affected by the external
+circumstances of climate, situation, and mode
+of life; and the state of one may always be determined
+by that of the other. &ldquo;No savage
+horde has been caught with its language in a
+state of chaos, or as if just emerging from the
+rudeness of indistinguishable sounds. Each
+appears, not as a slow formation by painful processes
+of invention, but as a perfect whole,
+springing directly from the powers of man.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a>
+And though this rigor of expression is not
+equally applicable to the Indian's religion, the
+fact is attributable solely to the difference in
+nature of the subjects. As the &ldquo;primary sounds
+of a language are essentially the same everywhere,&rdquo;
+the impulses and instincts of piety are
+common to all minds. But, as the written language
+of the Indian was but the pictorial representation
+of visible objects, having no metaphysical
+signification, so the symbols of his religion,
+the objects of his adoration, were drawn from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>
+external nature.<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> Even his faith in the Great
+Spirit is a graft upon his system, derived from
+the first missionaries;<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> and, eagerly as he adopted
+it, it is probable that its meaning, to him, is little
+more exalted, than that of the &ldquo;Great Beaver,&rdquo;
+which he believes to be the first progenitor,
+if not the actual creator, of that useful animal.</p>
+
+<p>We often see the fact, that the Indian believes
+in his <i>manitou</i>, cited as an evidence,
+that he has the conception of a spiritual divinity.
+But the word never conveyed such a
+meaning; it is applicable more properly to material
+objects, and answers, with, if possible, a
+more intense and superstitious significance, to
+the term <i>amulet</i>. The Indian's <i>manitou</i> might
+be, indeed always was, some wild animal, or
+some part of a beast or bird&mdash;such as a bear's
+claw, a buffalo's hoof, or a dog's tooth.<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> And,
+though he ascribed exalted powers to this primitive
+guardian, it must be remembered that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>
+these powers were only physical&mdash;such, for example,
+as would enable it to protect its devotee
+from the knife of his enemy, or give him success
+in hunting.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Materialism, then, reigns in the religion, as
+in the language, of the Indian; and its effects
+are what might be expected. His whole system
+is a degraded and degrading superstition; and,
+though it has been praised for its superior
+purity, over that of the ancients, it seems to
+have been forgotten, that this purity is only the
+absence of <i>one kind</i> of <i>im</i>purity: and that its
+cruel and corrupting influences, of another sort,
+are ten-fold greater than those of the Greek
+mythology. The faith of the Greek embodied
+itself in forms, ceremonies, and observances&mdash;regularly
+appointed religious rites kept his piety
+alive; the erection of grand temples, in honor
+of his deity, whatever might be his conception
+of that deity's character, attested his genuine
+devotion, and held constantly before his mind
+the abstract idea of a higher power. The Indian,
+before the coming of the white man, erected
+no temples<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> in honor of his divinities; for he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>
+venerated them only so long as they conferred
+physical benefits<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> upon him; and his idea of
+beneficence was wholly concrete. He had no
+established form of worship; the ceremonies,
+which partook of a religious character, were
+grotesque in their conception, variable in their
+conduct, and inhuman in their details. Such,
+for example, are the torturing of prisoners, and
+the ceremonies observed on the occasion of a
+young Indian's placing himself under his guardian
+power.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The dogmas of the Indian religion, until varied
+by the teaching of missionaries, were few
+and simple&mdash;being circumscribed, like everything
+else belonging to him, by the material
+world. He believed in a good spirit, and an
+evil spirit; but his conception was limited by
+the ideas of benefit or injury, <i>to himself</i>; indeed,
+it may safely be doubted, whether the
+word &ldquo;spirit,&rdquo; in its legitimate sense, is at all
+applicable to his belief. &ldquo;Power in a state of
+exertion,&rdquo; is the more accurate description of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>
+his imperfect notion: abstract existence he
+never conceived; the verb &ldquo;<i>to be</i>&rdquo; except as
+relating to time, place, and action, had no
+meaning in his language.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a> He believed, also,
+in subordinate powers of good and evil; but,
+since his life was occupied more in averting
+danger and calamity, than in seeking safety
+or happiness, he paid far more respect to the
+latter than to the former&mdash;he prayed oftener
+and more fervently to the devils, than to the
+angels. His clearest notion of divinity, was
+that of a being able to injure him; and, in this
+sense, his devotion might be given to man,
+bird, or beast.</p>
+
+<p>There seems to be no doubt, that he believed
+in a sort of immortality, even before the missionaries
+visited his country. But it was not so
+much a new state of existence, as a continuation
+of present life.<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> He killed horses upon the
+grave of the departed warrior, that he might
+be mounted for his long journey; and buffalo
+meat and roasted maize were buried with him,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>
+that he might not suffer from hunger.<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> On
+arriving in the land of the blest, he believed,
+that the dead pursued the game of that country,
+as he had done in this; and the highest felicity
+of which he conceived, was the liberty to hunt
+unmolested by the war-parties of his enemies.
+Heaven was, therefore, in his conception, only
+a more genial earth, and its inheritors but keener
+sportsmen.</p>
+
+<p>That this idea of immortality involved that
+of accountability, in some form, seems to admit
+of no doubt; but this doctrine, like almost all
+others belonging to the primitive savage, has
+been moulded to its present definite shape, by
+the long-continued labors of Christian missionaries.<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a>
+He believed, indeed, that the bad Indians
+never reached the happy hunting-grounds,
+but the distinction between the good and the
+bad, in his mind, was not at all clear; and,
+since the idea of the passage across the gulf of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>
+death most prevalent among all tribes, is that
+of a narrow bridge, over which only steady
+nerves and sure feet may carry the wanderer,
+it seems probable that the line was drawn between
+the brave warrior and the successful hunter,
+on the one hand, and the coward and the
+unskilful, on the other. If these views be correct,
+the inferences to be drawn from the Indian's
+belief in immortality and accountability,
+are of but slender significance.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Corrupt manners and degrading customs never
+exist, in conjunction with a pure religious
+system. The outlines of social institutions are
+metaphysically coincident with the limits of
+piety; and the refinement of morals depends
+upon the purity of faith. We may thus determine
+the prevailing spirit of a national religion,
+by observation of domestic manners and habits;
+and, among all the relations of life, that of parent
+and child is the best index to degree of advancement.
+Filial piety is but the secondary manifestation
+of a devotional heart; and attachment
+and obedience to a father on earth, are only imperfect
+demonstrations of love to our Father in
+heaven. What, then&mdash;to apply the principle&mdash;is
+the state of this sentiment in the Indian?
+By the answer to that question, we shall be able<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>
+to estimate the value of his religious notions,
+and to determine the amount of hope, for his
+conversion, justified by their possession. The
+answer may be given in a few words: There
+is no such sentiment in the Indian character.
+Children leave their infirm parents to die alone,
+and be eaten by the wolves;<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> or treat them
+with violent indignity,<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> when the necessity
+of migration gives no occasion for this barbarous
+desertion. Young savages have been known
+to beat their parents, and even to kill them;
+but the display of attachment or reverence for
+them, is quite unknown. Like the beast of the
+forest, they are no sooner old enough to care
+for themselves, than they cease even to remember,
+by whose care they have become so; and
+the slightest provocation will produce a quarrel
+with a father, as readily as with a stranger.
+The unwritten law of the Indian, about which
+so many writers have dreamed, enacts no higher
+penalty for parricide, than for any other homicide;
+and a command to honor his father and
+mother because they <i>are</i> his father and mother,
+would strike the mind of an Indian as simply
+absurd.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>If the possession of a religion, whose fruits
+are no better than these, can, of itself, give
+ground for hope to the Christian philanthropist,
+let him cherish it fondly. But it is much to be
+feared, that the existence of such a system
+indefinitely postpones, if it does not entirely
+preclude, the Indian's conversion. Even a
+bird which has never known the forest, will
+eventually escape to the wilds which God has
+made its home; and the young Indian, who
+has been reared in the city, will fly to the woods
+and prairies, and return to the faith of his fathers,
+because these, and only these, will satisfy
+his nature.<a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
+
+<br />
+<p>A theme of praise, in itself more just, has
+been the Indian's courage; but the same circumstances
+of poetical interest, which have
+magnified men's views of his other qualities,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>
+have contributed to exaggerate this also. If
+calm steadiness of nerve, in the moment of action,
+be an element in true courage, that of the
+primitive savage was scarcely genuine. In
+all his battles, there were but two possible aspects&mdash;the
+furious onset, and the panic retreat:
+the firmness which plants itself in line
+or square, and stubbornly contends for victory,
+was no part of his character. A check, to him,
+always resulted in a defeat; and, though this
+might, in some measure, be the consequence
+of that want of discipline, which is incident to
+the savage state, the remark applies with equal
+justice, whether he fought singly or in a body.
+He was easily panic-struck, because the impulse
+of the forward movement was necessary
+to keep him strung to effort; and the retrograde
+immediately became a rout, because daring,
+without constancy, collapses with the first reaction.</p>
+
+<p>Notwithstanding the enervating influences
+attributed to refinement and luxury, genuine,
+steady courage is one of the fruits borne by a
+high civilization. It is the result of combination,
+thought, and the divinity which attaches
+to the cultivated man. And, though it may
+seem rather unfair to judge a savage by the
+rules of civilization, it has long been received<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span>
+as a canon, that true valor bears an inverse ratio
+to ferocious cruelty. Of all people yet discovered
+upon earth, the Indian is the most
+ferocious. We must, therefore, either vary the
+meaning of the word, when applied to different
+people, or deny the savage the possession of
+any higher bravery, than that which lives only
+through the onset.</p>
+
+<p>Cunning supplied the place of the nobler
+quality; the object of his warfare was to overcome
+by wily stratagem, rather than by open
+combat. &ldquo;Skill consisted in surprising the
+enemy. They followed his trail, to kill him
+when he slept; or they lay in ambush near a
+village, and watched for an opportunity of suddenly
+surprising an individual, or, it might be,
+a woman and her children; and, with three
+strokes to each, the scalps of the victims being
+suddenly taken off, the brave flew back with
+his companions, to hang the trophies in his
+cabin.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> If they succeeded in taking prisoners,
+it was only that they might be reserved
+for the most infernal torments, and the gratification
+of a brutal ferocity, not the trial and
+admiration of the victim's courage, was the
+purpose of their infliction.<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The fortitude of the Indian under suffering,
+has often been referred to, in evidence of
+moral courage. And it is certainly true, that
+the display so frequently made of triumph in
+the hour of death by torture, indicates,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> in
+part, an elevation of character, seldom found
+among more civilized men. It is, however,
+the elevation of a barbarian; and its manifestations
+are as much the fruit of impotent
+rage, as of a noble fortitude. The prisoner at
+the stake knows that there is no escape; and
+his intense hatred of his enemies takes the form
+of a wish, to deprive them of a triumph. While
+his flesh is crisping and crackling in the flames,
+therefore, he sings of the scalps he has taken,
+and heaps opprobrious epithets upon the heads
+of his tormentors. But his song is as much a
+cry of agony, as of exultation&mdash;his pain only
+adopts this mode of expression. It is quite certain,
+also, that he does not suffer so deeply, as
+would a white man in the same circumstances.
+By long exposure, and the endurance of hard<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>ships
+incident to his savage life, his body acquires
+an insensibility akin to that of wild animals.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a>
+His nerves do not shrink or betray a
+tendency to spasm, even when a limb is amputated.
+Transmitted from one generation to another,
+this physical nature has become a peculiarity
+of the race. And when assisted by the
+fierce hatred above referred to, it is not at all
+strange that it should enable him to bear with
+fortitude, tortures which would conquer the
+firmness of the most resolute white man.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a></p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The Indian's dignified stoicism has been as
+much exaggerated, as his courage and fortitude.
+It is not quite true that he never expresses
+surprise, or becomes loquacious. But
+he has a certain stern impassibility of feature&mdash;a
+coldness of manner&mdash;which have been mistaken
+for dignity. His immobility of countenance,
+however, may be the effect of sluggish
+sensibilities, or even of dull perceptions;<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>
+the same savage vanity, which leads him to
+make a display of strength or agility before
+friend or enemy, prevents his acknowledging
+ignorance, by betraying surprise.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a> We have
+been in company with Indians from the Far
+West, while they saw a railroad for the first
+time. When they thought themselves unnoticed,
+they were as curious about the singular
+machinery of the locomotive, and as much excited
+by the decorations and appointments of
+the cars, as the most ignorant white man. But
+the moment they discovered that their movements
+were observed, they resumed their dignified
+composure; and, if you had judged of
+the Indian country by their subsequent deportment,
+you might have believed that the vast
+prairies of the Missouri were everywhere intersected
+by railroads&mdash;that the Indian had, in
+fact, never known any other mode of travelling.
+&ldquo;On first seeing a steamboat, however,&rdquo;
+says Flint, who well understands his character,
+&ldquo;he never represses his customary '<i>Ugh</i>!'&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Generally, among white men, he who is fondest
+of inflicting pain, is least able to endure it.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>
+But the Indian reverses almost all the principles,
+which apply to civilized life; and, accordingly,
+we find that, with all his so-called
+fortitude, he is the most intensely cruel of all
+living men. Before possession of the continent
+was taken by Europeans, war was more constantly
+the occupation of his life, than it has
+been since; but even now his only object in
+taking his enemies alive, is to subject them to
+the most inhuman tortures.<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a> And in these
+brutal orgies, the women are most active, even
+taking the lead, in applying the cord and the
+brand.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a> Nor is this cruelty confined to enemies,
+as the practice of leaving the aged and
+infirm to die of starvation sufficiently proves.</p>
+
+<p>And his treachery is equal to his cruelty.
+No treaty can bind him longer than superior
+force compels him to observe it. The discovery
+that his enemy is unprepared for an attack, is
+sufficient reason to him for making it; his only
+object in concluding peace, is to secure an ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>vantage
+in war; and before the prospect of a
+bloody inroad, his faith melts away, like snow
+before the sun. The claims of gratitude he seldom
+acknowledges; he cherishes the memory
+of a benefit, only until he finds an opportunity
+of repaying it with an injury; and forbearance
+to avenge the latter, only encourages its repetition.<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a>
+The numerous pretty stories published
+of Indian gratitude, are either exceptional
+cases, or unmixed romances.</p>
+
+<p>There have been some tribes of Indians in a
+measure reclaimed from their state of barbarism;
+the Cherokees, I believe, (and perhaps one
+or two other nations,) have even increased in
+numbers, under the influence of civilization. But
+this is the result of numerous favorable causes
+combined, and proves nothing, from which to
+infer the Indian's docility. Other savages, on
+coming in contact with civilized men, have discovered
+a disposition to acquire some of the
+useful arts&mdash;their comforts have been increased,
+their sufferings diminished, and their condition
+ameliorated, by the grafting of new ideas upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>
+the old. But, between the red man and the
+white, contiguity has brought about little more
+than an exchange of vices.</p>
+
+<p>Almost the only things coveted by the &ldquo;redskin&rdquo;
+from the &ldquo;paleface,&rdquo; were his arms, his
+trinkets, and his &ldquo;firewater.&rdquo; He could appreciate
+whatsoever gave him superiority in war,
+gratified his childish vanity, or ministered to
+his brutal appetite. But the greater comfort
+of the white man's house&mdash;the higher excellence
+of his boat&mdash;his improved agricultural
+implements or extended learning&mdash;none of
+these things appealed to the Indian's passions
+or desires. The arts of peace were nothing to
+him&mdash;refinement was worse than nothing. He
+would spend hours in <i>decorating</i> his person,
+but not a moment in <i>cleansing</i> it: I believe
+no tradition exists of an Indian ever having
+used soap or bought a fine-tooth comb! He is,
+indeed, a &ldquo;pattern of filthiness;&rdquo; but even in
+civilized life, we find that this is not at all incompatible
+with an extravagant love of ornament;
+and, in this respect, the savage is not
+behind his more enlightened brethren and sisters.
+Beads, ribands, and scarlet cloth&mdash;with
+powder and lead, guns, tomahawks, and knives&mdash;are
+the acquisitions which he prizes most
+highly.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Pre-eminent, however, above all these in his
+estimation, is the greatest curse which has yet
+reached him&mdash;the liquid fire called whiskey!
+He is, by nature, a drunkard, and the fury of
+his intoxication equals the ferocity of his warfare.
+&ldquo;All words would be thrown away,&rdquo;
+says Mr. Flint,<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a> &ldquo;in attempting to portray, in
+just colors, the effects of whiskey upon such a
+race.&rdquo; Fire should be kept away from combustibles&mdash;whiskey
+from the Indian, and for
+the same reason. With drunkenness, he possesses,
+also, its inseparable companion, the vice
+of gambling.<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a> He is the most inveterate
+gamester: Before the demon of avarice everything
+gives way. He even forgets his taciturnity,
+in the excitement of the game, and becomes
+loquacious and eager. He will stake all
+his most valuable possessions, and, losing these,
+will even risk his own liberty, or life, on the
+turn of a card. We were once witness to a
+game in San Antonio (in Western Texas),
+among a party of Lipans,<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> a race of fine-looking
+men, who range the table-lands north of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>
+sources of the Nueces. Two of them, one the
+handsomest warrior among them, lost, first, the
+money, which they had just received as the
+price of skins, brought to the city for sale. They
+then staked, successively, their horses, their
+arms, their moccasins, and their blankets. The
+&ldquo;luck&rdquo; was against them&mdash;everything was lost;
+and we supposed the game was over. But&mdash;as
+a last resource, like drawing blood from
+their beating hearts&mdash;each produced a <i>little
+leathern bottle</i>, containing whiskey! And, as
+if these possessed a higher value than all the
+articles yet lost, the game went on with increased
+interest! Even the potent &ldquo;spirit&rdquo;
+thus evoked, could not prevail upon Fortune to
+change her face: the whiskey was lost with
+the rest! Each rose to his feet, with the usual
+guttural exclamation, and, afoot, and unarmed
+as he was, silently took his way to the prairies;
+while the winners collected in a group, and
+with much glee, proceeded to consume the
+liquid poison so cheaply obtained.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>We come, finally to the question of the Indian's
+fate: What is to become of the race?
+The answer presents no difficulties, save such
+as grow out of men's unwillingness to look unpleasant
+truths in the face. There has been,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>
+of late years, much lamentation, among our
+own people, over the gradual extinction of
+these interesting savages; and in Europe we
+have been made the subject of indignant eloquence,
+for (what those, who know nothing
+about it, are pleased to call) &ldquo;our oppression
+of the Indian.&rdquo; But, in the first place, the decay
+of the American races is neither so rapid
+nor so universal, as is generally supposed;<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a>
+and, in the second place, if the fact were otherwise,
+we could, at the worst, be charged only
+with accelerating a depopulation already begun.
+&ldquo;The ten thousand mounds in the Mississippi
+Valley, the rude memorials of an immensely
+numerous former population, but, to
+our view, no more civilized than the present
+races, are proofs that the country <i>was depopulated</i>,
+when the white man first became acquainted
+with it. If we can infer nothing else
+from these mounds, we can clearly infer, that
+this country once had its millions.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> What<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>
+had become of this immense population? The
+successive invasions of new hordes of barbarians
+from the north, intestine wars, and the
+law, that men shall advance toward civilization,
+or decay from the earth&mdash;these are the
+only causes to which we may ascribe their disappearance.</p>
+
+<p>The extinction of the Indian race is decreed,
+by a law of Providence which we can not gainsay.
+Barbarism <i>must</i> give way to civilization.
+It is not only inevitable, but <i>right</i>, that it
+should be so. The tide of empire, which has
+been flowing since the earliest times, has set
+steadily toward the West. The Indian emigrated
+in the wrong direction: and now, after
+the lapse of many centuries, the descendants of
+the first Asians, having girdled the globe, meet
+on the banks of the Mississippi! On the one
+side, are enlightenment, civilization, Christianity:
+on the other, darkness, degradation, barbarism:
+and the question arises, which shall
+give way? The Indian recedes: at the rate of
+seventeen miles a year,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> the flood rolls on!
+Already it has reached the shores of the Pacific:
+One century will reduce the whole continent
+to the possession of the white man; and,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>
+then, the lesson which all history teaches, will
+be again taught&mdash;that two distinct races cannot
+exist in the same country on equal terms.
+The weaker must be incorporated with the
+stronger&mdash;or exterminated.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a></p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> Vol. III., page 394.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> There is, however, little necessity for any argument on the
+subject: For, leaving out of the question the highest and
+most sacred of authorities, almost all respectable writers upon
+ethnology, including Buffon, Volney, Humboldt, &amp;c., agree in
+assigning a common origin to all nations,&mdash;though the last
+deduces from many particulars, the conclusion that the American
+Indian was &ldquo;isolated in the infancy of the world, from
+the rest of mankind.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Ancient Inhabitants of America</i>, vol.
+i., p. 250.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> It will be observed, that I assume the <i>unity</i> of the Indian
+race; and I am not sufficiently acquainted with the recent
+discussions on the subject, to be certain whether the question
+is still considered open. But the striking analogies between
+the customs, physical formation, and languages of all the various
+divisions, (except the Esquimaux, who are excluded), I
+think, authorize the assumption.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> <i>Conquest of Mexico</i>, vol. iii., p. 416.</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> <i>Conquest of Mexico</i>, vol. iii., p. 417.</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> <i>Essays</i>&mdash;Art. 'Milton.'</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>Lectures on English Poets</i>, p. 4.</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> No very high compliment, but as high as it deserves. We
+shall see anon.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> Warburton's <i>Conquest of Canada</i>, vol. i., p. 177.</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> Bancroft's <i>United States</i>, vol. iii., p. 256.</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> Hunter's <i>Memoirs</i>, p. 236. <i>Western Annals</i>, p. 712.</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> <i>Flint's Geography</i>, p. 108.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> &ldquo;All ideas are expressed by figures addressed to the
+senses.&rdquo; <i>Warburton</i>, vol. i., p. 175. Bancroft, ut supra.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> See Bancroft, Hunter, Catlin, Flint, Jefferson, &amp;c.&mdash;passim&mdash;all
+supporters of Indian eloquence, but all informing us, that
+&ldquo;combinations of material objects were his <i>only</i> means of expressing
+abstract ideas.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> Vide Bancroft's <i>United States</i>, vol. iii., pp. 257, 266, etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> <i>E. G.</i> &ldquo;They style themselves the 'beloved of the Great
+Spirit.'&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Warburton</i>, vol. i., p. 186. &ldquo;In the Iroquois language,
+the Indians gave themselves the appellation of 'Angoueonoue',
+or 'Men of Always.'&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Chateaubriand's Travels in
+America</i>, vol. ii., p. 92. Note, also, their exaggerated boastfulness,
+even in their best speeches: &ldquo;Logan never knew
+fear,&rdquo; &amp;c.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> &ldquo;The absence of all reflective consciousness, and of all
+logical analysis of ideas, is the great peculiarity of American
+speech.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Bancroft</i>, vol. iii., p. 257.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> Warburton's <i>Conquest of Canada</i>, vol. i., p. 180.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> I have seen it hinted, though I have forgotten where, that
+Jefferson, and not Logan, was the author of this speech; but the
+extravagant manner in which Jefferson himself praises it, seems
+to exclude the suspicion. &ldquo;I may challenge the whole orations
+of Demosthenes and Cicero,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;and of any other more
+eminent orator, if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce
+a single passage superior to the speech of Logan!&rdquo; Praise
+certainly quite high enough, for a mixture of lamentation and
+boastfulness.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> The evidence in this matter has long ago been thoroughly
+sifted; and it is now certain that, so far from being present aiding
+at the massacre of Logan's family, Colonel Cresap earnestly
+endeavored to dissuade the party from its purpose. And yet the
+falsehood is perpetuated even in the common school-books of
+the country, while its object has been mouldering in his grave
+for a quarter of a century.&mdash;<i>Western Annals</i>, p. 147. <i>American
+Pioneer</i>, vol. i., p. 7, <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 254.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 285.&mdash;&ldquo;The God of the savage was what
+the metaphysician endeavors to express by the word <i>substance</i>.&rdquo;
+But the Indian's idea of substance was altogether <i>concrete.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> The best authority upon this subject is found in the <i>Jesuit</i>
+&ldquo;<i>Relaciones:</i>&rdquo; but it is at least probable, that the preconceptions
+of the good Fathers colored, and, perhaps, shaped, many
+of the religious wonders there related.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> &ldquo;Lettres Edifiantes,&rdquo; vol. vi., p. 200, <i>et seq.</i> Warburton,
+vol. i., p. 187.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> The extravagant stories told of the Natchez Indians (among
+whom there was said to be a remarkable temple for worship)
+are quite incredible, even if they had not been disproved.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> When the <i>manitou</i> of the Indian has failed to give him
+success in the chase, or protection from danger, &ldquo;he upbraids
+it with bitterness and contempt, and threatens to seek a more
+effectual protector. If the <i>manitou</i> continues useless, this
+threat is fulfilled.&rdquo; Warb. <i>ut supra</i>. <i>Vide</i>, also, Catlin's
+&ldquo;American Indians,&rdquo; vol. i., p. 36, <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 258.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> &ldquo;He calls it [the soul] the shadow or image of his body, but
+its acts and enjoyments are all the same as those of its earthly
+existence. He only pictures to himself a continuation of present
+pleasures.&rdquo; Warb. vol. i., p. 190. <i>Vide</i>, also, Catlin's &ldquo;<i>American
+Indians</i>,&rdquo; vol. i., p. 158, <i>et seq.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> The Indian never believed in the resurrection of the body;
+but even corn and venison were supposed to possess a spirit,
+which the spirit of the dead warrior might eat.&mdash;<i>Jesuit</i> &ldquo;<i>Relacion</i>,&rdquo;
+1633, p. 54.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> &ldquo;The idea of retribution,&rdquo; says Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 299, &ldquo;as
+far as it has found its way among them, was derived from
+Europeans.&rdquo; And the same remark may be made, of most of
+the other wonders, in which enthusiastic travellers have discovered
+coincidences with Christianity.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> James's &ldquo;<i>Expedition</i>,&rdquo; vol. i., p. 237.&mdash;Catlin's &ldquo;<i>American
+Indians</i>,&rdquo; vol. i., pp. 216-'18. The latter is a zealous apologist
+for Indian cruelties and barbarisms.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> &ldquo;<i>Conquest of Canada</i>,&rdquo; vol. i., pp. 194-'5.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The following may serve to indicate the sort of impression
+of Christianity which even the most earnest and enlightened
+preaching has been able to make upon the Indian mind: &ldquo;Here
+I saw a most singular union; one of the [Indian] graves was
+surmounted by a cross, while close to it a trunk of a tree was
+raised, covered with hieroglyphics, recording the number of
+enemies slain by the tenant of the tomb. Here presenting a
+hint to those who are fond of system-making on the religion
+of these people,&rdquo; &amp;c.&mdash;<i>Beltrami's Pilgrimage, &amp;c.</i>, vol. ii., p.
+307. Bancroft's <i>United States</i>, vol. iii., pp. 303-'4. Flint's
+<i>Geography</i>, pp. 109, 126.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 281.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> &ldquo;To inflict blows that can not be returned,&rdquo; says this historian
+(Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 282), &ldquo;is a proof of full success,
+and the entire humiliation of the enemy. It is, moreover, an
+experiment of courage and patience.&rdquo; But we think such
+things as much mere brutality, as triumph.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> The frequent change of tense in this article, refers to those
+circumstances in which the <i>present</i> differs from the <i>past</i> character
+of the Indian.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> &ldquo;It is to be doubted, whether some part of this vaunted
+stoicism be not the result of a more than ordinary degree of
+physical insensibility.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Flint's Geography</i>, vol. i., p. 114.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Many white men, however, have endured the utmost extremities
+of Indian cruelty. See cases of Brebeuf, and Lallemand,
+in <i>Bancroft</i>, vol. iii., p. 140.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> &ldquo;It is intellectual culture which contributes most to diversify
+the features.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Humboldt's Personal Narrative</i>, vol. iii., p. 228.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> &ldquo;They have probably as much curiosity [as the white],
+but a more stern perseverance in repressing it.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Flint's Geography</i>,
+vol. i., p. 124.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> &ldquo;The enemy is assailed with treachery, and, if conquered,
+treated with revolting cruelty.&rdquo; * * &ldquo;A fiendish ferocity
+assumes full sway.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Conquest of Canada</i>, vol. i., p. 206.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> It is perhaps not very remarkable, however, that the women
+are most cruel to the aged and infirm&mdash;the young and
+vigorous being sometimes adopted by them, to console them
+for the loss of those who have fallen.&mdash;<i>Idem</i>, p. 210.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> &ldquo;We consider them a treacherous people, easily swayed
+from their purpose, paying their court to the divinity of good
+fortune, and always ready to side with the strongest. We
+should not rely upon their feelings of to-day, as any pledge
+for what they will be to-morrow.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Flint's Geography</i>, vol. i.,
+p. 120.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> &ldquo;<i>Geography of the Mississippi Valley</i>,&rdquo; vol. i., p. 121.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> &ldquo;The Indians are immoderately fond of play.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Warburton</i>,
+vol. i., p. 218.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> These used cards; but they have, among themselves, numerous
+games of chance, older than the discovery of the continent.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> &ldquo;The Cherokee and Mobilian families of nations are more
+numerous now than ever.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Bancroft</i>, vol. iii., p. 253. In
+speaking of this declamation about the extinction of the race,
+Mr. Flint very pertinently remarks: &ldquo;One would think it had
+been discovered, that the population, the improvements, and
+the social happiness of our great political edifice, ought never
+to have been erected in the place of these habitations of
+cruelty.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Geography</i>, vol. i., p. 107.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> Idem.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> This is De Tocqueville's estimate.&mdash;<i>Democracy in America</i>,
+vol. ii., chap. 10.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> &ldquo;We may as well endeavor to make the setting sun stand
+still on the summit of the Rocky Mountains, as attempt to arrest
+the final extermination of the Indian race!&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Merivale
+on Colonization</i>&mdash;<i>Lecture</i> 19.
+</p><p>
+The principle stated in the text will apply with equal force
+to the negro-race; and those who will look the facts firmly in
+the face, can not avoid seeing, that the ultimate solution of the
+problem of American Slavery, can be nothing but <i>the sword.</i></p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="II" id="II"></a>II.</h2><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE VOYAGEUR.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Spread out earth's holiest records here,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of days and deeds to reverence dear:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">A zeal like this, what pious legends tell?&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The shapeless knight-errantry of the thirteenth
+and fourteenth centuries, rich as it was
+in romance and adventure, is not to be compared,
+in any valuable characteristic, to the
+noiseless self-devotion of the men who first explored
+the Western country. The courage of
+the knight was a part of his savage nature; his
+confidence was in the strength of his own right
+arm; and if his ruggedness was ever softened
+down by gentler thoughts, it was only when he
+asked forgiveness for his crimes, or melted in
+sensual idolatry of female beauty.</p>
+
+<p>It would be a curious and instructive inquiry,
+could we institute it with success, how much
+of the contempt of danger manifested by the
+wandering knight was referable to genuine<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>
+valor, and what proportion to the strength of
+a Milan coat, and the temper of a Toledo or
+Ferrara blade. And it would be still more
+curious, although perhaps not so instructive, to
+estimate the purity and fidelity of the heroines
+of chivalry; to ascertain the amount of true devotion
+given them by their admirers, &ldquo;without
+hope of reward.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But without abating its interest by invidious
+and ungrateful inquiries, we can see quite enough&mdash;in
+its turbulence, its cruelty, arrogance, and
+oppression&mdash;to make us thank Heaven that
+&ldquo;the days of chivalry are gone.&rdquo; And from
+that chaotic scene of rapine, raid, and murder,
+we can turn with pleasure to contemplate the
+truer, nobler chivalry&mdash;the chivalry of love and
+peace, whose weapons were the kindness of
+their hearts, the purity of their motives, and
+the self-denial of their lives.</p>
+
+<p>The term &ldquo;<i>voyageur</i>&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a> literally signifies
+&ldquo;traveller;&rdquo; and by this modest name are indicated
+some of the bravest adventurers the
+world has ever seen. But it is not in its usual,
+common-place signification that I employ the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>
+word, nor yet in that which is given it by most
+writers on the subject of early French settlements
+and explorations. Men are often affected
+by the names given them, either of opprobrium
+or commendation; but words are quite as frequently
+changed, restricted, or enlarged in
+meaning, by their application to men. For
+example: you apply the word soldier to a class
+of men; and if robbery be one of the characteristics
+of that class, &ldquo;soldier&rdquo; will soon come to
+mean &ldquo;robber&rdquo; too. And thus, though the
+parallel is only logical, has it been with the
+term &ldquo;<i>voyageur</i>.&rdquo; The class of men to whom
+it is applied were travellers&mdash;<i>voyageurs</i>; but
+they were <i>more</i>; and as the habits and qualities
+of men came in time to be better understood
+than the meaning of French words, the
+term, used in reference to Western history,
+took much of its significance from the history
+and character of the men it assumed to describe.
+Thus, <i>un voyageur</i> means not only a
+traveller, but a traveller with a purpose; an
+adventurer among the Western wilds; a chivalrous
+missionary, either in the cause of science
+or religion. It includes high courage,
+burning zeal for church and country, and the
+most generous self-devotion. It describes such
+men as Marquette, La Salle, Joliet, Gravier,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span>
+and hundreds of others equally illustrious, who
+lived and died among the dangers and privations
+of the wilderness; who opened the way
+for civilization and Christianity among the
+savages, and won, many of them, crowns of
+martyrdom.</p>
+
+<p>They were almost all Frenchmen. The
+Spaniards who came to this continent were
+mere gold-seekers, thirsting only for wealth;
+and if they sought to propagate Christianity,
+or rather the Christian <i>name</i>, it was only a
+sanguinary bigotry that prompted them. On
+the other hand, the English emigrants came to
+take possession of the country for themselves.
+The conversion of the natives, or territorial acquisition
+for the mother-country, were to them
+objects of barely secondary importance. They
+believed themselves persecuted&mdash;some of them
+<i>were</i> persecuted&mdash;and they fled: it was only
+safety for themselves, and the rich lands of the
+Indian, that they sought. Providence reserved
+for the French chevaliers and missionaries the
+glory of leaving their homes without compulsion,
+real or imaginary, to penetrate an inhospitable
+wilderness; to undergo fatigues; to
+encounter dangers, and endure privations of a
+thousand kinds; enticed by no golden glitter,
+covetous of no riches, save such as are &ldquo;laid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>
+up in heaven!&rdquo; They came not as conquerors,
+but as ministers of peace, demanding only hospitality.
+They never attacked the savages with
+sword or fagot; but extending hands not stained
+by blood, they justified their profession by relief
+and love and kindly offices. Sometimes, indeed,
+they received little tracts of land; not seized
+by the hand of power, nor grasped by superior
+cunning, but possessed as the free gift of simple
+gratitude; and upon these they lived in
+peace, surrounded by savages, but protected
+by the respect inspired by blameless and beneficent
+lives. Many of those whose vows permitted
+it, intermarried among the converted natives,
+and left the seeds of many meliorations in
+a stony soil; and many of them, when they
+died, were as sincerely mourned by the simple
+children of the forest, as if they had been chiefs
+and braves.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the men of peace who penetrated
+the wilderness through the French settlements
+in Canada, and preached the gospel to the
+heathen, where no white man had ever before
+been seen; and it is particularly to this class
+that I apply the word at the head of this article.
+But the same gentle spirit pervaded other
+orders of adventurers&mdash;men of the sword and
+buckler, as well as of the stole and surplice.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>
+These came to establish the dominion of <i>La
+Belle France</i>; but it was not to oppress the
+simple native, or to drive him from his lands.
+Kindness marked even the conduct of the rough
+soldier; and such men as La Salle, and Iberville,
+who were stern enough in war, and rigid enough
+in discipline, manifested always an anxious solicitude
+for the <i>rights</i>, as well as for the spiritual
+welfare of the Indian. They gave a generous
+confidence where they were conscious of no wish
+to injure; they treated frankly and on equal
+terms, with those whom their religion and their
+native kindness alike taught them to consider
+brethren and friends. Take, for example, that
+significant anecdote of La Salle, related by the
+faithful chronicler<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a> of his unfortunate expeditions.
+He was building the fort of <i>Crevec&#339;ur</i>,
+near the spot where now stands the city of Peoria,
+on the Illinois river; and even the name
+of his little fortress (<i>Crevec&#339;ur</i>, Broken Heart)
+was a mournful record of his shattered fortunes.
+The means of carrying out his noble enterprise
+(the colonizing of the Mississippi valley) were
+lost; the labor of years had been rendered in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>effectual
+by one shipwreck; his men were discontented,
+even mutinous, &ldquo;attempting,&rdquo; says
+Hennepin, &ldquo;first to poison, and then desert
+him;&rdquo; his mind was distracted, his heart almost
+broken, by accumulated disasters. Surrounded
+thus by circumstances which might
+well have rendered him careless of the feelings
+of the savages around him, he observed that
+they had become cold and distant&mdash;that in
+effect they no longer viewed him as their
+friend. The Iroquois,<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> drifting from the shores
+of Lake Ontario, where they had always been
+the bitterest foes of the French, had instilled
+fear and hatred into their minds; it was even
+said that some of his own men had encouraged
+the growing discontent. In this juncture, what
+measures does he take? Strengthen his fortifications,
+and prepare for war, as the men of
+other nations had done? Far from it. Soldier
+and adventurer as he was, he had no wish to
+shed innocent blood; though with his force he
+might have defied all the nations about him.
+He went as a friend, frankly and generously,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>
+among them, and demanded the reasons of
+their discontent. He touched their hearts by
+his confidence, convinced them of his friendship,
+and attached them to himself more devotedly
+than ever. A whole history in one brief
+passage!</p>
+
+<p>But it is more especially to the <i>voyageurs</i> of
+the church&mdash;the men of faith and love&mdash;that I
+wish to direct my readers' attention: To such men
+as Le Caron, a Franciscan, with all the zeal and
+courage and self-abnegation of his order, who
+wandered and preached among the bloody Iroquois,
+and upon the waters of Huron, as early
+as 1616: to Mesnard, a devoted missionary of
+the same order, who, in 1660, founded a mission
+at the Sault de Ste. Marie, and then went into
+the forest to induce the savages to listen to the
+glad tidings he had brought, and never came
+back: to Father Allouez, who rebuilt the mission
+five years afterward (the first of these
+houses of God which was not destroyed or
+abandoned), who subsequently crossed the
+lakes, and preached to the Indians on Fox
+river, where, in one of the villages of the Miamis
+and Mascoutens, Marquette found a cross
+still standing, after the lapse of years, where
+Allouez had raised it, covered with the offerings
+of the simple natives to an unknown God.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>
+He is the same, too, who founded Kaskaskia,
+probably the earliest settlement in the great
+valley, and whose history ends (significant
+fact!) with the record of his usefulness. To
+Father Pinet, who founded Cahokia, and was
+so successful in the conversion of the natives,
+that his little chapel could not contain the
+numbers who resorted to his ministrations: to
+Father Marest, the first preacher against intemperance;
+and, finally, to Marquette, the best
+and bravest of them all, the most single-hearted
+and unpretending!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Enthusiasm is a characteristic of the French
+nation; a trait in some individuals elevated to
+a sublime self-devotion, and in others degraded
+to mere excitability. The vivacity, gesticulation,
+and grimace, which characterize most of
+them, are the external signs of this nature; the
+calm heroism of the seventeenth century, and
+the insane devotion of the nineteenth, were
+alike its fruits. The <i>voyageur</i> possessed it, in
+common with all his countrymen. But in him
+it was not noisy, turbulent, or egotistical;
+military glory had &ldquo;neither part nor lot&rdquo; in
+his schemes; the conquests he desired to make
+were the conquests of faith; the dominion he
+wished to establish was the dominion of Jesus.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the pursuit of these objects, or rather of
+this single object, I have said he manifested the
+enthusiasm of his race; but it was the noblest
+form of that characteristic. The fire that
+burned in his bosom was fed by no selfish purpose.
+To have thought of himself, or of his
+own comforts, or glory, to the detriment of any
+Christian enterprise, however dangerous or unpromising,
+would, in his eyes, have been a
+deadly sin.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>At Sault de Ste. Marie, Father Marquette
+heard of many savages (whom he calls &ldquo;God's
+children&rdquo;) living in barbarism, far to the west.
+With five boatmen and one companion, he at
+once set out for an unexplored, even unvisited
+wilderness. He had what they had not&mdash;the
+gospel; and his heart yearned toward them, as
+the heart of a mother toward an afflicted child.
+He went to them, and bound them to him &ldquo;in
+the bond of peace.&rdquo; If they received him kindly&mdash;as
+they usually did, for even a savage recognises
+and respects genuine devotion&mdash;he
+preached to them, mediated among them, softened
+their hearts, and gathered them into the
+fold of God. If they met him with arms in their
+hands&mdash;as they sometimes did, for savages,
+like civilized men, do not always know their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>
+friends&mdash;he resolutely offered peace; and, in
+his own simple and pious language, &ldquo;God
+touched their hearts,&rdquo; and they cast aside their
+weapons and received him kindly.</p>
+
+<p>But the <i>voyageur</i> had higher qualities than
+enthusiasm. He was capable of being so absorbed
+in a cause as to lose sight of his own
+identity; to forget that he was more than an
+instrument in the hands of God, to do God's
+work: and the distinction between these traits
+is broad indeed! Enthusiasm is noisy, obtrusive&mdash;self-abnegation
+is silent, retiring; enthusiasm
+is officious, troublesome, careless of time
+and place&mdash;self-abnegation is prudent, gentle,
+considerate. The one is active and fragmentary&mdash;the
+other passive, but constant.</p>
+
+<p>Thus, when the untaught and simple native
+was to be converted, the missionary took note
+of the spiritual capacity as well as of the spiritual
+wants; he did not force him to receive, at
+once, the whole creed of the church, as a mere
+enthusiast would have done; for <i>that</i> wisdom
+would feed an infant with strong meats, even
+before it had drawn its mother's milk. Neither
+did he preach the gospel with the sword, like
+the Spaniard, nor with fire and fagot, like the
+puritan. He was wise as the serpent, but
+gentle as the dove. He took the wondering<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>
+Indian by the hand; received him as a brother;
+won him over to listen patiently; and then
+taught him first that which he could most easily
+comprehend: he led him to address the throne
+of grace, or, in the language of the time, &ldquo;to
+embrace the prayer;&rdquo; because even the savage
+believed in Deity. As his understanding was
+expanded, and his heart purified&mdash;as every
+heart must be which truly lifts itself to God&mdash;he
+gradually taught him the more abstruse and
+wonderful doctrines of the Church of Christ.
+Gently and imperceptibly he led him on, until
+the whole tremendous work was done. The untutored
+savage, if he knew nothing else, yet
+knew the name of his Redeemer. The bloody
+warfare, the feuds and jealousies of his tribe,
+if not completely overcome, at least were softened
+and ameliorated. When he could not
+convert, he endeavored to humanize; and
+among the tribes of the Illinois,<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> though they
+were never thoroughly Christianized, the influence
+of the good fathers soon prevailed to abolish
+the barbarous practice of torturing captives.<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a>
+For though they might not embrace<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>
+the religion, the savages venerated its teachers,
+and loved them for their gentleness.</p>
+
+<p>And this gentleness was not want of courage;
+for never in the history of the world has truer
+valor been exhibited than that shown by the
+early missionary and his compeers, the first
+military adventurers! Read Joutel's account
+of the melancholy life and death of La Salle;
+read the simple, unpretending &ldquo;Journal&rdquo; of
+Marquette;<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a> and compare their constancy and
+heroism with that displayed at any time in any
+cause! But the <i>voyageur</i> possessed higher
+qualities than courage, also; and here again we
+recur to his perfect abnegation of himself; his
+renunciation of all personal considerations.</p>
+
+<p>Courage takes note of danger, but defies it:
+the <i>voyageur</i> was careless of danger, because
+he counted it as nothing; he gave it no thought,
+because it only affected <i>himself</i>; and he valued
+not his own safety and comfort, so long as he
+could serve the cause by forgetting them. Mere
+courage is combative, even pugnacious; but
+the <i>voyageur</i> fought only &ldquo;the good fight;&rdquo; he
+had no pride of conquest, save in the victories
+of Faith, and rather would suffer, himself, than<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>
+inflict suffering upon others. Mere courage is
+restless, impatient, purposeless: but the <i>voyageur</i>
+was content to remain wherever he could
+do good, tentative only in the cause of Christ,
+and distracted by no objects from his mission.
+His religion was his inspiration; his conscience
+his reward. His system may have been perverted,
+his zeal mistaken, his church a sham;
+we are not arguing that question. But the
+purity of his intentions, the sincerity of his
+heart, can not be doubted; and the most intolerant
+protestant against &ldquo;the corruptions of
+Rome&rdquo; will, at least, admit that even catholicism
+was better than the paganism of the savage.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;There is not,&rdquo; says Macaulay,<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> &ldquo;and there
+never was on this earth, a work of human policy
+so well deserving of examination as the Roman
+Catholic Church.&rdquo; And certainly all other
+systems combined have never produced one
+tithe of the astounding results brought about
+by this alone. Whether she has taught truth
+or falsehood; whether, on the whole, it had
+been better or worse for the cause of Christianity,
+had no such organization ever existed;
+whether her claims be groundless or well-founded,
+are questions foreign to our purpose.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>
+But that her polity is the most powerful&mdash;the
+best adapted to the ends she has in view&mdash;of all
+that man has hitherto invented, there can be no
+doubt. Her missionaries have been more numerous
+and more successful, ay, and more devoted,
+than those of any other church. They
+have gone where even the sword of the conqueror
+could not cleave his way. They have
+built churches in the wilderness, which were
+time-worn and crumbling when the first emigrant
+penetrated the forests. They have preached
+to youthful savages who never saw the face
+of another white man, though they lived to
+three-score years and ten. They have prayed
+upon the shores of lonely lakes and rivers,
+which were not mapped by geographers for
+centuries after their deaths. They have travelled
+on foot, unarmed and alone, where an
+army could not march. And everywhere their
+zeal and usefulness have ended only with their
+lives; and always with their latest breath
+they have mingled prayers for the salvation of
+their flocks, with aspirations for the welfare of
+their church. For though countless miles of sea
+and land were between her and them, their
+loyalty and affection to the great spiritual
+Mother were never forgotten. &ldquo;In spite of
+oceans and deserts; of hunger and pestilence;<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>
+of spies and penal laws; of dungeons and
+racks, of gibbets and quartering-blocks,&rdquo; they
+have been found in every country, at all times,
+ever active and zealous. And everywhere, in
+palace, or hovel, or wilderness, they have been
+true sons of the church, loyal and obedient.</p>
+
+<p>An organization capable of producing such
+results is certainly well worth examination.
+For the influence she has wielded in ages past
+gives promise of her future power; and it becomes
+those who think her permanence pernicious
+to the world, to avoid her errors and yet
+imitate her wisdom. If the system be a falsehood
+and a sham, it is a most gigantic and successful
+one, and it is of strange longevity. It
+has lived now more than fifteen hundred years,
+and one hundred and fifty millions of people
+yet believe it. If it be a counterfeit, it is high
+time the cheat were detected and exposed. Let
+those who have the truth give forth its light,
+that the falsehood may wither and die. Unless
+they do so, the life which has already extended
+over so many centuries may gain fresh vigor,
+and renew its youth. Even yet the vision of
+the essayist may be realized: &ldquo;She may still
+exist in undiminished vigor, when some traveller
+from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a
+vast solitude, take his stand on a broken arch<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>
+of London Bridge to sketch the ruins of St.
+Paul's!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>It was to this church that the early <i>voyageurs</i>
+belonged. And I do not use that word
+&ldquo;belonged&rdquo; as it is employed in modern times
+among protestants: I mean <i>more</i> than that convenient,
+loosely-fitting profession, which, like a
+garment, is thrown on and off, as the exigencies
+of hypocrisy or cupidity may require. These
+men actually <i>did belong</i> to the church. They
+were hers, soul and body; hers, in life and in
+death; hers to go whithersoever she might direct,
+to do whatsoever she might appoint. They
+believed the doctrines they taught with an abiding,
+<i>active</i> faith; and they were willing to be
+spent in preaching them to the heathen.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>It has always been a leading principle in the
+policy of the Roman church, to preserve her
+unity, and she has been enabled to do so, principally
+by the ramified and elastic polity for
+which she has been distinguished, to which she
+owes much of her extent and power, as well as
+no small part of the reproach so liberally bestowed
+upon her in the pages of history. There
+are many &ldquo;arms&rdquo; in her service: a man must
+be impracticable indeed, when she can find no
+place in which to make him useful, or to pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>vent
+his being mischievous. She never drives
+one from the pale of the church who can benefit
+it as a communicant, or injure it as a dissenter.
+If he became troublesome at home, she has, in
+all ages, had enterprises on foot in which she
+might clothe him with authority, and send him
+to the uttermost parts of the earth; thus ridding
+herself of a dangerous member, and, by the
+same act, enlarging the sphere of her own dominion.
+Does an enthusiast become noisy, or
+troublesome upon unimportant points, the creed
+is flexible, and the mother will not quarrel with
+her child, for his earnestness may convince and
+lead astray more valuable sons and daughters.
+She will establish a new order, of which the
+stubborn fanatic shall be founder; the new order
+is built into the old church organization,
+and its founder becomes a dignitary of the ecclesiastical
+establishment. Instead of becoming
+a dangerous heretic and schismatic, he is attached
+to orthodoxy by cords stronger than
+steel; henceforth all his earnest enthusiasm
+shall be directed to the advancement of his order,
+and consequently of his church. Does
+one exhibit inflexibility in some matter of conscience
+upon which the church insists, there
+are many of God's children in the wilderness
+starving in spirit for the bread of life; and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>
+these, with that bread, shall the refractory son
+be sent. He receives the commission; departs
+upon his journey, glad to forget a difference
+with his spiritual superiors; preaches to the
+heathen; remembers only that the church is
+his mother; wins a crown of martyrdom, and is
+canonized for the encouragement of others!</p>
+
+<p>Thus she finds a place for all, and work
+enough for each; and thus are thrown off the
+elements of schism and rebellion. Those who
+had most courage in the cause of right; all
+who were likely to be guided in matters of conscience
+by their own convictions; the most
+sincere and single-hearted, the firmest and purest
+and bravest, were, in matters of controversy,
+the most dangerous champions, should they
+range themselves against the teaching of the
+church. They were consequently, at the period
+of which I am writing, the men whom it was
+most desirable to send away; and they were
+eminently well fitted for the arduous and wasting
+duties of the missionary.</p>
+
+<p>To this class belonged the large majority of
+the <i>voyageur</i> priests: men who might be inconvenient
+and obtrusive monitors, or formidable
+adversaries in controversy, if they remained at
+home; but who could only be useful&mdash;who of
+all men could be <i>most</i> useful&mdash;in gathering the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>
+heathen into the fold of the church. There
+were, doubtless, a few of another class; the
+restless, intriguing, and disobedient, who, though
+not formidable, were troublesome. But even
+when these joined the missionary expeditions,
+they did but little to forward the work, and are
+entitled to none of the honor so abundantly due
+to their more sincere brethren. To this class,
+for example, belonged the false and egotistical
+Hennepin, who only signalized himself by endeavoring
+to appropriate the reputation so
+hardly won by the brave and unfortunate La
+Salle.<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a></p>
+
+<p>It does not appear upon the record that any
+of these men&mdash;of either the restless and ambitious,
+or of the better class&mdash;were literally
+<i>sent away</i>. But such has been the politic practice
+of this church for many ages; and we may
+safely believe, that when she was engaged in
+an unscrupulous and desperate contest for the
+recovery, by fair means or foul, of her immense
+losses, there might be many in the ranks of her
+pious priesthood whom it would be inconvenient
+to retain at home. And during that conflict<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>
+especially, with the most formidable enemies
+she ever had, she could not afford to be encumbered.</p>
+
+<p>But whatever may have been the motives of
+their spiritual superiors, the missionaries themselves
+were moved only by the considerations
+of which we have spoken&mdash;the truest piety
+and the most burning zeal. Of these influences
+they were conscious; but we shall perhaps not
+do the character injustice if we add another
+spur to action, of which they were <i>not</i> conscious.
+There is a vein of romance in the
+French composition; a love of adventure for
+the sake of the adventure itself, which, when
+not tamed or directed, makes a Frenchman fitful,
+erratic, and unreliable. When it is toned
+by personal ambition, it becomes a sort of Paladin
+contempt for danger; sometimes a crazy
+furor. When accompanied by powerful intellect,
+and strengthened by concentration on a
+purpose, it makes a great commander&mdash;great
+for the quickness of his comprehension, the
+suddenness of his resolutions, the rapidity of
+their execution. When humanized by love,
+and quickened by religious zeal, it is purified
+of every selfish thought, and produces the chivalrous
+missionary, whom neither fire nor flood,
+neither desert nor pathless wilderness, shall de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span>ter
+from obeying the command of Him who
+sent his gospel &ldquo;unto every creature.&rdquo; And
+thus are even those traits, which so often curse
+the world with insane ambition and sanguinary
+war, turned by the power of a true benevolence
+to be blessings of incalculable value.</p>
+
+<p>Such were the purposes, such the motives,
+of this band of noble men; and whatever may
+have been their errors, we must at least accord
+them the virtues of <i>sincerity</i>, <i>courage</i>, <i>and self-denial</i>.
+But let us look a little more closely at
+the means by which they accomplished undertakings
+which, to any other race of men, would
+have been not only impracticable, but utterly
+desperate. Take again, as the representative
+of his class, the case of Father Marquette, than
+whom, obscure as his name is in the wastes of
+history, no man ever lived a more instructive
+and exemplary life.</p>
+
+<p>From the year 1668 to 1671,<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a> Marquette had
+been preaching at the Sault de Sainte Marie, a
+little below the foot of Lake Superior. He was
+associated with others in that mission; but the
+largest type, though it thrust itself no higher
+than the smallest, will make the broadest impress
+on the page of history; and even in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>
+meager record of that time, we may trace the
+influence of his gentle but firm spirit&mdash;those
+by whom he was accompanied evidently took
+their tone from him. But he was one of the
+Church's pioneers; that class whose eager,
+single-hearted zeal is always pushing forward
+to new conquests of the faith; and when he
+had put aside the weapons that opposed their
+way, to let his followers in, his thoughts at once
+went on to more remote and suffering regions.
+During his residence at the Sault, rumors and
+legends were continually floating in of the unknown
+country lying to the west&mdash;&ldquo;the Land
+of the Great River,&rdquo; the Indians called it&mdash;until
+the mind of the good father became fully
+possessed with the idea of going to convert the
+nations who dwelt upon its shores. In the year
+1671, he took the first step in that direction,
+moving on to Point St. Ignatius, on the main
+land, north of the island of Mackinac. Here,
+surrounded by his little flock of wondering
+listeners, he preached until the spring of 1673;
+but all the time his wish to carry the gospel
+where its sound had never been heard was
+growing stronger. He felt in his heart the impulse
+of his calling, to lead the way and open
+a path for the advance of light. At the period
+mentioned, he received an order from the wise<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>
+intendant in New France, M. Talon, to explore
+the pathless wilderness to the westward.</p>
+
+<p>Then was seen the true spirit of the man, and
+of his order. He gathered together no armament;
+asked the protection of no soldiers; no
+part of the cargo of his little boat consisted of
+gunpowder, or of swords or guns; his only arms
+were the spirit of love and peace; his trust was
+in God for protection. Five boatmen, and one
+companion, the Sieur Joliet, composed his party.
+Two light bark canoes were his only means
+of travelling; and in these he carried a small
+quantity of Indian corn and some jerked meat,
+his only means of subsistence.</p>
+
+<p>Thus equipped, he set out through Green Bay
+and up Fox river, in search of a country never
+yet visited by any European. The Indians endeavored
+to dissuade him, wondering at his
+hardihood, and still more at the motives which
+could induce him thus to brave so many dangers.
+They told him of the savage Indians, to
+whom it would be only pastime to torture and
+murder him; of the terrible monsters which
+would swallow him and his companions,
+&ldquo;canoes and all;&rdquo; of the great bird called
+the <i>Piasau</i>,<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> which devoured men, after car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>rying
+them in its horrible talons to inaccessible
+cliffs and mountains; and of the scorching
+heat, which would wither him like a dry leaf.
+&ldquo;I thanked them kindly,&rdquo; says the resolute but
+gentle father, &ldquo;for their good counsel; but I
+told them that I could not profit by it, since the
+salvation of souls was at stake, for which object
+I would be overjoyed to give my life.&rdquo; Shaking
+them by the hand, one by one, as they approached
+to bid him farewell, as they thought,
+for the last time, he turned his back upon safety
+and peace, and departed upon his self-denying
+pilgrimage.</p>
+
+<p>Let him who sits at ease in his cushioned
+pew at home&mdash;let him who lounges on his velvet-covered
+sofa in the pulpit, while his well-taught
+choir are singing; who rises as the
+strains are dying, and kneels upon a cushioned
+stool to pray; who treads upon soft carpets
+while he preaches, in a white cravat, to congregations
+clad in broadcloth, silk, and satin&mdash;let
+him pause and ponder on the difference
+between his works, his trials, his zeal&mdash;ay, and
+his glory, both of earth and heaven!&mdash;and those
+of Father James Marquette!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The little party went upon their way; the
+persuasions of their simple-hearted friends could
+not prevail, for the path of duty was before
+them, and the eye of God above. Having
+passed through Green Bay, and painfully
+dragged their canoes over the rapids of Fox
+river, they reached a considerable village, inhabited
+by the united tribes of Kickapoos, Miamis,
+and Mascoutimes. Here they halted for
+a time, as the mariner, about to prove the dangers
+of a long voyage, lingers for a day in the
+last port he is likely to enter for many months.
+Beyond this point no white man had ever
+gone; and here, if anywhere, the impulses of
+a natural fear should have made themselves
+felt. But we hear of no hesitation, no shrinking
+from the perilous task; and we know from
+the unpretending &ldquo;Journal&rdquo; of the good father,
+that a retreat, nay, even a halt&mdash;longer than
+was necessary to recruit exhausted strength, and
+renew the memory of former lessons among the
+natives&mdash;was never thought of. &ldquo;My companion,&rdquo;
+said Marquette, referring to Joliet, &ldquo;is
+an envoy from the king of France, and I am
+an humble minister of God. I have no fear, <i>because
+I shall consider it the highest happiness
+to die in the service of my master!</i>&rdquo; There
+was no bravado in this, for, unlike many from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>
+whom you may, any day, hear the same declaration,
+he set forth immediately to encounter
+the perils of his embassy.</p>
+
+<p>The Indians, unable to prevail with him to
+abandon the enterprise, made all their simple
+provision for his comfort; and, furnishing him
+with guides and carriers across the portage to
+the Wisconsin river, parted with him as one
+bound for eternity. Having brought them
+safely to the river, the guides left them &ldquo;alone
+in that unknown country, in the hand of God;&rdquo;
+and, trusting to the protection of that hand,
+they set out upon their journey down the
+stream.<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> Seven days after, &ldquo;with inexpressible
+joy,&rdquo; they emerged upon the bosom of
+the great river. During all this time they
+had seen no human being, though, probably,
+many a wandering savage had watched them
+from the covert of the bank, as they floated
+silently between the forests. It was an unbroken
+solitude, where the ripple of their paddles
+sounded loudly on the ear, and their voices,
+subdued by the stillness, were sent back in
+lonely echoes from the shore.</p>
+
+<p>They were the first white men who ever
+floated on the bosom of that mighty river<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>&mdash;&ldquo;the
+envoy from the king of France, and the
+embassador of the King of kings.&rdquo; What were
+their thoughts we know not, but from Marquette's
+simple &ldquo;Journal;&rdquo; for, in returning to
+Quebec, Joliet's boat was wrecked in sight of
+the city, and all his papers lost.<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> Of the Sieur
+himself, we know nothing, save as the companion
+of Marquette on this voyage; but from
+this alone his fame is imperishable.</p>
+
+<p>They sailed slowly down the river, keeping
+a constant outlook upon the banks for signs of
+those for whose spiritual welfare the good father
+had undertaken his perilous journey. But
+for more than sixty leagues not a human form
+or habitation could be seen. They had leisure,
+more than they desired, to admire the grand
+and beautiful scenery of that picturesque region.
+In some places the cliffs rose perpendicularly
+for hundreds of feet from the water's
+edge; and nodding over their brows, and
+towering against the sky, were stately pines
+and cedars of the growth of centuries. Here,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>
+there lay between the river and the cliffs, a
+level prairie, waving in all the luxuriance of
+&ldquo;the leafy month of June;&rdquo; while beyond, the
+bluffs, enclosing the natural garden, softened
+by the distance, and clothed in evergreen,
+seemed but an extension of the primitive savanna.
+Here, a dense, primeval forest grew
+quite down to the margin of the water; and,
+hanging from the topmost branches of the
+giant oaks, festoons of gray and graceful moss
+lay floating on the rippled surface, or dipped
+within the tide. Here, the large, smooth roots of
+trees half undermined, presented seats and footholds,
+where the pleasant shade invited them to
+rest, and shelter from the sultry summer sun.
+Anon, an open prairie, with no cliff or bluff
+beyond, extended undulating from the river,
+until the eye, in straining to measure its extent,
+was wearied by the effort, and the plain became
+a waving sea of rainbow colors; of green
+and yellow, gold and purple. Again, they
+passed a gravelly beach, on which the yellow
+sand was studded with a thousand sets of brilliant
+shells, and little rivulets flowed in from
+level prairies, or stealthily crept out from under
+roots of trees or tangled vines, and hastened
+to be hidden in the bosom of the great father
+of waters.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They floated on, through the dewy morning
+hours, when the leaves were shining in the sunlight,
+and the birds were singing joyously; before
+the summer heat had dried the moisture,
+or had forced the feathered songsters to the
+shade. At noon, when the silence made the
+solitude oppressive; when the leaves hung
+wilting down, nor fluttered in the fainting
+wind: when the prairies were no longer waving
+like the sea, but trembling like the atmosphere
+around a heated furnace: when the <i>mirage</i>
+hung upon the plain: tall trees were seen
+growing in the air, and among them stalked
+the deer, and elk, and buffalo: while between
+them and the ground, the brazen sky was glowing
+with the sun of June: when nothing living
+could be seen, save when the <i>voyageur's</i> approach
+would startle some wild beast slaking
+his thirst in the cool river, or a flock of waterfowl
+were driven from their covert, where the
+willow branches, drooping, dipped their leaves
+of silvery gray within the water. They floated
+on till evening, when the sun approached the
+prairie, and his broad, round disc, now shorn of
+its dazzling beams, defined itself against the
+sky and grew florid in the gathering haze:
+when the birds began to reappear, and flitted
+noiselessly among the trees, in busy prepara<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>tion
+for the night: when beasts of prey crept
+out from lurking-places, where they had dozed
+and panted through the hours of noon: when
+the wilderness grew vocal with the mingled
+sounds of lowing buffalo, and screaming panther,
+and howling wolf; until the shadows rose
+from earth, and travelled from the east; until
+the dew began to fall, the stars came out, and
+night brought rest and dreams of home!</p>
+
+<p>Thus they floated on, &ldquo;from morn till dewy
+eve,&rdquo; and still no sign of human life, neither
+habitation nor footprint, until one day&mdash;it was
+the twenty-fifth of June, more than two weeks
+since they had entered the wilderness&mdash;in
+gliding past a sandy beach, they recognised
+the impress of a naked foot! Following it for
+some distance, it grew into a trail, and then a
+path, once more a place where human beings
+habitually walked.</p>
+
+<p>Whose feet had trodden down the grass, what
+strange people lived on the prairies, they knew
+not, what dangers might await them, they cared
+not. These were the people whom the good
+father had come so far to convert and save!
+And now, again, one might expect some natural
+hesitation; some doubt in venturing among
+those who were certainly barbarians, and who
+might, for aught they knew, be brutal canni<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>bals.
+We could forgive a little wavering, indeed,
+especially when we think of the frightful
+stories told them by the Northern Indians of
+this very people. But fear was not a part of
+these men's nature; or if it existed, it lay so
+deep, buried beneath religious zeal and pious
+trust, that its voice never reached the upper
+air. Leaving the boatmen with the canoes,
+near the mouth of the river now called Des
+Moines, Marquette and Joliet set out alone,
+to follow up the trail, and seek the people
+who had made it. It led them to an open
+prairie, one of the most beautiful in the present
+state of Iowa, and crossing this, a distance of
+six miles, they at last found themselves in the
+vicinity of three Indian villages. The very
+spot<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> where the chief of these stood might now
+be easily found, so clear, though brief, is the
+description of the simple priest. It stood at the
+foot of a long slope, on the bank of the river
+Moingona (or Des Moines), about six miles due
+west of the Mississippi; and at the top of the
+rise, at the distance of half a league, were built<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span>
+the two others. &ldquo;We commended ourselves
+unto God,&rdquo; writes the gentle father; for they
+knew not at what moment they might need his
+intervention; and crying out with a loud voice,
+to announce their approach, they calmly advanced
+toward the group of lodges. At a short
+distance from the entrance to the village, they
+were met by a deputation of four old men, who,
+to their great joy, they perceived bore a richly-ornamented
+pipe of peace, the emblem of friendship
+and hospitality. Tendering the mysterious
+calumet, they informed the Frenchmen that
+they belonged to one of the tribes called &ldquo;Illinois&rdquo;
+(or &ldquo;Men&rdquo;), and invited them to enter
+their lodges in peace: an invitation which the
+weary <i>voyageurs</i> were but too glad to accept.</p>
+
+<p>A great council was held, with all the rude
+but imposing ceremonies of the grave and dignified
+Indian; and before the assembled chiefs
+and braves, Marquette published his mission
+from his heavenly Master. Passing, then, from
+spiritual to temporal things&mdash;for we do not
+hear of any address from Joliet, who probably
+was no orator&mdash;he spoke of his earthly king,
+and of his viceroy in New France; of his victories
+over the Iroquois, the dreaded enemies
+of the peaceful Western tribes; and then made
+many inquiries about the Mississippi, its tribu<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>taries,
+and the nations who dwelt upon their
+banks. His advances were kindly received,
+his questions frankly answered, and the council
+broke up with mutual assurances of good-will.
+Then ensued the customary festival. Hominy,
+fish, buffalo, and <i>dog-meat</i>, were successively
+served up, like the courses of a more modern
+table; but of <i>the last</i> &ldquo;we declined to partake,&rdquo;
+writes the good father, no doubt much to the
+astonishment and somewhat to the chagrin of
+their hospitable friends; for even yet, among
+the western Indians, dog-meat is a dish of honor.</p>
+
+<p>Six days of friendly intercourse passed pleasantly
+away, diversified by many efforts on the
+part of Marquette to instruct and convert the
+docile savages. Nor were these entirely without
+result; they excited, at least, the wish to
+hear more; and on his departure they crowded
+round him, and urgently requested him to come
+again among them. He promised to do so, a
+pledge which he afterward redeemed. But
+now he could not tarry; he was bent upon his
+hazardous voyage down the Great River, and
+he knew that he was only on the threshold of
+his grand discoveries. Six hundred warriors,
+commanded by their most distinguished chief,
+accompanied him back to his boats; and, after
+hanging around his neck the great calumet, to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>
+protect him among the hostile nations of the
+south, they parted with him, praying that the
+Great Spirit, of whom he had told them, might
+give him a prosperous voyage, and a speedy
+and safe return.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>These were the first of the nations of the
+Mississippi Valley visited by the French, and
+it is from them that the state of Illinois takes
+its name. They were a singularly gentle people;
+and a nature originally peaceful had been rendered
+almost timid by the cruel inroads of the
+murderous Iroquois.<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a> These, by their traffic
+with the Dutch and English of New-York, and
+by their long warfare with the French of Canada,
+had acquired the use of fire-arms, and, of
+course, possessed an immense advantage over
+those who were armed only with the primitive
+bow and arrow. The restless and ambitious
+spirit of the singular confederacy, usually called
+the Five Nations, and known among their
+neighbors by the collective name of Iroquois,
+had carried their incursions even as far as
+the hunting-grounds of the Shawanese, about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>
+the mouth of the Ohio; and their successes
+had made them a terror to all the western
+tribes. The Illinois, therefore, knowing the
+French to be at war with these formidable enemies,
+were the more anxious to form an alliance
+with them; and the native gentleness of their
+manners was, perhaps, increased by the hope
+of assistance and protection. But, whatever
+motives may have influenced them, besides
+their natural character, their forethought was
+of vital service to the wanderers in the countries
+of the south, whither they proceeded.</p>
+
+<p>The little party of seven resumed their voyage
+on the last day of June, and floating with
+the rapid current, a few days afterward passed
+the rocks, above the site of Alton, where was
+painted the image of the ravenous <i>Piasau</i>, of
+which they had been told by the Northern Indians,
+and on the same day reached the mouth
+of the Pekitanoni, the Indian name for the
+rapid and turbulent Missouri. Inwardly resolving,
+at some future time, to ascend its muddy
+current, to cross the ridge beyond, and, descending
+some river which falls into the Great
+South sea (as the Pacific was then called), to
+publish the gospel to all the people of the continent,
+the zealous father passed onward toward
+the south. Coasting slowly along the wasting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>
+shore, lingering in the mouths of rivers, or exploring
+dense forests in the hope of meeting the
+natives, they continued on their course until
+they reached the mouth of a river which they
+called the <i>Ouabache</i>, or Wabash, none other
+than the beautiful Ohio.<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> Here they found
+the advanced settlement of Shawanese, who had
+been pushed toward the southwest by the incessant
+attacks of the Iroquois. But by this
+time, fired with the hope of ascertaining the
+outlet of the Mississippi, they postponed their
+visit to these people until their return, and
+floated on.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>It is amusing, as well as instructive, to observe
+how little importance the travellers gave to the
+river Ohio, in their geographical assumptions.
+In the map published by Marquette with his
+&ldquo;Journal,&rdquo; the &ldquo;<i>Ouabisquigou</i>&rdquo; as he denominates
+it, in euphonious French-Indian, compared
+to the Illinois or even to the Wisconsin,
+is but an inconsiderable rivulet! The lonely<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>
+wanderers were much farther from the English
+settlements than they supposed; a mistake into
+which they must have been led, by hearing of
+the incursions of the Iroquois; for even at that
+early day they could not but know that the
+head-waters of the Ohio were not distant from
+the hunting-grounds of that warlike confederacy.
+Even this explanation, however, scarcely
+lessens our wonder that they should have known
+so little of courses and distances; for had this
+river been as short as it is here delineated, they
+would have been within four hundred miles of
+Montreal.</p>
+
+<p>After leaving the Ohio, they suffered much
+from the climate and its incidents; for they
+were now approaching, in the middle of July,
+a region of perpetual summer. Mosquitoes
+and other venomous insects (in that region we
+might even call them <i>ravenous</i> insects) became
+intolerably annoying; and the <i>voyageurs</i> began
+to think they had reached the country of the
+terrible heats, which, as they had been warned
+in the north, &ldquo;would wither them up like a dry
+leaf.&rdquo; But the prospect of death by torture and
+savage cruelty had not daunted them, and they
+were not now disposed to be turned back by
+any excess of climate. Arranging their sails
+in the form of awnings to protect them from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>
+the sun by day and the dews by night, they
+resolutely pursued their way.</p>
+
+<p>Following the course of the river, they soon
+entered the region of cane-brakes, so thick that
+no animal larger than a cat could penetrate
+them; and of cotton-wood forests of immense
+size and of unparalleled density. They were
+far beyond the limits of every Indian dialect
+with which they had become acquainted&mdash;were,
+in fact, approaching the region visited
+by De Soto, on his famous expedition in search
+of Juan Ponce de Leon's fountain of youth.<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a>
+The country was possessed by the Sioux and
+Chickasaws, to whom the <i>voyageurs</i> were total
+strangers; but they went on without fear. In
+the neighborhood of the southern boundary of
+the present state of Arkansas, they were met
+in hostile array by great numbers of the natives,
+who approached them in large canoes
+made from the trunks of hollow trees. But
+Marquette held aloft the symbol of peace, the
+ornamented calumet, and the hearts of the savages
+were melted, as the pious father believed,
+by the touch of God. They threw aside their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>
+weapons, and received the strangers with rude
+but hearty hospitality. They escorted them,
+with many demonstrations of welcome, to the
+village of Michigamia; and, on the following
+day, having feasted their strange guests plentifully,
+though not with the unsavory meats of the
+Illinois, they marched in triumphal procession
+to the metropolis of Akansea, about ten leagues
+distant, down the river.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>This was the limit of their voyage. Here
+they ascertained, beyond a doubt, that the Mississippi
+flowed into the gulf of Mexico, and not,
+as had been conjectured, into the great South
+sea. Here they found the natives armed with
+axes of steel, a proof of their traffic with the
+Spaniards; and thus was the circle of discovery
+complete, connecting the explorations of the
+French with those of the Spanish, and entirely
+enclosing the possessions of the English. No
+voyage so important has since been undertaken&mdash;no
+results so great have ever been
+produced by so feeble an expedition. The
+discoveries of Marquette, followed by the enterprises
+of La Salle and his successors, have
+influenced the destinies of nations; and passing
+over all political speculations, this exploration
+first threw open a valley of greater extent, fer<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>tility,
+and commercial advantages, than any
+other in the world. Had either the French or
+the Spanish possessed the stubborn qualities
+which <i>hold</i>, as they had the useful which <i>discover</i>,
+the aspect of this continent would, at
+this day, have been far different.</p>
+
+<p>On the seventeenth of July, having preached
+to the Indians the glory of God and the Catholic
+faith, and proclaimed the power of the
+<i>Grand Monarque</i>&mdash;for still we hear nothing
+of speech-making or delivering credentials on
+the part of Joliet&mdash;he set out on his return.
+After severe and wasting toil for many days,
+they reached a point, as Marquette supposed,
+some leagues below the mouth of the Moingona,
+or Des Moines. Here they left the Mississippi,
+and crossed the country between that
+river and the Illinois, probably passing through
+the very country which now bears the good father's
+name, entering the latter stream at a
+point not far from the present town of Peoria.
+Proceeding slowly up that calm river, preaching
+to the tribes along its banks, and partaking
+of their hospitality, he was at last conducted to
+Lake Michigan, at Chicago, and by the end of
+September was safe again in Green Bay, having
+travelled, since the tenth of June, more than
+three thousand miles.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It might have been expected that one who
+had made so magnificent a discovery&mdash;who
+had braved so much and endured so much&mdash;would
+wish to announce in person, to the authorities
+in Canada, or in France, the results
+of his expedition. Nay, it would not have
+been unpardonable had he desired to enjoy,
+after his labors, something of the consideration
+to which their success entitled him. And, certainly,
+no man could ever have approached his
+rulers with a better claim upon their notice than
+could the unpretending <i>voyageur</i>. But vainglory
+was no more a part of his nature, than
+was fear. The unaspiring priest remained at
+Green Bay, to continue, or rather to resume, as
+a task laid aside only for a time, his ministrations
+to the savages. Joliet hastened on to
+Quebec to report the expedition, and Marquette
+returned to Chicago, for the purpose of
+preaching the gospel to the Miami confederacy;
+several allied tribes who occupied the country
+between Lake Michigan and the Des Moines
+river. Here again he visited the Illinois,
+speaking to them of God, and of the religion
+of Jesus; thus redeeming a promise which he
+had made them, when on his expedition to the
+South.</p>
+
+<p>But his useful, unambitious life was drawing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>
+to a close. Let us describe its last scene in the
+words of our accomplished historian:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Two years afterward, sailing from Chicago
+to Mackinac, he entered a little river in Michigan.
+Erecting an altar, he said mass, after the
+rites of the Catholic church; then, begging the
+men who conducted his canoe to leave him
+alone for a half hour,</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">&mdash;&mdash;'In the darkling wood,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And offered to the mightiest solemn thanks<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And supplication.'<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>&ldquo;At the end of the half hour they went to seek
+him, <i>and he was no more</i>. The good missionary,
+discoverer of a world, had fallen asleep on
+the margin of the stream that bears his name.
+Near its mouth, the canoe-men dug his grave
+in the sand. Ever after, the forest rangers, in
+their danger on Lake Michigan, would invoke
+his name. The people of the West will build
+his monument.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
+
+<p>The monument is not yet built; though the
+name of new counties in several of our western
+states testifies that the noble missionary is not
+altogether forgotten, in the land where he spent
+so many self-denying years.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Such was the <i>voyageur</i> priest; the first, in
+chronological order, of the succession of singular
+men who have explored and peopled the
+great West. And though many who have followed
+him have been his equals in courage and
+endurance, none have ever possessed the same
+combination of heroic and unselfish qualities.
+It ought not to be true that this brief and cursory
+sketch is the first distinct tribute yet paid
+to his virtues; for no worthier subject ever employed
+the pen of the poet or historian.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenoteb"><p><span class="smcap"><b>Note.</b></span>&mdash;Struck with the fact that the history of this class of
+men, and of their enterprises and sufferings, has never been
+written, except by themselves in their simple &ldquo;Journals&rdquo; and
+&ldquo;Relations&rdquo;&mdash;for the <i>r&eacute;sum&eacute;</i> given of these by Sparks, Bancroft,
+and others, is of necessity a mere unsatisfactory abstract&mdash;the
+writer has for some time been engaged in collecting and
+arranging materials, with the intention of supplying the want.
+The authorities are numerous and widely scattered; and such
+a work ought to be thoroughly and carefully written, so that
+much time and labor lies between the author and his day of
+publication. Should he be spared, however, to finish the work,
+he hopes to present a picture of a class of men, displaying as
+much of true devotion, genuine courage, and self-denial, in the
+humble walk of the missionary, as the pages of history show
+in any other department of human enterprise.</p></div>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> In common use, this word was restricted so as to indicate
+only the boatmen, the carriers of that time; but I am writing
+of a period anterior, by many years, to the existence of the
+Trade which made their occupation.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Joutel, who was one of La Salle's party, and afterward
+wrote an account of the enterprise, entitled <i>Journal Historique</i>,
+published in Paris, 1713. Its fidelity is as evident upon
+its face, as is the simplicity of the historian.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> This was in the winter of 1679-'80; and the Five Nations,
+included in the general term Iroquois, had not then made the
+conquest upon which the English afterward founded their claim
+to the country. They were, however, generally regarded as
+enemies by all the Illinois tribes.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> A collective name, including a number, variously stated,
+of different tribes confederated.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> <i>Annals of the West</i>, by J. H. Perkins and J. M. Peck,
+p. 679. St. Louis. 1850.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> The substance of the Journal may be found, republished by
+Dr. Sparks, in the second edition of <i>Butler's Kentucky</i>, p. 493,
+<i>et seq.</i>, and in vol. x. of his <i>American Biography.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> <i>Miscellanies</i>, &ldquo;Review of Ranke's History of the Popes.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> In a book which he published at Utrecht, in 1697, entitled
+<i>A New Discovery of a Vast Country</i>, he claims to have gone
+down the Mississippi to its mouth before La Salle. The whole
+book is a mere plagiarism. See Sparks's <i>Life of La Salle</i>,
+where the vain father is summarily and justly disposed of.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Most of these dates may be found in Bancroft's <i>United
+States</i>, vol iii.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> The legend of the Piasau is well known. Within the recollection
+of men now living, rude paintings of the monster
+were visible on the cliffs above Alton, Illinois. To these images,
+when passing in their canoes, the Indians were accustomed
+to make offerings of maize, tobacco, and gunpowder.
+They are now quite obliterated.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> June 10, 1673.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> I mean, of course, the upper Mississippi; for De Soto had
+reached it lower down one hundred and thirty-two years before.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> It was announced, some months since, that our minister at
+Rome, Mr. Cass, had made discoveries in that city which threw
+more light upon this expedition. But how this can be, consistently
+with the fact stated in the text (about which there is
+no doubt), I am at a loss to divine.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> The place of Marquette's landing&mdash;which should be classic
+ground&mdash;from his description of the country, and the distance
+he specifies, could not have been far from the spot where
+the city of Keokuk now stands, a short distance above the
+mouth of the Des Moines. The locality should, if possible, be
+determined.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> It was by virtue of a treaty of purchase&mdash;signed at Fort
+Stanwix on the 5th of November, 1768&mdash;with the Six Nations,
+who claimed the country as their conquest, that the British asserted
+a title to the country west of the Alleghenies, Western
+Virginia, Kentucky, etc.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> The geographical mistakes of the early French explorers
+have led to some singular discussions about Western history&mdash;have
+even been used by diplomatists to support or weaken
+territorial claims. Such, for example, is the question concerning
+the antiquity of Vincennes, a controversy founded on the
+mistake noticed in the text. Vide <i>Western Annals</i>. 2d Ed.
+Revised by J. M. Peck.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> In 1541, De Soto crossed the Mississippi about the thirty-fifth
+parallel of latitude, or near the northern boundary of the
+state of that name. It is not certain how far below this Marquette
+went, though we are safe in saying that he did not turn
+back north of that limit.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> Bancroft's <i>History of the United States</i>, vol. iii., p. 161, <i>et
+seq.</i>, where the reader may look for most of these dates.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="III" id="III"></a>III.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE PIONEER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i2">&ldquo;I hear the tread of pioneers,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Of nations yet to be&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">The first low wash of waves where soon<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Shall roll a human sea.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Whittier</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;The axe rang sharply 'mid those forest shades<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Which, from creation, toward the sky had towered<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">In unshorn beauty.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Sigourney</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Next, in chronological order, after the missionary,
+came the military adventurer&mdash;of
+which class La Salle was the best representative.
+But the expeditions led by these men,
+were, for the most part, wild and visionary enterprises,
+in pursuit of unattainable ends. They
+were, moreover, unskilfully managed and unfortunately
+terminated&mdash;generally ending in
+the defeat, disappointment, and death of those
+who had set them on foot. They left no permanent
+impress upon the country; the most
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span>acute moral or political vision can not now detect
+a trace of their influence, in the aspect of
+the lands they penetrated; and, so far from
+hastening the settlement of the Great Valley, it
+is more probable that their disastrous failures
+rather retarded it&mdash;by deterring others from
+the undertaking. Their history reads like a
+romance; and their characters would better
+grace the pages of fiction, than the annals of
+civilization. Further than this brief reference,
+therefore, I find no place for them, in a work
+which aims only to notice those who either aided
+to produce, or indicated, the characteristics
+of the society in which they lived.</p>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 421px;">
+<img src="images/illus-110.jpg" width="421" height="500" alt=""  />
+<span class="caption">THE PIONEER.</span></div>
+
+<p>Soon after them, came the Indian-traders&mdash;to
+whose generosity so many of the captives,
+taken by the natives in those early times,
+were indebted for their ransom. But&mdash;notwithstanding
+occasional acts of charity&mdash;their
+unscrupulous rapacity, and, particularly, their
+introduction of spirituous liquors among the
+savages, furnish good reason to doubt, whether,
+on the whole, they did anything to advance the
+civilization of the lands and people they visited.
+And, as we shall have occasion to refer
+again, though briefly, to the character in a subsequent
+article, we will pass over it for the present,
+and hasten on to the <i>Pioneer.</i><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Of this class, there are two sub-divisions: the
+floating, transitory, and erratic frontierman&mdash;including
+the hunter, the trapper, the scout
+and Indian-fighter: men who can not be considered
+<i>citizens</i> of any country, but keep always a
+little in advance of permanent emigration. With
+this division of the class, we have little to do:
+first, because they are already well understood,
+by most readers in this country, through the
+earlier novels of Cooper, their great delineator;
+and, second, because, as we have intimated, our
+business is chiefly with those, whose footprints
+have been stamped upon the country, and
+whose influence is traceable in its civilization.
+We, therefore, now desire to direct attention to
+the other sub-division&mdash;the genuine &ldquo;settler;&rdquo;
+the firm, unflinching, permanent emigrant, who
+entered the country to till the land and to possess
+it, for himself and his descendants.</p>
+
+<p>And, in the first place, let us inquire what
+motives could induce men to leave regions,
+where the axe had been at work for many
+years&mdash;where the land was reduced to cultivation,
+and the forest reclaimed from the wild
+beast and the wilder savage&mdash;where civilization
+had begun to exert its power, and society
+had assumed a legal and determined shape&mdash;to
+depart from all these things, seeking a new<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>
+home in an inhospitable wilderness, where they
+could only gain a footing by severe labor, constant
+strife, and sleepless vigilance? To be
+capable of doing all this, from <i>any</i> motive, a
+man must be a strange compound of qualities;
+but that compound, strange as it is, has done,
+and is doing, more to reclaim the west, and
+change the wilderness into a garden, than all
+other causes combined.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>A prominent trait in the character of the
+genuine American, is the desire &ldquo;to better his
+condition&rdquo;&mdash;a peculiarity which sometimes
+embodies itself in the disposition to forget the
+good old maxim, &ldquo;Let well-enough alone,&rdquo; and
+not unfrequently leads to disaster and suffering.
+A thorough Yankee&mdash;using that word as
+the English do, to indicate national, not sectional,
+character&mdash;is never satisfied with doing
+well; he always underrates his gains and his
+successes; and, though to others he may be
+boastful enough, and may, even truly, rate the
+profits of his enterprise by long strings of
+&ldquo;naught,&rdquo; he is always whispering to himself,
+&ldquo;I ought to do better.&rdquo; If he sees any one
+accumulating property faster than himself, he
+becomes emulous and discontented&mdash;he is apt
+to think, unless he goes more rapidly than any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>
+one else, that he is not moving at all. If he
+can find no one of his neighbors advancing
+toward fortune, with longer strides than he, he
+will imagine some successful &ldquo;speculator,&rdquo; to
+whom he will compare himself, and chafe at
+his inferiority to a figment of his own fancy.
+If he possessed &ldquo;a million a minute,&rdquo; he would
+cast about for some profitable employment, in
+which he might engage, &ldquo;to pay expenses.&rdquo;
+He will abandon a silver-mine, of slow, but certain
+gains, for the gambling chances of a gold
+&ldquo;placer;&rdquo; and if any one within his knowledge
+dig out more wealth than he, he will leave the
+&ldquo;diggings,&rdquo; though his success be quite encouraging,
+and go quixoting among the islands
+of the sea, in search of pearls and diamonds.
+With the prospect of improvement in his fortunes&mdash;whether
+that prospect be founded upon
+reason, be a naked fancy, or the offspring of
+mere discontent&mdash;he regards no danger, cares
+for no hardship, counts no suffering. Everything
+must bend before the ruling passion, &ldquo;to
+better his condition.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>His spirit is eminently encroaching. Rather
+than give up any of his own &ldquo;rights,&rdquo; he will
+take a part of what belongs to others. Whatever
+he thinks necessary to his welfare, to that
+he believes himself entitled. To whatever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>
+point he desires to reach, he takes the straightest
+course, even though the way lie across the
+corner of his neighbor's field. Yet he is intensely
+jealous of his own possessions, and
+warns off all trespassers with an imperial menace
+of &ldquo;the utmost penalty of the law.&rdquo; He
+has, of course, an excellent opinion of himself&mdash;and
+justly: for when not blinded by cupidity
+or vexed by opposition, no man can hold
+the scales of justice with a more even hand.</p>
+
+<p>He is seldom conscious of having done a
+wrong: for he rarely moves until he has ascertained
+&ldquo;both the propriety and expediency of
+the motion.&rdquo; He has, therefore, an instinctive
+aversion to all retractions and apologies. He
+has such a proclivity to the forward movement,
+that its opposite, even when truth and justice
+demand it, is stigmatized, in his vocabulary,
+by odious and ridiculous comparisons. He is
+very stubborn, and, it is feared, sometimes mistakes
+his obstinacy for firmness. He thinks a
+safe retreat worse than a defeat with slaughter.
+Yet he never rests under a reverse, and, though
+manifestly prostrate, will never acknowledge
+that he is beaten. A check enrages him more
+than a decided failure: for so long as his end is
+not accomplished, nor defeated, he can see no
+reason why he should not succeed. If his forces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>
+are driven back, shattered and destroyed, he is
+not cast down, but angry&mdash;he forthwith swears
+vengeance and another trial. He is quite insatiable&mdash;as
+a failure does not dampen him,
+success can never satisfy him. His plans are
+always on a great scale; and, if they sometimes
+exceed his means of execution, at least, &ldquo;he
+who aims at the sun,&rdquo; though he may lose his
+arrow, &ldquo;will not strike the ground.&rdquo; He is a
+great projector&mdash;but he is eminently practical,
+as well as theoretical; and if <i>he</i> cannot
+realize his visions, no other man need try.</p>
+
+<p>He is restless and migratory. He is fond of
+change, for the sake of the change; and he will
+have it, though it bring him only new labors
+and new hardships. He is, withal, a little selfish&mdash;as
+might be supposed. He begins to
+lose his attachment to the advantages of his
+home, so soon as they are shared by others.
+He does not like near neighbors&mdash;has no affection
+for the soil; he will leave a place on which
+he has expended much time and labor, as soon
+as the region grows to be a &ldquo;settlement.&rdquo;
+Even in a town, he is dissatisfied if his next
+neighbor lives so near that the women can
+gossip across the division-fence. He likes to
+be at least one day's journey from the nearest
+plantation.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>I once heard an old pioneer assign as a reason
+why he must emigrate from western Illinois,
+the fact that &ldquo;people were settling right
+under his nose&rdquo;&mdash;and the farm of his nearest
+neighbor was twelve miles distant, by the section
+lines! He moved on to Missouri, but there
+the same &ldquo;impertinence&rdquo; of emigrants soon followed
+him; and, abandoning his half-finished
+&ldquo;clearing,&rdquo; he packed his family and household
+goods in a little wagon, and retreated,
+across the plains to Oregon. He is&mdash;or was,
+two years ago&mdash;living in the valley of the
+Willamette, where, doubtless, he is now chafing
+under the affliction of having neighbors in
+the same region, and nothing but an ocean beyond.</p>
+
+<p>His character seems to be hard-featured.</p>
+
+<p>But he is neither unsocial, nor morose. He
+welcomes the stranger as heartily as the most
+hospitable patriarch. He receives the sojourner
+at his fireside without question. He regales
+him with the best the house affords: is always
+anxious to have him &ldquo;stay another day.&rdquo; He
+cares for his horse, renews his harness, laughs
+at his stories, and exchanges romances with him.
+He hunts with him; fishes, rides, walks, talks,
+eats, and drinks with him. His wife washes
+and mends the stranger's shirts, and lends him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>
+a needle and thread to sew a button on his
+only pair of pantaloons. The children sit on
+his knee, the dog lies at his feet, and accompanies
+him into the woods. The whole family
+are his friends, and only grow cold and distant
+when they learn that he is looking for land,
+and thinks of &ldquo;settling&rdquo; within a few leagues.
+If nothing of the sort occurs&mdash;and this only
+&ldquo;leaks out&rdquo; by accident, for the pioneer never
+pries inquisitively into the business of his guest,
+he keeps him as long as he can; and when he
+can stay no longer, fills his saddle-bags with
+flitches of bacon and &ldquo;pones&rdquo; of corn-bread,
+shakes him heartily by the hand, exacts a
+promise to stop again on his return, and bids
+him &ldquo;God-speed&rdquo; on his journey.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Such is American character, in the manifestations
+which have most affected the settlement
+and development of the West; a compound of
+many noble qualities, with a few&mdash;and no nation
+is without such&mdash;that are not quite so respectable.
+All these, both good and bad, were
+possessed by the early pioneer in an eminent,
+sometimes in an extravagant degree; and the
+circumstances, by which he found himself surrounded
+after his emigration to the West,
+tended forcibly to their exaggeration.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the qualities&mdash;positive and negative&mdash;above
+enumerated, were, many of them, at
+least, peculiarities belonging to the early emigrant,
+as much before as after his removal.
+And there were others, quite as distinctly
+marked, called into activity, if not actually
+created by his life in the wilderness. Such,
+for example, was his self-reliance&mdash;his confidence
+in his own strength, sagacity, and courage.
+It was but little assistance that he ever
+required from his neighbors, though no man
+was ever more willing to render it to others, in
+the hour of need. He was the swift avenger
+of his own wrongs, and he never appealed to
+another to ascertain his rights. Legal tribunals
+were an abomination to him. Government
+functionaries he hated, almost as the Irish hate
+excisemen. Assessments and taxes he could
+not endure, for, since he was his own protector,
+he had no interest in sustaining the civil authorities.</p>
+
+<p>Military organizations he despised, for subordination
+was no part of his nature. He stood
+up in the native dignity of manhood, and called
+no mortal his superior. When he joined his
+neighbors, to avenge a foray of the savages, he
+joined on the most equal terms&mdash;each man
+was, for the time, his own captain; and when<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>
+the leader was chosen&mdash;for the pioneers, with
+all their personal independence, were far too
+rational to underrate the advantages of a head
+in the hour of danger&mdash;each voice was counted
+in the choice, and the election might fall on
+any one. But, even after such organization,
+every man was fully at liberty to abandon the
+expedition, whenever he became dissatisfied, or
+thought proper to return home. And if this
+want of discipline sometimes impaired the
+strength, and rendered unavailing the efforts,
+of communities, it at least fostered the manly
+spirit of personal independence; and, to keep
+that alive in the breasts of a people, it is worth
+while to pay a yearly tribute, even though that
+tribute be rendered unto the King of Terrors!</p>
+
+<p>This self-reliance was not an arrogant and
+vulgar egotism, as it has been so often represented
+in western stories, and the tours of superficial
+travellers. It was a calm, just estimate
+of his own capabilities&mdash;a well-grounded confidence
+in his own talents&mdash;a clear, manly
+understanding of his own individual rights, dignity,
+and relations. Such is the western definition
+of independence; and if there be anything
+of it in the western character at the present day,
+it is due to the stubborn and intense individuality
+of the first pioneer. He it was who laid<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>
+the foundation of our social fabric, and it is his
+spirit which yet pervades our people.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The quality which next appears, in analyzing
+this character, is his <i>courage.</i></p>
+
+<p>It was not mere physical courage, nor was it
+stolid carelessness of danger. The pioneer
+knew, perfectly well, the full extent of the
+peril that surrounded him; indeed, he could
+not be ignorant of it; for almost every day
+brought some new memento, either of his savage
+foe, or of the prowling beast of prey. He
+ploughed, and sowed, and reaped, and gathered,
+with the rifle slung over his shoulders; and, at
+every turn, he halted, listening, with his ear
+turned toward his home; for well he knew
+that, any moment, the scream of his wife, or
+the wail of his children, might tell of the up-lifted
+tomahawk, or the murderous scalping-knife.</p>
+
+<p>His courage, then, was not ignorance of danger&mdash;not
+that of the child, which thrusts its
+hand within the lion's jaws, and knows naught
+of the penalty it braves. His ear was ever
+listening, his eye was always watching, his
+nerves were ever strung, for battle. He was
+stout of heart, and strong of hand&mdash;he was
+calm, sagacious, unterrified. He was never<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>
+disconcerted&mdash;excitement seldom moved him&mdash;his
+mind was always at its own command.
+His heart never lost its firmness&mdash;no suffering
+could overcome him&mdash;he was as stoical as the
+savage, whose greatest glory is to triumph
+amidst the most cruel tortures. His pride sustained
+him when his flesh was pierced with
+burning brands&mdash;when his muscles crisped
+and crackled in the flames. To the force of
+character, belonging to the white, he added the
+savage virtues of the red man; and many a
+captive has been rescued from the flames,
+through his stern contempt for torture, and his
+sneering triumph over his tormentors. The
+highest virtue of the savage was his fortitude;
+and he respected and admired even a &ldquo;pale
+face,&rdquo; who emulated his endurance.</p>
+
+<p>But fortitude is only passive courage&mdash;and
+the bravery of the pioneer was eminently active.
+His vengeance was as rapid as it was
+sometimes cruel. No odds against him could
+deter him, no time was ever wasted in deliberation.
+If a depredation was committed in the
+night, the dawn of morning found the sufferer
+on the trail of the marauder. He would follow
+it for days, and even weeks, with the sagacity
+of the blood-hound, with the patience of the
+savage: and, perhaps, in the very midst of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>
+Indian country, in some moment of security,
+the blow descended, and the injury was fearfully
+avenged! The debt was never suffered
+to accumulate, when it could be discharged by
+prompt payment&mdash;and it was never forgotten!
+If the account could not be balanced now, the
+obligation was treasured up for a time to come&mdash;and,
+when least expected, the debtor came,
+and paid with usury!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>It has been said, perhaps truly, that a fierce,
+bloody spirit ruled the settlers in those early
+days. And it is unquestionable, that much of
+that contempt for the slow vengeance of a legal
+proceeding, which now distinguishes the people
+of the frontier west, originated then. It
+was, doubtless, an unforgiving&mdash;eminently an
+unchristian&mdash;spirit: but vengeance, sure and
+swift, was the only thing which could impress
+the hostile savage. And, if example, in a matter
+of this sort, could be availing, for their
+severity to the Indians, they had the highest!</p>
+
+<p>The eastern colonists&mdash;good men and true&mdash;&ldquo;willing
+to exterminate the savages,&rdquo; says
+Bancroft,<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> who is certainly not their enemy,
+offered a bounty for every Indian scalp&mdash;as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>
+we, in the west, do for the scalps of wolves!
+&ldquo;To regular forces under pay, the grant was
+<i>ten</i> pounds&mdash;to volunteers, in actual service,
+<i>twice that sum</i>; but if men would, of themselves,
+without pay, make up parties and patrol
+the forests in search of Indians, <i>as of old the
+woods were scoured for wild beasts</i>, the chase
+was invigorated by the promised 'encouragement
+of <i>fifty</i> pounds per scalp!'&rdquo; The &ldquo;fruitless
+cruelties&rdquo; of the Indian allies of the French
+in Canada, says the historian, gave birth to these
+humane and nicely-graduated enactments! Nor
+is our admiration of their Christian spirit in the
+least diminished, when we reflect that nothing
+is recorded in history of &ldquo;bounties on scalps&rdquo;
+or &ldquo;encouragement&rdquo; to murder, offered by
+Frontenac, or any other French-Canadian governor,
+as a revenge for the horrible massacre at
+Montreal, or the many &ldquo;fruitless cruelties&rdquo; of
+the bloody Iroquois!<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a></p>
+
+<p>The descendants of the men who gave these
+&ldquo;bounties&rdquo; and &ldquo;encouragements,&rdquo; have, in our
+own day, caressed, and wept and lamented over
+the tawny murderer, Black-Hawk, and his
+&ldquo;wrongs&rdquo; and &ldquo;misfortunes;&rdquo; but the theatre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>
+of Indian warfare was then removed a little
+farther west; and the atrocities of Haverhill
+and Deerfield were perpetrated on the western
+prairies, and not amid the forests of the east!
+Yet I do not mean, by referring to this passage
+of history&mdash;or to the rivers of wasted sentiment
+poured out a few years ago&mdash;so much to
+condemn our forefathers, or to draw invidious
+comparisons between them and others, as to
+show, that the war of extermination, sometimes
+waged by western rangers, was not without example&mdash;that
+the cruelty and hatred of the pioneer
+to the barbarous Indian, might originate
+in exasperation, which even moved the puritans;
+and that the lamentations, over the fictitious
+&ldquo;wrongs&rdquo; of a turbulent and bloody savage,
+might have run in a channel nearer home.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Hatred of the Indian, among the pioneers,
+was hereditary; there was scarcely a man on
+the frontier, who had not lost a father, a mother,
+or a brother, by the tomahawk; and not a
+few of them had suffered in their own persons.
+The child, who learned the rudiments of his
+scanty education at his mother's knee, must
+decipher the strange characters by the straggling
+light which penetrated the crevices between
+the logs; for, while the father was ab<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span>sent,
+in the field or on the war-path, the mother
+was obliged to bar the doors and barricade the
+windows against the savages. Thus, if he did
+not literally imbibe it with his mother's milk,
+one of the first things the pioneer learned, was
+dread, and consequently hatred, of the Indian.
+That feeling grew with his growth, strengthened
+with his strength&mdash;for a life upon the
+western border left but few days free from
+sights of blood or mementoes of the savage. The
+pioneer might go to the field in the morning,
+unsuspecting; and, at noon, returning, find his
+wife murdered and scalped, and the brains of
+his little ones dashed out against his own doorpost!
+And if a deadly hatred of the Indian
+took possession of his heart, who shall blame
+him? It may be said, the pioneer was an intruder,
+seeking to take forcible possession of the
+Indian's lands&mdash;and that it was natural that
+the Indian should resent the wrong after the
+manner of his race. Granted: and it was quite
+as natural that the pioneer should return the
+enmity, after the manner of <i>his</i> race!</p>
+
+<p>But the pioneer was <i>not</i> an intruder.</p>
+
+<p>For all the purposes, for which reason and the
+order of Providence authorize us to say, God
+made the earth, this continent was vacant&mdash;uninhabited.
+And&mdash;granting that the savage<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>
+was in possession&mdash;for this is his only ground
+of title, as, indeed, it is the foundation of all
+primary title&mdash;there were at the period of the
+first landing of white men on the continent, between
+Lake Superior and the Gulf of Mexico,
+east of the Mississippi, about one hundred and
+eighty thousand Indians.<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> That region now
+supports at least twenty millions of civilized
+people, and is capable of containing quite ten
+times that number, without crowding! Now,
+if God made the earth for any purpose, it certainly
+was <i>not</i> that it should be monopolized by
+a horde of nomad savages!</p>
+
+<p>But an argument on this subject, would not
+be worth ink and paper; and I am, moreover,
+aware, that this reasoning may be abused.
+<i>Any</i> attempt to construe the purposes of Deity
+must be liable to the same misapplication.
+And, besides, it is not my design to go so
+far back; I seek not so much to excuse as to account
+for&mdash;less to justify than to analyze&mdash;the
+characteristics of the class before me. I wish
+to establish that the pioneer hatred of the Indian
+was not an unprovoked or groundless
+hatred, that the severity of his warfare was not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>
+a mere gratuitous and bloody-minded cruelty.
+There are a thousand actions, of which we
+are hearing every day, that are indefensible in
+morals: and yet we are conscious while we
+condemn the actors, that, in like circumstances,
+we could not have acted differently. So is it
+with the fierce and violent reprisals, sometimes
+made by frontier rangers. Their best defence
+lies in the statement that they were men, and
+that their manhood prompted them to vengeance.
+When they deemed themselves injured,
+they demanded reparation, in such sort
+as that demand could then be made&mdash;at the
+muzzle of a rifle or the point of a knife. They
+were equal to the times in which they lived.&mdash;Had
+they not been so, how many steamboats
+would now be floating on the Mississippi?</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>There was no romance in the composition of
+the pioneer&mdash;whatever there may have been
+in his environment. His life was altogether
+too serious a matter for poetry, and the only
+music he took pleasure in, was the sound of a
+violin, sending forth notes remarkable only for
+their liveliness. Even this, he could enjoy but
+at rare periods, when his cares were forcibly
+dismissed. He was, in truth, a very matter-of-fact
+sort of person. It was principally with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>
+facts that he had to deal&mdash;and most of them
+were very &ldquo;stubborn facts.&rdquo; Indeed, it may
+be doubted&mdash;notwithstanding much good poetry
+has been written (in cities chiefly), on solitude
+and the wilderness&mdash;whether a life in the
+woods is, after all, very suggestive of poetical
+thoughts. The perils of the frontier must borrow
+most of their &ldquo;enchantment&rdquo; from the
+&ldquo;distance;&rdquo; and its sufferings and hardships
+are certainly more likely to evoke pleasant
+fancies to him who sits beside a good coal fire,
+than to one whose lot it is to bear them. Even
+the (so-called) &ldquo;varied imagery&rdquo; of the Indian's
+eloquence&mdash;about which so much nonsense
+has been written&mdash;is, in a far greater measure,
+the result of the poverty and crude materialism
+of his language, than of any poetical bias, temperament,
+or tone of thought. An Indian, as
+we have said before, has no humor&mdash;he never
+understands a jest&mdash;his wife is a beast of burthen&mdash;heaven
+is a hunting-ground&mdash;his language
+has no words to express abstract qualities,
+virtues, or sentiments. And yet he lives
+in the wilderness all the days of his life! The
+only trait he has, in common with the poetical
+character, is his laziness.</p>
+
+<p>But the pioneer was not indolent, in any
+sense. He had no dreaminess&mdash;meditation<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>
+was no part of his mental habit&mdash;a poetical
+fancy would, in him, have been an indication
+of insanity. If he reclined at the foot of a tree,
+on a still summer day, it was to sleep: if he
+gazed out over the waving prairie, it was to
+search for the column of smoke which told of
+his enemy's approach: if he turned his eyes
+toward the blue heaven, it was to prognosticate
+to-morrow's storm or sunshine: if he bent his
+gaze upon the green earth, it was to look for
+&ldquo;Indian sign&rdquo; or buffalo trail. His wife was only
+a help-mate&mdash;he never thought of making a divinity
+of her&mdash;she cooked his dinner, made
+and washed his clothes, bore his children, and
+took care of his household. His children were
+never &ldquo;little cherubs,&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;angels sent from
+heaven&rdquo;&mdash;but generally &ldquo;tow-headed&rdquo; and
+very earthly responsibilities. He looked forward
+anxiously, to the day when the boys
+should be able to assist him in the field, or fight
+the Indian, and the girls to help their mother
+make and mend. When one of the latter took
+it into her head to be married&mdash;as they usually
+did quite early in life; for beaux were plenty
+and belles were &ldquo;scarce&rdquo;&mdash;he only made one
+condition, that the man of her choice should be
+brave and healthy. He never made a &ldquo;parade&rdquo;
+about anything&mdash;marriage, least of all.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>
+He usually gave the bride&mdash;not the &ldquo;blushing&rdquo;
+bride&mdash;a bed, a lean horse, and some
+good advice: and, having thus discharged his
+duty in the premises, returned to his work, and
+the business was done.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The marriage ceremony, in those days, was a
+very unceremonious affair. The parade and
+drill which now attend it, would then have
+been as ridiculous as a Chinese dance; and the
+finery and ornament, at present understood to
+be indispensable on such occasions, then bore
+no sway in fashion. Bridal wreaths and dresses
+were not known; and white kid gloves and
+satin slippers never heard of. Orange blossoms&mdash;natural
+and artificial&mdash;were as pretty then
+as now; but the people were more occupied
+with substance, than with emblem.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The ancients decked <i>their</i> victims for the
+sacrifice with gaudy colors, flags, and streamers;
+the moderns do the same, and the offerings
+are sometimes made to quite as barbarous
+deities.</p>
+
+<p>But the bride of the pioneer was clothed in
+linsey-wolsey, with hose of woollen yarn; and
+moccasins of deer-skin&mdash;or as an extra piece
+of finery, high-quartered shoes of calf-skin&mdash;pre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>ceded
+satin slippers. The bridegroom came in
+copperas-colored jeans&mdash;domestic manufacture&mdash;as
+a holiday suit; or, perhaps, a hunting-shirt
+of buckskin, all fringed around the skirt
+and cape, and a &ldquo;coon-skin&rdquo; cap, with moccasins.
+Instead of a dainty walking-stick, with
+an opera-dancer's leg, in ivory, for head, he always
+brought his rifle, with a solid maple stock;
+and never, during the whole ceremony, did he
+divest himself of powder-horn and bullet-pouch.</p>
+
+<p>Protestant ministers of the gospel were few
+in those days; and the words of form were
+usually spoken by a Jesuit missionary. Or, if
+the Pioneer had objections to Catholicism&mdash;as
+many had&mdash;his place was supplied by some
+justice of the peace, of doubtful powers and
+mythical appointment. If neither of these
+could be procured, the father of the bride, himself,
+sometimes assumed the functions, <i>pro h&acirc;c
+vice</i>, or <i>pro tempore</i>, of minister or justice. It
+was always understood, however, that such
+left-handed marriages were to be confirmed by
+the first minister who wandered to the frontier:
+and, even when the opportunity did not offer
+for many months, no scandal ever arose&mdash;the
+marriage vow was never broken. The pioneers
+were simple people&mdash;the refinements of high
+cultivation had not yet penetrated the forests<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>
+or crossed the prairies&mdash;and good faith and
+virtue were as common as courage and sagacity.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>When the brief, but all-sufficient ceremony
+was over, the bridegroom resumed his rifle,
+helped the bride into the saddle&mdash;or more frequently
+to the pillion behind him&mdash;and they
+calmly rode away together.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>On some pleasant spot&mdash;surrounded by a
+shady grove, or point of timber&mdash;a new log-cabin
+has been built: its rough logs notched across
+each other at the corners, a roof of oaken clapboards,
+held firmly down by long poles along
+each course, its floor of heavy &ldquo;puncheons,&rdquo; its
+broad, cheerful fireplace, large as a modern
+bed-room&mdash;all are in the highest style of frontier
+architecture. Within&mdash;excepting some
+anomalies, such as putting the skillet and tea-kettle
+in the little cupboard, along with the
+blue-edged plates and yellow-figured tea-cups&mdash;for
+the whole has been arranged by the
+hands of the bridegroom himself&mdash;everything
+is neatly and properly disposed. The oaken
+bedstead, with low square posts, stands in one
+corner, and the bed is covered by a pure white
+counterpane, with fringe&mdash;an heirloom in the
+family of the bride. At the foot of this is seen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>
+a large, heavy chest&mdash;like a camp-chest&mdash;to
+serve for bureau, safe, and dressing-case.</p>
+
+<p>In the middle of the floor&mdash;directly above a
+trap-door which leads to a &ldquo;potato-hole&rdquo; beneath&mdash;stands
+a ponderous walnut table, and
+on it sits a nest of wooden trays; while, flanking
+these, on one side, is a nicely-folded tablecloth,
+and, on the other, a wooden-handled
+butcher-knife and a well-worn Bible. Around
+the room are ranged a few &ldquo;split-bottomed&rdquo;
+chairs, exclusively for use, not ornament. In
+the chimney-corners, or under the table, are
+several three-legged stools, made for the children,
+who&mdash;as the bridegroom laughingly insinuates
+while he points to the uncouth specimens
+of his handiwork&mdash;&ldquo;will be coming in
+due time.&rdquo; The wife laughs in her turn&mdash;replies,
+&ldquo;no doubt&rdquo;&mdash;and, taking one of the graceful
+tripods in her hand, carries it forth to sit upon
+while she milks the cow&mdash;for she understands
+what she is expected to do, and does it without
+delay. In one corner&mdash;near the fireplace&mdash;the
+aforesaid cupboard is erected&mdash;being a
+few oaken shelves neatly pinned to the logs
+with hickory forks&mdash;and in this are arranged
+the plates and cups;&mdash;not as the honest pride
+of the housewife would arrange them, to display
+them to the best advantage&mdash;but piled<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>
+away, one within another, without reference to
+show. As yet there is no sign of female taste
+or presence.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But now the house receives its mistress. The
+&ldquo;happy couple&rdquo; ride up to the low rail-fence
+in front&mdash;the bride springs off without assistance,
+affectation, or delay. The husband leads
+away the horse or horses, and the wife enters
+the dominion, where, thenceforward, she is
+queen. There is no coyness, no blushing, no
+pretence of fright or nervousness&mdash;if you will,
+no romance&mdash;for which the husband has reason
+to be thankful! The wife knows what her
+duties are and resolutely goes about performing
+them. She never dreamed, nor twaddled, about
+&ldquo;love in a cottage,&rdquo; or &ldquo;the sweet communion
+of congenial souls&rdquo; (who never eat anything):
+and she is, therefore, not disappointed on discovering
+that life is actually a serious thing.
+She never whines about &ldquo;making her husband
+happy&rdquo;&mdash;but sets firmly and sensibly about
+making him <i>comfortable</i>. She cooks his dinner,
+nurses his children, shares his hardships,
+and encourages his industry. She never complains
+of having too much work to do, she does
+not desert her home to make endless visits&mdash;she
+borrows no misfortunes, has no imaginary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>
+ailings. Milliners and mantua-makers she ignores&mdash;&ldquo;shopping&rdquo;
+she never heard of&mdash;scandal
+she never invents or listens to. She never
+wishes for fine carriages, professes no inability
+to walk five hundred yards, and does not think
+it a &ldquo;vulgar accomplishment,&rdquo; to know how to
+make butter. She has no groundless anxieties,
+she is not nervous about her children taking
+cold: a doctor is a visionary potentate to her&mdash;a
+drug-shop is a d&eacute;p&ocirc;t of abominations. She
+never forgets whose wife she is,&mdash;there is no
+&ldquo;sweet confidante&rdquo; without whom she &ldquo;can not
+live&rdquo;&mdash;she never writes endless letters about
+nothing. She is, in short, a faithful, honest
+wife: and, &ldquo;in due time,&rdquo; the husband must
+make <i>more</i> &ldquo;three-legged stools&rdquo;&mdash;for the &ldquo;tow-heads&rdquo;
+have now covered them all!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Such is the wife and mother of the pioneer,
+and, with such influences about him, how could
+he be otherwise than honest, straightforward,
+and manly?</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, though a life in the woods was an enemy
+to every sort of sentimentalism&mdash;though a more
+unromantic being than the pioneer can hardly
+be imagined&mdash;yet his character unquestionably
+took its hue, from the primitive scenes and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>
+events of his solitary existence. He was, in
+many things, as simple as a child: as credulous,
+as unsophisticated. Yet the utmost cunning of
+the wily savage&mdash;all the strategy of Indian
+warfare&mdash;was not sufficient to deceive or overreach
+him! Though one might have expected
+that his life of ceaseless watchfulness would
+make him skeptical and suspicious, his confidence
+was given heartily, without reservation,
+and often most imprudently. If he gave his
+trust at all, you might ply him, by the hour,
+with the most improbable and outrageous fictions,
+without fear of contradiction or of unbelief.
+He never questioned the superior
+knowledge or pretensions of any one who
+claimed acquaintance with subjects of which
+<i>he</i> was ignorant.</p>
+
+<p>The character of his intellect, like that of the
+Indian, was thoroughly synthetical: he had
+nothing of the faculty which enables us to detect
+falsehood, even in matters of which we
+know nothing by comparison and analogy. He
+never analyzed any story told him, he took it
+as a unit; and, unless it violated some known
+principle of his experience, or conflicted with
+some fact of his own observation, never doubted
+its truth. At this moment, there are men in
+every western settlement who have only vague,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>
+crude notions of what a city is&mdash;who would
+feel nervous if they stepped upon the deck of a
+steamboat&mdash;and are utterly at a loss to conjecture
+the nature of a railroad. Upon either of
+these mystical subjects they will swallow, without
+straining, the most absurd and impossible
+fictions. And this is not because of their ignorance
+alone, for many of them are, for their
+sphere in life, educated, intelligent, and, what is
+better, sensible men. Nor is it by any means
+a national trait: for a genuine Yankee will
+scarcely believe the truth; and, though he may
+sometimes trust in very wild things, his faith is
+usually an active &ldquo;craze,&rdquo; and not mere passive
+credulity. The pioneer, then, has not derived it
+from his eastern fathers: it is the growth of the
+woods and prairies&mdash;an embellishment to a
+character which might otherwise appear naked
+and severe.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Another characteristic, traceable to the same
+source, the stern reality of his life, is the pioneer's
+gravity.</p>
+
+<p>The agricultural population of this country
+are, at the best, not a cheerful race. Though
+they sometimes join in festivities, it is but
+seldom; and the wildness of their dissipation is
+too often in proportion to its infrequency. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>
+is none of the serene contentment&mdash;none of
+that smiling enjoyment&mdash;which, according to
+travellers like Howitt, distinguishes the tillers
+of the ground in other lands. <i>Sedateness</i> is a
+national characteristic, but the gravity of the
+pioneer is quite another thing; it includes
+pride and personal dignity, and indicates a
+stern, unyielding temper. There is, however,
+nothing morose in it: it is its aspect alone,
+which forbids approach; and that only makes
+more conspicuous the heartiness of your reception,
+when once the shell is broken. Acquainted
+with the character, you do not expect him to
+<i>smile</i> much; but now and then he <i>laughs</i>: and
+that laugh is round, free, and hearty. You
+know at once that he enjoys it, you are convinced
+that he is a firm friend and &ldquo;a good
+hater.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>It is not surprising, with a character such as
+I have described, that the pioneer is not gregarious,
+that he is, indeed, rather solitary. Accordingly,
+we never find a genuine specimen of
+the class, among the emigrants, who come in
+shoals and flocks, and pitch their tents in &ldquo;colonies;&rdquo;
+who lay out towns and cities, projected
+upon paper, and call them New Boston, New
+Albany, or New Hartford, before one log is<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>
+placed upon another; nor are there many of the
+unadulterated stock among that other class, who
+come from regions further south, and christen
+their towns, classically, Carthage, Rome, or
+Athens: or, patriotically, in commemoration of
+some Virginian worthy, some Maryland sharpshooter,
+or &ldquo;Jersey blue.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The real pioneer never emigrates gregariously;
+he does not wish to be within &ldquo;halloo&rdquo; of
+his nearest neighbor; he is no city-builder; and,
+if he does project a town, he christens it by
+some such name as Boonville or Clarksville, in
+memory of a noted pioneer: or Jacksonville or
+Waynesville, to commemorate some &ldquo;old hero&rdquo;
+who was celebrated for good fighting.<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> And
+the reason why the outlandish and <i>outr&eacute;</i> so much
+predominate in the names of western towns
+and cities, must be sought in the fact referred<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>
+to above, that the western man is not essentially
+a town-projector, and that, consequently, comparatively
+few of the towns were &ldquo;laid out&rdquo; by
+the legitimate pioneer. We shall have more to
+say of town-building under another head; and,
+in the meantime, having said that the pioneer
+is not gregarious, let us look at the <i>manner</i> of
+his emigration.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Many a time, in the western highways, have
+I met with the sturdy &ldquo;mover,&rdquo; as he is called,
+in the places where people are stationary&mdash;a
+family, sometimes by no means small, wandering
+toward the setting sun, in search of
+pleasant places on the lands of &ldquo;Uncle Sam.&rdquo;
+Many a time, in the forest or on the prairie&mdash;generally
+upon some point of timber which puts
+a mile or two within the plain&mdash;have I passed
+the &ldquo;clearing,&rdquo; or &ldquo;pre-emption,&rdquo; where, with
+nervous arm and sturdy heart, the &ldquo;squatter&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a>
+cleaves out, and renders habitable, a home for
+himself and a heritage for his children.</p>
+
+<p>Upon the road, you first meet the pioneer him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span>self,
+for he almost always walks a few hundred
+yards ahead. He is usually above the medium
+height, and rather spare. He stoops a little,
+too; for he has done a deal of hard work, and
+expects to do more; but you see at once, that
+unless his lungs are weak, his strength is by no
+means broken, and you are quite sure that many
+a stately tree is destined to be humbled by his
+sinewy arm. He is attired in frontier fashion:
+he wears a loose coat, called a hunting-shirt, of
+jeans or linsey, and its color is that indescribable
+hue compounded of copperas and madder;
+pantaloons, exceedingly loose, and not very accurately
+cut in any part, of like color and
+material, defend his lower limbs. His feet are
+cased in low, fox-colored shoes, for of boots, he
+is, yet, quite innocent. Around his throat and
+wrists, even in midsummer, you see the collar
+and wristbands of a heavy, deep-red, flannel-shirt.
+Examine him very closely, and you will
+probably find no other garment on his person.</p>
+
+<p>His hair is dark, and not very evenly trimmed&mdash;for
+his wife or daughter has performed
+the tonsure with a pair of rusty shears; and the
+longer locks seem changed in hue, as if his
+dingy wool hat did not sufficiently protect them
+against the wind and rain. Over his shoulder
+he carries a heavy rifle, heavier than a &ldquo;Har<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>per's
+ferry musket,&rdquo; running about &ldquo;fifty to the
+pound.&rdquo; Around his neck are swung the
+powder-horn and bullet-pouch, the former protected
+by a square of deer-skin, and the latter
+ornamented with a squirrel's tail.</p>
+
+<p>You take note of all these things, and then
+recur to his melancholy-looking face, with its
+mild blue eyes and sharpened features. You
+think he looks thin, and conjecture that his chest
+may be weak, or his lungs affected, by the stoop
+in his shoulders; but when he lifts his eyes, and
+asks the way to Thompson's ferry, or how far it
+is to water, you are satisfied: for the glance of
+his eye is calm and firm, and the tone of his
+voice is round and healthy. You answer his
+question, he nods quietly by way of thanks, and
+marches on; and, though you draw your rein,
+and seem inclined to further converse, he takes
+no notice, and pursues his way.</p>
+
+<p>A few minutes afterward, you meet the family.
+A small, light wagon, easily dragged through
+sloughs and heavy roads, is covered with a white
+cotton cloth, and drawn, by either two yokes of
+oxen, or a pair of lean horses. A &ldquo;patch-work&rdquo;
+quilt is sometimes stretched across the flimsy
+covering, as a guard against the sun and rain.
+Within this vehicle are stowed all the emigrant's
+household goods, and still, it is not overloaded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>There is usually a large chest, containing the
+wardrobe of the family, with such small articles
+as are liable to loss, and the little store of money.
+This is always in silver, for the pioneer is no
+judge of gold, and, on the frontier, paper has
+but little exchangeable value. There are then
+two light bedsteads&mdash;one &ldquo;a trundle-bed&rdquo;&mdash;a
+few plain chairs, most of them tied on behind
+and at the sides; three or four stools, domestic
+manufacture; a set of tent-poles and a few pots
+and pans. On these are piled the &ldquo;beds and
+bedding,&rdquo; tied in large bundles, and stowed in
+such manner as to make convenient room for the
+children who are too young to walk. In the
+front end of the wagon, sits the mother of the
+family: and, peering over her head and shoulders,
+leaning out at her side, or gazing under
+the edge of the cotton-covering, are numerous
+flaxen heads, which you find it difficult to count
+while you ride past.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>There are altogether too many of them, you
+think, for a man no older than the one you met,
+a while ago; and you, perhaps, conjecture that
+the youthful-looking woman has adopted some
+of her dead sister's children, or, perchance, some
+of her brothers and sisters themselves. But
+you are mistaken, they are all her offspring, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>
+the father of every one of them is the stoop-shouldered
+man you saw ahead. If you look
+closely, you will observe that the mother, who
+is driving, holds the reins with one hand, while,
+on the other arm, she supports an infant not
+<i>more</i> than six months old. It was for the advent
+of this little stranger, that they delayed their
+emigration: and they set out while it was very
+young, for fear of the approach of its successor.
+If they waited for their youngest child to attain
+a year of age, they would never &ldquo;move,&rdquo;
+until they would be too old to make another
+&ldquo;clearing.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>You pass on&mdash;perhaps ejaculating thanks
+that your lot has been differently cast, and
+thinking you have seen the last of them.
+But a few hundred yards further, and you hear
+the tinkling of a bell; two or three lean cows&mdash;with
+calves about the age of the baby&mdash;come
+straggling by. You look for the driver,
+and see a tall girl with a very young face&mdash;the
+eldest of the family, though not exceeding
+twelve or thirteen years in age. You feel quite
+sure, that, besides her sun-bonnet and well-worn
+shoes, she wears but one article of apparel&mdash;and
+that a loose dress of linsey, rather
+narrow in the skirt, of a dirty brown color, with
+a tinge of red. It hangs straight down about<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>
+her limbs, as if it were wet, and with every
+step&mdash;for she walks stoutly&mdash;it flaps and flies
+about her ankles, as if shotted in the lower hem.
+She presents, altogether, rather a slatternly
+figure, and her face is freckled and sunburnt.</p>
+
+<p>But you must not judge her too rashly; for
+her eye is keen and expressive, and her mouth
+is quite pretty&mdash;especially when she smiles.
+A few years hence&mdash;if you have the <i>entr&eacute;e</i>&mdash;you
+may meet her in the best and highest circles
+of the country. Perhaps, while you are
+dancing attendance upon some new administration,
+asking for a &ldquo;place,&rdquo; and asking, probably,
+in vain, she may come to Washington, a
+beautiful and accomplished woman&mdash;the wife
+of some member of Congress, whose constituency
+is numbered by the hundred thousand!</p>
+
+<p>You may pass on, now, and forget her; but,
+if you stop to talk five minutes, she will not
+forget <i>you</i>&mdash;at least, if you say anything striking
+or sensible. And when you meet her again,
+perhaps in a gilded saloon, among the brightest
+and highest in the land&mdash;if you seek an introduction,
+as you probably will&mdash;she will remind
+you of the meeting, and to your astonishment,
+will laughingly describe the scene, to some of
+her obsequious friends who stand around. And
+then she will perhaps introduce you, as an old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>
+friend, to one of those flax-haired boys, who
+peeped out of the wagon over his mother's
+shoulder, as you passed them in the wilderness:
+and you recognise one of the members from
+California, or from Oregon, whose influence in
+the house, though he is as yet a very young man,
+is already quite considerable. If you are successful
+in your application for a &ldquo;place,&rdquo; it
+may be that the casual meeting in the forest or
+on the prairie was the seed which, germinating
+through long years of obscurity, finally sprung
+up <i>thus</i>, and bore a crop of high official honors!</p>
+
+<p>The next time you meet a family of emigrants
+on the frontier, you will probably observe them
+a little more closely.</p>
+
+<p>Not a few of those who bear a prominent
+part in the government of our country&mdash;more
+than one of the first men of the nation&mdash;men
+whose names are now heard in connection with
+the highest office of the people&mdash;twenty years
+ago, occupied a place as humble in the scale of
+influence, as that flaxen-haired son of the stoop-shouldered
+emigrant. Such are the elements
+of our civilization&mdash;such the spirit of our institutions!</p>
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>
+We have hitherto been speaking only of the
+American pioneer, and we have devoted more
+space to him, than we shall give to his contemporaries,
+because he has exerted more influence,
+both in the settlement of the country, and in
+the formation of sectional character and social
+peculiarities, than all the rest combined.</p>
+
+<p>The French emigrant was quite a different
+being. Even at this day, there are no two
+classes&mdash;not the eastern and western, or the
+northern and southern&mdash;between whom the
+distinction is more marked, than it has always
+been between the Saxon and the Frank. The
+advent of the latter was much earlier than that
+of the former; and to him, therefore, must be
+ascribed the credit of the first settlement of the
+country. But, for all purposes of lasting impression,
+he must yield to his successor. It
+was, in fact, the American who penetrated and
+cleared the forest&mdash;who subdued and drove out
+the Indian&mdash;who, in a word, reclaimed the
+country.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In nothing was the distinction between the
+two races broader, than in the feelings with
+which they approached the savage. We have
+seen that the hatred, borne by the American
+toward his red enemy, was to be traced to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>
+long series of mutual hostilities and wrongs.
+But the Frenchman had no such injuries to
+avenge, no hereditary feud to prosecute. The
+first of his nation who had entered the country
+were non-combatants&mdash;they came to convert
+the savage, not to conquer him, or deprive him
+of his lands. Even as early as sixteen hundred
+and eight, the Jesuits had established friendly
+relations with the Indians of Canada&mdash;and before
+the stern crew of the May Flower had landed
+on Plymouth Rock, they had preached the
+gospel on the shores of Lake Huron. Their
+piety and wisdom had acquired an influence
+over the untutored Indian, long before the commencement
+of the hostilities, which afterward
+cost so much blood and suffering. They had,
+thus, smoothed the way for their countrymen,
+and opened a safe path through the wilderness,
+to the shore of the great western waters. And
+the people who followed and accompanied them,
+were peculiarly adapted to improve the advantages
+thus given them.</p>
+
+<p>They were a gentle, peaceful, unambitious
+people. They came as the friend, not the hereditary
+enemy, of the savage. They tendered
+the calumet&mdash;a symbol well understood by
+every Indian&mdash;and were received as allies and
+brethren. They had no national prejudices to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>
+overcome: the copper color of the Indian was
+not an insuperable objection to intermarriage,
+and children of the mixed blood were not, for
+that reason, objects of scorn. An Indian
+maiden was as much a woman to a Frenchman,
+as if she had been a <i>blonde</i>; and, if her form
+was graceful and her features comely, he would
+woo her with as much ardor as if she had been
+one of his own race.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was this peculiarity attributable only to
+the native gallantry of the French character,
+as it has sometimes been asserted; the total
+want of prejudice, which grows up in contemplating
+an inferior race, held in limited subjection,
+and a certain easiness of temper and tone
+of thought, had far more influence.</p>
+
+<p>The Frenchman has quite enough vanity,
+but very little pride. Whatever, therefore, is
+sanctioned by those who surrounded him, is, in
+his eyes, no degradation. He married the Indian
+woman&mdash;first, because there were but few
+females among the emigrants, and he could not
+live without &ldquo;the sex;&rdquo; and, second, because
+there was nothing in his prejudices, or in public
+sentiment, to deter him. The descendants
+of these marriages&mdash;except where, as in some
+cases, they are upheld by the possession of
+great wealth&mdash;have no consideration, and are<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>
+seldom seen in the society of the whites. But
+this is only because French manners and feelings
+have long since faded out of our social organization.
+The Saxon, with his unconquerable
+prejudices of race, with his pride and jealousy,
+has taken possession of the country; and,
+as he rules its political destinies, in most places,
+likewise, gives tones to its manners. Had
+Frenchmen continued to possess the land&mdash;had
+French dominion not given place to English&mdash;mixture
+of blood would have had but little influence
+on one's position; and there would now
+have been, in St. Louis or Chicago, as many
+shades of color in a social assembly, as may be
+seen at a ball in Mexico.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The French are a more cheerful people, than
+the Americans. Social intercourse&mdash;the interchange
+of hospitalities&mdash;the enjoyment of
+amusements in crowds&mdash;are far more important
+to them than to any other race. Solitude
+and misery are&mdash;or ought to be&mdash;synonyms
+in French; and enjoyment is like glory&mdash;it
+must have witnesses, or it will lose its attraction.
+Accordingly, we find the French emigrant
+seeking companionship, even in the trials
+and enterprises of the wilderness. The American,
+after the manner of his race, sought places<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>
+where he could possess, for himself, enough for
+his wants, and be &ldquo;monarch of all he surveyed.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But the Frenchman had no such pride. He
+resorted to a town, where the amusements of
+dancing, <i>f&ecirc;tes</i>, and social converse, were to be
+found&mdash;where the narrow streets were scarcely
+more than a division fence, &ldquo;across which the
+women could carry on their voluble conversations,
+without leaving their homes.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> This
+must have been a great advantage, and probably
+contributed, in no slight degree, to the
+singular peace of their villages&mdash;since the
+proximity afforded no temptation to going
+abroad, and the distance was yet too great to
+allow such whisperings and scandal, as usually
+break up the harmony of small circles. Whether
+the fact is to be attributed to this, or to some
+other cause, certain it is that these little communities
+were eminently peaceful. From the
+first settlement of Kaskaskia, for example, down
+to the transfer of the western country to the
+British&mdash;almost a century&mdash;I find no record,
+even in the voluminous epistolary chronicles,
+of any personal rencontre, or serious quarrel,
+among the inhabitants. The same praise can
+not be given to any American town ever yet
+built.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A species of communism seems to be a portion
+of the French character; for we discover,
+that, even at that early day, <i>paysans</i>, or <i>habitans</i>,
+collected together in villages, had their
+<i>common fields</i>, where the separate portion of
+each family was still a part of the common
+stock&mdash;and their tract of pasture-land, where
+there was no division, or separate property.
+One enclosure covered all the fields of the community,
+and all submitted to regulations made
+by the free voice of the people.</p>
+
+<p>If one was sick, or employed in the service
+of the colony, or absent on business of his own
+at planting or harvest time, his portion was not
+therefore neglected: his ground was planted,
+or his crop was gathered, by the associated
+labor of his neighbors, as thoroughly and carefully
+as if he had been at home. His family
+had nothing to fear; because in the social code
+of the simple villagers, each was as much bound
+to maintain the children of his friend as his
+own. This state of things might have its inconveniences
+and vices&mdash;of which, perhaps,
+the worst was its tendency to merge the family
+into the community, and thus&mdash;by obliterating
+the lines of individuality and personal independence&mdash;benumbing
+enterprise and checking
+improvements: but it was certainly produc<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>tive
+of some good results, also. It tended to
+make people careful each of the other's rights,
+kind to the afflicted, and brotherly in their
+social intercourse. The attractive simplicity
+of manners observable, even at this day, in
+some of the old French villages, is traceable to
+this peculiar form of their early organization.</p>
+
+<p>It would be well if that primitive simplicity
+of life and manners, could be combined with
+rapid, or even moderate improvement. But,
+in the present state of the world, this can
+scarcely be; and, accordingly, we find the
+Frenchman of the passing year, differing but
+little from his ancestor of sixteen hundred and
+fifty&mdash;still living in the old patriarchal style,
+still cultivating his share of the common field,
+and still using the antiquated processes of the
+seventeenth century.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, though not so active as their neighbors,
+the Americans, they were ever much happier.
+They had no ambition beyond enough for the
+passing hour: with that they were perfectly contented.
+They were very patient of the deprivation,
+when they had it not; and seasons of
+scarcity saw no cessation of music and dancing,
+no abridgment of the jest and song. If the
+earth yielded enough in one year to sustain them<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>
+till the next, the amount of labor expended for
+that object was never increased&mdash;superfluity
+they cared nothing for: and commerce, save
+such limited trade as was necessary to provide
+their few luxuries, was beyond both their capacity
+and desires. The prolific soil was suffered
+to retain its juices; it was reserved for another
+people to discover and improve its infinite productiveness.</p>
+
+<p>They were indolent, careless, and improvident.
+Great enterprises were above or below them.
+Political interests, and the questions concerning
+national dominion, were too exciting to charm
+their gentle natures. Their intelligence was, of
+course, not of the highest order: but they had
+no use for learning&mdash;literature was out of place
+in the wilderness&mdash;the pursuit of letters could
+have found no sympathy, and for solitary enjoyment,
+the Frenchman cultivates nothing. Life
+was almost altogether sensuous: and, though
+their morals were in keeping with their simplicity,
+existence to them was chiefly a physical
+matter. The fertility of the soil, producing all
+the necessaries of life with a small amount of
+labor, and the amenity of the climate, rendering
+defences against winter but too easy, encouraged
+their indolence, and soothed their scanty energy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They made no attempt,&rdquo; said one<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a> who
+knew them well, &ldquo;to acquire land from the
+Indians, to organize a social system, to introduce
+municipal regulations, or to establish military
+defences; but cheerfully obeyed the priests
+and the king's officers, and enjoyed the present
+without troubling their heads about the future.
+They seem to have been even careless as to the
+acquisition of property, and its transmission to
+their heirs. Finding themselves in a fruitful
+country, abounding in game&mdash;where the necessaries
+of life could be procured with little labor&mdash;where
+no restraints were imposed by government,
+and neither tribute nor personal service
+was exacted, they were content to live in unambitious
+peace and comfortable poverty. They
+took possession of so much of the vacant land
+around them, as they were disposed to till, and
+no more. Their agriculture was rude: and even
+to this day, some of the implements of husbandry
+and modes of cultivation, brought from
+France a century ago, remain unchanged by the
+march of mind or the hand of innovation.
+Their houses were comfortable, and they reared
+fruits and flowers, evincing, in this respect, an
+attention to comfort and luxury, which has not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>
+been practised by the English and American
+first settlers. But in the accumulation of property,
+and in all the essentials of industry, they
+were indolent and improvident, rearing only the
+bare necessaries of life, and living from generation
+to generation without change or improvement.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;They reared fruits and flowers,&rdquo; he says;
+and this simple fact denotes a marked distinction
+between them and the Americans, not only in
+regard to the things themselves, as would seem
+to be the view of the author quoted, but in
+mental constitution, modes of thought, and
+motives to action. Their tastes were elegant,
+ornate, and refined. They found pleasure in
+pursuits which the American deems trivial,
+frivolous, and unworthy of exertion.</p>
+
+<p>If any trees sheltered the house of the American,
+they were those planted by the winds; if
+there were any flowers at his door, they were
+only those with which prodigal nature has carpeted
+the prairies; and you may see now in the
+west, many a cabin which has stood for thirty
+years, with not a tree, of shade or fruit, within
+a mile of its door! Everything is as bare and
+as cheerless about the door-yard, as it was the
+first winter of its enclosure. But, stretching
+away from it, in every direction, sometimes for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>
+miles, you will see extensive and productive
+fields of grain, in the highest state of cultivation.
+It is not personal comfort, or an elegant residence,
+for which the American cares, but the
+enduring and solid results of unwearied labor.</p>
+
+<p>A Frenchman's residence is surrounded by
+flower-beds and orchards; his windows are
+covered by creeping-vines and trellis-work;
+flower-pots and bird-cages occupy the sills and
+surround the corridors; everything presents the
+aspect of elegant taste, comfort, and indolence.
+The extent of his fields, the amount of his produce,
+the intelligence and industry of his cultivation,
+bear an immense disproportion to those
+of his less ornamental, though more energetic,
+neighbor.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The distinction between the two races is as
+clear in their personal appearance and bearing,
+as in the aspect of their plantations. The
+Frenchman is generally a spruce, dapper little
+gentleman, brisk, obsequious, and insinuating
+in manner, and usually betraying minute attention
+to externals. The American is always plain
+in dress&mdash;evincing no more taste in costume
+than in horticulture&mdash;steady, calm, and never
+lively in manner: blunt, straightforward, and
+independent in discourse. The one is amiable<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>
+and submissive, the other choleric and rebellious.
+The Frenchman always recognises and
+bows before superior rank: the American acknowledges
+no superior, and bows to no man
+save in courtesy. The former is docile and
+easily governed: the latter is intractable, beyond
+control. The Frenchman accommodates
+himself to circumstances: the American forces
+circumstances to yield to him.</p>
+
+<p>The consequence has been, that while the
+American has stamped his character upon the
+whole country, there are not ten places in the
+valley of the Mississippi, where you would infer,
+from anything you see, that a Frenchman
+had ever placed his foot upon the soil. The few
+localities in which the French character yet
+lingers, are fast losing the distinction; and a
+score or two of years will witness a total disappearance
+of the gentle people and their primitive
+abodes. Even now&mdash;excepting in a few
+parishes in Louisiana&mdash;the relics of the race
+bear a faded, antiquated look: as if they belonged
+to a past century, as, indeed, they do,
+and only lingered now, to witness, for a brief
+space, the glaring innovations of the nineteenth,
+and then, lamenting the follies of modern civilization,
+to take their departure for ever!</p>
+
+<p>Let them depart in peace! For they were a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>
+gentle and pacific race, and in their day did
+many kindly things!</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;The goodness of the heart is shown in deeds<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Of peacefulness and kindness.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Their best monument is an affectionate recollection
+of their simplicity: their highest wish</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">&mdash;&mdash;&ldquo;To sleep in humble life,<br /></span>
+<span class="i4">Beneath the storm ambition blows.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> <i>History of the United States</i>, vol. iii., p. 336. Enacted in Massachusetts.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> A detailed and somewhat tedious account of these savage
+inroads, may be found in Warburton's <i>Conquest of Canada</i>,
+published by Harpers. New-York. 1850.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> This is the estimate of Bancroft&mdash;and, I think, at least,
+thirty thousand too liberal. If the number were doubled,
+however, it would not weaken the position in the text.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> On the subject of naming towns, much might have been
+said in the preceding article in favor of French taste, and especially
+that just and unpretending taste, which led them almost
+alway to retain the Indian names. While the American has
+pretentiously imported from the Old World such names as
+Venice, Carthage, Rome, Athens, and even London and Paris,
+or has transferred from the eastern states, Boston, Philadelphia,
+Baltimore, and New York, the Frenchman, with a better judgment,
+has retained such Indian names as Chicago, Peoria, Kaskaskia,
+Cahokia, Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Wabash, and Mississippi.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> This word is a pregnant memento of the manner in which
+the vain words of flippant orators fall, innocuous, to the ground,
+when they attempt to stigmatize, with contemptuous terms,
+the truly noble. &ldquo;Squatter&rdquo; is now, in the west, only another
+name for &ldquo;Pioneer,&rdquo; and that word describes all that is admirable
+in courage, truth, and manhood!</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Perkins's <i>Western Annals.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> &ldquo;Sketches of the West,&rdquo; by Judge Hall, for many years a
+resident of Illinois.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<h2><a name="IV" id="IV"></a>IV.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE RANGER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;When purposed vengeance I forego,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Term me a wretch, nor deem me foe;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">And when an insult I forgive,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Then brand me as a slave, and live.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Scott</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 410px;">
+<img src="images/illus-163.jpg" width="410" height="500" alt=""  />
+<span class="caption">THE RANGER.</span>
+</div>
+
+<p>In elaborating the character of the pioneer,
+we have unavoidably anticipated, in some measure,
+that of the Ranger&mdash;for the latter was, in
+fact, only one of the capacities in which the
+former sometimes acted. But&mdash;since, in the
+preceding article, we have endeavored to
+confine the inquiry, so as to use the term <i>Pioneer</i>
+as almost synonymous with <i>Immigrant</i>&mdash;we
+have, of course, ignored, to some extent,
+the subordinate characters, in which he frequently
+figured. We therefore propose, now,
+briefly to review one or two of them in their
+natural succession.</p>
+
+<p>The progress of our country may be traced
+and measured, by the representative characters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>
+which marked each period. The missionary-priest
+came first, when the land was an unbroken
+wilderness. The military adventurer,
+seeking to establish new empires, and acquire
+great fortunes, entered by the path thus opened.
+Next came the hunter, roaming the woods in
+search of wild beasts upon which he preyed.
+Making himself familiar with the pathless forest
+and the rolling prairie, he qualified himself
+to guide, even while he fled from, the stream
+of immigration. At last came the pioneer, to
+drive away the savage, to clear out the forests,
+and reclaim the land.</p>
+
+<p>At first, he was <i>only</i> a pioneer. He had few
+neighbors, he belonged to no community&mdash;his
+household was his country, his family were his
+only associates or companions. In the course
+of time others followed him&mdash;he could occasionally
+meet a white man on the prairies; if he
+wandered a few miles from home, he could see
+the smoke of another chimney in the distance.
+If he did not at once abandon his &ldquo;clearing&rdquo;
+and go further west, he became, in some sort, a
+member of society&mdash;was the fellow-citizen of
+his neighbors. The Indians became alarmed
+for their hunting grounds, or the nations went
+to war and drew them into the contest: the
+frontier became unsafe: the presence of danger<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>
+drew the pioneers together: they adopted a system
+of defence, and the ranger was the offspring
+and representative of a new order of things.</p>
+
+<p>Rough and almost savage as he sometimes
+was, he was still the index to a great improvement.
+Rude as the system was, it gave shape
+and order to what had before been mere chaos.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The ranger marks a new era, then; his existence
+is another chapter in the history of the
+west. Previous to his time, each pioneer depended
+only on himself for defence&mdash;his sole
+protection, against the wild beast and the savage,
+was his rifle&mdash;self-dependence was his peculiar
+characteristic. The idea of a fighting establishment&mdash;the
+germ of standing armies&mdash;had never
+occurred to him: even the rudest form of civil
+government was strange to him&mdash;taxes, salaries,
+assessments, were all &ldquo;unknown quantities.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>But, gradually, all this changed; and with
+his circumstances, his character was also modified.
+He lost a little of his sturdy independence,
+his jealousy of neighborhood was softened&mdash;his
+solitary habits became more social&mdash;he
+acknowledged the necessity for concert of action&mdash;he
+merged a part of his individuality
+into the community, and&mdash;became a ranger.</p>
+
+<p>In this capacity, his character was but little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>
+different to what it had been before the change;
+and, though that change was a great improvement,
+considered with reference to society, it
+may safely be doubted whether it made the individual
+more respectable. He was a better
+<i>citizen</i>, because he now contributed to the common
+defence: but he was not a better <i>man</i>,
+because new associations brought novel temptations,
+and mingling with other men wore
+away the simplicity, which was the foundation
+of his manliness. Before assuming his new
+character, moreover, he never wielded a weapon
+except in his own defence&mdash;or, at most, in
+avenging his own wrongs. The idea of justice&mdash;claiming
+reparation for an injury, which he
+alone could estimate, because by him alone it
+was sustained&mdash;protected his moral sense. But,
+when he assumed the vindication of his neighbor's
+rights, and the reparation of his wrongs&mdash;however
+kind it may have been to do so&mdash;he
+was sustained only by the spirit of hatred to
+the savage, could feel no such justification as
+the consciousness of injury.</p>
+
+<p>Here was the first introduction of the mercenary
+character, which actuates the hireling
+soldier; and, though civilization was not then
+far enough advanced, to make it very conspicuous,
+there were other elements mingled, which<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span>
+could not but depreciate the simple nobility of
+the pioneer's nature. Many of the qualities
+which, in him, had been merely passive, in the
+ranger became fierce and active. We have alluded,
+for example, to his hatred of the Indian;
+and this, habit soon strengthened and exaggerated.
+Nothing marks that change so plainly as
+his adoption of the barbarous practice of scalping
+enemies.</p>
+
+<p>For this there might be some little palliation
+in the fact, that the savage never considered a
+warrior overcome, though he were killed, unless
+he lost his scalp; and so long as he could
+bring off the dead bodies of his comrades, not
+mutilated by the process, he was but partially
+intimidated. Defeat was, in that case, converted
+to a sort of triumph; and having gone within
+one step of victory&mdash;for so this half-success
+was estimated&mdash;was the strongest incentive to
+a renewal of the effort. It might be, therefore,
+that the ranger's adoption of the custom was a
+measure of self-defence. But it is to be feared
+that this consideration&mdash;weak as it is, when
+stated as an excuse for cruelty so barbarous&mdash;had
+but little influence in determining the ranger.
+Adopting the code of the savage, the practice
+soon became a part of his warfare; and
+the taking of the scalp was a ceremony neces<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>sary
+to the completion of his victory. It was a
+bloody and inhuman triumph&mdash;a custom, which
+tended, more forcibly than any other, to degrade
+true courage to mere cruelty; and which,
+while it only mortified the savage, at the same
+time, by rendering his hatred of the white men
+more implacable, aggravated the horrors of Indian
+warfare. But the only measure of justice
+in those days, was the <i>lex talionis</i>&mdash;&ldquo;An eye
+for an eye,&rdquo; a scalp for a scalp; and, even
+now, you may hear frontiermen justify, though
+they do not practise it, by quoting the venerable
+maxim, &ldquo;Fight the devil with fire.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, though the warfare of the ranger was
+sometimes distinguished by cruelty, it was also
+ennobled by features upon which it is far more
+pleasant to dwell.</p>
+
+<p>No paladin, or knight, of the olden times,
+ever exhibited more wild, romantic daring,
+than that which formed a part of the ranger's
+daily action. Danger, in a thousand forms,
+beset him at every step&mdash;he defied mutilation,
+death by fire and lingering torture. The number
+of his enemies, he never counted, until after
+he had conquered them&mdash;the power of the
+tribe, or the prowess of the warrior, was no element
+in his calculations. Where he could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>
+strike first and most effectually, was his only
+inquiry. Securing an avenue for retreat was
+no part of his strategy&mdash;for he had never an
+intention or thought of returning, except as a
+victor. &ldquo;Keeping open his communications,&rdquo;
+either with the rear or the flanks, had no place
+in his system; &ldquo;combined movements&rdquo; he seldom
+attempted, for he depended for victory,
+upon the force he chanced to have directly at
+hand. The distance from his &ldquo;base of operations&rdquo;
+he never measured; for he carried all
+his supplies about his person, and he never
+looked for reinforcements. Bridges and wagon-roads
+he did not require, for he could swim all
+the rivers, and he never lost his way in the forest.
+He carried his artillery upon his shoulder,
+his tactics were the maxims of Indian warfare,
+and his only drill was the &ldquo;ball-practice&rdquo; of
+the woods. He was his own commissary, for
+he carried his &ldquo;rations&rdquo; on his back, and replenished
+his havresack with his rifle. He
+needed no quartermaster; for he furnished his
+own &ldquo;transportation,&rdquo; and selected his own
+encampment&mdash;his bed was the bosom of mother-earth,
+and his tent was the foliage of an oak
+or the canopy of heaven. In most cases&mdash;especially
+in battle&mdash;he was his own commander,
+too; for he was impatient of restraint,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>
+and in savage warfare knew his duty as well as
+any man could instruct him. Obedience was
+no part of his nature&mdash;subordination was irksome
+and oppressive. In a word, he was an
+excellent soldier, without drill, discipline or
+organization.</p>
+
+<p>He was as active as he was brave&mdash;as untiring
+as he was fearless.</p>
+
+<p>A corps of rangers moved so rapidly, as apparently
+to double its numbers&mdash;dispersing on
+the Illinois or Missouri, and reassembling on
+the Mississippi, on the following day&mdash;traversing
+the Okan timber to-day, and fording the
+Ohio to-morrow. One of them, noted among
+the Indians for desperate fighting, and personally
+known for many a bloody meeting, would
+appear so nearly simultaneously in different
+places, as to acquire the title of a &ldquo;Great Medicine;&rdquo;
+and instances have been known, where
+as many as three distinct war-parties have told
+of obstinate encounters with the same men in
+one day! Their apparent ubiquity awed the
+Indians more than their prowess.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>General Benjamin Howard, who, in eighteen
+hundred and thirteen resigned the office of governor
+of Missouri, and accepted the appointment
+of brigadier-general, in command of the militia<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>
+and rangers of Missouri and Illinois, at no time,
+except for a few weeks in eighteen hundred and
+fourteen, had more than one thousand men under
+his orders: And yet, with this inconsiderable
+force, he protected a frontier extending
+from the waters of the Wabash, westward to the
+advanced settlements of Missouri&mdash;driving the
+savages northward beyond Peoria, and intimidating
+them by the promptitude and rapidity
+of his movements.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Our government contributed nothing to the
+defence of its frontiers, except an act of Congress,
+which authorized them to defend themselves!
+The Indians, amounting to at least
+twenty tribes, had been stirred up to hostility
+by the British, and, before the establishment
+of rangers, were murdering and plundering almost
+with impunity. But soon after the organization
+of these companies, the tide began to
+turn. The ranger was at least a match for the
+savage in his own mode of warfare; and he had,
+moreover, the advantages of civilized weapons,
+and a steadiness and constancy, unknown to
+the disorderly war-parties of the red men.</p>
+
+<p>He was persevering beyond all example, and
+exhibited endurance which astonished even the
+stoical savage. Three or four hours' rest, after<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>
+weeks of hardship and exposure, prepared him
+for another expedition. If the severity of his
+vengeance, or the success of a daring enterprise,
+intimidated the Indian for a time, and
+gave him a few days' leisure, he grew impatient
+of inactivity, and was straightway planning
+some new exploit. The moment one suggested
+itself, he set about accomplishing it&mdash;and
+its hardihood and peril caused no hesitation.
+He would march, on foot, hundreds of
+miles, through an unbroken wilderness, until
+he reached the point where the blow was to be
+struck; and then, awaiting the darkness, in the
+middle of the night, he would fall upon his unsuspecting
+enemies and carry all before him.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>During the war of independence, the rangers
+had not yet assumed that name, nor were
+they as thoroughly organized, as they became
+in the subsequent contest of eighteen hundred
+and twelve. But the same material was there&mdash;the
+same elements of character, actuated by
+the same spirit. Let the following instance
+show what that spirit was.</p>
+
+<p>In the year seventeen hundred and seventy-seven,
+there lived at Cahokia&mdash;on the east
+side of the Mississippi below Saint Louis&mdash;a
+Pennsylvanian by the name of Brady&mdash;a rest<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>less,
+daring man, just made for a leader of rangers.
+In an interval of inactivity, he conceived
+the idea of capturing one of the British posts in
+Michigan, the nearest point of which was at
+least three hundred miles distant! He forthwith
+set about raising a company&mdash;and, at the
+end of three days, found himself invested with
+the command of <i>sixteen men</i>! With these, on
+the first of October, he started on a journey of
+more than one hundred leagues, through the
+vast solitudes of the prairies and the thousand
+perils of the forest, to take a military station,
+occupied by a detachment of British soldiers!
+After a long and toilsome march, they reached
+the banks of the St. Joseph's river, on which
+the object of their expedition stood. Awaiting
+the security of midnight, they suddenly broke
+from their cover in the neighborhood, and by a
+<i>coup de main</i>, captured the fort without the loss
+of a man! Thus far all went well&mdash;for besides
+the success and safety of the party, they found
+a large amount of stores, belonging to traders,
+in the station, and were richly paid for their enterprise&mdash;but
+having been detained by the footsore,
+on their homeward march, and probably
+delayed by their plunder, they had only reached
+the Calumet, on the borders of Indiana, when
+they were overtaken by three hundred British<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>
+and Indians! They were forced to surrender,
+though not without a fight, for men of that
+stamp were not to be intimidated by numbers.
+They lost in the skirmish one fourth of their
+number: the survivors were carried away to
+Canada, whence Brady, the leader, escaped, and
+returned to Cahokia the same winter. The
+twelve remained prisoners until seventeen hundred
+and seventy-nine.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Against most men this reverse would have
+given the little fort security&mdash;at least, until the
+memory of the disaster had been obscured by
+time. But the pioneers of that period were not
+to be judged by ordinary rules. The very next
+spring (1778), another company was raised for
+the same object, and to wipe out what they considered
+the stain of a failure. It was led by a
+man named Maize, over the same ground, to the
+same place, and was completely successful.
+The fort was retaken, the trading-station plundered,
+the wounded men of Brady's party released,
+and, loaded with spoil, the little party
+marched back in triumph!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>There is an episode in the history of their
+homeward march, which illustrates another
+characteristic of the ranger&mdash;his ruthlessness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>
+The same spirit which led him to disregard
+physical obstacles, prevented his shrinking from
+even direful necessities. One of the prisoners
+whom they had liberated, became exhausted
+and unable to proceed. They could not carry
+him, and would not have him to die of starvation
+in the wilderness. They could not halt
+with him, lest the same fate should overtake
+them, which had defeated the enterprise of
+Brady. But one alternative remained, and
+though, to us, it appears cruel and inhuman, it
+was self-preservation to them, and mercy, in a
+strange guise, to the unhappy victim&mdash;<i>he was
+despatched by the hand of the leader</i>, and
+buried upon the prairie! His grave is somewhere
+near the head-waters of the Wabash, and
+has probably been visited by no man from that
+day to this!</p>
+
+<p>Mournful reflections cluster round such a
+narrative as this, and we are impelled to use
+the word &ldquo;atrocious&rdquo; when we speak of it. It
+was certainly a bloody deed, but the men of
+those days were not nurtured in drawing-rooms,
+and never slept upon down-beds. A state of
+war, moreover, begets many evils, and none
+of them are more to be deplored than the occasional
+occurrence of such terrible necessities.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The ranger-character, like the pioneer-nature
+of which it was a phase, was compounded of
+various and widely-differing elements. No one
+of his evil qualities was more prominent than
+several of the good; and, I am sorry to say,
+none of the good was more prominent than
+several of the bad. No class of men did more
+efficient service in defending the western settlements
+from the inroads of the Indians; and
+though it seems hard that the war should sometimes
+have been carried into the country of the
+untutored savage by civilized men, with a
+severity exceeding his own, we should remember
+that we can not justly estimate the motives
+and feelings of the ranger, without first having
+been exasperated by his sufferings and tried by
+his temptations.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span></p>
+<h2><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</h2>
+
+<h3>THE REGULATOR.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Thieves for their robbery have authority,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">When judges steal themselves.&rdquo;&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Measure for Measure</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>At the conclusion of peace between England
+and America, in eighteen hundred and fifteen,
+the Indians, who had been instigated and supported
+in their hostility by the British, suddenly
+found themselves deprived of their allies. If
+they now made war upon the Americans, they
+must do so upon their own responsibility, and,
+excepting the encouragement of a few traders
+and commanders of outposts, whose enmity
+survived the general pacification, without assistance
+from abroad. They, however, refused to
+lay down their arms, and hostilities were continued,
+though languidly, for some years longer.
+But the rangers, now disciplined by the experience
+of protracted warfare, and vastly increased<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>
+in numbers, had grown to be more than a match
+for them, so that not many years elapsed before
+the conclusion of a peace, which has lasted,
+with but occasional interruptions, to the present
+day.</p>
+
+<p>When danger no longer threatened the settlements,
+there was no further call for these irregular
+troops. The companies were disbanded,
+and those who had families, as a large proportion
+of them had, returned to their plantations,
+and resumed the pursuits of industry and peace.
+Those who had neither farms nor families, and
+were unfitted by their stirring life for regular
+effort, emigrated further west. Peace settled
+upon our borders, never, we hope, to be seriously
+broken.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But as soon as the pressure of outward danger
+was withdrawn, and our communities began to
+expand, the seeds of new evils were developed&mdash;seeds
+which had germinated unobserved,
+while all eyes were averted, and which now
+began to shoot up into a stately growth of vices
+and crimes. The pioneers soon learned that
+there was among them a class of unprincipled
+and abandoned men, whose only motive in
+emigrating was to avoid the restraints, or escape
+the penalties, of law, and to whom the freedom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span>
+of the wilderness was a license to commit every
+sort of depredation. The arm of the law was
+not yet strong enough to punish them.</p>
+
+<p>The territorial governments were too busy in
+completing their own organization, to give
+much attention to details: where states had
+been formed, the statute-book was yet a blank:
+few officers had been appointed, and even these
+were strangers to their duties and charge of responsibility.
+Between the military rule of the
+rangers&mdash;for they were for internal police as
+well as external defence&mdash;and the establishment
+of regular civil government, there was a sort
+of interregnum, during which there was neither
+law nor power to enforce it. The bands of
+villains who infested the country were the only
+organizations known; and, in not a few instances,
+these bands included the very magistrates
+whose duty it was to see that the laws
+were faithfully executed. Even when this was
+not the case, it was a fruitless effort to arrest a
+malefactor; indeed, it was very often worse than
+fruitless, for his confederates were always ready
+to testify in his favor: and the usual consequence
+of an attempt to punish, was the drawing
+down upon the head of the complainant or
+prosecutor, the enmity of a whole confederacy.
+Legal proceedings, had provision been made for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span>
+such, were worse than useless, for conviction
+was impossible: and the effort exasperated,
+while the failure encouraged, the outlaw spirit.</p>
+
+<p>An <i>alibi</i> was the usual defence, and to those
+times may be referred the general prejudice entertained
+among our people, even at the present
+day, against that species of testimony. A jury
+of western men will hardly credit an <i>alibi</i>,
+though established by unexceptionable witnesses;
+and the announcement that the accused
+depends upon that for his defence, will create
+a strong prejudice against him in advance. Injustice
+may sometimes be done in this way, but
+it is a feeling of which our people came honestly
+in possession. They established a habit, in early
+days, of never believing an <i>alibi</i>, because, at
+that time, nine <i>alibis</i> in ten were false, and
+habits of thought, like legal customs, cling to
+men long after their reason has ceased. It is
+right, too, that it should be so, on the principle
+that we should not suspend the use of the
+remedy until the disease be thoroughly conquered.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In a state of things, such as we have described,
+but one of two things could be done:
+the citizens must either abandon all effort to
+assert the supremacy of order, and give the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>
+country over to thieves and robbers, or they
+must invent some new and irregular way of
+forcing men to live honestly. They wisely
+chose the latter alternative. They consulted
+together, and the institution of <i>Regulators</i> was
+the result of their deliberations.</p>
+
+<p>These were small bodies of men, chosen by
+the people, or voluntarily assuming the duty&mdash;men
+upon whom the citizens could depend for
+both discretion and resolution. Their duties
+may be explained in a few words: to ferret out
+and punish criminals, to drive out &ldquo;suspicious
+characters,&rdquo; and exercise a general supervision
+over the interests and police of the settlements,
+from which they were chosen. Their statute-book
+was the &ldquo;code of Judge Lynch&rdquo;&mdash;their
+order of trial was similar to that of a &ldquo;drum-head
+court-martial&rdquo;&mdash;the principles of their
+punishment was certainty, rapidity, and severity.
+They were judges, juries, witnesses, and
+executioners.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>They bound themselves by a regular compact
+(usually verbal, but sometimes in writing<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>), to
+the people and to each other, to rid the community
+of all thieves, robbers, plunderers, and
+villains of every description. They scoured the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>
+country in all directions and in all seasons, and
+by the swiftness of their movements, and the
+certainty of their vengeance, rivalled their predecessors,
+the rangers. When a depredation
+had been committed, it was marvellous with
+what rapidity every regulator knew it; even
+the telegraph of modern days performs no
+greater wonders: and it frequently happened,
+that the first the quiet citizens heard of a theft,
+or a robbery, was the news of its punishment!
+Their acts may sometimes have been high-handed
+and unjustifiable, but on the whole&mdash;and
+it is only in such a view that social institutions
+are to be estimated&mdash;they were the preservers
+of the communities for whom they acted.
+In time, it is true, they degenerated, and sometimes
+the corps fell into the hands of the very
+men they were organized to punish.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Every social organization is liable to misdirection,
+and this, among others, has been perverted
+to the furtherance of selfish and unprincipled
+purposes; for, like prejudices and habits
+of thought, organized institutions frequently
+survive the necessities which call them into
+existence. Abuses grow up under all systems;
+and, perhaps, the worst abuse of all, is a measure
+or expedient, good though temporary, re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span>tained
+after the passing away of the time for
+which it was adopted.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But having, in the article &ldquo;Pioneer,&rdquo; sufficiently
+elaborated the <i>character</i>&mdash;for the regulator
+was of course a pioneer also&mdash;we can best
+illustrate the mode of his action by a narrative
+of facts. From the hundreds of well-authenticated
+stories which might be collected, I have
+chosen the two following, because they distinguish
+the successive stages or periods of the
+system. The first relates to the time when a
+band of regulators was the only reliable legal
+power, and when, consequently, the vigilance
+of the citizens kept it comparatively pure. The
+second indicates a later period, when the people
+no longer felt insecure, and there was in fact no
+necessity for the system; and when, not having
+been disused, it could not but be abused. We
+derive both from an old citizen of the country,
+who was an actor in each. One of them, the
+first, has already been in print, but owing to
+circumstances to which it is needless to advert,
+it was thought better to confine the narrative to
+facts already generally known. These circumstances
+are no longer operative, and I am now
+at liberty to publish entire the story of &ldquo;The
+First Grave<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<h4>THE FIRST GRAVE.</h4>
+
+<p>At the commencement of the war of eighteen
+hundred and twelve, between Great Britain and
+the United States, there lived, in the western
+part of Virginia, three families, named, respectively,
+Stone, Cutler, and Roberts. They were
+all respectable people, of more than ordinary
+wealth; having succeeded, by an early emigration
+and judicious selection of lands, in rebuilding
+fortunes which had been somewhat impaired
+east of the Blue Ridge. Between the first and
+second there was a relationship, cemented by
+several matrimonial alliances, and the standing
+of both had been elevated by this union of fortunes.
+In each of these two, there were six or
+seven children&mdash;the most of them boys&mdash;but
+Captain Roberts, the head of the third, had but
+one child, a daughter, who, in the year named,
+was approaching womanhood.</p>
+
+<p>She is said to have been beautiful: and, from
+the extravagant admiration of those who saw
+her only when time and suffering must have
+obscured her attractions, there can be little
+doubt that she was so. What her character
+was, we can only conjecture from the tenor of
+our story: though we have reason to suspect that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>
+she was passionate, impulsive, and somewhat
+vain of her personal appearance.</p>
+
+<p>At the opening of hostilities between the two
+countries, she was wooed by two suitors, young
+Stone, the eldest of the sons of that family, and
+Abram Cutler, who was two or three years his
+senior. Both had recently returned home, after
+a protracted absence of several years, beyond
+the mountains, whither they had been sent by
+their ambitious parents, &ldquo;to attend college and
+see the world.&rdquo; Stone was a quiet, modest, unassuming
+young man, rather handsome, but too
+pale and thin to be decidedly so. Having made
+the most of his opportunities at &ldquo;William and
+Mary,&rdquo; he had come home well-educated (for
+that day and country) and polished by intercourse
+with good society.</p>
+
+<p>His cousin, Abram Cutler, was his opposite
+in almost everything. He had been wild, reckless,
+and violent, at college, almost entirely
+giving up his studies, after the first term, and
+always found in evil company. His manners
+were as much vitiated as his morals, for he was
+exceedingly rough, boisterous, and unpolished:
+so much so, indeed, as to approach that limit
+beyond which wealth will not make society
+tolerant. But his freedom of manner bore, to
+most observers, the appearance of generous<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>
+heartiness, and he soon gained the good will of
+the neighborhood by the careless prodigality
+of his life. He was tall, elegantly formed, and
+quite well-looking; and though he is said to
+have borne, a few years later, a sinister and dishonest
+look, it is probable that most of this was
+attributable to the preconceived notions of those
+who thus judged him.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Both these young men were, as we have said,
+suitors for the hand of Margaret Roberts, and
+it is possible that the vain satisfaction of having
+at her feet the two most attractive young men
+in the country, led her to coquet with them both,
+but decidedly to prefer neither. It is almost
+certain, that at the period indicated, she was
+sufficiently well-pleased with either to have become
+his wife, had the other been away. If
+she <i>loved</i> either, however, it was Stone, for she
+was a little timid, and Cutler sometimes frightened
+her with his violence: but the preference,
+if it existed at all, was not sufficiently strong to
+induce a choice.</p>
+
+<p>About this time, the elder Cutler died, and it
+became necessary for Abram, as executor of a
+large estate, to cross the mountains into the Old
+Dominion, and arrange its complicated affairs.
+It was not without misgiving that he went away,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span>
+but his duties were imperative, and his necessities,
+produced by his spendthrift habits, were
+pressing. He trusted to a more than usually
+favorable interview with Margaret, and full of
+sanguine hopes, departed on his journey.</p>
+
+<p>Whether Stone entertained the idea of taking
+an unfair advantage of his rival's absence, we
+can not say, but he straightway became more
+assiduous in his attentions to Margaret. He
+was also decidedly favored by Captain Roberts
+and his wife, both of whom had been alarmed
+by the violent character of Cutler. Time soon
+began to obscure the recollection of the absent
+suitor, and Stone's delicate and considerate
+gallantry rapidly gained ground in Margaret's
+affections. It was just one month after Cutler's
+departure that his triumph was complete; she
+consented to be his wife so soon as the minister
+who travelled on that circuit should enter the
+neighborhood. But the good man had set out
+on his circuit only the day before the consent
+was given, and it would probably be at least a
+month before his return. In the meantime,
+Cutler might recross the mountains, and Stone
+had seen quite enough of Margaret's capriciousness
+to tremble for the safety of his conquest,
+should that event occur before it was thoroughly
+secured.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>This was embarrassing: but when a man is
+in earnest, expedients are never wanting.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>There was an old gentleman living a few
+miles from the valley, who had once held the
+commission of a justice of the peace, and
+though he had not exercised his functions, or
+even claimed his dignity, for several years, Stone
+was advised that he retained his official power
+&ldquo;until his successor was appointed and qualified,&rdquo;
+and that, consequently, any official act of
+his would be legal and valid. He was advised,
+moreover, and truly, that even if the person performing
+the ceremony were not a magistrate, a
+marriage would be lawful and binding upon the
+simple &ldquo;consent&rdquo; of the parties, properly published
+and declared.</p>
+
+<p>Full-freighted with the happy news, he posted
+away to Captain Roberts, and without difficulty
+obtained his sanction. He then went to Margaret,
+and, with the assistance of her mother,
+who stood in much dread of Cutler's violence,
+succeeded in persuading her to consent. Without
+delay, the <i>cidevant</i> magistrate was called in,
+the ceremony was performed, and Margaret was
+Stone's wife!</p>
+
+<p>The very day after this event, Cutler returned!
+What were his thoughts no one knew, for<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>
+he spoke to none upon the subject. He went,
+however, to see &ldquo;the bride,&rdquo; and, in the presence
+of others, bantered her pleasantly upon her new
+estate, upon his own pretensions, and upon the
+haste with which the ceremony had been performed.
+He started away with the rest of the
+company present; but, on reaching the door&mdash;it
+was afterward remembered&mdash;pretended to
+have forgotten something, and ran back into the
+room where they had left Margaret alone. Here
+he remained full ten minutes, and when he came
+out walked thoughtfully apart and disappeared.
+What he said to Margaret no one knew; but,
+that evening, when they were alone, she asked
+anxiously of her husband, &ldquo;whether he was
+quite sure that their marriage had been legal?&rdquo;
+Stone reassured her, and nothing more was said
+upon the subject.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Cutler had brought with him, over the mountains,
+the proclamation of the governor of Virginia,
+announcing the declaration of war, and
+calling upon the state for its quota of troops to
+repel invasion. He manifested a warm interest
+in the enrolling and equipment of volunteers,
+and, in order to attest his sincerity, placed his
+own name first upon the roll. A day or two
+afterward, on meeting Stone, in the presence of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>
+several others who had enrolled themselves, he
+laughingly observed, that the new bridegroom
+&ldquo;was probably too comfortable at home, to desire
+any experience in campaigning:&rdquo; and, turning
+away, he left the company laughing at
+Stone's expense.</p>
+
+<p>This touched the young man's pride&mdash;probably
+the more closely, because he was conscious
+that the insinuation was not wholly void of truth&mdash;and,
+without a moment's hesitation, he called
+Cutler back, took the paper, and enrolled his
+name. Cutler laughed again, said <i>he</i> would
+not have done so, had he been in Stone's circumstances,
+and, after some further conversation,
+walked away in the direction of Stone's
+residence. Whether he actually entered the
+house is not known; but when the young husband
+returned home, a few hours afterward, his
+wife's first words indicated that she knew of his
+enrolment.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Is it possible,&rdquo; said she, with some asperity,
+&ldquo;that you already care so little for me as to enrol
+yourself for an absence of six months?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Stone would much have preferred to break
+the news to her himself, for he had some foreboding
+as to the view she might take of his
+conduct. He had scarcely been married a week,
+and he was conscious that a severe construction<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>
+of the act of enrolment, when there was notoriously
+not the least necessity for it, might
+lead to inferences, than which, nothing could
+be more false. If he had said, at once, that he
+had been taunted by his old rival, and written
+his name under the influence of pride, all would
+have been well, for his wife would then have
+understood, though she might not have approved
+his action. But this confession he was
+ashamed to make, and, by withholding it, laid
+the foundation for his own and his wife's destruction.
+He at once acknowledged the fact,
+disclaiming, however, the indifference to her,
+which she inferred, and placing the act upon
+higher ground:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The danger of the country,&rdquo; he said, &ldquo;was
+very imminent, and it became every good citizen
+to do all he could for its defence. He had no
+idea that the militia would be called far from
+home, or detained for a very long time; but, in
+any event, he felt that men were bound, in such
+circumstances, to cast aside personal considerations,
+and contribute, each his share, to the
+common defence.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>His wife gazed incredulously at him while he
+talked this high patriotism: and well she might,
+for he did not speak as one moved by such feelings.
+The consciousness of deceit, of conceal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>ment,
+and of childish rashness, rendered his
+manner hesitating and embarrassed. Margaret
+observed all this, for her jealousy was aroused
+and her suspicions sharpened; she made no
+reply, however, but turned away, with a toss of
+the head, and busied herself, quite fiercely, with
+her household cares. From that moment, until
+the day of his departure, she stubbornly avoided
+the subject, listening, but refusing to reply,
+when her husband attempted to introduce it.
+When Cutler came&mdash;rather unnecessarily, as
+Stone thought&mdash;to consult him about the organization
+of a spy-company, to which both
+were attached, she paid no attention to their
+conversation, but walked away down a road
+over which she knew Cutler must pass on his
+return homeward. Whether this was by appointment
+with him is not known: probably,
+however, it was her own motion.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>We need not stay to detail all that took place
+between her and her former suitor, when, as she
+had expected, they met in a wood some hundreds
+of yards from her home; its result will
+sufficiently appear in the sequel. One circumstance,
+however, we must not omit. She recurred
+to a conversation which had passed sometime
+before, in relation to the legality of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>
+marriage; and though Cutler gave no positive
+opinion, his parting advice was nearly in the
+following words:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If you think, from your three weeks' experience,
+that Stone cares enough for you to make
+it prudent, I would advise you to have the marriage
+ceremony performed by Parson Bowen,
+immediately upon his return; and if you care
+enough for him to wish to retain him, you had
+better have it performed <i>before he goes away</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>With these words, and without awaiting an
+answer, he passed on, leaving her alone in the
+road. When she returned home, she did not
+mention the subject; and though Parson Bowen
+returned to the neighborhood quite a week
+before Stone went away, she never suggested a
+repetition of the ceremony. When Stone manifested
+some anxiety on the subject, she turned
+suddenly upon him and demanded&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You do not think our marriage legal, then?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He assured her that he only made the suggestion
+for her satisfaction, entertaining no
+doubt, himself, that they were regularly and
+lawfully married.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am content to remain as I am,&rdquo; she said,
+curtly, and the parson was not summoned.</p>
+
+<p>Five days afterward the troops took up the
+line of march for the frontier. Hull had not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>
+yet surrendered Michigan; but Proctor had so
+stirred up the Indians (who, until then, had been
+quiet since the battle of Tippecanoe), as to cut
+off all communication with the advanced settlements,
+and even to threaten the latter with fire
+and slaughter. Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, were
+then overrun by British and Indians; for Hopkins
+had not yet commenced his march from
+Kentucky, and Congress was still debating measures
+for protection. Hull's surrender took place
+on the sixteenth of August, eighteen hundred
+and twelve, and in the following month, General
+Harrison, having been appointed to the chief
+command in the northwest, proceeded to adopt
+vigorous measures for the defence of the country.
+It was to one of the regiments organized by
+him, that our friends from Virginia found themselves
+attached. They had raised a company
+of spies, and in this both Stone and Cutler held
+commissions.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>They marched with the regiment, or rather in
+advance of it, for several weeks. By that time,
+they had penetrated many miles beyond the
+settlements, and Harrison began to feel anxious
+to ascertain the position of General Hopkins,
+and open communications with him. For this
+service Cutler volunteered, and was imme<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>diately
+selected by the general. On the following
+morning, he set out with five men to seek
+the Kentuckians. He found them without difficulty
+and delivered his despatches; but from
+that day he was not seen, either in the camp of
+Hopkins or in that of Harrison! It was supposed
+that he had started on his return, and
+been taken or killed by the Indians, parties of
+whom were prowling about between the lines
+of the two columns.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Stone remained with his company two or
+three months longer, when, the enterprise of
+Hopkins having failed, and operations being
+suspended for the time, it was thought inexpedient
+to retain them for the brief period
+which remained of their term of enlistment,
+and they were discharged. Stone returned
+home, and, full of anticipations, the growth of a
+long absence, hastened at once to his own house.
+The door was closed, no smoke issued from the
+chimney, there was no one there! After calling
+in vain for a long time, he ran away to her
+father's, endeavoring to feel certain that he would
+find her there. But the old man received him
+with a mournful shake of the head. Margaret
+had been gone more than a month, no one knew
+whither or with whom!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>A report had been in circulation that Cutler
+was seen in the neighborhood, a few days before
+her disappearance; but no news having been
+received of his absence from the army, it had
+not been generally credited. But now, it was
+quite clear!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The old man invited Stone to enter, but he
+declined. Sitting down on a log, he covered his
+face with his hands, for a few moments, and
+seemed buried in grief. It did not last long,
+however: he rose almost immediately, and going
+a little aside, calmly loaded his rifle. Without
+noticing the old man, who stood gazing at him
+in wonder, he turned away, and, with his eyes
+fixed upon the ground, took the path toward his
+own house. He was seen to break the door and
+enter, but he remained within only a few
+minutes. On coming out, he threw his rifle
+over his shoulder, and walked away through the
+forest. Half an hour afterward, smoke was
+seen issuing from the roof of the house in several
+places, and on repairing thither, the neighbors
+found the whole place in a bright flame! It
+was of no use to attempt to save it or any of its
+contents. An hour afterward, it was a heap of
+smouldering ruins, and its owner had disappeared
+from the country!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span></p>
+
+<hr style="width: 25%;" />
+
+<p>Seven years passed away.</p>
+
+<p>The war was over: the Indians had been
+driven to the north and west, and the tide of
+emigration had again set toward the Mississippi.
+The northwestern territory&mdash;especially
+that part of it which is now included within the
+limits of Illinois and Indiana&mdash;was rapidly filling
+up with people from the south and east. The
+advanced settlements had reached the site of
+Springfield, in the &ldquo;Sangamon country,&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> now
+the capital of Illinois, and a few farms were
+opened in the north of Madison county&mdash;now
+Morgan and Scott. The beautiful valley, most
+inaptly called, of the <i>Mauvaisterre</i>, was then
+an unbroken wilderness.</p>
+
+<p>The grass was growing as high as the head
+of a tall man, where now well-built streets and
+public squares are traversed by hurrying crowds.
+Groves which have since become classic were
+then impenetrable thickets; and the only guides
+the emigrant found, through forest and prairie,
+were the points of the compass, and the courses<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>
+of streams. But in the years eighteen hundred
+and seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen, the western
+slope of the Sangamon country began
+rapidly to improve. Reports had gone abroad
+of &ldquo;the fertility of its soil, the beauty of its
+surface, its genial climate, and its many advantages
+of position&rdquo;&mdash;and there is certainly
+no country which more richly deserves these
+praises.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But the first emigrant who made his appearance
+here, in the autumn of eighteen hundred
+and nineteen, was probably moved by other
+considerations. It was none other than Abram
+Cutler! And his family consisted of a wife and
+three young children! That wife was Margaret
+Roberts&mdash;or rather Margaret Stone; for, notwithstanding
+the representations of Cutler, her
+union with Stone had been perfectly legal. By
+what arts he had succeeded in inducing her to
+elope with him, we can only judge from his
+previous proceedings; but this is certain, that
+resentment toward Stone, who, she probably believed,
+had unfairly trapped her, was as likely
+to move her impulsive and unstable spirit, as
+any other motive. Add to this, the wound
+given to her vanity by the sudden departure of
+her young husband upon a long campaign, with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>
+the acuteness given to this feeling by the arts
+of Cutler, and we shall not be at a loss to explain
+her action.</p>
+
+<p>Whether she had not bitterly repented her
+criminal haste, we know not; but that hardship
+and suffering of some sort had preyed upon her
+spirit, was evident in her appearance. Her
+beauty was much faded; she had grown pale
+and thin; and though she was scarcely yet in
+the prime of womanhood, her step was heavy
+and spiritless. She was not happy, of course,
+but her misery was not only negative: the
+gnawings of remorse were but too positive and
+real!</p>
+
+<p>Cutler was changed almost as much as his
+victim. The lapse of seven years had added a
+score to his apparent age; and, if we are to
+credit the representations of persons who were
+probably looking for signs of vice, the advance
+of time had brought out, in well-marked lineaments,
+upon his countenance, the evil traits of
+his character. His cheeks were sunken, his
+features attenuated, and his figure exceedingly
+spare, but he still exhibited marks of great personal
+strength and activity. His glance, always
+of doubtful meaning, was now unsettled and
+furtive; and I have heard one of the actors in
+this history assert, that it had a scared, appre<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>hensive
+expression, as if he were in constant
+expectation of meeting a dangerous enemy.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is this at all improbable, for during the
+seven years which had elapsed since the consummation
+of his design upon Margaret, he had
+emigrated no less than three times&mdash;frightened
+away, at each removal, by some intimation, or
+suspicion, that the avenger was on his track!
+No wonder that his look was wary, and his face
+pale and haggard!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>On this, his fourth migration, he had crossed
+the prairies from the waters of the Wabash;
+and having placed the wide expanse of waving
+plain between him and the settlements, he at
+length considered himself safe from pursuit.
+Passing by the little trading-station, where
+Springfield now stands, he traversed the beautiful
+country lying between that and the Mauvaisterre.
+But the alternation of stately timber
+and lovely prairie had no charms for him: he
+sought not beauty or fertility, but seclusion;
+for his pilgrimage had become wearisome, and
+his step was growing heavy. Remorse was at
+his heart, and fear&mdash;the appealing face of his
+patient victim kept his crime in continual remembrance&mdash;and
+he knew, that like a blood-hound,
+his enemy was following behind. It<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>
+was a weary load! No wonder that his cheeks
+were thin or his eyes wild!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>He passed on till he came to a quiet, secluded
+spot, where he thought himself not likely soon
+to be disturbed by emigration. It was sixteen
+miles west of the place where Jacksonville has
+since been built, upon the banks of the lower
+Mauvaisterre, seven miles from the Illinois river.
+The place was long known as Cutler's grove,
+but a town grew up around it, and has been
+christened by the sounding name of Exeter.
+Those who visit it now, and have heard the
+story of Cutler, will commend his judgment in
+selecting it for retirement; for, town as it is, a
+more secluded, dreamy little place is nowhere
+to be found. It would seem that the passage
+of a carriage through its <i>street</i>&mdash;for it has but
+one&mdash;would be an event in its history; and the
+only things which redeem it, in the fancy, from
+the category of visionary existences, are a blacksmith's
+shop and a mill!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But Cutler's trail was seen upon the prairies,
+and the course of many an emigrant was determined
+by the direction taken by his predecessor.
+It was not long before others came to
+&ldquo;settle&rdquo; in the neighborhood. Emigration was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>
+gradually encroaching, also, from the south;
+families began to take possession of the river
+&ldquo;bottoms;&rdquo; the smoke from frontier cabins
+ascended in almost every point of timber; and
+by the summer of eighteen hundred and twenty,
+Cutler found himself as far from the frontier as
+ever! But he was resolved not to move again:
+a dogged spirit&mdash;half weariness, half despair&mdash;had
+taken possession of him. &ldquo;I have moved
+often enough,&rdquo; he said to Margaret, &ldquo;and here
+I am determined to remain, come what may!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Actuated by such feelings&mdash;goaded by a fear
+which he could not conquer, and yet was resolute
+not to indulge&mdash;the lurking devil in his
+nature could not long remain dormant. Nothing
+develops evil tendencies so rapidly as the consciousness
+of wrong and the fear of punishment.
+His life soon became reckless and abandoned,
+and the first sign of his degradation was his
+neglect of his household. For days together
+Margaret saw nothing of him; his only companions
+were the worthless and outlawed; and,
+when intoxicating liquors could be procured,
+which was, fortunately, not often, he indulged
+in fearful excesses.</p>
+
+<p>Of evil company, there was, unhappily, but
+too much; for the settlement was cursed with a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>
+band of desperadoes, exiles from organized society,
+who had sought the frontier to obtain
+impunity for their misdeeds. The leaders of
+this band were three brothers, whom no law
+could control, no obligation restrain; and with
+these men Cutler soon formed a close and suspicious
+intimacy. The eyes of the citizens had
+been for some time directed toward the companions,
+by circumstances attending various
+depredations; and, though unknown to themselves,
+they were constantly watched by many
+of their neighbors. It is uncertain whether
+Cutler was acquainted with the character of the
+men when his association with them first commenced,
+for in none of the places where he had
+lived, had he hitherto been suspected of crime.
+It is most probable that he sought their company
+because they were &ldquo;dissipated&rdquo; like himself;
+and that, in the inception of their acquaintance,
+there was no other bond between them than the
+habit of intoxication.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Had we time and space, we would fain pause
+here to reflect upon the position and feelings
+of the false wife&mdash;deserted, in her turn, by him
+for whom she had given up truth and honor&mdash;alone
+in the wilderness with her children, whose
+birth she could not but regret, and harassed by<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>
+thoughts which could not but be painfully self-condemning.
+But we must hasten on.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In the autumn of eighteen hundred and
+twenty, information was brought to the settlement,
+that a store at Springfield (as it is now
+called), had been entered and robbed&mdash;that the
+leaders of the desperadoes above alluded to,
+were suspected&mdash;and that the goods stolen were
+believed to be concealed in Cutler's grove,
+where they lived. Warrants were issued, and
+the three were arrested; but the magistrate
+before whom they were taken for examination,
+was a timid and ignorant man; and by the interference
+of Cutler, who assumed to be a lawyer,
+they were examined separately, and allowed to
+testify, each for the other! An officer who
+knew no more than to permit this, of course
+could do no less than discharge them. The
+arrest and examination, however, crude and informal
+as they were, confirmed the suspicions
+of the citizens, and directed them, more vehemently
+than ever, against Cutler, as well as his
+friends. It satisfied them, moreover, that they
+would never be able to reach these men through
+the ordinary forms of law, and strengthened the
+counsels of those who had already suggested
+the organization of a company of regulators.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>While these things were fermenting in the
+minds of the people, the desperadoes, encouraged
+by their success, and rendered bold by impunity,
+committed their depredations more
+frequently and openly than ever. It was remarked,
+too, that Cutler, having committed
+himself at the examination of friends, was now
+more constantly and avowedly their associate;
+and, since he was not a man to play a second
+part, that they deferred to him on all occasions,
+never moving without him, and treating him at
+all times as an acknowledged leader. The
+people observed, moreover, that from being, like
+his neighbors, a small farmer of limited possessions,
+he rose rapidly to what, on the frontier,
+was considered affluence. He soon ceased to
+labor on his lands, and set up a very considerable
+&ldquo;store,&rdquo; importing his goods from Saint
+Louis, and, by means of the whiskey he sold,
+collecting all the idle and vicious of the settlement
+constantly about him. His &ldquo;store&rdquo; was
+in exceedingly bad repute, and the scanty reputation
+which he had retained after the public
+part he had taken before the magistrate, was
+speedily lost.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Things were in this state in the spring of
+eighteen hundred and twenty-one, when an old<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>
+gentleman of respectable appearance, who had
+emigrated to this country by water, having been
+pleased with the land in the neighborhood of
+the place where the town of Naples now stands,
+landed his family and effects, and settled upon
+the &ldquo;bottom.&rdquo; It was soon rumored in the
+settlement, that he had brought with him a large
+amount of money; and it was also remarked
+that Cutler and his three companions were constantly
+with him, either at the &ldquo;Grove&rdquo; or on
+the &ldquo;bottom.&rdquo; Whether the rumor was the
+cause of their attention, or their assiduity the
+foundation of the report, the reader must determine
+for himself.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>One evening in May, after a visit to this man,
+where Cutler had been alone, he came home in
+great haste, and suddenly announced to Margaret
+his intention to &ldquo;sell out,&rdquo; and move further
+westward! His unhappy victim supposed
+she knew but too well the meaning of this new
+movement: she asked no questions, but, with
+a sigh of weariness, assented. On the following
+day, he commenced hastily disposing of
+his &ldquo;store,&rdquo; his stock, his cabin&mdash;everything, in
+fact, save a few farming utensils, his furniture,
+and a pair of horses. It was observed&mdash;for
+there were many eyes upon him&mdash;that he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>
+never ventured out after twilight, and, even in
+the broad sunshine, would not travel far, alone
+or unarmed. In such haste did he seem, that
+he sold many of his goods at, what his friends
+considered, a ruinous sacrifice. The fame of
+great bargains brought many people to his
+counter, so that, within ten days, his arrangements
+were complete; and, much to the satisfaction
+of his neighbors, he set out toward the
+river.</p>
+
+<p>Two of his associates accompanied him on his
+journey&mdash;a precaution for which he would give
+no reason, except that he wished to converse
+with them on the way. He crossed the Illinois
+near the mouth of the Mauvaisterre, and, turning
+northward, in the evening reached a cabin
+on the banks of M'Kee's creek, not more than
+ten miles from his late residence. This house
+had been abandoned by its former occupant, on
+account of the forays of the Indians; but was
+now partially refitted, as for a temporary abode.
+Here, the people about &ldquo;the grove&rdquo; were surprised
+to learn, a few days after Cutler's departure,
+that he had halted with the apparent
+intention to remain, at least for some time.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Their surprise was dissipated, however, within
+a very few weeks. The old gentleman,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>
+spoken of above, had left home upon a visit to
+Saint Louis; and during his absence, his house
+had been entered, and robbed of a chest containing
+a large amount of money&mdash;while the
+family were intimidated by the threats of men
+disguised as savages.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>This was the culmination of villany. The
+settlement was now thoroughly aroused; and,
+when one of these little communities was once
+in earnest, it might safely be predicted that
+<i>something</i> would be <i>done!</i></p>
+
+<p>The first step was to call &ldquo;a meeting of the
+friends of law and order;&rdquo; but no proclamation
+was issued, no handbills were circulated, no
+notices posted: not the least noise was made
+about the matter, lest those against whom it
+was to act, might hear of and prepare for it.
+They came together quietly but speedily&mdash;each
+man, as he heard of the appointment,
+going forthwith to his neighbor with the news.
+They assembled at a central point, where none
+need be late in coming, and immediately proceeded
+to business. The meeting was not altogether
+a formal one&mdash;for purposes prescribed
+by law&mdash;but it was a characteristic of those
+men, to do everything &ldquo;decently and in
+order&rdquo;&mdash;to give all their proceedings the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span>
+sanction and solemnity of mature deliberation.
+They organized the assemblage regularly&mdash;calling
+one of the oldest and most respectable
+of their number &ldquo;to the chair&rdquo; (which, on this
+occasion, happened to be the root of a large
+oak), and appointing a younger man secretary
+(though they gave him no desk on which to
+write). There was no man there who did not
+fully understand what had brought them together;
+but one who lived in the &ldquo;bottom,&rdquo;
+and had been the mover of the organization,
+was still called upon to &ldquo;explain the object of
+the meeting.&rdquo; This he did in a few pointed
+sentences, concluding with these significant
+words: &ldquo;My friends, it is time that these rascals
+were punished, and it is our duty to punish
+them.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He sat down, and a silence of some moments
+ensued, when another arose, and, without any
+preliminary remarks, moved that &ldquo;a company
+of regulators be now organized, and that they
+be charged with the duty of <i>seeing the law administered</i>.&rdquo;
+The motion was seconded by
+half a dozen voices&mdash;the question was put in
+due form by the chairman, and decided unanimously
+in the affirmative.</p>
+
+<p>A piece of paper was produced, and the presiding
+officer called on the meeting for volun<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>teers.
+Ten young men stepped forward, and
+gave their names as rapidly as the secretary
+could enrol them. In less than five minutes,
+the company was complete&mdash;the chairman and
+four of the meeting, as a committee, were directed
+to retire with the volunteers, and see
+that they were fully organized&mdash;and the meeting
+adjourned. All, except the volunteers and
+the committee, went directly home&mdash;satisfied
+that the matter needed no further attention.
+Those who remained entered the house and
+proceeded to organize in the usual manner.</p>
+
+<p>A &ldquo;compact&rdquo; was drawn up, by the terms
+of which the regulators bound themselves to
+each other, and to their neighbors, to ferret out
+and punish the perpetrators of the offences,
+which had recently disturbed the peace of the
+settlement, and to rid the country of such villains
+as were obnoxious to the friends of law
+and order. This was then signed by the volunteers
+as principals, and by the committee,
+as witnesses; and was placed in the hands of
+the chairman of the meeting for safekeeping.
+It is said to be still in existence, though I have
+never seen it, and do not know where it is to be
+found.</p>
+
+<p>When this arrangement was completed, the
+committee retired, and the company repaired<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>
+to the woods, to choose a leader. They were
+not long in selecting a certain Major B&mdash;&mdash;,
+who had, for some weeks, made himself conspicuous,
+by his loud denunciations of Cutler
+and his associates, and his zealous advocacy of
+&ldquo;strong measures.&rdquo; They had&mdash;one or two
+of them, at least&mdash;some misgivings about this
+appointment; for the major was inclined to be
+a blusterer, and the courage of these men was
+eminently silent. But after a few minutes' discussion,
+the matter was decided, and the leader
+was chosen without opposition. They at once
+dispersed, to make arrangements for the performance
+of their duties&mdash;having first appointed
+an hour and a place of meeting. They were
+to assemble at sunset on the same day, at the
+point where the state road now crosses the
+&ldquo;bluff;&rdquo; and were to proceed thence, without
+delay, to Cutler's house on M'Kee's creek, a
+distance of little more than eight miles. There
+they were to search for the stolen property, and
+whether they found it or not, were resolved to
+notify Cutler to leave the country. But under
+no circumstances were they to take his life, unless
+it became necessary in self-defence.</p>
+
+
+<p>The hour came, and with it, to the bluff,
+came all the regulators&mdash;<i>save one</i>. But that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>
+one was a very important personage&mdash;none
+other, indeed, than the redoubtable major,
+who was to head the party. The nine were
+there a considerable time before sunset, and
+waited patiently for their captain's arrival;
+though, already, there were whisperings from
+those who had been doubtful of him in the
+outset, that he would not keep his appointment.
+And these were right&mdash;for, though they waited
+long beyond the time, the absentee did not
+make his appearance. It was afterward ascertained
+that he excused himself upon the plea
+of sudden illness; but he was very well again
+on the following day, and his excuse was not
+received. The ridicule growing out of the
+affair, and his reduction from the rank of major
+to that of captain, in derision, finally drove him
+in disgrace from the country.</p>
+
+<p>His defection left the little company without
+a leader; and though they were determined
+not to give up the enterprise, an obstacle to its
+prosecution arose, in the fact that no one was
+willing to replace the absent captain. Each
+was anxious to play the part of a private, and
+all had come prepared to discharge the duties
+of the expedition, to the utmost of their ability.
+But they were all young men, and no one felt
+competent to take the responsibility of command.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>They were standing in a group, consulting
+eagerly about their course, and, as one of them
+afterward said, &ldquo;nearly at their wits' end,&rdquo;
+when the circle was suddenly entered by another.
+He had come upon them so noiselessly,
+and they had been so much absorbed in their
+council, that no one saw him until he stood in
+their midst. Several of them, however, at once
+recognised him, as a hunter who had recently
+appeared in the southern part of the county,
+and had lived a singularly solitary life. No
+one knew his name, but, from his mode of
+life, he was already known among those who
+had heard of him, as &ldquo;the wild hunter.&rdquo;
+He was but little above the medium height,
+and rather slender in figure; but he was well
+and firmly built, and immediately impressed
+them with the idea of great hardihood and
+activity. His face, though bronzed by exposure,
+was still handsome and expressive; but
+there was a certain wildness in the eye, and a
+compression about the mouth, which gave it
+the expression of fierceness, as well as resolution.
+He was dressed in a hunting-shirt and
+&ldquo;leggings&rdquo; of deer-skin, fringed or &ldquo;fingered&rdquo;
+on the edges; and his head and feet were covered,
+the one by a cap of panther's hide, and
+the others by moccasins of dressed buckskin.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>
+At his belt hung a long knife, and in his hand
+he carried a heavy &ldquo;Kentucky rifle.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>As he entered the circle, he dropped the
+breech of the latter to the ground, and, leaning
+calmly upon the muzzle, quietly surveyed the
+countenances of the group, in profound silence.
+The regulators were too much surprised to
+speak while this was going on; and the stranger
+seemed to be in no haste to open the conversation.
+When he had finished his scrutiny,
+however, he stepped back a pace or two, and
+resuming his easy attitude, addressed them:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You must pardon me, my friends,&rdquo; he
+commenced, &ldquo;when I tell you, that I have
+overheard all you have said in the last half
+hour. I did not remain in that thicket, however,
+for the purpose of eaves-dropping; but
+having accidentally heard one of you mention
+a name, the sound of which touches a chord
+whose vibrations you can not understand, I
+remained, almost against my own will, to learn
+more. I thus became acquainted with the
+object of your meeting, and the dilemma in
+which you find yourselves placed by the absence
+of your leader. Now, I have but little
+interest in this settlement, and none in the preservation
+of peace, or the vindication of law,
+anywhere: but I have been seeking this man,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>
+Cutler, of whom you spoke, nearly nine years.
+I supposed, a few days ago, that I had at last
+found him; but on going to his house, I learned
+that he had once more emigrated toward the
+west. You seem to know where he is to be
+found, and are without a leader: I wish to find
+him, and, if you will accept my services, will
+fill the place of your absent captain!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He turned away as he finished, allowing
+them an opportunity for consultation among
+themselves. The question was soon decided:
+they called him back&mdash;announced their willingness
+to accept him as their leader&mdash;and
+asked his name.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My name is <i>Stone</i>,&rdquo; he replied.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>It was after nightfall when the little party
+set out from the bluff. They had, then, more
+than eight miles to travel, over a country entirely
+destitute of roads, and cut up by numberless
+sloughs and ponds. They had, moreover,
+a considerable river to cross, and, after
+that, several miles of their way lay through a
+dense and pathless forest. But they were not
+the men to shrink from difficulties, at any time;
+and now they were carried along even more
+resolutely, by the stern, unwavering spirit of
+their new leader. Having once learned the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>
+direction, Stone put himself at the head of the
+party, and strode forward, almost &ldquo;as the bird
+flies,&rdquo; directly toward the point indicated, regardless
+of slough, and swamp, and thicket.
+He moved rapidly, too&mdash;so rapidly, indeed,
+as to tax the powers of some of his followers
+almost too severely. Notwithstanding this
+swiftness, however, they could not avoid a
+long delay at the river; and it was consequently
+near midnight, when, having at last
+accomplished a crossing, they reached the
+bank of M'Kee's creek, and turned up toward
+Cutler's house.</p>
+
+<p>This stood in the centre of a &ldquo;clearing,&rdquo;
+some two or three acres in extent; and upon
+reaching its eastern limit, the little company
+halted to reconnoitre. Notwithstanding the
+lateness of the hour, they discovered that the
+people of the house were still awake; and by
+a bright light, which streamed through the
+open door, they could see several men, sitting
+and standing about the room.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We shall make a good haul,&rdquo; said one of
+the regulators; &ldquo;the whole gang is there.&rdquo;
+And immediately the party were for rushing
+forward. But Stone restrained them.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;My friends,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;you have taken me
+for your leader, and must obey my directions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He then announced his determination to go
+forward alone; instructing his men, however,
+to follow at a little distance, but in no case to
+show themselves until he should give the signal.
+They agreed, though reluctantly, to this
+arrangement, and then&mdash;silently, slowly, but
+surely&mdash;the advance commenced. The hour
+had at last arrived!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In the meantime, Cutler and his three friends
+were passing the time quite pleasantly over a
+bottle of backwoods nectar&mdash;commonly called
+whiskey. They seemed well pleased, too, with
+some recent exploit of theirs, and were evidently
+congratulating themselves upon their dexterity;
+for, as the &ldquo;generous liquid&rdquo; reeked
+warmly to their brains, they chuckled over it,
+and hinted at it, and winked knowingly at each
+other, as if they enjoyed both the recollection
+and the whiskey&mdash;as they probably did, exceedingly.
+There were four present, as we
+said&mdash;Cutler and the three worthies so often
+alluded to. These last sat not far from the
+open door; and each in his hand held a kerchief,
+or something of that description, of
+which the contents were apparently very precious;
+for, at intervals of a few moments, each
+raised his bundle between him and the light,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>
+and then were visible many circular prints, as
+if made by the coinage of the mint. This idea
+was strengthened, too, by several piles of gold
+and silver, which lay upon the table near the
+bottle, to which Cutler directed no infrequent
+glances.</p>
+
+<p>They had all been indulging pretty freely in
+their devotions to the mythological liquid&mdash;rewarding
+themselves, like soldiers after storming
+a hostile city, for their hardships and
+daring. There were a few coals in the chimney,
+although it was early in the autumn; and
+on them were lying dark and crumpled cinders,
+as of paper, over which little sparks were slowly
+creeping, like fiery insects. Cutler turned them
+over with his foot, and there arose a small blue,
+flickering blaze, throwing a faint, uncertain light
+beneath the table, and into the further corners
+of the room, and casting shadows of the money-bundles
+on the open door.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>If the betrayer could have known what eyes
+were strained upon him, as he thus carelessly
+thrust his foot among the cinders, how changed
+his bearing would have been. Stone had now
+approached within fifty paces of the house, and
+behind him, slowly creeping after, were the
+regulators. A broad band of light streamed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>
+out across the clearing from the door, while, on
+each side of this, all lay in shadow deepened by
+the contrast. Through the shadows, cautiously
+and silently came the footsteps of the avenger!
+There was no trepidation, no haste&mdash;the strange
+leader rather lingered, with a deadly slowness,
+as if the movement was a pleasant one, and he
+disliked to end it. But he never halted&mdash;not
+even for a moment&mdash;he came, like fate, slowly,
+but surely!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come, boys,&rdquo; said Cutler, and his voice
+penetrated the stillness quite across the clearing,
+&ldquo;let us take another drink, and then lie
+down; we shall have a long journey to-morrow.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>They all advanced to the table and drained
+the bottle. Cutler drank last, and then went
+back to the fire. He again stirred the smouldering
+cinders with his foot, and, turning
+about, advanced to close the door. But&mdash;he
+halted suddenly in the middle of the room&mdash;his
+face grew ashy pale&mdash;his limbs trembled
+with terror! Stone stepped upon the threshold,
+and, without speaking, brought his rifle
+to his shoulder! Cutler saw that it pointed to
+his heart, but he had not the power to speak or
+move!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Villain!&rdquo; said Stone, in a low, suppressed
+voice, &ldquo;your hour has come, at last!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Cutler was by no means a coward; by any
+one else he would not have been overcome,
+even for an instant. As it was, he soon recovered
+himself and sprang forward; but it was
+only to fall heavily to the floor; for at the
+same moment Stone fired, and the ball passed
+directly through his heart! A groan was the
+only sound he uttered&mdash;his arm moved, as in
+the act of striking, and then fell to the ground&mdash;he
+was dead!</p>
+
+<p>The regulators now rushed tumultuously into
+the house, and at once seized and pinioned the
+three desperadoes; while Stone walked slowly
+to the hearth, and resting the breech of his gun
+upon the floor, leaned calmly upon its muzzle.
+He had heard a scream from above&mdash;a voice
+which he knew too well. Margaret had been
+aroused from sleep by the report of the gun;
+and now, in her night-dress, with her hair
+streaming in masses over her shoulders, she
+rushed down the rude stairway. The first object
+that met her wild gaze was the body of
+Cutler, stretched upon the floor and already
+stiffening in death. With another loud scream,
+she threw herself upon him&mdash;mingling lamentations
+for his death, with curses upon his murderers.</p>
+
+<p>Stone's features worked convulsively, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>
+once or twice his hand grasped the hilt of the
+knife which hung at his belt. At last, with a
+start, he drew it from the sheath. But, the
+next moment, he dashed it into the chimney,
+and leaning his gun against the wall, slowly
+advanced toward the unhappy woman. Grasping
+her arm, he lifted her like a child from the
+body to which she clung. Averting his head,
+he drew her, struggling madly, to the light;
+and having brought her face full before the
+lamp, suddenly threw off his cap, and turned
+his gaze directly into her eyes. A scream,
+louder and more fearful than any before, rang
+even to the woods beyond the clearing; she
+closed her eyes and shuddered, as if she could
+not bear to look upon him, whom she had so
+deeply wronged. He supported her on his
+arm, and perused her sunken and careworn
+features, for many minutes, in silence. Then
+slowly relaxing his grasp&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You have been punished sufficiently,&rdquo; he
+said; and seating her gently upon the floor, he
+quietly replaced his knife in its sheath, resumed
+his rifle, and left the house.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>He was never again seen by any of the parties,
+except Margaret. She, soon after this
+event, returned to Virginia; and here Stone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>
+paid her an annual visit. He always came without
+notice, and departed as suddenly, always
+bearing his rifle, and habited as a hunter. At
+such times he sought to be alone with her but a
+few moments, and never spoke more than three
+words: &ldquo;Your punishment continues,&rdquo; he would
+say, after gazing at her worn and haggard face
+for some minutes; and, then, throwing his rifle
+over his shoulder, he would again disappear for
+twelve months more.</p>
+
+<p>And truly her punishment <i>did</i> continue; for
+though no one accurately knew her history, she
+was an object of suspicion to all; and though
+she led a most exemplary life, her reputation
+was evil, and her misery was but too evident.
+One after the other, her children died, and she
+was left utterly alone! At last <i>her</i> lamp also
+began to flicker, and when Stone arrived in the
+country, upon his twelfth annual visit, it was
+but to see her die, and follow her to the grave!
+He received her last breath, but no one knew
+what passed between them in that awful hour.
+On the day after her burial he went away and
+returned no more.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The regulators hastily dug a grave on the
+bank of the creek, and in the silence of the
+night placed Cutler within it. Then, taking<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>
+possession of the stolen money, they released
+their prisoners, notifying them to leave the
+country within ten days, and returned to the
+east side of the river. A few years ago, a little
+mound might be seen, where they had heaped
+the dirt upon the unhappy victim of his own
+passions. It was &ldquo;<i>the first grave</i>&rdquo; in which a
+white man was buried in that part of the Illinois
+valley.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>At the expiration of the ten &ldquo;days of grace,&rdquo;
+it became the duty of the regulators to see that
+their orders had been obeyed; and, though the
+death of Cutler had been more than they had
+designed or foreseen, they had no disposition to
+neglect it. They met, accordingly, on the morning
+of the eleventh day, and having chosen a
+new leader, proceeded to Cutler's grove. They
+found the houses of all those to whom they had
+given &ldquo;notice&rdquo; deserted <i>excepting one</i>. This
+was the cabin of the youngest of the three
+brothers; and declaring his intention to remain,
+in defiance of regulators and &ldquo;Lynch law,&rdquo; he
+put himself upon his defence. Without ceremony
+the regulators set fire to the house in
+which he had barricaded himself, and ten
+minutes sufficed to smoke him out. They then
+discovered what they had not before known:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>
+that his elder brothers were also within; and
+when the three rushed from the door, though
+taken by surprise, they were not thrown off
+their guard. The trio were at once seized, and,
+after a sharp struggle, securely pinioned. A
+short consultation then decided their course.</p>
+
+<p>Leaving the house to burn at leisure, they
+posted away for the river, driving their prisoners
+before them, and a march of three hours brought
+them to the mouth of the Mauvaisterre. Here
+they constructed a &ldquo;raft&rdquo;, by tying half-a-dozen
+drift-logs together, and warning them that death
+would be the penalty of a return, they placed
+their prisoners upon it, pushed it into the middle
+of the stream, and set them adrift without oar
+or pole! Although this seems quite severe
+enough, it was a light punishment compared to
+that sometimes administered by regulators; and
+in this case, had not blood been spilt when they
+did not intend it, it is probable that the culprits
+would have been first tied to a tree, and
+thoroughly &ldquo;lynched.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The involuntary navigators were not rescued
+from their unpleasant position until they had
+nearly reached Saint Louis; and though they
+all swore vengeance in a loud voice, not one of
+them was ever again seen in the Sangamon
+country.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Vigorous measures, like those we have detailed,
+were usually effectual in restoring good
+order. Where there was no trial, there was no
+room for false witnesses; and where a punishment,
+not unfrequently disproportioned to the
+offence, so rapidly and certainly followed its
+commission, there was little prospect of impunity,
+and therefore slight inducement to
+violate the law. In most localities, it required
+but few severe lessons to teach desperadoes that
+prudence dictated their emigration; and, it must
+be acknowledged, that the regulators were
+prompt and able teachers.</p>
+
+<p>But we should give only a partial and incomplete
+view of this institution (for such, in fact,
+it was), were we to notice its uses and say
+nothing of its abuse; because, like everything
+else partaking so largely of the mob element, it
+was liable to most mischievous perversions.
+Had the engine been suffered to rest, when it
+had performed its legitimate functions, all would
+have been well; but the great vice of the system
+was its obstinate vitality: it refused to die
+when its life was no longer useful.</p>
+
+<p>As soon as the danger was past, and the call
+for his services had ceased, the good citizen,
+who alone could confine such a system to its
+proper limits, retired from its ranks: it was con<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>sequently
+left, with all its dangerous authority,
+in the hands of the reckless and violent. The
+selfish and designing soon filled up the places
+of the sober and honest, and from being a terror
+to evil-doers, and a protection to the peaceful
+citizen, it became a weapon in the hands of the
+very men against whom it should have been
+directed.</p>
+
+<p>When this came to be the case, the institution
+was in danger of doing more harm in its age,
+than it had accomplished of good in its youth.
+But it must not thence be inferred that it
+should never have been adopted, or that it was
+vicious in itself. In seasons of public danger,
+extraordinary powers are often intrusted to
+individuals&mdash;powers which nothing but that
+danger can justify, and which would constitute
+the dictators intolerable despots, if they were
+retained after the crises are passed. The Congress
+of our confederacy, for example, found it
+necessary, at one period of our Revolutionary
+struggle, to invest Washington with such
+authority; had he exercised it beyond the
+pressure of immediate peril, the same outcry
+which has been made against others in similar
+circumstances, would have been justly raised
+against him. And most men, less soberly constituted
+than Washington, would have en<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>deavored
+to retain it; for power is a pleasant
+thing, which few have the self-denial to resign
+without a struggle. The wrong consists not in
+the original delegation of the authority&mdash;for
+that is justified by the highest of all laws, the
+law of self-preservation&mdash;but in its retention
+and exercise, when the exigency no longer supports
+it.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Having parted with the authority to redress
+grievances, and provide for protection and defence,
+the citizen can not at once recover it&mdash;it
+remains for a time in the hands of the representative,
+and is always difficult to regain. But
+it does not therefore follow, that he should
+never intrust it to another, for the inconvenience
+sometimes resulting from its delegation, is
+one of the incidents to human life, teaching, not
+obstinacy or jealousy, but circumspection.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The following story, related by one who is
+well-acquainted with the early history of this
+country, will illustrate the manner in which the
+regulator system was sometimes made subservient
+to men's selfish purposes; and there have,
+unhappily, been too many instances, in which
+such criminal schemes were more successful
+than they were in this. I have entitled it
+&ldquo;The Stratagem.&rdquo;
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p>
+
+
+<h4>THE STRATAGEM.</h4>
+
+<p>Robert Elwood emigrated from Kentucky to
+Illinois, about the year in which the latter was
+erected into a state, and passing to the northwest
+of the regions then occupied by the French
+and Virginians, pitched his tent upon the very
+verge of the frontier. He was a man of violent
+passions, impatient of the restraints of law&mdash;arrogant,
+overbearing, and inclined to the use
+of &ldquo;the strong-hand.&rdquo; His removal had been
+caused by a difficulty with one of his neighbors,
+in which he had attempted to right himself
+without an appeal to the legal tribunals. In
+this attempt, he had not only been thwarted,
+but also made to pay rather roundly for his
+temerity; and, vexed and soured, he had at
+once abandoned his old name, and marched off
+across the prairies, seeking a country in which,
+as he said, &ldquo;a man need not meet a cursed constable
+every time he left his own door.&rdquo; His
+family consisted of three sons and one daughter,
+the latter being, at the time of his emigration,
+about sixteen years of age.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In journeying toward the north, he halted
+one day, at noon, within a &ldquo;point&rdquo; of timber,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>
+which extended a mile into the prairie, and
+was surrounded by as beautiful a piece of rolling
+meadow-land, as one need wish to see. He
+was already half-a-day's journey beyond the
+thicker settlements; and, indulging a reasonable
+hope that he would not speedily be annoyed
+by neighbors, he at once determined
+here to erect his dwelling and open a new
+farm. With this view, he marked off a tract
+of about four hundred acres, including the
+point of timber in which he was encamped;
+and before the heats of summer came on, he
+had a cabin ready for his reception, and a considerable
+amount of grain planted.</p>
+
+<p>About a mile to the south, there was a similar
+strip of timber, surrounded, like that of
+which he took possession, by a rich tract of
+&ldquo;rolling prairie;&rdquo; and this he at once resolved
+to include in his farm. But, reflecting that it
+must probably be some years, before any one
+else would enter the neighborhood to take it
+up&mdash;and having only the assistance of his
+sons, but two of whom had reached manhood&mdash;he
+turned his attention, first, to the tract
+upon which he lived. This was large enough
+to engross his efforts for the present; and, for
+two years, he neglected to do anything toward
+establishing his claim to the land he coveted.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>
+It is true, that he told several of his neighbors,
+who had now begun to settle around him, that
+he claimed that piece, and thus prevented their
+enclosing it; but he neither &ldquo;blazed&rdquo; nor
+marked the trees, nor &ldquo;staked off&rdquo; the prairie.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In the meantime emigration had come in, so
+much more rapidly than he had expected, that
+he found himself the centre of a populous
+neighborhood; and among other signs of advancing
+civilization, a company of regulators
+had been organized, for the protection of life
+and property. Of this band, Elwood, always
+active and forward, had been chosen leader;
+and the vigor and severity with which he had
+exercised his functions, had given a degree of
+quiet to the settlements, not usually enjoyed
+by these frontier communities. One example
+had, at the period of the opening of our story,
+but recently been made; and its extreme rigor
+had frightened away from the neighborhood,
+those who had hitherto disturbed its peace.
+This was all the citizens desired; and, having
+accomplished their ends, safety and tranquillity,
+those whose conservative character had prevented
+the regulator system from running into
+excesses, withdrew from its ranks&mdash;but took
+no measures to have it broken up. It was thus<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>
+left, with recognised authority, in the hands of
+Elwood, and others of his violent and unscrupulous
+character.</p>
+
+<p>Things were in this position, when, on his
+return from an expedition of some length, Elwood
+bethought him of the handsome tract of
+land, upon which he had so long ago set his
+heart. What were his surprise and rage on
+learning&mdash;a fact, which the absorbing nature
+of his regulator-duties had prevented his knowing
+sooner&mdash;that it was already in possession
+of another! And his mortification was immeasurably
+increased, when he was told, that
+the man who had thus intruded upon what he
+considered his own proper demesne, was none
+other than young Grayson, the son of his old
+Kentucky enemy! Coming into the neighborhood,
+in the absence of Elwood, the young
+man, finding so desirable a tract vacant, had at
+once taken possession; and by the return of
+the regulator had almost finished a neat and
+&ldquo;roomy&rdquo; cabin. He had &ldquo;blazed&rdquo; the trees,
+too, and &ldquo;staked off&rdquo; the prairie&mdash;taking all
+those steps then deemed necessary, on the frontier,
+to complete appropriation.</p>
+
+<p>Elwood's first step was to order him peremptorily,
+to desist, and give up his &ldquo;improvement&rdquo;&mdash;threatening
+him, at the same time,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>
+with certain and uncertain pains and penalties,
+if he refused to obey. But Grayson only laughed
+at his threats, and went stoutly on with his
+work. When the young men, whom he had
+hired to assist him in building his house, gave
+him a friendly warning, that Elwood was the
+leader of a band of regulators, and had power
+to make good his menaces, he only replied that
+&ldquo;he knew how to protect himself, and, when
+the time came, should not be found wanting.&rdquo;
+Elwood retired from the contest, discomfited,
+but breathing vengeance; while Grayson finished
+his house and commenced operations on
+his farm. But those who knew the headlong
+violence of Elwood's character, predicted that
+these operations would soon be interrupted;
+and they were filled with wonder, when month
+after month passed away, and there were still
+no signs of a collision.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In the meantime, it came to be rumored in
+the settlement, that there was some secret connection
+between Grayson and Elwood's daughter,
+Hannah. They had been seen by several
+persons in close conversation, at times and
+places which indicated a desire for concealment;
+and one person even went so far as to say,
+that he had been observed to kiss her, on part<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>ing,
+late in the evening. Whatever may have
+been the truth in that matter, it is, at all events,
+certain, that Grayson was an unmarried man;
+and that the quarrel between the parents of the
+pair in Kentucky, had broken up an intimacy,
+which bade fair to issue in a marriage; and it
+is probable, that a subordinate if not a primary,
+motive, inducing him to take possession of the
+disputed land, was a desire to be near Hannah.
+Nor was this wish without its appropriate justification;
+for, though not strictly beautiful,
+Hannah was quite pretty, and&mdash;what is better
+in a frontier girl&mdash;active, fresh, and rosy. At
+the time of Grayson's arrival in the settlement,
+she was a few months past eighteen; and was
+as fine material for a border wife, as could be
+found in the new state. The former intimacy
+was soon renewed, and before the end of two
+months, it was agreed that they should be
+married, as soon as her father's consent could
+be obtained.</p>
+
+<p>But this was not so easily compassed; for,
+all this time, Elwood had been brooding over
+his defeat, and devising ways and means of
+recovering the much-coveted land.</p>
+
+<p>At length, after many consultations with a
+fellow named Driscol, who acted as his lieutenant
+in the regulator company, he acceded to a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>
+proposition, made long before by that worthy,
+but rejected by Elwood on account of its dishonesty.
+He only adopted the plan, now, because
+it was apparently the only escape from
+permanent defeat; and long chafing under
+what he considered a grievous wrong, had
+made him reckless of means, and determined
+on success, at whatever cost.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>One morning, about a week after the taking
+of this resolution, it was announced that one of
+Elwood's horses had been stolen, on the night
+before; and the regulators were straightway
+assembled, to ferret out and punish so daring
+an offender. It happened (accidently, <i>of
+course</i>) to be a horse which had cast one of its
+shoes, only the day before; and this circumstance
+rendered it easy to discover his trail.
+Driscol, Elwood's invaluable lieutenant, discovered
+the track and set off upon it, almost as
+easily as if he had been present when it was
+made. He led the party away into the prairie
+toward the east; and though his companions
+declared that they could now see nothing of
+the trail, the sharp-sighted lieutenant swore
+that it was &ldquo;as plain as the nose on his face&rdquo;&mdash;truly,
+a somewhat exaggerated expression:
+for the color, if not the size, of that feature in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>
+his countenance, made it altogether too apparent
+to be overlooked! They followed him,
+however, convinced by the earnestness of his
+asseverations, if not by their own eyes, until,
+after going a mile toward the east, he began
+gradually to verge southward, and, having
+wound about at random for some time, finally
+took a direct course, for the point of timber on
+which Grayson lived!</p>
+
+<p>On arriving at the point, which terminated,
+as usual, in a dense hazel-thicket, Driscol at
+once pushed his way into the covert, and lo!
+there stood the stolen horse! He was tied to a
+sapling by a halter, which was clearly recognised
+as the property of Grayson, and leading off
+toward the latter's house, was traced a man's
+footstep&mdash;<i>his</i>, of course! These appearances
+fully explained the theft, and there was not a
+man present, who did not express a decided
+conviction that Grayson was the thief.</p>
+
+<p>Some one remarked that his boldness was
+greater than his shrewdness, else he would not
+have kept the horse so near. But Driscol declared,
+dogmatically, that this was &ldquo;the smartest
+thing in the whole business,&rdquo; since, if the trail
+could be obliterated, no one would think of
+looking <i>there</i> for a horse stolen only a mile
+above! &ldquo;The calculation&rdquo; was a good one, he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>
+said, and it only failed of success because he,
+Driscol, happened to have a remarkably sharp
+sight for all tracks, both of horses and men. To
+this proposition, supported by ocular evidence,
+the regulators assented, and Driscol stock, previously
+somewhat depressed by sundry good
+causes, forthwith rose in the regulator market to
+a respectable premium!</p>
+
+<p>Having recovered the stolen property, the
+next question which presented itself for their
+consideration, was in what way they should
+punish the thief. To such men as they, this
+was not a difficult problem: without much deliberation,
+it was determined that he must be at
+once driven from the country. The &ldquo;days of
+grace,&rdquo; usually given on such occasions, were
+ten, and in pursuance of this custom, it was
+resolved that Grayson should be mercifully
+allowed that length of time, in which to arrange
+his affairs and set out for a new home: or, as
+the regulators expressed it, &ldquo;make himself
+scarce.&rdquo; Driscol, having already, by his praise-worthy
+efforts in the cause of right, made himself
+the hero of the affair, was invested with
+authority to notify Grayson of this decree. The
+matter being thus settled, the corps adjourned
+to meet again ten days thereafter, in order to see
+that their judgment was duly carried into effect.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Meantime, Driscol, the official mouthpiece
+of the self-constituted court of general jurisdiction,
+rode away to discharge himself of his
+onerous duties. Halting at the low fence which
+enclosed the scanty door-yard he gave the customary
+&ldquo;Halloo! the house!&rdquo; and patiently
+awaited an answer. It was not long, however,
+before Grayson issued from the door and advanced
+to the fence, when Driscol served the
+process of the court <i>in h&aelig;c verba</i>:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Mr. Grayson, the regulators of this settlement
+have directed me to give you ten days'
+notice to leave the country. They will meet
+again one week from next Friday, and if you
+are not gone by that time, it will become their
+duty to punish you in the customary way.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What for?&rdquo; asked Grayson, quietly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;For stealing this horse,&rdquo; the functionary
+replied, laying his hand on the horse's mane,
+&ldquo;and concealing him in the timber with the intention
+to run him off.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It's Elwood's horse, isn't it?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Driscol, somewhat surprised
+at Grayson's coolness.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When was he stolen?&rdquo; asked the notified.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Last night,&rdquo; answered the official; &ldquo;I suppose
+you know very well without being told.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Do you, indeed?&rdquo; said Grayson, smiling<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>
+absently. And then he bent his eyes upon the
+ground, and seemed lost in thought for some
+minutes.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Well, well,&rdquo; said he at length, raising his
+eyes again. &ldquo;I didn't steal the horse, Driscol,
+but I suppose you regulators know best who
+ought to be allowed to remain in the settlement,
+so of course I shall have to obey.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I am glad to find you so reasonable,&rdquo; said
+Driscol, making a movement to ride away.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stop! stop!&rdquo; said Grayson: &ldquo;don't be in a
+hurry! I shall be gone before the ten days are
+up, and you and I may not meet again for a
+long time, so get down and come in: let us take
+a parting drink together. I have some excellent
+whiskey, just brought home.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Now, the worthy functionary, as we have intimated,
+or as the aforesaid nose bore witness,
+was &ldquo;quite partial&rdquo; to this description of produce:
+some of his acquaintances even insinuating
+that he took sometimes &ldquo;a drop too much;&rdquo; and
+though he felt some misgiving about remaining
+in Grayson's company longer than his official
+duties required, the temptation was too strong
+for him, and, silencing his fears, he sprang to
+the ground.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Tie your horse to the fence, there,&rdquo; said
+Grayson, &ldquo;and come in.&rdquo; Driscol obeyed, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>
+it was not long before he was seated in the
+cabin with a tin-cup in his hand, and its generous
+contents finding their way rapidly down his
+capacious throat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Whiskey is a pleasant drink, after all, isn't
+it?&rdquo; said Grayson, smiling at the gusto with
+which Driscol dwelt upon the draught, and at
+the same moment he rose to set his cup on the
+table behind the official.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Very pleasant indeed,&rdquo; said Driscol, in
+reply, and to prove his sincerity, he raised his
+cup again to his lips. But this time he was not
+destined to taste its contents. It was suddenly
+dashed from his hand&mdash;a saddle-girth was
+thrown over his arms and body&mdash;and before he
+was aware of what was being done, he found
+himself securely pinioned to the chair! A rope
+was speedily passed round his legs, and tied, in
+like manner, behind, so that he could, literally,
+move neither hand nor foot! He made a furious
+effort to break away, but he would not have
+been more secure had he been in the old-fashioned
+stocks! He was fairly entrapped, and
+though he foamed, and swore, and threatened,
+it all did no manner of good. Of this he at
+length became sensible, and grinding his teeth
+in impotent rage, he relapsed into dogged silence.</p>
+
+<p>Having thoroughly secured his prisoner,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>
+Grayson, who was something of a wag, poured
+out a small quantity of the seductive liquor, and
+coming round in front of the ill-used official,
+smiled graciously in his face, and drank &ldquo;a
+health&rdquo;&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Success to you, Mr. Driscol,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;and
+long may you continue an ornament to the distinguished
+company of which you are an honored
+officer!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Driscol ground his teeth, but made no reply,
+and the toast was drunk, like some of those impressive
+sentiments given at public dinners, &ldquo;in
+profound silence!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Having drained the cup, Grayson deposited
+it upon the table and himself in a chair; and,
+drawing the latter up toward his companion,
+opened the conference thus:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think I have you pretty safe, Driscol: eh!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The lieutenant made no reply.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I see you are not in a very sociable humor,&rdquo;
+continued Grayson; &ldquo;and, to tell you the truth,
+I am not much that way inclined myself: but I
+am determined to get to the bottom of this
+affair before you shall leave the house. I am
+sure you know all about it; and if you don't,
+why the worse for you, that's all.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What do you mean?&rdquo; demanded Driscol,
+speaking for the first time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I mean this,&rdquo; Grayson answered sternly:
+&ldquo;I did not take that horse from Elwood's&mdash;<i>but
+you did</i>: I saw you do it. But since my testimony
+will not be received, I am determined that
+you shall give me a certificate in writing that
+such is the fact. You needn't look so obstinate,
+for by the God that made us both! you shall not
+leave that chair alive, unless you do as I say!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Grayson was a large, rather fleshy man, with
+a light complexion and blue eyes; and, though
+good-natured and hard to arouse, when once in
+earnest, as now, like all men of his stamp, he
+both looked, and was, fully capable of carrying
+his menaces into execution. The imprisoned
+functionary did not at all like the expression of
+his eye, he quailed before it in fear and shame.
+He was, however, resolved not to yield, except
+upon the greatest extremity.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Come,&rdquo; said Grayson, producing materials
+for writing; &ldquo;here are pen, ink, and paper:
+are you willing to write as I dictate?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;No,&rdquo; said Driscol, doggedly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We'll see if I can't make you willing,
+then,&rdquo; muttered his captor; and, going to the
+other end of the cabin, he took down a coil of
+rope, which hung upon a peg, and returned to
+his captive. Forming a noose at one end, he
+placed it about Driscol's neck, and threw the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>
+other end over a beam which supported the
+roof.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Are you going to murder me?&rdquo; demanded
+the official in alarm.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes,&rdquo; answered Grayson, drawing the loose
+end down, and tightening the noose about Driscol's
+throat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;You'll suffer for this,&rdquo; said the lieutenant
+furiously.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That won't help <i>you</i> much,&rdquo; coolly replied
+Grayson, tugging at the rope, until one leg of
+the chair gave signs of rising from the floor,
+and Driscol's face exhibited unmistakable symptoms
+of incipient strangulation.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stop! stop!&rdquo; he exclaimed, in a voice reduced
+to a mere wheeze&mdash;and Grayson &ldquo;eased
+off&rdquo; to hear him.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Won't anything else satisfy you but a written
+certificate?&rdquo; he asked&mdash;speaking with difficulty,
+and making motions as if endeavoring
+to swallow something too large to pass the gate
+of his throat.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Nothing but that,&rdquo; answered Grayson, decidedly;
+&ldquo;and if you don't give it to me, when
+your regulator friends arrive, instead of me,
+they will find you, swinging from this beam by
+the neck!&rdquo; And, seeing his victim hesitate, he
+again tugged at the rope, until the same signs<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>
+were exhibited as before&mdash;only a little more
+apparently.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Ho&mdash;hold, Grayson!&rdquo; begged the frightened
+and strangling lieutenant; and, as his executioner
+again relaxed a little, he continued:
+&ldquo;Just let me up, and I'll do anything you
+want.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That is to say,&rdquo; laughed Grayson, &ldquo;you
+would rather take the chances of a fight, than
+be hung up like a sheep-stealing dog! Let you
+up, indeed!&rdquo; And once more he dragged the
+rope down more vigorously than ever.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I&mdash;didn't&mdash;mean that&mdash;indeed!&rdquo; gulped
+the unhappy official, this time almost strangled
+in earnest.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;What <i>did</i> you mean then?&rdquo; sternly demanded
+Grayson, relaxing a little once again.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I will write the certificate,&rdquo; moaned the
+unfortunate lieutenant, &ldquo;if you will let one arm
+loose, and won't tell anybody until the ten days
+are out&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Why do you wish it kept secret!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If I give such a certificate as you demand,&rdquo;
+mournfully answered the disconsolate officer,
+&ldquo;I shall have to leave the country&mdash;and I
+want time to get away.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Oh! that's it, is it? Well&mdash;very well.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>About an hour after this, Driscol issued from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span>
+the house, and, springing upon the horse, rode
+away at a gallop toward Elwood's. Here he
+left the animal, but declined to enter; telling
+Hannah, who happened to be in the yard, to
+say to her father that &ldquo;it was all right,&rdquo; he
+pushed on toward home&mdash;tenderly rubbing
+his throat, first with the right hand and then
+with the left, all the way. Three days afterward,
+he disappeared from the settlement, and
+was heard of no more.</p>
+
+<p>Grayson waited until near nightfall, and
+then took his way, as usual, to a little clump
+of trees, that stood near Elwood's enclosures,
+to meet Hannah. Here he stayed more than
+an hour, detailing the circumstances of the accusation
+against him, and laughing with her,
+over the ridiculous figure cut by her father's
+respectable lieutenant. Before they parted
+their plans were all arranged, and Grayson went
+home in excellent humor. What these plans
+were, will be seen in the sequel.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Eight days went by without any event important
+to our story&mdash;Hannah and Grayson
+meeting each evening, in the grove, and parting
+again undiscovered. On the ninth day, the
+former went to the house of a neighbor, where
+it was understood that she was to remain dur<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>ing
+the night, and return home on the following
+morning. Grayson remained on his farm
+until near sunset, when he mounted his horse
+and rode away. This was the last of his &ldquo;days
+of grace;&rdquo; and those who saw him passing
+along the road, concluded that he had yielded
+to the dictates of prudence, and was leaving
+the field.</p>
+
+<p>On the following morning, the regulators assembled
+to see that their orders had been
+obeyed; and, though Elwood was a little disconcerted
+by the absence of Driscol, since it
+was understood that Grayson had left the
+country, the meeting was considered only a
+formal one, and the presence of the worthy lieutenant
+was not indispensable. They proceeded
+in high spirits to the premises, expecting to
+find the house deserted and waiting for an occupant.
+Elwood was to take immediate possession,
+and, all the way across the prairie, was
+felicitating himself upon the ease and rapidity
+of his triumph. What was their surprise, then,
+on approaching the house, to see smoke issuing
+from the chimney, as usual&mdash;the door thrown
+wide open, and Grayson standing quietly in
+front of it! The party halted and a council
+was called, but its deliberations were by no
+means tedious: it was forthwith determined,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>
+that Grayson stood <i>in defiance of the law</i>, and
+must be punished&mdash;that is, &ldquo;lynched&rdquo;&mdash;without
+delay! The object of this fierce decree, all
+unarmed as he was, still stood near the door,
+while the company slowly approached the fence.
+He then advanced and addressed them:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think the ten days are not up yet, gentlemen,&rdquo;
+said he mildly.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Yes, they are,&rdquo; answered Elwood quickly;
+&ldquo;and we are here to know whether you intend
+to obey the authorities, and leave the country?&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I think, Elwood,&rdquo; said the young man, not
+directly replying, &ldquo;this matter can be settled
+between you and me, without bloodshed, and even
+without trouble. If you will come in with
+George and John [his sons], I will introduce
+you to my wife, and we can talk it over, with
+a glass of whiskey.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Another consultation ensued, when, in order
+to prove their dignified moderation, they agreed
+that Elwood and his sons should &ldquo;go in and see
+what he had to say.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Elwood, the elder, entered first: directly before
+him, holding her sides and shaking with
+laughter, stood his rosy daughter, Hannah!</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<i>My wife</i>, gentlemen,&rdquo; said Grayson, gravely
+introducing them. Hannah's laughter exploded.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O, father, father, father!&rdquo; she exclaimed,
+leaning forward and extending her hands;
+&ldquo;ain't you caught, beautifully!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The laugh was contagious; and though the
+elder knit his brows, and was evidently on the
+point of bursting with very different emotions,
+his sons yielded to its influence, and, joining
+Hannah and her husband, laughed loudly, peal
+after peal!</p>
+
+<p>The father could bear it no longer&mdash;he seized
+Hannah by the arm and shook her violently, till
+she restrained herself sufficiently to speak; as
+for him, he was speechless with rage.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It's entirely too late to make a 'fuss,' father,&rdquo;
+she said at length, &ldquo;for here is the marriage-certificate,
+and Grayson is your son!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have not stolen your horse, Elwood,&rdquo; said
+the bridegroom, taking the paper which the
+father rejected, &ldquo;though I have run away with
+your daughter. And,&rdquo; he added, significantly,
+&ldquo;since if you had this land, you would probably
+give it to Hannah, I think you and I had better
+be friends, and I'll take it as her marriage-portion.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;If you can show that you did not take the
+horse, Grayson,&rdquo; said George, the elder of the
+two sons, &ldquo;I'll answer for that: but&mdash;&mdash;&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That I can do very easily,&rdquo; interrupted the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>
+young husband, &ldquo;I have the proof in my
+pocket.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>He caught Elwood's eye as he spoke, and reassured
+him with a look, for he could see that
+the old man began to apprehend an exposure in
+the presence of his sons. This forbearance did
+more to reconcile him to his discomfiture than
+aught else, save the influence of George; for,
+like all passionate men, he was easily swayed
+by his cooler children. While Hannah and her
+brothers examined the marriage certificate, and
+laughed over &ldquo;the stratagem,&rdquo; Grayson drew
+Elwood aside and exhibited a paper, written in
+a cramped, uneven hand, as follows:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;This is to certify, that it was not Josiah
+Grayson who took Robert Elwood's horse from
+his stable, last night&mdash;but I took him myself,
+by arrangement, so as to accuse Grayson of the
+theft, and drive him to leave his new farm.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right;">&ldquo;<span class="smcap">Thomas Driscol</span>.&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<p>Elwood blushed as he came to the words &ldquo;by
+arrangement,&rdquo; but read on without speaking.
+Grayson then related the manner in which he
+had entrapped the lieutenant, and the joke soon
+put him in a good humor. The regulators were
+called in, and heard the explanation, and all
+laughing heartily over the capture of Driscol,
+they insisted that Hannah and her husband<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>
+should mount, and ride with them to Elwood's.
+Neither of them needed much persuasion&mdash;the
+whole party rode away together&mdash;the &ldquo;lads
+and lasses&rdquo; of the neighborhood were summoned,
+and the day and night were spent in
+merriment and dancing.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Grayson and his wife returned on the following
+morning to their new home, where a life of
+steady and honorable industry, was rewarded
+with affluence and content. Their descendants
+still live upon the place, one of the most beautiful
+and extensive farms upon that fertile
+prairie. But on the spot where the disputed
+cabin stood, has since been built a handsome
+brick-house, and I pay only a just tribute to
+amiable character, when I say that a more hospitable
+mansion is not to be found in the western
+country.</p>
+
+
+<p>This was the last attempt at &ldquo;regulating&rdquo; in
+that region, for emigration came in so rapidly,
+that the supremacy of the law was soon asserted
+and maintained. Whenever this came to be so,
+the regulators, of course, ceased to be types of
+the state of society, and were succeeded by
+other characters and institutions.</p>
+
+<p>To these we must now proceed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span></p>
+
+<div class="sidenoteb"><p>[<b>NOTE</b>.&mdash;The following is a copy of a compact, such as is
+spoken of in the story of the &ldquo;The First Grave,&rdquo; entered into
+by a company of regulators in somewhat similar circumstances.
+I am not sure that I can vouch for its authenticity, but all who
+are familiar with the history of those times, will recognise, in
+its peculiarities, the characteristics of the people who then inhabited
+this country. The affectation of legal form in such a
+document as this, would be rather amusing, were it not quite
+too significant; at all events, it is entirely &ldquo;in keeping&rdquo; with
+the constitution of a race who had some regard for law and its
+vindication, even in their most high-handed acts. The technical
+phraseology, used so strangely, is easily traceable to the little
+&ldquo;Justice's Form Book,&rdquo; which was then almost the only law
+document in the country; and though the words are rather
+awkwardly combined, they no doubt gave solemnity to the act
+in the eyes of its sturdy signers:&mdash;</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot">
+<p>&ldquo;<i>Know all men by these presents:</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;That we [<i>here follow twelve names</i>], citizens of &mdash;&mdash;
+settlement, in the state of Illinois, have this day, <i>jointly and
+severally</i>, bound ourselves together as a company of Rangers
+and Regulators, to protect this settlement against the crimes
+and misdemeanors of, all and singular, every person or persons
+whomsoever, and especially against <i>all horse-thieves, renegades,
+and robbers</i>. And we do by these presents, hereby bind ourselves,
+jointly and severally as aforesaid, unto each other, and
+to the fellow-citizens of this settlement, to punish, according to
+the code of his honor, Judge Lynch, all violations of the law,
+<i>against the peace and dignity of the said people of</i> &mdash;&mdash; settlement;
+and to discover and bring to speedy punishment,
+<i>all illegal combinations</i>&mdash;to rid the country of such as are
+dangerous to the welfare of this settlement&mdash;to preserve the
+peace, and <i>generally to vindicate the law</i>, within the settlement
+aforesaid. All of which purposes we are to accomplish as
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>peaceably as possible: <i>but we are to accomplish them one way
+or another.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and
+affixed our seals, this twelfth day of October, <i>Anno Domini</i>,
+eighteen hundred and twenty.</p>
+
+<p style="text-align: right;">
+&ldquo;(Signed by twelve men.)</p>
+<br />
+<center>&ldquo;Acknowledged and subscribed in the presence of</center>
+<p style="text-align: right;">&ldquo;C&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;T.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;H&mdash;&mdash;n,<br />
+&ldquo;J&mdash;&mdash;&nbsp;P.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;D&mdash;&mdash;n,&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>and five others, who seem to have been a portion of &ldquo;the fellow-citizens
+of this settlement,&rdquo; referred to in the document.]</p></div></div>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> See note at the close of this article.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> The &ldquo;Sangamon country,&rdquo; as the phrase was then used,
+included all the region watered by the river of that name, together
+with the counties of Cass, Morgan, and Scott, as far
+south as Apple creek.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="VI" id="VI"></a>VI.</h2><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">&ldquo;I beseech you,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Wrest once the law to your authority:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To do a great right, do a little wrong.&rdquo;&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Merchant of Venice</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>The reign of violence, when an evil at all, is
+an evil which remedies itself: the severity of
+its proceeding hastens the accomplishment
+of its end, as the hottest fire soonest consumes
+its fuel. A nation will endure oppression more
+patiently immediately after a spasmodic rebellion
+or a bloody revolution, than at any other
+time; and a community requires less law to
+govern it, after a violent and illegal assertion of
+the law's supremacy, than was necessary before
+the outbreak. After having thrown off the
+yoke of a knave&mdash;and perhaps hung the knave
+up by the neck, or chopped his head off with
+an axe&mdash;mankind not unfrequently fall under
+the control of a fool; frightened at their temerity
+in dethroning an idol of metal, they bow down
+before a paltry statue of wood.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Men are not easily satiated with power, but
+when it is irregular, a pause in its exercise must
+eventually come. And there is a principle of
+human nature, which teaches, that whatsoever
+partakes of the mob-spirit is, at best, but temporary,
+and ought to have a speedy end. This
+is especially true of such men as first permanently
+peopled the western country; for though
+they sometimes committed high-handed and
+unjustifiable acts, the moment it was discovered
+that they had accomplished the purposes of
+order, they allowed the means of vindication to
+fall into disuse. The regulator system, for example,
+was directed to the stern and thorough
+punishment of evil men, but no sooner was
+society freed from their depredations, than the
+well-meaning citizens withdrew from its ranks;
+and, though regulator companies still patrolled
+the country, and, for a time, assumed as much
+authority as ever, they were not supported by
+the solid approbation of those who alone could
+give them lasting strength. They did many
+outrageous things for which they were never
+punished, and for some years, the shield which
+the good citizen had raised above his head for
+protection and defence, threatened to fall upon
+and crush him. But the western people are not
+the first who have been temporarily enslaved<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>
+by their liberators, though, unlike many another
+race, they waited patiently for the changes of
+years, and time brought them a remedy.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>As the government waxed stronger, and
+public opinion assumed a direction, the regulators,
+like their predecessors, the rangers, found
+their &ldquo;occupation gone,&rdquo; and gradually faded
+out from the land. Proclamations were issued&mdash;legislatures
+met&mdash;laws were enacted, and
+officers appointed to execute them; and though
+forcing a legal system upon a people who had
+so long been &ldquo;a law unto themselves,&rdquo; was a
+slow and difficult process, it was powerfully
+assisted by the very disorders consequent upon
+their attempts at self-government. They had
+burnt their hands by seizing the hot iron-rod of
+irregular authority, and were, therefore, better
+inclined to surrender the baton to those who
+could handle it. Like Frankenstein, they had
+created a power which they could not immediately
+control: the regulators, from being their
+servants, had come to be their masters: and
+they willingly admitted any authority which
+promised deliverance. They had risen in wrath,
+and chastised, with no hesitating hand, the
+violators of their peace; but the reaction had
+taken place, and they were now content to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>
+governed by whatsoever ruler Providence might
+send them.</p>
+
+<p>The state governments were established, then,
+without difficulty, and the officers of the new
+law pervaded every settlement. The character
+which I have selected as the best representative
+of this period, is one of these new officers&mdash;<i>the
+early justice of the peace.</i></p>
+
+<br />
+<p>So far as history or tradition informs us, there
+was never yet a country in which appointments
+to office were invariably made with reference
+only to qualification, and though the west is an
+exception to more than one general rule, in this
+respect we must set it down in the common category.
+The lawyer-period had not yet arrived;
+and, probably, there was never an equal number
+of people in any civilized country, of whom a
+larger proportion were totally ignorant of legal
+forms. There were not three in each hundred
+who had ever seen the inside of a courthouse,
+and they were quite as few who had once looked
+upon a law-book! Where such was the case,
+some principle of appointment was of course
+necessary, other than that which required fitness,
+by training, for the office conferred; and it is
+probable that the rule adopted was but little
+different to that in force among those who have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>
+the appointing power, where no such circumstances
+restrict the choice.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Men were appointed conservators of the
+<i>peace</i>, because they had distinguished themselves
+in <i>war</i>; and he who had assumed the
+powers of the law, as a regulator, was thought
+the better qualified to exercise them, as a legal
+officer! Courage and capacity, as an Indian-fighter,
+gave one the prominence requisite to
+his appointment; and zeal for the preservation
+of order, exhibited as a self-constituted
+judge and executioner, was a guaranty for
+the faithful performance of new and regular
+duties.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was the rule a bad one. A justice of
+the peace chosen upon this principle, possessed
+two qualities indispensable to an efficient officer,
+in the times of which we write&mdash;he was
+prompt in the discharge of his duties, and was
+not afraid of responsibility. To obviate the
+danger, however, which might arise from these,
+he had also a rigid sense of justice, which usually
+guided his determinations according to the
+rights of parties in interest. This, the lawyers
+will say, was a very questionable trait for a
+judicial officer; and perhaps it <i>is</i> better for
+society, that a judge should know the law, and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span>
+administer it without reference to abstract justice,
+than that his own notions of right and
+wrong should be taken, however conscientiously,
+as the standard of judgment: for in that
+case, we shall, at least, have uniformity of adjudication;
+whereas, nothing is more uncertain,
+than a man's convictions of right.</p>
+
+<p>But, in the times of which we are writing,
+society was not yet definitely shaped&mdash;its elements
+were not bound together by the cohesive
+power of any legal cement&mdash;and no better
+rule was, therefore, to be expected, than the
+spontaneous suggestions of common sense. The
+minds of men were, moreover, habituated to a
+certain course of thought and action&mdash;(such as
+naturally obtains in a new state of society,
+where the absence of organization remits them
+to their own exertions for safety)&mdash;and it was,
+therefore, impossible that any artificial system
+should be at once adopted. The people had
+been accustomed to such primitive associations,
+as they had entered into &ldquo;for the common defence
+and general welfare&rdquo; of their infant communities;
+the rule of action had been swift, and
+sometimes very informal punishment, for every
+transgression; and this rule, having very well
+answered its purpose, though at the expense
+of occasional severity and injustice, they could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>
+not immediately understand the necessity for
+any other course of proceeding.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>One of the characteristics of the early justice,
+then, was a supreme contempt for all mere
+form. He called it &ldquo;nonsense&rdquo; and could never
+comprehend its utility. To him, all ceremony
+was affectation, and the refinements of legal
+proceeding were, in his estimation, anti-republican
+innovations upon the original simplicity
+of mankind. Technicalities he considered merely
+the complicated inventions of lawyers, to
+exhibit their perverse ingenuity&mdash;traps to
+catch the well-meaning or unwary, or avenues
+of escape for the guilty. The rules of evidence
+he neither understood nor cared for; he desired
+&ldquo;to hear all about&rdquo; every cause brought before
+him; and the idea of excluding testimony, in
+obedience to any rule, he would never entertain.
+He acted upon the principle&mdash;though
+he probably never heard of the maxim&mdash;that
+&ldquo;the law furnishes a remedy for every wrong;&rdquo;
+and, if he knew of none in positive enactment,
+he would provide one, from the arsenal of his
+own sense of right. He never permitted anything
+to obstruct the punishment of one whom
+he had adjudged guilty; and, rather than allow
+a culprit to escape, he would order his judg<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>ment
+to be carried at once into effect, in
+the presence, and under the direction of the
+court.</p>
+
+<p>He had a strong prejudice against every man
+accused of crime; and sometimes almost reversed
+the ancient presumption of the law, and
+held the prisoner guilty, until he proved himself
+innocent. He had unbounded confidence
+in the honesty of his neighbors and friends, and
+was unwilling to believe, that they would accuse
+a man of crime or misdemeanor, without
+very good cause. When it was proven that a
+crime <i>had been committed</i>, he considered the
+guilt of the prisoner already half established:
+it was, in his judgment, what one, better acquainted
+with legal terms, might have called
+&ldquo;a <i>prima facia</i> case,&rdquo; devolving the <i>onus probandi</i>
+(or burthen of proof) upon the accused.
+And this may have been one cause of the frequent
+resort to <i>alibis</i>&mdash;a mode of defence
+which, as we have already remarked, is even
+yet in great disrepute. If a defence, of some
+sort, was not, then, very clearly and satisfactorily
+made out, the justice had no hesitation
+in entering judgment, and ordering immediate
+punishment; for the right of appeal was not
+generally recognised, and the justice took original
+and final jurisdiction, where now his duties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>
+are merely those of preliminary examination
+and commitment.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In civil controversies&mdash;where such causes
+were presented for adjudication, which, however,
+was not very often&mdash;the order of proceeding
+was quite as summary. The justice
+heard the statements of the parties, and sometimes,
+not always, would listen to witnesses,
+also; then, taking the general &ldquo;rights, interests,
+claims, and demands,&rdquo; of both sides into
+consideration&mdash;and viewing himself, not as a
+judicial officer, but as a sort of referee or arbitrator&mdash;he
+would strike a balance between the
+disputants, and dismiss them to their homes,
+with a significant admonition to &ldquo;keep the
+peace.&rdquo; He usually acted upon the principle&mdash;no
+very erroneous one, either&mdash;that, when
+two respectable men resort to the law, as arbitrator
+of their controversies, they are both about
+equally blamable; and his judgments were
+accordingly based upon the corollary, that
+neither deserved to have all he claimed. This
+was the practice when any decision was made
+at all; but, in most cases, the justice acted as
+a pacificator, and, by his authority and persuasion,
+induced the parties to agree upon a compromise.
+For this purpose, he not unfrequent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>ly
+remitted both fees and costs&mdash;those due to
+the constables, as well as his own.</p>
+
+<p>An instance of this pacific practice has been
+related to me as follows: Two neighbors had
+quarrelled about a small amount of debt, and,
+after sundry attempts to &ldquo;settle,&rdquo; finally went
+to law. The justice took them aside, on the day
+of trial, and proposed a basis of settlement, to
+which they agreed, <i>on condition</i>, that all costs
+should be remitted, and to this the magistrate
+at once pledged himself. But a difficulty arose:
+the constable, who had not been consulted in
+the arrangement, had had a long ride after the
+defendant, and having an unquestionable right
+to demand his fees, was unwilling to give them
+up. The justice endeavored to prevail with him
+by persuasion, but in vain. Finally, growing
+impatient of his obstinacy, he gave him a
+<i>peremptory order</i> to consent, and, on his refusal,
+<i>fined him</i> the exact amount of his fees <i>for contempt</i>,
+entered up judgment on the basis of the
+compromise, and adjourned the court!</p>
+
+<p>The man who thus discourages litigation at
+the expense of his own official emoluments, may
+be forgiven a few irregularities of proceeding,
+in consideration of the good he effects; for
+although under such a system it was seldom
+that either party obtained his full and just<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>
+rights, both were always benefited by the spirit
+of peace infused into the community. It
+would, perhaps, be well for the country now,
+were our legal officers actuated by the same
+motives; unfortunately, however, such men
+belong only to primitive times.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But the love of peace was not accompanied,
+in this character, as it usually is, by merciful
+judgment, for, as he was very swift in determining
+a prisoner's guilt, he was equally rigid
+in imposing the penalty. The enactments of
+the criminal code were generally so worded as
+to give some scope for the exercise of a compassionate
+and enlightened discretion; but when
+the decision lay in the breast of our justice, if
+he adjudged any punishment at all, it was
+usually the severest provided for by the statute.
+Half-measures were not adapted to the temper
+of the times or the character of the people;
+indeed, they are suited to <i>no</i> people, and are
+signal failures at all times, in all circumstances.
+Inflicting light punishments is like firing blank
+cartridges at a mob, they only irritate, without
+subduing; and as the latter course usually ends
+in unnecessary bloodshed, the former invariably
+increases the amount of crime.</p>
+
+<p><i>Certainty</i> of punishment may be&mdash;unques<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>tionably
+<i>is</i>&mdash;a very important element in the
+administration of justice, but as nothing so
+strongly disinclines a man to entering the water
+as the sight of another drowning, so nothing
+will so effectually deter him from the commission
+of crime, as the knowledge that another
+has been severely punished for yielding to the
+same temptation. The justice, however, based
+the rigor of his judgments upon no such argument
+of policy. His austerity was a part of
+his character, and had been rendered more
+severe by the circumstances in which he had
+lived&mdash;the audacity of law-breakers, and the
+necessity for harsh penalties, in order for protection.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>It will be observed that I say nothing of
+juries, and speak of justices of the peace, as
+officers having authority to decide causes alone.
+And, it must be recollected, that in the days of
+which I am writing, resort was very seldom had
+to this cumbersome and uncertain mode of adjudication.
+In civil causes, juries were seldom
+empanelled, because they were attended by very
+considerable expense and delay. The chief object,
+in going to law, moreover, was, in most
+cases, to have <i>a decision</i> of the matter in dispute;
+and juries were as prone to &ldquo;hang&rdquo; then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>
+as now. Suitors generally, therefore, would
+rather submit to the arbitration of the justice,
+than take the risk of delay and uncertainty,
+with a jury. In criminal causes, the case was
+very similar: the accused would as lief be
+judged by one prejudiced man as by twelve;
+for the same rigorous spirit which actuated the
+justice, pervaded also the juries; and (besides
+the chance of timidity or favor in the justice)
+in the latter he must take the additional risks
+of personal enmity and relationship to the party
+injured. Thus, juries were often discarded in
+criminal causes also, and we think their disuse
+was no great sacrifice. Such a system can
+derive its utility, in this country, only from an
+enlightened public sentiment: if that sentiment
+be capricious and oppressive, as it too often is,
+juries are quite as likely to partake its vices as
+legal officers: if the sentiment be just and
+healthy, no judicial officer dare be guilty of
+oppression. So that our fathers lost nothing in
+seldom resorting to this &ldquo;palladium of our
+liberties,&rdquo; and, without doubt, gained something
+by avoiding delay, uncertainty, and expense.</p>
+
+<p>The reader will also observe, that I say
+nothing of higher courts. But the lines between
+the upper and lower tribunals were not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>
+so strictly drawn then as they now are, and the
+limits of jurisdiction were, consequently, very
+indefinite. Most of the characteristics, moreover,
+here ascribed to the justice of the peace,
+belonged, in almost an equal degree, to the
+judges of the circuit courts; and, though some
+of the latter were men of respectable legal requirements,
+the same off-hand mode of administering
+the law which distinguished the
+inferior magistrates, marked the proceedings of
+their courts also. Both occasionally assumed
+powers which they did not legally possess; both
+were guided more by their own notions of justice,
+than by the rules of law; and both were
+remarkable for their severity upon all transgressors.
+Neither cared much for the rules of
+evidence, each was equal to any emergency or
+responsibility, and both had very exalted ideas
+of their own authority.</p>
+
+<p>But the functions of the justice were, in his
+estimation, especially important&mdash;his dignity
+was very considerable also, and his powers anything
+but circumscribed. A few well-authenticated
+anecdotes, however, will illustrate the
+character better than any elaborate portraiture.
+And, for fear those I am about to relate may
+seem exceptions, not fairly representing the
+class, I should state, in the outset, that I have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>
+selected them from a great number which I can
+recall, particularly because they are <i>not</i> exceptive,
+and give a very just impression of the
+character which I am endeavoring to portray.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Squire A&mdash;&mdash; was a plain, honest farmer,
+who had distinguished himself as a pioneer and
+ranger, and was remarkable as a man of undoubted
+courage, but singularly peaceable temper.
+In the year eighteen hundred and twenty,
+he received from Governor Bond of Illinois, a
+commission as justice of the peace, and though
+he was not very clear what his duties, dignities,
+and responsibilities, precisely were, like a patriot
+and a Roman, he determined to discharge them
+to the letter. At the period of his appointment,
+he was at feud with one of his neighbors about
+that most fruitful of all subjects of quarrel, a
+division-fence; and as such differences always
+are, the dispute had been waxing warmer for
+several months. He received his docket, blanks,
+and &ldquo;Form-Book,&rdquo; on Saturday evening, and
+though he had as yet no suits to enter and no
+process to issue, was thus provided with all the
+weapons of justice. On the following Monday
+morning, he repaired, as usual, to his fields,
+about half-a-mile from home, and though full
+of his new dignity, went quietly to work.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>He had not been there long, before his old
+and only enemy made his appearance, and
+opened upon him a volley of abuse in relation
+to the division-fence, bestowing upon his honor,
+among other expressive titles, the euphonious
+epithet of &ldquo;jackass.&rdquo; A&mdash;&mdash; bore the attack
+until it came to this point&mdash;which, it would
+seem, was as far as a man's patience ought to
+extend&mdash;and, it is probable, that had he not
+been a legal functionary, a battle would have
+ensued &ldquo;then and there.&rdquo; But it was beneath
+the dignity thus outraged, to avenge itself by a
+vulgar fisticuff, and A&mdash;&mdash; bethought him of a
+much better and more honorable course. He
+threw his coat across his arm, and marched
+home. There he took down his new docket,
+and upon the first page, recorded the case of
+the &ldquo;<i>People of the State of Illinois</i> vs. <i>John
+Braxton</i>&rdquo; (his enemy). He then entered up the
+following judgment: &ldquo;<i>The defendant in this
+case, this day, fined ten dollars and costs, for</i>
+<span class="smcap">contempt of court</span>, <i>he having called</i> <span class="smcap">us</span> <i>a jackass</i>!&rdquo;
+On the opposite page is an entry of
+satisfaction, by which it appears that he forthwith
+issued an execution upon the judgment,
+and collected the money!</p>
+
+<p>This pretext of &ldquo;contempt&rdquo; was much in
+vogue, as a means of reaching offences not ex<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>pressly
+provided for by statute; but the justice
+was never at a loss for expedients, even in cases
+entirely without precedent, as the following
+anecdote will illustrate:&mdash;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>A certain justice, in the same state of Illinois,
+was one day trying, for an aggravated assault, a
+man who was too much intoxicated fully to
+realize the import of the proceedings or the
+dignity of the court. He was continually interrupting
+witnesses, contradicting their testimony,
+and swearing at the justice. It soon
+became evident that he must be silenced or the
+trial adjourned. The justice's patience at length
+gave way. He ordered the constable to take
+the obstreperous culprit to a creek, which ran
+near the office, &ldquo;and duck him until he was
+sober enough to be quiet and respect the court!&rdquo;
+This operation the constable alone could not
+perform, but in due time he brought the defendant
+back dripping from the creek and
+thoroughly sobered, reporting, at the same time,
+that he had availed himself of the assistance
+of two men, Messrs. B&mdash;&mdash; and L&mdash;&mdash;, in the
+execution of his honor's commands. The trial
+then went quietly on, the defendant was fined
+for a breach of the peace, and ordered to pay
+<i>the costs</i>: one item of which was two dollars<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>
+to Messrs. B&mdash;&mdash; and L&mdash;&mdash; &ldquo;for assisting the
+constable in ducking the prisoner!&rdquo; But, as
+the justice could find no form nor precedent for
+hydropathic services, he entered the charge as
+&ldquo;<i>witness fees</i>,&rdquo; and required immediate payment!
+The shivering culprit, glad to escape on
+any terms, paid the bill and vanished!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Whatever might have been the prevailing
+opinion, as to the legality of such a proceeding,
+the ridicule attaching to it would effectually
+have prevented any remedy&mdash;most men being
+willing to forgive a little irregularity, for the
+sake of substantial justice and &ldquo;a good joke.&rdquo;
+But the summary course, adopted by these
+magistrates, sometimes worked even greater
+injustice&mdash;as might have been expected; and
+of this, the following is an example:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>About the year eighteen hundred and twenty-six,
+there lived, in a certain part of the west,
+a man named Smedley, who, so far as the collection
+of debts was concerned, was entirely
+&ldquo;law-proof.&rdquo; He seemed to have a constitutional
+indisposition to paying anything he
+owed: and, though there were sundry executions
+in the hands of officers against him&mdash;and
+though he even seemed thrifty enough in
+his pecuniary affairs&mdash;no property could ever<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>
+be found, upon which they could be levied.
+There was, at the same time, a constable in the
+neighborhood, a man named White, who was
+celebrated, in those days of difficult collections,
+for the shrewdness and success of his official
+exploits; and the justice upon whom he usually
+attended, was equally remarkable, for the high
+hand with which he carried his authority. But,
+though two executions were placed in the
+hands of the former, upon judgments on the
+docket of the latter, months passed away, without
+anything being realized from the impervious
+defendant, Smedley.</p>
+
+<p>Whenever the constable found him in possession
+of property, and made a levy, it was
+proven to belong to some one else; and the
+only result of his indefatigable efforts, was the
+additions of heavy costs to the already hopeless
+demand.</p>
+
+<p>At length, however, White learned that Smedley
+had <i>traded horses</i> with a man named Wyatt,
+and he straightway posted off to consult the
+magistrate. Between them, the plan of operations
+was agreed upon. White levied first
+upon the horse then in the possession of Smedley,
+taking him under <i>one</i> of the two writs: he
+then levied <i>the other</i> execution upon the horse
+which Smedley had traded to Wyatt. The lat<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>ter,
+apprehending the loss of his property,
+claimed the first horse&mdash;that which he had
+traded to Smedley. But, upon the &ldquo;trial of the
+right of property,&rdquo; the justice decided that the
+horse was found in the possession of Smedley,
+and was, therefore, subject to levy and sale.
+He was accordingly sold, and the first judgment
+was satisfied. Wyatt then claimed the
+<i>second</i> horse&mdash;that which he had received
+from Smedley. But, upon a similar &ldquo;trial&rdquo;&mdash;after
+severely reprimanding Wyatt for claiming
+<i>both</i> horses, when, on his own showing, he
+never owned but <i>one</i>&mdash;the justice decided
+that the property in dispute had been in the
+possession of Smedley at the rendition of the
+judgment, and was therefore, like the other,
+subject to a lien, and equally liable to levy and
+sale! And accordingly, this horse, also, was
+sold, to satisfy the second execution, and Wyatt
+was dismissed by the justice, with no gentle
+admonition, &ldquo;to be careful in future with whom
+he swapped horses!&rdquo; A piece of advice which
+he probably took, and for which he ought to
+have been duly grateful! Fallen humanity,
+however, is very perverse; and it is at least
+supposable, that, having lost his horse, he considered
+himself hardly used&mdash;an opinion in
+which my legal readers will probably concur.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Before leaving this part of my subject, I will
+relate another anecdote, which, though it refers
+more particularly to constables, serves to illustrate
+the characteristics of the early officers of
+the law&mdash;justices, as well as others:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>The constable who figured so advantageously
+in the anecdote last related, had an execution
+against a man named Corson, who was almost
+as nearly &ldquo;law proof&rdquo; as Smedley. He had
+been a long time endeavoring to realize something,
+but without success. At length, he was
+informed, that Corson had sued another man,
+upon an account, before a justice in a distant
+part of the same county. This, the delinquent
+officer at once saw, gave him a chance to secure
+something; and, on the day of trial, away he
+posted to the justice's office. Here, he quietly
+seated himself, and watched the course of the
+proceeding. The trial went on, and, in due
+time, the justice decided the cause in favor of
+Corson. At this juncture, White arose, and,
+while the justice was entering up judgment,
+approached the table. When the docket was
+about to be laid aside, he interposed:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Stop!&rdquo; said he, placing his hand upon the
+docket, &ldquo;<i>I levels on this judgment</i>!&rdquo; And,
+giving no attention to remonstrances, he demanded
+and obtained the execution. On this<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>
+he collected the money, and at once applied it
+to that, which he had been so long carrying&mdash;thus
+settling two controversies, by diligence
+and force of will. He was certainly a valuable
+officer!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Thus irregular and informal were many of
+the proceedings of the primitive legal functionaries;
+but a liberal view of their characters
+must bring us to the conclusion, that their influence
+upon the progress of civilization of the
+country, was, on the whole, decidedly beneficial.</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<h2><a name="VII" id="VII"></a>VII.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE PEDDLER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;This is a traveller, sir; knows men and Manners.&rdquo;&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Beaumont and Fletcher</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>Previous to the organization of civil government,
+and &ldquo;the form and pressure&rdquo; given to the
+times by this and its attendant circumstances,
+the primitive tastes and habits of the western
+people, excluded many of those artificial wants
+which are gratified by commerce, and afforded
+no room for traders, excepting those who sold
+the absolute necessaries of life.</p>
+
+<p>In those days, housekeeping was a very simple
+matter. Neither steam-engines nor patent
+cook-stoves were yet known, as necessary adjuncts
+to a kitchen; the housewife would have
+&ldquo;turned up her nose&rdquo; in contempt of a bake-oven:
+would have thrown a &ldquo;Yankee reflector&rdquo;
+over the fence, and branded the innovator with
+the old-fashioned gridiron. Tin was then supposed
+to be made only for cups and coffee-pots:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>
+pie-pans had not yet even entered &ldquo;the land of
+dreams;&rdquo; and the tea-kettle, which then &ldquo;sang
+songs of family glee,&rdquo; was a quaint, squat
+figure, resembling nothing so much as an over-fed
+duck, and poured forth its music from a
+crooked, quizzical spout, with a notch in its iron
+nozzle. If its shut-iron lid was ornamented
+with a brass button, for a handle, it was thought
+to be manufactured in superior style. Iron
+spoons were good enough for the daintiest
+mouth; and a full set of pewter was a household
+treasure. China dishes and silver plate
+had been heard of, but belonged to the same
+class of marvellous things, with Aladdin's lamp
+and Fortunatus's purse. Cooking was not yet
+reduced to a science, and eating was like sleep&mdash;a
+necessity, not a mere amusement. The
+only luxuries known, were coffee and sugar;
+and these, with domestics and other cotton
+fabrics, were the chief articles for which the
+products of the earth were bartered.</p>
+
+<p>French cloths and Parisian fashions were
+still less known than silver spoons and &ldquo;rotary
+stoves.&rdquo; The men wore homemade jeans, cut
+after the <i>mode</i> of the forest: its dye a favorite
+&ldquo;Tennessean&rdquo; brownish-yellow; and the women
+were not ashamed to be seen in linsey-wolsey,
+woven in the same domestic loom. Knitting<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>
+was then not only an accomplishment, but a
+useful art; and the size which a &ldquo;yarn&rdquo; stocking
+gave to a pretty ankle, was not suffered to
+overbalance the consideration of its comfort.
+The verge of nakedness was not then the region
+of modesty: the neck and its adjacent parts
+were covered in preference to the hands; and,
+in their barbarous ignorance, the women thought
+it more shame to appear in public half-dressed,
+than to wear a comfortable shoe.</p>
+
+<p>They were certainly a very primitive people&mdash;unrefined,
+unfashionable, &ldquo;coarse&rdquo;&mdash;and many
+of their sons and daughters are even now
+ashamed to think what &ldquo;savages&rdquo; their parents
+were! In their mode of life, they sought comfort,
+not &ldquo;appearances;&rdquo; and many things which
+their more sophisticated descendants deem
+necessaries, they contemned as luxuries.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, in the course of time, these things began
+to change, for simplicity is always &ldquo;primitive,&rdquo;
+and the progress of refinement is only the multiplication
+of wants. As the country was reduced
+to cultivation, and peace settled upon its
+borders, new classes of emigrants began to take
+possession of the soil; and, for the immediate
+purposes of rapid advancement, and especially
+of social improvement, they were better classes<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>
+than their predecessors: for, as the original
+pioneers had always lived a little beyond the
+influences of regular civilization, these had remained
+within its limits until the pressure of
+legal organization began to grow irksome to
+their partially untamed spirits. There was, indeed,
+an unbroken gradation of character, from
+the nearly savage hunter, who visited the
+country only because it was uninhabited, except
+by wild beasts, to the genuine <i>citizen</i>, who
+brought with him order, and industry, and legal
+supremacy.</p>
+
+<p>The emigrants, of whom we are now writing,
+constituted the third step in this progression;
+and they imported along with them, or drew
+after them, the peculiarities belonging to their
+own degree of advancement. Their notions of
+comfort and modes of living, though still quite
+crude, indicated an appreciable stage of refinement.
+They were better supplied, for example,
+with cooking utensils&mdash;their household furniture
+was not so primitive&mdash;and in wearing apparel,
+they manifested some regard to elegance
+as well as comfort. Social intercourse disseminated
+these ideas among those to whom they
+were novel; where, previously, the highest
+motive to improvement had been a desire for
+convenience, the idea of gentility began to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>
+claim an influence; and some of the more
+moderate embellishments of life assumed the
+place of the mere necessaries.</p>
+
+<p>The transition was not rapid nor violent, like
+all permanent changes, it was the work of
+years, marked by comparatively slow gradations.
+First, tin-ware, of various descriptions,
+became necessary to the operations of the
+kitchen; and that which had been confined to
+one or two articles, was now multiplied into
+many forms. A housewife could no more bake
+a pie without a &ldquo;scalloped&rdquo; pie-pan, than without
+a fire: a tin-bucket was much more easily
+handled than one of cedar or oak; and a pepper-box,
+of the same material, was as indispensable
+as a salt-cellar. A little tea was occasionally
+added to the ancient regimen of coffee, and
+thus a tin-canister became necessary for the
+preservation of the precious drug. With tea
+came queensware: and half-a-dozen cups and
+saucers, usually of a dingy white, with a raised
+blue edge, were needful for the pranking of the
+little cupboard.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But it was not only in the victualing department
+that the progress of refinement could be traced;
+for the thrifty housewife, who thought it proper
+to adorn her table, and equip her kitchen with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span>
+all the late improvements, could not, of course,
+entirely overlook &ldquo;the fashions:&rdquo; the decoration
+of her person has been, in all ages, the just and
+honest pride of woman. Linsey-wolsey began
+to give place to calicoes and many-colored
+prints; calf-skin shoes were antiquated by the
+use of kid; and ribands fluttered gracefully
+upon new-fashioned bonnets. Progress of this
+kind never takes a step backward: once possessed
+of an improvement in personal comfort,
+convenience, or adornment, man&mdash;or woman&mdash;seldom
+gives it up. Thus, these things, once
+used, thenceforth became wants, whose gratification
+was not to be foregone: and it is one of
+the principles governing commerce, that the
+demand draws to it the supply.</p>
+
+<p>There were few &ldquo;country stores,&rdquo; in those
+days, and the settlements were so scattered as
+to make it sometimes very inconvenient to visit
+them. From ten to twenty miles was a moderate
+distance to the d&eacute;p&ocirc;t of supplies; and a
+whole day was usually consumed in going and
+returning. The visits were, therefore, not very
+frequent&mdash;the purchases for many weeks&mdash;perhaps
+months&mdash;being made on each occasion.
+This was a very inconvenient mode of
+&ldquo;shopping,&rdquo; even for the energetic women of
+that day; and, since the population would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>
+justify more numerous &ldquo;stores,&rdquo; it was desirable
+that some new system should be introduced,
+capable of supplying the demand at the cost of
+less trouble, and fewer miles of travel. To
+answer this necessity there was but one way&mdash;the
+&ldquo;storekeeper&rdquo; must carry his wares to the
+doors of his customers. And thus arose the
+occupation of the <i>Peddler</i>, or, as he called
+himself, the &ldquo;travelling merchant.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The population of the country was then almost
+exclusively agricultural&mdash;the mechanic
+arts belong to a more advanced period. The
+consequence was, that the first articles carried
+about from house to house, were such as are
+manufactured by artisans&mdash;and the chief of
+these was tin-ware.</p>
+
+<p>The tinkers of the rural districts in older
+countries, were, however, not known in this&mdash;they
+were not adapted to the genius of the people.
+The men who sold the ware were, scarcely
+ever, the same who made it; and, though the
+manual dexterity of most of these ready men,
+might enable them to mend a broken pan, or a
+leaky coffeepot, their skill was seldom put in
+requisition. Besides, since the mending of an
+old article might interfere with the sale of a
+new one, inability to perform the office was
+more frequently assumed than felt.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>In the course of time&mdash;as the people of the
+country began to acquire new ideas, and discover
+new wants&mdash;other articles were added
+to the peddler's stock. Calicoes were often carried
+in the same box with tin pans&mdash;cotton
+checks and ginghams were stowed away beneath
+tin-cups and iron-spoons&mdash;shining coffee-pots
+were crammed with spools of thread,
+papers of pins, cards of horn-buttons, and cakes
+of shaving-soap&mdash;and bolts of gaudy riband
+could be drawn from pepper-boxes and sausage-stuffers.
+Table-cloths, of cotton or brown linen,
+were displayed before admiring eyes, which
+had turned away from all the brightness of
+new tin plates; and knives and forks, all &ldquo;warranted
+pure steel,&rdquo; appealed to tastes, which
+nothing else could excite. New razors touched
+the men &ldquo;in tender places,&rdquo; while shining
+scissors clipped the purses of the women. Silk
+handkerchiefs and &ldquo;fancy&rdquo; neckcloths&mdash;things
+till then unknown&mdash;could occupy the former,
+while the latter covetously turned over and examined
+bright ribands and fresh cotton hose.
+The peddler was a master of the art of pleasing
+all tastes: even the children were not forgotten;
+for there were whips and jew's-harps for
+the boys, and nice check aprons for the girls.
+(The taste for &ldquo;playing mother&rdquo; was as much<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>
+an instinct, with the female children of that
+day, as it is in times more modern; but life
+was yet too earnest to display it in the dressing
+and nursing of waxen babies.) To suit the
+people from whom the peddler's income was derived,
+he must consult at least the appearance
+of utility, in every article he offered; for,
+though no man could do more, to coax the
+money out of one's pocket, without leaving an
+equivalent, even <i>he</i> could not succeed in such
+an enterprise, against the matter-of-fact pioneer.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The &ldquo;travelling merchants&rdquo; of this country
+were generally what their customers called
+&ldquo;Yankees&rdquo;&mdash;that is, New-Englanders, or descendants
+of the puritans, whether born east
+of the Hudson or not. And, certainly, no class
+of men were ever better fitted for an occupation,
+than were those for &ldquo;peddling.&rdquo; The
+majority of them were young men, too; for the
+&ldquo;Yankee&rdquo; who lives beyond middle age, without
+providing snug quarters for the decline of
+life, is usually not even fit for a peddler. But,
+though often not advanced in years, they often
+exhibited qualities, which one would have expected
+to find only in men of age and experience.
+They could &ldquo;calculate,&rdquo; with the most
+absolute certainty, what precise stage of ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>vancement
+and cultivation, was necessary to
+the introduction of every article of merchandise
+their stock comprised. Up to a certain limit,
+they offered, for example, linen table-cloths:
+beyond that, cotton was better and more saleable;
+in certain settlements, they could sell
+numbers of the finer articles, which, in others,
+hung on their hands like lead; and they seemed
+to know, the moment they breathed the air of
+a neighborhood, what precise character of goods
+was most likely to pay.</p>
+
+<p>Thus&mdash;by way of illustration&mdash;it might
+seem, to one not experienced in reading the
+signs of progress, a matter of nice speculation
+and subtle inquiry, to determine what exact
+degree of cultivation was necessary, to make
+profitable the trade in <i>clocks</i>. But I believe
+there is no instance of an unsuccessful clock-peddler
+on record; and, though this fact may
+be accounted for, superficially, by asserting
+that time is alike important to all men, and a
+measure of its course, therefore, always a want,
+a little reflection will convince us, that this explanation
+is more plausible than sound.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>It is, perhaps, beyond the capacity of any
+man, to judge unerringly, by observation, of
+the usual signs of progress, the exact point at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>
+which a community, or a man, has arrived in
+the scale of cultivation; and it may seem especially
+difficult, to determine commercially,
+what precise articles, of use or ornament, are
+adapted to the state indicated by those signs.
+But that there are such indications, which, if
+properly attended to, will be unfailing guides,
+is not to be denied. Thus, the quick observation
+of a clock-peddler would detect among a
+community of primitive habits, the growing
+tendency to regularity of life; for, as refinement
+advances, the common affairs of everyday
+existence, feeling the influence first, assume
+a degree of order and arrangement; and from
+the display of this improvement, the trader
+might draw inferences favorable to his traffic.
+Eating, for example, as he would perceive, is
+done at certain hours of the day&mdash;sleep is
+taken between fixed periods of the night and
+morning&mdash;especially, public worship&mdash;which
+is one of the best and surest signs of social advancement&mdash;must
+be held at a time generally
+understood.</p>
+
+<p>The peddler might conclude, also, when he
+saw a glazed window in a house, that the owner
+was already possessed of a clock&mdash;which, perhaps,
+needed repairing&mdash;or, at least, was in
+great need of one, if he had not yet made the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>
+purchase. One of these shrewd &ldquo;calculators&rdquo;
+once told me, that, when he saw a man with
+four panes of glass in his house, and no clock,
+he either sold him one straightway, or &ldquo;set
+him down crazy, or a screw.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Have you no other 'signs of promise'&rdquo;? I
+asked.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;O yes,&rdquo; he replied, &ldquo;many! For instance:
+When I am riding past a house&mdash;(I always
+ride slowly)&mdash;I take a general and particular
+survey of the premises&mdash;or, as the military
+men say, I make a <i>reconnaissance</i>; and it must
+be a very bare place, indeed, if I can not see
+some 'sign,' by which to determine, whether
+the owner needs a clock. If I see the man,
+himself, I look at his extremities; and by the
+appearance of hat and boot, I make up my
+opinion as to whether he knows the value of
+time: if he wears anything but a cap, I can
+pretty fairly calculate upon selling him a clock;
+and if, to the hat, he has added <i>boots</i>, I halt at
+once, and, without ceremony, carry a good
+one in.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;When I see the wife, instead of the husband,
+I have no difficulty in making up my
+mind&mdash;though the signs about the women are
+so numerous and minute, that it would be hard
+to explain them. If one wears a check-apron<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>
+and sports a calico dress, I know that a 'travelling
+merchant' has been in the neighborhood;
+and if he has succeeded in making a reasonable
+number of sales, I am certain that he
+has given her such a taste for buying, that I
+can sell her anything at all: for purchasing
+cheap goods, to a woman, is like sipping good
+liquor, to a man&mdash;she soon acquires the appetite,
+and thenceforward it is insatiable.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;I have some customers who have a <i>passion</i>
+for clocks. There is a man on this road, who
+has one for every room in his house; and I
+have another with me now&mdash;with a portrait of
+General Jackson in the front&mdash;which I expect
+to add to his stock. There is a farmer not far
+from here, with whom I have 'traded' clocks
+every year since I first entered the neighborhood&mdash;always
+receiving about half the value
+of the article I sell, in money, 'to boot.'
+There are clock-fanciers, as well as fanciers of
+dogs and birds; and I have known cases, in
+which a man would have two or three time-pieces
+in his house, and not a pair of shoes in
+the family! But such customers are rare&mdash;as
+they ought to be; and the larger part of our
+trade is carried on, with people who begin to
+feel the necessity of regularity&mdash;to whom the
+sun has ceased to be a sufficient guide&mdash;and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>
+who have acquired some notions of elegance
+and comfort. And we seldom encounter the
+least trouble in determining, by the general appearance
+of the place, whether the occupant has
+arrived at that stage of refinement.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>We perceive that the principal study of the
+peddler is human nature; and though he classifies
+the principles of his experience, more
+especially with reference to the profits of his
+trade, his rapid observation of minor traits and
+indications, is a talent which might be useful in
+many pursuits, besides clock-peddling. And,
+accordingly, we discover that, even after he
+has abandoned the occupation, and ceased to be
+a bird of passage, he never fails to turn his
+learning to a good account.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>He was distinguished by energy as well as
+shrewdness, and an enterprising spirit was the
+first element of his prosperity. There was no
+corner&mdash;no secluded settlement&mdash;no out-of-the
+way place&mdash;where he was not seen. Bad roads
+never deterred him: he could drive his horses and
+wagon where a four-wheeled vehicle never went
+before. He understood bearings and distances
+as well as a topographical engineer, and would
+go, whistling contentedly, across a prairie or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>
+through a forest, where he had not even a
+&ldquo;trail&rdquo; to guide him. He could find fords and
+crossings where none were previously known to
+exist; and his pair of lean horses, by the skilful
+management of their driver, would carry
+him and his wares across sloughs and swamps,
+where a steam-engine would have been clogged
+by the weight of a baby-wagon. If he broke
+his harness or his vehicle in the wilderness, he
+could repair it without assistance, for his mechanical
+accomplishments extended from the
+shoeing of a horse to the repair of a watch, and
+embraced everything between. He was never
+taken by surprise&mdash;accidents never came unexpected,
+and strange events never disconcerted
+him. He would whistle &ldquo;Yankee Doodle&rdquo;
+while his horses were floundering in a quagmire,
+and sing &ldquo;Hail Columbia&rdquo; while plunging
+into an unknown river!</p>
+
+<p>He never met a stranger, for he was intimately
+acquainted with a man as soon as he
+saw him. Introductions were useless ceremonies
+to him, for he cared nothing about names.
+He called a woman &ldquo;ma'am&rdquo; and a man &ldquo;mister,&rdquo;
+and if he could sell either of them a few
+goods, he never troubled himself or them with
+impertinent inquiries. Sometimes he had a
+habit of learning each man's name from his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>
+next neighbor, and possessing an excellent
+memory, he never lost the information thus
+acquired.</p>
+
+<p>When he had passed through a settlement
+once, he had a complete knowledge of all its
+circumstances, history, and inhabitants; and,
+the next year, if he met a child in the road, he
+could tell you whom it most resembled, and to
+what family it belonged. He recollected all
+who were sick on his last visit&mdash;what peculiar
+difficulties each was laboring under&mdash;and was
+always glad to hear of their convalescence. He
+gathered medicinal herbs along the road, and
+generously presented them to the housewives
+where he halted, and he understood perfectly
+the special properties of each. He possessed a
+great store of good advice, suited to every
+occasion, and distributed it with the disinterested
+benevolence of a philanthropist. He knew
+precisely what articles of merchandise were
+adapted to the taste of each customer; and the
+comprehensive &ldquo;rule of three&rdquo; would not have
+enabled him to calculate more nicely the exact
+amount of &ldquo;talk&rdquo; necessary to convince them
+of the same.</p>
+
+<p>His address was extremely insinuating, for he
+always endeavored to say the most agreeable
+things, and no man could judge more accurately<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>
+what would best please the person addressed.
+He might be vain enough, but his egotism was
+never obtruded upon others. He might secretly
+felicitate himself upon a successful trade, but
+he never boasted of it. He seemed to be far
+more interested in the affairs of others than in
+his own. He had sympathy for the afflictions
+of his customers, counsel for their difficulties,
+triumph in their success.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Before the introduction of mails, he was the
+universal news-carrier, and could tell all about
+the movements of the whole world. He could
+gossip over his wares with his female customers,
+till he beguiled them into endless purchases, for
+he had heard of every death, marriage, and
+birth within fifty miles. He recollected the
+precise piece of calico from which Mrs. Jones
+bought her last new dress, and the identical
+bolt of riband from which Mrs. Smith trimmed
+her &ldquo;Sunday bonnet.&rdquo; He knew whose children
+went to &ldquo;meeting&rdquo; in &ldquo;store-shoes,&rdquo; whose
+daughter was beginning to wear long dresses,
+and whose wife wore cotton hose. He could
+ring the changes on the &ldquo;latest fashions&rdquo; as
+glibly as the skilfulest <i>modiste</i>. He was a
+<i>connoisseur</i> in colors, and learned in their
+effects upon complexion. He could laugh the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>
+husband into half-a-dozen shirts, flatter the wife
+into calico and gingham, and praise the children
+till both parents joined in dressing them anew
+from top to toe.</p>
+
+<p>He always sold his goods &ldquo;at a ruinous
+sacrifice,&rdquo; but he seemed to have a d&eacute;p&ocirc;t of
+infinite extent and capacity, from which he
+annually drew new supplies. He invariably
+left a neighborhood the loser by his visit, and
+the close of each season found him inconsolable
+for his &ldquo;losses.&rdquo; But the next year he was sure
+to come back, risen, like the Ph&#339;nix, from his
+own ashes, and ready to be ruined again&mdash;in
+the same way. He could never resist the pleading
+look of a pretty woman, and if she &ldquo;jewed&rdquo;
+him twenty per cent. (though his profits were
+only two hundred), the tenderness of his heart
+compelled him to yield. What wonder is it,
+then, if he was a prime favorite with all the
+women, or that his advent, to the children, made
+a day of jubilee?</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But the peddler, like every other human
+&ldquo;institution,&rdquo; only had &ldquo;his day.&rdquo; The time
+soon came when he was forced to give way
+before the march of newfangledness. The
+country grew densely populated, neighborhoods
+became thicker, and the smoke of one man's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>
+chimney could be seen from another's front-door.
+People's wants began to be permanent&mdash;they
+were no longer content with transient
+or periodical supplies&mdash;they demanded something
+more constant and regular. From this
+demand arose the little neighborhood &ldquo;stores,&rdquo;
+established for each settlement at a central and
+convenient point&mdash;usually at &ldquo;cross-roads,&rdquo; or
+next door to the blacksmith's shop&mdash;and these
+it was which superseded the peddler's trade.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>We could wish to pause here, and, after describing
+the little d&eacute;p&ocirc;t, &ldquo;take an account of
+stock:&rdquo; for no store, not even a sutler's, ever
+presented a more amusing or characteristic
+assortment. But since these modest establishments
+were generally the <i>nuclei</i>, around which
+western towns were built, we must reserve our
+fire until we reach that subject.</p>
+
+
+<p>But the peddler had not acquired his experience
+of life for nothing, he was not to be outdone,
+even by the more aristocratic stationary
+shop-keeper. When he found his trade declining,
+he cast about him for a good neighborhood,
+still uninvaded by the Lombards, and his
+extensive knowledge of the country soon enabled
+him to find one. Here he erected his own<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>
+cabin, and boldly entered the lists against his
+new competitors. If he could find no eligible
+point for such an establishment, or if he augured
+unfavorably of his success in the new walk, he
+was not cast down. If he could not &ldquo;keep
+store,&rdquo; he could at least &ldquo;keep tavern,&rdquo; an
+occupation for which his knowledge of the
+world and cosmopolitan habits, admirably fitted
+him. In this capacity, we shall have occasion
+to refer to him again; and have now only to
+record, that in the progress of time, he grew
+rich, if not fat, and eventually died, &ldquo;universally
+regretted.&rdquo;</p>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<h2><a name="VIII" id="VIII"></a>VIII.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE SCHOOLMASTER.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;There, in his quiet mansion, skilled to rule,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The village <i>master</i> taught his little school.<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">I knew him well, and every truant knew:<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0"><br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">Yet he was kind; or, if severe in aught,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The love he bore to learning was in fault.<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The village all declared how much he knew:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too.&rdquo;&mdash;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Goldsmith's &ldquo;Deserted Village.&rdquo;</span><br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 411px;">
+<img src="images/illus-296.jpg" width="411" height="500" alt=""  />
+<span class="caption">THE SCHOOLMASTER.</span></div>
+
+<p>In the progress of society, the physical wants
+are felt before the intellectual. Men appreciate
+the necessity for covering their backs and
+lining their stomachs before storing their minds,
+and they naturally provide a shelter from the
+storms of heaven, before they seek (with other
+learning) a knowledge of the heavenly bodies.
+Thus the rudest social system comprises something
+of the mechanic arts&mdash;government begins
+to advance toward the dignity of a science&mdash;commerce
+follows the establishment of legal
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span>supremacy&mdash;and the education of the citizen
+comes directly after the recognition of his social
+and political rights. So, the justice of the
+peace (among other legal functionaries) indicates
+subjection, more or less complete, to the
+regulations of law; the peddler represents the
+beginning of commercial interests; and the
+schoolmaster succeeds him, in the natural order
+of things.</p>
+
+<p>It may be possible to preserve a high respect
+for a <i>calling</i>, while we despise the men who
+exercise it: though I believe this is not one of
+the rules which &ldquo;work both ways,&rdquo; and the converse
+is, therefore, not equally true. A man's
+occupation affects <i>him</i> more nearly than <i>he</i>
+does his occupation. A thousand contemptible
+men will not bring a respectable profession into
+so much disrepute, as a contemptible profession
+will a thousand respectable men. All the military
+talents, for example, of the commander-in-chief
+of our armies, would not preserve him
+from contempt, should he set up a barber-shop,
+or drive a milk-cart; but the barber, or the
+milkman, might make a thousand blunders at
+the head of an army, should extravagant democracy
+elevate him to that position, and yet the
+rank of a general would be as desirable, because
+as honorable, as ever.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_290" id="Page_290">[Pg 290]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>It is certainly true, however, that the most
+exalted station may be degraded by filling it
+with a low or despicable incumbent, for the
+mental effort necessary to the abstraction of the
+employment from him who pursues it, is one
+which most men do not take the trouble to
+make: an effort, indeed, which the majority of
+men are <i>incapable</i> of making. A vicious priest
+degrades the priestly vocation&mdash;a hypocrite
+brings reproach upon the religious profession&mdash;a
+dishonest lawyer sinks the legal character&mdash;and
+even the bravest men care but little for
+promotion in an army, when cowardice and incompetency
+are rewarded with rank and power.
+But manifest incapacity, culpable neglect of
+duty, or even a positively vicious character,
+will not reduce a calling to contempt, or bring
+it into disrepute so soon, as any quality which
+excites ridicule.</p>
+
+<p>An awkward figure, a badly-shaped garment,
+or an ungainly manner, will sometimes outweigh
+the acquirements of the finest scholar;
+and the cause of religion has suffered more,
+from the absence of the softer graces, in its
+clerical representations, than from all the logic
+of its adversaries. A laugh is more effectual
+to subvert an institution, than an argument&mdash;for
+it is easier to make men ashamed, than to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_291" id="Page_291">[Pg 291]</a></span>
+convince them. Truth and reason are formidable
+weapons, but ridicule is stronger than
+either&mdash;or both.</p>
+
+<p>Thus: All thinking men will eagerly admit,
+that the profession of the schoolmaster is, not
+only respectable, but honorable, alike to the individual,
+and to the community in which he
+pursues it: yet, rather than teach a school for a
+livelihood, the large majority of the same men
+would &ldquo;split rails&rdquo; or cut cord-wood! And this
+is not because teaching is laborious&mdash;though it
+<i>is</i> laborious, and thankless, too, beyond all
+other occupations; but because a number and
+variety of causes, into which we need not inquire,
+have combined to throw ridicule upon
+him, who is derisively called the pedagogue&mdash;for
+most men would rather be shot at, than
+laughed at. Cause and effect are always inter-reactive:
+and the refusal of the most competent
+men, to &ldquo;take up the birch&rdquo;&mdash;which is
+the effect of this derision&mdash;has filled our
+school-rooms with men, who are, not unfairly,
+its victims. Thus the profession&mdash;(for such is
+its inherent dignity)&mdash;itself, has fallen into discredit&mdash;even
+though the judgment of men
+universally is, that it is not only useful, but indispensable.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is that judgment incorrect. For, though<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_292" id="Page_292">[Pg 292]</a></span>
+home-education may sometimes succeed, it is
+usually too fragmentary to be beneficial&mdash;private
+tutors are too often the slaves of their pupils,
+and can not enforce &ldquo;attention,&rdquo; the first
+condition of advancement, where they have not
+the paraphernalia of command&mdash;and, as for
+self-education, logically there can be no such
+thing: &ldquo;one might as well attempt to lift himself
+over the fence, by the straps of his boots,&rdquo;
+as to educate himself &ldquo;without a master.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The schoolmaster, then, is a useful member
+of society&mdash;not to be spared at any stage of its
+progress. But he is particularly necessary to
+communities which are in the transition state;
+for, upon the enlightenment of the rising generation
+depend the success and preservation of
+growing institutions. Nor does his usefulness
+consist altogether&mdash;or even in a great measure&mdash;in
+the number of facts, sciences, or theories,
+with which he may store the minds of his pupils.
+These are not the objects of education,
+any more than a knowledge of the compartments
+in a printer's &ldquo;letter-case,&rdquo; is the ultimate
+result of the art of printing. The types
+are so arranged, in order to enable the compositors
+more conveniently to attain the ends,
+for which that arrangement is only a prepara<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_293" id="Page_293">[Pg 293]</a></span>tion:
+facts and sciences are taught for the improvement
+of the faculties, in order that they
+may work with more ease, force, and certainty,
+upon other and really important things; for
+education is only the marshalling of powers,
+preliminary to the great &ldquo;battle of life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The mind of an uneducated man, however
+strong in itself, is like an army of undisciplined
+men&mdash;a crowd of chaotic, shapeless, and often
+misdirected elements. To bring these into
+proper subjection&mdash;to enable him to bind
+them, with anything like their native force, to
+a given purpose&mdash;a prescribed &ldquo;training&rdquo; is
+necessary; and it is this which education supplies.
+If you can give a mind the <i>habit of attention</i>,
+all the power it has will be made
+available: and it is through this faculty, that
+even dull minds are so frequently able to
+mount the car of triumph, and ride swiftly
+past so many, who are immeasurably their
+superiors. The first element of the discipline
+which develops this power, is submission to
+control; and without such subordination, a
+school can not exist. Thus, the first lesson
+that children learn from the schoolmaster, is
+the most valuable acquisition they can make.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But it was no easy task to teach this princi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_294" id="Page_294">[Pg 294]</a></span>ple
+to the sturdy children of the early Western
+&ldquo;settler;&rdquo; in this, as in all other things, the
+difficulty of the labor was in exact proportion
+to its necessity. The peculiarities of the people,
+and the state of the country, were not
+favorable to the establishment of the limited
+monarchy, requisite to successful teaching. In
+the first place, the parents very generally undervalued,
+what they called &ldquo;mere book-learning.&rdquo;
+For themselves, they had found more
+use for a rifle than a pen; and they naturally
+thought it a much more valuable accomplishment,
+to be able to scalp a squirrel with a
+bullet, at a hundred paces, than to read the
+natural history of the animal in the &ldquo;picture-book.&rdquo;
+They were enthusiastic, also, upon the
+subject of independence; and, though they
+could control their children sternly enough at
+home, they were apt to look, with a jealous eye,
+upon any attempt to establish dominion elsewhere.
+The children partook largely of the
+free, wild spirit of their fathers. They were
+very prompt to resist anything like encroachment
+upon their privileges or rights, and were,
+of course, pretty certain to consider even salutary
+control an attempt to assert a despotism.
+I believe history contains no record, whatever
+the annals of fiction may display, of a boy,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_295" id="Page_295">[Pg 295]</a></span>
+with much spirit, submitting without a murmur
+to the authority of the schoolmaster: if such a
+prodigy of enlightened humility ever existed,
+he certainly did not live in the west. But a
+more important difficulty than either of these,
+was the almost entire want of money in the
+country; and without this there was but little
+encouragement for the effort to overcome other
+obstacles. Money <i>may</i> be only a <i>representative</i>
+of value, but its absence operates marvellously
+like the want of the value itself, and the primitive
+people of those days, and especially that
+class to which the schoolmaster belonged, had
+a habit, however illogical, of considering it a
+desirable commodity, <i>per se.</i></p>
+
+<p>All these impediments, however, could, in the
+course of time, be conquered: the country was
+improving in social tone; parents must eventually
+take some pride even in the accomplishments
+they despised; and patience and gentleness,
+intermingled, now and then, with a little
+wholesome severity, will ultimately subdue the
+most stubborn spirit. As for the pecuniary
+difficulty, it was, as the political economists
+will tell us, only the absence of a medium at
+the worst: and, in its stead, the master could
+receive boarding, clothing, and the agricultural
+products of the country. So many barrels of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_296" id="Page_296">[Pg 296]</a></span>
+corn, or bushels of wheat, &ldquo;per quarter,&rdquo; might
+not be so conveniently handled, but were quite
+as easy to be counted, as an equal number of
+dollars; and this primitive mode of payment is
+even yet practised in many rural districts, perhaps,
+in both the east and west. To counter-balance
+its inconvenience of bulk, this &ldquo;currency&rdquo;
+possessed a double advantage over the
+more refined &ldquo;medium of exchange&rdquo; now in
+use: it was not liable to counterfeits, and the
+bank from which it issued was certain not to
+&ldquo;break.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>So the schoolmaster was not to be deterred
+from pursuing his honorable calling, even by
+the difficulties incident to half-organized communities.
+Indeed, teaching was the resort, at least
+temporary, of four fifths of the educated, and
+nearly an equal number of the uneducated
+young men, who came to the west: for certainly
+that proportion of both classes arrived in the
+country, without money to support, friends to
+encourage, or pride to deter them.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>They were almost all what western people
+call &ldquo;Yankees&rdquo;&mdash;born and bred east of the
+Hudson: descendants of the sturdy puritans&mdash;and
+distinguished by the peculiarities of that
+strongly-marked people, in personal appear<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_297" id="Page_297">[Pg 297]</a></span>ance,
+language, manners, and style and tone of
+thought. Like the peddlers, they were generally
+on the sunny side of thirty, full of the
+hopeful energy which belongs to that period of
+life, and only submitting to the labors and
+privations of the present, because through these
+they looked to the future for better and brighter
+things.</p>
+
+<p>The causes which led to their emigration,
+were as many and as various as the adventurers
+whom they moved. They were, most of them,
+mere boys: young Whittingtons, whom the
+bells did <i>not</i> ring back, to become lord-mayors;
+who, indeed, had not even the limited possessions
+of that celebrated worthy; and, thus destitute,
+they wandered off, many hundreds of
+miles, &ldquo;to see the world and make their fortunes,&rdquo;
+at an age when the youth of the present
+day are just beginning to think of college.
+They brought neither money, letters of introduction,
+nor bills of exchange: they expected
+to find neither acquaintance nor relatives. But
+they knew&mdash;for it was one of the wise maxims
+of their unromantic fathers&mdash;that industry and
+honesty must soon gather friends, and that all
+other desirable things would speedily follow.
+They had great and just confidence in their own
+abilities to &ldquo;get along;&rdquo; and if they did not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_298" id="Page_298">[Pg 298]</a></span>
+actually think that the whole world belonged to
+them, they were well-assured, that in an incredibly
+short space of time, they would be
+able to possess a respectable portion of it.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>A genuine specimen of the class to which
+most of the early schoolmasters belonged, never
+felt any misgivings about his own success, and
+never hesitated to assume any position in life.
+Neither pride nor modesty was ever suffered to
+interfere with his action. He would take charge
+of a numerous school, when he could do little
+more than write his own name, just as he would
+have undertaken to run a steamboat, or command
+an army, when he had never studied
+engineering or heard of strategy. Nor would
+he have failed in either capacity: a week's application
+would make him master of a steam-engine,
+or a proficient (after the <i>present manner</i>
+of proficiency) in tactics; and as for his school,
+he could himself learn at night what he was to
+teach others on the following day! Nor was
+this mere &ldquo;conceit&rdquo;&mdash;though, in some other
+respects, that word, in its limited sense, was
+not inapplicable&mdash;neither was it altogether
+ignorant presumption; for one of these men
+was seldom known to fail in anything he undertook:
+or, if he did fail, he was never found to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_299" id="Page_299">[Pg 299]</a></span>
+be cast down by defeat, and the resiliency of
+his nature justified his confidence.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The pursuit of a certain avocation, for a long
+period, is apt to warp one's nature to its inequalities;
+and as the character gradually
+assumes the peculiar shape, the personal appearance
+changes in a corresponding direction
+and degree. Thus, the blacksmith becomes
+brawny, square, and sturdy, and the characteristic
+swing of his arm gives tone to his whole
+bearing: the silversmith acquires a peering,
+cunning look, as if he were always examining
+delicate machinery: the physician becomes
+solemn, stately, pompous, and mysterious, and
+speaks like &ldquo;Sir Oracle,&rdquo; as if he were eternally
+administering a bread-pill, or enjoining a regimen
+of drugs and starvation: the lawyer
+assumes a keen, alert, suspicious manner, as if
+he were constantly in pursuit of a latent perjury,
+or feared that his adversary might discover
+a flaw in his &ldquo;case:&rdquo; and so on, throughout the
+catalogue of human avocations. But, among
+all these, that which marks its votaries most
+clearly, is school-teaching.</p>
+
+<p>There seems to be a sort of antagonism
+between this employment and all manner of
+neatness, and the circle of the schoolmaster's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_300" id="Page_300">[Pg 300]</a></span>
+female acquaintance never included the Graces.
+Attention to personal decoration is usually,
+though not universally, in an inverse ratio
+to mental garniture; and an artistically-tied
+cravat seems inconsistent with the supposition
+of a well-stored head above it. A mind which
+is directed toward the evolution of its own
+powers, has but little time to waste in adorning
+the body; and a fashionable costume would
+appear to cramp the intellect, as did the iron-vessel
+the genius of the Arabian tale. Although,
+therefore, there are numerous exceptions&mdash;persons
+whose externals are as elegant as their
+pursuits are intellectual&mdash;men of assiduously-cultivated
+minds are apt to be careless of appearances,
+and the principle applies, with especial
+force, to those whose business it is to develop
+the minds of others.</p>
+
+<p>Nor was the schoolmaster of early days in
+the west, an exception to the rule. He might
+not be as learned, nor as purely intellectual, as
+some of our modern college-professors, but he
+was as ungraceful, and as awkwardly clad, as
+the most slovenly of them all. Indeed, he came
+of a stock which has never been noted for any
+of the lighter accomplishments, or &ldquo;carnal
+graces;&rdquo; for at no period of its eventful history,
+has the puritan type been a remarkable elegant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_301" id="Page_301">[Pg 301]</a></span>
+one. The men so named have been better
+known for bravery than taste, for zeal than
+polish; and since there is always a correspondence
+between habits of thought and feeling
+and the external appearance, the <i>physique</i> of
+the race is more remarkable for rigor of muscle
+and angularity of outline, than for accuracy of
+proportion or smoothness of finish. Neither
+Apollo nor Adonis was in any way related to
+the family; and if either had been, the probability
+is that his kindred would have disowned
+him.</p>
+
+<p>Properly to represent his lineage, therefore,
+the schoolmaster could be neither dandy nor
+dancing-master; and, as if to hold him to his
+integrity, nature had omitted to give him any
+temptation, in his own person, to assume either
+of these respectable characters. The tailor that
+could shape a coat to fit <i>his</i> shoulders, never
+yet handled shears; and he would have been as
+ill at ease, in a pair of fashionable pantaloons,
+as if they had been lined with chestnut-burrs.
+He was generally above the medium height,
+with a very decided stoop, as if in the habit of
+carrying burthens; and a long, high nose, with
+light blue eyes, and coarse, uneven hair, of a
+faded weather-stain color, gave his face the
+expression answering to this lathy outline.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_302" id="Page_302">[Pg 302]</a></span>
+Though never very slender, he was always thin:
+as if he had been flattened out in a rolling-mill;
+and rotundity of corporation was a mode of
+development not at all characteristic. His complexion
+was seldom florid, and not often decidedly
+pale; a sort of sallow discoloration was
+its prevailing hue, like that which marks the
+countenance of a consumer of &ldquo;coarse&rdquo; whiskey
+and strong tobacco. But these failings were
+not the cause of his cadaverous look&mdash;for a
+faithful representative of the class held them
+both in commendable abhorrence&mdash;<i>they were
+not the vices of his nature.</i></p>
+
+<p>There was a sub-division of the class, a secondary
+type, not so often observed, but common
+enough to entitle it to a brief notice. <i>He</i> was,
+generally, short, square, and thick&mdash;the latitude
+bearing a better proportion to the longitude than
+in his lank brother&mdash;but never approaching
+anything like roundness. With this attractive
+figure, he had a complexion of decidedly bilious
+darkness, and what is commonly called a &ldquo;dish-face.&rdquo;
+His nose was depressed between the
+eyes, an arrangement which dragged the point
+upward in the most cruel manner, but gave it
+an expression equally ludicrous and impertinent.
+A pair of small, round, black eyes, encompassed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_303" id="Page_303">[Pg 303]</a></span>&mdash;like
+two little feudal fortresses, each by its
+moat&mdash;with a circle of yellowish white, peered
+out from under brows like battlements. Coarse,
+black hair, always cut short, and standing erect,
+so as to present something the appearance of
+a <i>chevaux de frise</i>, protected a hard, round
+head&mdash;a shape most appropriate to his lineage&mdash;while,
+with equal propriety, ears of corresponding
+magnitude stood boldly forth to assert
+their claim to notice.</p>
+
+<p>Both these types were distinguished for large
+feet, which no boot could enclose, and hands
+broad beyond the compass of any glove. Neither
+was ever known to get drunk, to grow fat, to
+engage in a game of chance, or to lose his appetite:
+it became the teacher of &ldquo;ingenuous
+youth&rdquo; to preserve an exemplary bearing before
+those whom he was endeavoring to benefit;
+while respectable &ldquo;appearances,&rdquo; and proper
+appreciation of the good things of life, were
+the <i>alpha</i> and <i>omega</i> of his system of morality.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But the schoolmaster&mdash;and we now include
+both sub-divisions of the class&mdash;was not deficient
+as an example in many other things, to all who
+wished to learn the true principles of living.
+Among other things, he was distinguished for
+a rigid, iron-bound economy: a characteristic<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_304" id="Page_304">[Pg 304]</a></span>
+which it might have been well to impart to
+many of his pupils. But that which the discreet
+master denominated <i>prudence</i>, the extravagant
+and wrong-headed scholar was inclined to term
+<i>meanness</i>: and historical truth compels us to
+admit, that the rigor of grim economy sometimes
+wore an aspect of questionable austerity.
+Notwithstanding this, however, when we reflect
+upon the scanty compensation afforded the
+benefactor of the rising generation, we can not
+severely blame his penurious tenacity any more
+than we can censure an empty wine-cask for not
+giving forth the nectar which we have never
+poured into it. If, accordingly, he was out at
+the elbows, we are bound to conclude that it
+was because he had not the money to buy a new
+coat; and if he never indulged himself in any
+of the luxuries of life, it was, probably, because
+the purchase of its necessaries had already
+brought him too near the bottom of his purse.</p>
+
+<p>He was always, moreover, &ldquo;a close calculator,&rdquo;
+and, with a wisdom worthy of all imitation,
+never mortgaged the future for the convenience
+of the present. Indeed, this power
+of &ldquo;calculation&rdquo; was not only a talent but a
+passion: you would have thought that his progenitors
+had been arithmeticians since the time
+of Noah! He could &ldquo;figure up&rdquo; any proposi<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_305" id="Page_305">[Pg 305]</a></span>tion
+whatsoever: but he was especially great
+upon the question, how much he could save
+from his scanty salary, and yet live to the end
+of the year.</p>
+
+<p>In fact, it was only <i>living</i> that he cared for.
+The useful, with him, was always superior to
+the ornamental; and whatever was not absolutely
+necessary, he considered wasteful and
+extravagant. Even the profusion of western
+hospitality was, in his eyes, a crime against the
+law of prudence, and he would as soon have
+forgiven a breach of good morals as a violation
+of this, his favorite rule.</p>
+
+<p>As might have been expected, he carried this
+principle with him into the school-room, and was
+very averse to teaching anything beyond what
+would certainly &ldquo;pay.&rdquo; He rigidly eschewed
+embellishment, and adorned his pupils with no
+graceful accomplishments. It might be that he
+never taught anything above the useful branches
+of education, because he had never learned
+more himself; but it is certain that he would
+not have imparted merely polite learning, had
+his own training enabled him to do so: for he
+had, constitutionally, a high contempt for all
+&ldquo;flimsy&rdquo; things, and, moreover, he was not employed
+or paid to teach rhetoric or <i>belles-lettres</i>,
+and, &ldquo;on principle,&rdquo; he never gave more in re<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_306" id="Page_306">[Pg 306]</a></span>turn
+than the value of the money he received.</p>
+
+<p>With this reservation, his duties were always
+thoroughly performed, for neither by nature,
+education, nor lineage, was he likely to slight
+any recognised obligation. He devoted his time
+and talents to his school, as completely as if he
+had derived from it the income of a bishop; and
+the iron constitution, of both body and mind, peculiar
+to his race, enabled him to endure a greater
+amount of continuous application than any other
+man. Indeed, his powers of endurance were
+quite surprising, and the fibre of his mind was
+as tough as that of his body. Even upon a
+quality so valuable as this, however, he never
+prided himself; for, excepting the boast of race,
+which was historical and not unjustifiable, he
+<i>had</i> no pride. He might be a little vain; and,
+in what he said and did, more especially in its
+manner, there might occasionally be a shade of
+self-conceit: for he certainly entertained no
+mean opinion of himself. This might be a little
+obtrusive, too, at times; for he had but slight
+veneration for men, or their feelings, or opinions;
+and he would sometimes pronounce a judgment
+in a tone of superiority justly offensive. But
+he possessed the uncommon virtue of sincerity:
+he thoroughly believed in the infallibility of his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_307" id="Page_307">[Pg 307]</a></span>
+own conclusions; and for this the loftiness of
+his tone might be forgiven.</p>
+
+<p>The most important of the opinions thus expressed,
+were upon religious subjects, for Jews,
+puritans, and Spaniards, have always been very
+decided controversialists. His theology was
+grim, solemn, and angular, and he was as
+combative as one of Cromwell's disputatious
+troopers. In his capacious pocket, he always
+carried a copy of the New Testament&mdash;as, of
+old, the carnal controvertists bore a sword
+buckled to the side. Thus armed, he was a
+genuine polemical &ldquo;swash-buckler,&rdquo; and would
+whip out his Testament, as the bravo did his
+weapon, to cut you in two without ceremony.
+He could carve you into numerous pieces, and
+season you with scriptural salt and pepper; and
+he would do it with a gusto so serious, that it
+would have been no unreasonable apprehension
+that he intended to eat you afterward. And
+the value of his triumph was enhanced, too, by
+the consideration that it was won by no meretricious
+graces or rhetorical flourishes; for the
+ease of his gesticulation was such as you see in
+the arms of a windmill, and his enunciation was
+as nasal and monotonous as that of the Reverend
+Eleazar Poundtext, under whose ministrations
+he had been brought up in all godliness.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_308" id="Page_308">[Pg 308]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But he possessed other accomplishments beside
+those of the polemic. He was not, it is
+true, overloaded with the learning of &ldquo;the
+schools&rdquo;&mdash;was, in fact, quite ignorant of some
+of the branches of knowledge which he imparted
+to his pupils: yet this was never allowed
+to become apparent, for as we have intimated,
+he would frequently himself acquire, at night,
+the lessons which he was to teach on the
+morrow. But time was seldom wasted among
+the people from whom he sprang, and this want
+of preparation denoted that his leisure hours
+had been occupied in possessing himself of other
+acquirements. Among these, the most elegant,
+if not the most useful, was music, and his
+favorite instrument was the flute.</p>
+
+<p>In &ldquo;David Copperfield,&rdquo; Dickens describes
+a certain flute-playing tutor, by the name of
+Mell, concerning whom, and the rest of mankind,
+he expresses the rash opinion, &ldquo;after
+many years of reflection,&rdquo; that &ldquo;nobody ever
+could have played worse.&rdquo; But Dickens never
+saw Strongfaith Lippincott, the schoolmaster,
+nor heard his lugubrious flute, and he therefore
+knows nothing of the superlative degree of detestable
+playing.</p>
+
+<p>There <i>are</i> instruments upon which even an
+unskilful performer may make tolerable music,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_309" id="Page_309">[Pg 309]</a></span>
+but the flute is not one of them&mdash;the man who
+murders <i>that</i>, is a malefactor entitled to no
+&ldquo;benefit of clergy:&rdquo; and our schoolmaster <i>did</i>
+murder it in the most inhuman manner! But,
+let it be said in mitigation of his offence, he had
+never received the benefit of any scientific
+teaching&mdash;he had not been &ldquo;under the tuition
+of the celebrated Signor Wheeziana,&rdquo; nor had
+he profited by &ldquo;the invaluable instructions of
+the unrivalled Bellowsblauer&rdquo;&mdash;and it is very
+doubtful whether he would have gained much
+advantage from them, had he met the opportunity.</p>
+
+<p>He knew that, in order to make a noise on
+the flute, or, indeed, anywhere else, it was
+necessary to <i>blow</i>, and blow he did, like Boreas!
+He always carried the instrument in his pocket,
+and on being asked to play&mdash;a piece of politeness
+for which he always looked&mdash;he drew it
+out with the solemnity of visage with which a
+tender-hearted sheriff produces a death-warrant,
+and while he screwed the joints together, sighed
+blasts like a furnace. He usually deposited
+himself upon the door-sill&mdash;a favorite seat for
+him&mdash;and collecting the younger members of
+the family about him, thence poured forth his
+strains of concentrated mournfulness.</p>
+
+<p>He invariably selected the most melancholy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_310" id="Page_310">[Pg 310]</a></span>
+tunes, playing, with a more profound solemnity,
+the gloomiest psalms and lamentations. When
+he ventured upon secular music, he never performed
+anything more lively than &ldquo;The Mistletoe
+Bough,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Barbara Allen,&rdquo; and into each
+he threw a spirit so much more dismal than the
+original, as almost to induce his hearers to
+imitate the example of the disconsolate &ldquo;Barbara,&rdquo;
+and &ldquo;turn their faces to the wall&rdquo; in
+despair of being ever again able to muster a
+smile!</p>
+
+<p>He was not a scientific musician, then&mdash;fortunately
+for his usefulness&mdash;because thorough
+musicians are generally &ldquo;good-for-nothing&rdquo;
+else. But music was not a science among the
+pioneers, though the undertone of melancholy
+feeling, to which all sweet sounds appeal, was
+as easily reached in them as in any other people.
+Their wants in this, as in other things, were very
+easily satisfied&mdash;they were susceptible of pleasure
+from anything which was in the least commendable:
+and not feeling obliged, by any
+captious canon, to condemn nine true notes, because
+of the tenth false one, they allowed themselves
+to enjoy the best music they could get,
+without thinking of the damage done their
+musical and critical reputation.</p>
+
+<p>But his flute was not the only means of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_311" id="Page_311">[Pg 311]</a></span>
+pleasing within the schoolmaster's reach: for
+he could flatter as well as if the souls of ten
+courtiers had transmigrated into his single body.
+He might not do it quite so gracefully as one
+of these, nor with phrases so well-chosen, or so
+correctly pronounced, but what he said was
+always cunningly adapted to the character of
+the person whom he desired to move. He had
+&ldquo;a deal of candied courtesy,&rdquo; especially for the
+women; and though his sturdy manhood and
+the excellent opinion of himself&mdash;both of which
+came to him from his ancestry&mdash;usually preserved
+him from the charge of servility, he was
+sometimes a &ldquo;cozener&rdquo; whose conscience annoyed
+him with very few scruples. Occasionally
+he might be seen fawning upon the rich; but it
+was not with him&mdash;as it usually is with the
+parasites of wealthy men&mdash;because he thought
+Dives more respectable, but more <i>useful</i>, on
+account of his money: the opulent possessed
+what the indigent wanted, and the shortest road
+to the goal of Cupidity, lay through the region
+of Vanity. There was none of that servility
+which Mr. Carlyle has attempted to dignify with
+the name of &ldquo;hero-worship,&rdquo; for the rich man
+was rather a bird to be plucked, than a &ldquo;hero&rdquo;
+to be worshipped. And though it may seem
+that I do the schoolmaster little honor by the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_312" id="Page_312">[Pg 312]</a></span>
+distinction, I can not but think cupidity a more
+manly trait than servility: the beast of prey a
+more respectable animal than the hound.</p>
+
+<p>But the schoolmaster's obsequiousness was
+more in manner than in inclination, and found
+its excuse in the dependence of his circumstances.
+It has been immemorially the custom
+of the world, practically to undervalue his services,
+and in all time teaching and poverty have
+been inseparable companions. Nobody ever
+cared how poorly he was clad, how laborious
+his life, or how few his comforts; and if he
+failed to attend to his own interests by all
+the arts in his power, no one, certainly, would
+perform the office for him. He was expected to
+make himself generally useful without being
+particular about his compensation: he was willing
+to do the one, but was, very naturally,
+rather averse to the other: that which justice
+would not give him, he managed to procure by
+stratagem.</p>
+
+<p>His manners thus acquired the characteristics
+we have enumerated, with also others. He was,
+for example, very officious; a peculiarity which
+might, perhaps, be derived from his parentage,
+but which was never repressed by his occupation.
+The desire to make himself agreeable,
+and his high opinion of his ability to do so, ren<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_313" id="Page_313">[Pg 313]</a></span>dered
+his tone and bearing very familiar; but
+this was, also, a trait which he shared with his
+race, and one which has contributed, as much
+as any other, to bring the people called
+&ldquo;Yankees&rdquo; into contempt in the west. The
+men of that section are not themselves reserved,
+and hate nothing more than ceremonious politeness:
+but they like to be the first to make advances,
+and their demonstrations are all hearty,
+blunt, and open. They therefore disliked anything
+which has an insinuating tone, and the
+man who attempts to ingratiate himself with
+them, whether it be by elaborate arts or sidelong
+familiarity, at once arms them against them.</p>
+
+<p>The schoolmaster was inquisitive, also, and
+to that western men most decidedly object.
+They have little curiosity themselves, and seldom
+ask impertinent questions. When they do so,
+it is almost always for the purpose of insulting
+the man to whom they are put, and <i>never</i> to
+make themselves agreeable. The habit of asking
+numerous questions was, therefore, apt to
+prejudice them against men whose characteristics
+might be, in other respects, very estimable;
+and it must be acknowledged, that vulgar and
+obtrusive impertinence is an unfortunate accompaniment
+to an introduction. But the schoolmaster
+never meant to be impertinent, for he<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_314" id="Page_314">[Pg 314]</a></span>
+was far from being quarrelsome (except with his
+scholars), and the idea that any one could be
+otherwise than pleased with his notice, however
+given, never entered his mind. Though his
+questions were, for the most part, asked to
+gratify a constitutional curiosity, he was actuated
+in some degree, also, by the notion that
+his condescension would be acceptably interpreted
+by those whom he thus favored. But,
+like many other benevolent men, who put force
+upon their inclinations for the benefit of their
+neighbors, he was mistaken in his &ldquo;calculation;&rdquo;
+and where he considered himself a benefactor,
+he was by others pronounced a &ldquo;bore.&rdquo; The
+fact is, he had some versatility, and, like most
+men of various powers, he was prone to think
+himself a much greater man than he really was.</p>
+
+<p>He was not peculiarly fitted to shine as a
+gallant &ldquo;in hall or bower,&rdquo; but had he been the
+climax of knightly qualities, the very impersonation
+of beauty, grace, and accomplishment,
+he could not have been better adapted than, in
+his own estimation, he already was, to please
+the fancy of a lady. He was blissfully unconscious
+of every imperfection; and displayed
+himself before what he thought the admiring
+gaze of all <i>dames</i> and <i>demoiselles</i>, as proudly
+as if he had been the all-accomplished victor in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_315" id="Page_315">[Pg 315]</a></span>
+some passage of arms. Yet he carried himself,
+in outward appearance, as meekly as the humblest
+Christian, and took credit to himself accordingly.
+He seldom pressed his advantages
+to the utter subjugation of the sighing dames,
+but deported himself with commendable forbearance
+toward the weak and defenceless whom
+his perfections had disarmed. He was as merciful
+as he was irresistible: as considerate as he
+was beautiful.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;What a saint of a knight is the knight of Saint John!&rdquo;</p></div>
+
+<p>The personal advantages which he believed
+made him so dangerous to the peace of woman,
+were counteracted, thus, by his saintly piety.
+For&mdash;as it became him to be, both in the character
+of a man, and in that of a descendant of
+the puritans&mdash;he was always habited in &ldquo;the
+livery of heaven.&rdquo; Some ill-natured and suspicious
+people, it is true, were inclined to call
+his exemplary &ldquo;walk&rdquo; hypocritical, and to stigmatise
+his pious &ldquo;conversation&rdquo; as <i>cant</i>. But
+the ungodly world has always persecuted the
+righteous, and the schoolmaster was correct in
+attributing their sneers to the rebuke which his
+example gave to their wickedness, and to make
+&ldquo;capital&rdquo; out of the &ldquo;persecution.&rdquo; And who
+shall blame him&mdash;when in the weary intervals<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_316" id="Page_316">[Pg 316]</a></span>
+of a laborious and thankless profession, fatigue
+repressed enthusiasm&mdash;if he sometimes eked
+out the want of inspiration by a godly snuffle?
+True piety reduces even the weapons of the
+scorner to the service of religion, and the citadel
+of the Gloomy Kingdom is bombarded with the
+artillery of Satan! Thus, the nose, which is so
+serviceable in the production of the devilish and
+unchristian sneer, is elevated by a saintlike
+zeal, to the expression of a devout whine: and
+this I believe to be the only satisfactory explanation
+which has ever been given, of the connection,
+in so many good men, between the
+<i>nasal</i> and the <i>religious!</i></p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But the schoolmaster usually possessed genuine
+religious feeling, as well as a pious manner;
+and, excepting an occasional display of hereditary,
+and almost unconscious, cunning, he lived
+&ldquo;a righteous and upright life.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The process of becoming a respectable and
+respected citizen was a very short and simple one&mdash;and
+whether the schoolmaster designed to remain
+only a lord of the ferrule, or casting the
+insignia of his office behind him, to seek higher
+things, he was never slow in adopting it.
+Among his scholars, there were generally half-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_317" id="Page_317">[Pg 317]</a></span>a-dozen
+or more young women&mdash;marriageable
+daughters of substantial men; and from this
+number he selected, courted, and espoused, some
+healthy, buxom girl, the heiress of a considerable
+plantation or a quantity of &ldquo;wild land.&rdquo;
+He always sought these two requisites combined&mdash;for
+he was equally fond of a fine person and
+handsome estate. Upon the land, he generally
+managed to find an eligible town-site; and,
+being a perfect master of the art of building
+cities on paper, and puffing them into celebrity,
+his sales of town-lots usually brought him a
+competent fortune. As years rolled on, his substance
+increased with the improvement of the
+country&mdash;the rougher points of his character
+were gradually rubbed down&mdash;age and gray
+hairs thickened upon his brow&mdash;honors, troops
+of friends, and numerous children, gathered
+round him&mdash;and the close of his career found
+him respected in life and lamented in death.
+His memory is a monument of what honesty
+and industry, even without worldly advantages,
+may always accomplish.</p>
+
+<div class="sidenoteb"><p>[NOTE.&mdash;A friend expresses a doubt whether I have not made
+the foregoing portrait too hard-featured for historical accuracy;
+and, by way of fortifying his opinion, points to illustrious examples
+of men who have taught schools in their youth&mdash;senators
+and statesmen&mdash;some of whom now hold prominent
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_318" id="Page_318">[Pg 318]</a></span>positions before the people, even for the highest offices in their
+gift. But these men never belonged to the class which I have
+attempted to portray. Arriving in this country in youth,
+without the means of subsistence&mdash;in many cases, long before
+they had acquired the professions which afterward made them
+famous&mdash;they resorted to school-teaching as a mere expedient
+for present support, without any intention to make it the occupation
+of their lives, or the means of their advancement.
+They were moved by an ambition which looked beyond it, and
+they invariably abandoned it so soon as they had prepared
+themselves for another pursuit.</p>
+
+<p>But the genuine <i>character</i> took it up as a permanent employment&mdash;he
+looked to it not only as a means of temporary
+subsistence, but as a source, by some of the direct or indirect
+channels which we have indicated, of lasting income&mdash;and he
+never threw it up until he had already secured that to which
+the other class, when <i>they</i> abandoned the occupation, were still
+looking forward. In the warfare against Ignorance, therefore,
+these, whom we have described, were the regular army, while
+the exceptions were but volunteers for a limited period, and,
+in the muster-roll of permanent strength, they are, therefore,
+not included.]</p></div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<h2><a name="IX" id="IX"></a>IX.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_319" id="Page_319">[Pg 319]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE SCHOOLMISTRESS</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;And yet I love thee not&mdash;thy brow<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Is but the sculptor's mould:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It wants a shade, it wants a glow&mdash;<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">It is less fair than cold.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4">L. E. L.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 449px;">
+<img src="images/illus-329.jpg" width="449" height="500" alt=""  />
+<span class="caption">THE SCHOOLMISTRESS.</span></div>
+
+<p>But the family of the pioneer consisted of
+girls as well as boys; and though the former
+were never so carefully educated as the latter,
+they were seldom allowed to go wholly untaught.</p>
+
+<p>The more modern system, which separates
+the sexes while infants, and never suffers them
+to come together again until they are &ldquo;marriageable,&rdquo;
+was not then introduced; and we
+think it would have been no great misfortune
+to the country had it remained in Spain, whence
+it would seem to have been imported. Children
+of both sexes were intended to grow up together&mdash;to
+be educated in company&mdash;at least until
+they have reached the points where their paths
+naturally diverge, for thus only can they be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_320" id="Page_320">[Pg 320]</a></span>
+most useful to each other, in the duties, trials, and
+struggles, of after life. The artificial refinement
+which teaches a little girl that a boy is something
+to be dreaded&mdash;a sort of beast of prey&mdash;before
+she recognises any difference, save in
+dress, can never benefit her at best; for by-and-by
+she will discover the falsehood: the very
+instincts of her nature would unveil it, did she
+learn it in no other way: and as action and reaction
+are equal, the rebound may cause her to
+entertain opinions altogether too favorable to
+those whom she has so foolishly been taught to
+fear.</p>
+
+<p>Nor is the effect of such a system likely to
+be any better upon the other sex: for it is association
+with females (as early as possible, too,
+all the better), which softens, humanizes, graces,
+and adorns the masculine character. The boy
+who has been denied such association&mdash;the incidents
+to whose education have made him shy,
+as so many are, even of little girls&mdash;is apt to
+grow up morose and selfish, ill-tempered, and
+worse mannered. When the impulses of his
+developing nature finally force him into female
+society, he goes unprepared, and comes away
+without profit: his ease degenerates into familiarity,
+his conversation is, at best, but washy
+sentimentalism, and the association, until the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_321" id="Page_321">[Pg 321]</a></span>
+accumulated rust of youth is worn away, is of
+very doubtful benefit to both parties. Indeed,
+parents who thus govern and educate their
+children, can find no justification for the practice,
+until they can first so alter the course of
+Nature, as to establish the law, that each family
+shall be composed altogether of girls, or shall
+consist exclusively of boys!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But these modern refinements had not obtained
+currency, at the period of which we are
+writing; nor was any such nonsense the motive
+to the introduction of female teachers. But
+one of the lessons learned by observation of the
+domestic circle, and particularly of the influence
+of the mother over her children, was the
+principle, that a woman can teach males of a
+certain age quite as well as a man, and <i>females
+much better</i>; and that, since the school-teacher
+stands, for the time in the place of the parent,
+a <i>mistress</i> was far more desirable, especially for
+the girls, than a <i>master</i>. Hence, the latter had
+exercised his vocation in the west, but a few
+years, before he was followed by the former.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>New England was the great nursery of this
+class, as it was of so many others, transplanted
+beyond the Alleghenies. Emigration, and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_322" id="Page_322">[Pg 322]</a></span>
+enticements and casualties of a seafaring life&mdash;drawing
+the men into their appropriate channels
+of enterprise and adventure, had there reduced
+their number below that of the women&mdash;thus
+remitting many of the latter, to other than
+the usual and natural occupations of &ldquo;the sex.&rdquo;
+Matrimony became a remote possibility to large
+numbers&mdash;attention to household matters gave
+place to various kinds of light labor&mdash;and, since
+they were not likely to have progeny of their
+own to rear, many resorted to the teaching of
+children belonging to others. Idleness was a
+rare vice; and New England girls&mdash;to their
+honor be it spoken&mdash;have seldom resembled
+&ldquo;the lilies of the field,&rdquo; in aught, save the fairness
+of their complexions! They have never
+displayed much squeamishness&mdash;about work:
+and if they could not benefit the rising generation
+in a maternal, were willing to make themselves
+useful in a tutorial capacity. The people
+of that enlightened section, have always
+possessed the learning necessary to appreciate,
+and the philanthropy implied in the wish to
+dispel, the benighted ignorance of all other
+quarters of the world; and thus a competent
+number of them have ever been found willing
+to give up the comforts of home, for the benefit
+of the &ldquo;barbarous west<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_323" id="Page_323">[Pg 323]</a></span>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>The schoolmistress, then, generally came from
+the &ldquo;cradle&rdquo; of intelligence, as well as &ldquo;of liberty,&rdquo;
+beyond the Hudson; and, in the true
+spirit of benevolence, she carried her blessings
+(herself the greatest) across the mountain barrier,
+to bestow them, <i>gratis</i>, upon the spiritually
+and materially needy, in the valley of the
+Mississippi. Her vocation, or, as it would now
+be called, her &ldquo;mission&rdquo; was to teach an impulse
+not only given by her education, but belonging
+to her nature. She had a constitutional
+tendency toward it&mdash;indeed, a genius for it;
+like that which impels one to painting, another
+to sculpture&mdash;this to a learned profession, that
+to a mechanical trade. And so perfectly was
+she adapted to it, that &ldquo;the ignorant people
+of the west&rdquo; not recognising her &ldquo;divine appointment,&rdquo;
+were often at a loss to conjecture,
+who, or whether anybody, could have taught
+<i>her!</i></p>
+
+<p>For that same &ldquo;ignorant,&rdquo; and too often, ungrateful
+people, she was full of tender pity&mdash;the
+yearning of the single-hearted missionary,
+for the welfare of his flock. <i>They</i> were steeped
+in darkness, but <i>she</i> carried the light&mdash;nay, she
+<i>was</i> the light! and with a benignity, often
+evinced by self-sacrifice&mdash;she poured it graciously
+over the land&mdash;</p>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_324" id="Page_324">[Pg 324]</a></span></p>
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">As if we had them not.&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>For the good of the race, or of any (male) individual,
+she would immolate herself, even upon
+the altar of Hymen; and, since the number,
+who were to be benefited by such self-devotement,
+was small in New England, but large in
+the west, she did well to seek a field for her
+benign dedication, beyond the Alleghenies!
+Honor to the all-daring self-denial, which
+brought to the forlorn bachelor of the west, a
+companion in his labors, a solace in his afflictions,
+and a mother to his children!</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Her name was invariably Grace, Charity, or
+Prudence; and, if names had been always descriptive
+of the personal qualities of those who
+bore them, she would have been entitled to all
+three.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In the early ages of the world, names were,
+or, at least, were supposed to be, fair exponents
+of the personal characters of those, upon whom
+they were bestowed. But, <i>then</i>, the qualities
+must be manifested, before the name could be
+earned, so that all who had never distinguished
+themselves, in some way, were said to be<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_325" id="Page_325">[Pg 325]</a></span>
+&ldquo;nameless.&rdquo; In more modern times, however,
+an improvement upon this system was introduced:
+the character was anticipated, and parents
+called their children what they <i>wished</i>
+them to be, in the hope that they would grow
+to the standard thus imposed. And it is no
+doubt, true, that names thus bestowed had
+much influence in the development of character&mdash;on
+the same principle, upon which the
+boards, to which Indian women lash their infants
+soon after birth, have much to do with the erect
+carriage of the mature savage. Such an appellation
+is a perpetual memento of parental counsels&mdash;a
+substitute for barren precept&mdash;an endless
+exhortation to Grace, Charity, or Prudence.</p>
+
+<p>I do not mean, that calling a boy Cicero will
+certainly make him an orator, or that all Jeremiahs
+are necessarily prophets; nor is it improbable,
+that the same peculiarities in the
+parents, which dictate these expressive names,
+may direct the characters of the children, by
+controlling their education; but it is unquestionable,
+that the characteristics, and even the
+fortunes of the man, are frequently daguerreotyped
+by a name given in infancy. There is
+not a little wisdom in the advice of Sterne to
+godfathers&mdash;not &ldquo;to Nicodemus a man into
+nothing.&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;Harsh names,&rdquo; says D'Israeli, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_326" id="Page_326">[Pg 326]</a></span>
+elder, &ldquo;will have, in spite of all our philosophy,
+a painful and ludicrous effect on our ears and
+our associations; it is vexatious, that the softness
+of delicious vowels, or the ruggedness of
+inexorable consonants, should at all be connected
+with a man's happiness, or even have an influence
+on his fortune.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i8">&ldquo;That which we call a rose,<br /></span>
+<span class="i2">By any other name would smell as sweet;&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>but this does not touch the question, whether,
+if it had not smelt as sweet we would not have
+given it some other name. The celebrated
+demagogue, Wilkes, is reported to have said,
+that, &ldquo;without knowing the comparative merits
+of the two poets, we would have no hesitation
+in preferring John Dryden to Elkanah Settle,
+<i>from the names only</i>.&rdquo; And the reason of
+this truth is to be found in the fact, that our
+impressions of both men and things depend upon
+associations, often beyond our penetration to detect&mdash;associations
+with which <i>sound</i>, depending
+on hidden laws, has quite as much to do, as <i>sense.</i></p>
+
+
+<p>Among those who have carried the custom
+of picturesque or expressive naming, to an extent
+bordering on the ridiculous, were the hard-headed
+champions of the true church-militant,
+the English puritans&mdash;as Hume, the bigoted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_327" id="Page_327">[Pg 327]</a></span>
+old Tory, rather ill-naturedly testifies! And the
+puritans of <i>New</i> England&mdash;whatever advancing
+intelligence may have made them in the
+present&mdash;were, for a long time, faithful representatives
+of the oddities, as well as of the virtues,
+of their fathers.</p>
+
+<p>And, accordingly, we find the schoolmistress&mdash;being
+a descendant of the Jason's-crew, who
+landed from the Argo-Mayflower, usually bearing
+a name thus significant, and manifesting,
+even at her age, traits of character justifying
+the compellation. What that age precisely <i>was</i>,
+could not always be known; indeed, a lady's
+age is generally among indeterminate things;
+and it has, very properly, come to be considered
+ungallant, if not impertinent, to be curious
+upon so delicate a subject. A man has no more
+right to know how many years a woman has,
+than how many skirts she wears; and, if he have
+any anxiety about the matter, in either case,
+his eyes must be the only questioners. The
+principle upon which the women themselves
+proceed, in growing old, seems to be parallel
+to the law of gravitation: when a **storm** stone, for
+example, is thrown into the air the higher it
+goes the slower it travels; and the momentum
+toward Heaven, given to a woman at her birth,
+appears to decrease in about the same ratio.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_328" id="Page_328">[Pg 328]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>We will not be so ungallant, then, as to inquire
+too curiously into the age of the schoolmistress;
+but, without disparagement to her
+youthfulness, we may be allowed to conjecture
+that, in order to fit her so well for the duties
+of her responsible station (and incline her to
+undertake such labors), a goodly number of
+years must needs have been required. Yet she
+bore time well; for, unless married in the meanwhile,
+at thirty, she was as youthful in manners,
+as at eighteen.</p>
+
+<p>But this is not surprising: for, even as early
+as her twelfth year, she had much the appearance
+of a mature woman&mdash;something like that
+noticed in young quakers, by Clarkson<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a>&mdash;and
+her figure belonged to that rugged type, which
+is adapted to bear, unscathed, more than the
+ravages of time. She was never above the medium
+height, for the rigid rule of economy
+seemed to apply to flesh and blood, as to all
+other things pertaining to her race; at all events,
+material had not been wasted in giving her extra
+longitude&mdash;at the ends. Between the extremities,
+it might be different&mdash;for she was
+generally very long-waisted. But this might
+be accounted for in the process of <i>flattening
+<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_329" id="Page_329">[Pg 329]</a></span>out</i>: for like her compeer, the schoolmaster,
+she had much more breadth than thickness.
+She was somewhat angular, of course, and rather
+bony; but this was only the natural correspondence,
+between the external development,
+and the mental and moral organization. Her
+eyes were usually blue, and, to speak with accuracy,
+a little cold and grayish, in their expression&mdash;like
+the sky on a bleak morning in Autumn.
+Her forehead was very high and prominent,
+having, indeed, an <i>exposed</i> look, like a
+shelterless knoll in an open prairie: but, not
+content with this, though the hair above it was
+often thin, she usually dragged the latter forcibly
+back, as if to increase the altitude of the
+former, by extending the skin. Her mouth
+was of that class called &ldquo;primped,&rdquo; but was
+filled with teeth of respectable dimensions.</p>
+
+<p>Her arms were long, and, indeed, a little
+skinny, and she swung them very freely when
+she walked; while hands, of no insignificant
+size, dangled at the extremities, as if the joints
+of her wrists were insecure. She had large
+feet, too, and in walking her toes were assiduously
+turned out. She had, however, almost
+always one very great attraction&mdash;a fine, clear,
+healthy complexion&mdash;and the only blemishes
+upon this, that I have ever observed, were a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_330" id="Page_330">[Pg 330]</a></span>
+little <i>red</i> on the tip of her nose and on the points
+of her cheek-bones, and a good deal of <i>down</i> on
+her upper lip.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In manners and bearing, she was brisk, prim,
+and sometimes a little &ldquo;fidgety,&rdquo; as if she was
+conscious of sitting on a dusty chair; and she
+had a way of searching nervously for her pocket,
+as if to find a handkerchief with which to brush
+it off. She was a very fast walker, and an
+equally rapid talker&mdash;taking usually very short
+steps, as if afraid of splitting economical skirts,
+but using very long words, as if entertaining no
+such apprehension about her throat. Her gait
+was too rapid to be graceful, and her voice too
+sharp to be musical; but she was quite unconscious
+of these imperfections, especially of
+the latter: for at church&mdash;I beg pardon of her
+enlightened ancestors! I should say at &ldquo;<i>meeting</i>&rdquo;&mdash;her
+notes of praise were heard high over
+all the tumult of primitive singing; and, with
+her chin thrown out, and her shoulders drawn
+back, she looked, as well as sounded, the impersonation
+of <i>melody</i>, as contra-distinguished from
+<i>harmony!</i></p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But postponing, for the present, our consideration
+of her qualifications as a teacher, we find<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_331" id="Page_331">[Pg 331]</a></span>
+that her characteristics were still more respectable
+and valuable as a private member of society.
+And in this relation, her most prominent trait,
+like that of her brother teacher, was her stainless
+piety. In this respect, if in no other,
+women are always more sincere and single-hearted
+than men&mdash;perhaps because the distribution
+of social duties gives her less temptation
+to hypocrisy&mdash;and even the worldly,
+strong-minded, and self-reliant daughter of the
+church-hating Puritan-Zion, displayed a tendency
+toward genuine religious feeling.<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a></p>
+
+<p>But in our subject, this was not a mere bias,
+but a constant, unflagging sentiment, an everyday
+manifestation. She was as warm in the
+cause of religion on one day as upon another,
+in small things as in great&mdash;as zealous in the
+repression of all unbecoming and ungodly levity,
+as in the eradication of positive vice. Life was
+too solemn a thing with her to admit of thoughtless
+amusements&mdash;it was entirely a state of
+probation, not to be enjoyed in itself, or for
+itself, but purgatorial, remedial, and prepara<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_332" id="Page_332">[Pg 332]</a></span>tory.
+She hated all devices of pleasure as her
+ancestors did the abominations of popery. A
+fiddle she could tolerate only in the shape of a
+bass-viol; and dancing, if practised at all, must
+be called &ldquo;calisthenics.&rdquo; The drama was to
+her an invention of the Enemy of Souls&mdash;and
+if she ever saw a play, it must be at a <i>museum</i>,
+and not within the walls of that temple of Baal,
+the theatre. None but &ldquo;serious&rdquo; conversation
+was allowable, and a hearty laugh was the expression
+of a spirit ripe for the destination of
+unforgiven sinners.</p>
+
+<p>Errors in religion were too tremendous to be
+tolerated for a moment, and the form (or rather
+anti-form) of worship handed down by her
+fathers, had cost too much blood and crime to
+be oppugned. She thought Barebones's the
+only godly parliament that ever sat, and did not
+hate Hume half so much for his infidelity, as
+for his ridicule of the roundheads. Her list of
+martyrs was made up of the intruders ousted
+by Charles's &ldquo;Act of Conformity,&rdquo; and her
+catalogue of saints was headed by the witch-boilers
+of Massachusetts Bay. She abhorred the
+memory of all <i>popish</i> persecutions, and knew
+no difference between catholic and cannibal.
+Her running calendar of living saints were born
+&ldquo;to inherit the earth,&rdquo; and heaven, too: they<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_333" id="Page_333">[Pg 333]</a></span>
+possessed a monopoly of all truth, an unlimited
+&ldquo;indulgence&rdquo; to enforce conformity, and, in
+their zeal, an infallible safeguard against the
+commission of error. She had no patience with
+those who could not &ldquo;see the truth;&rdquo; and he
+who reviled the puritan mode of worship, was
+&ldquo;worse than the infidel.&rdquo; The only argument
+she ever used with such, was the <i>argumentum
+ad hominem</i>, which saves the trouble of conviction
+by &ldquo;giving over to hardness of heart.&rdquo;
+New England was, to her, the land of Goshen&mdash;whither
+God's people had been led by God's
+hand&mdash;&ldquo;the land of the patriarchs, where it
+rains righteousness&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a>&mdash;and all the adjacent
+country was a land of Egyptian darkness.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>She was commendably prudent in her personal
+deportment: being thoroughly pure and circumspect
+herself, she could forgive no thoughtless
+imprudence in her sister-woman: but she
+well-understood metaphysical distinctions, and
+was tolerant, if not liberal, to marriageable men.
+These she could hope to reform at some future
+time: and she had, moreover, a just idea of the
+weakness of man's nature. But being a woman,
+and a staid and sober-minded woman, she could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_334" id="Page_334">[Pg 334]</a></span>
+never understand the power of temptation upon
+her own sex, or the commonest impulses of high
+spirits. Perhaps she was a little deficient in
+charity: but, as we have seen, it was chiefly
+toward her female friends, and since none can
+bear severe judgment more safely than woman,
+her austerity did little harm.</p>
+
+<p>But she sincerely regretted what she could
+never palliate; she hated not the guilty, though
+she could not forgive the sin; and no one was
+more easily melted to tears by the faults, and
+particularly by the <i>follies</i>, of the world. Wickedness
+is a very melancholy thing, but it is to
+be punished as well as lamented: and like the
+unfortunate governor who was forced to condemn
+his own son, she wept while she pronounced
+judgment. But earthly sorrow, by
+her, was given only to earthly faults: violations
+of simple good morals, crimes against heavenly
+creeds and forms (or rather <i>the</i> form) of worship,
+claimed no tear. Her blood rose to fever-heat
+at the mention of an unbeliever, and she would
+as soon have wept for the errors of the fallen
+angels, as for those of anti-Robinsonians.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But though thus rigid and austere, I never
+heard that she was at all disinclined to being
+courted: especially if it gave her any prospect<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_335" id="Page_335">[Pg 335]</a></span>
+of being able to make herself useful as a wife,
+either to herself, her husband, or her country.
+She understood the art of rearing and managing
+children, in her capacity as a teacher: she
+was thus peculiarly well-fitted for matrimonial
+duties, and was unwilling that the world should
+lose the benefit of her talents. But the man
+who courted her must do so in the most sober,
+staid, and regulated spirit, for it was seldom any
+unmixed romance about &ldquo;love and nonsense,&rdquo;
+which moved <i>her</i> to the sacrifice: if she entertained
+notions of that sort, they were such only
+as could find a place in her well-balanced mind,
+and, above all, were the subject of no raptures
+or transports of delight. If she indulged any
+enthusiasm, in view of the approaching change,
+it was in the prospect of endless shirt-making,
+and in calculations about how cheaply (not how
+happily) she could enable her husband to live.
+She had no squeamish delicacy about allowing
+the world to know the scope and meaning of
+her arrangements, and all her friends participated
+in her visions of comfort and economy.
+False modesty was no part of her nature&mdash;and
+her sentiment could be reduced to an algebraic
+formula&mdash;excluding the &ldquo;unknown quantities&rdquo;
+usually represented by the letters <i>b</i>, <i>c</i>, and <i>d</i>:
+meaning &ldquo;bliss,&rdquo; &ldquo;cottages,&rdquo; and &ldquo;devotion<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_336" id="Page_336">[Pg 336]</a></span>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>Yet, though she cared little for poetry, and
+seldom understood the images of fancy, she was
+not averse to a modicum of scandal in moments
+of relaxation: for the faults of others were the
+illustrations of her prudent maxims, and the
+thoughtlessness of a sister was the best possible
+text for a moral homily. The tense rigidity of
+her character, too, sometimes required a little
+unbending, and she had, therefore, no special
+aversion to an occasional surreptitious novel.
+But this she would indulge only in private; for
+in her mind, the worst quality of transgression
+was its bad example; and she never failed, in
+public, to condemn all such things with becoming
+and virtuous severity. Nor must this
+apparent inconsistency be construed to her disadvantage;
+for her strong mind and well-fortified
+morals, could withstand safely what would
+have corrupted a large majority of those around
+her; and it was meet, that one whose &ldquo;mission&rdquo;
+it was to reform, should thoroughly understand
+the enemy against which she battled. And
+these things never unfavorably affected her life
+and manners, for she was as prudent in her deportment
+(ill-natured people say <i>prudish</i>) as if
+some ancestress of hers had been deceived, and
+left in the family a tradition of man's perfidy
+and woman's frailty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_337" id="Page_337">[Pg 337]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>She was careful, then, of three things&mdash;her
+clothes, her money, and her reputation: and, to
+do her justice, the last was as spotless as the
+first, and as much prized as the second, and that
+is saying a good deal, both for its purity and
+estimation. Neat, economical, and prudent,
+were, indeed, the three capital adjectives of her
+vocabulary, and to deserve them was her
+eleventh commandment.</p>
+
+<p>With one exception, these were the texts of
+all her homilies, and the exception was, unluckily,
+one which admitted of much more
+argument.</p>
+
+<p>It was the history of the puritans. But upon
+this subject, she was as dexterous a special
+pleader as Neale, and as skilful in giving a
+false coloring to facts, as D'Aubign&eacute;. But she
+had the advantage of these worthies in that her
+declamation was quite honest: she had been
+taught sincerely and heartily to believe all she
+asserted. She was of the opinion that but two
+respectable ships had been set afloat since the
+world began: one of which was Noah's ark,
+and the other the Mayflower. She believed
+that no people had ever endured such persecutions
+as the puritans, and was especially eloquent
+upon the subject of &ldquo;New England's Blarney-stone,&rdquo;
+the Rock of Plymouth.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_338" id="Page_338">[Pg 338]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Indeed, according to the creed of her people,
+historical and religious, this is the only piece of
+granite in the whole world &ldquo;worth speaking of;&rdquo;
+and geologists have sadly wasted their time in
+travelling over the world in search of the records
+of creation, when a full epitome of everything
+deserving to be known, existed in so small a
+space! All the other rocks of the earth sink
+into insignificance, and &ldquo;hide their diminished
+heads,&rdquo; when compared to this mighty stone!
+The Rock of Leucas, from which the amorous
+Lesbian maid cast herself disconsolate into the
+sea, is a mere pile of dirt: the Tarpeian, whence
+the Law went forth to the whole world for so
+many centuries, is not fit to be mentioned in the
+same day: the Rock of Cashel, itself, is but the
+subject of profane Milesian oaths; and the
+Ledge of Plymouth is the real &ldquo;Rock of Ages!&rdquo;
+It is well that every people should have something
+to adore, especially if that &ldquo;something&rdquo;
+belongs exclusively to themselves. It elevates
+their self-respect: and, for this object, even historical
+fictions may be forgiven.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, as we have intimated, in the course of
+time the schoolmistress became a married
+woman; and as she gathered experience, she
+gradually learned that New England is not the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_339" id="Page_339">[Pg 339]</a></span>
+whole &ldquo;moral vineyard,&rdquo; and that one might
+be more profitably employed than in disputing
+about questionable points of history. New
+duties devolved upon her, and new responsibilities
+rained fast. Instead of teaching the
+children of other people, she now raised children
+for other people to teach. New sources of
+pride were found in these, and in her husband
+and his prosperity. She discovered that she
+could be religious without bigotry, modest
+without prudery, and economical without meanness:
+and, profiting by the lessons thus learned,
+she subsided into a true, faithful, and respectable
+matron, thus, at last, fulfilling her genuine
+&ldquo;mission.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> Author of the Life of William Penn, whose accuracy has
+lately been questioned.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> By this form of expression, which may seem awkward, I
+mean to convey this idea: That consistency of character would
+seem to preclude any heartfelt reverence in the descendant of
+those whose piety was manifested more in the <i>hatred of earthly</i>,
+than in <i>the love of heavenly</i>, things.</p></div>
+
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> The language of a precious pamphlet, even now in circulation
+in the west.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2><a name="X" id="X"></a>X.</h2><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_340" id="Page_340">[Pg 340]</a></span></p>
+<h3>THE POLITICIAN.</h3>
+
+<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i0">&ldquo;All would be deemed, e'en from the cradle, fit<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">To rule in politics as well as wit:<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">The grave, the gay, the fopling, and the dunce,<br /></span>
+<span class="i0">Start up (God bless us!) statesmen all at once!&rdquo;<br /></span>
+</div><div class="stanza">
+<span class="i4"><span class="smcap">Churchill</span>.<br /></span>
+</div></div>
+
+<p>In a country where the popular breath sways
+men to its purposes or caprices, as the wind
+bends the weeds in a meadow, statesmanship
+may become a <i>system</i>, but can never rise to the
+dignity of a <i>science</i>; and politics, instead of
+being an <i>art</i>, is a series of <i>arts.</i></p>
+
+<p>A system is order without principle: a science
+is order, based upon principle. Statesmanship
+has to do with generalities&mdash;with the relations
+of states, the exposition and preservation of constitutional
+provisions, and with fundamental
+organizations. Politics relates to measures, and
+the details of legislation. The <i>art</i> of governing
+is the accomplishment of the true politician:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_341" id="Page_341">[Pg 341]</a></span>
+the <i>arts</i> of governing are the trickeries of the
+demagogue. <i>Right</i> is the key-note of one:
+<i>popularity</i> of the other.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The large majority of men are sufficiently
+candid to acknowledge&mdash;at least to themselves&mdash;that
+they are unfit for the station of law-giver;
+but the vanity and jealousy begotten by participation
+in political power, lead many of them,
+if not actually to believe, at all events to <i>act</i>
+upon the faith, that men, no more able than
+themselves, are the best material for rulers. It
+is a kind of compromise between their modesty
+and self-love: not burthening them with the
+trials and responsibilities of positions for which
+they feel incompetent, but soothing their vanity
+by the contemplation of office-holders not at all
+their superiors. Below a certain (or uncertain)
+grade, therefore, political stations are usually
+filled by men of very moderate abilities: and
+their elevation is favored&mdash;indeed, often effected&mdash;by
+the very causes which should prevent
+it. Such men are prone to thrust themselves
+upon public notice, and thus secure, by persistence
+and impudence, what might not be awarded
+them on the score of merit.</p>
+
+<p>It is a trite remark, that people are inclined
+to accept a man's estimate of himself, and to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_342" id="Page_342">[Pg 342]</a></span>
+put him in possession of that place, in their consideration,
+which he has the hardihood to claim.
+And the observation is just, to this extent: if
+the individual does not respect himself, probably
+no one else will take that trouble. But in a
+country where universal suffrage reigns, it may
+be doubted whether the elevation of an ordinary
+man indicates any recognition of the justice of
+his claims. On the contrary, they may be endorsed
+precisely because they are false: that is,
+because he really possesses no other title to the
+support of common men, than that which is
+founded upon fellow-feeling or sympathy of
+character. Many a man, therefore, who receives
+his election as a compliment from the
+voters, if he understood the motives of their
+action, would throw up his office in disgust; for
+in a large majority of cases, the popular choice,
+so far from being an assertion of the candidate's
+peculiar fitness to be singled out from among
+his brethren, is only a declaration that neither
+talent nor character entitles him to the distinction.
+The cry that a man is &ldquo;one of the
+people,&rdquo; will bring him great strength at the
+ballot-box: but this is a phrase which means
+very different things, according as it is used by
+the candidate or the voter; and, in many cases,
+if they could thoroughly understand each other,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_343" id="Page_343">[Pg 343]</a></span>
+the latter would not give his support, and the
+former would not ask it.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>These remarks are applicable to all stages of
+society's progress; for, if the world were so enlightened,
+that, in the scale of intellect, such a
+man as Daniel Webster could only be classed
+as an idiot, there would still be the &ldquo;ignorant
+vulgar,&rdquo; the &ldquo;uneducated classes.&rdquo; Society
+is one entire web&mdash;albeit woven with threads
+of wool and silk, of silver and gold: turn it as
+you will, it must all turn together; and if a
+whirlwind of enlightenment should waft it to
+the skies, although each thread would be immeasurably
+above its present condition, the
+relation of one to another would still be the
+same. If the baser wool should be transmuted
+into gold, the very same process would refine
+and sublimate the precious metal, in a corresponding
+ratio; and the equilibrium of God's
+appointed relations would remain undisturbed.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But it is more especially in the primitive
+periods, before the great political truths become
+household words, and while the reign of
+law and municipal organization is a vague and
+distant thing, that most citizens shrink from
+official duties. Diffidence, in this matter is,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_344" id="Page_344">[Pg 344]</a></span>
+fortunately, a disease which time will alleviate&mdash;a
+youthful weakness, which communities
+&ldquo;outgrow,&rdquo; as children do physical defects;
+and, I believe, of late years, few offices have
+&ldquo;gone begging,&rdquo; either east or west of the great
+barrier of the Allegheny.</p>
+
+<p>In the earlier periods of its history, we have
+seen that the western country was peculiarly
+situated. The settlements were weak and the
+population small; with the exception of a few
+narrow fields, in the vicinity of each frontier
+fort, or stockade, the land was a wilderness, held
+in undisturbed possession by the savages and
+wild beasts. The great struggle, which we call
+the Revolution, but which was, in fact, only a
+justifiable and successful rebellion, had exhausted
+the force and drained the coffers of the
+feeble federal government; had plunged the
+infant states into enormous debts; and the only
+means of paying these were the boundless but
+unclaimed lands of the west, which the same
+causes rendered them unable to protect. The
+scattered settlements on the Mississippi side of
+the Alleghenies, were thus left to their own
+scanty resources; and the distance was so
+great, that, had the older states been able to
+afford assistance, the delays and losses attendant
+upon its transmission across so wide a tract of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_345" id="Page_345">[Pg 345]</a></span>
+wilderness, would have made it almost nugatory.</p>
+
+<p>In those times, therefore, though a few were
+looking forward to separate political organization
+and the erection of new states, the larger
+number of the western people were too constantly
+occupied with their defence, to give
+much attention to internal politics. Such organization
+as they had was military, or patriarchal:
+the early pioneer, who had distinguished
+himself in the first explorations of
+the country, or by successfully leading and
+establishing a new settlement, as he became the
+commander of the local fort, was also the law-giver
+of the community. The pressure of external
+danger was too close to allow a very
+liberal democracy in government; and, as must
+be the case in all primitive assemblages of men,
+the counsels and commands of him whom they
+knew to be the <i>most able</i>, were always observed.
+He who had proven himself competent to lead
+was, therefore, the leader <i>ipso facto</i> and <i>de
+jure</i>; and the evidence required was the performance
+of such exploits, and the display of
+such courage and sagacity, as were necessary
+to the defence, well-being, and protection of
+the community.</p>
+
+<p>It is obvious that no mere pretender could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_346" id="Page_346">[Pg 346]</a></span>
+exhibit these proofs; and that, where they were
+taken as the sole measure of a man's worth,
+dexterity with a rifle must be of more value
+than the accomplishments of a talker&mdash;Indian-fighting
+a more respectable occupation than
+speech-making. Small politicians were, therefore,
+very small men, and saying that one had
+&ldquo;a turn for politics,&rdquo; would have been equivalent
+to calling him a vagabond. The people
+had neither time nor patience to listen to declamation&mdash;the
+man who rose in a public assembly,
+and called upon his neighbors to follow him in
+avenging a wrong, made the only speech they
+cared to hear. &ldquo;Preambles and resolutions&rdquo;
+were unmeaning formalities&mdash;their &ldquo;resolutions&rdquo;
+were taken in their own minds, and, to
+use their own expressive words, they executed
+them &ldquo;without preamble.&rdquo; An ounce of lead
+was worth more than a pound of advice; and,
+in the vindication of justice, a &ldquo;charge&rdquo; of gunpowder
+was more effectual than the most tedious
+judicial harangue. It is, even now, a proud,
+but well-founded boast, of western men, that
+these traits have been transmitted to them from
+their fathers&mdash;that they are more remarkable
+for <i>fighting</i> than for <i>wrangling</i>, for <i>acting</i> than
+for <i>talking.</i></p>
+
+<p>In such a state of society, civil offices existed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_347" id="Page_347">[Pg 347]</a></span>
+scarcely in name, and were never very eagerly
+sought. That which makes official station desirable
+is obedience to its authority, and if the
+title of &ldquo;captain&rdquo; gave the idea of more absolute
+power than that of &ldquo;sheriff,&rdquo; one would
+rather command a company of militia than the
+&ldquo;<i>posse comitatus</i>.&rdquo; Besides, the men of the
+frontier were simple-hearted and unambitious,
+desiring nothing so much as to be &ldquo;left alone,&rdquo;
+and willing to make a compact of forbearance
+with the whole world&mdash;excepting only the Indians.
+They had never been accustomed to the
+restraints of municipal regulations, they were
+innocent of the unhealthy pleasures of office-holding,
+or the degrading impulses of office-seeking.
+Their lives had given them little or no
+knowledge of these things; experience had never
+suggested their importance, for their acquaintance
+with life was, almost exclusively, such as
+could be acquired in the woods and forest
+pathways.</p>
+
+<p>But as time rolled away, and the population
+of the country became more dense&mdash;as the
+pressure of external danger was withdrawn, and
+the necessities of defence grew less urgent&mdash;the
+rigor of military organization came gradually
+to be somewhat irksome. The seeds of
+civil institutions began to germinate among the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_348" id="Page_348">[Pg 348]</a></span>
+people, while the extending interests of communities
+required corresponding enactments and
+regulations. The instincts of social beings, love
+of home and family, attachment to property, the
+desire of tranquillity, and, perhaps, a leaven of
+ambition for good estimation among neighbors,
+all combined to open men's eyes to the importance
+of peaceful institutions. The day of the
+rifle and scalping-knife passed away, and justice
+without form&mdash;the rule of the elementary
+strong-hand&mdash;gave place to order and legal
+ceremony.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Then first began to appear the class of politicians,
+though, as yet, office-seeking had not
+become a trade, nor office-holding a regular
+means of livelihood. Politics had not acquired
+a place among the arts, nor had its professors
+become the teachers of the land. There were
+few, indeed, who sought to fill civil stations;
+and, although men's qualifications for office
+were, probably, not any more rigidly examined
+then than now, those who possessed the due
+degree of prominence, either deemed themselves,
+or were believed by their fellow-citizens,
+peculiarly capable of discharging such functions.
+They were generally men who had made themselves
+conspicuous or useful in other capacities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_349" id="Page_349">[Pg 349]</a></span>&mdash;who
+had become well or favorably known to
+their neighbors through their zeal, courage,
+sagacity, or public spirit. A leader of regulators,
+for example, whose administration of his
+dangerous powers had been marked by promptitude
+and severity, was expected to be equally
+efficient when clothed with more regular authority.
+A captain of rangers, whose enterprises
+had been remarkable for certainty and
+<i>finish</i>, would, it was believed, do quite as good
+service, in the capacity of a civil officer. A
+daring pioneer, whose courage or presence of
+mind had saved himself and others from the
+dangers of the wilderness, was supposed to be
+an equally sure guide in the pathless ways of
+politics. Lawyers were yet few, and not of
+much repute, for they were, for the most part,
+youthful adventurers, who had come into the
+field long before the ripening of the harvest.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>There was another class, whose members held
+prominent positions, though they had never
+been distinguished for the possession of any of
+the qualifications above enumerated. These
+might be designated as the <i>noisy</i> sort&mdash;loud-talking,
+wise-looking men, self-constituted oracles
+and advice-givers, with a better opinion of
+their own wisdom than any one else was willing<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_350" id="Page_350">[Pg 350]</a></span>
+to endorse. Such men became &ldquo;file-leaders,&rdquo;
+or &ldquo;pivot-men,&rdquo; because the taciturn people of
+the west, though inclined to undervalue a mere
+talker, were simple-minded enough to accept a
+man's valuation of his own powers: or easy-tempered
+enough to spare themselves the trouble
+of investigating so small a matter. It was of
+little consequence to them, whether the candidate
+was as wise as he desired to be thought;
+and since, in political affairs, they knew of no
+interest which they could have in disputing it,
+for <i>his</i> gratification they were willing to admit
+it. These were halcyon days for mere pretenders&mdash;though
+for no very flattering reason:
+since their claims were allowed chiefly because
+they were not deemed worth controverting.
+Those days, thanks to the &ldquo;progress of intelligence!&rdquo;
+are now gone by: the people are better
+acquainted with the natural history of such
+animals, and&mdash;witness, ye halls of Congress!&mdash;none
+may now hold office except capable, patriotic,
+and disinterested men!</p>
+
+<p>Nor must we be understood to assert that the
+primitive politician was the reverse of all this,
+save in the matter of capability. And, even in
+that particular, no conception of his deficiency
+ever glimmered in his consciousness. His own
+assumption, and the complaisance of his fellow-<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_351" id="Page_351">[Pg 351]</a></span>citizens,
+were inter-reactive, mutually cause
+and effect. <i>They</i> were willing to confirm his
+valuation of his own talents: <i>he</i> was inclined to
+exalt himself in their good opinion. Parallel
+to this, also, was the oracular tone of his speech:
+the louder he talked, the more respectfully silent
+were his auditors; and the more attentive <i>they</i>
+became, the noisier <i>he</i> grew. Submission always
+encourages oppression, and admiration adds
+fuel to the fire of vanity. Not that the politician
+was precisely a despot, even over men's
+opinions: the application of that name to him
+would have been as sore a wound to his self-respect
+as the imputation of horse-stealing. He
+was but an oracle of opinion, and though allowed
+to dictate in matters of thought as absolutely as
+if backed by brigades of soldiers, he was a
+sovereign whose power existed only through
+the consent of his subjects.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In personal appearance, he was well-calculated
+to retain the authority intrusted to him by
+such men. He was, in fact, an epitome of all
+the physical qualities which distinguished the
+rugged people of the west: and between these
+and the moral and intellectual, there is an invariable
+correspondence&mdash;as if the spirit within
+had moulded its material encasement to the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_352" id="Page_352">[Pg 352]</a></span>
+planes and angles of its own &ldquo;form and pressure.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>National form and feature are the external
+marks of national character, stamped more or
+less distinctly in different individuals, but, in
+the aggregate, perfectly correspondent and commensurate.
+The man, therefore, who possesses
+the national traits of character in their best development,
+will be, also, the most faithful representative
+of his race in physical characteristics.
+At some periods, there are whole classes of these
+types; and if there be any <i>one</i> who embodies
+the character more perfectly than all others, the
+tranquillity of the age is not calculated to draw
+him forth. But in all times of trouble&mdash;of
+revolution or national ferment&mdash;the perfect
+Man-emblem is seen to rise, and (which is more
+to the purpose) is sure to stand at the head of
+his fellows: for he who best represents the character
+of his followers, becomes, by God's appointment,
+their leader. To this extent, the
+<i>vox populi</i> is the <i>vox Dei</i>; and the unfailing
+success of every such man, throughout his appointed
+term, is the best possible justification
+of the choice.</p>
+
+<p>What was Washington, for example, but an
+epitome of the steady and noble qualities com<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_353" id="Page_353">[Pg 353]</a></span>bined
+of cavalier and puritan, which were then
+coalescing in the American character? And
+what more perfect correspondence could be
+conceived between the moral and intellectual
+and the physical outlines? What was Cromwell
+but <i>the Englishman</i>, not only of his own
+time, but of all times? And the testimony of
+all who saw him, what is it, but that a child,
+who looked upon him, could not fail to see, in
+his very lineaments, the great and terrible man
+he was? And Napoleon, was he aught but an
+abridgment of the French nation, the sublimate
+and &ldquo;proof&rdquo; essence of French character?
+Not one, of all the great men of history,
+has possessed, so far as we know, a physical
+constitution more perfectly representing, even
+in its advancing grossness, both the strength
+and weakness of the people he led.</p>
+
+<p>In tranquil times, these things are not observed
+in one individual more than in others of
+his class, and we are, therefore, not prepared to
+decide whether, at such periods, <i>the one man</i>
+exists. The great Leviathan, the king of all the
+creatures of the ocean, rises to the surface only
+in the tumult of the storm; his huge, portentous
+form, lies on the face of the troubled waters only
+when the currents are changed and the fountains
+of the deep are broken up.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_354" id="Page_354">[Pg 354]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Nature does no superfluous work, and it may
+require the same causes which produce the
+storm to organize its Ruler. If a great rebellion
+is boiling among men, the mingling of the elements
+is projecting, also, the Great Rebel: if a
+national cause is to be asserted, the principles
+upon which it rests will first create its appropriate
+Exponent. But when no such agitation
+is on the point of breaking out&mdash;when the
+crisis is not near, and the necessity for such
+greatness distant&mdash;national character probably
+retains its level; and though there be no <i>one</i>
+whom the people will recognise as the arch-man,
+the representatives, losing in intensity what they
+gain in numbers, become a class. They fill the
+civil stations of the country, and are known as
+men of mark&mdash;their opinions are received,
+their advice accepted, their leading followed.
+No one of them is known instinctively, or
+trusted implicitly, as the leader of Nature's appointment:
+yet they are, in fact, the exponents
+of their time and race, and in exact proportion
+to the degree in which they possess the character,
+will they exhibit, also, the physical peculiarities.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>Thus it was at the time of which we are
+writing, with the class to which belonged the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_355" id="Page_355">[Pg 355]</a></span>
+politician, and a description of his personal appearance,
+like that of any other man, will convey
+no indistinct impression of his internal
+character.</p>
+
+<p>Such a description probably combined more
+characteristic adjectives than that of any other
+personage of his time&mdash;adjectives, some of
+which were applicable to many of his neighbors,
+respectively, but <i>all</i> of which might be
+bestowed upon him <i>only</i>. He was tall, gaunt,
+angular, swarthy, active, and athletic. His hair
+was, invariably, black as the wing of the raven;
+even in that small portion which the cap of
+raccoon-skin left exposed to the action of sun
+and rain, the gray was but thinly scattered;
+imparting to the monotonous darkness only a
+more iron character. As late as the present
+day, though we have changed in many things,
+light-haired men seldom attain eminence among
+the western people: many of our legislators are
+<i>young</i> enough, but none of them are <i>beardless</i>.
+They have a bilious look, as if, in case of illness,
+their only hope would lie in calomel and jalap.
+One might understand, at the first glance, that
+they are men of <i>talent</i>, not of <i>genius</i>; and that
+physical energy, the enduring vitality of the
+body, has no inconsiderable share in the power
+of the mind.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_356" id="Page_356">[Pg 356]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Corresponding to the sable of the hair, the
+politician's eye was usually small, and intensely
+black&mdash;not the dead, inexpressive jet,
+which gives the idea of a hole through white
+paper, or of a cavernous socket in a death's-head;
+but the keen, midnight darkness, in whose
+depths you can see a twinkle of starlight&mdash;where
+you feel that there is meaning as well as
+color. There might be an expression of cunning
+along with that of penetration&mdash;but, in a much
+higher degree, the blaze of irascibility. There
+could be no doubt, from its glance, that its possessor
+was an excellent hater; you might be
+assured that he would never forget an injury or
+betray a friend.</p>
+
+<p>A stoop in the shoulders indicated that, in
+times past, he had been in the habit of carrying
+a heavy rifle, and of closely examining the
+ground over which he walked; but what the
+chest thus lost in depth it gained in breadth.
+His lungs had ample space in which to play&mdash;there
+was nothing pulmonary even in the drooping
+shoulders. Few of his class have ever lived
+to a very advanced age, but it was not for want
+of iron-constitutions, that they went early to
+the grave. The same services to his country,
+which gave the politician his prominence, also
+shortened his life.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_357" id="Page_357">[Pg 357]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>From shoulders thus bowed, hung long, muscular
+arms&mdash;sometimes, perhaps, dangling a
+little ungracefully, but always under the command
+of their owner, and ready for any effort,
+however violent. These were terminated by
+broad, bony hands, which looked like grapnels&mdash;their
+grasp, indeed, bore no faint resemblance
+to the hold of those symmetrical instruments.
+Large feet, whose toes were usually turned in,
+like those of the Indian, were wielded by limbs
+whose vigor and activity were in keeping with
+the figure they supported. Imagine, with these
+peculiarities, a free, bold, rather swaggering gait,
+a swarthy complexion, and conformable features
+and tones of voice: and&mdash;excepting his costume&mdash;you
+have before your fancy a complete
+picture of the early western politician.</p>
+
+<p>But the item of costume is too important to
+be passed over with a mere allusion. As well
+might we paint a mountain without its verdant
+clothing, its waving plumes of pine and cedar,
+as the western man without his picturesque and
+characteristic habiliments. The first, and indispensable
+article of dress, was the national
+hunting-shirt: a garment whose easy fit was
+well-adapted, both to the character of his figure
+and the freedom of his movements. Its nature
+did not admit much change in fashion: the only<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_358" id="Page_358">[Pg 358]</a></span>
+variations of which it was capable, were those
+of ornament and color. It might be fringed
+around the cape and skirt, or made plain; it
+might be blue, or copper-colored&mdash;perhaps
+tinged with a little madder. And the variety
+of material was quite as limited, since it must
+be of either jeans or deer-skin.</p>
+
+<p>Corresponding to this, in material, style, and
+texture, he wore, also, a pair of wide pantaloons&mdash;not
+always of precisely the proper length for
+the limbs of the wearer, but having invariably
+a broad waistband, coming up close under the
+arms, and answering the purpose of the modern
+vest. People were not so dainty about &ldquo;set&rdquo;
+and &ldquo;fit,&rdquo; in those days, as they have since become;
+and these primitive integuments were
+equally well-adapted to the figure of any one to
+whose lot they might fall. In their production,
+no one had been concerned save the family of
+the wearer. The sheep which bore the wool,
+belonged to his own flock, and all the operations,
+subsequent to the shearing, necessary to
+the ultimate result of shaping into a garment,
+had been performed by his wife or daughter.
+Many politicians have continued this affectation
+of plainness, even when the necessity has ceased,
+on account of its effect upon the masses; for
+people are apt to entertain the notion, that de<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_359" id="Page_359">[Pg 359]</a></span>cent
+clothing is incompatible with mental
+ability, and that he who is most manifestly behind
+the improvements of the time, is best
+qualified for official stations.</p>
+
+<p>A neck-cloth, or cravat, was never seen about
+the politician's throat; and for the same reason
+of expediency: for these were refinements of
+affectation which had not then been introduced;
+and a man who thus compassed his neck, could
+no more have been elected to an office, than if
+he had worn the cap and bells of a Saxon jester.
+The shirt-bosoms of modern days were in the
+same category; and <i>starch</i> was an article contraband
+to the law of public sentiment&mdash;insomuch
+that no epithet expressed more thorough
+contempt for a man, than the graphic word
+&ldquo;starched.&rdquo; A raccoon-skin cap&mdash;or, as a piece
+of extravagant finery, a white-wool hat&mdash;with
+a pair of heavy shoes, not unfrequently without
+the luxury of hose&mdash;or, if with them, made of
+blue-woollen yarn, from the back of a sheep
+of the aforesaid flock&mdash;completed the element
+of costume.</p>
+
+<p>He was not very extravagantly dressed, as
+the reader sees; but we can say of him&mdash;what
+could not be as truly spoken of many men, or,
+indeed, of many women, of this day&mdash;that his
+clothing bore distinct reference to his character,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_360" id="Page_360">[Pg 360]</a></span>
+and was well-adapted to his &ldquo;style of beauty.&rdquo;
+In fact, everything about him, form, face, manners,
+dress, was in &ldquo;in keeping&rdquo; with his characteristics.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>In occupation, he was usually a farmer; for
+the materials of which popular tribunes are
+made in later times&mdash;such as lawyers, gentlemen
+of leisure, and pugnacious preachers&mdash;were
+not then to be found. The population of
+the country was thoroughly agricultural; and
+though (as I believe I have elsewhere observed)
+the rural people of the west were neither a
+cheerful nor a polished race, as a class, they
+possess, even yet, qualities, which, culminating
+in an individual, eminently fit him for the <i>r&ocirc;le</i>
+of a noisy popular leader.</p>
+
+<p>But a man who is merely fitted to such a
+position, is a very different animal to one qualified
+to give laws for the government of the
+citizen. After all our vain boasting, that public
+sentiment is the law of our land, there is really
+a very broad distinction between forming men's
+opinions and controlling their action. If the
+government had been so organized, that the
+pressure of popular feeling might make itself
+felt, directly, in the halls of legislation, our
+history, instead of being that of a great and ad<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_361" id="Page_361">[Pg 361]</a></span>vancing
+nation, would have been only a chronicle
+of factious and unstable violence. It does
+not follow, that one who is qualified to lead
+voters at the polls, or, as they say here, &ldquo;on
+the stump,&rdquo; will be able to embody, in enlightened
+enactments, the sentiment which he contributes
+to form, any more than that the tanner
+will be able to shape a well-fitting boot from the
+leather he prepares. &ldquo;<i>Suum cuique proprium
+dat Natura donum</i>.&rdquo;<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> A blacksmith, therefore,
+is not the best manufacturer of silver spoons, a
+lawyer the ablest writer of sermons, nor either
+of them necessarily the safest law-maker.</p>
+
+<p>But those things to which his qualifications
+were appropriate, the politician did thoroughly
+and well. For example, he was a skilful farmer&mdash;at
+least in the leading branches of that calling,
+though he gave little or no attention to the
+merely ornamental. For the latter, he had
+neither time nor inclination. Even in the essentials,
+it was only by working, as he expressed
+it, &ldquo;to the best advantage,&rdquo;&mdash;that is, contriving
+to produce the largest amount of results with
+the least expenditure of labor and patience&mdash;that
+he got sufficient leisure to attend to his
+public duties; and as for &ldquo;inclination,&rdquo; no<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_362" id="Page_362">[Pg 362]</a></span>
+quaker ever felt a more supreme contempt for
+mere embellishment.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>He was seldom very happy in his domestic
+relations; for, excepting at those seasons when
+the exigencies of his calling required his constant
+attention, he spent but little of his time at
+his own fireside. He absented himself <i>until</i>
+his home became strange and uncomfortable to
+him: and he then did the same, <i>because</i> it had
+become so. Every man who may try the experiment
+will discover that these circumstances
+mutually aggravate each other&mdash;are, interchangeably,
+cause and effect. His children
+were, however, always numerous, scarcely ever
+falling below half-a-dozen, and not unfrequently
+doubling that allowance. They generally appeared
+upon the stage in rapid succession&mdash;one
+had scarcely time to get out of the way, before
+another was pushing him from his place. The
+peevishness thus begotten in the mother&mdash;by
+the constant habit of nursing cross cherubs&mdash;though
+it diminished the amount of family
+peace, contributed, in another way, to the
+general welfare: it induced the father to look
+abroad for enjoyment, and thus gave the country
+the benefit of his wisdom as a political counsellor.
+Public spirit, and the consciousness of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_363" id="Page_363">[Pg 363]</a></span>
+ability, have &ldquo;brought out&rdquo; many politicians:
+but uncomfortable homes have produced many
+more.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>He was an oracle on the subject of hunting,
+and an unerring judge of whiskey&mdash;to both
+which means of enjoyment he was strongly
+attached. He was careful, however, neither to
+hunt nor drink in solitude, for even his amusements
+were subservient to his political interests.
+To hunt alone was a waste of time, while drinking
+alone was a loss of good-fellowship, upon
+which much of his influence was founded. He
+was particularly attached to parties of half-a-dozen,
+or more; for in such companions, his
+talents were always conspicuous. Around a
+burgou<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> pot, or along the trenches of an impromptu
+barbecue, he shone in meridian splendor;
+and the approving smack of his lips, over
+a bottle of &ldquo;backwoods' nectar,&rdquo; was the seal
+of the judgment which gave character to the
+liquor.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Militia musters&rdquo; were days in his calendar,
+&ldquo;marked with a white-stone;&rdquo; for it was upon<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_364" id="Page_364">[Pg 364]</a></span>
+these occasions that he appeared in his utmost
+magnificence. His grade was never lower than
+that of colonel, and it not unfrequently extended
+to, or even beyond, the rank of brigadier-general.
+It was worth &ldquo;a sabbath-day's journey&rdquo;
+on foot, to witness one of these parades;
+for I believe that all the annals of the burlesque
+do not furnish a more amusing caricature of the
+&ldquo;pomp and circumstance&rdquo; of war. Compared
+to one of those militia regiments, Falstaff's
+famous corps, whose appearance was so unmilitary
+as to prevent even that liberal-minded
+gentleman from marching through Coventry in
+their company, was a model of elegance and
+discipline. Seden&oacute;'s cavalry in the South American
+wars, though their uniform consisted only
+of &ldquo;leggings,&rdquo; a pair of spurs, and a Spanish
+blanket, had more the aspect of a regular <i>corps
+d'arm&eacute;e</i> than these! A mob of rustics was
+never armed with a more extensive variety of
+weapons; and no night's &ldquo;haul&rdquo; of a recruiting
+sergeant's net, ever made a more disorderly appearance,
+when mustered in the morning for
+inspection.</p>
+
+<p>The &ldquo;citizen-soldier&rdquo; knew no more about
+&ldquo;dressing the line,&rdquo; than about dressing himself,
+and the front of his company presented as
+many inequalities as a &ldquo;worm-fence.&rdquo; Tall<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_365" id="Page_365">[Pg 365]</a></span>
+men and short men&mdash;beaver hats and raccoon-skin
+caps&mdash;rusty firelocks and long corn-stalks&mdash;stiff
+brogans and naked feet&mdash;composed the
+grand display. There were as many officers as
+men, and each was continually commanding
+and instructing his neighbor, but never thinking
+of himself. At the command &ldquo;Right dress!&rdquo;
+(when the officer <i>par excellence</i> knew enough
+to deliver it) some looked right, others left&mdash;some
+thrust their heads out before&mdash;some leaned
+back to get a glimpse behind&mdash;and the
+whole line waved like a streamer in the wind.
+&ldquo;Silence in line!&rdquo; produced a greater clamor
+than ever, for each repeated the command to
+every other, sending the order along the ranks
+like a rolling fire, and not unfrequently enforcing
+it with the push of a corn-stalk, or a vigorous
+elbow-hint. When a movement was directed,
+the order reached the men successively, by the
+same process of repetition&mdash;so that while some
+files were walking slowly, and looking back to
+beckon on their lagging fellow-soldiers, others
+were forced to a quick run to regain their places,
+and the scramble often continued many minutes
+after the word &ldquo;halt!&rdquo; The longer the parade
+lasted, the worse was the drill; and after a tedious
+day's &ldquo;muster,&rdquo; each man knew less, if possible,
+of military tactics, than he did in the morning.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_366" id="Page_366">[Pg 366]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>But the most ludicrous part of the display,
+was the earnest solemnity with which the politician-colonel
+endeavored &ldquo;to lick the mass into
+shape.&rdquo; If you had judged only by the expression
+of his face, you would have supposed
+that an invading army was already within our
+borders, and that this democratic army was the
+only hope of patriotism to repel the foreign
+foe. And, indeed, it might not be too much to
+say, that some such idea actually occupied his
+mind: for he was so fond of &ldquo;supposing cases,&rdquo;
+that bare possibilities sometimes grew in his
+mind to actual realities; and it was a part of
+his creed, as well as his policy to preach, that
+&ldquo;a nation's best defence&rdquo; is to be found in &ldquo;the
+undisciplined valor of its citizens.&rdquo; His military
+maxims were not based upon the history
+of such countries as Poland and Spain&mdash;and
+Hungary had not then added her example to
+the list. He never understood the relation between
+discipline and efficiency; and the doctrine
+of the &ldquo;largest liberty&rdquo; was so popular,
+that, on his theory, it must be universally right.
+Tempered thus, and modified by some of the
+tendencies of the demagogue, his love of military
+parade amounted to a propensity, a trait which
+he shared with most of the people among whom
+he lived.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_367" id="Page_367">[Pg 367]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>The inference from this characteristic, that
+he possessed what phrenologists used to call
+&ldquo;combativeness,&rdquo; is not unavoidable, though
+such was the fact. He was, indeed, quite pugnacious,
+ready, at all times, to fight for himself
+or for his friends, and never with any very
+special or discriminating reference to the cause
+of quarrel. He was, however, seldom at feud
+with any one whose enmity could materially
+injure him: extensive connections he always
+conciliated, and every popular man was his
+friend. Nor was he compelled, in order to compass
+these ends, to descend to any very low
+arts; for &ldquo;the people,&rdquo; were not so fastidious in
+those days, as they seem since to have become;
+and a straightforward sincerity was then the
+first element of popularity. The politician was
+not forced to affect an exemplary &ldquo;walk and
+conversation;&rdquo; nor was an open declaration of
+principle or opinion dangerous to his success.</p>
+
+<p>This liberality in public sentiment had its
+evils: since, for example, the politician was not
+generally the less esteemed for being rather a
+hard <i>swearer</i>. In the majority of the class, indeed,
+this amounted only to an energetic or emphatic
+mode of expression; and such the people
+did not less respect, than if, in the same person,
+they had had reason to believe the opposite tone<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_368" id="Page_368">[Pg 368]</a></span>
+hypocritical. The western people&mdash;to their
+honor be it written!&mdash;were, and are, mortal
+enemies to everything like <i>cant</i>: though they
+might regret, that one's morals were no <i>better</i>
+than they appeared, they were still more grieved,
+if they found evidence, that they were <i>worse</i>
+than they claimed to be.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, though the politician was really very
+open and candid in all the affairs of life, in his
+own estimation he was a very dexterous and
+dangerous intriguer: he often deceived himself
+into the belief, that the success, which was in
+fact the result of his manly candor, was attributable
+only to his cunning management. He
+was always forming, and attempting to execute,
+schemes for circumventing his political opponents;
+but, if he bore down all opposition, it
+was <i>in spite of</i> his chicanery, and not by its
+assistance. Left-handed courses are never advantageous
+&ldquo;in the long run;&rdquo; and, perhaps, it
+would be well if this lesson were better understood
+by politicians, even in our own enlightened
+day.</p>
+
+<p>For the arts of rhetoric he had small respect;
+in his opinion, the man who was capable of
+making a long, florid speech, was fit for little
+else. His own oratorical efforts were usually<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_369" id="Page_369">[Pg 369]</a></span>
+brief, pithy, and to the point. For example,
+here follows a specimen, which the writer heard
+delivered in Illinois, by a candidate for the
+legislature:&mdash;</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Fellow-citizens: I am no speech-maker, but
+what I say, <i>I'll do</i>. I've lived among you
+twenty years, and if I've shown myself a clever
+fellow, you know it, <i>without</i> a speech: if I'm
+not a clever fellow, you know that, too, and
+wouldn't forget it <i>with</i> a speech. I'm a candidate
+for the legislature: if you think I'm 'the
+clear grit,' <i>vote</i> for me: if you think Major
+R&mdash;&mdash; of a better 'stripe' than I am, vote for
+<i>him</i>. The fact is, that either of us will make
+a devilish good representative!&rdquo;</p>
+
+<p>For the satisfaction of the reader, we should
+record that the orator was triumphantly elected,
+and, though &ldquo;no speech-maker,&rdquo; was an excellent
+member for several years.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>The saddest, yet cheerfullest&mdash;the quaintest,
+yet most unaffected of moralists, has written
+&ldquo;A Complaint upon the Decay of Beggars,&rdquo;
+which will not cease to be read, so long as pure
+English and pure feeling are understood and
+appreciated. They were a part of the recollections
+of his childhood&mdash;images painted upon
+his heart, impressions made in his soft and pity<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_370" id="Page_370">[Pg 370]</a></span>ing
+nature; and the &ldquo;besom of societarian reformation,&rdquo;
+legislating busybodies, and tinkers
+of the general welfare, were sweeping them
+away, with all their humanizing influences,
+their deep lessons of dire adversity and gentle
+charity.</p>
+
+<p>There are some memories of the childhood
+of western men&mdash;unlike, and yet similar in their
+generous persuasions on all pure young hearts&mdash;upon
+whose &ldquo;Decay&rdquo; might, also, be written
+a &ldquo;Complaint,&rdquo; which should come as truly,
+and yet as sadly, from the heart of him, who
+remembers his boyhood, as did that from the
+heart of Elia. Gatherings of the militia, burgou-hunts,
+barbecues, and anniversaries&mdash;phases
+of a primitive, yet true and hearty time!&mdash;are
+fast giving way, before the march of a barbarous
+&ldquo;progress&rdquo; (erroneously christened) &ldquo;of
+intelligence.&rdquo; The hard spirit of money-getting,
+the harder spirit of education-getting, and
+the hardest of <i>all</i> spirits, that of pharisaical
+morality, have divorced our youth, <i>a vinculo</i>,
+from every species of amusement; and life has
+come to be a probationary struggle, too fierce
+to allow a moment's relaxation. The bodies of
+children are drugged and worried into health,
+their intellects are stuffed and forced into premature
+development, or early decay&mdash;but their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_371" id="Page_371">[Pg 371]</a></span>
+<i>hearts</i> are utterly forgotten! Enjoyment is a forbidden
+thing, and only the miserable cant of &ldquo;intellectual
+pleasure&rdquo; is allowed. <i>Ideas</i>&mdash;of philosophy,
+religious observance, and mathematics&mdash;are
+supplied <i>ad nauseam</i>; but the encouragement
+of a generous <i>impulse</i>, or a magnanimous
+<i>feeling</i>, is too frivolous a thing to have a
+place in our vile system. Children are &ldquo;brought
+up,&rdquo; and &ldquo;brought out,&rdquo; as if they were composed
+exclusively of intellect and body: And,
+since the manifestations of any other element
+are pronounced pernicious&mdash;even if the existence
+of the element itself be recognised&mdash;the
+means of fostering it, innocent amusements,
+which make the sunshine brighter, the spirits
+more cheerful, and the heart purer and lighter,
+are sternly prohibited. Alas! for the generation
+which shall grow up, and be &ldquo;educated&rdquo;
+(God save the mark!) as if it had no heart!
+And wo to the blasphemy which dares to offer,
+as service to Heaven, an arrogant contempt of
+Heaven's gifts, and claims a reward, like the
+self-tormentors of the middle ages, for its vain
+mortifications.</p>
+
+<p>But, in the time of the politician, of whom
+we write, these things were far different. We
+have already seen him at a &ldquo;militia muster,&rdquo;
+and fain would we pause here, to display him<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_372" id="Page_372">[Pg 372]</a></span>
+at a barbecue. What memories, sweet, though
+sad, we might evoke of &ldquo;the glorious fourth&rdquo;
+in the olden time! How savory are even the
+dim recollections of the dripping viands, which
+hung, and fried, and crisped, and crackled, over
+the great fires, in the long deep trenches! Our
+nostrils grow young again with the thought&mdash;and
+the flavor of the feast floats on the breezes
+of memory, even &ldquo;across the waste of years&rdquo;
+which lie between! And the cool, luxuriant
+foliage of the grove, the verdant thickets, and
+among them pleasant vistas, little patches of
+green sward, covered with gay and laughing
+parties&mdash;even the rosy-cheeked girls, in their
+rustling gingham dresses, cast now and then a
+longing glance, toward the yet forbidden tables!
+how fresh and clear these images return upon
+the fancy!</p>
+
+<p>And then the waving banners, roaring cannon,
+and the slow procession, moving all too
+solemnly for our impatient wishes! And finally,
+the dropping of the ropes, the simultaneous
+rush upon the open feast, and the rapid, perhaps
+ravenous consumption of the smoking
+viands, the jest, the laugh, all pleasant merriment,
+the exhilaration of the crowd, the music,
+and the occasion! What glories we heard from
+the orator, of victories achieved by our fathers!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_373" id="Page_373">[Pg 373]</a></span>
+How we longed&mdash;O! brief, but glorious dream!
+to be one day spoken of like Washington!
+How wildly our hearts leaped in our boyish
+bosoms, as we listened to the accents of the
+solemn pledge and &ldquo;declaration&rdquo;&mdash;&ldquo;our lives,
+our fortunes, and our sacred honor!&rdquo; The
+whole year went lighter for that one day, and
+at each return, we went home happier, and
+better!</p>
+
+<p>How measureless we thought the politician's
+greatness then! This was his proper element&mdash;here
+he was at home; and, as he ordered and
+directed everything about him, flourishing his
+marshal's baton, clearing the way for the march
+of the procession&mdash;settling the &ldquo;order of exercises,&rdquo;
+and reading the programme, in a stentorian
+voice&mdash;there was, probably in his own estimation,
+and certainly in ours, no more important
+or honored individual in all that multitude!</p>
+
+<p>In such scenes as these, he was, indeed, without
+a rival; but there were others, also, in
+which he was quite as useful, if not so conspicuous.
+On election days, for instance, when a
+free people assembled to exercise their &ldquo;inestimable
+privilege,&rdquo; to choose their own rulers&mdash;he
+was as busy as a witch in a tempest. His
+talents shone forth with especial and peculiar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_374" id="Page_374">[Pg 374]</a></span>
+lustre&mdash;for, with him, this was &ldquo;the day for
+which all other days were made.&rdquo; He marshalled
+his retainers, and led them to &ldquo;the
+polls&rdquo;&mdash;not as an inexperienced tactician would
+have done, with much waste of time, in seeking
+every private voter, but after the manner
+of feudal times&mdash;by calling upon his immediate
+dependants, captains over tens and twenties,
+through whom he managed the more numerous
+masses. These were the &ldquo;file-leaders,&rdquo; the
+&ldquo;fugle-men,&rdquo; and &ldquo;heads of messes;&rdquo; and it
+was by a judicious management of these, that
+he was able to acquire and retain an extensive
+influence.</p>
+
+<p>The first article of his electioneering creed
+was, that every voter was controlled by somebody;
+and that the only way to sway the privates
+was, to govern the officers: and, whether
+true or not, it must be admitted that his theory
+worked well in practice. He affected to entertain
+a high respect for those whom he described
+as &ldquo;the boys from the heads of the hollows&rdquo;&mdash;men
+who were never seen beyond the precincts
+of their own little &ldquo;clearings,&rdquo; except upon the
+Fourth of July and election day, from one end
+of the year to the other. With these he drank
+bad whiskey, made stale jokes, and affected a
+flattering condescension. With others, more<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_375" id="Page_375">[Pg 375]</a></span>
+important or less easily imposed upon, he
+&ldquo;whittled&rdquo; sociably in the fence-corners, talked
+solemnly in conspicuous places, and always
+looked confidential and mysterious.</p>
+
+<p>But, however earnestly engaged, he never
+forgot the warfare in which he was chief combatant.
+Like a general upon a field of battle,
+with his staff about him, he had sundry of his
+friends always near, to undertake any commission,
+or convey any order, which he desired to
+have executed; and not a voter could come
+upon the ground, whom there was the remotest
+chance to influence, that his vigilance did not
+at once discover and seize upon, through some
+one of these lieutenants. He resorted to every
+conceivable art, to induce the freemen to vote
+<i>properly</i>; and, when he could not succeed in
+this, his next study was to prevent their voting
+<i>at all</i>. The consequence usually was, that he
+secured his own election, or that of his chosen
+candidate; for, in him, vigilance and shrewdness
+were happily combined.</p>
+
+<br />
+<p>But, perhaps fortunately for the country, his
+ambition was generally limited to such small
+offices, as he was quite capable of filling. The
+highest point at which he aimed, was a seat in
+the state legislature; and on reaching that goal,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_376" id="Page_376">[Pg 376]</a></span>
+he signalized his term, chiefly, if at all, in advocating
+laws about division fences, and trespassers
+upon timber&mdash;measures which he deemed
+desirable for his own immediate constituency,
+with very little care for the question of their
+general utility. Indeed, he never went to the
+capital, without having his pockets full of &ldquo;private
+bills,&rdquo; for the gratification of his personal
+friends, or near neighbors; and if, after a reasonable
+term of service, he had succeeded in getting
+all these passed into laws, he came home,
+contented to &ldquo;subside,&rdquo; and live the remainder
+of his days, upon the recollection of his legislative
+honors.</p>
+
+<p>In the course of time, like all other earthly
+things, his class began to decay. The tide of
+immigration, or the increasing intelligence of
+the people, raised up men of larger views; and
+he speedily found himself outstripped in the
+race, and forgotten by his ancient retainers.
+Then&mdash;like his predecessor, the original frontierman&mdash;disgusted
+with civilization and its
+refinements&mdash;he migrated to more congenial
+regions, and, in the scenes of his former triumphs,
+was heard of no more.</p>
+
+<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> Translate &ldquo;<i>donum</i>,&rdquo; talent.</p></div>
+<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> A kind of soup, made by boiling all sorts of game with
+corn, onions, tomatoes, and a variety of other vegetables.
+When skilfully concocted and properly seasoned, not at all
+unsavory. So called from a soup made by seamen.</p></div>
+</div>
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" /><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+<h2><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE.</h2>
+<p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_377" id="Page_377">[Pg 377]</a></span></p>
+
+<p>Here we must pause.</p>
+
+<p>On the hither side of the period, represented
+by the early politician, and between that and
+the present, the space of time is much too narrow,
+to contain any distinct development: those
+who superseded the primitive oracles, are yet
+in possession of the temple. We could not,
+therefore, pursue our plan further, without
+hazarding the charge of drawing from the life.</p>
+
+<p>It is remarkable, that anything like a fair or
+candid estimate of&mdash;for example&mdash;a public
+man's character, while he is yet favored with
+the people's suffrages, is very certain to be pronounced
+a caricature; and it is not less singular,
+that, while the complaints of popular critics,
+in effect, affirm that there is fidelity enough in
+the picture to enable even obtuse minds to fit
+the copy to the original, they at the same time
+vehemently assert that the whole portrait is a
+libel. A just admeasurement of a demagogue's
+ability is thus always abated by the imputation
+of partisan falsehood or prejudice; and whosoever
+declines to join in the adulation of a temporary
+idol, may consider himself fortunate, if
+he escape with only the reproach of envy.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_378" id="Page_378">[Pg 378]</a></span>
+Sketches of contemporaneous character&mdash;if
+they seek recognition among the masses, must,
+therefore, not reduce the altitude which blind
+admiration has assigned, nor cut away the foreign
+lace, nor tear the ornaments, with which
+excited parties have bedaubed their images of
+clay. And, yet, so prone are men to overrate
+their leaders, that no estimate of a prominent
+man can be just, without impugning popular
+opinion.</p>
+
+<p>There is probably no other ground quite so
+perilous as politics, unless it be literature: and,
+as yet, the west is comparatively barren of those
+&ldquo;sensitive plants,&rdquo; literary men. But any attempt
+to delineate society, by portraiture of
+living characters, even though the pictures
+were purely ideal, would, upon the present plan,
+involve the suspicion (and perhaps the temptation
+to deserve it), indicated above. Before
+venturing upon such uncertain paths, therefore,
+we must display a little generalship, and call a
+halt, if not a council of war. Whether we are
+to march forward, will be determined by the
+&ldquo;General <i>Orders</i>.&rdquo;</p>
+
+<h3>THE END.</h3>
+
+
+
+<hr style="width: 65%;" />
+<h2>J. S. REDFIELD,</h2><span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+<h3>110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK,</h3>
+
+<h4>HAS JUST PUBLISHED:</h4>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 150px;"><img src="images/illus-390-1.jpg" width="150" height="149" alt=""  /></div>
+
+<h4><i>EPISODES OF INSECT LIFE.</i></h4>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Acheta Domestica</span>. In Three Series: I. Insects of Spring.&mdash;II.
+Insects of Summer.&mdash;III. Insects of Autumn. Beautifully
+illustrated. Crown 8vo., cloth, gilt, price $2.00 each. The same
+beautifully colored after nature, extra gilt, $4.00 each.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;A book elegant enough for the centre table, witty enough for after dinner, and wise
+enough for the study and the school-room. One of the beautiful lessons of this work is
+the kindly view it takes of nature. Nothing is made in vain not only, but nothing is
+made ugly or repulsive. A charm is thrown around every object, and life suffused
+through all, suggestive of the Creator's goodness and wisdom.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Evangelist.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Moths, glow-worms, lady-birds, may-flies, bees, and a variety of other inhabitants of
+the insect world, are descanted upon in a pleasing style, combining scientific information
+with romance, in a manner peculiarly attractive.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Commercial Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The book includes solid instruction as well as genial and captivating mirth. The
+scientific knowledge of the writer is thoroughly reliable.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Examiner.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"><img src="images/illus-390-2.jpg" width="100" height="99" alt=""  /></div>
+
+<h4><i>MEN AND WOMEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</i></h4>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Arsene Houssaye</span>, with beautifully Engraved Portraits of
+Louis XV., and Madame de Pompadour. Two volume 12mo.
+450 pages each, extra superfine paper, price $2.50.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p><span class="smcap">Contents.</span>&mdash;Dufresny, Fontenelle, Marivaux, Piron, The Abb&eacute; Prevost, Gentil-Bernard,
+Florian, Boufflers, Diderot, Gr&eacute;try, Riverol, Louis XV., Greuze, Boucher, The Vanloos,
+Lantara, Watteau, La Motte, Dehle, Abb&eacute; Trublet, Buffon, Dorat, Cardinal de
+Bernis, Cr&eacute;billon the Gay, Marie Antoinette, Made. de Pompadour, Vad&eacute;, Mlle. Camargo,
+Mlle. Clairon, Mad. de la Popelini&egrave;re, Sophie Arnould, Cr&eacute;billon the Tragic,
+Mlle. Guimard, Three Pages in the Life of Dancourt, A Promenade in the Palais-Royal,
+the Chevalier de la Clos.</p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A more fascinating book than this rarely issues from the teeming press. Fascinating
+in its subject; fascinating in its style: fascinating in its power to lead the reader into
+castle-building of the most gorgeous and bewitching description.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Courier &amp; Enquirer.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a most welcome book, full of information and amusement, in the form of
+memoirs, comments, and anecdotes. It has the style of light literature, with the usefulness
+of the gravest. It should be in every library, and the hands of every reader.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Boston Commonwealth.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;<span class="smcap">A Book of Books.</span>&mdash;Two deliciously spicy volumes, that are a perfect <i>bonne bouche</i>
+for an epicure in reading.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Home Journal.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES</i></h4>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Arsene Houssaye</span>. With beautifully-engraved Portraits of
+Voltaire and Mad. Parab&egrave;re. Two vols., 12mo, price $2.50.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;We have here the most charming book we have read these many days,&mdash;so
+powerful in its fascination that we have been held for hours from our imperious labors
+or needful slumbers, by the entrancing influence of its pages. One of the most desirable
+fruits of the prolific field of literature of the present season.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Portland Eclectic.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Two brilliant and fascinating&mdash;we had almost said, bewitching&mdash;volumes, combining
+information and amusement, the lightest gossip, with solid and serviceable wisdom.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Yankee
+Blade.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a most admirable book, full of originality, wit, information and philosophy.
+Indeed, the vividness of the book is extraordinary. The scenes and descriptions are
+absolutely life-like.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Southern Literary Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The works of the present writer are the only ones the spirit of whose rhetoric does
+justice to those times, and in fascination of description and style equal the fascinations
+they descant upon.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>New Orleans Commercial Bulletin.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The author is a brilliant writer, and serves up his sketches in a sparkling manner.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Christian Freeman.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/illus-391-1.jpg" width="100" height="73" alt=""  /></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>ANCIENT EGYPT UNDER THE PHARAOHS.</i></h4>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">John Kendrick, M. A.</span> In 2 vols., 12mo, price $2.50.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;No work has heretofore appeared suited to the wants of the historical student,
+which combined the labors of artists, travellers, interpreters and critics, during the
+periods from the earliest records of the monarchy to its final absorption in the empire
+of Alexander. This work supplies this deficiency.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Olive Branch.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Not only the geography and political history of Egypt under the Pharaohs are
+given, but we are furnished with a minute account of the domestic manners and customs
+of the inhabitants, their language, laws, science, religion, agriculture, navigation
+and commerce.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Commercial Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;These volumes present a comprehensive view of the results of the combined labors
+of travellers, artists, and scientific explorers, which have effected so much during the
+present century toward the development of Egyptian arch&aelig;ology and history.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Journal
+of Commerce.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The descriptions are very vivid and one wanders, delighted with the author, through
+the land of Egypt, gathering at every step, new phases of her wondrous history, and
+ends with a more intelligent knowledge than he ever before had, of the land of the
+Pharaohs.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>American Spectator.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;"><img src="images/illus-391-2.jpg" width="100" height="45" alt=""  /></div>
+
+<h4><i>COMPARATIVE PHYSIOGNOMY</i>;</h4>
+
+<p>Or Resemblances between Men and Animals. By <span class="smcap">J. W. Redfield,
+M.D</span>. In one vol., 8vo, with several hundred illustrations,
+price, $2.00.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;Dr. Redfield has produced a very curious, amusing, and instructive book, curious
+in its originality and illustrations, amusing in the comparisons and analyses, and instructive
+because it contains very much useful information on a too much neglected
+subject. It will be eagerly read and quickly appreciated.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>National &AElig;gis.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The whole work exhibits a good deal of scientific research, intelligent observation,
+and ingenuity.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Union.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Highly entertaining even to those who have little time to study the science.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Detroit
+Daily Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is a remarkable volume and will be read by two classes, those who study for
+information, and those who read for amusement. For its originality and entertaining
+character, we commend it to our readers.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Albany Express.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is overflowing with wit, humor, and originality, and profusely illustrated. The
+whole work is distinguished by vast research and knowledge.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Knickerbocker.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The plan is a novel one; the proofs striking, and must challenge the attention of the
+curious.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Advertiser.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>MOORE'S LIFE OF SHERIDAN.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan,
+by <span class="smcap">Thomas Moore</span>, with Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds.
+Two vols., 12mo, cloth, $2.00.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;One of the most brilliant biographies in English literature. It is the life of a wit
+written by a wit, and few of Tom Moore's most sparkling poems are more brilliant and
+fascinating than this biography.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is at once a most valuable biography of the most celebrated wit of the times,
+and one of the most entertaining works of its gifted author.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Springfield Republican.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The Life of Sheridan, the wit, contains as much food for serious thought as the
+best sermon that was ever penned.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Arthur's Home Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The sketch of such a character and career as Sheridan's by such a hand as Moore's,
+can never cease to be attractive.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The work is instructive and full of interest.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Christian Intelligencer.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a gem of biography; full of incident, elegantly written, warmly appreciative,
+and on the whole candid and just. Sheridan was a rare and wonderful genius, and has
+in this work justice done to his surpassing merits.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Evangelist.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/illus-392-1.jpg" width="100" height="76" alt=""  /></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>BARRINGTON'S SKETCHES.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Personal Sketches of his own Time, by <span class="smcap">Sir Jonah Barrington</span>,
+Judge of the High Court of Admiralty in Ireland, with Illustrations
+by Darley. Third Edition, 12mo, cloth, $1.25.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;A more entertaining book than this is not often thrown in our way. His sketches
+of character are inimitable; and many of the prominent men of his time are hit off in
+the most striking and graceful outline.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Albany Argus.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;He was a very shrewd observer and eccentric writer, and his narrative of his own
+life, and sketches of society in Ireland during his times, are exceedingly humorous and
+interesting.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is one of those works which are conceived and written in so hearty a view, and
+brings before the reader so many palpable and amusing characters, that the entertainment
+and information are equally balanced.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This is one of the most entertaining books of the season.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Recorder.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It portrays in life-like colors the characters and daily habits of nearly all the English
+and Irish celebrities of that period.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Courier and Enquirer.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/illus-392-2.jpg" width="100" height="46" alt=""  /></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>JOMINI'S CAMPAIGN OF WATERLOO.</i></h4>
+
+<p>The Political and Military History of the Campaign of Waterloo,
+from the French of Gen. Baron Jomini, by Lieut. <span class="smcap">S. V. Benet</span>,
+U. S. Ordnance, with a Map, 12mo, cloth, 75 cents.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;Of great value, both for its historical merit and its acknowledged impartiality.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Christian
+Freeman, Boston.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It has long been regarded in Europe as a work of more than ordinary merit, while
+to military men his review of the tactics and man&#339;uvres of the French Emperor during
+the few days which preceded his final and most disastrous defeat, is considered as
+instructive, as it is interesting.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Arthur's Home Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a standard authority and illustrates a subject of permanent interest. With
+military students, and historical inquirers, it will be a favorite reference, and for the
+general reader it possesses great value and interest.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Boston Transcript.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It throws much light on often mooted points respecting Napoleon's military and
+political genius. The translation is one of much vigor.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Boston Commonwealth.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It supplies an important chapter in the most interesting and eventful period of Napoleon's
+military career.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Savannah Daily News.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is ably written and skilfully translated.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Yankee Blade.</i></p></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>NOTES AND EMENDATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE.</i></h4>
+
+<p>Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare's Plays, from
+the Early Manuscript Corrections in a copy of the folio of 1632,
+in the possession of <span class="smcap">John Payne Collier</span>, Esq., F.S.A. Third
+edition, with a facsimile of the Manuscript Corrections. 1 vol.
+12mo, cloth, $1.50.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;It is not for a moment to be doubted, we think, that in this volume a contribution
+has been made to the clearness and accuracy of Shakespeare's text, by far the most important
+of any offered or attempted since Shakespeare lived and wrote.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Lond. Exam.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The corrections which Mr. Collier has here given to the world are, we venture to
+think, of more value than the labors of nearly all the critics on Shakespeare's text put
+together.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>London Literary Gazette.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a rare gem in the history of literature, and can not fail to command the attention
+of all the amateurs of the writings of the immortal dramatic poet.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Ch'ston Cour.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is a book absolutely indispensable to every admirer of Shakespeare who wishes
+to read him understandingly.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Louisville Courier.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is clear from internal evidence, that for the most part they are genuine restorations
+of the original plays. They carry conviction with them.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Home Journal.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This volume is an almost indispensable companion to any of the editions of
+Shakespeare, so numerous and often important are many of the corrections.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Register,
+Philadelphia.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/illus-393-1.jpg" width="100" height="55" alt=""  /></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES.</i></h4>
+
+<p>By <span class="smcap">Joseph Fran&ccedil;ois Michaud</span>. Translated by W. Robson, 3 vols.
+12mo., maps, $3.75.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;It is comprehensive and accurate in the detail of facts, methodical and lucid in arrangement,
+with a lively and flowing narrative.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Journal of Commerce.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;We need not say that the work of Michaud has superseded all other histories
+of the Crusades. This history has long been the standard work with all who could
+read it in its original language. Another work on the same subject is as improbable
+as a new history of the 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Salem Freeman.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The most faithful and masterly history ever written of the wild wars for the Holy
+Land.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Philadelphia American Courier.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The ability, diligence, and faithfulness, with which Michaud has executed his
+great task, are undisputed; and it is to his well-filled volumes that the historical student
+must now resort for copious and authentic facts, and luminous views respecting
+this most romantic and wonderful period in the annals of the Old World.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Boston
+Daily Courier.</i></p></div>
+
+<div class="figcenter" style="width: 100px;">
+<img src="images/illus-393-2.jpg" width="100" height="78" alt=""  /></div>
+
+
+<h4><i>MARMADUKE WYVIL.</i></h4>
+
+<p>An Historical Romance of 1651, by <span class="smcap">Henry W. Herbert</span>, author
+of the &ldquo;Cavaliers of England,&rdquo; &amp;c., &amp;c. Fourteenth Edition.
+Revised and Corrected.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;This is one of the best works of the kind we have ever read&mdash;full of thrilling incidents
+and adventures in the stirring times of Cromwell, and in that style which has
+made the works of Mr. Herbert so popular.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Christian Freeman, Boston.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The work is distinguished by the same historical knowledge, thrilling incident, and
+pictorial beauty of style, which have characterized all Mr. Herbert's fictions and imparted
+to them such a bewitching interest.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Yankee Blade.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The author out of a simple plot and very few characters, has constructed a novel
+of deep interest and of considerable historical value. It will be found well worth
+reading.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>National &AElig;gis, Worcester.</i></p></div>
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+
+<h4>Life under an Italian Despotism!</h4>
+
+<h2>LORENZO BENONI,</h2>
+
+<h4>OR</h4>
+
+<h3>PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF AN ITALIAN.</h3>
+
+<center><i>One Vol., 12mo, Cloth&mdash;Price $1.00.</i></center>
+
+<hr style='width: 45%;' />
+
+<h4><b>OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.</b></h4>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;The author of 'Lorenzo Benoni' is <span class="smcap">Giovanni Ruffini</span>, a native of Genoa, who effected
+his escape from his native country after the attempt at revolution in 1833. His book is,
+in substance, an authentic account of real persons and incidents, though the writer has
+chosen to adopt fictitious and fantastic designations for himself and his associates. Since
+1833, Ruffini has resided chiefly (if not wholly) in England and France, where his qualities,
+we understand, have secured him respect and regard. In 1848, he was selected by
+Charles Albert to fill the responsible situation of embassador to Paris, in which city he
+had long been domesticated as a refugee. He ere long, however, relinquished that office,
+and again withdrew into private life. He appears to have employed the time of his exile
+in this country to such advantage as to have acquired a most uncommon mastery over
+the English language. The present volume (we are informed on good authority) is exclusively
+his own&mdash;and, if so, on the score of style alone it is a remarkable curiosity.
+But its matter also is curious.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>London Quarterly Review for July.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A tale of sorrow that has lain long in a rich mind, like a ruin in a fertile country, and
+is not the less gravely impressive for the grace and beauty of its coverings ... at the
+same time the most determined novel-reader could desire no work more fascinating over
+which to forget the flight of time.... No sketch of foreign oppression has ever, we believe,
+been submitted to the English public by a foreigner, equal or nearly equal to this
+volume in literary merit. It is not unworthy to be ranked among contemporary works
+whose season is the century in which their authors live.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>London Examiner.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The book should be as extensively read as 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,' inasmuch as it
+develops the existence of a state of slavery and degradation, worse even than that which
+Mrs. Beecher Stowe has elucidated with so much pathos and feeling.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Bell's Weekly
+Messenger.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Few works of the season will be read with greater pleasure than this; there is a
+great charm in the quiet, natural way in which the story is told.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>London Atlas.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;The author's great forte is character-painting. This portraiture is accomplished
+with remarkable skill, the traits both individual and national being marked with great
+nicety without obtrusiveness.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>London Spectator.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Under the modest guise of the biography of an imaginary 'Lorenzo Benoni,' we have
+here, in fact, the memoir of a man whose name could not be pronounced in certain parts
+of northern Italy without calling up tragic yet noble historical recollections.... Its
+merits, simply as a work of literary art, are of a very high order. The style is really
+beautiful&mdash;easy, sprightly, graceful, and full of the happiest and most ingenious turns of
+phrase and fancy.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>North British Review.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This has been not unjustly compared to '<i>Gil Blas</i>,' to which it is scarcely inferior in
+spirited delineations of human character, and in the variety of events which it relates.
+But as a description of actual occurrences illustrating the domestic and political condition
+of Italy, at a period fraught with interest to all classes of readers, it far transcends
+in importance any work of mere fiction.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Dublin Evening Mail.</i></p></div>
+
+<hr style="width: 15%;" />
+<h4>&ldquo;SHAKESPEARE AS HE WROTE IT.&rdquo;</h4>
+
+<h2>THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE,</h2>
+
+<center><i>Reprinted from the newly-discovered copy of the Folio of 1632<br />
+in the possession of J. Payne Collier, containing nearly</i></center>
+
+<h4><b>Twenty Thousand Manuscript Corrections</b>,</h4>
+
+<center><i>With a History of the Stage to the Time, an Introduction to
+each Play, a Life of the Poet, etc.</i></center>
+
+<h3>BY J. PAYNE COLLIER, F.S.A.</h3>
+
+<p class="hanging"><i>To which are added, Glossarial and other Notes, the Readings of Former
+Editions, a</i> <span class="smcap">Portrait</span> <i>after that by Martin Droeshout, a</i> <span class="smcap">Vignette Title</span>
+<i>on Steel, and a</i> <span class="smcap">Facsimile of the Old Folio</span>, <i>with the Manuscript Corrections</i>.
+1 vol., Imperial 8vo. Cloth $4.00.</p>
+
+<p class="hanging">The <b>WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE</b> the same as the above.
+Uniform in Size with the celebrated Chiswick Edition, 8 vols.
+16mo, cloth $6.00. Half calf or moroc. extra.</p>
+
+<p>These are <i>American Copyright Editions</i>, the Notes being expressly prepared
+for the work. The English edition contains simply the text, without a single
+note or indication of the changes made in the text. In the present, the variations
+from old copies are noted by reference of all changes to former editions
+(abbreviated f.e.), and every indication and explanation is given essential to a
+clear understanding of the author. The prefatory matter, Life, &amp;c., will be fuller
+than in any American edition now published.</p>
+
+<div class="blockquot"><p>&ldquo;This is the only correct edition of the works of the 'Bard of Avon' ever issued,
+and no lover or student of Shakespeare should be without it.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Philadelphia Argus.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Altogether the most correct and therefore the most valuable edition extant.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Albany
+Express.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This edition of Shakespeare will ultimately supersede all others. It must certainly
+be deemed an essential acquisition by every lover of the great dramatist.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Commercial
+Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This great work commends itself in the highest terms to every Shakespearian scholar
+and student.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Philadelphia City Item.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This edition embraces all that is necessary to make a copy of Shakespeare desirable
+and correct.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Niagara Democrat.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It must sooner or later drive all others from the market.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>N. Y. Evening Post.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;Beyond all question, the very best edition of the great bard hitherto published.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>New
+England Religious Herald.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It must hereafter be the standard edition of Shakespeare's plays.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>National Argus.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;It is clear from internal evidence that they are genuine restorations of the original
+plays.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Detroit Daily Times.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;This must we think supersede all other editions of Shakespeare hitherto published.
+Collier's corrections make it really a different work from its predecessors. Compared
+with it we consider them hardly worth possessing.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Daily Georgian, Savannah.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;One who will probably hereafter be considered as the only true authority. No one
+we think, will wish to purchase an edition of Shakespeare, except it shall be conformable
+to the amended text by Collier.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Newark Daily Advertiser.</i></p>
+
+<p>&ldquo;A great outcry has been made in England against this edition of the bard, by Singer
+and others interested in other editions; but the emendations commend themselves
+too strongly to the good sense of every reader to be dropped by the public&mdash;the old
+editions must become obsolete.&rdquo;&mdash;<i>Yankee Blade, Boston.</i></p></div>
+<span class="totoc"><a href="#toc">Top</a></span>
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+<pre>
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Western Characters, by J. L. McConnel
+
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+</pre>
+
+</body>
+</html>
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@@ -0,0 +1,8810 @@
+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Western Characters, by J. L. McConnel
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Western Characters
+       or Types of Border Life in the Western States
+
+Author: J. L. McConnel
+
+Illustrator: Darley
+
+Release Date: October 23, 2007 [EBook #23155]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTERN CHARACTERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Julia Miller, Marcia Brooks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PEDDLER.]
+
+[Illustration: WESTERN CHARACTERS Redfield.]
+
+
+
+
+WESTERN CHARACTERS
+
+OR
+
+TYPES OF BORDER LIFE
+
+IN THE
+
+WESTERN STATES
+
+BY J. L. McCONNEL
+
+AUTHOR OF "TALBOT AND VERNON,"--"THE GLENNS," ETC.
+
+WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY DARLEY
+
+[Illustration]
+
+REDFIELD,
+110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK.
+1853.
+
+Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1853,
+
+BY J. S. REDFIELD,
+
+in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, in and
+for the Southern District of New York.
+
+
+STEREOTYPED BY C. C. SAVAGE,
+13 Chambers Street, N. Y.
+
+
+
+
+PREFATORY NOTE.
+
+
+Attempts to delineate local character are always liable to
+misconstruction; for, the more truthful the sketch, the greater is the
+number of persons, to whom resemblance may be discovered; and thus,
+while in fact only describing the characteristics of a class, authors
+are frequently subjected, very unjustly, to the imputation of having
+invaded the privacy of individuals. Particularly is this so, when the
+class is idealized, and an imaginary type is taken, as the
+representative of the species.
+
+I deem it proper, therefore, to say in advance, that no attempt has been
+made in the following pages, to portray any individual; and
+that--although I hope I have not been so unsuccessful, as to paint
+pictures which have no originals--if there be a portrait in any sketch,
+it consists, not in the likeness of the picture to the person, but of
+both to the type.
+
+As originally projected, the book would have borne this explanation upon
+its face; but the circumstances which have reduced its dimensions, and
+changed its plan, have also rendered necessary a disclaimer, which
+would, otherwise, have been superfluous.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+One or two of the sketches might have been made more complete had I been
+fortunate enough to meet with certain late publications, in time to use
+them. Such is the elaborate work of Mr. Schoolcraft upon Indian History
+and Character; and such, also, is that of Mr. Shea, upon the voyages and
+labors of Marquette--a book whose careful accuracy, clear style, and
+lucid statement, might have been of much service in writing the sketch
+entitled "_The Voyageur_." Unfortunately, however, I saw neither of
+these admirable publications, until my work had assumed its present
+shape--a fact which I regret as much for my reader's sake as my own.
+
+J. L. McC.
+_July 15, 1853._
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+                                 PAGE.
+
+INTRODUCTORY                         7
+
+I.
+THE INDIAN                          19
+
+II.
+THE VOYAGEUR                        62
+
+III.
+THE PIONEER                        106
+
+IV.
+THE RANGER                         157
+
+V.
+THE REGULATOR                      171
+
+VI.
+THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE           246
+
+VII.
+THE PEDDLER                        268
+
+VIII.
+THE SCHOOLMASTER                   288
+
+IX.
+THE SCHOOLMISTRESS                 319
+
+X.
+THE POLITICIAN                     340
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+        --"Our Mississippi, rolling proudly on,
+    Would sweep them from its path, or swallow up,
+      Like Aaron's rod, those streams of fame and song."
+
+    MRS. HALE.
+
+
+The valley of a river like the channel of a man's career, does not
+always bear proportion to the magnitude or volume of the current, which
+flows through it. Mountains, forests, deserts, physical barriers to the
+former--and the obstacles of prejudice, and accidents of birth and
+education, moral barriers to the latter--limit, modify, and impair the
+usefulness of each. A river thus confined, an intellect thus hampered,
+may be noisy, fretful, turbulent, but, in the contemplation, there is
+ever a feeling of the incongruity between the purpose and the power; and
+it is only when the valley is extended, the field of effort open, that
+we can avoid the impression of energy wasted, and strength frittered
+away. The great intellect, whose scope is not confined by ancient
+landmarks, or old prejudices, is thus typified by the broad, deep river,
+whose branches penetrate the Earth on every hand, and add to the current
+the tributaries of all climes. In this view, how noble an object is the
+Mississippi!
+
+In extent, fertility, variety of scenery, and diversity of climate, its
+valley surpasses any other in the world. It is the great aorta of the
+continent, and receives a score of tributary rivers, the least of which
+is larger than the vaunted streams of mighty empires. It might furnish
+natural boundaries to all Europe, and yet leave, for every country, a
+river greater than the Seine. It discharges, in one year, more water
+than has issued from the Tiber in five centuries; it swallows up near
+fifty nameless rivers longer than the Thames; the addition of the waters
+of the Danube would not swell it half a fathom; and in a single bend,
+the navies of the world might safely ride at anchor, five hundred miles
+from sea.
+
+It washes the shores of twelve powerful states, and between its arms
+lies space enough for twenty more. The rains which fall upon the
+Alleghenies, and the snows that shroud the slopes and cap the summits of
+the Rocky mountains, are borne upon its bosom, to the regions of
+perpetual summer, and poured into the sea, more than fifteen hundred
+leagues from their sources. It has formed a larger tract of land, by the
+deposits of its inundations, than is contained in Great Britain and
+Ireland; and every year it roots up and bears away more trees, than
+there are in the Black Forest. At a speed unknown to any other great
+river, it rolls a volume, in whose depths the cathedral of St. Paul's
+might be sunk out of sight; and five hundred leagues from its mouth, it
+is wider than at thirty.
+
+It annually bears away more acres than it would require to make a German
+principality, engulfing more than the revenues of many a petty kingdom.
+Beneath its turbid waters lie argosies of wealth, and floating palaces,
+among whose gilded halls and rich saloons are sporting slimy creatures;
+below your very feet, as you sail along its current, are resting in its
+bed, half buried in the sand, the bodies of bold men and tender maidens;
+and their imploring hands are raised toward Heaven, and the world which
+floats, unheeding, on the surface. There lies, entombed, the son whose
+mother knows not of his death; and there the husband, for whose
+footstep, even yet, the wife is listening--here, the mother with her
+infant still clasped fondly to her breast; and here, united in their
+lives, not separated in their death, lie, side by side, the bride and
+bridegroom of a day;--and, hiding the dread secrets from all human ken,
+the mighty and remorseless river passes onward, like the stream of human
+life, toward "the land of dreams and shadows!"
+
+To the contemplative mind, there is, perhaps, no part of the creation,
+in which may not be found the seed of much reflection; but of all the
+grand features of the earth's surface, next to a lofty mountain, that
+which impresses us most deeply is a great river. Its pauseless flow, the
+stern momentum of its current--its remorseless coldness to all human
+hopes and fears--the secrets which lie buried underneath its waters, and
+the myriad purposes of those it bears upon its bosom--are all so clearly
+typical of Time. The waters will not pause, though dreadful battles may
+be fought upon their shores--as Time will steadily march forward, though
+the fate of nations hang upon the conflict. The moments fly as swiftly,
+while a mighty king is breathing out his life, as if he were a lowly
+peasant; and the current flows as coldly on, while men are struggling in
+the eddies, as if each drowning wretch were but a floating weed. Time
+gives no warning of the hidden dangers on which haughty conquerors are
+rushing, as the perils of the waters are revealed but in the crashing
+of the wreck.
+
+But the parallel does not stop here. The sources of the
+Mississippi--were it even possible that they should ever be
+otherwise--are still unknown to man. Like the stream of history, its
+head-springs are in the regions of fable--in the twilight of remote
+latitudes; and it is only after it has approached us, and assumed a
+definite channel, that we are able to determine which is the authentic
+stream. It flows from the country of the savage, toward that of
+civilization; and like the gradations of improvement among men, are the
+thickening fields and growing cultivation, which define the periods of
+its course. Near its mouth, it has reached the culmination of
+refinement--its last ripe fruit, a crowded city; and, beyond this, there
+lies nothing but a brief journey, and a plunge into the gulf of
+Eternity!
+
+Thus, an emblem of the stream of history, it is still more like a march
+along the highway of a single human life. As the sinless thoughts of
+smiling childhood are the little rivulets, which afterward become the
+mighty river; like the infant, airy, volatile, and beautiful--sparkling
+as the dimpled face of innocence--a faithful reflex of the lights and
+shadows of existence; and revealing, through the limpid wave, the
+golden sands which lie beneath. Anon, the errant channels are united in
+one current--life assumes a purpose, a direction--but the waters are yet
+pure, and mirror on their face the thousand forms and flashing colors of
+Creation's beauty--as happy boyhood, rapidly perceptive of all
+loveliness, gives forth, in radiant smiles, the glad impressions of
+unfaded youth.
+
+Yet sorrow cometh even to the happiest. Misfortune is as stern a
+leveller as Death; and early youth, with all its noble aspirations,
+gorgeous visions, never to be realized, must often plunge, like the
+placid river over a foaming cataract, down the precipice of
+affliction--even while its current, though nearing the abyss, flow
+softly as "the waters of Shiloah." It may be the death of a mother, whom
+the bereaved half deemed immortal--some disappointment, like the
+falsehood of one dearly loved--some rude shock, as the discovery of a
+day-dream's hollowness; happy, thrice happy! if it be but one of these,
+and not the descent from innocence to sin!
+
+But life rolls on, as does the river, though its wave no longer flows in
+placid beauty, nor reveals the hidden things beneath. The ripples are
+now whirling eddies, and a hundred angry currents chafe along the rocks,
+as thought and feeling fret against the world, and waste their strength
+in vain repining or impatient irritation. Tranquillity returns no more;
+and though the waters seem not turbid, there is a shadow in their
+depths--their transparency is lost.
+
+Tributaries, great and small, flow in--accessions of experience to the
+man, of weight and volume to the river; and, with force augmented, each
+rolls on its current toward the ocean. A character, a purpose, is
+imparted to the life, as to the stream, and usefulness becomes an
+element of being. The river is a chain which links remotest latitudes,
+as through the social man relations are established, binding alien
+hearts: the spark of thought and feeling, like the fluid of the magnet,
+brings together distant moral zones.
+
+On it rushes--through the rapids, where the life receives an
+impulse--driven forward--haply downward--among rocks and dangerous
+channels, by the motives of ambition, by the fierce desire of wealth, or
+by the goad of want! But soon the mad career abates, for the first
+effect of haste is agitation, and the master-spell of power is calmness.
+Happy are they, who learn this lesson early--for, thence, the current
+onward flows, a tranquil, noiseless, but resistless, tide. Manhood,
+steady and mature, with its resolute but quiet thoughts, its deep,
+unwavering purposes, and, more than all, its firm, profound affections,
+is passing thus, between the shores of Time--not only working for itself
+a channel broad and clear, but bearing on its bosom, toward Eternity,
+uncounted wealth of hopes.
+
+But in the middle of its course, its character is wholly changed; a
+flood pours in, whose waters hold, suspended, all impurities. A
+struggle, brief but turbulent, ensues: the limpid wave of youth is
+swallowed up. Some great success has been achieved; unholy passions are
+evoked, and will not be allayed; thenceforward there is no relenting;
+and, though the world--nay! Heaven itself!--pour in, along its course,
+broad tributaries of reclaiming purity, the cloud upon the waters can
+never be dispelled. The marl and dross of Earth, impalpable, but visibly
+corrupting, pervade the very nature; and only when the current ceases,
+will its primitive transparency return.
+
+Still it hurries onward, with velocity augmented, as it nears its term.
+Yet its breadth is not increased; the earth suspended in its waters,
+like the turbid passions of the human soul, prevents expansion;[1] for,
+in man's career through time, the heart grows wider only in the pure.
+
+Along the base of cliffs and highlands--through the deep alluvions of
+countless ages--among stately forests and across extended plains, it
+flows without cessation. Beyond full manhood, character may change no
+more--as, below its mighty tributaries, the river is unaltered. Its full
+development is reached among rich plantations, waving fields, and
+swarming cities; while, but the journey of a day beyond, it rushes into
+Eternity, leaving a melancholy record, as it mingles with the waters of
+the great gulf, even upon the face of Oblivion.
+
+--Within the valley of this river, time will see a population of two
+hundred millions; and here will be the seat of the most colossal power
+Earth has yet contained. The heterogeneous character of the people is of
+no consequence: still less, the storms of dissension, which now and then
+arise, to affright the timid and faithless. The waters of all latitudes
+could not be blended in one element, and purified, without the tempests
+and cross-currents, which lash the ocean into fury. Nor would a stagnant
+calmness, blind attachment to the limited horizon of a homestead, or the
+absence of all irritation or attrition, ever make one people of the
+emigrants from every clime.
+
+And, when this nation shall have become thoroughly homogeneous--when the
+world shall recognise _the race_, and, above this, _the power_ of the
+race--will there be no interest in tracing through the mists of many
+generations, the outlines of that foundation on which is built the
+mighty fabric? Even the infirmities and vices of the men who piled the
+first stones of great empires, are chronicled in history as facts
+deserving record. The portrait of an ancient hero is a treasure beyond
+value, even though the features be but conjectural. How much more
+precious would be a faithful portrait of _his character_, in which the
+features should be his salient traits--the expression, outline, and
+complexion of his nature!
+
+
+To furnish a series of such portraits--embracing a few of the earlier
+characters, whose "mark" is traceable in the growing civilization of the
+West and South--is the design of the present work. The reader will
+observe that its logic is not the selection of actual, but of ideal,
+individuals, each representing a class; and that, although it is
+arranged chronologically, the periods are not historical, but
+characteristic. The design, then, is double; _first_, to select a
+_class_, which indicates a certain stage of social or political
+advancement; and, _second_, to present a picture of an imaginary
+individual, who combines the prominent traits, belonging to the class
+thus chosen.
+
+The series halts, beyond the Rubicon of contemporaneous portraiture, for
+very obvious reasons; but there are still in existence abundant means of
+verifying, or correcting, every sketch. I have endeavored to give the
+consciousness of this fact its full weight--to resist the temptation
+(which, I must admit, was sometimes strong) to touch the borders of
+satire; and, in conclusion, I can only hope that these wishes, with an
+earnest effort at fidelity, have enabled me to present truthful
+pictures.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] "Were it a clear stream, it would soon scoop itself out a channel
+from bluff to bluff."--_Flint's Geography_, p. 103.
+
+
+
+
+I.
+
+THE INDIAN.
+
+    "In the same beaten channel still have run
+      The blessed streams of human sympathy;
+    And, though I know this ever hath been done,
+      The why and wherefore, I could never see!"
+
+    PHEBE CAREY.
+
+
+In a work which professes to trace, even indistinctly, the reclamation
+of a country from a state of barbarism, some notice of that from which
+it was reclaimed is, of course, necessary; and an attempt to distinguish
+the successive periods, each by its representative character, determines
+the logic of such notice. Were we as well acquainted with the gradations
+of Indian advancement--for such unquestionably, there were--as we are
+with those of the civilized man, we should be able to distinguish eras
+and periods, so as to represent them, each by its separate _ideal_. But
+civilization and barbarism are comparative terms; and, though it is
+difficult, perhaps impossible, precisely to fix the point at which one
+ceases and the other begins, yet, within that limit, we must consider
+barbarism as _one_ period. Of this period, in our plan, the Indian,
+without reference to distinction of tribe, or variation in degree of
+advancement, is the representative. As all triangles agree in certain
+properties, though widely different in others, so all Indians are alike
+in certain characteristics, though differing, almost radically, each
+from every other: But, as the points of coincidence in triangles are
+those which determine the class, and the differences only indicate
+subspecies, so the similar characteristics in the Indian, are those
+which distinguish the species, and the variations of character are, at
+most, only tribal limits. An Indian who should combine all the
+equivalent traits, without any of the inequalities, would, therefore, be
+the pure ideal of his race. And his composition should include the evil
+as well as the good; for a portrait of the savage, which should
+represent him as only generous and brave, would be as far from a
+complete ideal, as one which should display only his cruelty and
+cunning.
+
+My object in this article is, therefore, to combine as many as
+possible--or as many as are necessary--of the general characteristics of
+the Indian, both good and bad--so as to give a fair view of the
+character, according to the principle intimated above. And I may,
+perhaps without impropriety, here state, that this may be taken as the
+key to all the sketches which are to follow. It is quite probable that
+many examples of each class treated, might be found, who are exceptions
+to the rules stated, in almost every particular; and it is possible,
+that no _one_, of _any_ class treated, combined _all_ the
+characteristics elaborated. Excepting when historical facts are related,
+or well-authenticated legends worked in, my object is not to give
+portraits of individuals, however prominent. As was hinted above--the
+logic of the book points only to the ideal of each class.
+
+
+And this view of the subject excludes all those discussions, which have
+so long puzzled philosophers, about the origin of the race--our business
+is with the question _What is he?_ rather than with the inquiry, _Whence
+did he come?_ The shortest argument, however--and, if the assumption be
+admitted, the most conclusive--is that, which assumes the literal truth
+of the Mosaic account of the creation of man; for from this it directly
+follows, that the aboriginal races are descendants of Asiatic
+emigrants; and the minor questions, as to the route they
+followed--whether across the Pacific, or by Behring's strait--are merely
+subjects of curious speculation, or still more curious research. And
+this hypothesis is quite consistent with the evidence drawn from Indian
+languages, customs, and physical developments. Even the arguments
+against the theory, drawn from differences in these particulars among
+the tribes, lose their force, when we come to consider that the same, if
+not wider differences, are found among other races, indisputably of a
+single stock. These things may be satisfactorily accounted for, by the
+same circumstances in the one case, as in the other--by political and
+local situation, by climate, and unequal progress. Thus, the Indian
+languages, says Prescott, in his "Conquest of Mexico," "present the
+strange anomaly of differing as widely in etymology, as they agree in
+organization;" but a key to the solution of the problem, is found in the
+latter part of the same sentence: "and, on the other hand," he
+continues,[2] "while they bear some slight affinity to the languages of
+the Old World, in the former particular, they have no resemblance to
+them whatever, in the latter." This is as much as if he had said, that
+the incidents to the lives of American Indians, are totally different to
+those of the nations of the Old World: and these incidents are precisely
+the circumstances, which are likely to affect organization, more than
+etymology. And the difficulty growing out of their differences among
+themselves, in the latter, is surmounted by the fact, that there is a
+sufficient general resemblance among them all, to found a comparison
+with "the languages of the Old World." I believe, a parallel course of
+argument would clear away all other objections to the theory.[3]
+
+
+But, as has been said, the scope of our work includes none of these
+discussions; and we shall, therefore, pass to the Indian character,
+abstracted from all antecedents. That this has been, and is, much
+misunderstood, is the first thought which occurs to one who has an
+opportunity personally to observe the savage. Nor is it justly a matter
+of surprise. The native of this continent has been the subject of
+curious and unsatisfactory speculation, since the discovery of the
+country by Columbus: by the very _want_ of those things, which
+constitute the attraction of other nations, he became at once, and has
+continued, the object of a mysterious interest. The absence of dates and
+facts, to mark the course of his migration, remits us to conjecture, or
+the scarcely more reliable resource of tradition--the want of history
+has made him a character of romance. The mere name of Indian gives the
+impression of a shadowy image, looming, dim but gigantic, through a
+darkness which nothing else can penetrate. This mystery not only
+interests, but also disarms, the mind; and we are apt to see, in the
+character, around which it hovers, only those qualities which give depth
+to the attraction. The creations of poetry and romance are usually
+extremes; and they are, perhaps, necessarily so, when the nature of the
+subject furnishes no standard, by which to temper the conception.
+
+"The efforts of a poet's imagination are, more or less, under the
+control of his opinions:" but opinions of men are founded upon their
+history; and there is, properly, _no_ historical Indian character. The
+consequence has been, that poets and novelists have constructed their
+savage personages according to a hypothetical standard, of either the
+virtues or vices, belonging, potentially, to the savage state. The same
+rule, applied to portraiture of civilized men, would at once be declared
+false and pernicious; and the only reason why it is not equally so, in
+its application to the Indian, is, because the separation between him
+and us is so broad, that our conceptions of his character can exert
+little or no influence upon our intercourse with mankind.
+
+Sympathy for what are called the Indian's misfortunes, has, also,
+induced the class of writers, from whom, almost exclusively, our notions
+of his character are derived, to represent him in his most genial
+phases, and even to palliate his most ferocious acts, by reference to
+the injustice and oppression, of which he has been the victim. If we
+were to receive the authority of these writers, we should conclude that
+the native was not a savage, at all, until the landing of the whites;
+and, instead of ascribing his atrocities to the state of barbarism in
+which he lived--thus indicating their only valid apology--we should
+degrade both the white and the red men, by attributing to the former
+all imaginable vices, and, to the latter, a peculiar aptitude in
+acquiring them. These mistakes are natural and excusable--as the man who
+kills another in self-defence is justifiable; but the Indian character
+is not the less misconceived, just as the man slain is not less dead,
+than if malice had existed in both cases. To praise one above his
+merits, is as fatal to his consideration, as decidedly to disparage him.
+In either case, however, there is a chance that a just opinion may be
+formed; but, when both extremes are asserted with equal confidence, the
+mind is confused, and can settle upon nothing. The latter is precisely
+the condition of the Indian; and it is with a view of correcting such
+impressions, that this article is written.
+
+
+The American Indian, then, is the ideal of a savage--no more, no less:
+and I call him the ideal, because he displays _all_ those qualities,
+which the history of the human race authorizes us to infer, as the
+characteristics of an unenlightened people, for many ages isolated from
+the rest of mankind.[4] He differs, in many particulars, from the other
+barbarians of the world; but the broadest distinction lies in this
+_completeness_ of his savage character. The peculiarities of the country
+in which their lives assume their direction, its climate, isolation; or
+connection with the world--all these things contribute to modify the
+aspects presented by native races. In such points as are liable to
+modification by these causes, the American differs from every other
+savage; and without entering into an elaborate comparison of
+circumstances--for which we have neither the material, the inclination,
+nor the space--it may be proper briefly to consider _one_ of these
+causes, and endeavor to trace its effects in the Indian's moral
+physiognomy.
+
+
+The state of this continent, when the first Asiatic wanderers landed
+upon its shores, was, of course, that of a vast, unbroken solitude; and
+the contemplation of its almost boundless extent and profound
+loneliness, was certainly the first, and probably the most powerful
+agency, at work in modifying their original character. What the primary
+effects of this cause were likely to be, we may observe in the white
+emigrants, who have sought a home among the forests and upon the plains
+of the west: whatever they may have been before their migration, they
+soon become meditative, abstracted, and taciturn. These, and especially
+the last, are the peculiar characteristics of the Indian; his
+taciturnity, indeed, amounts to austerity, sometimes impressing the
+observer with the idea of affectation. The dispersion, which must have
+been the effect of unlimited choice in lands--the mode of life pursued
+by those who depended upon the chase for subsistence--the gradual
+estrangement produced among the separate tribes, by the necessity of
+wide hunting-grounds--the vast expanse of territory at command--causes
+operating so long, as to produce a fixed and corresponding nature--are
+the sources, to which we may trace almost all the Indian's distinctive
+traits.
+
+"Isolation," Carlyle says, "is the sum total of wretchedness to man;"
+and, doubtless, the idea which he means to convey is just. "But," in the
+words of De Quincey, "no man can be truly _great_, without at least
+chequering his life with solitude." Separation from his kind, of course,
+deprives a man of the humanizing influences, which are the consequences
+of association; but it may, at the same time, strengthen some of the
+noblest qualities of human nature. Thus, we are authorized to ascribe to
+this agency, a portion of the Indian's fortitude under hardships and
+suffering, his contempt for mere meanness, and above all, the proud
+elevation of his character. The standards of comparison, which were
+furnished by his experience, were few, and, of course, derived from the
+ideas of barbarians; but all such as were in any way modified by the
+solitude of his existence, were rendered impressive, solemn, and
+exalted.
+
+In the vast solitudes of Asia, whence the Indian races migrated to this
+continent, so far as the loneliness of savage deserts and endless plains
+might exert an influence, we should expect to find the same general
+character. But the Asians are almost universally pastoral--the Americans
+never; the wildest tribes of Tartary possess numerous useful
+domesticated animals--the Americans, even in Mexico,[5] had none; the
+Tartars are acquainted with the use of milk, and have been so from time
+immemorial--the Indian, even at this day, has adopted it only in a few
+localities, among the more enlightened tribes. The migration of the
+latter either took place at a period before even his Asiatic father had
+discovered its use, or the accidents which brought him to this
+continent, were such as to preclude importing domesticated animals; and
+the lapse of a few generations was sufficient to obliterate even the
+recollection of such knowledge. "And," says Prescott,[6] "he might well
+doubt, whether the wild, uncouth monsters, whom he occasionally saw
+bounding with such fury over the distant plains, were capable of
+domestication, like the meek animals which he had left grazing in the
+green pastures of Asia." To this leading distinction--the adoption and
+neglect of pastoral habits--may be referred most of the diversities
+among races, unquestionably of one stock.
+
+
+Reasoning from the effects upon human character, produced by the face of
+different countries, we might expect to find, in the Indian, among other
+things, a strong tendency toward poetical thought, embodied, not in the
+mode of expression usually denominated poetry, but in the style of his
+addresses, the peculiarities of his theories, or the construction of his
+mythology, language, and laws. This expectation is totally disappointed;
+but when we examine the _degree_ and _character_ of his advancement,
+and recollect a few of the circumstances, among which the poetry looked
+for would be obliged to grow, our disappointment loses its element of
+surprise. The contemplation of Nature in her primitive, terrible, and
+beautiful forms--the habit of meditation, almost the necessary
+consequence of solitude--the strange, wild enchantment of an adventurous
+life--have failed to develop in the Indian, any but selfish and sensual
+ideas. Written poetry was, of course, not to be expected, even from the
+indigenous civilization of Mexico and Peru; yet we might, with some
+ground for hope, seek occasional traces of poetical thought and feeling.
+We look in vain for any such thing.
+
+"Extremes meet," says one of the wisest of adages; and the saying was
+never more singularly and profoundly vindicated, than in its application
+to civilization and barbarism. The savage rejects all that does not
+directly gratify his selfish wants--the highly-civilized man is, in like
+manner, governed by the principle of _utility_; and, by both, the merely
+fanciful and imaginative is undervalued. Thus, as Mr. Macaulay[7]
+ingeniously says, "A great poem, in a highly-polished state of society,
+is the most wonderful and splendid proof of genius." But, for the same
+reasons, the savage, who should display any remarkably poetical feeling
+or tone of thought, would be quite as great a prodigy. Poetry flourishes
+most luxuriantly midway between the two extremes. Its essence is the
+contemplation of great passions and actions--of love, revenge, ambition.
+Imagination is then vivified by the means of expression or articulation;
+and, in the half-civilized state, neither a refined public sentiment,
+nor the other extreme of barbarous isolation, restrains the exhibition
+of great (and poetical) emotions.
+
+The best of Hazlitt's numerous definitions of poetry, determines it to
+be "the excess of imagination, beyond the actual or ordinary impression
+of any object or feeling."[8] But the Indian was destitute of all
+imagination; apparently, the composition of his nature included no such
+element; and, certainly, the rude exigencies of his life did not admit
+its action. Even the purity of his mythology, compared to that of the
+Greeks and Romans,[9] has been (by Lord Lindsay) attributed to this
+want--though, if such were its only effects, it might very well be
+supplied.
+
+The Indian has no humor, no romance--how could he possess poetical
+feeling? The gratification of sensual wants is the end of his life--too
+often, _literally_ the end! "He considers everything beneath his notice,
+which is not necessary to his advantage or enjoyment."[10] To him a jest
+is as unmeaning as the babbling of a brook; his wife is a beast of
+burden; and even his courting is carried on by gifts of good things _to
+eat_, sent to the parents.[11] Heaven is merely a hunting-ground; his
+language has no words to express abstract qualities, virtues, vices, or
+sentiments.[12] His idea of the Great Spirit, and the word which
+expresses it, may be applied with equal propriety to a formidable
+(though not beneficent) _animal_; indeed, the Indian words which we
+translate "spirit," mean only superior power, without the qualification
+of good or evil. He has not even the ordinary inhabitive instinct of the
+human race; his attachment to any region of country depends upon its
+capacity to furnish game, and the fading of the former keeps pace with
+the disappearance of the latter. "Attachment to the graves of his
+fathers," is an agreeable fiction--unfortunately, only a fiction.[13]
+He has always been nomadic, without the pastoral habits which the word
+supposes: a mere wandering savage, without purpose or motive, beyond the
+gratification of the temporary want, whim, or passion, and void of
+_everything_ deserving the name of sentiment.
+
+
+An extravagant, and, I am sorry to say, groundless, notion has obtained
+currency, among almost all writers upon the Indian character, that he is
+distinguished for his _eloquence_. But the same authors tell us, that
+his language, the vehicle of the supposed eloquence, can express only
+material ideas.[14] Now, if we knew no more of his character than this,
+we should be authorized to infer (what is, indeed, true), that he
+possesses no standard for the distinction of good and evil, and that his
+imagination is bounded by the lines of his sensible experience. How any
+degree of eloquence can be compatible with this state of things, passes
+comprehension. And what reflection would conclude, a little examination
+will confirm. The mistake has, doubtless, grown out of a misconception
+of the nature of eloquence itself.[15] If eloquence were all
+_figure_--even if it were, in any considerable degree, _mere_
+figure--then the tawdriest rhetorician would be the greatest orator. But
+it is not so. On the contrary, the use of many words (or figures) to
+express an idea, denotes not command of language, but the absence of
+that power--just as the employment of numerous tools, to effect a
+physical object, indicates, not skill in the branch of physics, to which
+the object belongs, but rather awkwardness. Of course, much must be
+placed, in both cases, to the account of clumsy instruments; but the
+instrument of speech differs from others in this: it is fashioned _by_,
+as well as _for_, its use; and a rude, unpolished language is,
+therefore, an index, in two ways, of the want of eloquence among the
+people who employ it.
+
+In this view, the figurative elocution of the Indian, so far from
+affording evidence of oratorical power, if it proves anything, proves
+the opposite. It is the barrenness of his language, and not the
+luxuriance of his imagination, which enforces that mode of speech.[16]
+Imagination is the first element of oratory, simplicity its first
+condition. We have seen that the Indian is wholly destitute of the
+former; and the stilted, meretricious, and ornate style, of even his
+ordinary communications, entirely excludes the latter from our
+conception of his character.[17]
+
+For example: take the expressions "bury the hatchet," for "make peace,"
+and "a cloudless sky," for "prosperity"--the latter being the nearest
+approximation to an abstract idea observed in Indian oratory. Upon
+examining these, and kindred forms of speech, we shall at once perceive
+that they are not the result of imagination, but are suggested by
+_material_ analogies. Peace, to the savage, is, at best, but a negative
+idea; and the _state_ of peacefulness, abstracted from the absence of
+war, finds no corresponding word in his language. Even friendship only
+means that relation, in which friends may be of _use_ to each other. As
+his dialects are all synthetic,[18] his ideas are all concrete. To say,
+"_I love_" without expressing _what_ or _whom_ I love, would be, so to
+speak, very bad Indian grammar. He can not even say "two" correctly,
+without applying the numeral to some object. The notion of absolute
+being, number, emotion, feeling, posture, or relation, is utterly
+foreign to his mode of thought and speech.
+
+So, also, of the "cloudless sky," used to express a state of prosperity.
+He does not mean, by the phrase, the serenity of mind which prosperity
+produces, nor any other abstract inflexion or suggestion of the figure.
+He is constantly exposed to the storms of heaven, in the chase, and on
+the war path; and, even in his best "lodge," he finds but little shelter
+from their fury. Clear weather is, therefore, grateful to him--bright
+sunshine associates itself, in his mind, with comfort, or (that
+supremest of Indian pleasures) undisturbed indolence. And the
+transition, though, as we have said, an approach to an abstract
+conception, is easy, even to the mind of a savage. His employment of
+such illustrations is rather an evidence of rudeness, than of
+eloquence--of barrenness, than of luxuriance of idea.[19]
+
+From these considerations, it results, that even the very best specimens
+of Indian oratory, deserve the name of _picturesque_, rather than of
+_eloquent_--two characteristics which bear no greater affinity to each
+other, than do the picture-writing of the Aztec and the alphabetical
+system of the Greek. The speech of Logan--the most celebrated of Indian
+harangues--even if genuine,[20] is but a feeble support to the theory of
+savage eloquence. It is a mixture of the lament and the song of triumph,
+which may be found in equal perfection among all barbarous people; but,
+so far as we are aware, was never elsewhere dignified with that sounding
+name. The slander of a brave and honorable man,[21] which it contains,
+might be the result of a mistake easily made; the wrongs of which this
+chief was the victim, might render even a savage eloquent; and the
+mixture of bloody vaunting with profound grief, is scarcely to be
+expected in any _but_ a savage. "Logan never knew fear," he says; "he
+would not turn on his heel to save his life." This species of boasting
+is perfectly in keeping with the Indian character; but the pathetic
+reason for this carelessness, which follows--"There is no one to mourn
+for Logan"--is one not likely to have occurred to an Indian, even in his
+circumstances. And, granting that the expression _was_ used by the
+orator, and not (as it seems probable it was) added by Jefferson, it is,
+I believe, the only example on record of poetical feeling in any Indian
+speech.
+
+
+The _religion_ of the Indian has given as much troublesome material to
+the builders of systems, as has been furnished by all his other
+characteristics combined. The first explorers of America supposed that
+they had found a people, quite destitute of any religious belief. But
+faith in a higher power than that of man, is a necessity of the human
+mind; and its organization, more or less enlightened, is as natural,
+even to the most degraded savage, as the formation of his language. Both
+depend upon general laws, common to the intellect of all races of men;
+both are affected by the external circumstances of climate, situation,
+and mode of life; and the state of one may always be determined by that
+of the other. "No savage horde has been caught with its language in a
+state of chaos, or as if just emerging from the rudeness of
+indistinguishable sounds. Each appears, not as a slow formation by
+painful processes of invention, but as a perfect whole, springing
+directly from the powers of man."[22] And though this rigor of
+expression is not equally applicable to the Indian's religion, the fact
+is attributable solely to the difference in nature of the subjects. As
+the "primary sounds of a language are essentially the same everywhere,"
+the impulses and instincts of piety are common to all minds. But, as the
+written language of the Indian was but the pictorial representation of
+visible objects, having no metaphysical signification, so the symbols of
+his religion, the objects of his adoration, were drawn from external
+nature.[23] Even his faith in the Great Spirit is a graft upon his
+system, derived from the first missionaries;[24] and, eagerly as he
+adopted it, it is probable that its meaning, to him, is little more
+exalted, than that of the "Great Beaver," which he believes to be the
+first progenitor, if not the actual creator, of that useful animal.
+
+We often see the fact, that the Indian believes in his _manitou_, cited
+as an evidence, that he has the conception of a spiritual divinity. But
+the word never conveyed such a meaning; it is applicable more properly
+to material objects, and answers, with, if possible, a more intense and
+superstitious significance, to the term _amulet_. The Indian's _manitou_
+might be, indeed always was, some wild animal, or some part of a beast
+or bird--such as a bear's claw, a buffalo's hoof, or a dog's tooth.[25]
+And, though he ascribed exalted powers to this primitive guardian, it
+must be remembered that these powers were only physical--such, for
+example, as would enable it to protect its devotee from the knife of his
+enemy, or give him success in hunting.
+
+
+Materialism, then, reigns in the religion, as in the language, of the
+Indian; and its effects are what might be expected. His whole system is
+a degraded and degrading superstition; and, though it has been praised
+for its superior purity, over that of the ancients, it seems to have
+been forgotten, that this purity is only the absence of _one kind_ of
+_im_purity: and that its cruel and corrupting influences, of another
+sort, are ten-fold greater than those of the Greek mythology. The
+faith of the Greek embodied itself in forms, ceremonies, and
+observances--regularly appointed religious rites kept his piety alive;
+the erection of grand temples, in honor of his deity, whatever might be
+his conception of that deity's character, attested his genuine devotion,
+and held constantly before his mind the abstract idea of a higher power.
+The Indian, before the coming of the white man, erected no temples[26]
+in honor of his divinities; for he venerated them only so long as they
+conferred physical benefits[27] upon him; and his idea of beneficence
+was wholly concrete. He had no established form of worship; the
+ceremonies, which partook of a religious character, were grotesque in
+their conception, variable in their conduct, and inhuman in their
+details. Such, for example, are the torturing of prisoners, and the
+ceremonies observed on the occasion of a young Indian's placing himself
+under his guardian power.
+
+
+The dogmas of the Indian religion, until varied by the teaching of
+missionaries, were few and simple--being circumscribed, like everything
+else belonging to him, by the material world. He believed in a good
+spirit, and an evil spirit; but his conception was limited by the ideas
+of benefit or injury, _to himself_; indeed, it may safely be doubted,
+whether the word "spirit," in its legitimate sense, is at all applicable
+to his belief. "Power in a state of exertion," is the more accurate
+description of his imperfect notion: abstract existence he never
+conceived; the verb "_to be_" except as relating to time, place, and
+action, had no meaning in his language.[28] He believed, also, in
+subordinate powers of good and evil; but, since his life was occupied
+more in averting danger and calamity, than in seeking safety or
+happiness, he paid far more respect to the latter than to the former--he
+prayed oftener and more fervently to the devils, than to the angels. His
+clearest notion of divinity, was that of a being able to injure him;
+and, in this sense, his devotion might be given to man, bird, or beast.
+
+There seems to be no doubt, that he believed in a sort of immortality,
+even before the missionaries visited his country. But it was not so much
+a new state of existence, as a continuation of present life.[29] He
+killed horses upon the grave of the departed warrior, that he might be
+mounted for his long journey; and buffalo meat and roasted maize were
+buried with him, that he might not suffer from hunger.[30] On arriving
+in the land of the blest, he believed, that the dead pursued the game of
+that country, as he had done in this; and the highest felicity of which
+he conceived, was the liberty to hunt unmolested by the war-parties of
+his enemies. Heaven was, therefore, in his conception, only a more
+genial earth, and its inheritors but keener sportsmen.
+
+That this idea of immortality involved that of accountability, in some
+form, seems to admit of no doubt; but this doctrine, like almost all
+others belonging to the primitive savage, has been moulded to its
+present definite shape, by the long-continued labors of Christian
+missionaries.[31] He believed, indeed, that the bad Indians never
+reached the happy hunting-grounds, but the distinction between the good
+and the bad, in his mind, was not at all clear; and, since the idea of
+the passage across the gulf of death most prevalent among all tribes,
+is that of a narrow bridge, over which only steady nerves and sure feet
+may carry the wanderer, it seems probable that the line was drawn
+between the brave warrior and the successful hunter, on the one hand,
+and the coward and the unskilful, on the other. If these views be
+correct, the inferences to be drawn from the Indian's belief in
+immortality and accountability, are of but slender significance.
+
+
+Corrupt manners and degrading customs never exist, in conjunction with a
+pure religious system. The outlines of social institutions are
+metaphysically coincident with the limits of piety; and the refinement
+of morals depends upon the purity of faith. We may thus determine the
+prevailing spirit of a national religion, by observation of domestic
+manners and habits; and, among all the relations of life, that of parent
+and child is the best index to degree of advancement. Filial piety is
+but the secondary manifestation of a devotional heart; and attachment
+and obedience to a father on earth, are only imperfect demonstrations of
+love to our Father in heaven. What, then--to apply the principle--is the
+state of this sentiment in the Indian? By the answer to that question,
+we shall be able to estimate the value of his religious notions, and to
+determine the amount of hope, for his conversion, justified by their
+possession. The answer may be given in a few words: There is no such
+sentiment in the Indian character. Children leave their infirm parents
+to die alone, and be eaten by the wolves;[32] or treat them with violent
+indignity,[33] when the necessity of migration gives no occasion for
+this barbarous desertion. Young savages have been known to beat their
+parents, and even to kill them; but the display of attachment or
+reverence for them, is quite unknown. Like the beast of the forest, they
+are no sooner old enough to care for themselves, than they cease even to
+remember, by whose care they have become so; and the slightest
+provocation will produce a quarrel with a father, as readily as with a
+stranger. The unwritten law of the Indian, about which so many writers
+have dreamed, enacts no higher penalty for parricide, than for any other
+homicide; and a command to honor his father and mother because they
+_are_ his father and mother, would strike the mind of an Indian as
+simply absurd.
+
+If the possession of a religion, whose fruits are no better than these,
+can, of itself, give ground for hope to the Christian philanthropist,
+let him cherish it fondly. But it is much to be feared, that the
+existence of such a system indefinitely postpones, if it does not
+entirely preclude, the Indian's conversion. Even a bird which has never
+known the forest, will eventually escape to the wilds which God has made
+its home; and the young Indian, who has been reared in the city, will
+fly to the woods and prairies, and return to the faith of his fathers,
+because these, and only these, will satisfy his nature.[34]
+
+
+A theme of praise, in itself more just, has been the Indian's courage;
+but the same circumstances of poetical interest, which have magnified
+men's views of his other qualities, have contributed to exaggerate this
+also. If calm steadiness of nerve, in the moment of action, be an
+element in true courage, that of the primitive savage was scarcely
+genuine. In all his battles, there were but two possible aspects--the
+furious onset, and the panic retreat: the firmness which plants itself
+in line or square, and stubbornly contends for victory, was no part of
+his character. A check, to him, always resulted in a defeat; and, though
+this might, in some measure, be the consequence of that want of
+discipline, which is incident to the savage state, the remark applies
+with equal justice, whether he fought singly or in a body. He was easily
+panic-struck, because the impulse of the forward movement was necessary
+to keep him strung to effort; and the retrograde immediately became a
+rout, because daring, without constancy, collapses with the first
+reaction.
+
+Notwithstanding the enervating influences attributed to refinement and
+luxury, genuine, steady courage is one of the fruits borne by a high
+civilization. It is the result of combination, thought, and the divinity
+which attaches to the cultivated man. And, though it may seem rather
+unfair to judge a savage by the rules of civilization, it has long been
+received as a canon, that true valor bears an inverse ratio to
+ferocious cruelty. Of all people yet discovered upon earth, the Indian
+is the most ferocious. We must, therefore, either vary the meaning of
+the word, when applied to different people, or deny the savage the
+possession of any higher bravery, than that which lives only through the
+onset.
+
+Cunning supplied the place of the nobler quality; the object of his
+warfare was to overcome by wily stratagem, rather than by open combat.
+"Skill consisted in surprising the enemy. They followed his trail, to
+kill him when he slept; or they lay in ambush near a village, and
+watched for an opportunity of suddenly surprising an individual, or, it
+might be, a woman and her children; and, with three strokes to each, the
+scalps of the victims being suddenly taken off, the brave flew back with
+his companions, to hang the trophies in his cabin."[35] If they
+succeeded in taking prisoners, it was only that they might be reserved
+for the most infernal torments, and the gratification of a brutal
+ferocity, not the trial and admiration of the victim's courage, was the
+purpose of their infliction.[36]
+
+The fortitude of the Indian under suffering, has often been referred to,
+in evidence of moral courage. And it is certainly true, that the display
+so frequently made of triumph in the hour of death by torture,
+indicates,[37] in part, an elevation of character, seldom found among
+more civilized men. It is, however, the elevation of a barbarian; and
+its manifestations are as much the fruit of impotent rage, as of a noble
+fortitude. The prisoner at the stake knows that there is no escape; and
+his intense hatred of his enemies takes the form of a wish, to deprive
+them of a triumph. While his flesh is crisping and crackling in the
+flames, therefore, he sings of the scalps he has taken, and heaps
+opprobrious epithets upon the heads of his tormentors. But his song is
+as much a cry of agony, as of exultation--his pain only adopts this mode
+of expression. It is quite certain, also, that he does not suffer so
+deeply, as would a white man in the same circumstances. By long
+exposure, and the endurance of hardships incident to his savage life,
+his body acquires an insensibility akin to that of wild animals.[38] His
+nerves do not shrink or betray a tendency to spasm, even when a limb is
+amputated. Transmitted from one generation to another, this physical
+nature has become a peculiarity of the race. And when assisted by the
+fierce hatred above referred to, it is not at all strange that it should
+enable him to bear with fortitude, tortures which would conquer the
+firmness of the most resolute white man.[39]
+
+
+The Indian's dignified stoicism has been as much exaggerated, as his
+courage and fortitude. It is not quite true that he never expresses
+surprise, or becomes loquacious. But he has a certain stern
+impassibility of feature--a coldness of manner--which have been mistaken
+for dignity. His immobility of countenance, however, may be the effect
+of sluggish sensibilities, or even of dull perceptions;[40] and the
+same savage vanity, which leads him to make a display of strength or
+agility before friend or enemy, prevents his acknowledging ignorance, by
+betraying surprise.[41] We have been in company with Indians from the
+Far West, while they saw a railroad for the first time. When they
+thought themselves unnoticed, they were as curious about the singular
+machinery of the locomotive, and as much excited by the decorations and
+appointments of the cars, as the most ignorant white man. But the moment
+they discovered that their movements were observed, they resumed their
+dignified composure; and, if you had judged of the Indian country by
+their subsequent deportment, you might have believed that the vast
+prairies of the Missouri were everywhere intersected by railroads--that
+the Indian had, in fact, never known any other mode of travelling. "On
+first seeing a steamboat, however," says Flint, who well understands his
+character, "he never represses his customary '_Ugh_!'"
+
+
+Generally, among white men, he who is fondest of inflicting pain, is
+least able to endure it. But the Indian reverses almost all the
+principles, which apply to civilized life; and, accordingly, we find
+that, with all his so-called fortitude, he is the most intensely cruel
+of all living men. Before possession of the continent was taken by
+Europeans, war was more constantly the occupation of his life, than it
+has been since; but even now his only object in taking his enemies
+alive, is to subject them to the most inhuman tortures.[42] And in these
+brutal orgies, the women are most active, even taking the lead, in
+applying the cord and the brand.[43] Nor is this cruelty confined to
+enemies, as the practice of leaving the aged and infirm to die of
+starvation sufficiently proves.
+
+And his treachery is equal to his cruelty. No treaty can bind him longer
+than superior force compels him to observe it. The discovery that his
+enemy is unprepared for an attack, is sufficient reason to him for
+making it; his only object in concluding peace, is to secure an
+advantage in war; and before the prospect of a bloody inroad, his faith
+melts away, like snow before the sun. The claims of gratitude he seldom
+acknowledges; he cherishes the memory of a benefit, only until he finds
+an opportunity of repaying it with an injury; and forbearance to avenge
+the latter, only encourages its repetition.[44] The numerous pretty
+stories published of Indian gratitude, are either exceptional cases, or
+unmixed romances.
+
+There have been some tribes of Indians in a measure reclaimed from their
+state of barbarism; the Cherokees, I believe, (and perhaps one or two
+other nations,) have even increased in numbers, under the influence of
+civilization. But this is the result of numerous favorable causes
+combined, and proves nothing, from which to infer the Indian's docility.
+Other savages, on coming in contact with civilized men, have discovered
+a disposition to acquire some of the useful arts--their comforts have
+been increased, their sufferings diminished, and their condition
+ameliorated, by the grafting of new ideas upon the old. But, between
+the red man and the white, contiguity has brought about little more than
+an exchange of vices.
+
+Almost the only things coveted by the "redskin" from the "paleface,"
+were his arms, his trinkets, and his "firewater." He could appreciate
+whatsoever gave him superiority in war, gratified his childish vanity,
+or ministered to his brutal appetite. But the greater comfort of the
+white man's house--the higher excellence of his boat--his improved
+agricultural implements or extended learning--none of these things
+appealed to the Indian's passions or desires. The arts of peace were
+nothing to him--refinement was worse than nothing. He would spend hours
+in _decorating_ his person, but not a moment in _cleansing_ it: I
+believe no tradition exists of an Indian ever having used soap or bought
+a fine-tooth comb! He is, indeed, a "pattern of filthiness;" but even in
+civilized life, we find that this is not at all incompatible with an
+extravagant love of ornament; and, in this respect, the savage is not
+behind his more enlightened brethren and sisters. Beads, ribands, and
+scarlet cloth--with powder and lead, guns, tomahawks, and knives--are
+the acquisitions which he prizes most highly.
+
+Pre-eminent, however, above all these in his estimation, is the greatest
+curse which has yet reached him--the liquid fire called whiskey! He is,
+by nature, a drunkard, and the fury of his intoxication equals the
+ferocity of his warfare. "All words would be thrown away," says Mr.
+Flint,[45] "in attempting to portray, in just colors, the effects of
+whiskey upon such a race." Fire should be kept away from
+combustibles--whiskey from the Indian, and for the same reason. With
+drunkenness, he possesses, also, its inseparable companion, the vice of
+gambling.[46] He is the most inveterate gamester: Before the demon of
+avarice everything gives way. He even forgets his taciturnity, in the
+excitement of the game, and becomes loquacious and eager. He will stake
+all his most valuable possessions, and, losing these, will even risk his
+own liberty, or life, on the turn of a card. We were once witness to a
+game in San Antonio (in Western Texas), among a party of Lipans,[47] a
+race of fine-looking men, who range the table-lands north of the
+sources of the Nueces. Two of them, one the handsomest warrior among
+them, lost, first, the money, which they had just received as the price
+of skins, brought to the city for sale. They then staked, successively,
+their horses, their arms, their moccasins, and their blankets. The
+"luck" was against them--everything was lost; and we supposed the game
+was over. But--as a last resource, like drawing blood from their beating
+hearts--each produced a _little leathern bottle_, containing whiskey!
+And, as if these possessed a higher value than all the articles yet
+lost, the game went on with increased interest! Even the potent "spirit"
+thus evoked, could not prevail upon Fortune to change her face: the
+whiskey was lost with the rest! Each rose to his feet, with the usual
+guttural exclamation, and, afoot, and unarmed as he was, silently took
+his way to the prairies; while the winners collected in a group, and
+with much glee, proceeded to consume the liquid poison so cheaply
+obtained.
+
+
+We come, finally to the question of the Indian's fate: What is to become
+of the race? The answer presents no difficulties, save such as grow out
+of men's unwillingness to look unpleasant truths in the face. There has
+been, of late years, much lamentation, among our own people, over the
+gradual extinction of these interesting savages; and in Europe we have
+been made the subject of indignant eloquence, for (what those, who know
+nothing about it, are pleased to call) "our oppression of the Indian."
+But, in the first place, the decay of the American races is neither so
+rapid nor so universal, as is generally supposed;[48] and, in the second
+place, if the fact were otherwise, we could, at the worst, be charged
+only with accelerating a depopulation already begun. "The ten thousand
+mounds in the Mississippi Valley, the rude memorials of an immensely
+numerous former population, but, to our view, no more civilized than the
+present races, are proofs that the country _was depopulated_, when the
+white man first became acquainted with it. If we can infer nothing else
+from these mounds, we can clearly infer, that this country once had its
+millions."[49] What had become of this immense population? The
+successive invasions of new hordes of barbarians from the north,
+intestine wars, and the law, that men shall advance toward civilization,
+or decay from the earth--these are the only causes to which we may
+ascribe their disappearance.
+
+The extinction of the Indian race is decreed, by a law of Providence
+which we can not gainsay. Barbarism _must_ give way to civilization. It
+is not only inevitable, but _right_, that it should be so. The tide of
+empire, which has been flowing since the earliest times, has set
+steadily toward the West. The Indian emigrated in the wrong direction:
+and now, after the lapse of many centuries, the descendants of the first
+Asians, having girdled the globe, meet on the banks of the Mississippi!
+On the one side, are enlightenment, civilization, Christianity: on the
+other, darkness, degradation, barbarism: and the question arises, which
+shall give way? The Indian recedes: at the rate of seventeen miles a
+year,[50] the flood rolls on! Already it has reached the shores of the
+Pacific: One century will reduce the whole continent to the possession
+of the white man; and, then, the lesson which all history teaches, will
+be again taught--that two distinct races cannot exist in the same
+country on equal terms. The weaker must be incorporated with the
+stronger--or exterminated.[51]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[2] Vol. III., page 394.
+
+[3] There is, however, little necessity for any argument on the subject:
+For, leaving out of the question the highest and most sacred of
+authorities, almost all respectable writers upon ethnology, including
+Buffon, Volney, Humboldt, &c., agree in assigning a common origin to all
+nations,--though the last deduces from many particulars, the conclusion
+that the American Indian was "isolated in the infancy of the world, from
+the rest of mankind."--_Ancient Inhabitants of America_, vol. i., p.
+250.
+
+[4] It will be observed, that I assume the _unity_ of the Indian race;
+and I am not sufficiently acquainted with the recent discussions on the
+subject, to be certain whether the question is still considered open.
+But the striking analogies between the customs, physical formation, and
+languages of all the various divisions, (except the Esquimaux, who are
+excluded), I think, authorize the assumption.
+
+[5] _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. iii., p. 416.
+
+[6] _Conquest of Mexico_, vol. iii., p. 417.
+
+[7] _Essays_--Art. 'Milton.'
+
+[8] _Lectures on English Poets_, p. 4.
+
+[9] No very high compliment, but as high as it deserves. We shall see
+anon.
+
+[10] Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 177.
+
+[11] Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., p. 256.
+
+[12] Hunter's _Memoirs_, p. 236. _Western Annals_, p. 712.
+
+[13] _Flint's Geography_, p. 108.
+
+[14] "All ideas are expressed by figures addressed to the senses."
+_Warburton_, vol. i., p. 175. Bancroft, ut supra.
+
+[15] See Bancroft, Hunter, Catlin, Flint, Jefferson, &c.--passim--all
+supporters of Indian eloquence, but all informing us, that "combinations
+of material objects were his _only_ means of expressing abstract ideas."
+
+[16] Vide Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., pp. 257, 266, etc.
+
+[17] _E. G._ "They style themselves the 'beloved of the Great
+Spirit.'"--_Warburton_, vol. i., p. 186. "In the Iroquois language, the
+Indians gave themselves the appellation of 'Angoueonoue', or 'Men of
+Always.'"--_Chateaubriand's Travels in America_, vol. ii., p. 92. Note,
+also, their exaggerated boastfulness, even in their best speeches:
+"Logan never knew fear," &c.
+
+[18] "The absence of all reflective consciousness, and of all logical
+analysis of ideas, is the great peculiarity of American
+speech."--_Bancroft_, vol. iii., p. 257.
+
+[19] Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 180.
+
+[20] I have seen it hinted, though I have forgotten where, that
+Jefferson, and not Logan, was the author of this speech; but the
+extravagant manner in which Jefferson himself praises it, seems to
+exclude the suspicion. "I may challenge the whole orations of
+Demosthenes and Cicero," he says, "and of any other more eminent orator,
+if Europe has furnished more eminent, to produce a single passage
+superior to the speech of Logan!" Praise certainly quite high enough,
+for a mixture of lamentation and boastfulness.
+
+[21] The evidence in this matter has long ago been thoroughly sifted;
+and it is now certain that, so far from being present aiding at the
+massacre of Logan's family, Colonel Cresap earnestly endeavored to
+dissuade the party from its purpose. And yet the falsehood is
+perpetuated even in the common school-books of the country, while its
+object has been mouldering in his grave for a quarter of a
+century.--_Western Annals_, p. 147. _American Pioneer_, vol. i., p. 7,
+_et seq._
+
+[22] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 254.
+
+[23] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 285.--"The God of the savage was what the
+metaphysician endeavors to express by the word _substance_." But the
+Indian's idea of substance was altogether _concrete_.
+
+[24] The best authority upon this subject is found in the _Jesuit_
+"_Relaciones:_" but it is at least probable, that the preconceptions of
+the good Fathers colored, and, perhaps, shaped, many of the religious
+wonders there related.
+
+[25] "Lettres Edifiantes," vol. vi., p. 200, _et seq._ Warburton, vol.
+i., p. 187.
+
+[26] The extravagant stories told of the Natchez Indians (among whom
+there was said to be a remarkable temple for worship) are quite
+incredible, even if they had not been disproved.
+
+[27] When the _manitou_ of the Indian has failed to give him success in
+the chase, or protection from danger, "he upbraids it with bitterness
+and contempt, and threatens to seek a more effectual protector. If the
+_manitou_ continues useless, this threat is fulfilled." Warb. _ut
+supra_. _Vide_, also, Catlin's "American Indians," vol. i., p. 36, _et
+seq._
+
+[28] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 258.
+
+[29] "He calls it [the soul] the shadow or image of his body, but its
+acts and enjoyments are all the same as those of its earthly existence.
+He only pictures to himself a continuation of present pleasures." Warb.
+vol. i., p. 190. _Vide_, also, Catlin's "_American Indians_," vol. i.,
+p. 158, _et seq._
+
+[30] The Indian never believed in the resurrection of the body; but even
+corn and venison were supposed to possess a spirit, which the spirit of
+the dead warrior might eat.--_Jesuit_ "_Relacion_," 1633, p. 54.
+
+[31] "The idea of retribution," says Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 299, "as
+far as it has found its way among them, was derived from Europeans." And
+the same remark may be made, of most of the other wonders, in which
+enthusiastic travellers have discovered coincidences with Christianity.
+
+[32] James's "_Expedition_," vol. i., p. 237.--Catlin's "_American
+Indians_," vol. i., pp. 216-'18. The latter is a zealous apologist for
+Indian cruelties and barbarisms.
+
+[33] "_Conquest of Canada_," vol. i., pp. 194-'5.
+
+[34] The following may serve to indicate the sort of impression of
+Christianity which even the most earnest and enlightened preaching has
+been able to make upon the Indian mind: "Here I saw a most singular
+union; one of the [Indian] graves was surmounted by a cross, while close
+to it a trunk of a tree was raised, covered with hieroglyphics,
+recording the number of enemies slain by the tenant of the tomb. Here
+presenting a hint to those who are fond of system-making on the religion
+of these people," &c.--_Beltrami's Pilgrimage, &c._, vol. ii., p. 307.
+Bancroft's _United States_, vol. iii., pp. 303-'4. Flint's _Geography_,
+pp. 109, 126.
+
+[35] Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 281.
+
+[36] "To inflict blows that can not be returned," says this historian
+(Bancroft, vol. iii., p. 282), "is a proof of full success, and the
+entire humiliation of the enemy. It is, moreover, an experiment of
+courage and patience." But we think such things as much mere brutality,
+as triumph.
+
+[37] The frequent change of tense in this article, refers to those
+circumstances in which the _present_ differs from the _past_ character
+of the Indian.
+
+[38] "It is to be doubted, whether some part of this vaunted stoicism be
+not the result of a more than ordinary degree of physical
+insensibility."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p. 114.
+
+[39] Many white men, however, have endured the utmost extremities of
+Indian cruelty. See cases of Brebeuf, and Lallemand, in _Bancroft_, vol.
+iii., p. 140.
+
+[40] "It is intellectual culture which contributes most to diversify the
+features."--_Humboldt's Personal Narrative_, vol. iii., p. 228.
+
+[41] "They have probably as much curiosity [as the white], but a more
+stern perseverance in repressing it."--_Flint's Geography_, vol. i., p.
+124.
+
+[42] "The enemy is assailed with treachery, and, if conquered, treated
+with revolting cruelty." * * "A fiendish ferocity assumes full
+sway."--_Conquest of Canada_, vol. i., p. 206.
+
+[43] It is perhaps not very remarkable, however, that the women are most
+cruel to the aged and infirm--the young and vigorous being sometimes
+adopted by them, to console them for the loss of those who have
+fallen.--_Idem_, p. 210.
+
+[44] "We consider them a treacherous people, easily swayed from their
+purpose, paying their court to the divinity of good fortune, and always
+ready to side with the strongest. We should not rely upon their feelings
+of to-day, as any pledge for what they will be to-morrow."--_Flint's
+Geography_, vol. i., p. 120.
+
+[45] "_Geography of the Mississippi Valley_," vol. i., p. 121.
+
+[46] "The Indians are immoderately fond of play."--_Warburton_, vol. i.,
+p. 218.
+
+[47] These used cards; but they have, among themselves, numerous games
+of chance, older than the discovery of the continent.
+
+[48] "The Cherokee and Mobilian families of nations are more numerous
+now than ever."--_Bancroft_, vol. iii., p. 253. In speaking of this
+declamation about the extinction of the race, Mr. Flint very pertinently
+remarks: "One would think it had been discovered, that the population,
+the improvements, and the social happiness of our great political
+edifice, ought never to have been erected in the place of these
+habitations of cruelty."--_Geography_, vol. i., p. 107.
+
+[49] Idem.
+
+[50] This is De Tocqueville's estimate.--_Democracy in America_, vol.
+ii., chap. 10.
+
+[51] "We may as well endeavor to make the setting sun stand still on the
+summit of the Rocky Mountains, as attempt to arrest the final extermination
+of the Indian race!"--_Merivale on Colonization_--_Lecture_ 19.
+
+The principle stated in the text will apply with equal force to the
+negro-race; and those who will look the facts firmly in the face, can
+not avoid seeing, that the ultimate solution of the problem of American
+Slavery, can be nothing but _the sword_.
+
+
+
+
+II.
+
+THE VOYAGEUR.
+
+    "Spread out earth's holiest records here,
+    Of days and deeds to reverence dear:
+    A zeal like this, what pious legends tell?"
+
+
+The shapeless knight-errantry of the thirteenth and fourteenth
+centuries, rich as it was in romance and adventure, is not to be
+compared, in any valuable characteristic, to the noiseless self-devotion
+of the men who first explored the Western country. The courage of the
+knight was a part of his savage nature; his confidence was in the
+strength of his own right arm; and if his ruggedness was ever softened
+down by gentler thoughts, it was only when he asked forgiveness for his
+crimes, or melted in sensual idolatry of female beauty.
+
+It would be a curious and instructive inquiry, could we institute it
+with success, how much of the contempt of danger manifested by the
+wandering knight was referable to genuine valor, and what proportion to
+the strength of a Milan coat, and the temper of a Toledo or Ferrara
+blade. And it would be still more curious, although perhaps not so
+instructive, to estimate the purity and fidelity of the heroines of
+chivalry; to ascertain the amount of true devotion given them by their
+admirers, "without hope of reward."
+
+But without abating its interest by invidious and ungrateful inquiries,
+we can see quite enough--in its turbulence, its cruelty, arrogance, and
+oppression--to make us thank Heaven that "the days of chivalry are
+gone." And from that chaotic scene of rapine, raid, and murder, we can
+turn with pleasure to contemplate the truer, nobler chivalry--the
+chivalry of love and peace, whose weapons were the kindness of their
+hearts, the purity of their motives, and the self-denial of their lives.
+
+The term "_voyageur_"[52] literally signifies "traveller;" and by this
+modest name are indicated some of the bravest adventurers the world has
+ever seen. But it is not in its usual, common-place signification that I
+employ the word, nor yet in that which is given it by most writers on
+the subject of early French settlements and explorations. Men are often
+affected by the names given them, either of opprobrium or commendation;
+but words are quite as frequently changed, restricted, or enlarged in
+meaning, by their application to men. For example: you apply the word
+soldier to a class of men; and if robbery be one of the characteristics
+of that class, "soldier" will soon come to mean "robber" too. And thus,
+though the parallel is only logical, has it been with the term
+"_voyageur_." The class of men to whom it is applied were
+travellers--_voyageurs_; but they were _more_; and as the habits and
+qualities of men came in time to be better understood than the meaning
+of French words, the term, used in reference to Western history, took
+much of its significance from the history and character of the men it
+assumed to describe. Thus, _un voyageur_ means not only a traveller, but
+a traveller with a purpose; an adventurer among the Western wilds; a
+chivalrous missionary, either in the cause of science or religion. It
+includes high courage, burning zeal for church and country, and the most
+generous self-devotion. It describes such men as Marquette, La Salle,
+Joliet, Gravier, and hundreds of others equally illustrious, who lived
+and died among the dangers and privations of the wilderness; who opened
+the way for civilization and Christianity among the savages, and won,
+many of them, crowns of martyrdom.
+
+They were almost all Frenchmen. The Spaniards who came to this continent
+were mere gold-seekers, thirsting only for wealth; and if they sought to
+propagate Christianity, or rather the Christian _name_, it was only a
+sanguinary bigotry that prompted them. On the other hand, the English
+emigrants came to take possession of the country for themselves. The
+conversion of the natives, or territorial acquisition for the
+mother-country, were to them objects of barely secondary importance.
+They believed themselves persecuted--some of them _were_ persecuted--and
+they fled: it was only safety for themselves, and the rich lands of the
+Indian, that they sought. Providence reserved for the French chevaliers
+and missionaries the glory of leaving their homes without compulsion,
+real or imaginary, to penetrate an inhospitable wilderness; to undergo
+fatigues; to encounter dangers, and endure privations of a thousand
+kinds; enticed by no golden glitter, covetous of no riches, save such as
+are "laid up in heaven!" They came not as conquerors, but as ministers
+of peace, demanding only hospitality. They never attacked the savages
+with sword or fagot; but extending hands not stained by blood, they
+justified their profession by relief and love and kindly offices.
+Sometimes, indeed, they received little tracts of land; not seized by
+the hand of power, nor grasped by superior cunning, but possessed as the
+free gift of simple gratitude; and upon these they lived in peace,
+surrounded by savages, but protected by the respect inspired by
+blameless and beneficent lives. Many of those whose vows permitted it,
+intermarried among the converted natives, and left the seeds of many
+meliorations in a stony soil; and many of them, when they died, were as
+sincerely mourned by the simple children of the forest, as if they had
+been chiefs and braves.
+
+Such were the men of peace who penetrated the wilderness through the
+French settlements in Canada, and preached the gospel to the heathen,
+where no white man had ever before been seen; and it is particularly to
+this class that I apply the word at the head of this article. But the
+same gentle spirit pervaded other orders of adventurers--men of the
+sword and buckler, as well as of the stole and surplice. These came to
+establish the dominion of _La Belle France_; but it was not to oppress
+the simple native, or to drive him from his lands. Kindness marked even
+the conduct of the rough soldier; and such men as La Salle, and
+Iberville, who were stern enough in war, and rigid enough in discipline,
+manifested always an anxious solicitude for the _rights_, as well as for
+the spiritual welfare of the Indian. They gave a generous confidence
+where they were conscious of no wish to injure; they treated frankly and
+on equal terms, with those whom their religion and their native kindness
+alike taught them to consider brethren and friends. Take, for example,
+that significant anecdote of La Salle, related by the faithful
+chronicler[53] of his unfortunate expeditions. He was building the fort
+of _Crevecoeur_, near the spot where now stands the city of Peoria, on
+the Illinois river; and even the name of his little fortress
+(_Crevecoeur_, Broken Heart) was a mournful record of his shattered
+fortunes. The means of carrying out his noble enterprise (the colonizing
+of the Mississippi valley) were lost; the labor of years had been
+rendered ineffectual by one shipwreck; his men were discontented, even
+mutinous, "attempting," says Hennepin, "first to poison, and then desert
+him;" his mind was distracted, his heart almost broken, by accumulated
+disasters. Surrounded thus by circumstances which might well have
+rendered him careless of the feelings of the savages around him, he
+observed that they had become cold and distant--that in effect they no
+longer viewed him as their friend. The Iroquois,[54] drifting from the
+shores of Lake Ontario, where they had always been the bitterest foes of
+the French, had instilled fear and hatred into their minds; it was even
+said that some of his own men had encouraged the growing discontent. In
+this juncture, what measures does he take? Strengthen his
+fortifications, and prepare for war, as the men of other nations had
+done? Far from it. Soldier and adventurer as he was, he had no wish to
+shed innocent blood; though with his force he might have defied all the
+nations about him. He went as a friend, frankly and generously, among
+them, and demanded the reasons of their discontent. He touched their
+hearts by his confidence, convinced them of his friendship, and attached
+them to himself more devotedly than ever. A whole history in one brief
+passage!
+
+But it is more especially to the _voyageurs_ of the church--the men of
+faith and love--that I wish to direct my readers' attention: To such men
+as Le Caron, a Franciscan, with all the zeal and courage and
+self-abnegation of his order, who wandered and preached among the bloody
+Iroquois, and upon the waters of Huron, as early as 1616: to Mesnard, a
+devoted missionary of the same order, who, in 1660, founded a mission at
+the Sault de Ste. Marie, and then went into the forest to induce the
+savages to listen to the glad tidings he had brought, and never came
+back: to Father Allouez, who rebuilt the mission five years afterward
+(the first of these houses of God which was not destroyed or abandoned),
+who subsequently crossed the lakes, and preached to the Indians on Fox
+river, where, in one of the villages of the Miamis and Mascoutens,
+Marquette found a cross still standing, after the lapse of years, where
+Allouez had raised it, covered with the offerings of the simple natives
+to an unknown God. He is the same, too, who founded Kaskaskia, probably
+the earliest settlement in the great valley, and whose history ends
+(significant fact!) with the record of his usefulness. To Father Pinet,
+who founded Cahokia, and was so successful in the conversion of the
+natives, that his little chapel could not contain the numbers who
+resorted to his ministrations: to Father Marest, the first preacher
+against intemperance; and, finally, to Marquette, the best and bravest
+of them all, the most single-hearted and unpretending!
+
+
+Enthusiasm is a characteristic of the French nation; a trait in some
+individuals elevated to a sublime self-devotion, and in others degraded
+to mere excitability. The vivacity, gesticulation, and grimace, which
+characterize most of them, are the external signs of this nature; the
+calm heroism of the seventeenth century, and the insane devotion of the
+nineteenth, were alike its fruits. The _voyageur_ possessed it, in
+common with all his countrymen. But in him it was not noisy, turbulent,
+or egotistical; military glory had "neither part nor lot" in his
+schemes; the conquests he desired to make were the conquests of faith;
+the dominion he wished to establish was the dominion of Jesus.
+
+In the pursuit of these objects, or rather of this single object, I have
+said he manifested the enthusiasm of his race; but it was the noblest
+form of that characteristic. The fire that burned in his bosom was fed
+by no selfish purpose. To have thought of himself, or of his own
+comforts, or glory, to the detriment of any Christian enterprise,
+however dangerous or unpromising, would, in his eyes, have been a deadly
+sin.
+
+
+At Sault de Ste. Marie, Father Marquette heard of many savages (whom he
+calls "God's children") living in barbarism, far to the west. With five
+boatmen and one companion, he at once set out for an unexplored, even
+unvisited wilderness. He had what they had not--the gospel; and his
+heart yearned toward them, as the heart of a mother toward an afflicted
+child. He went to them, and bound them to him "in the bond of peace." If
+they received him kindly--as they usually did, for even a savage
+recognises and respects genuine devotion--he preached to them, mediated
+among them, softened their hearts, and gathered them into the fold of
+God. If they met him with arms in their hands--as they sometimes did,
+for savages, like civilized men, do not always know their friends--he
+resolutely offered peace; and, in his own simple and pious language,
+"God touched their hearts," and they cast aside their weapons and
+received him kindly.
+
+But the _voyageur_ had higher qualities than enthusiasm. He was capable
+of being so absorbed in a cause as to lose sight of his own identity; to
+forget that he was more than an instrument in the hands of God, to do
+God's work: and the distinction between these traits is broad indeed!
+Enthusiasm is noisy, obtrusive--self-abnegation is silent, retiring;
+enthusiasm is officious, troublesome, careless of time and
+place--self-abnegation is prudent, gentle, considerate. The one is
+active and fragmentary--the other passive, but constant.
+
+Thus, when the untaught and simple native was to be converted, the
+missionary took note of the spiritual capacity as well as of the
+spiritual wants; he did not force him to receive, at once, the whole
+creed of the church, as a mere enthusiast would have done; for _that_
+wisdom would feed an infant with strong meats, even before it had drawn
+its mother's milk. Neither did he preach the gospel with the sword, like
+the Spaniard, nor with fire and fagot, like the puritan. He was wise as
+the serpent, but gentle as the dove. He took the wondering Indian by
+the hand; received him as a brother; won him over to listen patiently;
+and then taught him first that which he could most easily comprehend: he
+led him to address the throne of grace, or, in the language of the time,
+"to embrace the prayer;" because even the savage believed in Deity. As
+his understanding was expanded, and his heart purified--as every heart
+must be which truly lifts itself to God--he gradually taught him the
+more abstruse and wonderful doctrines of the Church of Christ. Gently
+and imperceptibly he led him on, until the whole tremendous work was
+done. The untutored savage, if he knew nothing else, yet knew the name
+of his Redeemer. The bloody warfare, the feuds and jealousies of his
+tribe, if not completely overcome, at least were softened and
+ameliorated. When he could not convert, he endeavored to humanize; and
+among the tribes of the Illinois,[55] though they were never thoroughly
+Christianized, the influence of the good fathers soon prevailed to
+abolish the barbarous practice of torturing captives.[56] For though
+they might not embrace the religion, the savages venerated its
+teachers, and loved them for their gentleness.
+
+And this gentleness was not want of courage; for never in the history of
+the world has truer valor been exhibited than that shown by the early
+missionary and his compeers, the first military adventurers! Read
+Joutel's account of the melancholy life and death of La Salle; read the
+simple, unpretending "Journal" of Marquette;[57] and compare their
+constancy and heroism with that displayed at any time in any cause! But
+the _voyageur_ possessed higher qualities than courage, also; and here
+again we recur to his perfect abnegation of himself; his renunciation of
+all personal considerations.
+
+Courage takes note of danger, but defies it: the _voyageur_ was careless
+of danger, because he counted it as nothing; he gave it no thought,
+because it only affected _himself_; and he valued not his own safety and
+comfort, so long as he could serve the cause by forgetting them. Mere
+courage is combative, even pugnacious; but the _voyageur_ fought only
+"the good fight;" he had no pride of conquest, save in the victories of
+Faith, and rather would suffer, himself, than inflict suffering upon
+others. Mere courage is restless, impatient, purposeless: but the
+_voyageur_ was content to remain wherever he could do good, tentative
+only in the cause of Christ, and distracted by no objects from his
+mission. His religion was his inspiration; his conscience his reward.
+His system may have been perverted, his zeal mistaken, his church a
+sham; we are not arguing that question. But the purity of his
+intentions, the sincerity of his heart, can not be doubted; and the most
+intolerant protestant against "the corruptions of Rome" will, at least,
+admit that even catholicism was better than the paganism of the savage.
+
+"There is not," says Macaulay,[58] "and there never was on this earth, a
+work of human policy so well deserving of examination as the Roman
+Catholic Church." And certainly all other systems combined have never
+produced one tithe of the astounding results brought about by this
+alone. Whether she has taught truth or falsehood; whether, on the whole,
+it had been better or worse for the cause of Christianity, had no such
+organization ever existed; whether her claims be groundless or
+well-founded, are questions foreign to our purpose. But that her polity
+is the most powerful--the best adapted to the ends she has in view--of
+all that man has hitherto invented, there can be no doubt. Her
+missionaries have been more numerous and more successful, ay, and more
+devoted, than those of any other church. They have gone where even the
+sword of the conqueror could not cleave his way. They have built
+churches in the wilderness, which were time-worn and crumbling when the
+first emigrant penetrated the forests. They have preached to youthful
+savages who never saw the face of another white man, though they lived
+to three-score years and ten. They have prayed upon the shores of lonely
+lakes and rivers, which were not mapped by geographers for centuries
+after their deaths. They have travelled on foot, unarmed and alone,
+where an army could not march. And everywhere their zeal and usefulness
+have ended only with their lives; and always with their latest breath
+they have mingled prayers for the salvation of their flocks, with
+aspirations for the welfare of their church. For though countless miles
+of sea and land were between her and them, their loyalty and affection
+to the great spiritual Mother were never forgotten. "In spite of oceans
+and deserts; of hunger and pestilence; of spies and penal laws; of
+dungeons and racks, of gibbets and quartering-blocks," they have been
+found in every country, at all times, ever active and zealous. And
+everywhere, in palace, or hovel, or wilderness, they have been true sons
+of the church, loyal and obedient.
+
+An organization capable of producing such results is certainly well
+worth examination. For the influence she has wielded in ages past gives
+promise of her future power; and it becomes those who think her
+permanence pernicious to the world, to avoid her errors and yet imitate
+her wisdom. If the system be a falsehood and a sham, it is a most
+gigantic and successful one, and it is of strange longevity. It has
+lived now more than fifteen hundred years, and one hundred and fifty
+millions of people yet believe it. If it be a counterfeit, it is high
+time the cheat were detected and exposed. Let those who have the truth
+give forth its light, that the falsehood may wither and die. Unless they
+do so, the life which has already extended over so many centuries may
+gain fresh vigor, and renew its youth. Even yet the vision of the
+essayist may be realized: "She may still exist in undiminished vigor,
+when some traveller from New Zealand shall, in the midst of a vast
+solitude, take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to sketch
+the ruins of St. Paul's!"
+
+It was to this church that the early _voyageurs_ belonged. And I do not
+use that word "belonged" as it is employed in modern times among
+protestants: I mean _more_ than that convenient, loosely-fitting
+profession, which, like a garment, is thrown on and off, as the
+exigencies of hypocrisy or cupidity may require. These men actually _did
+belong_ to the church. They were hers, soul and body; hers, in life and
+in death; hers to go whithersoever she might direct, to do whatsoever
+she might appoint. They believed the doctrines they taught with an
+abiding, _active_ faith; and they were willing to be spent in preaching
+them to the heathen.
+
+
+It has always been a leading principle in the policy of the Roman
+church, to preserve her unity, and she has been enabled to do so,
+principally by the ramified and elastic polity for which she has been
+distinguished, to which she owes much of her extent and power, as well
+as no small part of the reproach so liberally bestowed upon her in the
+pages of history. There are many "arms" in her service: a man must be
+impracticable indeed, when she can find no place in which to make him
+useful, or to prevent his being mischievous. She never drives one from
+the pale of the church who can benefit it as a communicant, or injure it
+as a dissenter. If he became troublesome at home, she has, in all ages,
+had enterprises on foot in which she might clothe him with authority,
+and send him to the uttermost parts of the earth; thus ridding herself
+of a dangerous member, and, by the same act, enlarging the sphere of her
+own dominion. Does an enthusiast become noisy, or troublesome upon
+unimportant points, the creed is flexible, and the mother will not
+quarrel with her child, for his earnestness may convince and lead astray
+more valuable sons and daughters. She will establish a new order, of
+which the stubborn fanatic shall be founder; the new order is built into
+the old church organization, and its founder becomes a dignitary of the
+ecclesiastical establishment. Instead of becoming a dangerous heretic
+and schismatic, he is attached to orthodoxy by cords stronger than
+steel; henceforth all his earnest enthusiasm shall be directed to the
+advancement of his order, and consequently of his church. Does one
+exhibit inflexibility in some matter of conscience upon which the church
+insists, there are many of God's children in the wilderness starving in
+spirit for the bread of life; and to these, with that bread, shall the
+refractory son be sent. He receives the commission; departs upon his
+journey, glad to forget a difference with his spiritual superiors;
+preaches to the heathen; remembers only that the church is his mother;
+wins a crown of martyrdom, and is canonized for the encouragement of
+others!
+
+Thus she finds a place for all, and work enough for each; and thus are
+thrown off the elements of schism and rebellion. Those who had most
+courage in the cause of right; all who were likely to be guided in
+matters of conscience by their own convictions; the most sincere and
+single-hearted, the firmest and purest and bravest, were, in matters of
+controversy, the most dangerous champions, should they range themselves
+against the teaching of the church. They were consequently, at the
+period of which I am writing, the men whom it was most desirable to send
+away; and they were eminently well fitted for the arduous and wasting
+duties of the missionary.
+
+To this class belonged the large majority of the _voyageur_ priests: men
+who might be inconvenient and obtrusive monitors, or formidable
+adversaries in controversy, if they remained at home; but who could only
+be useful--who of all men could be _most_ useful--in gathering the
+heathen into the fold of the church. There were, doubtless, a few of
+another class; the restless, intriguing, and disobedient, who, though
+not formidable, were troublesome. But even when these joined the
+missionary expeditions, they did but little to forward the work, and are
+entitled to none of the honor so abundantly due to their more sincere
+brethren. To this class, for example, belonged the false and egotistical
+Hennepin, who only signalized himself by endeavoring to appropriate the
+reputation so hardly won by the brave and unfortunate La Salle.[59]
+
+It does not appear upon the record that any of these men--of either the
+restless and ambitious, or of the better class--were literally _sent
+away_. But such has been the politic practice of this church for many
+ages; and we may safely believe, that when she was engaged in an
+unscrupulous and desperate contest for the recovery, by fair means or
+foul, of her immense losses, there might be many in the ranks of her
+pious priesthood whom it would be inconvenient to retain at home. And
+during that conflict especially, with the most formidable enemies she
+ever had, she could not afford to be encumbered.
+
+But whatever may have been the motives of their spiritual superiors, the
+missionaries themselves were moved only by the considerations of which
+we have spoken--the truest piety and the most burning zeal. Of these
+influences they were conscious; but we shall perhaps not do the
+character injustice if we add another spur to action, of which they were
+_not_ conscious. There is a vein of romance in the French composition; a
+love of adventure for the sake of the adventure itself, which, when not
+tamed or directed, makes a Frenchman fitful, erratic, and unreliable.
+When it is toned by personal ambition, it becomes a sort of Paladin
+contempt for danger; sometimes a crazy furor. When accompanied by
+powerful intellect, and strengthened by concentration on a purpose, it
+makes a great commander--great for the quickness of his comprehension,
+the suddenness of his resolutions, the rapidity of their execution. When
+humanized by love, and quickened by religious zeal, it is purified of
+every selfish thought, and produces the chivalrous missionary, whom
+neither fire nor flood, neither desert nor pathless wilderness, shall
+deter from obeying the command of Him who sent his gospel "unto every
+creature." And thus are even those traits, which so often curse the
+world with insane ambition and sanguinary war, turned by the power of a
+true benevolence to be blessings of incalculable value.
+
+Such were the purposes, such the motives, of this band of noble men; and
+whatever may have been their errors, we must at least accord them the
+virtues of _sincerity_, _courage_, _and self-denial_. But let us look a
+little more closely at the means by which they accomplished undertakings
+which, to any other race of men, would have been not only impracticable,
+but utterly desperate. Take again, as the representative of his class,
+the case of Father Marquette, than whom, obscure as his name is in the
+wastes of history, no man ever lived a more instructive and exemplary
+life.
+
+From the year 1668 to 1671,[60] Marquette had been preaching at the
+Sault de Sainte Marie, a little below the foot of Lake Superior. He was
+associated with others in that mission; but the largest type, though it
+thrust itself no higher than the smallest, will make the broadest
+impress on the page of history; and even in the meager record of that
+time, we may trace the influence of his gentle but firm spirit--those by
+whom he was accompanied evidently took their tone from him. But he was
+one of the Church's pioneers; that class whose eager, single-hearted
+zeal is always pushing forward to new conquests of the faith; and when
+he had put aside the weapons that opposed their way, to let his
+followers in, his thoughts at once went on to more remote and suffering
+regions. During his residence at the Sault, rumors and legends were
+continually floating in of the unknown country lying to the west--"the
+Land of the Great River," the Indians called it--until the mind of the
+good father became fully possessed with the idea of going to convert the
+nations who dwelt upon its shores. In the year 1671, he took the first
+step in that direction, moving on to Point St. Ignatius, on the main
+land, north of the island of Mackinac. Here, surrounded by his little
+flock of wondering listeners, he preached until the spring of 1673; but
+all the time his wish to carry the gospel where its sound had never been
+heard was growing stronger. He felt in his heart the impulse of his
+calling, to lead the way and open a path for the advance of light. At
+the period mentioned, he received an order from the wise intendant in
+New France, M. Talon, to explore the pathless wilderness to the
+westward.
+
+Then was seen the true spirit of the man, and of his order. He gathered
+together no armament; asked the protection of no soldiers; no part of
+the cargo of his little boat consisted of gunpowder, or of swords or
+guns; his only arms were the spirit of love and peace; his trust was in
+God for protection. Five boatmen, and one companion, the Sieur Joliet,
+composed his party. Two light bark canoes were his only means of
+travelling; and in these he carried a small quantity of Indian corn and
+some jerked meat, his only means of subsistence.
+
+Thus equipped, he set out through Green Bay and up Fox river, in search
+of a country never yet visited by any European. The Indians endeavored
+to dissuade him, wondering at his hardihood, and still more at the
+motives which could induce him thus to brave so many dangers. They told
+him of the savage Indians, to whom it would be only pastime to torture
+and murder him; of the terrible monsters which would swallow him and his
+companions, "canoes and all;" of the great bird called the _Piasau_,[61]
+which devoured men, after carrying them in its horrible talons to
+inaccessible cliffs and mountains; and of the scorching heat, which
+would wither him like a dry leaf. "I thanked them kindly," says the
+resolute but gentle father, "for their good counsel; but I told them
+that I could not profit by it, since the salvation of souls was at
+stake, for which object I would be overjoyed to give my life." Shaking
+them by the hand, one by one, as they approached to bid him farewell, as
+they thought, for the last time, he turned his back upon safety and
+peace, and departed upon his self-denying pilgrimage.
+
+Let him who sits at ease in his cushioned pew at home--let him who
+lounges on his velvet-covered sofa in the pulpit, while his well-taught
+choir are singing; who rises as the strains are dying, and kneels upon a
+cushioned stool to pray; who treads upon soft carpets while he preaches,
+in a white cravat, to congregations clad in broadcloth, silk, and
+satin--let him pause and ponder on the difference between his works, his
+trials, his zeal--ay, and his glory, both of earth and heaven!--and
+those of Father James Marquette!
+
+The little party went upon their way; the persuasions of their
+simple-hearted friends could not prevail, for the path of duty was
+before them, and the eye of God above. Having passed through Green Bay,
+and painfully dragged their canoes over the rapids of Fox river, they
+reached a considerable village, inhabited by the united tribes of
+Kickapoos, Miamis, and Mascoutimes. Here they halted for a time, as the
+mariner, about to prove the dangers of a long voyage, lingers for a day
+in the last port he is likely to enter for many months. Beyond this
+point no white man had ever gone; and here, if anywhere, the impulses of
+a natural fear should have made themselves felt. But we hear of no
+hesitation, no shrinking from the perilous task; and we know from the
+unpretending "Journal" of the good father, that a retreat, nay, even a
+halt--longer than was necessary to recruit exhausted strength, and renew
+the memory of former lessons among the natives--was never thought of.
+"My companion," said Marquette, referring to Joliet, "is an envoy from
+the king of France, and I am an humble minister of God. I have no fear,
+_because I shall consider it the highest happiness to die in the service
+of my master!_" There was no bravado in this, for, unlike many from
+whom you may, any day, hear the same declaration, he set forth
+immediately to encounter the perils of his embassy.
+
+The Indians, unable to prevail with him to abandon the enterprise, made
+all their simple provision for his comfort; and, furnishing him with
+guides and carriers across the portage to the Wisconsin river, parted
+with him as one bound for eternity. Having brought them safely to the
+river, the guides left them "alone in that unknown country, in the hand
+of God;" and, trusting to the protection of that hand, they set out upon
+their journey down the stream.[62] Seven days after, "with inexpressible
+joy," they emerged upon the bosom of the great river. During all this
+time they had seen no human being, though, probably, many a wandering
+savage had watched them from the covert of the bank, as they floated
+silently between the forests. It was an unbroken solitude, where the
+ripple of their paddles sounded loudly on the ear, and their voices,
+subdued by the stillness, were sent back in lonely echoes from the
+shore.
+
+They were the first white men who ever floated on the bosom of that
+mighty river[63]--"the envoy from the king of France, and the
+embassador of the King of kings." What were their thoughts we know not,
+but from Marquette's simple "Journal;" for, in returning to Quebec,
+Joliet's boat was wrecked in sight of the city, and all his papers
+lost.[64] Of the Sieur himself, we know nothing, save as the companion
+of Marquette on this voyage; but from this alone his fame is
+imperishable.
+
+They sailed slowly down the river, keeping a constant outlook upon the
+banks for signs of those for whose spiritual welfare the good father had
+undertaken his perilous journey. But for more than sixty leagues not a
+human form or habitation could be seen. They had leisure, more than they
+desired, to admire the grand and beautiful scenery of that picturesque
+region. In some places the cliffs rose perpendicularly for hundreds of
+feet from the water's edge; and nodding over their brows, and towering
+against the sky, were stately pines and cedars of the growth of
+centuries. Here, there lay between the river and the cliffs, a level
+prairie, waving in all the luxuriance of "the leafy month of June;"
+while beyond, the bluffs, enclosing the natural garden, softened by the
+distance, and clothed in evergreen, seemed but an extension of the
+primitive savanna. Here, a dense, primeval forest grew quite down to the
+margin of the water; and, hanging from the topmost branches of the giant
+oaks, festoons of gray and graceful moss lay floating on the rippled
+surface, or dipped within the tide. Here, the large, smooth roots of
+trees half undermined, presented seats and footholds, where the pleasant
+shade invited them to rest, and shelter from the sultry summer sun.
+Anon, an open prairie, with no cliff or bluff beyond, extended
+undulating from the river, until the eye, in straining to measure its
+extent, was wearied by the effort, and the plain became a waving sea of
+rainbow colors; of green and yellow, gold and purple. Again, they passed
+a gravelly beach, on which the yellow sand was studded with a thousand
+sets of brilliant shells, and little rivulets flowed in from level
+prairies, or stealthily crept out from under roots of trees or tangled
+vines, and hastened to be hidden in the bosom of the great father of
+waters.
+
+They floated on, through the dewy morning hours, when the leaves were
+shining in the sunlight, and the birds were singing joyously; before the
+summer heat had dried the moisture, or had forced the feathered
+songsters to the shade. At noon, when the silence made the solitude
+oppressive; when the leaves hung wilting down, nor fluttered in the
+fainting wind: when the prairies were no longer waving like the sea, but
+trembling like the atmosphere around a heated furnace: when the _mirage_
+hung upon the plain: tall trees were seen growing in the air, and among
+them stalked the deer, and elk, and buffalo: while between them and the
+ground, the brazen sky was glowing with the sun of June: when nothing
+living could be seen, save when the _voyageur's_ approach would startle
+some wild beast slaking his thirst in the cool river, or a flock of
+waterfowl were driven from their covert, where the willow branches,
+drooping, dipped their leaves of silvery gray within the water. They
+floated on till evening, when the sun approached the prairie, and his
+broad, round disc, now shorn of its dazzling beams, defined itself
+against the sky and grew florid in the gathering haze: when the birds
+began to reappear, and flitted noiselessly among the trees, in busy
+preparation for the night: when beasts of prey crept out from
+lurking-places, where they had dozed and panted through the hours of
+noon: when the wilderness grew vocal with the mingled sounds of lowing
+buffalo, and screaming panther, and howling wolf; until the shadows rose
+from earth, and travelled from the east; until the dew began to fall,
+the stars came out, and night brought rest and dreams of home!
+
+Thus they floated on, "from morn till dewy eve," and still no sign of
+human life, neither habitation nor footprint, until one day--it was the
+twenty-fifth of June, more than two weeks since they had entered the
+wilderness--in gliding past a sandy beach, they recognised the impress
+of a naked foot! Following it for some distance, it grew into a trail,
+and then a path, once more a place where human beings habitually walked.
+
+Whose feet had trodden down the grass, what strange people lived on the
+prairies, they knew not, what dangers might await them, they cared not.
+These were the people whom the good father had come so far to convert
+and save! And now, again, one might expect some natural hesitation; some
+doubt in venturing among those who were certainly barbarians, and who
+might, for aught they knew, be brutal cannibals. We could forgive a
+little wavering, indeed, especially when we think of the frightful
+stories told them by the Northern Indians of this very people. But fear
+was not a part of these men's nature; or if it existed, it lay so deep,
+buried beneath religious zeal and pious trust, that its voice never
+reached the upper air. Leaving the boatmen with the canoes, near the
+mouth of the river now called Des Moines, Marquette and Joliet set out
+alone, to follow up the trail, and seek the people who had made it. It
+led them to an open prairie, one of the most beautiful in the present
+state of Iowa, and crossing this, a distance of six miles, they at last
+found themselves in the vicinity of three Indian villages. The very
+spot[65] where the chief of these stood might now be easily found, so
+clear, though brief, is the description of the simple priest. It stood
+at the foot of a long slope, on the bank of the river Moingona (or Des
+Moines), about six miles due west of the Mississippi; and at the top of
+the rise, at the distance of half a league, were built the two others.
+"We commended ourselves unto God," writes the gentle father; for they
+knew not at what moment they might need his intervention; and crying out
+with a loud voice, to announce their approach, they calmly advanced
+toward the group of lodges. At a short distance from the entrance to the
+village, they were met by a deputation of four old men, who, to their
+great joy, they perceived bore a richly-ornamented pipe of peace, the
+emblem of friendship and hospitality. Tendering the mysterious calumet,
+they informed the Frenchmen that they belonged to one of the tribes
+called "Illinois" (or "Men"), and invited them to enter their lodges in
+peace: an invitation which the weary _voyageurs_ were but too glad to
+accept.
+
+A great council was held, with all the rude but imposing ceremonies of
+the grave and dignified Indian; and before the assembled chiefs and
+braves, Marquette published his mission from his heavenly Master.
+Passing, then, from spiritual to temporal things--for we do not hear of
+any address from Joliet, who probably was no orator--he spoke of his
+earthly king, and of his viceroy in New France; of his victories over
+the Iroquois, the dreaded enemies of the peaceful Western tribes; and
+then made many inquiries about the Mississippi, its tributaries, and
+the nations who dwelt upon their banks. His advances were kindly
+received, his questions frankly answered, and the council broke up with
+mutual assurances of good-will. Then ensued the customary festival.
+Hominy, fish, buffalo, and _dog-meat_, were successively served up, like
+the courses of a more modern table; but of _the last_ "we declined to
+partake," writes the good father, no doubt much to the astonishment and
+somewhat to the chagrin of their hospitable friends; for even yet, among
+the western Indians, dog-meat is a dish of honor.
+
+Six days of friendly intercourse passed pleasantly away, diversified by
+many efforts on the part of Marquette to instruct and convert the docile
+savages. Nor were these entirely without result; they excited, at least,
+the wish to hear more; and on his departure they crowded round him, and
+urgently requested him to come again among them. He promised to do so, a
+pledge which he afterward redeemed. But now he could not tarry; he was
+bent upon his hazardous voyage down the Great River, and he knew that he
+was only on the threshold of his grand discoveries. Six hundred
+warriors, commanded by their most distinguished chief, accompanied him
+back to his boats; and, after hanging around his neck the great calumet,
+to protect him among the hostile nations of the south, they parted with
+him, praying that the Great Spirit, of whom he had told them, might give
+him a prosperous voyage, and a speedy and safe return.
+
+
+These were the first of the nations of the Mississippi Valley visited by
+the French, and it is from them that the state of Illinois takes its
+name. They were a singularly gentle people; and a nature originally
+peaceful had been rendered almost timid by the cruel inroads of the
+murderous Iroquois.[66] These, by their traffic with the Dutch and
+English of New-York, and by their long warfare with the French of
+Canada, had acquired the use of fire-arms, and, of course, possessed an
+immense advantage over those who were armed only with the primitive bow
+and arrow. The restless and ambitious spirit of the singular
+confederacy, usually called the Five Nations, and known among their
+neighbors by the collective name of Iroquois, had carried their
+incursions even as far as the hunting-grounds of the Shawanese, about
+the mouth of the Ohio; and their successes had made them a terror to all
+the western tribes. The Illinois, therefore, knowing the French to be at
+war with these formidable enemies, were the more anxious to form an
+alliance with them; and the native gentleness of their manners was,
+perhaps, increased by the hope of assistance and protection. But,
+whatever motives may have influenced them, besides their natural
+character, their forethought was of vital service to the wanderers in
+the countries of the south, whither they proceeded.
+
+The little party of seven resumed their voyage on the last day of June,
+and floating with the rapid current, a few days afterward passed the
+rocks, above the site of Alton, where was painted the image of the
+ravenous _Piasau_, of which they had been told by the Northern Indians,
+and on the same day reached the mouth of the Pekitanoni, the Indian name
+for the rapid and turbulent Missouri. Inwardly resolving, at some future
+time, to ascend its muddy current, to cross the ridge beyond, and,
+descending some river which falls into the Great South sea (as the
+Pacific was then called), to publish the gospel to all the people of the
+continent, the zealous father passed onward toward the south. Coasting
+slowly along the wasting shore, lingering in the mouths of rivers, or
+exploring dense forests in the hope of meeting the natives, they
+continued on their course until they reached the mouth of a river which
+they called the _Ouabache_, or Wabash, none other than the beautiful
+Ohio.[67] Here they found the advanced settlement of Shawanese, who had
+been pushed toward the southwest by the incessant attacks of the
+Iroquois. But by this time, fired with the hope of ascertaining the
+outlet of the Mississippi, they postponed their visit to these people
+until their return, and floated on.
+
+
+It is amusing, as well as instructive, to observe how little importance
+the travellers gave to the river Ohio, in their geographical
+assumptions. In the map published by Marquette with his "Journal," the
+"_Ouabisquigou_" as he denominates it, in euphonious French-Indian,
+compared to the Illinois or even to the Wisconsin, is but an
+inconsiderable rivulet! The lonely wanderers were much farther from the
+English settlements than they supposed; a mistake into which they must
+have been led, by hearing of the incursions of the Iroquois; for even at
+that early day they could not but know that the head-waters of the Ohio
+were not distant from the hunting-grounds of that warlike confederacy.
+Even this explanation, however, scarcely lessens our wonder that they
+should have known so little of courses and distances; for had this river
+been as short as it is here delineated, they would have been within four
+hundred miles of Montreal.
+
+After leaving the Ohio, they suffered much from the climate and its
+incidents; for they were now approaching, in the middle of July, a
+region of perpetual summer. Mosquitoes and other venomous insects (in
+that region we might even call them _ravenous_ insects) became
+intolerably annoying; and the _voyageurs_ began to think they had
+reached the country of the terrible heats, which, as they had been
+warned in the north, "would wither them up like a dry leaf." But the
+prospect of death by torture and savage cruelty had not daunted them,
+and they were not now disposed to be turned back by any excess of
+climate. Arranging their sails in the form of awnings to protect them
+from the sun by day and the dews by night, they resolutely pursued
+their way.
+
+Following the course of the river, they soon entered the region of
+cane-brakes, so thick that no animal larger than a cat could penetrate
+them; and of cotton-wood forests of immense size and of unparalleled
+density. They were far beyond the limits of every Indian dialect with
+which they had become acquainted--were, in fact, approaching the region
+visited by De Soto, on his famous expedition in search of Juan Ponce de
+Leon's fountain of youth.[68] The country was possessed by the Sioux and
+Chickasaws, to whom the _voyageurs_ were total strangers; but they went
+on without fear. In the neighborhood of the southern boundary of the
+present state of Arkansas, they were met in hostile array by great
+numbers of the natives, who approached them in large canoes made from
+the trunks of hollow trees. But Marquette held aloft the symbol of
+peace, the ornamented calumet, and the hearts of the savages were
+melted, as the pious father believed, by the touch of God. They threw
+aside their weapons, and received the strangers with rude but hearty
+hospitality. They escorted them, with many demonstrations of welcome, to
+the village of Michigamia; and, on the following day, having feasted
+their strange guests plentifully, though not with the unsavory meats of
+the Illinois, they marched in triumphal procession to the metropolis of
+Akansea, about ten leagues distant, down the river.
+
+
+This was the limit of their voyage. Here they ascertained, beyond a
+doubt, that the Mississippi flowed into the gulf of Mexico, and not, as
+had been conjectured, into the great South sea. Here they found the
+natives armed with axes of steel, a proof of their traffic with the
+Spaniards; and thus was the circle of discovery complete, connecting the
+explorations of the French with those of the Spanish, and entirely
+enclosing the possessions of the English. No voyage so important has
+since been undertaken--no results so great have ever been produced by so
+feeble an expedition. The discoveries of Marquette, followed by the
+enterprises of La Salle and his successors, have influenced the
+destinies of nations; and passing over all political speculations, this
+exploration first threw open a valley of greater extent, fertility, and
+commercial advantages, than any other in the world. Had either the
+French or the Spanish possessed the stubborn qualities which _hold_, as
+they had the useful which _discover_, the aspect of this continent
+would, at this day, have been far different.
+
+On the seventeenth of July, having preached to the Indians the glory of
+God and the Catholic faith, and proclaimed the power of the _Grand
+Monarque_--for still we hear nothing of speech-making or delivering
+credentials on the part of Joliet--he set out on his return. After
+severe and wasting toil for many days, they reached a point, as
+Marquette supposed, some leagues below the mouth of the Moingona, or Des
+Moines. Here they left the Mississippi, and crossed the country between
+that river and the Illinois, probably passing through the very country
+which now bears the good father's name, entering the latter stream at a
+point not far from the present town of Peoria. Proceeding slowly up that
+calm river, preaching to the tribes along its banks, and partaking of
+their hospitality, he was at last conducted to Lake Michigan, at
+Chicago, and by the end of September was safe again in Green Bay, having
+travelled, since the tenth of June, more than three thousand miles.
+
+It might have been expected that one who had made so magnificent a
+discovery--who had braved so much and endured so much--would wish to
+announce in person, to the authorities in Canada, or in France, the
+results of his expedition. Nay, it would not have been unpardonable had
+he desired to enjoy, after his labors, something of the consideration to
+which their success entitled him. And, certainly, no man could ever have
+approached his rulers with a better claim upon their notice than could
+the unpretending _voyageur_. But vainglory was no more a part of his
+nature, than was fear. The unaspiring priest remained at Green Bay, to
+continue, or rather to resume, as a task laid aside only for a time, his
+ministrations to the savages. Joliet hastened on to Quebec to report the
+expedition, and Marquette returned to Chicago, for the purpose of
+preaching the gospel to the Miami confederacy; several allied tribes who
+occupied the country between Lake Michigan and the Des Moines river.
+Here again he visited the Illinois, speaking to them of God, and of the
+religion of Jesus; thus redeeming a promise which he had made them, when
+on his expedition to the South.
+
+But his useful, unambitious life was drawing to a close. Let us
+describe its last scene in the words of our accomplished historian:--
+
+"Two years afterward, sailing from Chicago to Mackinac, he entered a
+little river in Michigan. Erecting an altar, he said mass, after the
+rites of the Catholic church; then, begging the men who conducted his
+canoe to leave him alone for a half hour,
+
+            "----'In the darkling wood,
+    Amid the cool and silence, he knelt down,
+    And offered to the mightiest solemn thanks
+    And supplication.'
+
+"At the end of the half hour they went to seek him, _and he was no
+more_. The good missionary, discoverer of a world, had fallen asleep on
+the margin of the stream that bears his name. Near its mouth, the
+canoe-men dug his grave in the sand. Ever after, the forest rangers, in
+their danger on Lake Michigan, would invoke his name. The people of the
+West will build his monument."[69]
+
+The monument is not yet built; though the name of new counties in
+several of our western states testifies that the noble missionary is not
+altogether forgotten, in the land where he spent so many self-denying
+years.
+
+Such was the _voyageur_ priest; the first, in chronological order, of
+the succession of singular men who have explored and peopled the great
+West. And though many who have followed him have been his equals in
+courage and endurance, none have ever possessed the same combination of
+heroic and unselfish qualities. It ought not to be true that this brief
+and cursory sketch is the first distinct tribute yet paid to his
+virtues; for no worthier subject ever employed the pen of the poet or
+historian.
+
+
+     NOTE.--Struck with the fact that the history of this class of men,
+     and of their enterprises and sufferings, has never been written,
+     except by themselves in their simple "Journals" and
+     "Relations"--for the _resume_ given of these by Sparks, Bancroft,
+     and others, is of necessity a mere unsatisfactory abstract--the
+     writer has for some time been engaged in collecting and arranging
+     materials, with the intention of supplying the want. The
+     authorities are numerous and widely scattered; and such a work
+     ought to be thoroughly and carefully written, so that much time and
+     labor lies between the author and his day of publication. Should he
+     be spared, however, to finish the work, he hopes to present a
+     picture of a class of men, displaying as much of true devotion,
+     genuine courage, and self-denial, in the humble walk of the
+     missionary, as the pages of history show in any other department of
+     human enterprise.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[52] In common use, this word was restricted so as to indicate only the
+boatmen, the carriers of that time; but I am writing of a period
+anterior, by many years, to the existence of the Trade which made their
+occupation.
+
+[53] Joutel, who was one of La Salle's party, and afterward wrote an
+account of the enterprise, entitled _Journal Historique_, published in
+Paris, 1713. Its fidelity is as evident upon its face, as is the
+simplicity of the historian.
+
+[54] This was in the winter of 1679-'80; and the Five Nations, included
+in the general term Iroquois, had not then made the conquest upon which
+the English afterward founded their claim to the country. They were,
+however, generally regarded as enemies by all the Illinois tribes.
+
+[55] A collective name, including a number, variously stated, of
+different tribes confederated.
+
+[56] _Annals of the West_, by J. H. Perkins and J. M. Peck, p. 679. St.
+Louis. 1850.
+
+[57] The substance of the Journal may be found, republished by Dr.
+Sparks, in the second edition of _Butler's Kentucky_, p. 493, _et seq._,
+and in vol. x. of his _American Biography_.
+
+[58] _Miscellanies_, "Review of Ranke's History of the Popes."
+
+[59] In a book which he published at Utrecht, in 1697, entitled _A New
+Discovery of a Vast Country_, he claims to have gone down the
+Mississippi to its mouth before La Salle. The whole book is a mere
+plagiarism. See Sparks's _Life of La Salle_, where the vain father is
+summarily and justly disposed of.
+
+[60] Most of these dates may be found in Bancroft's _United States_, vol
+iii.
+
+[61] The legend of the Piasau is well known. Within the recollection of
+men now living, rude paintings of the monster were visible on the cliffs
+above Alton, Illinois. To these images, when passing in their canoes,
+the Indians were accustomed to make offerings of maize, tobacco, and
+gunpowder. They are now quite obliterated.
+
+[62] June 10, 1673.
+
+[63] I mean, of course, the upper Mississippi; for De Soto had reached
+it lower down one hundred and thirty-two years before.
+
+[64] It was announced, some months since, that our minister at Rome, Mr.
+Cass, had made discoveries in that city which threw more light upon this
+expedition. But how this can be, consistently with the fact stated in
+the text (about which there is no doubt), I am at a loss to divine.
+
+[65] The place of Marquette's landing--which should be classic
+ground--from his description of the country, and the distance he
+specifies, could not have been far from the spot where the city of
+Keokuk now stands, a short distance above the mouth of the Des Moines.
+The locality should, if possible, be determined.
+
+[66] It was by virtue of a treaty of purchase--signed at Fort Stanwix on
+the 5th of November, 1768--with the Six Nations, who claimed the country
+as their conquest, that the British asserted a title to the country west
+of the Alleghenies, Western Virginia, Kentucky, etc.
+
+[67] The geographical mistakes of the early French explorers have led to
+some singular discussions about Western history--have even been used by
+diplomatists to support or weaken territorial claims. Such, for example,
+is the question concerning the antiquity of Vincennes, a controversy
+founded on the mistake noticed in the text. Vide _Western Annals_. 2d
+Ed. Revised by J. M. Peck.
+
+[68] In 1541, De Soto crossed the Mississippi about the thirty-fifth
+parallel of latitude, or near the northern boundary of the state of that
+name. It is not certain how far below this Marquette went, though we are
+safe in saying that he did not turn back north of that limit.
+
+[69] Bancroft's _History of the United States_, vol. iii., p. 161, _et
+seq._, where the reader may look for most of these dates.
+
+
+
+
+III.
+
+THE PIONEER.
+
+    "I hear the tread of pioneers,
+       Of nations yet to be--
+    The first low wash of waves where soon
+       Shall roll a human sea."
+
+    WHITTIER.
+
+    "The axe rang sharply 'mid those forest shades
+    Which, from creation, toward the sky had towered
+    In unshorn beauty."
+
+    SIGOURNEY.
+
+
+[Illustration: THE PIONEER.]
+
+Next, in chronological order, after the missionary, came the military
+adventurer--of which class La Salle was the best representative. But the
+expeditions led by these men, were, for the most part, wild and
+visionary enterprises, in pursuit of unattainable ends. They were,
+moreover, unskilfully managed and unfortunately terminated--generally
+ending in the defeat, disappointment, and death of those who had set
+them on foot. They left no permanent impress upon the country; the most
+acute moral or political vision can not now detect a trace of their
+influence, in the aspect of the lands they penetrated; and, so far from
+hastening the settlement of the Great Valley, it is more probable that
+their disastrous failures rather retarded it--by deterring others from
+the undertaking. Their history reads like a romance; and their
+characters would better grace the pages of fiction, than the annals of
+civilization. Further than this brief reference, therefore, I find no
+place for them, in a work which aims only to notice those who either
+aided to produce, or indicated, the characteristics of the society in
+which they lived.
+
+Soon after them, came the Indian-traders--to whose generosity so many of
+the captives, taken by the natives in those early times, were indebted
+for their ransom. But--notwithstanding occasional acts of charity--their
+unscrupulous rapacity, and, particularly, their introduction of
+spirituous liquors among the savages, furnish good reason to doubt,
+whether, on the whole, they did anything to advance the civilization of
+the lands and people they visited. And, as we shall have occasion to
+refer again, though briefly, to the character in a subsequent article,
+we will pass over it for the present, and hasten on to the _Pioneer_.
+
+Of this class, there are two sub-divisions: the floating, transitory,
+and erratic frontierman--including the hunter, the trapper, the scout
+and Indian-fighter: men who can not be considered _citizens_ of any
+country, but keep always a little in advance of permanent emigration.
+With this division of the class, we have little to do: first, because
+they are already well understood, by most readers in this country,
+through the earlier novels of Cooper, their great delineator; and,
+second, because, as we have intimated, our business is chiefly with
+those, whose footprints have been stamped upon the country, and whose
+influence is traceable in its civilization. We, therefore, now desire to
+direct attention to the other sub-division--the genuine "settler;" the
+firm, unflinching, permanent emigrant, who entered the country to till
+the land and to possess it, for himself and his descendants.
+
+And, in the first place, let us inquire what motives could induce men to
+leave regions, where the axe had been at work for many years--where the
+land was reduced to cultivation, and the forest reclaimed from the wild
+beast and the wilder savage--where civilization had begun to exert its
+power, and society had assumed a legal and determined shape--to depart
+from all these things, seeking a new home in an inhospitable
+wilderness, where they could only gain a footing by severe labor,
+constant strife, and sleepless vigilance? To be capable of doing all
+this, from _any_ motive, a man must be a strange compound of qualities;
+but that compound, strange as it is, has done, and is doing, more to
+reclaim the west, and change the wilderness into a garden, than all
+other causes combined.
+
+
+A prominent trait in the character of the genuine American, is the
+desire "to better his condition"--a peculiarity which sometimes embodies
+itself in the disposition to forget the good old maxim, "Let well-enough
+alone," and not unfrequently leads to disaster and suffering. A thorough
+Yankee--using that word as the English do, to indicate national, not
+sectional, character--is never satisfied with doing well; he always
+underrates his gains and his successes; and, though to others he may be
+boastful enough, and may, even truly, rate the profits of his enterprise
+by long strings of "naught," he is always whispering to himself, "I
+ought to do better." If he sees any one accumulating property faster
+than himself, he becomes emulous and discontented--he is apt to think,
+unless he goes more rapidly than any one else, that he is not moving at
+all. If he can find no one of his neighbors advancing toward fortune,
+with longer strides than he, he will imagine some successful
+"speculator," to whom he will compare himself, and chafe at his
+inferiority to a figment of his own fancy. If he possessed "a million a
+minute," he would cast about for some profitable employment, in which he
+might engage, "to pay expenses." He will abandon a silver-mine, of slow,
+but certain gains, for the gambling chances of a gold "placer;" and if
+any one within his knowledge dig out more wealth than he, he will leave
+the "diggings," though his success be quite encouraging, and go
+quixoting among the islands of the sea, in search of pearls and
+diamonds. With the prospect of improvement in his fortunes--whether that
+prospect be founded upon reason, be a naked fancy, or the offspring of
+mere discontent--he regards no danger, cares for no hardship, counts no
+suffering. Everything must bend before the ruling passion, "to better
+his condition."
+
+His spirit is eminently encroaching. Rather than give up any of his own
+"rights," he will take a part of what belongs to others. Whatever he
+thinks necessary to his welfare, to that he believes himself entitled.
+To whatever point he desires to reach, he takes the straightest course,
+even though the way lie across the corner of his neighbor's field. Yet
+he is intensely jealous of his own possessions, and warns off all
+trespassers with an imperial menace of "the utmost penalty of the law."
+He has, of course, an excellent opinion of himself--and justly: for when
+not blinded by cupidity or vexed by opposition, no man can hold the
+scales of justice with a more even hand.
+
+He is seldom conscious of having done a wrong: for he rarely moves until
+he has ascertained "both the propriety and expediency of the motion." He
+has, therefore, an instinctive aversion to all retractions and
+apologies. He has such a proclivity to the forward movement, that its
+opposite, even when truth and justice demand it, is stigmatized, in his
+vocabulary, by odious and ridiculous comparisons. He is very stubborn,
+and, it is feared, sometimes mistakes his obstinacy for firmness. He
+thinks a safe retreat worse than a defeat with slaughter. Yet he never
+rests under a reverse, and, though manifestly prostrate, will never
+acknowledge that he is beaten. A check enrages him more than a decided
+failure: for so long as his end is not accomplished, nor defeated, he
+can see no reason why he should not succeed. If his forces are driven
+back, shattered and destroyed, he is not cast down, but angry--he
+forthwith swears vengeance and another trial. He is quite insatiable--as
+a failure does not dampen him, success can never satisfy him. His plans
+are always on a great scale; and, if they sometimes exceed his means of
+execution, at least, "he who aims at the sun," though he may lose his
+arrow, "will not strike the ground." He is a great projector--but he is
+eminently practical, as well as theoretical; and if _he_ cannot realize
+his visions, no other man need try.
+
+He is restless and migratory. He is fond of change, for the sake of the
+change; and he will have it, though it bring him only new labors and new
+hardships. He is, withal, a little selfish--as might be supposed. He
+begins to lose his attachment to the advantages of his home, so soon as
+they are shared by others. He does not like near neighbors--has no
+affection for the soil; he will leave a place on which he has expended
+much time and labor, as soon as the region grows to be a "settlement."
+Even in a town, he is dissatisfied if his next neighbor lives so near
+that the women can gossip across the division-fence. He likes to be at
+least one day's journey from the nearest plantation.
+
+I once heard an old pioneer assign as a reason why he must emigrate from
+western Illinois, the fact that "people were settling right under his
+nose"--and the farm of his nearest neighbor was twelve miles distant, by
+the section lines! He moved on to Missouri, but there the same
+"impertinence" of emigrants soon followed him; and, abandoning his
+half-finished "clearing," he packed his family and household goods in a
+little wagon, and retreated, across the plains to Oregon. He is--or was,
+two years ago--living in the valley of the Willamette, where, doubtless,
+he is now chafing under the affliction of having neighbors in the same
+region, and nothing but an ocean beyond.
+
+His character seems to be hard-featured.
+
+But he is neither unsocial, nor morose. He welcomes the stranger as
+heartily as the most hospitable patriarch. He receives the sojourner at
+his fireside without question. He regales him with the best the house
+affords: is always anxious to have him "stay another day." He cares for
+his horse, renews his harness, laughs at his stories, and exchanges
+romances with him. He hunts with him; fishes, rides, walks, talks, eats,
+and drinks with him. His wife washes and mends the stranger's shirts,
+and lends him a needle and thread to sew a button on his only pair of
+pantaloons. The children sit on his knee, the dog lies at his feet, and
+accompanies him into the woods. The whole family are his friends, and
+only grow cold and distant when they learn that he is looking for land,
+and thinks of "settling" within a few leagues. If nothing of the sort
+occurs--and this only "leaks out" by accident, for the pioneer never
+pries inquisitively into the business of his guest, he keeps him as long
+as he can; and when he can stay no longer, fills his saddle-bags with
+flitches of bacon and "pones" of corn-bread, shakes him heartily by the
+hand, exacts a promise to stop again on his return, and bids him
+"God-speed" on his journey.
+
+
+Such is American character, in the manifestations which have most
+affected the settlement and development of the West; a compound of many
+noble qualities, with a few--and no nation is without such--that are not
+quite so respectable. All these, both good and bad, were possessed by
+the early pioneer in an eminent, sometimes in an extravagant degree; and
+the circumstances, by which he found himself surrounded after his
+emigration to the West, tended forcibly to their exaggeration.
+
+But the qualities--positive and negative--above enumerated, were, many
+of them, at least, peculiarities belonging to the early emigrant, as
+much before as after his removal. And there were others, quite as
+distinctly marked, called into activity, if not actually created by his
+life in the wilderness. Such, for example, was his self-reliance--his
+confidence in his own strength, sagacity, and courage. It was but little
+assistance that he ever required from his neighbors, though no man was
+ever more willing to render it to others, in the hour of need. He was
+the swift avenger of his own wrongs, and he never appealed to another to
+ascertain his rights. Legal tribunals were an abomination to him.
+Government functionaries he hated, almost as the Irish hate excisemen.
+Assessments and taxes he could not endure, for, since he was his own
+protector, he had no interest in sustaining the civil authorities.
+
+Military organizations he despised, for subordination was no part of his
+nature. He stood up in the native dignity of manhood, and called no
+mortal his superior. When he joined his neighbors, to avenge a foray of
+the savages, he joined on the most equal terms--each man was, for the
+time, his own captain; and when the leader was chosen--for the
+pioneers, with all their personal independence, were far too rational to
+underrate the advantages of a head in the hour of danger--each voice was
+counted in the choice, and the election might fall on any one. But, even
+after such organization, every man was fully at liberty to abandon the
+expedition, whenever he became dissatisfied, or thought proper to return
+home. And if this want of discipline sometimes impaired the strength,
+and rendered unavailing the efforts, of communities, it at least
+fostered the manly spirit of personal independence; and, to keep that
+alive in the breasts of a people, it is worth while to pay a yearly
+tribute, even though that tribute be rendered unto the King of Terrors!
+
+This self-reliance was not an arrogant and vulgar egotism, as it has
+been so often represented in western stories, and the tours of
+superficial travellers. It was a calm, just estimate of his own
+capabilities--a well-grounded confidence in his own talents--a clear,
+manly understanding of his own individual rights, dignity, and
+relations. Such is the western definition of independence; and if there
+be anything of it in the western character at the present day, it is due
+to the stubborn and intense individuality of the first pioneer. He it
+was who laid the foundation of our social fabric, and it is his spirit
+which yet pervades our people.
+
+
+The quality which next appears, in analyzing this character, is his
+_courage_.
+
+It was not mere physical courage, nor was it stolid carelessness of
+danger. The pioneer knew, perfectly well, the full extent of the peril
+that surrounded him; indeed, he could not be ignorant of it; for almost
+every day brought some new memento, either of his savage foe, or of the
+prowling beast of prey. He ploughed, and sowed, and reaped, and
+gathered, with the rifle slung over his shoulders; and, at every turn,
+he halted, listening, with his ear turned toward his home; for well he
+knew that, any moment, the scream of his wife, or the wail of his
+children, might tell of the up-lifted tomahawk, or the murderous
+scalping-knife.
+
+His courage, then, was not ignorance of danger--not that of the child,
+which thrusts its hand within the lion's jaws, and knows naught of the
+penalty it braves. His ear was ever listening, his eye was always
+watching, his nerves were ever strung, for battle. He was stout of
+heart, and strong of hand--he was calm, sagacious, unterrified. He was
+never disconcerted--excitement seldom moved him--his mind was always at
+its own command. His heart never lost its firmness--no suffering could
+overcome him--he was as stoical as the savage, whose greatest glory is
+to triumph amidst the most cruel tortures. His pride sustained him when
+his flesh was pierced with burning brands--when his muscles crisped and
+crackled in the flames. To the force of character, belonging to the
+white, he added the savage virtues of the red man; and many a captive
+has been rescued from the flames, through his stern contempt for
+torture, and his sneering triumph over his tormentors. The highest
+virtue of the savage was his fortitude; and he respected and admired
+even a "pale face," who emulated his endurance.
+
+But fortitude is only passive courage--and the bravery of the pioneer
+was eminently active. His vengeance was as rapid as it was sometimes
+cruel. No odds against him could deter him, no time was ever wasted in
+deliberation. If a depredation was committed in the night, the dawn of
+morning found the sufferer on the trail of the marauder. He would follow
+it for days, and even weeks, with the sagacity of the blood-hound, with
+the patience of the savage: and, perhaps, in the very midst of the
+Indian country, in some moment of security, the blow descended, and the
+injury was fearfully avenged! The debt was never suffered to accumulate,
+when it could be discharged by prompt payment--and it was never
+forgotten! If the account could not be balanced now, the obligation was
+treasured up for a time to come--and, when least expected, the debtor
+came, and paid with usury!
+
+
+It has been said, perhaps truly, that a fierce, bloody spirit ruled the
+settlers in those early days. And it is unquestionable, that much of
+that contempt for the slow vengeance of a legal proceeding, which now
+distinguishes the people of the frontier west, originated then. It was,
+doubtless, an unforgiving--eminently an unchristian--spirit: but
+vengeance, sure and swift, was the only thing which could impress the
+hostile savage. And, if example, in a matter of this sort, could be
+availing, for their severity to the Indians, they had the highest!
+
+The eastern colonists--good men and true--"willing to exterminate the
+savages," says Bancroft,[70] who is certainly not their enemy, offered a
+bounty for every Indian scalp--as we, in the west, do for the scalps of
+wolves! "To regular forces under pay, the grant was _ten_ pounds--to
+volunteers, in actual service, _twice that sum_; but if men would, of
+themselves, without pay, make up parties and patrol the forests in
+search of Indians, _as of old the woods were scoured for wild beasts_,
+the chase was invigorated by the promised 'encouragement of _fifty_
+pounds per scalp!'" The "fruitless cruelties" of the Indian allies of
+the French in Canada, says the historian, gave birth to these humane and
+nicely-graduated enactments! Nor is our admiration of their Christian
+spirit in the least diminished, when we reflect that nothing is recorded
+in history of "bounties on scalps" or "encouragement" to murder, offered
+by Frontenac, or any other French-Canadian governor, as a revenge for
+the horrible massacre at Montreal, or the many "fruitless cruelties" of
+the bloody Iroquois![71]
+
+The descendants of the men who gave these "bounties" and
+"encouragements," have, in our own day, caressed, and wept and lamented
+over the tawny murderer, Black-Hawk, and his "wrongs" and "misfortunes;"
+but the theatre of Indian warfare was then removed a little farther
+west; and the atrocities of Haverhill and Deerfield were perpetrated on
+the western prairies, and not amid the forests of the east! Yet I do not
+mean, by referring to this passage of history--or to the rivers of
+wasted sentiment poured out a few years ago--so much to condemn our
+forefathers, or to draw invidious comparisons between them and others,
+as to show, that the war of extermination, sometimes waged by western
+rangers, was not without example--that the cruelty and hatred of the
+pioneer to the barbarous Indian, might originate in exasperation, which
+even moved the puritans; and that the lamentations, over the fictitious
+"wrongs" of a turbulent and bloody savage, might have run in a channel
+nearer home.
+
+
+Hatred of the Indian, among the pioneers, was hereditary; there was
+scarcely a man on the frontier, who had not lost a father, a mother, or
+a brother, by the tomahawk; and not a few of them had suffered in their
+own persons. The child, who learned the rudiments of his scanty
+education at his mother's knee, must decipher the strange characters by
+the straggling light which penetrated the crevices between the logs;
+for, while the father was absent, in the field or on the war-path, the
+mother was obliged to bar the doors and barricade the windows against
+the savages. Thus, if he did not literally imbibe it with his mother's
+milk, one of the first things the pioneer learned, was dread, and
+consequently hatred, of the Indian. That feeling grew with his growth,
+strengthened with his strength--for a life upon the western border left
+but few days free from sights of blood or mementoes of the savage. The
+pioneer might go to the field in the morning, unsuspecting; and, at
+noon, returning, find his wife murdered and scalped, and the brains of
+his little ones dashed out against his own doorpost! And if a deadly
+hatred of the Indian took possession of his heart, who shall blame him?
+It may be said, the pioneer was an intruder, seeking to take forcible
+possession of the Indian's lands--and that it was natural that the
+Indian should resent the wrong after the manner of his race. Granted:
+and it was quite as natural that the pioneer should return the enmity,
+after the manner of _his_ race!
+
+But the pioneer was _not_ an intruder.
+
+For all the purposes, for which reason and the order of Providence
+authorize us to say, God made the earth, this continent was
+vacant--uninhabited. And--granting that the savage was in
+possession--for this is his only ground of title, as, indeed, it is the
+foundation of all primary title--there were at the period of the first
+landing of white men on the continent, between Lake Superior and the
+Gulf of Mexico, east of the Mississippi, about one hundred and eighty
+thousand Indians.[72] That region now supports at least twenty millions
+of civilized people, and is capable of containing quite ten times that
+number, without crowding! Now, if God made the earth for any purpose, it
+certainly was _not_ that it should be monopolized by a horde of nomad
+savages!
+
+But an argument on this subject, would not be worth ink and paper; and I
+am, moreover, aware, that this reasoning may be abused. _Any_ attempt to
+construe the purposes of Deity must be liable to the same
+misapplication. And, besides, it is not my design to go so far back; I
+seek not so much to excuse as to account for--less to justify than to
+analyze--the characteristics of the class before me. I wish to establish
+that the pioneer hatred of the Indian was not an unprovoked or
+groundless hatred, that the severity of his warfare was not a mere
+gratuitous and bloody-minded cruelty. There are a thousand actions, of
+which we are hearing every day, that are indefensible in morals: and yet
+we are conscious while we condemn the actors, that, in like
+circumstances, we could not have acted differently. So is it with the
+fierce and violent reprisals, sometimes made by frontier rangers. Their
+best defence lies in the statement that they were men, and that their
+manhood prompted them to vengeance. When they deemed themselves injured,
+they demanded reparation, in such sort as that demand could then be
+made--at the muzzle of a rifle or the point of a knife. They were equal
+to the times in which they lived.--Had they not been so, how many
+steamboats would now be floating on the Mississippi?
+
+
+There was no romance in the composition of the pioneer--whatever there
+may have been in his environment. His life was altogether too serious a
+matter for poetry, and the only music he took pleasure in, was the sound
+of a violin, sending forth notes remarkable only for their liveliness.
+Even this, he could enjoy but at rare periods, when his cares were
+forcibly dismissed. He was, in truth, a very matter-of-fact sort of
+person. It was principally with facts that he had to deal--and
+most of them were very "stubborn facts." Indeed, it may be
+doubted--notwithstanding much good poetry has been written (in cities
+chiefly), on solitude and the wilderness--whether a life in the woods
+is, after all, very suggestive of poetical thoughts. The perils of the
+frontier must borrow most of their "enchantment" from the "distance;"
+and its sufferings and hardships are certainly more likely to evoke
+pleasant fancies to him who sits beside a good coal fire, than to one
+whose lot it is to bear them. Even the (so-called) "varied imagery" of
+the Indian's eloquence--about which so much nonsense has been
+written--is, in a far greater measure, the result of the poverty and
+crude materialism of his language, than of any poetical bias,
+temperament, or tone of thought. An Indian, as we have said before, has
+no humor--he never understands a jest--his wife is a beast of
+burthen--heaven is a hunting-ground--his language has no words to
+express abstract qualities, virtues, or sentiments. And yet he lives in
+the wilderness all the days of his life! The only trait he has, in
+common with the poetical character, is his laziness.
+
+But the pioneer was not indolent, in any sense. He had no
+dreaminess--meditation was no part of his mental habit--a poetical
+fancy would, in him, have been an indication of insanity. If he reclined
+at the foot of a tree, on a still summer day, it was to sleep: if he
+gazed out over the waving prairie, it was to search for the column of
+smoke which told of his enemy's approach: if he turned his eyes toward
+the blue heaven, it was to prognosticate to-morrow's storm or sunshine:
+if he bent his gaze upon the green earth, it was to look for "Indian
+sign" or buffalo trail. His wife was only a help-mate--he never thought
+of making a divinity of her--she cooked his dinner, made and washed his
+clothes, bore his children, and took care of his household. His children
+were never "little cherubs,"--"angels sent from heaven"--but generally
+"tow-headed" and very earthly responsibilities. He looked forward
+anxiously, to the day when the boys should be able to assist him in the
+field, or fight the Indian, and the girls to help their mother make and
+mend. When one of the latter took it into her head to be married--as
+they usually did quite early in life; for beaux were plenty and belles
+were "scarce"--he only made one condition, that the man of her choice
+should be brave and healthy. He never made a "parade" about
+anything--marriage, least of all. He usually gave the bride--not the
+"blushing" bride--a bed, a lean horse, and some good advice: and, having
+thus discharged his duty in the premises, returned to his work, and the
+business was done.
+
+The marriage ceremony, in those days, was a very unceremonious affair.
+The parade and drill which now attend it, would then have been as
+ridiculous as a Chinese dance; and the finery and ornament, at present
+understood to be indispensable on such occasions, then bore no sway in
+fashion. Bridal wreaths and dresses were not known; and white kid gloves
+and satin slippers never heard of. Orange blossoms--natural and
+artificial--were as pretty then as now; but the people were more
+occupied with substance, than with emblem.
+
+
+The ancients decked _their_ victims for the sacrifice with gaudy colors,
+flags, and streamers; the moderns do the same, and the offerings are
+sometimes made to quite as barbarous deities.
+
+But the bride of the pioneer was clothed in linsey-wolsey, with hose of
+woollen yarn; and moccasins of deer-skin--or as an extra piece of
+finery, high-quartered shoes of calf-skin--preceded satin slippers. The
+bridegroom came in copperas-colored jeans--domestic manufacture--as a
+holiday suit; or, perhaps, a hunting-shirt of buckskin, all fringed
+around the skirt and cape, and a "coon-skin" cap, with moccasins.
+Instead of a dainty walking-stick, with an opera-dancer's leg, in ivory,
+for head, he always brought his rifle, with a solid maple stock; and
+never, during the whole ceremony, did he divest himself of powder-horn
+and bullet-pouch.
+
+Protestant ministers of the gospel were few in those days; and the words
+of form were usually spoken by a Jesuit missionary. Or, if the Pioneer
+had objections to Catholicism--as many had--his place was supplied by
+some justice of the peace, of doubtful powers and mythical appointment.
+If neither of these could be procured, the father of the bride, himself,
+sometimes assumed the functions, _pro hac vice_, or _pro tempore_, of
+minister or justice. It was always understood, however, that such
+left-handed marriages were to be confirmed by the first minister who
+wandered to the frontier: and, even when the opportunity did not offer
+for many months, no scandal ever arose--the marriage vow was never
+broken. The pioneers were simple people--the refinements of high
+cultivation had not yet penetrated the forests or crossed the
+prairies--and good faith and virtue were as common as courage and
+sagacity.
+
+
+When the brief, but all-sufficient ceremony was over, the bridegroom
+resumed his rifle, helped the bride into the saddle--or more frequently
+to the pillion behind him--and they calmly rode away together.
+
+
+On some pleasant spot--surrounded by a shady grove, or point of
+timber--a new log-cabin has been built: its rough logs notched across
+each other at the corners, a roof of oaken clapboards, held firmly down
+by long poles along each course, its floor of heavy "puncheons," its
+broad, cheerful fireplace, large as a modern bed-room--all are in the
+highest style of frontier architecture. Within--excepting some
+anomalies, such as putting the skillet and tea-kettle in the little
+cupboard, along with the blue-edged plates and yellow-figured
+tea-cups--for the whole has been arranged by the hands of the bridegroom
+himself--everything is neatly and properly disposed. The oaken bedstead,
+with low square posts, stands in one corner, and the bed is covered by a
+pure white counterpane, with fringe--an heirloom in the family of the
+bride. At the foot of this is seen a large, heavy chest--like a
+camp-chest--to serve for bureau, safe, and dressing-case.
+
+In the middle of the floor--directly above a trap-door which leads to a
+"potato-hole" beneath--stands a ponderous walnut table, and on it sits a
+nest of wooden trays; while, flanking these, on one side, is a
+nicely-folded tablecloth, and, on the other, a wooden-handled
+butcher-knife and a well-worn Bible. Around the room are ranged a few
+"split-bottomed" chairs, exclusively for use, not ornament. In the
+chimney-corners, or under the table, are several three-legged stools,
+made for the children, who--as the bridegroom laughingly insinuates
+while he points to the uncouth specimens of his handiwork--"will be
+coming in due time." The wife laughs in her turn--replies, "no
+doubt"--and, taking one of the graceful tripods in her hand, carries it
+forth to sit upon while she milks the cow--for she understands what she
+is expected to do, and does it without delay. In one corner--near the
+fireplace--the aforesaid cupboard is erected--being a few oaken shelves
+neatly pinned to the logs with hickory forks--and in this are arranged
+the plates and cups;--not as the honest pride of the housewife would
+arrange them, to display them to the best advantage--but piled away,
+one within another, without reference to show. As yet there is no sign
+of female taste or presence.
+
+
+But now the house receives its mistress. The "happy couple" ride up to
+the low rail-fence in front--the bride springs off without assistance,
+affectation, or delay. The husband leads away the horse or horses, and
+the wife enters the dominion, where, thenceforward, she is queen. There
+is no coyness, no blushing, no pretence of fright or nervousness--if you
+will, no romance--for which the husband has reason to be thankful! The
+wife knows what her duties are and resolutely goes about performing
+them. She never dreamed, nor twaddled, about "love in a cottage," or
+"the sweet communion of congenial souls" (who never eat anything): and
+she is, therefore, not disappointed on discovering that life is actually
+a serious thing. She never whines about "making her husband happy"--but
+sets firmly and sensibly about making him _comfortable_. She cooks his
+dinner, nurses his children, shares his hardships, and encourages his
+industry. She never complains of having too much work to do, she does
+not desert her home to make endless visits--she borrows no misfortunes,
+has no imaginary ailings. Milliners and mantua-makers she
+ignores--"shopping" she never heard of--scandal she never invents or
+listens to. She never wishes for fine carriages, professes no inability
+to walk five hundred yards, and does not think it a "vulgar
+accomplishment," to know how to make butter. She has no groundless
+anxieties, she is not nervous about her children taking cold: a doctor
+is a visionary potentate to her--a drug-shop is a depot of abominations.
+She never forgets whose wife she is,--there is no "sweet confidante"
+without whom she "can not live"--she never writes endless letters about
+nothing. She is, in short, a faithful, honest wife: and, "in due time,"
+the husband must make _more_ "three-legged stools"--for the "tow-heads"
+have now covered them all!
+
+
+Such is the wife and mother of the pioneer, and, with such influences
+about him, how could he be otherwise than honest, straightforward, and
+manly?
+
+
+But, though a life in the woods was an enemy to every sort of
+sentimentalism--though a more unromantic being than the pioneer can
+hardly be imagined--yet his character unquestionably took its hue, from
+the primitive scenes and events of his solitary existence. He was, in
+many things, as simple as a child: as credulous, as unsophisticated. Yet
+the utmost cunning of the wily savage--all the strategy of Indian
+warfare--was not sufficient to deceive or overreach him! Though one
+might have expected that his life of ceaseless watchfulness would make
+him skeptical and suspicious, his confidence was given heartily, without
+reservation, and often most imprudently. If he gave his trust at all,
+you might ply him, by the hour, with the most improbable and outrageous
+fictions, without fear of contradiction or of unbelief. He never
+questioned the superior knowledge or pretensions of any one who claimed
+acquaintance with subjects of which _he_ was ignorant.
+
+The character of his intellect, like that of the Indian, was thoroughly
+synthetical: he had nothing of the faculty which enables us to detect
+falsehood, even in matters of which we know nothing by comparison and
+analogy. He never analyzed any story told him, he took it as a unit;
+and, unless it violated some known principle of his experience, or
+conflicted with some fact of his own observation, never doubted its
+truth. At this moment, there are men in every western settlement who
+have only vague, crude notions of what a city is--who would feel
+nervous if they stepped upon the deck of a steamboat--and are utterly at
+a loss to conjecture the nature of a railroad. Upon either of these
+mystical subjects they will swallow, without straining, the most absurd
+and impossible fictions. And this is not because of their ignorance
+alone, for many of them are, for their sphere in life, educated,
+intelligent, and, what is better, sensible men. Nor is it by any means a
+national trait: for a genuine Yankee will scarcely believe the truth;
+and, though he may sometimes trust in very wild things, his faith is
+usually an active "craze," and not mere passive credulity. The pioneer,
+then, has not derived it from his eastern fathers: it is the growth of
+the woods and prairies--an embellishment to a character which might
+otherwise appear naked and severe.
+
+
+Another characteristic, traceable to the same source, the stern reality
+of his life, is the pioneer's gravity.
+
+The agricultural population of this country are, at the best, not a
+cheerful race. Though they sometimes join in festivities, it is but
+seldom; and the wildness of their dissipation is too often in proportion
+to its infrequency. There is none of the serene contentment--none of
+that smiling enjoyment--which, according to travellers like Howitt,
+distinguishes the tillers of the ground in other lands. _Sedateness_ is
+a national characteristic, but the gravity of the pioneer is quite
+another thing; it includes pride and personal dignity, and indicates a
+stern, unyielding temper. There is, however, nothing morose in it: it is
+its aspect alone, which forbids approach; and that only makes more
+conspicuous the heartiness of your reception, when once the shell is
+broken. Acquainted with the character, you do not expect him to _smile_
+much; but now and then he _laughs_: and that laugh is round, free, and
+hearty. You know at once that he enjoys it, you are convinced that he is
+a firm friend and "a good hater."
+
+
+It is not surprising, with a character such as I have described, that
+the pioneer is not gregarious, that he is, indeed, rather solitary.
+Accordingly, we never find a genuine specimen of the class, among the
+emigrants, who come in shoals and flocks, and pitch their tents in
+"colonies;" who lay out towns and cities, projected upon paper, and call
+them New Boston, New Albany, or New Hartford, before one log is placed
+upon another; nor are there many of the unadulterated stock among that
+other class, who come from regions further south, and christen their
+towns, classically, Carthage, Rome, or Athens: or, patriotically, in
+commemoration of some Virginian worthy, some Maryland sharpshooter, or
+"Jersey blue."
+
+The real pioneer never emigrates gregariously; he does not wish to be
+within "halloo" of his nearest neighbor; he is no city-builder; and, if
+he does project a town, he christens it by some such name as Boonville
+or Clarksville, in memory of a noted pioneer: or Jacksonville or
+Waynesville, to commemorate some "old hero" who was celebrated for good
+fighting.[73] And the reason why the outlandish and _outre_ so much
+predominate in the names of western towns and cities, must be sought in
+the fact referred to above, that the western man is not essentially a
+town-projector, and that, consequently, comparatively few of the towns
+were "laid out" by the legitimate pioneer. We shall have more to say of
+town-building under another head; and, in the meantime, having said that
+the pioneer is not gregarious, let us look at the _manner_ of his
+emigration.
+
+
+Many a time, in the western highways, have I met with the sturdy
+"mover," as he is called, in the places where people are stationary--a
+family, sometimes by no means small, wandering toward the setting sun,
+in search of pleasant places on the lands of "Uncle Sam." Many a time,
+in the forest or on the prairie--generally upon some point of timber
+which puts a mile or two within the plain--have I passed the "clearing,"
+or "pre-emption," where, with nervous arm and sturdy heart, the
+"squatter"[74] cleaves out, and renders habitable, a home for himself
+and a heritage for his children.
+
+Upon the road, you first meet the pioneer himself, for he almost always
+walks a few hundred yards ahead. He is usually above the medium height,
+and rather spare. He stoops a little, too; for he has done a deal of
+hard work, and expects to do more; but you see at once, that unless his
+lungs are weak, his strength is by no means broken, and you are quite
+sure that many a stately tree is destined to be humbled by his sinewy
+arm. He is attired in frontier fashion: he wears a loose coat, called a
+hunting-shirt, of jeans or linsey, and its color is that indescribable
+hue compounded of copperas and madder; pantaloons, exceedingly loose,
+and not very accurately cut in any part, of like color and material,
+defend his lower limbs. His feet are cased in low, fox-colored shoes,
+for of boots, he is, yet, quite innocent. Around his throat and wrists,
+even in midsummer, you see the collar and wristbands of a heavy,
+deep-red, flannel-shirt. Examine him very closely, and you will probably
+find no other garment on his person.
+
+His hair is dark, and not very evenly trimmed--for his wife or daughter
+has performed the tonsure with a pair of rusty shears; and the longer
+locks seem changed in hue, as if his dingy wool hat did not sufficiently
+protect them against the wind and rain. Over his shoulder he carries a
+heavy rifle, heavier than a "Harper's ferry musket," running about
+"fifty to the pound." Around his neck are swung the powder-horn and
+bullet-pouch, the former protected by a square of deer-skin, and the
+latter ornamented with a squirrel's tail.
+
+You take note of all these things, and then recur to his
+melancholy-looking face, with its mild blue eyes and sharpened features.
+You think he looks thin, and conjecture that his chest may be weak, or
+his lungs affected, by the stoop in his shoulders; but when he lifts his
+eyes, and asks the way to Thompson's ferry, or how far it is to water,
+you are satisfied: for the glance of his eye is calm and firm, and the
+tone of his voice is round and healthy. You answer his question, he nods
+quietly by way of thanks, and marches on; and, though you draw your
+rein, and seem inclined to further converse, he takes no notice, and
+pursues his way.
+
+A few minutes afterward, you meet the family. A small, light wagon,
+easily dragged through sloughs and heavy roads, is covered with a white
+cotton cloth, and drawn, by either two yokes of oxen, or a pair of lean
+horses. A "patch-work" quilt is sometimes stretched across the flimsy
+covering, as a guard against the sun and rain. Within this vehicle are
+stowed all the emigrant's household goods, and still, it is not
+overloaded.
+
+There is usually a large chest, containing the wardrobe of the family,
+with such small articles as are liable to loss, and the little store of
+money. This is always in silver, for the pioneer is no judge of gold,
+and, on the frontier, paper has but little exchangeable value. There are
+then two light bedsteads--one "a trundle-bed"--a few plain chairs, most
+of them tied on behind and at the sides; three or four stools, domestic
+manufacture; a set of tent-poles and a few pots and pans. On these are
+piled the "beds and bedding," tied in large bundles, and stowed in such
+manner as to make convenient room for the children who are too young to
+walk. In the front end of the wagon, sits the mother of the family: and,
+peering over her head and shoulders, leaning out at her side, or gazing
+under the edge of the cotton-covering, are numerous flaxen heads, which
+you find it difficult to count while you ride past.
+
+
+There are altogether too many of them, you think, for a man no older
+than the one you met, a while ago; and you, perhaps, conjecture that the
+youthful-looking woman has adopted some of her dead sister's children,
+or, perchance, some of her brothers and sisters themselves. But you are
+mistaken, they are all her offspring, and the father of every one of
+them is the stoop-shouldered man you saw ahead. If you look closely, you
+will observe that the mother, who is driving, holds the reins with one
+hand, while, on the other arm, she supports an infant not _more_ than
+six months old. It was for the advent of this little stranger, that they
+delayed their emigration: and they set out while it was very young, for
+fear of the approach of its successor. If they waited for their youngest
+child to attain a year of age, they would never "move," until they would
+be too old to make another "clearing."
+
+You pass on--perhaps ejaculating thanks that your lot has been
+differently cast, and thinking you have seen the last of them. But a few
+hundred yards further, and you hear the tinkling of a bell; two or three
+lean cows--with calves about the age of the baby--come straggling by.
+You look for the driver, and see a tall girl with a very young face--the
+eldest of the family, though not exceeding twelve or thirteen years in
+age. You feel quite sure, that, besides her sun-bonnet and well-worn
+shoes, she wears but one article of apparel--and that a loose dress of
+linsey, rather narrow in the skirt, of a dirty brown color, with a tinge
+of red. It hangs straight down about her limbs, as if it were wet, and
+with every step--for she walks stoutly--it flaps and flies about her
+ankles, as if shotted in the lower hem. She presents, altogether, rather
+a slatternly figure, and her face is freckled and sunburnt.
+
+But you must not judge her too rashly; for her eye is keen and
+expressive, and her mouth is quite pretty--especially when she smiles. A
+few years hence--if you have the _entree_--you may meet her in the best
+and highest circles of the country. Perhaps, while you are dancing
+attendance upon some new administration, asking for a "place," and
+asking, probably, in vain, she may come to Washington, a beautiful and
+accomplished woman--the wife of some member of Congress, whose
+constituency is numbered by the hundred thousand!
+
+You may pass on, now, and forget her; but, if you stop to talk five
+minutes, she will not forget _you_--at least, if you say anything
+striking or sensible. And when you meet her again, perhaps in a gilded
+saloon, among the brightest and highest in the land--if you seek an
+introduction, as you probably will--she will remind you of the meeting,
+and to your astonishment, will laughingly describe the scene, to some of
+her obsequious friends who stand around. And then she will perhaps
+introduce you, as an old friend, to one of those flax-haired boys, who
+peeped out of the wagon over his mother's shoulder, as you passed them
+in the wilderness: and you recognise one of the members from California,
+or from Oregon, whose influence in the house, though he is as yet a very
+young man, is already quite considerable. If you are successful in your
+application for a "place," it may be that the casual meeting in the
+forest or on the prairie was the seed which, germinating through long
+years of obscurity, finally sprung up _thus_, and bore a crop of high
+official honors!
+
+The next time you meet a family of emigrants on the frontier, you will
+probably observe them a little more closely.
+
+Not a few of those who bear a prominent part in the government of our
+country--more than one of the first men of the nation--men whose names
+are now heard in connection with the highest office of the
+people--twenty years ago, occupied a place as humble in the scale of
+influence, as that flaxen-haired son of the stoop-shouldered emigrant.
+Such are the elements of our civilization--such the spirit of our
+institutions!
+
+
+We have hitherto been speaking only of the American pioneer, and we have
+devoted more space to him, than we shall give to his contemporaries,
+because he has exerted more influence, both in the settlement of the
+country, and in the formation of sectional character and social
+peculiarities, than all the rest combined.
+
+The French emigrant was quite a different being. Even at this day, there
+are no two classes--not the eastern and western, or the northern and
+southern--between whom the distinction is more marked, than it has
+always been between the Saxon and the Frank. The advent of the latter
+was much earlier than that of the former; and to him, therefore, must be
+ascribed the credit of the first settlement of the country. But, for all
+purposes of lasting impression, he must yield to his successor. It was,
+in fact, the American who penetrated and cleared the forest--who subdued
+and drove out the Indian--who, in a word, reclaimed the country.
+
+
+In nothing was the distinction between the two races broader, than in
+the feelings with which they approached the savage. We have seen that
+the hatred, borne by the American toward his red enemy, was to be
+traced to a long series of mutual hostilities and wrongs. But the
+Frenchman had no such injuries to avenge, no hereditary feud to
+prosecute. The first of his nation who had entered the country were
+non-combatants--they came to convert the savage, not to conquer him,
+or deprive him of his lands. Even as early as sixteen hundred and
+eight, the Jesuits had established friendly relations with the Indians
+of Canada--and before the stern crew of the May Flower had landed on
+Plymouth Rock, they had preached the gospel on the shores of Lake
+Huron. Their piety and wisdom had acquired an influence over the
+untutored Indian, long before the commencement of the hostilities,
+which afterward cost so much blood and suffering. They had, thus,
+smoothed the way for their countrymen, and opened a safe path through
+the wilderness, to the shore of the great western waters. And the
+people who followed and accompanied them, were peculiarly adapted to
+improve the advantages thus given them.
+
+They were a gentle, peaceful, unambitious people. They came as the
+friend, not the hereditary enemy, of the savage. They tendered the
+calumet--a symbol well understood by every Indian--and were received as
+allies and brethren. They had no national prejudices to overcome: the
+copper color of the Indian was not an insuperable objection to
+intermarriage, and children of the mixed blood were not, for that
+reason, objects of scorn. An Indian maiden was as much a woman to a
+Frenchman, as if she had been a _blonde_; and, if her form was graceful
+and her features comely, he would woo her with as much ardor as if she
+had been one of his own race.
+
+Nor was this peculiarity attributable only to the native gallantry of
+the French character, as it has sometimes been asserted; the total want
+of prejudice, which grows up in contemplating an inferior race, held in
+limited subjection, and a certain easiness of temper and tone of
+thought, had far more influence.
+
+The Frenchman has quite enough vanity, but very little pride. Whatever,
+therefore, is sanctioned by those who surrounded him, is, in his eyes,
+no degradation. He married the Indian woman--first, because there were
+but few females among the emigrants, and he could not live without "the
+sex;" and, second, because there was nothing in his prejudices, or in
+public sentiment, to deter him. The descendants of these
+marriages--except where, as in some cases, they are upheld by the
+possession of great wealth--have no consideration, and are seldom seen
+in the society of the whites. But this is only because French manners
+and feelings have long since faded out of our social organization. The
+Saxon, with his unconquerable prejudices of race, with his pride and
+jealousy, has taken possession of the country; and, as he rules its
+political destinies, in most places, likewise, gives tones to its
+manners. Had Frenchmen continued to possess the land--had French
+dominion not given place to English--mixture of blood would have had but
+little influence on one's position; and there would now have been, in
+St. Louis or Chicago, as many shades of color in a social assembly, as
+may be seen at a ball in Mexico.
+
+
+The French are a more cheerful people, than the Americans. Social
+intercourse--the interchange of hospitalities--the enjoyment of
+amusements in crowds--are far more important to them than to any other
+race. Solitude and misery are--or ought to be--synonyms in French; and
+enjoyment is like glory--it must have witnesses, or it will lose its
+attraction. Accordingly, we find the French emigrant seeking
+companionship, even in the trials and enterprises of the wilderness. The
+American, after the manner of his race, sought places where he could
+possess, for himself, enough for his wants, and be "monarch of all he
+surveyed."
+
+But the Frenchman had no such pride. He resorted to a town, where the
+amusements of dancing, _fetes_, and social converse, were to be
+found--where the narrow streets were scarcely more than a division
+fence, "across which the women could carry on their voluble
+conversations, without leaving their homes."[75] This must have been a
+great advantage, and probably contributed, in no slight degree, to the
+singular peace of their villages--since the proximity afforded no
+temptation to going abroad, and the distance was yet too great to allow
+such whisperings and scandal, as usually break up the harmony of small
+circles. Whether the fact is to be attributed to this, or to some other
+cause, certain it is that these little communities were eminently
+peaceful. From the first settlement of Kaskaskia, for example, down to
+the transfer of the western country to the British--almost a century--I
+find no record, even in the voluminous epistolary chronicles, of any
+personal rencontre, or serious quarrel, among the inhabitants. The same
+praise can not be given to any American town ever yet built.
+
+A species of communism seems to be a portion of the French character;
+for we discover, that, even at that early day, _paysans_, or _habitans_,
+collected together in villages, had their _common fields_, where the
+separate portion of each family was still a part of the common
+stock--and their tract of pasture-land, where there was no division, or
+separate property. One enclosure covered all the fields of the
+community, and all submitted to regulations made by the free voice of
+the people.
+
+If one was sick, or employed in the service of the colony, or absent
+on business of his own at planting or harvest time, his portion was
+not therefore neglected: his ground was planted, or his crop was
+gathered, by the associated labor of his neighbors, as thoroughly and
+carefully as if he had been at home. His family had nothing to fear;
+because in the social code of the simple villagers, each was as much
+bound to maintain the children of his friend as his own. This state of
+things might have its inconveniences and vices--of which, perhaps, the
+worst was its tendency to merge the family into the community, and
+thus--by obliterating the lines of individuality and personal
+independence--benumbing enterprise and checking improvements: but it
+was certainly productive of some good results, also. It tended to
+make people careful each of the other's rights, kind to the afflicted,
+and brotherly in their social intercourse. The attractive simplicity
+of manners observable, even at this day, in some of the old French
+villages, is traceable to this peculiar form of their early
+organization.
+
+It would be well if that primitive simplicity of life and manners, could
+be combined with rapid, or even moderate improvement. But, in the
+present state of the world, this can scarcely be; and, accordingly, we
+find the Frenchman of the passing year, differing but little from his
+ancestor of sixteen hundred and fifty--still living in the old
+patriarchal style, still cultivating his share of the common field, and
+still using the antiquated processes of the seventeenth century.
+
+
+But, though not so active as their neighbors, the Americans, they were
+ever much happier. They had no ambition beyond enough for the passing
+hour: with that they were perfectly contented. They were very patient
+of the deprivation, when they had it not; and seasons of scarcity saw
+no cessation of music and dancing, no abridgment of the jest and song.
+If the earth yielded enough in one year to sustain them till the
+next, the amount of labor expended for that object was never
+increased--superfluity they cared nothing for: and commerce, save such
+limited trade as was necessary to provide their few luxuries, was
+beyond both their capacity and desires. The prolific soil was suffered
+to retain its juices; it was reserved for another people to discover
+and improve its infinite productiveness.
+
+They were indolent, careless, and improvident. Great enterprises were
+above or below them. Political interests, and the questions concerning
+national dominion, were too exciting to charm their gentle natures.
+Their intelligence was, of course, not of the highest order: but they
+had no use for learning--literature was out of place in the
+wilderness--the pursuit of letters could have found no sympathy, and for
+solitary enjoyment, the Frenchman cultivates nothing. Life was almost
+altogether sensuous: and, though their morals were in keeping with their
+simplicity, existence to them was chiefly a physical matter. The
+fertility of the soil, producing all the necessaries of life with a
+small amount of labor, and the amenity of the climate, rendering
+defences against winter but too easy, encouraged their indolence, and
+soothed their scanty energy.
+
+"They made no attempt," said one[76] who knew them well, "to acquire
+land from the Indians, to organize a social system, to introduce
+municipal regulations, or to establish military defences; but cheerfully
+obeyed the priests and the king's officers, and enjoyed the present
+without troubling their heads about the future. They seem to have been
+even careless as to the acquisition of property, and its transmission to
+their heirs. Finding themselves in a fruitful country, abounding in
+game--where the necessaries of life could be procured with little
+labor--where no restraints were imposed by government, and neither
+tribute nor personal service was exacted, they were content to live in
+unambitious peace and comfortable poverty. They took possession of so
+much of the vacant land around them, as they were disposed to till, and
+no more. Their agriculture was rude: and even to this day, some of the
+implements of husbandry and modes of cultivation, brought from France a
+century ago, remain unchanged by the march of mind or the hand of
+innovation. Their houses were comfortable, and they reared fruits and
+flowers, evincing, in this respect, an attention to comfort and luxury,
+which has not been practised by the English and American first
+settlers. But in the accumulation of property, and in all the essentials
+of industry, they were indolent and improvident, rearing only the bare
+necessaries of life, and living from generation to generation without
+change or improvement."
+
+"They reared fruits and flowers," he says; and this simple fact denotes
+a marked distinction between them and the Americans, not only in regard
+to the things themselves, as would seem to be the view of the author
+quoted, but in mental constitution, modes of thought, and motives to
+action. Their tastes were elegant, ornate, and refined. They found
+pleasure in pursuits which the American deems trivial, frivolous, and
+unworthy of exertion.
+
+If any trees sheltered the house of the American, they were those
+planted by the winds; if there were any flowers at his door, they were
+only those with which prodigal nature has carpeted the prairies; and you
+may see now in the west, many a cabin which has stood for thirty years,
+with not a tree, of shade or fruit, within a mile of its door!
+Everything is as bare and as cheerless about the door-yard, as it was
+the first winter of its enclosure. But, stretching away from it, in
+every direction, sometimes for miles, you will see extensive and
+productive fields of grain, in the highest state of cultivation. It is
+not personal comfort, or an elegant residence, for which the American
+cares, but the enduring and solid results of unwearied labor.
+
+A Frenchman's residence is surrounded by flower-beds and orchards; his
+windows are covered by creeping-vines and trellis-work; flower-pots and
+bird-cages occupy the sills and surround the corridors; everything
+presents the aspect of elegant taste, comfort, and indolence. The extent
+of his fields, the amount of his produce, the intelligence and industry
+of his cultivation, bear an immense disproportion to those of his less
+ornamental, though more energetic, neighbor.
+
+
+The distinction between the two races is as clear in their personal
+appearance and bearing, as in the aspect of their plantations. The
+Frenchman is generally a spruce, dapper little gentleman, brisk,
+obsequious, and insinuating in manner, and usually betraying minute
+attention to externals. The American is always plain in dress--evincing
+no more taste in costume than in horticulture--steady, calm, and never
+lively in manner: blunt, straightforward, and independent in discourse.
+The one is amiable and submissive, the other choleric and rebellious.
+The Frenchman always recognises and bows before superior rank: the
+American acknowledges no superior, and bows to no man save in courtesy.
+The former is docile and easily governed: the latter is intractable,
+beyond control. The Frenchman accommodates himself to circumstances: the
+American forces circumstances to yield to him.
+
+The consequence has been, that while the American has stamped his
+character upon the whole country, there are not ten places in the valley
+of the Mississippi, where you would infer, from anything you see, that a
+Frenchman had ever placed his foot upon the soil. The few localities in
+which the French character yet lingers, are fast losing the distinction;
+and a score or two of years will witness a total disappearance of the
+gentle people and their primitive abodes. Even now--excepting in a few
+parishes in Louisiana--the relics of the race bear a faded, antiquated
+look: as if they belonged to a past century, as, indeed, they do, and
+only lingered now, to witness, for a brief space, the glaring
+innovations of the nineteenth, and then, lamenting the follies of modern
+civilization, to take their departure for ever!
+
+Let them depart in peace! For they were a gentle and pacific race, and
+in their day did many kindly things!
+
+    "The goodness of the heart is shown in deeds
+    Of peacefulness and kindness."
+
+Their best monument is an affectionate recollection of their simplicity:
+their highest wish
+
+        ----"To sleep in humble life,
+    Beneath the storm ambition blows."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[70] _History of the United States_, vol. iii., p. 336. Enacted in
+Massachusetts.
+
+[71] A detailed and somewhat tedious account of these savage inroads,
+may be found in Warburton's _Conquest of Canada_, published by Harpers.
+New-York. 1850.
+
+[72] This is the estimate of Bancroft--and, I think, at least, thirty
+thousand too liberal. If the number were doubled, however, it would not
+weaken the position in the text.
+
+[73] On the subject of naming towns, much might have been said in the
+preceding article in favor of French taste, and especially that just and
+unpretending taste, which led them almost alway to retain the Indian
+names. While the American has pretentiously imported from the Old World
+such names as Venice, Carthage, Rome, Athens, and even London and Paris,
+or has transferred from the eastern states, Boston, Philadelphia,
+Baltimore, and New York, the Frenchman, with a better judgment, has
+retained such Indian names as Chicago, Peoria, Kaskaskia, Cahokia,
+Illinois, Wisconsin, Missouri, Wabash, and Mississippi.
+
+[74] This word is a pregnant memento of the manner in which the vain
+words of flippant orators fall, innocuous, to the ground, when they
+attempt to stigmatize, with contemptuous terms, the truly noble.
+"Squatter" is now, in the west, only another name for "Pioneer," and
+that word describes all that is admirable in courage, truth, and
+manhood!
+
+[75] Perkins's _Western Annals_.
+
+[76] "Sketches of the West," by Judge Hall, for many years a resident of
+Illinois.
+
+[Illustration: THE RANGER.]
+
+
+
+
+IV.
+
+THE RANGER.
+
+    "When purposed vengeance I forego,
+    Term me a wretch, nor deem me foe;
+    And when an insult I forgive,
+    Then brand me as a slave, and live."
+
+    SCOTT.
+
+
+In elaborating the character of the pioneer, we have unavoidably
+anticipated, in some measure, that of the Ranger--for the latter was, in
+fact, only one of the capacities in which the former sometimes acted.
+But--since, in the preceding article, we have endeavored to confine
+the inquiry, so as to use the term _Pioneer_ as almost synonymous with
+_Immigrant_--we have, of course, ignored, to some extent, the
+subordinate characters, in which he frequently figured. We therefore
+propose, now, briefly to review one or two of them in their natural
+succession.
+
+The progress of our country may be traced and measured, by the
+representative characters which marked each period. The
+missionary-priest came first, when the land was an unbroken wilderness.
+The military adventurer, seeking to establish new empires, and acquire
+great fortunes, entered by the path thus opened. Next came the hunter,
+roaming the woods in search of wild beasts upon which he preyed. Making
+himself familiar with the pathless forest and the rolling prairie, he
+qualified himself to guide, even while he fled from, the stream of
+immigration. At last came the pioneer, to drive away the savage, to
+clear out the forests, and reclaim the land.
+
+At first, he was _only_ a pioneer. He had few neighbors, he belonged to
+no community--his household was his country, his family were his only
+associates or companions. In the course of time others followed him--he
+could occasionally meet a white man on the prairies; if he wandered a
+few miles from home, he could see the smoke of another chimney in the
+distance. If he did not at once abandon his "clearing" and go further
+west, he became, in some sort, a member of society--was the
+fellow-citizen of his neighbors. The Indians became alarmed for their
+hunting grounds, or the nations went to war and drew them into the
+contest: the frontier became unsafe: the presence of danger drew the
+pioneers together: they adopted a system of defence, and the ranger was
+the offspring and representative of a new order of things.
+
+Rough and almost savage as he sometimes was, he was still the index to a
+great improvement. Rude as the system was, it gave shape and order to
+what had before been mere chaos.
+
+
+The ranger marks a new era, then; his existence is another chapter in
+the history of the west. Previous to his time, each pioneer depended
+only on himself for defence--his sole protection, against the wild beast
+and the savage, was his rifle--self-dependence was his peculiar
+characteristic. The idea of a fighting establishment--the germ of
+standing armies--had never occurred to him: even the rudest form of
+civil government was strange to him--taxes, salaries, assessments, were
+all "unknown quantities."
+
+But, gradually, all this changed; and with his circumstances, his
+character was also modified. He lost a little of his sturdy
+independence, his jealousy of neighborhood was softened--his solitary
+habits became more social--he acknowledged the necessity for concert of
+action--he merged a part of his individuality into the community,
+and--became a ranger.
+
+In this capacity, his character was but little different to what it had
+been before the change; and, though that change was a great improvement,
+considered with reference to society, it may safely be doubted whether
+it made the individual more respectable. He was a better _citizen_,
+because he now contributed to the common defence: but he was not a
+better _man_, because new associations brought novel temptations, and
+mingling with other men wore away the simplicity, which was the
+foundation of his manliness. Before assuming his new character,
+moreover, he never wielded a weapon except in his own defence--or, at
+most, in avenging his own wrongs. The idea of justice--claiming
+reparation for an injury, which he alone could estimate, because by him
+alone it was sustained--protected his moral sense. But, when he assumed
+the vindication of his neighbor's rights, and the reparation of his
+wrongs--however kind it may have been to do so--he was sustained only by
+the spirit of hatred to the savage, could feel no such justification as
+the consciousness of injury.
+
+Here was the first introduction of the mercenary character, which
+actuates the hireling soldier; and, though civilization was not then far
+enough advanced, to make it very conspicuous, there were other elements
+mingled, which could not but depreciate the simple nobility of the
+pioneer's nature. Many of the qualities which, in him, had been merely
+passive, in the ranger became fierce and active. We have alluded, for
+example, to his hatred of the Indian; and this, habit soon strengthened
+and exaggerated. Nothing marks that change so plainly as his adoption of
+the barbarous practice of scalping enemies.
+
+For this there might be some little palliation in the fact, that the
+savage never considered a warrior overcome, though he were killed,
+unless he lost his scalp; and so long as he could bring off the dead
+bodies of his comrades, not mutilated by the process, he was but
+partially intimidated. Defeat was, in that case, converted to a sort of
+triumph; and having gone within one step of victory--for so this
+half-success was estimated--was the strongest incentive to a renewal of
+the effort. It might be, therefore, that the ranger's adoption of the
+custom was a measure of self-defence. But it is to be feared that this
+consideration--weak as it is, when stated as an excuse for cruelty so
+barbarous--had but little influence in determining the ranger. Adopting
+the code of the savage, the practice soon became a part of his warfare;
+and the taking of the scalp was a ceremony necessary to the completion
+of his victory. It was a bloody and inhuman triumph--a custom, which
+tended, more forcibly than any other, to degrade true courage to mere
+cruelty; and which, while it only mortified the savage, at the same
+time, by rendering his hatred of the white men more implacable,
+aggravated the horrors of Indian warfare. But the only measure of
+justice in those days, was the _lex talionis_--"An eye for an eye," a
+scalp for a scalp; and, even now, you may hear frontiermen justify,
+though they do not practise it, by quoting the venerable maxim, "Fight
+the devil with fire."
+
+
+But, though the warfare of the ranger was sometimes distinguished by
+cruelty, it was also ennobled by features upon which it is far more
+pleasant to dwell.
+
+No paladin, or knight, of the olden times, ever exhibited more wild,
+romantic daring, than that which formed a part of the ranger's daily
+action. Danger, in a thousand forms, beset him at every step--he defied
+mutilation, death by fire and lingering torture. The number of his
+enemies, he never counted, until after he had conquered them--the power
+of the tribe, or the prowess of the warrior, was no element in his
+calculations. Where he could strike first and most effectually, was his
+only inquiry. Securing an avenue for retreat was no part of his
+strategy--for he had never an intention or thought of returning, except
+as a victor. "Keeping open his communications," either with the rear or
+the flanks, had no place in his system; "combined movements" he seldom
+attempted, for he depended for victory, upon the force he chanced to
+have directly at hand. The distance from his "base of operations" he
+never measured; for he carried all his supplies about his person, and he
+never looked for reinforcements. Bridges and wagon-roads he did not
+require, for he could swim all the rivers, and he never lost his way in
+the forest. He carried his artillery upon his shoulder, his tactics were
+the maxims of Indian warfare, and his only drill was the "ball-practice"
+of the woods. He was his own commissary, for he carried his "rations" on
+his back, and replenished his havresack with his rifle. He needed no
+quartermaster; for he furnished his own "transportation," and selected
+his own encampment--his bed was the bosom of mother-earth, and his tent
+was the foliage of an oak or the canopy of heaven. In most
+cases--especially in battle--he was his own commander, too; for he was
+impatient of restraint, and in savage warfare knew his duty as well as
+any man could instruct him. Obedience was no part of his
+nature--subordination was irksome and oppressive. In a word, he was an
+excellent soldier, without drill, discipline or organization.
+
+He was as active as he was brave--as untiring as he was fearless.
+
+A corps of rangers moved so rapidly, as apparently to double its
+numbers--dispersing on the Illinois or Missouri, and reassembling on the
+Mississippi, on the following day--traversing the Okan timber to-day,
+and fording the Ohio to-morrow. One of them, noted among the Indians for
+desperate fighting, and personally known for many a bloody meeting,
+would appear so nearly simultaneously in different places, as to acquire
+the title of a "Great Medicine;" and instances have been known, where as
+many as three distinct war-parties have told of obstinate encounters
+with the same men in one day! Their apparent ubiquity awed the Indians
+more than their prowess.
+
+
+General Benjamin Howard, who, in eighteen hundred and thirteen resigned
+the office of governor of Missouri, and accepted the appointment of
+brigadier-general, in command of the militia and rangers of Missouri
+and Illinois, at no time, except for a few weeks in eighteen hundred and
+fourteen, had more than one thousand men under his orders: And yet, with
+this inconsiderable force, he protected a frontier extending from the
+waters of the Wabash, westward to the advanced settlements of
+Missouri--driving the savages northward beyond Peoria, and intimidating
+them by the promptitude and rapidity of his movements.
+
+
+Our government contributed nothing to the defence of its frontiers,
+except an act of Congress, which authorized them to defend themselves!
+The Indians, amounting to at least twenty tribes, had been stirred up to
+hostility by the British, and, before the establishment of rangers, were
+murdering and plundering almost with impunity. But soon after the
+organization of these companies, the tide began to turn. The ranger was
+at least a match for the savage in his own mode of warfare; and he had,
+moreover, the advantages of civilized weapons, and a steadiness and
+constancy, unknown to the disorderly war-parties of the red men.
+
+He was persevering beyond all example, and exhibited endurance which
+astonished even the stoical savage. Three or four hours' rest, after
+weeks of hardship and exposure, prepared him for another expedition. If
+the severity of his vengeance, or the success of a daring enterprise,
+intimidated the Indian for a time, and gave him a few days' leisure, he
+grew impatient of inactivity, and was straightway planning some new
+exploit. The moment one suggested itself, he set about accomplishing
+it--and its hardihood and peril caused no hesitation. He would march, on
+foot, hundreds of miles, through an unbroken wilderness, until he
+reached the point where the blow was to be struck; and then, awaiting
+the darkness, in the middle of the night, he would fall upon his
+unsuspecting enemies and carry all before him.
+
+
+During the war of independence, the rangers had not yet assumed that
+name, nor were they as thoroughly organized, as they became in the
+subsequent contest of eighteen hundred and twelve. But the same material
+was there--the same elements of character, actuated by the same spirit.
+Let the following instance show what that spirit was.
+
+In the year seventeen hundred and seventy-seven, there lived at
+Cahokia--on the east side of the Mississippi below Saint Louis--a
+Pennsylvanian by the name of Brady--a restless, daring man, just made
+for a leader of rangers. In an interval of inactivity, he conceived the
+idea of capturing one of the British posts in Michigan, the nearest
+point of which was at least three hundred miles distant! He forthwith
+set about raising a company--and, at the end of three days, found
+himself invested with the command of _sixteen men_! With these, on the
+first of October, he started on a journey of more than one hundred
+leagues, through the vast solitudes of the prairies and the thousand
+perils of the forest, to take a military station, occupied by a
+detachment of British soldiers! After a long and toilsome march, they
+reached the banks of the St. Joseph's river, on which the object of
+their expedition stood. Awaiting the security of midnight, they suddenly
+broke from their cover in the neighborhood, and by a _coup de main_,
+captured the fort without the loss of a man! Thus far all went well--for
+besides the success and safety of the party, they found a large amount
+of stores, belonging to traders, in the station, and were richly paid
+for their enterprise--but having been detained by the footsore, on their
+homeward march, and probably delayed by their plunder, they had only
+reached the Calumet, on the borders of Indiana, when they were overtaken
+by three hundred British and Indians! They were forced to surrender,
+though not without a fight, for men of that stamp were not to be
+intimidated by numbers. They lost in the skirmish one fourth of their
+number: the survivors were carried away to Canada, whence Brady, the
+leader, escaped, and returned to Cahokia the same winter. The twelve
+remained prisoners until seventeen hundred and seventy-nine.
+
+
+Against most men this reverse would have given the little fort
+security--at least, until the memory of the disaster had been obscured
+by time. But the pioneers of that period were not to be judged by
+ordinary rules. The very next spring (1778), another company was raised
+for the same object, and to wipe out what they considered the stain of a
+failure. It was led by a man named Maize, over the same ground, to the
+same place, and was completely successful. The fort was retaken, the
+trading-station plundered, the wounded men of Brady's party released,
+and, loaded with spoil, the little party marched back in triumph!
+
+
+There is an episode in the history of their homeward march, which
+illustrates another characteristic of the ranger--his ruthlessness. The
+same spirit which led him to disregard physical obstacles, prevented his
+shrinking from even direful necessities. One of the prisoners whom they
+had liberated, became exhausted and unable to proceed. They could not
+carry him, and would not have him to die of starvation in the
+wilderness. They could not halt with him, lest the same fate should
+overtake them, which had defeated the enterprise of Brady. But one
+alternative remained, and though, to us, it appears cruel and inhuman,
+it was self-preservation to them, and mercy, in a strange guise, to the
+unhappy victim--_he was despatched by the hand of the leader_, and
+buried upon the prairie! His grave is somewhere near the head-waters of
+the Wabash, and has probably been visited by no man from that day to
+this!
+
+Mournful reflections cluster round such a narrative as this, and we are
+impelled to use the word "atrocious" when we speak of it. It was
+certainly a bloody deed, but the men of those days were not nurtured in
+drawing-rooms, and never slept upon down-beds. A state of war, moreover,
+begets many evils, and none of them are more to be deplored than the
+occasional occurrence of such terrible necessities.
+
+The ranger-character, like the pioneer-nature of which it was a phase,
+was compounded of various and widely-differing elements. No one of his
+evil qualities was more prominent than several of the good; and, I am
+sorry to say, none of the good was more prominent than several of the
+bad. No class of men did more efficient service in defending the western
+settlements from the inroads of the Indians; and though it seems hard
+that the war should sometimes have been carried into the country of the
+untutored savage by civilized men, with a severity exceeding his own, we
+should remember that we can not justly estimate the motives and feelings
+of the ranger, without first having been exasperated by his sufferings
+and tried by his temptations.
+
+
+
+
+V.
+
+THE REGULATOR.
+
+    "Thieves for their robbery have authority,
+    When judges steal themselves."--
+
+    MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
+
+
+At the conclusion of peace between England and America, in eighteen
+hundred and fifteen, the Indians, who had been instigated and supported
+in their hostility by the British, suddenly found themselves deprived of
+their allies. If they now made war upon the Americans, they must do so
+upon their own responsibility, and, excepting the encouragement of a few
+traders and commanders of outposts, whose enmity survived the general
+pacification, without assistance from abroad. They, however, refused to
+lay down their arms, and hostilities were continued, though languidly,
+for some years longer. But the rangers, now disciplined by the
+experience of protracted warfare, and vastly increased in numbers, had
+grown to be more than a match for them, so that not many years elapsed
+before the conclusion of a peace, which has lasted, with but occasional
+interruptions, to the present day.
+
+When danger no longer threatened the settlements, there was no further
+call for these irregular troops. The companies were disbanded, and those
+who had families, as a large proportion of them had, returned to their
+plantations, and resumed the pursuits of industry and peace. Those who
+had neither farms nor families, and were unfitted by their stirring life
+for regular effort, emigrated further west. Peace settled upon our
+borders, never, we hope, to be seriously broken.
+
+
+But as soon as the pressure of outward danger was withdrawn, and our
+communities began to expand, the seeds of new evils were
+developed--seeds which had germinated unobserved, while all eyes were
+averted, and which now began to shoot up into a stately growth of vices
+and crimes. The pioneers soon learned that there was among them a class
+of unprincipled and abandoned men, whose only motive in emigrating was
+to avoid the restraints, or escape the penalties, of law, and to whom
+the freedom of the wilderness was a license to commit every sort of
+depredation. The arm of the law was not yet strong enough to punish
+them.
+
+The territorial governments were too busy in completing their own
+organization, to give much attention to details: where states had been
+formed, the statute-book was yet a blank: few officers had been
+appointed, and even these were strangers to their duties and charge of
+responsibility. Between the military rule of the rangers--for they were
+for internal police as well as external defence--and the establishment
+of regular civil government, there was a sort of interregnum, during
+which there was neither law nor power to enforce it. The bands of
+villains who infested the country were the only organizations known;
+and, in not a few instances, these bands included the very magistrates
+whose duty it was to see that the laws were faithfully executed. Even
+when this was not the case, it was a fruitless effort to arrest a
+malefactor; indeed, it was very often worse than fruitless, for his
+confederates were always ready to testify in his favor: and the usual
+consequence of an attempt to punish, was the drawing down upon the head
+of the complainant or prosecutor, the enmity of a whole confederacy.
+Legal proceedings, had provision been made for such, were worse than
+useless, for conviction was impossible: and the effort exasperated,
+while the failure encouraged, the outlaw spirit.
+
+An _alibi_ was the usual defence, and to those times may be referred the
+general prejudice entertained among our people, even at the present day,
+against that species of testimony. A jury of western men will hardly
+credit an _alibi_, though established by unexceptionable witnesses; and
+the announcement that the accused depends upon that for his defence,
+will create a strong prejudice against him in advance. Injustice may
+sometimes be done in this way, but it is a feeling of which our people
+came honestly in possession. They established a habit, in early days, of
+never believing an _alibi_, because, at that time, nine _alibis_ in ten
+were false, and habits of thought, like legal customs, cling to men long
+after their reason has ceased. It is right, too, that it should be so,
+on the principle that we should not suspend the use of the remedy until
+the disease be thoroughly conquered.
+
+
+In a state of things, such as we have described, but one of two things
+could be done: the citizens must either abandon all effort to assert the
+supremacy of order, and give the country over to thieves and robbers,
+or they must invent some new and irregular way of forcing men to live
+honestly. They wisely chose the latter alternative. They consulted
+together, and the institution of _Regulators_ was the result of their
+deliberations.
+
+These were small bodies of men, chosen by the people, or voluntarily
+assuming the duty--men upon whom the citizens could depend for both
+discretion and resolution. Their duties may be explained in a few words:
+to ferret out and punish criminals, to drive out "suspicious
+characters," and exercise a general supervision over the interests and
+police of the settlements, from which they were chosen. Their
+statute-book was the "code of Judge Lynch"--their order of trial was
+similar to that of a "drum-head court-martial"--the principles of their
+punishment was certainty, rapidity, and severity. They were judges,
+juries, witnesses, and executioners.
+
+
+They bound themselves by a regular compact (usually verbal, but
+sometimes in writing[77]), to the people and to each other, to rid the
+community of all thieves, robbers, plunderers, and villains of every
+description. They scoured the country in all directions and in all
+seasons, and by the swiftness of their movements, and the certainty of
+their vengeance, rivalled their predecessors, the rangers. When a
+depredation had been committed, it was marvellous with what rapidity
+every regulator knew it; even the telegraph of modern days performs no
+greater wonders: and it frequently happened, that the first the quiet
+citizens heard of a theft, or a robbery, was the news of its punishment!
+Their acts may sometimes have been high-handed and unjustifiable, but on
+the whole--and it is only in such a view that social institutions are to
+be estimated--they were the preservers of the communities for whom they
+acted. In time, it is true, they degenerated, and sometimes the corps
+fell into the hands of the very men they were organized to punish.
+
+
+Every social organization is liable to misdirection, and this, among
+others, has been perverted to the furtherance of selfish and
+unprincipled purposes; for, like prejudices and habits of thought,
+organized institutions frequently survive the necessities which call
+them into existence. Abuses grow up under all systems; and, perhaps, the
+worst abuse of all, is a measure or expedient, good though temporary,
+retained after the passing away of the time for which it was adopted.
+
+
+But having, in the article "Pioneer," sufficiently elaborated the
+_character_--for the regulator was of course a pioneer also--we can best
+illustrate the mode of his action by a narrative of facts. From the
+hundreds of well-authenticated stories which might be collected, I have
+chosen the two following, because they distinguish the successive stages
+or periods of the system. The first relates to the time when a band of
+regulators was the only reliable legal power, and when, consequently,
+the vigilance of the citizens kept it comparatively pure. The second
+indicates a later period, when the people no longer felt insecure, and
+there was in fact no necessity for the system; and when, not having been
+disused, it could not but be abused. We derive both from an old citizen
+of the country, who was an actor in each. One of them, the first, has
+already been in print, but owing to circumstances to which it is
+needless to advert, it was thought better to confine the narrative to
+facts already generally known. These circumstances are no longer
+operative, and I am now at liberty to publish entire the story of "The
+First Grave."
+
+
+THE FIRST GRAVE.
+
+At the commencement of the war of eighteen hundred and twelve, between
+Great Britain and the United States, there lived, in the western part of
+Virginia, three families, named, respectively, Stone, Cutler, and
+Roberts. They were all respectable people, of more than ordinary wealth;
+having succeeded, by an early emigration and judicious selection of
+lands, in rebuilding fortunes which had been somewhat impaired east of
+the Blue Ridge. Between the first and second there was a relationship,
+cemented by several matrimonial alliances, and the standing of both had
+been elevated by this union of fortunes. In each of these two, there
+were six or seven children--the most of them boys--but Captain Roberts,
+the head of the third, had but one child, a daughter, who, in the year
+named, was approaching womanhood.
+
+She is said to have been beautiful: and, from the extravagant admiration
+of those who saw her only when time and suffering must have obscured her
+attractions, there can be little doubt that she was so. What her
+character was, we can only conjecture from the tenor of our story:
+though we have reason to suspect that she was passionate, impulsive,
+and somewhat vain of her personal appearance.
+
+At the opening of hostilities between the two countries, she was wooed
+by two suitors, young Stone, the eldest of the sons of that family, and
+Abram Cutler, who was two or three years his senior. Both had recently
+returned home, after a protracted absence of several years, beyond the
+mountains, whither they had been sent by their ambitious parents, "to
+attend college and see the world." Stone was a quiet, modest, unassuming
+young man, rather handsome, but too pale and thin to be decidedly so.
+Having made the most of his opportunities at "William and Mary," he had
+come home well-educated (for that day and country) and polished by
+intercourse with good society.
+
+His cousin, Abram Cutler, was his opposite in almost everything. He had
+been wild, reckless, and violent, at college, almost entirely giving up
+his studies, after the first term, and always found in evil company. His
+manners were as much vitiated as his morals, for he was exceedingly
+rough, boisterous, and unpolished: so much so, indeed, as to approach
+that limit beyond which wealth will not make society tolerant. But his
+freedom of manner bore, to most observers, the appearance of generous
+heartiness, and he soon gained the good will of the neighborhood by the
+careless prodigality of his life. He was tall, elegantly formed, and
+quite well-looking; and though he is said to have borne, a few years
+later, a sinister and dishonest look, it is probable that most of this
+was attributable to the preconceived notions of those who thus judged
+him.
+
+
+Both these young men were, as we have said, suitors for the hand of
+Margaret Roberts, and it is possible that the vain satisfaction of
+having at her feet the two most attractive young men in the country, led
+her to coquet with them both, but decidedly to prefer neither. It is
+almost certain, that at the period indicated, she was sufficiently
+well-pleased with either to have become his wife, had the other been
+away. If she _loved_ either, however, it was Stone, for she was a little
+timid, and Cutler sometimes frightened her with his violence: but the
+preference, if it existed at all, was not sufficiently strong to induce
+a choice.
+
+About this time, the elder Cutler died, and it became necessary for
+Abram, as executor of a large estate, to cross the mountains into the
+Old Dominion, and arrange its complicated affairs. It was not without
+misgiving that he went away, but his duties were imperative, and his
+necessities, produced by his spendthrift habits, were pressing. He
+trusted to a more than usually favorable interview with Margaret, and
+full of sanguine hopes, departed on his journey.
+
+Whether Stone entertained the idea of taking an unfair advantage of his
+rival's absence, we can not say, but he straightway became more
+assiduous in his attentions to Margaret. He was also decidedly favored
+by Captain Roberts and his wife, both of whom had been alarmed by the
+violent character of Cutler. Time soon began to obscure the recollection
+of the absent suitor, and Stone's delicate and considerate gallantry
+rapidly gained ground in Margaret's affections. It was just one month
+after Cutler's departure that his triumph was complete; she consented to
+be his wife so soon as the minister who travelled on that circuit should
+enter the neighborhood. But the good man had set out on his circuit only
+the day before the consent was given, and it would probably be at least
+a month before his return. In the meantime, Cutler might recross the
+mountains, and Stone had seen quite enough of Margaret's capriciousness
+to tremble for the safety of his conquest, should that event occur
+before it was thoroughly secured.
+
+This was embarrassing: but when a man is in earnest, expedients are
+never wanting.
+
+
+There was an old gentleman living a few miles from the valley, who had
+once held the commission of a justice of the peace, and though he had
+not exercised his functions, or even claimed his dignity, for several
+years, Stone was advised that he retained his official power "until his
+successor was appointed and qualified," and that, consequently, any
+official act of his would be legal and valid. He was advised, moreover,
+and truly, that even if the person performing the ceremony were not a
+magistrate, a marriage would be lawful and binding upon the simple
+"consent" of the parties, properly published and declared.
+
+Full-freighted with the happy news, he posted away to Captain Roberts,
+and without difficulty obtained his sanction. He then went to Margaret,
+and, with the assistance of her mother, who stood in much dread of
+Cutler's violence, succeeded in persuading her to consent. Without
+delay, the _cidevant_ magistrate was called in, the ceremony was
+performed, and Margaret was Stone's wife!
+
+The very day after this event, Cutler returned! What were his thoughts
+no one knew, for he spoke to none upon the subject. He went, however,
+to see "the bride," and, in the presence of others, bantered her
+pleasantly upon her new estate, upon his own pretensions, and upon the
+haste with which the ceremony had been performed. He started away with
+the rest of the company present; but, on reaching the door--it was
+afterward remembered--pretended to have forgotten something, and ran
+back into the room where they had left Margaret alone. Here he remained
+full ten minutes, and when he came out walked thoughtfully apart and
+disappeared. What he said to Margaret no one knew; but, that evening,
+when they were alone, she asked anxiously of her husband, "whether he
+was quite sure that their marriage had been legal?" Stone reassured her,
+and nothing more was said upon the subject.
+
+
+Cutler had brought with him, over the mountains, the proclamation of the
+governor of Virginia, announcing the declaration of war, and calling
+upon the state for its quota of troops to repel invasion. He manifested
+a warm interest in the enrolling and equipment of volunteers, and, in
+order to attest his sincerity, placed his own name first upon the roll.
+A day or two afterward, on meeting Stone, in the presence of several
+others who had enrolled themselves, he laughingly observed, that the new
+bridegroom "was probably too comfortable at home, to desire any
+experience in campaigning:" and, turning away, he left the company
+laughing at Stone's expense.
+
+This touched the young man's pride--probably the more closely, because
+he was conscious that the insinuation was not wholly void of truth--and,
+without a moment's hesitation, he called Cutler back, took the paper,
+and enrolled his name. Cutler laughed again, said _he_ would not have
+done so, had he been in Stone's circumstances, and, after some further
+conversation, walked away in the direction of Stone's residence. Whether
+he actually entered the house is not known; but when the young husband
+returned home, a few hours afterward, his wife's first words indicated
+that she knew of his enrolment.
+
+"Is it possible," said she, with some asperity, "that you already care
+so little for me as to enrol yourself for an absence of six months?"
+
+Stone would much have preferred to break the news to her himself, for he
+had some foreboding as to the view she might take of his conduct. He had
+scarcely been married a week, and he was conscious that a severe
+construction of the act of enrolment, when there was notoriously not
+the least necessity for it, might lead to inferences, than which,
+nothing could be more false. If he had said, at once, that he had been
+taunted by his old rival, and written his name under the influence of
+pride, all would have been well, for his wife would then have
+understood, though she might not have approved his action. But this
+confession he was ashamed to make, and, by withholding it, laid the
+foundation for his own and his wife's destruction. He at once
+acknowledged the fact, disclaiming, however, the indifference to her,
+which she inferred, and placing the act upon higher ground:--
+
+"The danger of the country," he said, "was very imminent, and it became
+every good citizen to do all he could for its defence. He had no idea
+that the militia would be called far from home, or detained for a very
+long time; but, in any event, he felt that men were bound, in such
+circumstances, to cast aside personal considerations, and contribute,
+each his share, to the common defence."
+
+His wife gazed incredulously at him while he talked this high
+patriotism: and well she might, for he did not speak as one moved by
+such feelings. The consciousness of deceit, of concealment, and of
+childish rashness, rendered his manner hesitating and embarrassed.
+Margaret observed all this, for her jealousy was aroused and her
+suspicions sharpened; she made no reply, however, but turned away, with
+a toss of the head, and busied herself, quite fiercely, with her
+household cares. From that moment, until the day of his departure, she
+stubbornly avoided the subject, listening, but refusing to reply, when
+her husband attempted to introduce it. When Cutler came--rather
+unnecessarily, as Stone thought--to consult him about the organization
+of a spy-company, to which both were attached, she paid no attention to
+their conversation, but walked away down a road over which she knew
+Cutler must pass on his return homeward. Whether this was by appointment
+with him is not known: probably, however, it was her own motion.
+
+
+We need not stay to detail all that took place between her and her
+former suitor, when, as she had expected, they met in a wood some
+hundreds of yards from her home; its result will sufficiently appear in
+the sequel. One circumstance, however, we must not omit. She recurred to
+a conversation which had passed sometime before, in relation to the
+legality of her marriage; and though Cutler gave no positive opinion,
+his parting advice was nearly in the following words:--
+
+"If you think, from your three weeks' experience, that Stone cares
+enough for you to make it prudent, I would advise you to have the
+marriage ceremony performed by Parson Bowen, immediately upon his
+return; and if you care enough for him to wish to retain him, you had
+better have it performed _before he goes away_."
+
+With these words, and without awaiting an answer, he passed on, leaving
+her alone in the road. When she returned home, she did not mention the
+subject; and though Parson Bowen returned to the neighborhood quite a
+week before Stone went away, she never suggested a repetition of the
+ceremony. When Stone manifested some anxiety on the subject, she turned
+suddenly upon him and demanded--
+
+"You do not think our marriage legal, then?"
+
+He assured her that he only made the suggestion for her satisfaction,
+entertaining no doubt, himself, that they were regularly and lawfully
+married.
+
+"I am content to remain as I am," she said, curtly, and the parson was
+not summoned.
+
+Five days afterward the troops took up the line of march for the
+frontier. Hull had not yet surrendered Michigan; but Proctor had so
+stirred up the Indians (who, until then, had been quiet since the battle
+of Tippecanoe), as to cut off all communication with the advanced
+settlements, and even to threaten the latter with fire and slaughter.
+Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, were then overrun by British and Indians;
+for Hopkins had not yet commenced his march from Kentucky, and Congress
+was still debating measures for protection. Hull's surrender took place
+on the sixteenth of August, eighteen hundred and twelve, and in the
+following month, General Harrison, having been appointed to the chief
+command in the northwest, proceeded to adopt vigorous measures for the
+defence of the country. It was to one of the regiments organized by him,
+that our friends from Virginia found themselves attached. They had
+raised a company of spies, and in this both Stone and Cutler held
+commissions.
+
+
+They marched with the regiment, or rather in advance of it, for several
+weeks. By that time, they had penetrated many miles beyond the
+settlements, and Harrison began to feel anxious to ascertain the
+position of General Hopkins, and open communications with him. For this
+service Cutler volunteered, and was immediately selected by the
+general. On the following morning, he set out with five men to seek the
+Kentuckians. He found them without difficulty and delivered his
+despatches; but from that day he was not seen, either in the camp of
+Hopkins or in that of Harrison! It was supposed that he had started on
+his return, and been taken or killed by the Indians, parties of whom
+were prowling about between the lines of the two columns.
+
+
+Stone remained with his company two or three months longer, when, the
+enterprise of Hopkins having failed, and operations being suspended for
+the time, it was thought inexpedient to retain them for the brief period
+which remained of their term of enlistment, and they were discharged.
+Stone returned home, and, full of anticipations, the growth of a long
+absence, hastened at once to his own house. The door was closed, no
+smoke issued from the chimney, there was no one there! After calling in
+vain for a long time, he ran away to her father's, endeavoring to feel
+certain that he would find her there. But the old man received him with
+a mournful shake of the head. Margaret had been gone more than a month,
+no one knew whither or with whom!
+
+A report had been in circulation that Cutler was seen in the
+neighborhood, a few days before her disappearance; but no news having
+been received of his absence from the army, it had not been generally
+credited. But now, it was quite clear!
+
+
+The old man invited Stone to enter, but he declined. Sitting down on a
+log, he covered his face with his hands, for a few moments, and seemed
+buried in grief. It did not last long, however: he rose almost
+immediately, and going a little aside, calmly loaded his rifle. Without
+noticing the old man, who stood gazing at him in wonder, he turned away,
+and, with his eyes fixed upon the ground, took the path toward his own
+house. He was seen to break the door and enter, but he remained within
+only a few minutes. On coming out, he threw his rifle over his shoulder,
+and walked away through the forest. Half an hour afterward, smoke was
+seen issuing from the roof of the house in several places, and on
+repairing thither, the neighbors found the whole place in a bright
+flame! It was of no use to attempt to save it or any of its contents. An
+hour afterward, it was a heap of smouldering ruins, and its owner had
+disappeared from the country!
+
+
+Seven years passed away.
+
+The war was over: the Indians had been driven to the north and west, and
+the tide of emigration had again set toward the Mississippi. The
+northwestern territory--especially that part of it which is now included
+within the limits of Illinois and Indiana--was rapidly filling up with
+people from the south and east. The advanced settlements had reached the
+site of Springfield, in the "Sangamon country,"[78] now the capital of
+Illinois, and a few farms were opened in the north of Madison
+county--now Morgan and Scott. The beautiful valley, most inaptly called,
+of the _Mauvaisterre_, was then an unbroken wilderness.
+
+The grass was growing as high as the head of a tall man, where now
+well-built streets and public squares are traversed by hurrying crowds.
+Groves which have since become classic were then impenetrable thickets;
+and the only guides the emigrant found, through forest and prairie, were
+the points of the compass, and the courses of streams. But in the years
+eighteen hundred and seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen, the western
+slope of the Sangamon country began rapidly to improve. Reports had gone
+abroad of "the fertility of its soil, the beauty of its surface, its
+genial climate, and its many advantages of position"--and there is
+certainly no country which more richly deserves these praises.
+
+
+But the first emigrant who made his appearance here, in the autumn of
+eighteen hundred and nineteen, was probably moved by other
+considerations. It was none other than Abram Cutler! And his family
+consisted of a wife and three young children! That wife was Margaret
+Roberts--or rather Margaret Stone; for, notwithstanding the
+representations of Cutler, her union with Stone had been perfectly
+legal. By what arts he had succeeded in inducing her to elope with him,
+we can only judge from his previous proceedings; but this is certain,
+that resentment toward Stone, who, she probably believed, had unfairly
+trapped her, was as likely to move her impulsive and unstable spirit, as
+any other motive. Add to this, the wound given to her vanity by the
+sudden departure of her young husband upon a long campaign, with the
+acuteness given to this feeling by the arts of Cutler, and we shall not
+be at a loss to explain her action.
+
+Whether she had not bitterly repented her criminal haste, we know not;
+but that hardship and suffering of some sort had preyed upon her spirit,
+was evident in her appearance. Her beauty was much faded; she had grown
+pale and thin; and though she was scarcely yet in the prime of
+womanhood, her step was heavy and spiritless. She was not happy, of
+course, but her misery was not only negative: the gnawings of remorse
+were but too positive and real!
+
+Cutler was changed almost as much as his victim. The lapse of seven
+years had added a score to his apparent age; and, if we are to credit
+the representations of persons who were probably looking for signs of
+vice, the advance of time had brought out, in well-marked lineaments,
+upon his countenance, the evil traits of his character. His cheeks were
+sunken, his features attenuated, and his figure exceedingly spare, but
+he still exhibited marks of great personal strength and activity. His
+glance, always of doubtful meaning, was now unsettled and furtive; and I
+have heard one of the actors in this history assert, that it had a
+scared, apprehensive expression, as if he were in constant expectation
+of meeting a dangerous enemy.
+
+Nor is this at all improbable, for during the seven years which had
+elapsed since the consummation of his design upon Margaret, he had
+emigrated no less than three times--frightened away, at each removal, by
+some intimation, or suspicion, that the avenger was on his track! No
+wonder that his look was wary, and his face pale and haggard!
+
+
+On this, his fourth migration, he had crossed the prairies from the
+waters of the Wabash; and having placed the wide expanse of waving plain
+between him and the settlements, he at length considered himself safe
+from pursuit. Passing by the little trading-station, where Springfield
+now stands, he traversed the beautiful country lying between that and
+the Mauvaisterre. But the alternation of stately timber and lovely
+prairie had no charms for him: he sought not beauty or fertility, but
+seclusion; for his pilgrimage had become wearisome, and his step was
+growing heavy. Remorse was at his heart, and fear--the appealing face of
+his patient victim kept his crime in continual remembrance--and he knew,
+that like a blood-hound, his enemy was following behind. It was a weary
+load! No wonder that his cheeks were thin or his eyes wild!
+
+
+He passed on till he came to a quiet, secluded spot, where he thought
+himself not likely soon to be disturbed by emigration. It was sixteen
+miles west of the place where Jacksonville has since been built, upon
+the banks of the lower Mauvaisterre, seven miles from the Illinois
+river. The place was long known as Cutler's grove, but a town grew up
+around it, and has been christened by the sounding name of Exeter. Those
+who visit it now, and have heard the story of Cutler, will commend his
+judgment in selecting it for retirement; for, town as it is, a more
+secluded, dreamy little place is nowhere to be found. It would seem that
+the passage of a carriage through its _street_--for it has but
+one--would be an event in its history; and the only things which redeem
+it, in the fancy, from the category of visionary existences, are a
+blacksmith's shop and a mill!
+
+
+But Cutler's trail was seen upon the prairies, and the course of many an
+emigrant was determined by the direction taken by his predecessor. It
+was not long before others came to "settle" in the neighborhood.
+Emigration was gradually encroaching, also, from the south; families
+began to take possession of the river "bottoms;" the smoke from frontier
+cabins ascended in almost every point of timber; and by the summer of
+eighteen hundred and twenty, Cutler found himself as far from the
+frontier as ever! But he was resolved not to move again: a dogged
+spirit--half weariness, half despair--had taken possession of him. "I
+have moved often enough," he said to Margaret, "and here I am determined
+to remain, come what may!"
+
+
+Actuated by such feelings--goaded by a fear which he could not conquer,
+and yet was resolute not to indulge--the lurking devil in his nature
+could not long remain dormant. Nothing develops evil tendencies so
+rapidly as the consciousness of wrong and the fear of punishment. His
+life soon became reckless and abandoned, and the first sign of his
+degradation was his neglect of his household. For days together Margaret
+saw nothing of him; his only companions were the worthless and outlawed;
+and, when intoxicating liquors could be procured, which was,
+fortunately, not often, he indulged in fearful excesses.
+
+Of evil company, there was, unhappily, but too much; for the settlement
+was cursed with a band of desperadoes, exiles from organized society,
+who had sought the frontier to obtain impunity for their misdeeds. The
+leaders of this band were three brothers, whom no law could control, no
+obligation restrain; and with these men Cutler soon formed a close and
+suspicious intimacy. The eyes of the citizens had been for some time
+directed toward the companions, by circumstances attending various
+depredations; and, though unknown to themselves, they were constantly
+watched by many of their neighbors. It is uncertain whether Cutler was
+acquainted with the character of the men when his association with them
+first commenced, for in none of the places where he had lived, had he
+hitherto been suspected of crime. It is most probable that he sought
+their company because they were "dissipated" like himself; and that, in
+the inception of their acquaintance, there was no other bond between
+them than the habit of intoxication.
+
+
+Had we time and space, we would fain pause here to reflect upon the
+position and feelings of the false wife--deserted, in her turn, by him
+for whom she had given up truth and honor--alone in the wilderness with
+her children, whose birth she could not but regret, and harassed by
+thoughts which could not but be painfully self-condemning. But we must
+hasten on.
+
+
+In the autumn of eighteen hundred and twenty, information was brought to
+the settlement, that a store at Springfield (as it is now called), had
+been entered and robbed--that the leaders of the desperadoes above
+alluded to, were suspected--and that the goods stolen were believed to
+be concealed in Cutler's grove, where they lived. Warrants were issued,
+and the three were arrested; but the magistrate before whom they were
+taken for examination, was a timid and ignorant man; and by the
+interference of Cutler, who assumed to be a lawyer, they were examined
+separately, and allowed to testify, each for the other! An officer who
+knew no more than to permit this, of course could do no less than
+discharge them. The arrest and examination, however, crude and informal
+as they were, confirmed the suspicions of the citizens, and directed
+them, more vehemently than ever, against Cutler, as well as his friends.
+It satisfied them, moreover, that they would never be able to reach
+these men through the ordinary forms of law, and strengthened the
+counsels of those who had already suggested the organization of a
+company of regulators.
+
+While these things were fermenting in the minds of the people, the
+desperadoes, encouraged by their success, and rendered bold by impunity,
+committed their depredations more frequently and openly than ever. It
+was remarked, too, that Cutler, having committed himself at the
+examination of friends, was now more constantly and avowedly their
+associate; and, since he was not a man to play a second part, that they
+deferred to him on all occasions, never moving without him, and treating
+him at all times as an acknowledged leader. The people observed,
+moreover, that from being, like his neighbors, a small farmer of limited
+possessions, he rose rapidly to what, on the frontier, was considered
+affluence. He soon ceased to labor on his lands, and set up a very
+considerable "store," importing his goods from Saint Louis, and, by
+means of the whiskey he sold, collecting all the idle and vicious of the
+settlement constantly about him. His "store" was in exceedingly bad
+repute, and the scanty reputation which he had retained after the public
+part he had taken before the magistrate, was speedily lost.
+
+
+Things were in this state in the spring of eighteen hundred and
+twenty-one, when an old gentleman of respectable appearance, who had
+emigrated to this country by water, having been pleased with the land in
+the neighborhood of the place where the town of Naples now stands,
+landed his family and effects, and settled upon the "bottom." It was
+soon rumored in the settlement, that he had brought with him a large
+amount of money; and it was also remarked that Cutler and his three
+companions were constantly with him, either at the "Grove" or on the
+"bottom." Whether the rumor was the cause of their attention, or their
+assiduity the foundation of the report, the reader must determine for
+himself.
+
+
+One evening in May, after a visit to this man, where Cutler had been
+alone, he came home in great haste, and suddenly announced to Margaret
+his intention to "sell out," and move further westward! His unhappy
+victim supposed she knew but too well the meaning of this new movement:
+she asked no questions, but, with a sigh of weariness, assented. On the
+following day, he commenced hastily disposing of his "store," his stock,
+his cabin--everything, in fact, save a few farming utensils, his
+furniture, and a pair of horses. It was observed--for there were many
+eyes upon him--that he never ventured out after twilight, and, even in
+the broad sunshine, would not travel far, alone or unarmed. In such
+haste did he seem, that he sold many of his goods at, what his friends
+considered, a ruinous sacrifice. The fame of great bargains brought many
+people to his counter, so that, within ten days, his arrangements were
+complete; and, much to the satisfaction of his neighbors, he set out
+toward the river.
+
+Two of his associates accompanied him on his journey--a precaution for
+which he would give no reason, except that he wished to converse with
+them on the way. He crossed the Illinois near the mouth of the
+Mauvaisterre, and, turning northward, in the evening reached a cabin on
+the banks of M'Kee's creek, not more than ten miles from his late
+residence. This house had been abandoned by its former occupant, on
+account of the forays of the Indians; but was now partially refitted, as
+for a temporary abode. Here, the people about "the grove" were surprised
+to learn, a few days after Cutler's departure, that he had halted with
+the apparent intention to remain, at least for some time.
+
+
+Their surprise was dissipated, however, within a very few weeks. The old
+gentleman, spoken of above, had left home upon a visit to Saint Louis;
+and during his absence, his house had been entered, and robbed of a
+chest containing a large amount of money--while the family were
+intimidated by the threats of men disguised as savages.
+
+
+This was the culmination of villany. The settlement was now thoroughly
+aroused; and, when one of these little communities was once in earnest,
+it might safely be predicted that _something_ would be _done_!
+
+The first step was to call "a meeting of the friends of law and order;"
+but no proclamation was issued, no handbills were circulated, no notices
+posted: not the least noise was made about the matter, lest those
+against whom it was to act, might hear of and prepare for it. They came
+together quietly but speedily--each man, as he heard of the appointment,
+going forthwith to his neighbor with the news. They assembled at a
+central point, where none need be late in coming, and immediately
+proceeded to business. The meeting was not altogether a formal one--for
+purposes prescribed by law--but it was a characteristic of those men, to
+do everything "decently and in order"--to give all their proceedings
+the sanction and solemnity of mature deliberation. They organized the
+assemblage regularly--calling one of the oldest and most respectable of
+their number "to the chair" (which, on this occasion, happened to be the
+root of a large oak), and appointing a younger man secretary (though
+they gave him no desk on which to write). There was no man there who did
+not fully understand what had brought them together; but one who lived
+in the "bottom," and had been the mover of the organization, was still
+called upon to "explain the object of the meeting." This he did in a few
+pointed sentences, concluding with these significant words: "My friends,
+it is time that these rascals were punished, and it is our duty to
+punish them."
+
+He sat down, and a silence of some moments ensued, when another arose,
+and, without any preliminary remarks, moved that "a company of
+regulators be now organized, and that they be charged with the duty of
+_seeing the law administered_." The motion was seconded by half a dozen
+voices--the question was put in due form by the chairman, and decided
+unanimously in the affirmative.
+
+A piece of paper was produced, and the presiding officer called on the
+meeting for volunteers. Ten young men stepped forward, and gave their
+names as rapidly as the secretary could enrol them. In less than five
+minutes, the company was complete--the chairman and four of the meeting,
+as a committee, were directed to retire with the volunteers, and see
+that they were fully organized--and the meeting adjourned. All, except
+the volunteers and the committee, went directly home--satisfied that the
+matter needed no further attention. Those who remained entered the house
+and proceeded to organize in the usual manner.
+
+A "compact" was drawn up, by the terms of which the regulators bound
+themselves to each other, and to their neighbors, to ferret out and
+punish the perpetrators of the offences, which had recently disturbed
+the peace of the settlement, and to rid the country of such villains as
+were obnoxious to the friends of law and order. This was then signed by
+the volunteers as principals, and by the committee, as witnesses; and
+was placed in the hands of the chairman of the meeting for safekeeping.
+It is said to be still in existence, though I have never seen it, and do
+not know where it is to be found.
+
+When this arrangement was completed, the committee retired, and the
+company repaired to the woods, to choose a leader. They were not long
+in selecting a certain Major B----, who had, for some weeks, made
+himself conspicuous, by his loud denunciations of Cutler and his
+associates, and his zealous advocacy of "strong measures." They had--one
+or two of them, at least--some misgivings about this appointment; for
+the major was inclined to be a blusterer, and the courage of these men
+was eminently silent. But after a few minutes' discussion, the matter
+was decided, and the leader was chosen without opposition. They at once
+dispersed, to make arrangements for the performance of their
+duties--having first appointed an hour and a place of meeting. They were
+to assemble at sunset on the same day, at the point where the state road
+now crosses the "bluff;" and were to proceed thence, without delay, to
+Cutler's house on M'Kee's creek, a distance of little more than eight
+miles. There they were to search for the stolen property, and whether
+they found it or not, were resolved to notify Cutler to leave the
+country. But under no circumstances were they to take his life, unless
+it became necessary in self-defence.
+
+
+The hour came, and with it, to the bluff, came all the regulators--_save
+one_. But that one was a very important personage--none other, indeed,
+than the redoubtable major, who was to head the party. The nine were
+there a considerable time before sunset, and waited patiently for their
+captain's arrival; though, already, there were whisperings from those
+who had been doubtful of him in the outset, that he would not keep his
+appointment. And these were right--for, though they waited long beyond
+the time, the absentee did not make his appearance. It was afterward
+ascertained that he excused himself upon the plea of sudden illness; but
+he was very well again on the following day, and his excuse was not
+received. The ridicule growing out of the affair, and his reduction from
+the rank of major to that of captain, in derision, finally drove him in
+disgrace from the country.
+
+His defection left the little company without a leader; and though they
+were determined not to give up the enterprise, an obstacle to its
+prosecution arose, in the fact that no one was willing to replace the
+absent captain. Each was anxious to play the part of a private, and all
+had come prepared to discharge the duties of the expedition, to the
+utmost of their ability. But they were all young men, and no one felt
+competent to take the responsibility of command.
+
+They were standing in a group, consulting eagerly about their course,
+and, as one of them afterward said, "nearly at their wits' end," when
+the circle was suddenly entered by another. He had come upon them so
+noiselessly, and they had been so much absorbed in their council, that
+no one saw him until he stood in their midst. Several of them, however,
+at once recognised him, as a hunter who had recently appeared in the
+southern part of the county, and had lived a singularly solitary life.
+No one knew his name, but, from his mode of life, he was already known
+among those who had heard of him, as "the wild hunter." He was but
+little above the medium height, and rather slender in figure; but he was
+well and firmly built, and immediately impressed them with the idea of
+great hardihood and activity. His face, though bronzed by exposure, was
+still handsome and expressive; but there was a certain wildness in the
+eye, and a compression about the mouth, which gave it the expression of
+fierceness, as well as resolution. He was dressed in a hunting-shirt and
+"leggings" of deer-skin, fringed or "fingered" on the edges; and his
+head and feet were covered, the one by a cap of panther's hide, and the
+others by moccasins of dressed buckskin. At his belt hung a long knife,
+and in his hand he carried a heavy "Kentucky rifle."
+
+As he entered the circle, he dropped the breech of the latter to the
+ground, and, leaning calmly upon the muzzle, quietly surveyed the
+countenances of the group, in profound silence. The regulators were too
+much surprised to speak while this was going on; and the stranger seemed
+to be in no haste to open the conversation. When he had finished his
+scrutiny, however, he stepped back a pace or two, and resuming his easy
+attitude, addressed them:--
+
+"You must pardon me, my friends," he commenced, "when I tell you, that I
+have overheard all you have said in the last half hour. I did not remain
+in that thicket, however, for the purpose of eaves-dropping; but having
+accidentally heard one of you mention a name, the sound of which touches
+a chord whose vibrations you can not understand, I remained, almost
+against my own will, to learn more. I thus became acquainted with the
+object of your meeting, and the dilemma in which you find yourselves
+placed by the absence of your leader. Now, I have but little interest in
+this settlement, and none in the preservation of peace, or the
+vindication of law, anywhere: but I have been seeking this man, Cutler,
+of whom you spoke, nearly nine years. I supposed, a few days ago, that I
+had at last found him; but on going to his house, I learned that he had
+once more emigrated toward the west. You seem to know where he is to be
+found, and are without a leader: I wish to find him, and, if you will
+accept my services, will fill the place of your absent captain!"
+
+He turned away as he finished, allowing them an opportunity for
+consultation among themselves. The question was soon decided: they
+called him back--announced their willingness to accept him as their
+leader--and asked his name.
+
+"My name is _Stone_," he replied.
+
+
+It was after nightfall when the little party set out from the bluff.
+They had, then, more than eight miles to travel, over a country entirely
+destitute of roads, and cut up by numberless sloughs and ponds. They
+had, moreover, a considerable river to cross, and, after that, several
+miles of their way lay through a dense and pathless forest. But they
+were not the men to shrink from difficulties, at any time; and now they
+were carried along even more resolutely, by the stern, unwavering spirit
+of their new leader. Having once learned the direction, Stone put
+himself at the head of the party, and strode forward, almost "as the
+bird flies," directly toward the point indicated, regardless of slough,
+and swamp, and thicket. He moved rapidly, too--so rapidly, indeed, as to
+tax the powers of some of his followers almost too severely.
+Notwithstanding this swiftness, however, they could not avoid a long
+delay at the river; and it was consequently near midnight, when, having
+at last accomplished a crossing, they reached the bank of M'Kee's creek,
+and turned up toward Cutler's house.
+
+This stood in the centre of a "clearing," some two or three acres in
+extent; and upon reaching its eastern limit, the little company halted
+to reconnoitre. Notwithstanding the lateness of the hour, they
+discovered that the people of the house were still awake; and by a
+bright light, which streamed through the open door, they could see
+several men, sitting and standing about the room.
+
+"We shall make a good haul," said one of the regulators; "the whole gang
+is there." And immediately the party were for rushing forward. But Stone
+restrained them.
+
+"My friends," said he, "you have taken me for your leader, and must obey
+my directions."
+
+He then announced his determination to go forward alone; instructing his
+men, however, to follow at a little distance, but in no case to show
+themselves until he should give the signal. They agreed, though
+reluctantly, to this arrangement, and then--silently, slowly, but
+surely--the advance commenced. The hour had at last arrived!
+
+
+In the meantime, Cutler and his three friends were passing the time
+quite pleasantly over a bottle of backwoods nectar--commonly called
+whiskey. They seemed well pleased, too, with some recent exploit of
+theirs, and were evidently congratulating themselves upon their
+dexterity; for, as the "generous liquid" reeked warmly to their brains,
+they chuckled over it, and hinted at it, and winked knowingly at each
+other, as if they enjoyed both the recollection and the whiskey--as they
+probably did, exceedingly. There were four present, as we said--Cutler
+and the three worthies so often alluded to. These last sat not far from
+the open door; and each in his hand held a kerchief, or something of
+that description, of which the contents were apparently very precious;
+for, at intervals of a few moments, each raised his bundle between him
+and the light, and then were visible many circular prints, as if made
+by the coinage of the mint. This idea was strengthened, too, by several
+piles of gold and silver, which lay upon the table near the bottle, to
+which Cutler directed no infrequent glances.
+
+They had all been indulging pretty freely in their devotions to the
+mythological liquid--rewarding themselves, like soldiers after storming
+a hostile city, for their hardships and daring. There were a few coals
+in the chimney, although it was early in the autumn; and on them were
+lying dark and crumpled cinders, as of paper, over which little sparks
+were slowly creeping, like fiery insects. Cutler turned them over with
+his foot, and there arose a small blue, flickering blaze, throwing a
+faint, uncertain light beneath the table, and into the further corners
+of the room, and casting shadows of the money-bundles on the open door.
+
+
+If the betrayer could have known what eyes were strained upon him, as he
+thus carelessly thrust his foot among the cinders, how changed his
+bearing would have been. Stone had now approached within fifty paces of
+the house, and behind him, slowly creeping after, were the regulators. A
+broad band of light streamed out across the clearing from the door,
+while, on each side of this, all lay in shadow deepened by the contrast.
+Through the shadows, cautiously and silently came the footsteps of the
+avenger! There was no trepidation, no haste--the strange leader rather
+lingered, with a deadly slowness, as if the movement was a pleasant one,
+and he disliked to end it. But he never halted--not even for a
+moment--he came, like fate, slowly, but surely!
+
+"Come, boys," said Cutler, and his voice penetrated the stillness quite
+across the clearing, "let us take another drink, and then lie down; we
+shall have a long journey to-morrow."
+
+They all advanced to the table and drained the bottle. Cutler drank
+last, and then went back to the fire. He again stirred the smouldering
+cinders with his foot, and, turning about, advanced to close the door.
+But--he halted suddenly in the middle of the room--his face grew ashy
+pale--his limbs trembled with terror! Stone stepped upon the threshold,
+and, without speaking, brought his rifle to his shoulder! Cutler saw
+that it pointed to his heart, but he had not the power to speak or move!
+
+"Villain!" said Stone, in a low, suppressed voice, "your hour has come,
+at last!"
+
+Cutler was by no means a coward; by any one else he would not have been
+overcome, even for an instant. As it was, he soon recovered himself and
+sprang forward; but it was only to fall heavily to the floor; for at the
+same moment Stone fired, and the ball passed directly through his heart!
+A groan was the only sound he uttered--his arm moved, as in the act of
+striking, and then fell to the ground--he was dead!
+
+The regulators now rushed tumultuously into the house, and at once
+seized and pinioned the three desperadoes; while Stone walked slowly to
+the hearth, and resting the breech of his gun upon the floor, leaned
+calmly upon its muzzle. He had heard a scream from above--a voice which
+he knew too well. Margaret had been aroused from sleep by the report of
+the gun; and now, in her night-dress, with her hair streaming in masses
+over her shoulders, she rushed down the rude stairway. The first object
+that met her wild gaze was the body of Cutler, stretched upon the floor
+and already stiffening in death. With another loud scream, she threw
+herself upon him--mingling lamentations for his death, with curses upon
+his murderers.
+
+Stone's features worked convulsively, and once or twice his hand
+grasped the hilt of the knife which hung at his belt. At last, with a
+start, he drew it from the sheath. But, the next moment, he dashed it
+into the chimney, and leaning his gun against the wall, slowly advanced
+toward the unhappy woman. Grasping her arm, he lifted her like a child
+from the body to which she clung. Averting his head, he drew her,
+struggling madly, to the light; and having brought her face full before
+the lamp, suddenly threw off his cap, and turned his gaze directly into
+her eyes. A scream, louder and more fearful than any before, rang even
+to the woods beyond the clearing; she closed her eyes and shuddered, as
+if she could not bear to look upon him, whom she had so deeply wronged.
+He supported her on his arm, and perused her sunken and careworn
+features, for many minutes, in silence. Then slowly relaxing his grasp--
+
+"You have been punished sufficiently," he said; and seating her gently
+upon the floor, he quietly replaced his knife in its sheath, resumed his
+rifle, and left the house.
+
+
+He was never again seen by any of the parties, except Margaret. She,
+soon after this event, returned to Virginia; and here Stone paid her an
+annual visit. He always came without notice, and departed as suddenly,
+always bearing his rifle, and habited as a hunter. At such times he
+sought to be alone with her but a few moments, and never spoke more than
+three words: "Your punishment continues," he would say, after gazing at
+her worn and haggard face for some minutes; and, then, throwing his
+rifle over his shoulder, he would again disappear for twelve months
+more.
+
+And truly her punishment _did_ continue; for though no one accurately
+knew her history, she was an object of suspicion to all; and though she
+led a most exemplary life, her reputation was evil, and her misery was
+but too evident. One after the other, her children died, and she was
+left utterly alone! At last _her_ lamp also began to flicker, and when
+Stone arrived in the country, upon his twelfth annual visit, it was but
+to see her die, and follow her to the grave! He received her last
+breath, but no one knew what passed between them in that awful hour. On
+the day after her burial he went away and returned no more.
+
+
+The regulators hastily dug a grave on the bank of the creek, and in the
+silence of the night placed Cutler within it. Then, taking possession
+of the stolen money, they released their prisoners, notifying them to
+leave the country within ten days, and returned to the east side of the
+river. A few years ago, a little mound might be seen, where they had
+heaped the dirt upon the unhappy victim of his own passions. It was
+"_the first grave_" in which a white man was buried in that part of the
+Illinois valley.
+
+
+At the expiration of the ten "days of grace," it became the duty of the
+regulators to see that their orders had been obeyed; and, though the
+death of Cutler had been more than they had designed or foreseen, they
+had no disposition to neglect it. They met, accordingly, on the morning
+of the eleventh day, and having chosen a new leader, proceeded to
+Cutler's grove. They found the houses of all those to whom they had
+given "notice" deserted _excepting one_. This was the cabin of the
+youngest of the three brothers; and declaring his intention to remain,
+in defiance of regulators and "Lynch law," he put himself upon his
+defence. Without ceremony the regulators set fire to the house in which
+he had barricaded himself, and ten minutes sufficed to smoke him out.
+They then discovered what they had not before known: that his elder
+brothers were also within; and when the three rushed from the door,
+though taken by surprise, they were not thrown off their guard. The trio
+were at once seized, and, after a sharp struggle, securely pinioned. A
+short consultation then decided their course.
+
+Leaving the house to burn at leisure, they posted away for the river,
+driving their prisoners before them, and a march of three hours brought
+them to the mouth of the Mauvaisterre. Here they constructed a "raft",
+by tying half-a-dozen drift-logs together, and warning them that death
+would be the penalty of a return, they placed their prisoners upon it,
+pushed it into the middle of the stream, and set them adrift without oar
+or pole! Although this seems quite severe enough, it was a light
+punishment compared to that sometimes administered by regulators; and in
+this case, had not blood been spilt when they did not intend it, it is
+probable that the culprits would have been first tied to a tree, and
+thoroughly "lynched."
+
+The involuntary navigators were not rescued from their unpleasant
+position until they had nearly reached Saint Louis; and though they all
+swore vengeance in a loud voice, not one of them was ever again seen in
+the Sangamon country.
+
+Vigorous measures, like those we have detailed, were usually effectual
+in restoring good order. Where there was no trial, there was no room for
+false witnesses; and where a punishment, not unfrequently
+disproportioned to the offence, so rapidly and certainly followed its
+commission, there was little prospect of impunity, and therefore slight
+inducement to violate the law. In most localities, it required but few
+severe lessons to teach desperadoes that prudence dictated their
+emigration; and, it must be acknowledged, that the regulators were
+prompt and able teachers.
+
+But we should give only a partial and incomplete view of this
+institution (for such, in fact, it was), were we to notice its uses and
+say nothing of its abuse; because, like everything else partaking so
+largely of the mob element, it was liable to most mischievous
+perversions. Had the engine been suffered to rest, when it had performed
+its legitimate functions, all would have been well; but the great vice
+of the system was its obstinate vitality: it refused to die when its
+life was no longer useful.
+
+As soon as the danger was past, and the call for his services had
+ceased, the good citizen, who alone could confine such a system to its
+proper limits, retired from its ranks: it was consequently left, with
+all its dangerous authority, in the hands of the reckless and violent.
+The selfish and designing soon filled up the places of the sober and
+honest, and from being a terror to evil-doers, and a protection to the
+peaceful citizen, it became a weapon in the hands of the very men
+against whom it should have been directed.
+
+When this came to be the case, the institution was in danger of doing
+more harm in its age, than it had accomplished of good in its youth. But
+it must not thence be inferred that it should never have been adopted,
+or that it was vicious in itself. In seasons of public danger,
+extraordinary powers are often intrusted to individuals--powers which
+nothing but that danger can justify, and which would constitute the
+dictators intolerable despots, if they were retained after the crises
+are passed. The Congress of our confederacy, for example, found it
+necessary, at one period of our Revolutionary struggle, to invest
+Washington with such authority; had he exercised it beyond the pressure
+of immediate peril, the same outcry which has been made against others
+in similar circumstances, would have been justly raised against him. And
+most men, less soberly constituted than Washington, would have
+endeavored to retain it; for power is a pleasant thing, which few have
+the self-denial to resign without a struggle. The wrong consists not in
+the original delegation of the authority--for that is justified by the
+highest of all laws, the law of self-preservation--but in its retention
+and exercise, when the exigency no longer supports it.
+
+
+Having parted with the authority to redress grievances, and provide for
+protection and defence, the citizen can not at once recover it--it
+remains for a time in the hands of the representative, and is always
+difficult to regain. But it does not therefore follow, that he should
+never intrust it to another, for the inconvenience sometimes resulting
+from its delegation, is one of the incidents to human life, teaching,
+not obstinacy or jealousy, but circumspection.
+
+
+The following story, related by one who is well-acquainted with the
+early history of this country, will illustrate the manner in which the
+regulator system was sometimes made subservient to men's selfish
+purposes; and there have, unhappily, been too many instances, in which
+such criminal schemes were more successful than they were in this. I
+have entitled it "The Stratagem."
+
+
+THE STRATAGEM.
+
+Robert Elwood emigrated from Kentucky to Illinois, about the year in
+which the latter was erected into a state, and passing to the northwest
+of the regions then occupied by the French and Virginians, pitched his
+tent upon the very verge of the frontier. He was a man of violent
+passions, impatient of the restraints of law--arrogant, overbearing, and
+inclined to the use of "the strong-hand." His removal had been caused by
+a difficulty with one of his neighbors, in which he had attempted to
+right himself without an appeal to the legal tribunals. In this attempt,
+he had not only been thwarted, but also made to pay rather roundly for
+his temerity; and, vexed and soured, he had at once abandoned his old
+name, and marched off across the prairies, seeking a country in which,
+as he said, "a man need not meet a cursed constable every time he left
+his own door." His family consisted of three sons and one daughter, the
+latter being, at the time of his emigration, about sixteen years of age.
+
+
+In journeying toward the north, he halted one day, at noon, within a
+"point" of timber, which extended a mile into the prairie, and was
+surrounded by as beautiful a piece of rolling meadow-land, as one need
+wish to see. He was already half-a-day's journey beyond the thicker
+settlements; and, indulging a reasonable hope that he would not speedily
+be annoyed by neighbors, he at once determined here to erect his
+dwelling and open a new farm. With this view, he marked off a tract of
+about four hundred acres, including the point of timber in which he was
+encamped; and before the heats of summer came on, he had a cabin ready
+for his reception, and a considerable amount of grain planted.
+
+About a mile to the south, there was a similar strip of timber,
+surrounded, like that of which he took possession, by a rich tract of
+"rolling prairie;" and this he at once resolved to include in his farm.
+But, reflecting that it must probably be some years, before any one else
+would enter the neighborhood to take it up--and having only the
+assistance of his sons, but two of whom had reached manhood--he turned
+his attention, first, to the tract upon which he lived. This was large
+enough to engross his efforts for the present; and, for two years, he
+neglected to do anything toward establishing his claim to the land he
+coveted. It is true, that he told several of his neighbors, who had now
+begun to settle around him, that he claimed that piece, and thus
+prevented their enclosing it; but he neither "blazed" nor marked the
+trees, nor "staked off" the prairie.
+
+
+In the meantime emigration had come in, so much more rapidly than he had
+expected, that he found himself the centre of a populous neighborhood;
+and among other signs of advancing civilization, a company of regulators
+had been organized, for the protection of life and property. Of this
+band, Elwood, always active and forward, had been chosen leader; and the
+vigor and severity with which he had exercised his functions, had given
+a degree of quiet to the settlements, not usually enjoyed by these
+frontier communities. One example had, at the period of the opening of
+our story, but recently been made; and its extreme rigor had frightened
+away from the neighborhood, those who had hitherto disturbed its peace.
+This was all the citizens desired; and, having accomplished their ends,
+safety and tranquillity, those whose conservative character had
+prevented the regulator system from running into excesses, withdrew from
+its ranks--but took no measures to have it broken up. It was thus left,
+with recognised authority, in the hands of Elwood, and others of his
+violent and unscrupulous character.
+
+Things were in this position, when, on his return from an expedition of
+some length, Elwood bethought him of the handsome tract of land, upon
+which he had so long ago set his heart. What were his surprise and rage
+on learning--a fact, which the absorbing nature of his regulator-duties
+had prevented his knowing sooner--that it was already in possession of
+another! And his mortification was immeasurably increased, when he was
+told, that the man who had thus intruded upon what he considered his own
+proper demesne, was none other than young Grayson, the son of his old
+Kentucky enemy! Coming into the neighborhood, in the absence of Elwood,
+the young man, finding so desirable a tract vacant, had at once taken
+possession; and by the return of the regulator had almost finished a
+neat and "roomy" cabin. He had "blazed" the trees, too, and "staked off"
+the prairie--taking all those steps then deemed necessary, on the
+frontier, to complete appropriation.
+
+Elwood's first step was to order him peremptorily, to desist, and give
+up his "improvement"--threatening him, at the same time, with certain
+and uncertain pains and penalties, if he refused to obey. But Grayson
+only laughed at his threats, and went stoutly on with his work. When the
+young men, whom he had hired to assist him in building his house, gave
+him a friendly warning, that Elwood was the leader of a band of
+regulators, and had power to make good his menaces, he only replied that
+"he knew how to protect himself, and, when the time came, should not be
+found wanting." Elwood retired from the contest, discomfited, but
+breathing vengeance; while Grayson finished his house and commenced
+operations on his farm. But those who knew the headlong violence of
+Elwood's character, predicted that these operations would soon be
+interrupted; and they were filled with wonder, when month after month
+passed away, and there were still no signs of a collision.
+
+
+In the meantime, it came to be rumored in the settlement, that there was
+some secret connection between Grayson and Elwood's daughter, Hannah.
+They had been seen by several persons in close conversation, at times
+and places which indicated a desire for concealment; and one person even
+went so far as to say, that he had been observed to kiss her, on
+parting, late in the evening. Whatever may have been the truth in that
+matter, it is, at all events, certain, that Grayson was an unmarried
+man; and that the quarrel between the parents of the pair in Kentucky,
+had broken up an intimacy, which bade fair to issue in a marriage; and
+it is probable, that a subordinate if not a primary, motive, inducing
+him to take possession of the disputed land, was a desire to be near
+Hannah. Nor was this wish without its appropriate justification; for,
+though not strictly beautiful, Hannah was quite pretty, and--what is
+better in a frontier girl--active, fresh, and rosy. At the time of
+Grayson's arrival in the settlement, she was a few months past eighteen;
+and was as fine material for a border wife, as could be found in the new
+state. The former intimacy was soon renewed, and before the end of two
+months, it was agreed that they should be married, as soon as her
+father's consent could be obtained.
+
+But this was not so easily compassed; for, all this time, Elwood had
+been brooding over his defeat, and devising ways and means of recovering
+the much-coveted land.
+
+At length, after many consultations with a fellow named Driscol, who
+acted as his lieutenant in the regulator company, he acceded to a
+proposition, made long before by that worthy, but rejected by Elwood on
+account of its dishonesty. He only adopted the plan, now, because it was
+apparently the only escape from permanent defeat; and long chafing under
+what he considered a grievous wrong, had made him reckless of means, and
+determined on success, at whatever cost.
+
+
+One morning, about a week after the taking of this resolution, it was
+announced that one of Elwood's horses had been stolen, on the night
+before; and the regulators were straightway assembled, to ferret out and
+punish so daring an offender. It happened (accidently, _of course_) to
+be a horse which had cast one of its shoes, only the day before; and
+this circumstance rendered it easy to discover his trail. Driscol,
+Elwood's invaluable lieutenant, discovered the track and set off upon
+it, almost as easily as if he had been present when it was made. He led
+the party away into the prairie toward the east; and though his
+companions declared that they could now see nothing of the trail, the
+sharp-sighted lieutenant swore that it was "as plain as the nose on his
+face"--truly, a somewhat exaggerated expression: for the color, if not
+the size, of that feature in his countenance, made it altogether too
+apparent to be overlooked! They followed him, however, convinced by the
+earnestness of his asseverations, if not by their own eyes, until, after
+going a mile toward the east, he began gradually to verge southward,
+and, having wound about at random for some time, finally took a direct
+course, for the point of timber on which Grayson lived!
+
+On arriving at the point, which terminated, as usual, in a dense
+hazel-thicket, Driscol at once pushed his way into the covert, and lo!
+there stood the stolen horse! He was tied to a sapling by a halter,
+which was clearly recognised as the property of Grayson, and leading off
+toward the latter's house, was traced a man's footstep--_his_, of
+course! These appearances fully explained the theft, and there was not a
+man present, who did not express a decided conviction that Grayson was
+the thief.
+
+Some one remarked that his boldness was greater than his shrewdness,
+else he would not have kept the horse so near. But Driscol declared,
+dogmatically, that this was "the smartest thing in the whole business,"
+since, if the trail could be obliterated, no one would think of looking
+_there_ for a horse stolen only a mile above! "The calculation" was a
+good one, he said, and it only failed of success because he, Driscol,
+happened to have a remarkably sharp sight for all tracks, both of horses
+and men. To this proposition, supported by ocular evidence, the
+regulators assented, and Driscol stock, previously somewhat depressed by
+sundry good causes, forthwith rose in the regulator market to a
+respectable premium!
+
+Having recovered the stolen property, the next question which presented
+itself for their consideration, was in what way they should punish the
+thief. To such men as they, this was not a difficult problem: without
+much deliberation, it was determined that he must be at once driven from
+the country. The "days of grace," usually given on such occasions, were
+ten, and in pursuance of this custom, it was resolved that Grayson
+should be mercifully allowed that length of time, in which to arrange
+his affairs and set out for a new home: or, as the regulators expressed
+it, "make himself scarce." Driscol, having already, by his praise-worthy
+efforts in the cause of right, made himself the hero of the affair, was
+invested with authority to notify Grayson of this decree. The matter
+being thus settled, the corps adjourned to meet again ten days
+thereafter, in order to see that their judgment was duly carried into
+effect.
+
+Meantime, Driscol, the official mouthpiece of the self-constituted court
+of general jurisdiction, rode away to discharge himself of his onerous
+duties. Halting at the low fence which enclosed the scanty door-yard he
+gave the customary "Halloo! the house!" and patiently awaited an answer.
+It was not long, however, before Grayson issued from the door and
+advanced to the fence, when Driscol served the process of the court _in
+haec verba_:--
+
+"Mr. Grayson, the regulators of this settlement have directed me to give
+you ten days' notice to leave the country. They will meet again one week
+from next Friday, and if you are not gone by that time, it will become
+their duty to punish you in the customary way."
+
+"What for?" asked Grayson, quietly.
+
+"For stealing this horse," the functionary replied, laying his hand on
+the horse's mane, "and concealing him in the timber with the intention
+to run him off."
+
+"It's Elwood's horse, isn't it?"
+
+"Yes," answered Driscol, somewhat surprised at Grayson's coolness.
+
+"When was he stolen?" asked the notified.
+
+"Last night," answered the official; "I suppose you know very well
+without being told."
+
+"Do you, indeed?" said Grayson, smiling absently. And then he bent his
+eyes upon the ground, and seemed lost in thought for some minutes.
+
+"Well, well," said he at length, raising his eyes again. "I didn't steal
+the horse, Driscol, but I suppose you regulators know best who ought to
+be allowed to remain in the settlement, so of course I shall have to
+obey."
+
+"I am glad to find you so reasonable," said Driscol, making a movement
+to ride away.
+
+"Stop! stop!" said Grayson: "don't be in a hurry! I shall be gone before
+the ten days are up, and you and I may not meet again for a long time,
+so get down and come in: let us take a parting drink together. I have
+some excellent whiskey, just brought home."
+
+Now, the worthy functionary, as we have intimated, or as the aforesaid
+nose bore witness, was "quite partial" to this description of produce:
+some of his acquaintances even insinuating that he took sometimes "a
+drop too much;" and though he felt some misgiving about remaining in
+Grayson's company longer than his official duties required, the
+temptation was too strong for him, and, silencing his fears, he sprang
+to the ground.
+
+"Tie your horse to the fence, there," said Grayson, "and come in."
+Driscol obeyed, and it was not long before he was seated in the cabin
+with a tin-cup in his hand, and its generous contents finding their way
+rapidly down his capacious throat.
+
+"Whiskey is a pleasant drink, after all, isn't it?" said Grayson,
+smiling at the gusto with which Driscol dwelt upon the draught, and at
+the same moment he rose to set his cup on the table behind the official.
+
+"Very pleasant indeed," said Driscol, in reply, and to prove his
+sincerity, he raised his cup again to his lips. But this time he was not
+destined to taste its contents. It was suddenly dashed from his hand--a
+saddle-girth was thrown over his arms and body--and before he was aware
+of what was being done, he found himself securely pinioned to the chair!
+A rope was speedily passed round his legs, and tied, in like manner,
+behind, so that he could, literally, move neither hand nor foot! He made
+a furious effort to break away, but he would not have been more secure
+had he been in the old-fashioned stocks! He was fairly entrapped, and
+though he foamed, and swore, and threatened, it all did no manner of
+good. Of this he at length became sensible, and grinding his teeth in
+impotent rage, he relapsed into dogged silence.
+
+Having thoroughly secured his prisoner, Grayson, who was something of a
+wag, poured out a small quantity of the seductive liquor, and coming
+round in front of the ill-used official, smiled graciously in his face,
+and drank "a health"--
+
+"Success to you, Mr. Driscol," said he, "and long may you continue an
+ornament to the distinguished company of which you are an honored
+officer!"
+
+Driscol ground his teeth, but made no reply, and the toast was drunk,
+like some of those impressive sentiments given at public dinners, "in
+profound silence!"
+
+Having drained the cup, Grayson deposited it upon the table and himself
+in a chair; and, drawing the latter up toward his companion, opened the
+conference thus:--
+
+"I think I have you pretty safe, Driscol: eh!"
+
+The lieutenant made no reply.
+
+"I see you are not in a very sociable humor," continued Grayson; "and,
+to tell you the truth, I am not much that way inclined myself: but I am
+determined to get to the bottom of this affair before you shall leave
+the house. I am sure you know all about it; and if you don't, why the
+worse for you, that's all."
+
+"What do you mean?" demanded Driscol, speaking for the first time.
+
+"I mean this," Grayson answered sternly: "I did not take that horse from
+Elwood's--_but you did_: I saw you do it. But since my testimony will
+not be received, I am determined that you shall give me a certificate in
+writing that such is the fact. You needn't look so obstinate, for by the
+God that made us both! you shall not leave that chair alive, unless you
+do as I say!"
+
+Grayson was a large, rather fleshy man, with a light complexion and blue
+eyes; and, though good-natured and hard to arouse, when once in earnest,
+as now, like all men of his stamp, he both looked, and was, fully
+capable of carrying his menaces into execution. The imprisoned
+functionary did not at all like the expression of his eye, he quailed
+before it in fear and shame. He was, however, resolved not to yield,
+except upon the greatest extremity.
+
+"Come," said Grayson, producing materials for writing; "here are pen,
+ink, and paper: are you willing to write as I dictate?"
+
+"No," said Driscol, doggedly.
+
+"We'll see if I can't make you willing, then," muttered his captor; and,
+going to the other end of the cabin, he took down a coil of rope, which
+hung upon a peg, and returned to his captive. Forming a noose at one
+end, he placed it about Driscol's neck, and threw the other end over a
+beam which supported the roof.
+
+"Are you going to murder me?" demanded the official in alarm.
+
+"Yes," answered Grayson, drawing the loose end down, and tightening the
+noose about Driscol's throat.
+
+"You'll suffer for this," said the lieutenant furiously.
+
+"That won't help _you_ much," coolly replied Grayson, tugging at the
+rope, until one leg of the chair gave signs of rising from the floor,
+and Driscol's face exhibited unmistakable symptoms of incipient
+strangulation.
+
+"Stop! stop!" he exclaimed, in a voice reduced to a mere wheeze--and
+Grayson "eased off" to hear him.
+
+"Won't anything else satisfy you but a written certificate?" he
+asked--speaking with difficulty, and making motions as if endeavoring to
+swallow something too large to pass the gate of his throat.
+
+"Nothing but that," answered Grayson, decidedly; "and if you don't give
+it to me, when your regulator friends arrive, instead of me, they will
+find you, swinging from this beam by the neck!" And, seeing his victim
+hesitate, he again tugged at the rope, until the same signs were
+exhibited as before--only a little more apparently.
+
+"Ho--hold, Grayson!" begged the frightened and strangling lieutenant;
+and, as his executioner again relaxed a little, he continued: "Just let
+me up, and I'll do anything you want."
+
+"That is to say," laughed Grayson, "you would rather take the chances of
+a fight, than be hung up like a sheep-stealing dog! Let you up, indeed!"
+And once more he dragged the rope down more vigorously than ever.
+
+"I--didn't--mean that--indeed!" gulped the unhappy official, this time
+almost strangled in earnest.
+
+"What _did_ you mean then?" sternly demanded Grayson, relaxing a little
+once again.
+
+"I will write the certificate," moaned the unfortunate lieutenant, "if
+you will let one arm loose, and won't tell anybody until the ten days
+are out--"
+
+"Why do you wish it kept secret!"
+
+"If I give such a certificate as you demand," mournfully answered the
+disconsolate officer, "I shall have to leave the country--and I want
+time to get away."
+
+"Oh! that's it, is it? Well--very well."
+
+About an hour after this, Driscol issued from the house, and, springing
+upon the horse, rode away at a gallop toward Elwood's. Here he left the
+animal, but declined to enter; telling Hannah, who happened to be in the
+yard, to say to her father that "it was all right," he pushed on toward
+home--tenderly rubbing his throat, first with the right hand and then
+with the left, all the way. Three days afterward, he disappeared from
+the settlement, and was heard of no more.
+
+Grayson waited until near nightfall, and then took his way, as usual, to
+a little clump of trees, that stood near Elwood's enclosures, to meet
+Hannah. Here he stayed more than an hour, detailing the circumstances of
+the accusation against him, and laughing with her, over the ridiculous
+figure cut by her father's respectable lieutenant. Before they parted
+their plans were all arranged, and Grayson went home in excellent humor.
+What these plans were, will be seen in the sequel.
+
+
+Eight days went by without any event important to our story--Hannah and
+Grayson meeting each evening, in the grove, and parting again
+undiscovered. On the ninth day, the former went to the house of a
+neighbor, where it was understood that she was to remain during the
+night, and return home on the following morning. Grayson remained on his
+farm until near sunset, when he mounted his horse and rode away. This
+was the last of his "days of grace;" and those who saw him passing along
+the road, concluded that he had yielded to the dictates of prudence, and
+was leaving the field.
+
+On the following morning, the regulators assembled to see that their
+orders had been obeyed; and, though Elwood was a little disconcerted by
+the absence of Driscol, since it was understood that Grayson had left
+the country, the meeting was considered only a formal one, and the
+presence of the worthy lieutenant was not indispensable. They proceeded
+in high spirits to the premises, expecting to find the house deserted
+and waiting for an occupant. Elwood was to take immediate possession,
+and, all the way across the prairie, was felicitating himself upon the
+ease and rapidity of his triumph. What was their surprise, then, on
+approaching the house, to see smoke issuing from the chimney, as
+usual--the door thrown wide open, and Grayson standing quietly in front
+of it! The party halted and a council was called, but its deliberations
+were by no means tedious: it was forthwith determined, that Grayson
+stood _in defiance of the law_, and must be punished--that is,
+"lynched"--without delay! The object of this fierce decree, all unarmed
+as he was, still stood near the door, while the company slowly
+approached the fence. He then advanced and addressed them:--
+
+"I think the ten days are not up yet, gentlemen," said he mildly.
+
+"Yes, they are," answered Elwood quickly; "and we are here to know
+whether you intend to obey the authorities, and leave the country?"
+
+"I think, Elwood," said the young man, not directly replying, "this
+matter can be settled between you and me, without bloodshed, and even
+without trouble. If you will come in with George and John [his sons], I
+will introduce you to my wife, and we can talk it over, with a glass of
+whiskey."
+
+Another consultation ensued, when, in order to prove their dignified
+moderation, they agreed that Elwood and his sons should "go in and see
+what he had to say."
+
+Elwood, the elder, entered first: directly before him, holding her sides
+and shaking with laughter, stood his rosy daughter, Hannah!
+
+"_My wife_, gentlemen," said Grayson, gravely introducing them. Hannah's
+laughter exploded.
+
+"O, father, father, father!" she exclaimed, leaning forward and
+extending her hands; "ain't you caught, beautifully!"
+
+The laugh was contagious; and though the elder knit his brows, and was
+evidently on the point of bursting with very different emotions, his
+sons yielded to its influence, and, joining Hannah and her husband,
+laughed loudly, peal after peal!
+
+The father could bear it no longer--he seized Hannah by the arm and
+shook her violently, till she restrained herself sufficiently to speak;
+as for him, he was speechless with rage.
+
+"It's entirely too late to make a 'fuss,' father," she said at length,
+"for here is the marriage-certificate, and Grayson is your son!"
+
+"I have not stolen your horse, Elwood," said the bridegroom, taking the
+paper which the father rejected, "though I have run away with your
+daughter. And," he added, significantly, "since if you had this land,
+you would probably give it to Hannah, I think you and I had better be
+friends, and I'll take it as her marriage-portion."
+
+"If you can show that you did not take the horse, Grayson," said George,
+the elder of the two sons, "I'll answer for that: but----"
+
+"That I can do very easily," interrupted the young husband, "I have the
+proof in my pocket."
+
+He caught Elwood's eye as he spoke, and reassured him with a look, for
+he could see that the old man began to apprehend an exposure in the
+presence of his sons. This forbearance did more to reconcile him to his
+discomfiture than aught else, save the influence of George; for, like
+all passionate men, he was easily swayed by his cooler children. While
+Hannah and her brothers examined the marriage certificate, and laughed
+over "the stratagem," Grayson drew Elwood aside and exhibited a paper,
+written in a cramped, uneven hand, as follows:--
+
+     "This is to certify, that it was not Josiah Grayson who took Robert
+     Elwood's horse from his stable, last night--but I took him myself,
+     by arrangement, so as to accuse Grayson of the theft, and drive him
+     to leave his new farm.
+
+     "THOMAS DRISCOL."
+
+Elwood blushed as he came to the words "by arrangement," but read on
+without speaking. Grayson then related the manner in which he had
+entrapped the lieutenant, and the joke soon put him in a good humor. The
+regulators were called in, and heard the explanation, and all laughing
+heartily over the capture of Driscol, they insisted that Hannah and her
+husband should mount, and ride with them to Elwood's. Neither of them
+needed much persuasion--the whole party rode away together--the "lads
+and lasses" of the neighborhood were summoned, and the day and night
+were spent in merriment and dancing.
+
+
+Grayson and his wife returned on the following morning to their new
+home, where a life of steady and honorable industry, was rewarded with
+affluence and content. Their descendants still live upon the place, one
+of the most beautiful and extensive farms upon that fertile prairie. But
+on the spot where the disputed cabin stood, has since been built a
+handsome brick-house, and I pay only a just tribute to amiable
+character, when I say that a more hospitable mansion is not to be found
+in the western country.
+
+
+This was the last attempt at "regulating" in that region, for emigration
+came in so rapidly, that the supremacy of the law was soon asserted and
+maintained. Whenever this came to be so, the regulators, of course,
+ceased to be types of the state of society, and were succeeded by other
+characters and institutions.
+
+To these we must now proceed.
+
+
+     [NOTE.--The following is a copy of a compact, such as is spoken of
+     in the story of the "The First Grave," entered into by a company of
+     regulators in somewhat similar circumstances. I am not sure that I
+     can vouch for its authenticity, but all who are familiar with the
+     history of those times, will recognise, in its peculiarities, the
+     characteristics of the people who then inhabited this country. The
+     affectation of legal form in such a document as this, would be
+     rather amusing, were it not quite too significant; at all events,
+     it is entirely "in keeping" with the constitution of a race who had
+     some regard for law and its vindication, even in their most
+     high-handed acts. The technical phraseology, used so strangely, is
+     easily traceable to the little "Justice's Form Book," which was
+     then almost the only law document in the country; and though the
+     words are rather awkwardly combined, they no doubt gave solemnity
+     to the act in the eyes of its sturdy signers:--
+
+     "_Know all men by these presents:_
+
+     "That we [_here follow twelve names_], citizens of ---- settlement,
+     in the state of Illinois, have this day, _jointly and severally_,
+     bound ourselves together as a company of Rangers and Regulators, to
+     protect this settlement against the crimes and misdemeanors of, all
+     and singular, every person or persons whomsoever, and especially
+     against _all horse-thieves, renegades, and robbers_. And we do by
+     these presents, hereby bind ourselves, jointly and severally as
+     aforesaid, unto each other, and to the fellow-citizens of this
+     settlement, to punish, according to the code of his honor, Judge
+     Lynch, all violations of the law, _against the peace and dignity of
+     the said people of_ ---- settlement; and to discover and bring to
+     speedy punishment, _all illegal combinations_--to rid the country
+     of such as are dangerous to the welfare of this settlement--to
+     preserve the peace, and _generally to vindicate the law_, within
+     the settlement aforesaid. All of which purposes we are to
+     accomplish as peaceably as possible: _but we are to accomplish
+     them one way or another_.
+
+     "In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and affixed
+     our seals, this twelfth day of October, _Anno Domini_, eighteen
+     hundred and twenty.
+
+                         "(Signed by twelve men.)
+
+     "Acknowledged and subscribed in the presence of
+                              "C---- T. H----n,
+                              "J---- P. D----n,"
+
+     and five others, who seem to have been a portion of "the
+     fellow-citizens of this settlement," referred to in the document.]
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[77] See note at the close of this article.
+
+[78] The "Sangamon country," as the phrase was then used, included all
+the region watered by the river of that name, together with the counties
+of Cass, Morgan, and Scott, as far south as Apple creek.
+
+
+
+
+VI.
+
+THE JUSTICE OF THE PEACE.
+
+                "I beseech you,
+    Wrest once the law to your authority:
+    To do a great right, do a little wrong."--
+
+    MERCHANT OF VENICE.
+
+
+The reign of violence, when an evil at all, is an evil which remedies
+itself: the severity of its proceeding hastens the accomplishment of its
+end, as the hottest fire soonest consumes its fuel. A nation will
+endure oppression more patiently immediately after a spasmodic rebellion
+or a bloody revolution, than at any other time; and a community requires
+less law to govern it, after a violent and illegal assertion of the
+law's supremacy, than was necessary before the outbreak. After having
+thrown off the yoke of a knave--and perhaps hung the knave up by the
+neck, or chopped his head off with an axe--mankind not unfrequently fall
+under the control of a fool; frightened at their temerity in dethroning
+an idol of metal, they bow down before a paltry statue of wood.
+
+Men are not easily satiated with power, but when it is irregular, a
+pause in its exercise must eventually come. And there is a principle of
+human nature, which teaches, that whatsoever partakes of the mob-spirit
+is, at best, but temporary, and ought to have a speedy end. This is
+especially true of such men as first permanently peopled the western
+country; for though they sometimes committed high-handed and
+unjustifiable acts, the moment it was discovered that they had
+accomplished the purposes of order, they allowed the means of
+vindication to fall into disuse. The regulator system, for example, was
+directed to the stern and thorough punishment of evil men, but no sooner
+was society freed from their depredations, than the well-meaning
+citizens withdrew from its ranks; and, though regulator companies still
+patrolled the country, and, for a time, assumed as much authority as
+ever, they were not supported by the solid approbation of those who
+alone could give them lasting strength. They did many outrageous things
+for which they were never punished, and for some years, the shield which
+the good citizen had raised above his head for protection and defence,
+threatened to fall upon and crush him. But the western people are not
+the first who have been temporarily enslaved by their liberators,
+though, unlike many another race, they waited patiently for the changes
+of years, and time brought them a remedy.
+
+
+As the government waxed stronger, and public opinion assumed a
+direction, the regulators, like their predecessors, the rangers, found
+their "occupation gone," and gradually faded out from the land.
+Proclamations were issued--legislatures met--laws were enacted, and
+officers appointed to execute them; and though forcing a legal system
+upon a people who had so long been "a law unto themselves," was a slow
+and difficult process, it was powerfully assisted by the very disorders
+consequent upon their attempts at self-government. They had burnt their
+hands by seizing the hot iron-rod of irregular authority, and were,
+therefore, better inclined to surrender the baton to those who could
+handle it. Like Frankenstein, they had created a power which they could
+not immediately control: the regulators, from being their servants, had
+come to be their masters: and they willingly admitted any authority
+which promised deliverance. They had risen in wrath, and chastised, with
+no hesitating hand, the violators of their peace; but the reaction had
+taken place, and they were now content to be governed by whatsoever
+ruler Providence might send them.
+
+The state governments were established, then, without difficulty, and
+the officers of the new law pervaded every settlement. The character
+which I have selected as the best representative of this period, is one
+of these new officers--_the early justice of the peace_.
+
+
+So far as history or tradition informs us, there was never yet a country
+in which appointments to office were invariably made with reference only
+to qualification, and though the west is an exception to more than one
+general rule, in this respect we must set it down in the common
+category. The lawyer-period had not yet arrived; and, probably, there
+was never an equal number of people in any civilized country, of whom a
+larger proportion were totally ignorant of legal forms. There were not
+three in each hundred who had ever seen the inside of a courthouse, and
+they were quite as few who had once looked upon a law-book! Where such
+was the case, some principle of appointment was of course necessary,
+other than that which required fitness, by training, for the office
+conferred; and it is probable that the rule adopted was but little
+different to that in force among those who have the appointing power,
+where no such circumstances restrict the choice.
+
+
+Men were appointed conservators of the _peace_, because they had
+distinguished themselves in _war_; and he who had assumed the powers of
+the law, as a regulator, was thought the better qualified to exercise
+them, as a legal officer! Courage and capacity, as an Indian-fighter,
+gave one the prominence requisite to his appointment; and zeal for the
+preservation of order, exhibited as a self-constituted judge and
+executioner, was a guaranty for the faithful performance of new and
+regular duties.
+
+Nor was the rule a bad one. A justice of the peace chosen upon this
+principle, possessed two qualities indispensable to an efficient
+officer, in the times of which we write--he was prompt in the discharge
+of his duties, and was not afraid of responsibility. To obviate the
+danger, however, which might arise from these, he had also a rigid sense
+of justice, which usually guided his determinations according to the
+rights of parties in interest. This, the lawyers will say, was a very
+questionable trait for a judicial officer; and perhaps it _is_ better
+for society, that a judge should know the law, and administer it
+without reference to abstract justice, than that his own notions of
+right and wrong should be taken, however conscientiously, as the
+standard of judgment: for in that case, we shall, at least, have
+uniformity of adjudication; whereas, nothing is more uncertain, than a
+man's convictions of right.
+
+But, in the times of which we are writing, society was not yet
+definitely shaped--its elements were not bound together by the cohesive
+power of any legal cement--and no better rule was, therefore, to be
+expected, than the spontaneous suggestions of common sense. The minds of
+men were, moreover, habituated to a certain course of thought and
+action--(such as naturally obtains in a new state of society, where the
+absence of organization remits them to their own exertions for
+safety)--and it was, therefore, impossible that any artificial system
+should be at once adopted. The people had been accustomed to such
+primitive associations, as they had entered into "for the common defence
+and general welfare" of their infant communities; the rule of action had
+been swift, and sometimes very informal punishment, for every
+transgression; and this rule, having very well answered its purpose,
+though at the expense of occasional severity and injustice, they could
+not immediately understand the necessity for any other course of
+proceeding.
+
+
+One of the characteristics of the early justice, then, was a supreme
+contempt for all mere form. He called it "nonsense" and could never
+comprehend its utility. To him, all ceremony was affectation, and the
+refinements of legal proceeding were, in his estimation, anti-republican
+innovations upon the original simplicity of mankind. Technicalities he
+considered merely the complicated inventions of lawyers, to exhibit
+their perverse ingenuity--traps to catch the well-meaning or unwary, or
+avenues of escape for the guilty. The rules of evidence he neither
+understood nor cared for; he desired "to hear all about" every cause
+brought before him; and the idea of excluding testimony, in obedience to
+any rule, he would never entertain. He acted upon the principle--though
+he probably never heard of the maxim--that "the law furnishes a remedy
+for every wrong;" and, if he knew of none in positive enactment, he
+would provide one, from the arsenal of his own sense of right. He never
+permitted anything to obstruct the punishment of one whom he had
+adjudged guilty; and, rather than allow a culprit to escape, he would
+order his judgment to be carried at once into effect, in the presence,
+and under the direction of the court.
+
+He had a strong prejudice against every man accused of crime; and
+sometimes almost reversed the ancient presumption of the law, and held
+the prisoner guilty, until he proved himself innocent. He had unbounded
+confidence in the honesty of his neighbors and friends, and was
+unwilling to believe, that they would accuse a man of crime or
+misdemeanor, without very good cause. When it was proven that a crime
+_had been committed_, he considered the guilt of the prisoner already
+half established: it was, in his judgment, what one, better acquainted
+with legal terms, might have called "a _prima facia_ case," devolving
+the _onus probandi_ (or burthen of proof) upon the accused. And this may
+have been one cause of the frequent resort to _alibis_--a mode of
+defence which, as we have already remarked, is even yet in great
+disrepute. If a defence, of some sort, was not, then, very clearly and
+satisfactorily made out, the justice had no hesitation in entering
+judgment, and ordering immediate punishment; for the right of appeal was
+not generally recognised, and the justice took original and final
+jurisdiction, where now his duties are merely those of preliminary
+examination and commitment.
+
+
+In civil controversies--where such causes were presented for
+adjudication, which, however, was not very often--the order of
+proceeding was quite as summary. The justice heard the statements of the
+parties, and sometimes, not always, would listen to witnesses, also;
+then, taking the general "rights, interests, claims, and demands," of
+both sides into consideration--and viewing himself, not as a judicial
+officer, but as a sort of referee or arbitrator--he would strike a
+balance between the disputants, and dismiss them to their homes, with a
+significant admonition to "keep the peace." He usually acted upon the
+principle--no very erroneous one, either--that, when two respectable men
+resort to the law, as arbitrator of their controversies, they are both
+about equally blamable; and his judgments were accordingly based upon
+the corollary, that neither deserved to have all he claimed. This was
+the practice when any decision was made at all; but, in most cases, the
+justice acted as a pacificator, and, by his authority and persuasion,
+induced the parties to agree upon a compromise. For this purpose, he not
+unfrequently remitted both fees and costs--those due to the constables,
+as well as his own.
+
+An instance of this pacific practice has been related to me as follows:
+Two neighbors had quarrelled about a small amount of debt, and, after
+sundry attempts to "settle," finally went to law. The justice took them
+aside, on the day of trial, and proposed a basis of settlement, to which
+they agreed, _on condition_, that all costs should be remitted, and to
+this the magistrate at once pledged himself. But a difficulty arose: the
+constable, who had not been consulted in the arrangement, had had a long
+ride after the defendant, and having an unquestionable right to demand
+his fees, was unwilling to give them up. The justice endeavored to
+prevail with him by persuasion, but in vain. Finally, growing impatient
+of his obstinacy, he gave him a _peremptory order_ to consent, and, on
+his refusal, _fined him_ the exact amount of his fees _for contempt_,
+entered up judgment on the basis of the compromise, and adjourned the
+court!
+
+The man who thus discourages litigation at the expense of his own
+official emoluments, may be forgiven a few irregularities of proceeding,
+in consideration of the good he effects; for although under such a
+system it was seldom that either party obtained his full and just
+rights, both were always benefited by the spirit of peace infused into
+the community. It would, perhaps, be well for the country now, were our
+legal officers actuated by the same motives; unfortunately, however,
+such men belong only to primitive times.
+
+
+But the love of peace was not accompanied, in this character, as it
+usually is, by merciful judgment, for, as he was very swift in
+determining a prisoner's guilt, he was equally rigid in imposing the
+penalty. The enactments of the criminal code were generally so worded as
+to give some scope for the exercise of a compassionate and enlightened
+discretion; but when the decision lay in the breast of our justice, if
+he adjudged any punishment at all, it was usually the severest provided
+for by the statute. Half-measures were not adapted to the temper of the
+times or the character of the people; indeed, they are suited to _no_
+people, and are signal failures at all times, in all circumstances.
+Inflicting light punishments is like firing blank cartridges at a mob,
+they only irritate, without subduing; and as the latter course usually
+ends in unnecessary bloodshed, the former invariably increases the
+amount of crime.
+
+_Certainty_ of punishment may be--unquestionably _is_--a very important
+element in the administration of justice, but as nothing so strongly
+disinclines a man to entering the water as the sight of another
+drowning, so nothing will so effectually deter him from the commission
+of crime, as the knowledge that another has been severely punished for
+yielding to the same temptation. The justice, however, based the rigor
+of his judgments upon no such argument of policy. His austerity was a
+part of his character, and had been rendered more severe by the
+circumstances in which he had lived--the audacity of law-breakers, and
+the necessity for harsh penalties, in order for protection.
+
+
+It will be observed that I say nothing of juries, and speak of justices
+of the peace, as officers having authority to decide causes alone. And,
+it must be recollected, that in the days of which I am writing, resort
+was very seldom had to this cumbersome and uncertain mode of
+adjudication. In civil causes, juries were seldom empanelled, because
+they were attended by very considerable expense and delay. The chief
+object, in going to law, moreover, was, in most cases, to have _a
+decision_ of the matter in dispute; and juries were as prone to "hang"
+then as now. Suitors generally, therefore, would rather submit to the
+arbitration of the justice, than take the risk of delay and uncertainty,
+with a jury. In criminal causes, the case was very similar: the accused
+would as lief be judged by one prejudiced man as by twelve; for the same
+rigorous spirit which actuated the justice, pervaded also the juries;
+and (besides the chance of timidity or favor in the justice) in the
+latter he must take the additional risks of personal enmity and
+relationship to the party injured. Thus, juries were often discarded in
+criminal causes also, and we think their disuse was no great sacrifice.
+Such a system can derive its utility, in this country, only from an
+enlightened public sentiment: if that sentiment be capricious and
+oppressive, as it too often is, juries are quite as likely to partake
+its vices as legal officers: if the sentiment be just and healthy, no
+judicial officer dare be guilty of oppression. So that our fathers lost
+nothing in seldom resorting to this "palladium of our liberties," and,
+without doubt, gained something by avoiding delay, uncertainty, and
+expense.
+
+The reader will also observe, that I say nothing of higher courts. But
+the lines between the upper and lower tribunals were not so strictly
+drawn then as they now are, and the limits of jurisdiction were,
+consequently, very indefinite. Most of the characteristics, moreover,
+here ascribed to the justice of the peace, belonged, in almost an equal
+degree, to the judges of the circuit courts; and, though some of the
+latter were men of respectable legal requirements, the same off-hand
+mode of administering the law which distinguished the inferior
+magistrates, marked the proceedings of their courts also. Both
+occasionally assumed powers which they did not legally possess; both
+were guided more by their own notions of justice, than by the rules of
+law; and both were remarkable for their severity upon all transgressors.
+Neither cared much for the rules of evidence, each was equal to any
+emergency or responsibility, and both had very exalted ideas of their
+own authority.
+
+But the functions of the justice were, in his estimation, especially
+important--his dignity was very considerable also, and his powers
+anything but circumscribed. A few well-authenticated anecdotes, however,
+will illustrate the character better than any elaborate portraiture.
+And, for fear those I am about to relate may seem exceptions, not fairly
+representing the class, I should state, in the outset, that I have
+selected them from a great number which I can recall, particularly
+because they are _not_ exceptive, and give a very just impression of the
+character which I am endeavoring to portray.
+
+
+Squire A---- was a plain, honest farmer, who had distinguished himself
+as a pioneer and ranger, and was remarkable as a man of undoubted
+courage, but singularly peaceable temper. In the year eighteen hundred
+and twenty, he received from Governor Bond of Illinois, a commission as
+justice of the peace, and though he was not very clear what his duties,
+dignities, and responsibilities, precisely were, like a patriot and a
+Roman, he determined to discharge them to the letter. At the period of
+his appointment, he was at feud with one of his neighbors about that
+most fruitful of all subjects of quarrel, a division-fence; and as such
+differences always are, the dispute had been waxing warmer for several
+months. He received his docket, blanks, and "Form-Book," on Saturday
+evening, and though he had as yet no suits to enter and no process to
+issue, was thus provided with all the weapons of justice. On the
+following Monday morning, he repaired, as usual, to his fields, about
+half-a-mile from home, and though full of his new dignity, went quietly
+to work.
+
+He had not been there long, before his old and only enemy made his
+appearance, and opened upon him a volley of abuse in relation to the
+division-fence, bestowing upon his honor, among other expressive titles,
+the euphonious epithet of "jackass." A---- bore the attack until it came
+to this point--which, it would seem, was as far as a man's patience
+ought to extend--and, it is probable, that had he not been a legal
+functionary, a battle would have ensued "then and there." But it was
+beneath the dignity thus outraged, to avenge itself by a vulgar
+fisticuff, and A---- bethought him of a much better and more honorable
+course. He threw his coat across his arm, and marched home. There he
+took down his new docket, and upon the first page, recorded the case of
+the "_People of the State of Illinois_ vs. _John Braxton_" (his enemy).
+He then entered up the following judgment: "_The defendant in this case,
+this day, fined ten dollars and costs, for_ CONTEMPT OF COURT, _he
+having called_ US _a jackass_!" On the opposite page is an entry of
+satisfaction, by which it appears that he forthwith issued an execution
+upon the judgment, and collected the money!
+
+This pretext of "contempt" was much in vogue, as a means of reaching
+offences not expressly provided for by statute; but the justice was
+never at a loss for expedients, even in cases entirely without
+precedent, as the following anecdote will illustrate:--
+
+
+A certain justice, in the same state of Illinois, was one day trying,
+for an aggravated assault, a man who was too much intoxicated fully to
+realize the import of the proceedings or the dignity of the court. He
+was continually interrupting witnesses, contradicting their testimony,
+and swearing at the justice. It soon became evident that he must be
+silenced or the trial adjourned. The justice's patience at length gave
+way. He ordered the constable to take the obstreperous culprit to a
+creek, which ran near the office, "and duck him until he was sober
+enough to be quiet and respect the court!" This operation the constable
+alone could not perform, but in due time he brought the defendant back
+dripping from the creek and thoroughly sobered, reporting, at the same
+time, that he had availed himself of the assistance of two men, Messrs.
+B---- and L----, in the execution of his honor's commands. The trial
+then went quietly on, the defendant was fined for a breach of the peace,
+and ordered to pay _the costs_: one item of which was two dollars to
+Messrs. B---- and L---- "for assisting the constable in ducking the
+prisoner!" But, as the justice could find no form nor precedent for
+hydropathic services, he entered the charge as "_witness fees_," and
+required immediate payment! The shivering culprit, glad to escape on any
+terms, paid the bill and vanished!
+
+
+Whatever might have been the prevailing opinion, as to the legality of
+such a proceeding, the ridicule attaching to it would effectually have
+prevented any remedy--most men being willing to forgive a little
+irregularity, for the sake of substantial justice and "a good joke." But
+the summary course, adopted by these magistrates, sometimes worked even
+greater injustice--as might have been expected; and of this, the
+following is an example:--
+
+About the year eighteen hundred and twenty-six, there lived, in a
+certain part of the west, a man named Smedley, who, so far as the
+collection of debts was concerned, was entirely "law-proof." He seemed
+to have a constitutional indisposition to paying anything he owed: and,
+though there were sundry executions in the hands of officers against
+him--and though he even seemed thrifty enough in his pecuniary
+affairs--no property could ever be found, upon which they could be
+levied. There was, at the same time, a constable in the neighborhood, a
+man named White, who was celebrated, in those days of difficult
+collections, for the shrewdness and success of his official exploits;
+and the justice upon whom he usually attended, was equally remarkable,
+for the high hand with which he carried his authority. But, though two
+executions were placed in the hands of the former, upon judgments on the
+docket of the latter, months passed away, without anything being
+realized from the impervious defendant, Smedley.
+
+Whenever the constable found him in possession of property, and made a
+levy, it was proven to belong to some one else; and the only result of
+his indefatigable efforts, was the additions of heavy costs to the
+already hopeless demand.
+
+At length, however, White learned that Smedley had _traded horses_ with
+a man named Wyatt, and he straightway posted off to consult the
+magistrate. Between them, the plan of operations was agreed upon. White
+levied first upon the horse then in the possession of Smedley, taking
+him under _one_ of the two writs: he then levied _the other_ execution
+upon the horse which Smedley had traded to Wyatt. The latter,
+apprehending the loss of his property, claimed the first horse--that
+which he had traded to Smedley. But, upon the "trial of the right of
+property," the justice decided that the horse was found in the
+possession of Smedley, and was, therefore, subject to levy and sale. He
+was accordingly sold, and the first judgment was satisfied. Wyatt then
+claimed the _second_ horse--that which he had received from Smedley.
+But, upon a similar "trial"--after severely reprimanding Wyatt for
+claiming _both_ horses, when, on his own showing, he never owned but
+_one_--the justice decided that the property in dispute had been in the
+possession of Smedley at the rendition of the judgment, and was
+therefore, like the other, subject to a lien, and equally liable to levy
+and sale! And accordingly, this horse, also, was sold, to satisfy the
+second execution, and Wyatt was dismissed by the justice, with no gentle
+admonition, "to be careful in future with whom he swapped horses!" A
+piece of advice which he probably took, and for which he ought to have
+been duly grateful! Fallen humanity, however, is very perverse; and it
+is at least supposable, that, having lost his horse, he considered
+himself hardly used--an opinion in which my legal readers will probably
+concur.
+
+Before leaving this part of my subject, I will relate another anecdote,
+which, though it refers more particularly to constables, serves to
+illustrate the characteristics of the early officers of the
+law--justices, as well as others:--
+
+The constable who figured so advantageously in the anecdote last
+related, had an execution against a man named Corson, who was almost as
+nearly "law proof" as Smedley. He had been a long time endeavoring to
+realize something, but without success. At length, he was informed, that
+Corson had sued another man, upon an account, before a justice in a
+distant part of the same county. This, the delinquent officer at once
+saw, gave him a chance to secure something; and, on the day of trial,
+away he posted to the justice's office. Here, he quietly seated himself,
+and watched the course of the proceeding. The trial went on, and, in due
+time, the justice decided the cause in favor of Corson. At this
+juncture, White arose, and, while the justice was entering up judgment,
+approached the table. When the docket was about to be laid aside, he
+interposed:--
+
+"Stop!" said he, placing his hand upon the docket, "_I levels on this
+judgment_!" And, giving no attention to remonstrances, he demanded and
+obtained the execution. On this he collected the money, and at once
+applied it to that, which he had been so long carrying--thus settling
+two controversies, by diligence and force of will. He was certainly a
+valuable officer!
+
+
+Thus irregular and informal were many of the proceedings of the
+primitive legal functionaries; but a liberal view of their characters
+must bring us to the conclusion, that their influence upon the progress
+of civilization of the country, was, on the whole, decidedly
+beneficial.
+
+
+
+
+VII.
+
+THE PEDDLER.
+
+    "This is a traveller, sir; knows men and
+    Manners."--
+
+    BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.
+
+
+Previous to the organization of civil government, and "the form and
+pressure" given to the times by this and its attendant circumstances,
+the primitive tastes and habits of the western people, excluded many of
+those artificial wants which are gratified by commerce, and afforded no
+room for traders, excepting those who sold the absolute necessaries of
+life.
+
+In those days, housekeeping was a very simple matter. Neither
+steam-engines nor patent cook-stoves were yet known, as necessary
+adjuncts to a kitchen; the housewife would have "turned up her nose" in
+contempt of a bake-oven: would have thrown a "Yankee reflector" over the
+fence, and branded the innovator with the old-fashioned gridiron. Tin
+was then supposed to be made only for cups and coffee-pots: pie-pans
+had not yet even entered "the land of dreams;" and the tea-kettle, which
+then "sang songs of family glee," was a quaint, squat figure, resembling
+nothing so much as an over-fed duck, and poured forth its music from a
+crooked, quizzical spout, with a notch in its iron nozzle. If its
+shut-iron lid was ornamented with a brass button, for a handle, it was
+thought to be manufactured in superior style. Iron spoons were good
+enough for the daintiest mouth; and a full set of pewter was a household
+treasure. China dishes and silver plate had been heard of, but belonged
+to the same class of marvellous things, with Aladdin's lamp and
+Fortunatus's purse. Cooking was not yet reduced to a science, and eating
+was like sleep--a necessity, not a mere amusement. The only luxuries
+known, were coffee and sugar; and these, with domestics and other cotton
+fabrics, were the chief articles for which the products of the earth
+were bartered.
+
+French cloths and Parisian fashions were still less known than silver
+spoons and "rotary stoves." The men wore homemade jeans, cut after the
+_mode_ of the forest: its dye a favorite "Tennessean" brownish-yellow;
+and the women were not ashamed to be seen in linsey-wolsey, woven in the
+same domestic loom. Knitting was then not only an accomplishment, but a
+useful art; and the size which a "yarn" stocking gave to a pretty ankle,
+was not suffered to overbalance the consideration of its comfort. The
+verge of nakedness was not then the region of modesty: the neck and its
+adjacent parts were covered in preference to the hands; and, in their
+barbarous ignorance, the women thought it more shame to appear in public
+half-dressed, than to wear a comfortable shoe.
+
+They were certainly a very primitive people--unrefined, unfashionable,
+"coarse"--and many of their sons and daughters are even now ashamed to
+think what "savages" their parents were! In their mode of life, they
+sought comfort, not "appearances;" and many things which their more
+sophisticated descendants deem necessaries, they contemned as luxuries.
+
+
+But, in the course of time, these things began to change, for simplicity
+is always "primitive," and the progress of refinement is only the
+multiplication of wants. As the country was reduced to cultivation, and
+peace settled upon its borders, new classes of emigrants began to take
+possession of the soil; and, for the immediate purposes of rapid
+advancement, and especially of social improvement, they were better
+classes than their predecessors: for, as the original pioneers had
+always lived a little beyond the influences of regular civilization,
+these had remained within its limits until the pressure of legal
+organization began to grow irksome to their partially untamed spirits.
+There was, indeed, an unbroken gradation of character, from the nearly
+savage hunter, who visited the country only because it was uninhabited,
+except by wild beasts, to the genuine _citizen_, who brought with him
+order, and industry, and legal supremacy.
+
+The emigrants, of whom we are now writing, constituted the third step in
+this progression; and they imported along with them, or drew after them,
+the peculiarities belonging to their own degree of advancement. Their
+notions of comfort and modes of living, though still quite crude,
+indicated an appreciable stage of refinement. They were better supplied,
+for example, with cooking utensils--their household furniture was not so
+primitive--and in wearing apparel, they manifested some regard to
+elegance as well as comfort. Social intercourse disseminated these ideas
+among those to whom they were novel; where, previously, the highest
+motive to improvement had been a desire for convenience, the idea of
+gentility began to claim an influence; and some of the more moderate
+embellishments of life assumed the place of the mere necessaries.
+
+The transition was not rapid nor violent, like all permanent changes, it
+was the work of years, marked by comparatively slow gradations. First,
+tin-ware, of various descriptions, became necessary to the operations of
+the kitchen; and that which had been confined to one or two articles,
+was now multiplied into many forms. A housewife could no more bake a pie
+without a "scalloped" pie-pan, than without a fire: a tin-bucket was
+much more easily handled than one of cedar or oak; and a pepper-box, of
+the same material, was as indispensable as a salt-cellar. A little tea
+was occasionally added to the ancient regimen of coffee, and thus a
+tin-canister became necessary for the preservation of the precious drug.
+With tea came queensware: and half-a-dozen cups and saucers, usually of
+a dingy white, with a raised blue edge, were needful for the pranking of
+the little cupboard.
+
+
+But it was not only in the victualing department that the progress of
+refinement could be traced; for the thrifty housewife, who thought it
+proper to adorn her table, and equip her kitchen with all the late
+improvements, could not, of course, entirely overlook "the fashions:"
+the decoration of her person has been, in all ages, the just and honest
+pride of woman. Linsey-wolsey began to give place to calicoes and
+many-colored prints; calf-skin shoes were antiquated by the use of kid;
+and ribands fluttered gracefully upon new-fashioned bonnets. Progress of
+this kind never takes a step backward: once possessed of an improvement
+in personal comfort, convenience, or adornment, man--or woman--seldom
+gives it up. Thus, these things, once used, thenceforth became wants,
+whose gratification was not to be foregone: and it is one of the
+principles governing commerce, that the demand draws to it the supply.
+
+There were few "country stores," in those days, and the settlements were
+so scattered as to make it sometimes very inconvenient to visit them.
+From ten to twenty miles was a moderate distance to the depot of
+supplies; and a whole day was usually consumed in going and returning.
+The visits were, therefore, not very frequent--the purchases for many
+weeks--perhaps months--being made on each occasion. This was a very
+inconvenient mode of "shopping," even for the energetic women of that
+day; and, since the population would not justify more numerous
+"stores," it was desirable that some new system should be introduced,
+capable of supplying the demand at the cost of less trouble, and fewer
+miles of travel. To answer this necessity there was but one way--the
+"storekeeper" must carry his wares to the doors of his customers. And
+thus arose the occupation of the _Peddler_, or, as he called himself,
+the "travelling merchant."
+
+The population of the country was then almost exclusively
+agricultural--the mechanic arts belong to a more advanced period. The
+consequence was, that the first articles carried about from house to
+house, were such as are manufactured by artisans--and the chief of these
+was tin-ware.
+
+The tinkers of the rural districts in older countries, were, however,
+not known in this--they were not adapted to the genius of the people.
+The men who sold the ware were, scarcely ever, the same who made it;
+and, though the manual dexterity of most of these ready men, might
+enable them to mend a broken pan, or a leaky coffeepot, their skill was
+seldom put in requisition. Besides, since the mending of an old article
+might interfere with the sale of a new one, inability to perform the
+office was more frequently assumed than felt.
+
+In the course of time--as the people of the country began to acquire new
+ideas, and discover new wants--other articles were added to the
+peddler's stock. Calicoes were often carried in the same box with tin
+pans--cotton checks and ginghams were stowed away beneath tin-cups and
+iron-spoons--shining coffee-pots were crammed with spools of thread,
+papers of pins, cards of horn-buttons, and cakes of shaving-soap--and
+bolts of gaudy riband could be drawn from pepper-boxes and
+sausage-stuffers. Table-cloths, of cotton or brown linen, were displayed
+before admiring eyes, which had turned away from all the brightness of
+new tin plates; and knives and forks, all "warranted pure steel,"
+appealed to tastes, which nothing else could excite. New razors touched
+the men "in tender places," while shining scissors clipped the purses of
+the women. Silk handkerchiefs and "fancy" neckcloths--things till then
+unknown--could occupy the former, while the latter covetously turned
+over and examined bright ribands and fresh cotton hose. The peddler was
+a master of the art of pleasing all tastes: even the children were not
+forgotten; for there were whips and jew's-harps for the boys, and nice
+check aprons for the girls. (The taste for "playing mother" was as much
+an instinct, with the female children of that day, as it is in times
+more modern; but life was yet too earnest to display it in the dressing
+and nursing of waxen babies.) To suit the people from whom the peddler's
+income was derived, he must consult at least the appearance of utility,
+in every article he offered; for, though no man could do more, to coax
+the money out of one's pocket, without leaving an equivalent, even _he_
+could not succeed in such an enterprise, against the matter-of-fact
+pioneer.
+
+
+The "travelling merchants" of this country were generally what their
+customers called "Yankees"--that is, New-Englanders, or descendants of
+the puritans, whether born east of the Hudson or not. And, certainly, no
+class of men were ever better fitted for an occupation, than were those
+for "peddling." The majority of them were young men, too; for the
+"Yankee" who lives beyond middle age, without providing snug quarters
+for the decline of life, is usually not even fit for a peddler. But,
+though often not advanced in years, they often exhibited qualities,
+which one would have expected to find only in men of age and experience.
+They could "calculate," with the most absolute certainty, what precise
+stage of advancement and cultivation, was necessary to the introduction
+of every article of merchandise their stock comprised. Up to a certain
+limit, they offered, for example, linen table-cloths: beyond that,
+cotton was better and more saleable; in certain settlements, they could
+sell numbers of the finer articles, which, in others, hung on their
+hands like lead; and they seemed to know, the moment they breathed the
+air of a neighborhood, what precise character of goods was most likely
+to pay.
+
+Thus--by way of illustration--it might seem, to one not experienced in
+reading the signs of progress, a matter of nice speculation and subtle
+inquiry, to determine what exact degree of cultivation was necessary, to
+make profitable the trade in _clocks_. But I believe there is no
+instance of an unsuccessful clock-peddler on record; and, though this
+fact may be accounted for, superficially, by asserting that time is
+alike important to all men, and a measure of its course, therefore,
+always a want, a little reflection will convince us, that this
+explanation is more plausible than sound.
+
+
+It is, perhaps, beyond the capacity of any man, to judge unerringly, by
+observation, of the usual signs of progress, the exact point at which a
+community, or a man, has arrived in the scale of cultivation; and it may
+seem especially difficult, to determine commercially, what precise
+articles, of use or ornament, are adapted to the state indicated by
+those signs. But that there are such indications, which, if properly
+attended to, will be unfailing guides, is not to be denied. Thus, the
+quick observation of a clock-peddler would detect among a community of
+primitive habits, the growing tendency to regularity of life; for, as
+refinement advances, the common affairs of everyday existence, feeling
+the influence first, assume a degree of order and arrangement; and from
+the display of this improvement, the trader might draw inferences
+favorable to his traffic. Eating, for example, as he would perceive, is
+done at certain hours of the day--sleep is taken between fixed periods
+of the night and morning--especially, public worship--which is one of
+the best and surest signs of social advancement--must be held at a time
+generally understood.
+
+The peddler might conclude, also, when he saw a glazed window in a
+house, that the owner was already possessed of a clock--which, perhaps,
+needed repairing--or, at least, was in great need of one, if he had not
+yet made the purchase. One of these shrewd "calculators" once told me,
+that, when he saw a man with four panes of glass in his house, and no
+clock, he either sold him one straightway, or "set him down crazy, or a
+screw."
+
+"Have you no other 'signs of promise'"? I asked.
+
+"O yes," he replied, "many! For instance: When I am riding past a
+house--(I always ride slowly)--I take a general and particular survey of
+the premises--or, as the military men say, I make a _reconnaissance_;
+and it must be a very bare place, indeed, if I can not see some 'sign,'
+by which to determine, whether the owner needs a clock. If I see the
+man, himself, I look at his extremities; and by the appearance of hat
+and boot, I make up my opinion as to whether he knows the value of time:
+if he wears anything but a cap, I can pretty fairly calculate upon
+selling him a clock; and if, to the hat, he has added _boots_, I halt at
+once, and, without ceremony, carry a good one in.
+
+"When I see the wife, instead of the husband, I have no difficulty in
+making up my mind--though the signs about the women are so numerous and
+minute, that it would be hard to explain them. If one wears a
+check-apron and sports a calico dress, I know that a 'travelling
+merchant' has been in the neighborhood; and if he has succeeded in
+making a reasonable number of sales, I am certain that he has given her
+such a taste for buying, that I can sell her anything at all: for
+purchasing cheap goods, to a woman, is like sipping good liquor, to a
+man--she soon acquires the appetite, and thenceforward it is insatiable.
+
+"I have some customers who have a _passion_ for clocks. There is a man
+on this road, who has one for every room in his house; and I have
+another with me now--with a portrait of General Jackson in the
+front--which I expect to add to his stock. There is a farmer not far
+from here, with whom I have 'traded' clocks every year since I first
+entered the neighborhood--always receiving about half the value of the
+article I sell, in money, 'to boot.' There are clock-fanciers, as well
+as fanciers of dogs and birds; and I have known cases, in which a man
+would have two or three time-pieces in his house, and not a pair of
+shoes in the family! But such customers are rare--as they ought to be;
+and the larger part of our trade is carried on, with people who begin to
+feel the necessity of regularity--to whom the sun has ceased to be a
+sufficient guide--and who have acquired some notions of elegance and
+comfort. And we seldom encounter the least trouble in determining, by
+the general appearance of the place, whether the occupant has arrived at
+that stage of refinement."
+
+
+We perceive that the principal study of the peddler is human nature; and
+though he classifies the principles of his experience, more especially
+with reference to the profits of his trade, his rapid observation of
+minor traits and indications, is a talent which might be useful in many
+pursuits, besides clock-peddling. And, accordingly, we discover that,
+even after he has abandoned the occupation, and ceased to be a bird of
+passage, he never fails to turn his learning to a good account.
+
+
+He was distinguished by energy as well as shrewdness, and an
+enterprising spirit was the first element of his prosperity. There was
+no corner--no secluded settlement--no out-of-the way place--where he was
+not seen. Bad roads never deterred him: he could drive his horses and
+wagon where a four-wheeled vehicle never went before. He understood
+bearings and distances as well as a topographical engineer, and would
+go, whistling contentedly, across a prairie or through a forest, where
+he had not even a "trail" to guide him. He could find fords and
+crossings where none were previously known to exist; and his pair of
+lean horses, by the skilful management of their driver, would carry him
+and his wares across sloughs and swamps, where a steam-engine would have
+been clogged by the weight of a baby-wagon. If he broke his harness or
+his vehicle in the wilderness, he could repair it without assistance,
+for his mechanical accomplishments extended from the shoeing of a horse
+to the repair of a watch, and embraced everything between. He was never
+taken by surprise--accidents never came unexpected, and strange events
+never disconcerted him. He would whistle "Yankee Doodle" while his
+horses were floundering in a quagmire, and sing "Hail Columbia" while
+plunging into an unknown river!
+
+He never met a stranger, for he was intimately acquainted with a man as
+soon as he saw him. Introductions were useless ceremonies to him, for he
+cared nothing about names. He called a woman "ma'am" and a man "mister,"
+and if he could sell either of them a few goods, he never troubled
+himself or them with impertinent inquiries. Sometimes he had a habit of
+learning each man's name from his next neighbor, and possessing an
+excellent memory, he never lost the information thus acquired.
+
+When he had passed through a settlement once, he had a complete
+knowledge of all its circumstances, history, and inhabitants; and, the
+next year, if he met a child in the road, he could tell you whom it most
+resembled, and to what family it belonged. He recollected all who were
+sick on his last visit--what peculiar difficulties each was laboring
+under--and was always glad to hear of their convalescence. He gathered
+medicinal herbs along the road, and generously presented them to the
+housewives where he halted, and he understood perfectly the special
+properties of each. He possessed a great store of good advice, suited to
+every occasion, and distributed it with the disinterested benevolence of
+a philanthropist. He knew precisely what articles of merchandise were
+adapted to the taste of each customer; and the comprehensive "rule of
+three" would not have enabled him to calculate more nicely the exact
+amount of "talk" necessary to convince them of the same.
+
+His address was extremely insinuating, for he always endeavored to say
+the most agreeable things, and no man could judge more accurately what
+would best please the person addressed. He might be vain enough, but his
+egotism was never obtruded upon others. He might secretly felicitate
+himself upon a successful trade, but he never boasted of it. He seemed
+to be far more interested in the affairs of others than in his own. He
+had sympathy for the afflictions of his customers, counsel for their
+difficulties, triumph in their success.
+
+
+Before the introduction of mails, he was the universal news-carrier, and
+could tell all about the movements of the whole world. He could gossip
+over his wares with his female customers, till he beguiled them into
+endless purchases, for he had heard of every death, marriage, and birth
+within fifty miles. He recollected the precise piece of calico from
+which Mrs. Jones bought her last new dress, and the identical bolt of
+riband from which Mrs. Smith trimmed her "Sunday bonnet." He knew whose
+children went to "meeting" in "store-shoes," whose daughter was
+beginning to wear long dresses, and whose wife wore cotton hose. He
+could ring the changes on the "latest fashions" as glibly as the
+skilfulest _modiste_. He was a _connoisseur_ in colors, and learned in
+their effects upon complexion. He could laugh the husband into
+half-a-dozen shirts, flatter the wife into calico and gingham, and
+praise the children till both parents joined in dressing them anew from
+top to toe.
+
+He always sold his goods "at a ruinous sacrifice," but he seemed to have
+a depot of infinite extent and capacity, from which he annually drew new
+supplies. He invariably left a neighborhood the loser by his visit, and
+the close of each season found him inconsolable for his "losses." But
+the next year he was sure to come back, risen, like the Phoenix, from his
+own ashes, and ready to be ruined again--in the same way. He could never
+resist the pleading look of a pretty woman, and if she "jewed" him
+twenty per cent. (though his profits were only two hundred), the
+tenderness of his heart compelled him to yield. What wonder is it, then,
+if he was a prime favorite with all the women, or that his advent, to
+the children, made a day of jubilee?
+
+
+But the peddler, like every other human "institution," only had "his
+day." The time soon came when he was forced to give way before the march
+of newfangledness. The country grew densely populated, neighborhoods
+became thicker, and the smoke of one man's chimney could be seen from
+another's front-door. People's wants began to be permanent--they were no
+longer content with transient or periodical supplies--they demanded
+something more constant and regular. From this demand arose the little
+neighborhood "stores," established for each settlement at a central and
+convenient point--usually at "cross-roads," or next door to the
+blacksmith's shop--and these it was which superseded the peddler's
+trade.
+
+
+We could wish to pause here, and, after describing the little depot,
+"take an account of stock:" for no store, not even a sutler's, ever
+presented a more amusing or characteristic assortment. But since these
+modest establishments were generally the _nuclei_, around which western
+towns were built, we must reserve our fire until we reach that subject.
+
+
+But the peddler had not acquired his experience of life for nothing, he
+was not to be outdone, even by the more aristocratic stationary
+shop-keeper. When he found his trade declining, he cast about him for a
+good neighborhood, still uninvaded by the Lombards, and his extensive
+knowledge of the country soon enabled him to find one. Here he erected
+his own cabin, and boldly entered the lists against his new
+competitors. If he could find no eligible point for such an
+establishment, or if he augured unfavorably of his success in the new
+walk, he was not cast down. If he could not "keep store," he could at
+least "keep tavern," an occupation for which his knowledge of the world
+and cosmopolitan habits, admirably fitted him. In this capacity, we
+shall have occasion to refer to him again; and have now only to record,
+that in the progress of time, he grew rich, if not fat, and eventually
+died, "universally regretted."
+
+
+
+
+VIII.
+
+THE SCHOOLMASTER.
+
+    "There, in his quiet mansion, skilled to rule,
+    The village _master_ taught his little school.
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "I knew him well, and every truant knew:
+
+           *       *       *       *       *
+
+    "Yet he was kind; or, if severe in aught,
+    The love he bore to learning was in fault.
+    The village all declared how much he knew:
+    'Twas certain he could write, and cipher too."--
+
+    GOLDSMITH'S "DESERTED VILLAGE."
+
+
+[Illustration: THE SCHOOLMASTER.]
+
+In the progress of society, the physical wants are felt before the
+intellectual. Men appreciate the necessity for covering their backs and
+lining their stomachs before storing their minds, and they naturally
+provide a shelter from the storms of heaven, before they seek (with
+other learning) a knowledge of the heavenly bodies. Thus the rudest
+social system comprises something of the mechanic arts--government
+begins to advance toward the dignity of a science--commerce follows the
+establishment of legal supremacy--and the education of the citizen
+comes directly after the recognition of his social and political rights.
+So, the justice of the peace (among other legal functionaries) indicates
+subjection, more or less complete, to the regulations of law; the
+peddler represents the beginning of commercial interests; and the
+schoolmaster succeeds him, in the natural order of things.
+
+It may be possible to preserve a high respect for a _calling_, while we
+despise the men who exercise it: though I believe this is not one of the
+rules which "work both ways," and the converse is, therefore, not
+equally true. A man's occupation affects _him_ more nearly than _he_
+does his occupation. A thousand contemptible men will not bring a
+respectable profession into so much disrepute, as a contemptible
+profession will a thousand respectable men. All the military talents,
+for example, of the commander-in-chief of our armies, would not preserve
+him from contempt, should he set up a barber-shop, or drive a milk-cart;
+but the barber, or the milkman, might make a thousand blunders at the
+head of an army, should extravagant democracy elevate him to that
+position, and yet the rank of a general would be as desirable, because
+as honorable, as ever.
+
+It is certainly true, however, that the most exalted station may be
+degraded by filling it with a low or despicable incumbent, for the
+mental effort necessary to the abstraction of the employment from him
+who pursues it, is one which most men do not take the trouble to make:
+an effort, indeed, which the majority of men are _incapable_ of making.
+A vicious priest degrades the priestly vocation--a hypocrite brings
+reproach upon the religious profession--a dishonest lawyer sinks the
+legal character--and even the bravest men care but little for promotion
+in an army, when cowardice and incompetency are rewarded with rank and
+power. But manifest incapacity, culpable neglect of duty, or even a
+positively vicious character, will not reduce a calling to contempt, or
+bring it into disrepute so soon, as any quality which excites ridicule.
+
+An awkward figure, a badly-shaped garment, or an ungainly manner, will
+sometimes outweigh the acquirements of the finest scholar; and the cause
+of religion has suffered more, from the absence of the softer graces, in
+its clerical representations, than from all the logic of its
+adversaries. A laugh is more effectual to subvert an institution, than
+an argument--for it is easier to make men ashamed, than to convince
+them. Truth and reason are formidable weapons, but ridicule is stronger
+than either--or both.
+
+Thus: All thinking men will eagerly admit, that the profession of the
+schoolmaster is, not only respectable, but honorable, alike to the
+individual, and to the community in which he pursues it: yet, rather
+than teach a school for a livelihood, the large majority of the same men
+would "split rails" or cut cord-wood! And this is not because teaching
+is laborious--though it _is_ laborious, and thankless, too, beyond all
+other occupations; but because a number and variety of causes, into
+which we need not inquire, have combined to throw ridicule upon him, who
+is derisively called the pedagogue--for most men would rather be shot
+at, than laughed at. Cause and effect are always inter-reactive: and the
+refusal of the most competent men, to "take up the birch"--which is the
+effect of this derision--has filled our school-rooms with men, who are,
+not unfairly, its victims. Thus the profession--(for such is its
+inherent dignity)--itself, has fallen into discredit--even though the
+judgment of men universally is, that it is not only useful, but
+indispensable.
+
+Nor is that judgment incorrect. For, though home-education may sometimes
+succeed, it is usually too fragmentary to be beneficial--private tutors
+are too often the slaves of their pupils, and can not enforce "attention,"
+the first condition of advancement, where they have not the paraphernalia
+of command--and, as for self-education, logically there can be no such
+thing: "one might as well attempt to lift himself over the fence, by the
+straps of his boots," as to educate himself "without a master."
+
+
+The schoolmaster, then, is a useful member of society--not to be spared
+at any stage of its progress. But he is particularly necessary to
+communities which are in the transition state; for, upon the
+enlightenment of the rising generation depend the success and
+preservation of growing institutions. Nor does his usefulness consist
+altogether--or even in a great measure--in the number of facts,
+sciences, or theories, with which he may store the minds of his pupils.
+These are not the objects of education, any more than a knowledge of the
+compartments in a printer's "letter-case," is the ultimate result of the
+art of printing. The types are so arranged, in order to enable the
+compositors more conveniently to attain the ends, for which that
+arrangement is only a preparation: facts and sciences are taught for
+the improvement of the faculties, in order that they may work with more
+ease, force, and certainty, upon other and really important things; for
+education is only the marshalling of powers, preliminary to the great
+"battle of life."
+
+The mind of an uneducated man, however strong in itself, is like an army
+of undisciplined men--a crowd of chaotic, shapeless, and often
+misdirected elements. To bring these into proper subjection--to enable
+him to bind them, with anything like their native force, to a given
+purpose--a prescribed "training" is necessary; and it is this which
+education supplies. If you can give a mind the _habit of attention_, all
+the power it has will be made available: and it is through this faculty,
+that even dull minds are so frequently able to mount the car of triumph,
+and ride swiftly past so many, who are immeasurably their superiors. The
+first element of the discipline which develops this power, is submission
+to control; and without such subordination, a school can not exist.
+Thus, the first lesson that children learn from the schoolmaster, is the
+most valuable acquisition they can make.
+
+
+But it was no easy task to teach this principle to the sturdy children
+of the early Western "settler;" in this, as in all other things, the
+difficulty of the labor was in exact proportion to its necessity. The
+peculiarities of the people, and the state of the country, were not
+favorable to the establishment of the limited monarchy, requisite to
+successful teaching. In the first place, the parents very generally
+undervalued, what they called "mere book-learning." For themselves, they
+had found more use for a rifle than a pen; and they naturally thought it
+a much more valuable accomplishment, to be able to scalp a squirrel with
+a bullet, at a hundred paces, than to read the natural history of the
+animal in the "picture-book." They were enthusiastic, also, upon the
+subject of independence; and, though they could control their children
+sternly enough at home, they were apt to look, with a jealous eye, upon
+any attempt to establish dominion elsewhere. The children partook
+largely of the free, wild spirit of their fathers. They were very prompt
+to resist anything like encroachment upon their privileges or rights,
+and were, of course, pretty certain to consider even salutary control an
+attempt to assert a despotism. I believe history contains no record,
+whatever the annals of fiction may display, of a boy, with much spirit,
+submitting without a murmur to the authority of the schoolmaster: if
+such a prodigy of enlightened humility ever existed, he certainly did
+not live in the west. But a more important difficulty than either of
+these, was the almost entire want of money in the country; and without
+this there was but little encouragement for the effort to overcome other
+obstacles. Money _may_ be only a _representative_ of value, but its
+absence operates marvellously like the want of the value itself, and the
+primitive people of those days, and especially that class to which the
+schoolmaster belonged, had a habit, however illogical, of considering it
+a desirable commodity, _per se_.
+
+All these impediments, however, could, in the course of time, be
+conquered: the country was improving in social tone; parents must
+eventually take some pride even in the accomplishments they despised;
+and patience and gentleness, intermingled, now and then, with a little
+wholesome severity, will ultimately subdue the most stubborn spirit. As
+for the pecuniary difficulty, it was, as the political economists will
+tell us, only the absence of a medium at the worst: and, in its stead,
+the master could receive boarding, clothing, and the agricultural
+products of the country. So many barrels of corn, or bushels of wheat,
+"per quarter," might not be so conveniently handled, but were quite as
+easy to be counted, as an equal number of dollars; and this primitive
+mode of payment is even yet practised in many rural districts, perhaps,
+in both the east and west. To counter-balance its inconvenience of bulk,
+this "currency" possessed a double advantage over the more refined
+"medium of exchange" now in use: it was not liable to counterfeits, and
+the bank from which it issued was certain not to "break."
+
+So the schoolmaster was not to be deterred from pursuing his honorable
+calling, even by the difficulties incident to half-organized
+communities. Indeed, teaching was the resort, at least temporary, of
+four fifths of the educated, and nearly an equal number of the
+uneducated young men, who came to the west: for certainly that
+proportion of both classes arrived in the country, without money to
+support, friends to encourage, or pride to deter them.
+
+
+They were almost all what western people call "Yankees"--born and bred
+east of the Hudson: descendants of the sturdy puritans--and
+distinguished by the peculiarities of that strongly-marked people, in
+personal appearance, language, manners, and style and tone of thought.
+Like the peddlers, they were generally on the sunny side of thirty, full
+of the hopeful energy which belongs to that period of life, and only
+submitting to the labors and privations of the present, because through
+these they looked to the future for better and brighter things.
+
+The causes which led to their emigration, were as many and as various as
+the adventurers whom they moved. They were, most of them, mere boys:
+young Whittingtons, whom the bells did _not_ ring back, to become
+lord-mayors; who, indeed, had not even the limited possessions of that
+celebrated worthy; and, thus destitute, they wandered off, many hundreds
+of miles, "to see the world and make their fortunes," at an age when the
+youth of the present day are just beginning to think of college. They
+brought neither money, letters of introduction, nor bills of exchange:
+they expected to find neither acquaintance nor relatives. But they
+knew--for it was one of the wise maxims of their unromantic
+fathers--that industry and honesty must soon gather friends, and that
+all other desirable things would speedily follow. They had great and
+just confidence in their own abilities to "get along;" and if they did
+not actually think that the whole world belonged to them, they were
+well-assured, that in an incredibly short space of time, they would be
+able to possess a respectable portion of it.
+
+
+A genuine specimen of the class to which most of the early schoolmasters
+belonged, never felt any misgivings about his own success, and never
+hesitated to assume any position in life. Neither pride nor modesty was
+ever suffered to interfere with his action. He would take charge of a
+numerous school, when he could do little more than write his own name,
+just as he would have undertaken to run a steamboat, or command an army,
+when he had never studied engineering or heard of strategy. Nor would he
+have failed in either capacity: a week's application would make him
+master of a steam-engine, or a proficient (after the _present manner_ of
+proficiency) in tactics; and as for his school, he could himself learn
+at night what he was to teach others on the following day! Nor was this
+mere "conceit"--though, in some other respects, that word, in its
+limited sense, was not inapplicable--neither was it altogether ignorant
+presumption; for one of these men was seldom known to fail in anything
+he undertook: or, if he did fail, he was never found to be cast down by
+defeat, and the resiliency of his nature justified his confidence.
+
+
+The pursuit of a certain avocation, for a long period, is apt to warp
+one's nature to its inequalities; and as the character gradually assumes
+the peculiar shape, the personal appearance changes in a corresponding
+direction and degree. Thus, the blacksmith becomes brawny, square, and
+sturdy, and the characteristic swing of his arm gives tone to his whole
+bearing: the silversmith acquires a peering, cunning look, as if he were
+always examining delicate machinery: the physician becomes solemn,
+stately, pompous, and mysterious, and speaks like "Sir Oracle," as if he
+were eternally administering a bread-pill, or enjoining a regimen of
+drugs and starvation: the lawyer assumes a keen, alert, suspicious
+manner, as if he were constantly in pursuit of a latent perjury, or
+feared that his adversary might discover a flaw in his "case:" and so
+on, throughout the catalogue of human avocations. But, among all these,
+that which marks its votaries most clearly, is school-teaching.
+
+There seems to be a sort of antagonism between this employment and all
+manner of neatness, and the circle of the schoolmaster's female
+acquaintance never included the Graces. Attention to personal decoration
+is usually, though not universally, in an inverse ratio to mental
+garniture; and an artistically-tied cravat seems inconsistent with the
+supposition of a well-stored head above it. A mind which is directed
+toward the evolution of its own powers, has but little time to waste in
+adorning the body; and a fashionable costume would appear to cramp the
+intellect, as did the iron-vessel the genius of the Arabian tale.
+Although, therefore, there are numerous exceptions--persons whose
+externals are as elegant as their pursuits are intellectual--men of
+assiduously-cultivated minds are apt to be careless of appearances, and
+the principle applies, with especial force, to those whose business it
+is to develop the minds of others.
+
+Nor was the schoolmaster of early days in the west, an exception to the
+rule. He might not be as learned, nor as purely intellectual, as some of
+our modern college-professors, but he was as ungraceful, and as
+awkwardly clad, as the most slovenly of them all. Indeed, he came of a
+stock which has never been noted for any of the lighter accomplishments,
+or "carnal graces;" for at no period of its eventful history, has the
+puritan type been a remarkable elegant one. The men so named have been
+better known for bravery than taste, for zeal than polish; and since
+there is always a correspondence between habits of thought and feeling
+and the external appearance, the _physique_ of the race is more
+remarkable for rigor of muscle and angularity of outline, than for
+accuracy of proportion or smoothness of finish. Neither Apollo nor
+Adonis was in any way related to the family; and if either had been, the
+probability is that his kindred would have disowned him.
+
+Properly to represent his lineage, therefore, the schoolmaster could be
+neither dandy nor dancing-master; and, as if to hold him to his
+integrity, nature had omitted to give him any temptation, in his own
+person, to assume either of these respectable characters. The tailor
+that could shape a coat to fit _his_ shoulders, never yet handled
+shears; and he would have been as ill at ease, in a pair of fashionable
+pantaloons, as if they had been lined with chestnut-burrs. He was
+generally above the medium height, with a very decided stoop, as if in
+the habit of carrying burthens; and a long, high nose, with light blue
+eyes, and coarse, uneven hair, of a faded weather-stain color, gave his
+face the expression answering to this lathy outline. Though never very
+slender, he was always thin: as if he had been flattened out in a
+rolling-mill; and rotundity of corporation was a mode of development not
+at all characteristic. His complexion was seldom florid, and not often
+decidedly pale; a sort of sallow discoloration was its prevailing hue,
+like that which marks the countenance of a consumer of "coarse" whiskey
+and strong tobacco. But these failings were not the cause of his
+cadaverous look--for a faithful representative of the class held them
+both in commendable abhorrence--_they were not the vices of his nature_.
+
+There was a sub-division of the class, a secondary type, not so often
+observed, but common enough to entitle it to a brief notice. _He_ was,
+generally, short, square, and thick--the latitude bearing a better
+proportion to the longitude than in his lank brother--but never
+approaching anything like roundness. With this attractive figure, he had
+a complexion of decidedly bilious darkness, and what is commonly called
+a "dish-face." His nose was depressed between the eyes, an arrangement
+which dragged the point upward in the most cruel manner, but gave it an
+expression equally ludicrous and impertinent. A pair of small, round,
+black eyes, encompassed--like two little feudal fortresses, each by its
+moat--with a circle of yellowish white, peered out from under brows like
+battlements. Coarse, black hair, always cut short, and standing erect,
+so as to present something the appearance of a _chevaux de frise_,
+protected a hard, round head--a shape most appropriate to his
+lineage--while, with equal propriety, ears of corresponding magnitude
+stood boldly forth to assert their claim to notice.
+
+Both these types were distinguished for large feet, which no boot could
+enclose, and hands broad beyond the compass of any glove. Neither was
+ever known to get drunk, to grow fat, to engage in a game of chance, or
+to lose his appetite: it became the teacher of "ingenuous youth" to
+preserve an exemplary bearing before those whom he was endeavoring to
+benefit; while respectable "appearances," and proper appreciation of the
+good things of life, were the _alpha_ and _omega_ of his system of
+morality.
+
+
+But the schoolmaster--and we now include both sub-divisions of the
+class--was not deficient as an example in many other things, to all who
+wished to learn the true principles of living. Among other things, he
+was distinguished for a rigid, iron-bound economy: a characteristic
+which it might have been well to impart to many of his pupils. But that
+which the discreet master denominated _prudence_, the extravagant and
+wrong-headed scholar was inclined to term _meanness_: and historical
+truth compels us to admit, that the rigor of grim economy sometimes wore
+an aspect of questionable austerity. Notwithstanding this, however, when
+we reflect upon the scanty compensation afforded the benefactor of the
+rising generation, we can not severely blame his penurious tenacity any
+more than we can censure an empty wine-cask for not giving forth the
+nectar which we have never poured into it. If, accordingly, he was out
+at the elbows, we are bound to conclude that it was because he had not
+the money to buy a new coat; and if he never indulged himself in any of
+the luxuries of life, it was, probably, because the purchase of its
+necessaries had already brought him too near the bottom of his purse.
+
+He was always, moreover, "a close calculator," and, with a wisdom worthy
+of all imitation, never mortgaged the future for the convenience of the
+present. Indeed, this power of "calculation" was not only a talent but a
+passion: you would have thought that his progenitors had been
+arithmeticians since the time of Noah! He could "figure up" any
+proposition whatsoever: but he was especially great upon the question,
+how much he could save from his scanty salary, and yet live to the end
+of the year.
+
+In fact, it was only _living_ that he cared for. The useful, with him,
+was always superior to the ornamental; and whatever was not absolutely
+necessary, he considered wasteful and extravagant. Even the profusion of
+western hospitality was, in his eyes, a crime against the law of
+prudence, and he would as soon have forgiven a breach of good morals as
+a violation of this, his favorite rule.
+
+As might have been expected, he carried this principle with him into the
+school-room, and was very averse to teaching anything beyond what would
+certainly "pay." He rigidly eschewed embellishment, and adorned his
+pupils with no graceful accomplishments. It might be that he never
+taught anything above the useful branches of education, because he had
+never learned more himself; but it is certain that he would not have
+imparted merely polite learning, had his own training enabled him to do
+so: for he had, constitutionally, a high contempt for all "flimsy"
+things, and, moreover, he was not employed or paid to teach rhetoric or
+_belles-lettres_, and, "on principle," he never gave more in return
+than the value of the money he received.
+
+With this reservation, his duties were always thoroughly performed, for
+neither by nature, education, nor lineage, was he likely to slight any
+recognised obligation. He devoted his time and talents to his school, as
+completely as if he had derived from it the income of a bishop; and the
+iron constitution, of both body and mind, peculiar to his race, enabled
+him to endure a greater amount of continuous application than any other
+man. Indeed, his powers of endurance were quite surprising, and the
+fibre of his mind was as tough as that of his body. Even upon a quality
+so valuable as this, however, he never prided himself; for, excepting
+the boast of race, which was historical and not unjustifiable, he _had_
+no pride. He might be a little vain; and, in what he said and did, more
+especially in its manner, there might occasionally be a shade of
+self-conceit: for he certainly entertained no mean opinion of himself.
+This might be a little obtrusive, too, at times; for he had but slight
+veneration for men, or their feelings, or opinions; and he would
+sometimes pronounce a judgment in a tone of superiority justly
+offensive. But he possessed the uncommon virtue of sincerity: he
+thoroughly believed in the infallibility of his own conclusions; and
+for this the loftiness of his tone might be forgiven.
+
+The most important of the opinions thus expressed, were upon religious
+subjects, for Jews, puritans, and Spaniards, have always been very
+decided controversialists. His theology was grim, solemn, and angular,
+and he was as combative as one of Cromwell's disputatious troopers. In
+his capacious pocket, he always carried a copy of the New Testament--as,
+of old, the carnal controvertists bore a sword buckled to the side. Thus
+armed, he was a genuine polemical "swash-buckler," and would whip out
+his Testament, as the bravo did his weapon, to cut you in two without
+ceremony. He could carve you into numerous pieces, and season you with
+scriptural salt and pepper; and he would do it with a gusto so serious,
+that it would have been no unreasonable apprehension that he intended to
+eat you afterward. And the value of his triumph was enhanced, too, by
+the consideration that it was won by no meretricious graces or
+rhetorical flourishes; for the ease of his gesticulation was such as you
+see in the arms of a windmill, and his enunciation was as nasal and
+monotonous as that of the Reverend Eleazar Poundtext, under whose
+ministrations he had been brought up in all godliness.
+
+But he possessed other accomplishments beside those of the polemic. He
+was not, it is true, overloaded with the learning of "the schools"--was,
+in fact, quite ignorant of some of the branches of knowledge which he
+imparted to his pupils: yet this was never allowed to become apparent,
+for as we have intimated, he would frequently himself acquire, at night,
+the lessons which he was to teach on the morrow. But time was seldom
+wasted among the people from whom he sprang, and this want of
+preparation denoted that his leisure hours had been occupied in
+possessing himself of other acquirements. Among these, the most elegant,
+if not the most useful, was music, and his favorite instrument was the
+flute.
+
+In "David Copperfield," Dickens describes a certain flute-playing tutor,
+by the name of Mell, concerning whom, and the rest of mankind, he
+expresses the rash opinion, "after many years of reflection," that
+"nobody ever could have played worse." But Dickens never saw Strongfaith
+Lippincott, the schoolmaster, nor heard his lugubrious flute, and he
+therefore knows nothing of the superlative degree of detestable playing.
+
+There _are_ instruments upon which even an unskilful performer may make
+tolerable music, but the flute is not one of them--the man who murders
+_that_, is a malefactor entitled to no "benefit of clergy:" and our
+schoolmaster _did_ murder it in the most inhuman manner! But, let it be
+said in mitigation of his offence, he had never received the benefit of
+any scientific teaching--he had not been "under the tuition of the
+celebrated Signor Wheeziana," nor had he profited by "the invaluable
+instructions of the unrivalled Bellowsblauer"--and it is very doubtful
+whether he would have gained much advantage from them, had he met the
+opportunity.
+
+He knew that, in order to make a noise on the flute, or, indeed,
+anywhere else, it was necessary to _blow_, and blow he did, like Boreas!
+He always carried the instrument in his pocket, and on being asked to
+play--a piece of politeness for which he always looked--he drew it out
+with the solemnity of visage with which a tender-hearted sheriff
+produces a death-warrant, and while he screwed the joints together,
+sighed blasts like a furnace. He usually deposited himself upon the
+door-sill--a favorite seat for him--and collecting the younger members
+of the family about him, thence poured forth his strains of concentrated
+mournfulness.
+
+He invariably selected the most melancholy tunes, playing, with a more
+profound solemnity, the gloomiest psalms and lamentations. When he
+ventured upon secular music, he never performed anything more lively
+than "The Mistletoe Bough," or "Barbara Allen," and into each he threw a
+spirit so much more dismal than the original, as almost to induce his
+hearers to imitate the example of the disconsolate "Barbara," and "turn
+their faces to the wall" in despair of being ever again able to muster a
+smile!
+
+He was not a scientific musician, then--fortunately for his
+usefulness--because thorough musicians are generally "good-for-nothing"
+else. But music was not a science among the pioneers, though the
+undertone of melancholy feeling, to which all sweet sounds appeal, was
+as easily reached in them as in any other people. Their wants in this,
+as in other things, were very easily satisfied--they were susceptible of
+pleasure from anything which was in the least commendable: and not
+feeling obliged, by any captious canon, to condemn nine true notes,
+because of the tenth false one, they allowed themselves to enjoy the
+best music they could get, without thinking of the damage done their
+musical and critical reputation.
+
+But his flute was not the only means of pleasing within the
+schoolmaster's reach: for he could flatter as well as if the souls of
+ten courtiers had transmigrated into his single body. He might not do it
+quite so gracefully as one of these, nor with phrases so well-chosen, or
+so correctly pronounced, but what he said was always cunningly adapted
+to the character of the person whom he desired to move. He had "a deal
+of candied courtesy," especially for the women; and though his sturdy
+manhood and the excellent opinion of himself--both of which came to him
+from his ancestry--usually preserved him from the charge of servility,
+he was sometimes a "cozener" whose conscience annoyed him with very few
+scruples. Occasionally he might be seen fawning upon the rich; but it
+was not with him--as it usually is with the parasites of wealthy
+men--because he thought Dives more respectable, but more _useful_, on
+account of his money: the opulent possessed what the indigent wanted,
+and the shortest road to the goal of Cupidity, lay through the region of
+Vanity. There was none of that servility which Mr. Carlyle has attempted
+to dignify with the name of "hero-worship," for the rich man was rather
+a bird to be plucked, than a "hero" to be worshipped. And though it may
+seem that I do the schoolmaster little honor by the distinction, I can
+not but think cupidity a more manly trait than servility: the beast of
+prey a more respectable animal than the hound.
+
+But the schoolmaster's obsequiousness was more in manner than in
+inclination, and found its excuse in the dependence of his
+circumstances. It has been immemorially the custom of the world,
+practically to undervalue his services, and in all time teaching and
+poverty have been inseparable companions. Nobody ever cared how poorly
+he was clad, how laborious his life, or how few his comforts; and if he
+failed to attend to his own interests by all the arts in his power, no
+one, certainly, would perform the office for him. He was expected to
+make himself generally useful without being particular about his
+compensation: he was willing to do the one, but was, very naturally,
+rather averse to the other: that which justice would not give him, he
+managed to procure by stratagem.
+
+His manners thus acquired the characteristics we have enumerated, with
+also others. He was, for example, very officious; a peculiarity which
+might, perhaps, be derived from his parentage, but which was never
+repressed by his occupation. The desire to make himself agreeable, and
+his high opinion of his ability to do so, rendered his tone and bearing
+very familiar; but this was, also, a trait which he shared with his
+race, and one which has contributed, as much as any other, to bring the
+people called "Yankees" into contempt in the west. The men of that
+section are not themselves reserved, and hate nothing more than
+ceremonious politeness: but they like to be the first to make advances,
+and their demonstrations are all hearty, blunt, and open. They therefore
+disliked anything which has an insinuating tone, and the man who
+attempts to ingratiate himself with them, whether it be by elaborate
+arts or sidelong familiarity, at once arms them against them.
+
+The schoolmaster was inquisitive, also, and to that western men most
+decidedly object. They have little curiosity themselves, and seldom ask
+impertinent questions. When they do so, it is almost always for the
+purpose of insulting the man to whom they are put, and _never_ to make
+themselves agreeable. The habit of asking numerous questions was,
+therefore, apt to prejudice them against men whose characteristics might
+be, in other respects, very estimable; and it must be acknowledged, that
+vulgar and obtrusive impertinence is an unfortunate accompaniment to an
+introduction. But the schoolmaster never meant to be impertinent, for
+he was far from being quarrelsome (except with his scholars), and the
+idea that any one could be otherwise than pleased with his notice,
+however given, never entered his mind. Though his questions were, for
+the most part, asked to gratify a constitutional curiosity, he was
+actuated in some degree, also, by the notion that his condescension
+would be acceptably interpreted by those whom he thus favored. But, like
+many other benevolent men, who put force upon their inclinations for the
+benefit of their neighbors, he was mistaken in his "calculation;" and
+where he considered himself a benefactor, he was by others pronounced a
+"bore." The fact is, he had some versatility, and, like most men of
+various powers, he was prone to think himself a much greater man than he
+really was.
+
+He was not peculiarly fitted to shine as a gallant "in hall or bower,"
+but had he been the climax of knightly qualities, the very impersonation
+of beauty, grace, and accomplishment, he could not have been better
+adapted than, in his own estimation, he already was, to please the fancy
+of a lady. He was blissfully unconscious of every imperfection; and
+displayed himself before what he thought the admiring gaze of all
+_dames_ and _demoiselles_, as proudly as if he had been the
+all-accomplished victor in some passage of arms. Yet he carried
+himself, in outward appearance, as meekly as the humblest Christian, and
+took credit to himself accordingly. He seldom pressed his advantages to
+the utter subjugation of the sighing dames, but deported himself with
+commendable forbearance toward the weak and defenceless whom his
+perfections had disarmed. He was as merciful as he was irresistible: as
+considerate as he was beautiful.
+
+     "What a saint of a knight is the knight of Saint John!"
+
+The personal advantages which he believed made him so dangerous to the
+peace of woman, were counteracted, thus, by his saintly piety. For--as
+it became him to be, both in the character of a man, and in that of a
+descendant of the puritans--he was always habited in "the livery of
+heaven." Some ill-natured and suspicious people, it is true, were
+inclined to call his exemplary "walk" hypocritical, and to stigmatise
+his pious "conversation" as _cant_. But the ungodly world has always
+persecuted the righteous, and the schoolmaster was correct in
+attributing their sneers to the rebuke which his example gave to their
+wickedness, and to make "capital" out of the "persecution." And who
+shall blame him--when in the weary intervals of a laborious and
+thankless profession, fatigue repressed enthusiasm--if he sometimes eked
+out the want of inspiration by a godly snuffle? True piety reduces even
+the weapons of the scorner to the service of religion, and the citadel
+of the Gloomy Kingdom is bombarded with the artillery of Satan! Thus,
+the nose, which is so serviceable in the production of the devilish and
+unchristian sneer, is elevated by a saintlike zeal, to the expression of
+a devout whine: and this I believe to be the only satisfactory
+explanation which has ever been given, of the connection, in so many
+good men, between the _nasal_ and the _religious_!
+
+
+But the schoolmaster usually possessed genuine religious feeling, as
+well as a pious manner; and, excepting an occasional display of
+hereditary, and almost unconscious, cunning, he lived "a righteous and
+upright life."
+
+
+The process of becoming a respectable and respected citizen was a very
+short and simple one--and whether the schoolmaster designed to remain
+only a lord of the ferrule, or casting the insignia of his office behind
+him, to seek higher things, he was never slow in adopting it. Among his
+scholars, there were generally half-a-dozen or more young
+women--marriageable daughters of substantial men; and from this number
+he selected, courted, and espoused, some healthy, buxom girl, the
+heiress of a considerable plantation or a quantity of "wild land." He
+always sought these two requisites combined--for he was equally fond of
+a fine person and handsome estate. Upon the land, he generally managed
+to find an eligible town-site; and, being a perfect master of the art of
+building cities on paper, and puffing them into celebrity, his sales of
+town-lots usually brought him a competent fortune. As years rolled on,
+his substance increased with the improvement of the country--the rougher
+points of his character were gradually rubbed down--age and gray hairs
+thickened upon his brow--honors, troops of friends, and numerous
+children, gathered round him--and the close of his career found him
+respected in life and lamented in death. His memory is a monument of
+what honesty and industry, even without worldly advantages, may always
+accomplish.
+
+
+     [NOTE.--A friend expresses a doubt whether I have not made the
+     foregoing portrait too hard-featured for historical accuracy; and,
+     by way of fortifying his opinion, points to illustrious examples of
+     men who have taught schools in their youth--senators and
+     statesmen--some of whom now hold prominent positions before the
+     people, even for the highest offices in their gift. But these men
+     never belonged to the class which I have attempted to portray.
+     Arriving in this country in youth, without the means of
+     subsistence--in many cases, long before they had acquired the
+     professions which afterward made them famous--they resorted to
+     school-teaching as a mere expedient for present support, without
+     any intention to make it the occupation of their lives, or the
+     means of their advancement. They were moved by an ambition which
+     looked beyond it, and they invariably abandoned it so soon as they
+     had prepared themselves for another pursuit.
+
+     But the genuine _character_ took it up as a permanent
+     employment--he looked to it not only as a means of temporary
+     subsistence, but as a source, by some of the direct or indirect
+     channels which we have indicated, of lasting income--and he never
+     threw it up until he had already secured that to which the other
+     class, when _they_ abandoned the occupation, were still looking
+     forward. In the warfare against Ignorance, therefore, these, whom
+     we have described, were the regular army, while the exceptions were
+     but volunteers for a limited period, and, in the muster-roll of
+     permanent strength, they are, therefore, not included.]
+
+
+[Illustration: THE SCHOOLMISTRESS.]
+
+
+
+
+IX.
+
+THE SCHOOLMISTRESS
+
+    "And yet I love thee not--thy brow
+    Is but the sculptor's mould:
+    It wants a shade, it wants a glow--
+    It is less fair than cold."
+
+    L. E. L.
+
+
+But the family of the pioneer consisted of girls as well as boys; and
+though the former were never so carefully educated as the latter, they
+were seldom allowed to go wholly untaught.
+
+The more modern system, which separates the sexes while infants, and
+never suffers them to come together again until they are "marriageable,"
+was not then introduced; and we think it would have been no great
+misfortune to the country had it remained in Spain, whence it would seem
+to have been imported. Children of both sexes were intended to grow up
+together--to be educated in company--at least until they have reached
+the points where their paths naturally diverge, for thus only can they
+be most useful to each other, in the duties, trials, and struggles, of
+after life. The artificial refinement which teaches a little girl that a
+boy is something to be dreaded--a sort of beast of prey--before she
+recognises any difference, save in dress, can never benefit her at best;
+for by-and-by she will discover the falsehood: the very instincts of her
+nature would unveil it, did she learn it in no other way: and as action
+and reaction are equal, the rebound may cause her to entertain opinions
+altogether too favorable to those whom she has so foolishly been taught
+to fear.
+
+Nor is the effect of such a system likely to be any better upon the
+other sex: for it is association with females (as early as possible,
+too, all the better), which softens, humanizes, graces, and adorns the
+masculine character. The boy who has been denied such association--the
+incidents to whose education have made him shy, as so many are, even of
+little girls--is apt to grow up morose and selfish, ill-tempered, and
+worse mannered. When the impulses of his developing nature finally force
+him into female society, he goes unprepared, and comes away without
+profit: his ease degenerates into familiarity, his conversation is, at
+best, but washy sentimentalism, and the association, until the
+accumulated rust of youth is worn away, is of very doubtful benefit to
+both parties. Indeed, parents who thus govern and educate their
+children, can find no justification for the practice, until they can
+first so alter the course of Nature, as to establish the law, that each
+family shall be composed altogether of girls, or shall consist
+exclusively of boys!
+
+
+But these modern refinements had not obtained currency, at the period of
+which we are writing; nor was any such nonsense the motive to the
+introduction of female teachers. But one of the lessons learned by
+observation of the domestic circle, and particularly of the influence of
+the mother over her children, was the principle, that a woman can teach
+males of a certain age quite as well as a man, and _females much
+better_; and that, since the school-teacher stands, for the time in the
+place of the parent, a _mistress_ was far more desirable, especially for
+the girls, than a _master_. Hence, the latter had exercised his vocation
+in the west, but a few years, before he was followed by the former.
+
+
+New England was the great nursery of this class, as it was of so many
+others, transplanted beyond the Alleghenies. Emigration, and the
+enticements and casualties of a seafaring life--drawing the men into
+their appropriate channels of enterprise and adventure, had there
+reduced their number below that of the women--thus remitting many of the
+latter, to other than the usual and natural occupations of "the sex."
+Matrimony became a remote possibility to large numbers--attention to
+household matters gave place to various kinds of light labor--and, since
+they were not likely to have progeny of their own to rear, many resorted
+to the teaching of children belonging to others. Idleness was a rare
+vice; and New England girls--to their honor be it spoken--have seldom
+resembled "the lilies of the field," in aught, save the fairness of
+their complexions! They have never displayed much squeamishness--about
+work: and if they could not benefit the rising generation in a maternal,
+were willing to make themselves useful in a tutorial capacity. The
+people of that enlightened section, have always possessed the learning
+necessary to appreciate, and the philanthropy implied in the wish to
+dispel, the benighted ignorance of all other quarters of the world; and
+thus a competent number of them have ever been found willing to give up
+the comforts of home, for the benefit of the "barbarous west."
+
+The schoolmistress, then, generally came from the "cradle" of
+intelligence, as well as "of liberty," beyond the Hudson; and, in the
+true spirit of benevolence, she carried her blessings (herself the
+greatest) across the mountain barrier, to bestow them, _gratis_, upon
+the spiritually and materially needy, in the valley of the Mississippi.
+Her vocation, or, as it would now be called, her "mission" was to teach
+an impulse not only given by her education, but belonging to her nature.
+She had a constitutional tendency toward it--indeed, a genius for it;
+like that which impels one to painting, another to sculpture--this to a
+learned profession, that to a mechanical trade. And so perfectly was she
+adapted to it, that "the ignorant people of the west" not recognising
+her "divine appointment," were often at a loss to conjecture, who, or
+whether anybody, could have taught _her_!
+
+For that same "ignorant," and too often, ungrateful people, she was full
+of tender pity--the yearning of the single-hearted missionary, for the
+welfare of his flock. _They_ were steeped in darkness, but _she_ carried
+the light--nay, she _was_ the light! and with a benignity, often evinced
+by self-sacrifice--she poured it graciously over the land--
+
+    "Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do:
+    Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
+    Did not go forth of us, 't were all alike
+    As if we had them not."
+
+For the good of the race, or of any (male) individual, she would
+immolate herself, even upon the altar of Hymen; and, since the number,
+who were to be benefited by such self-devotement, was small in New
+England, but large in the west, she did well to seek a field for her
+benign dedication, beyond the Alleghenies! Honor to the all-daring
+self-denial, which brought to the forlorn bachelor of the west, a
+companion in his labors, a solace in his afflictions, and a mother to
+his children!
+
+
+Her name was invariably Grace, Charity, or Prudence; and, if names had
+been always descriptive of the personal qualities of those who bore
+them, she would have been entitled to all three.
+
+
+In the early ages of the world, names were, or, at least, were supposed
+to be, fair exponents of the personal characters of those, upon whom
+they were bestowed. But, _then_, the qualities must be manifested,
+before the name could be earned, so that all who had never distinguished
+themselves, in some way, were said to be "nameless." In more modern
+times, however, an improvement upon this system was introduced: the
+character was anticipated, and parents called their children what they
+_wished_ them to be, in the hope that they would grow to the standard
+thus imposed. And it is no doubt, true, that names thus bestowed had
+much influence in the development of character--on the same principle,
+upon which the boards, to which Indian women lash their infants soon
+after birth, have much to do with the erect carriage of the mature
+savage. Such an appellation is a perpetual memento of parental
+counsels--a substitute for barren precept--an endless exhortation to
+Grace, Charity, or Prudence.
+
+I do not mean, that calling a boy Cicero will certainly make him an
+orator, or that all Jeremiahs are necessarily prophets; nor is it
+improbable, that the same peculiarities in the parents, which dictate
+these expressive names, may direct the characters of the children, by
+controlling their education; but it is unquestionable, that the
+characteristics, and even the fortunes of the man, are frequently
+daguerreotyped by a name given in infancy. There is not a little wisdom
+in the advice of Sterne to godfathers--not "to Nicodemus a man into
+nothing."--"Harsh names," says D'Israeli, the elder, "will have, in
+spite of all our philosophy, a painful and ludicrous effect on our ears
+and our associations; it is vexatious, that the softness of delicious
+vowels, or the ruggedness of inexorable consonants, should at all be
+connected with a man's happiness, or even have an influence on his
+fortune."
+
+            "That which we call a rose,
+    By any other name would smell as sweet;"
+
+but this does not touch the question, whether, if it had not smelt as
+sweet we would not have given it some other name. The celebrated
+demagogue, Wilkes, is reported to have said, that, "without knowing the
+comparative merits of the two poets, we would have no hesitation in
+preferring John Dryden to Elkanah Settle, _from the names only_." And
+the reason of this truth is to be found in the fact, that our
+impressions of both men and things depend upon associations, often
+beyond our penetration to detect--associations with which _sound_,
+depending on hidden laws, has quite as much to do, as _sense_.
+
+
+Among those who have carried the custom of picturesque or expressive
+naming, to an extent bordering on the ridiculous, were the hard-headed
+champions of the true church-militant, the English puritans--as Hume,
+the bigoted old Tory, rather ill-naturedly testifies! And the puritans
+of _New_ England--whatever advancing intelligence may have made them in
+the present--were, for a long time, faithful representatives of the
+oddities, as well as of the virtues, of their fathers.
+
+And, accordingly, we find the schoolmistress--being a descendant of the
+Jason's-crew, who landed from the Argo-Mayflower, usually bearing a name
+thus significant, and manifesting, even at her age, traits of character
+justifying the compellation. What that age precisely _was_, could not
+always be known; indeed, a lady's age is generally among indeterminate
+things; and it has, very properly, come to be considered ungallant, if
+not impertinent, to be curious upon so delicate a subject. A man has no
+more right to know how many years a woman has, than how many skirts she
+wears; and, if he have any anxiety about the matter, in either case, his
+eyes must be the only questioners. The principle upon which the women
+themselves proceed, in growing old, seems to be parallel to the law of
+gravitation: when a stone, for example, is thrown into the air the
+higher it goes the slower it travels; and the momentum toward Heaven,
+given to a woman at her birth, appears to decrease in about the same
+ratio.
+
+We will not be so ungallant, then, as to inquire too curiously into the
+age of the schoolmistress; but, without disparagement to her
+youthfulness, we may be allowed to conjecture that, in order to fit her
+so well for the duties of her responsible station (and incline her to
+undertake such labors), a goodly number of years must needs have been
+required. Yet she bore time well; for, unless married in the meanwhile,
+at thirty, she was as youthful in manners, as at eighteen.
+
+But this is not surprising: for, even as early as her twelfth year, she
+had much the appearance of a mature woman--something like that noticed
+in young quakers, by Clarkson[79]--and her figure belonged to that
+rugged type, which is adapted to bear, unscathed, more than the ravages
+of time. She was never above the medium height, for the rigid rule of
+economy seemed to apply to flesh and blood, as to all other things
+pertaining to her race; at all events, material had not been wasted in
+giving her extra longitude--at the ends. Between the extremities, it
+might be different--for she was generally very long-waisted. But this
+might be accounted for in the process of _flattening out_: for like her
+compeer, the schoolmaster, she had much more breadth than thickness. She
+was somewhat angular, of course, and rather bony; but this was only the
+natural correspondence, between the external development, and the mental
+and moral organization. Her eyes were usually blue, and, to speak with
+accuracy, a little cold and grayish, in their expression--like the sky
+on a bleak morning in Autumn. Her forehead was very high and prominent,
+having, indeed, an _exposed_ look, like a shelterless knoll in an open
+prairie: but, not content with this, though the hair above it was often
+thin, she usually dragged the latter forcibly back, as if to increase
+the altitude of the former, by extending the skin. Her mouth was of that
+class called "primped," but was filled with teeth of respectable
+dimensions.
+
+Her arms were long, and, indeed, a little skinny, and she swung them
+very freely when she walked; while hands, of no insignificant size,
+dangled at the extremities, as if the joints of her wrists were
+insecure. She had large feet, too, and in walking her toes were
+assiduously turned out. She had, however, almost always one very great
+attraction--a fine, clear, healthy complexion--and the only blemishes
+upon this, that I have ever observed, were a little _red_ on the tip of
+her nose and on the points of her cheek-bones, and a good deal of _down_
+on her upper lip.
+
+
+In manners and bearing, she was brisk, prim, and sometimes a little
+"fidgety," as if she was conscious of sitting on a dusty chair; and she
+had a way of searching nervously for her pocket, as if to find a
+handkerchief with which to brush it off. She was a very fast walker, and
+an equally rapid talker--taking usually very short steps, as if afraid
+of splitting economical skirts, but using very long words, as if
+entertaining no such apprehension about her throat. Her gait was too
+rapid to be graceful, and her voice too sharp to be musical; but she was
+quite unconscious of these imperfections, especially of the latter: for
+at church--I beg pardon of her enlightened ancestors! I should say at
+"_meeting_"--her notes of praise were heard high over all the tumult of
+primitive singing; and, with her chin thrown out, and her shoulders
+drawn back, she looked, as well as sounded, the impersonation of
+_melody_, as contra-distinguished from _harmony_!
+
+
+But postponing, for the present, our consideration of her qualifications
+as a teacher, we find that her characteristics were still more
+respectable and valuable as a private member of society. And in this
+relation, her most prominent trait, like that of her brother teacher,
+was her stainless piety. In this respect, if in no other, women are
+always more sincere and single-hearted than men--perhaps because the
+distribution of social duties gives her less temptation to
+hypocrisy--and even the worldly, strong-minded, and self-reliant
+daughter of the church-hating Puritan-Zion, displayed a tendency toward
+genuine religious feeling.[80]
+
+But in our subject, this was not a mere bias, but a constant, unflagging
+sentiment, an everyday manifestation. She was as warm in the cause of
+religion on one day as upon another, in small things as in great--as
+zealous in the repression of all unbecoming and ungodly levity, as in
+the eradication of positive vice. Life was too solemn a thing with her
+to admit of thoughtless amusements--it was entirely a state of
+probation, not to be enjoyed in itself, or for itself, but purgatorial,
+remedial, and preparatory. She hated all devices of pleasure as her
+ancestors did the abominations of popery. A fiddle she could tolerate
+only in the shape of a bass-viol; and dancing, if practised at all, must
+be called "calisthenics." The drama was to her an invention of the Enemy
+of Souls--and if she ever saw a play, it must be at a _museum_, and not
+within the walls of that temple of Baal, the theatre. None but "serious"
+conversation was allowable, and a hearty laugh was the expression of a
+spirit ripe for the destination of unforgiven sinners.
+
+Errors in religion were too tremendous to be tolerated for a moment, and
+the form (or rather anti-form) of worship handed down by her fathers,
+had cost too much blood and crime to be oppugned. She thought
+Barebones's the only godly parliament that ever sat, and did not hate
+Hume half so much for his infidelity, as for his ridicule of the
+roundheads. Her list of martyrs was made up of the intruders ousted by
+Charles's "Act of Conformity," and her catalogue of saints was headed by
+the witch-boilers of Massachusetts Bay. She abhorred the memory of all
+_popish_ persecutions, and knew no difference between catholic and
+cannibal. Her running calendar of living saints were born "to inherit
+the earth," and heaven, too: they possessed a monopoly of all truth, an
+unlimited "indulgence" to enforce conformity, and, in their zeal, an
+infallible safeguard against the commission of error. She had no
+patience with those who could not "see the truth;" and he who reviled
+the puritan mode of worship, was "worse than the infidel." The only
+argument she ever used with such, was the _argumentum ad hominem_, which
+saves the trouble of conviction by "giving over to hardness of heart."
+New England was, to her, the land of Goshen--whither God's people had
+been led by God's hand--"the land of the patriarchs, where it rains
+righteousness"[81]--and all the adjacent country was a land of Egyptian
+darkness.
+
+
+She was commendably prudent in her personal deportment: being thoroughly
+pure and circumspect herself, she could forgive no thoughtless
+imprudence in her sister-woman: but she well-understood metaphysical
+distinctions, and was tolerant, if not liberal, to marriageable men.
+These she could hope to reform at some future time: and she had,
+moreover, a just idea of the weakness of man's nature. But being a
+woman, and a staid and sober-minded woman, she could never understand
+the power of temptation upon her own sex, or the commonest impulses of
+high spirits. Perhaps she was a little deficient in charity: but, as we
+have seen, it was chiefly toward her female friends, and since none can
+bear severe judgment more safely than woman, her austerity did little
+harm.
+
+But she sincerely regretted what she could never palliate; she hated not
+the guilty, though she could not forgive the sin; and no one was more
+easily melted to tears by the faults, and particularly by the _follies_,
+of the world. Wickedness is a very melancholy thing, but it is to be
+punished as well as lamented: and like the unfortunate governor who was
+forced to condemn his own son, she wept while she pronounced judgment.
+But earthly sorrow, by her, was given only to earthly faults: violations
+of simple good morals, crimes against heavenly creeds and forms (or
+rather _the_ form) of worship, claimed no tear. Her blood rose to
+fever-heat at the mention of an unbeliever, and she would as soon have
+wept for the errors of the fallen angels, as for those of
+anti-Robinsonians.
+
+
+But though thus rigid and austere, I never heard that she was at all
+disinclined to being courted: especially if it gave her any prospect of
+being able to make herself useful as a wife, either to herself, her
+husband, or her country. She understood the art of rearing and managing
+children, in her capacity as a teacher: she was thus peculiarly
+well-fitted for matrimonial duties, and was unwilling that the world
+should lose the benefit of her talents. But the man who courted her must
+do so in the most sober, staid, and regulated spirit, for it was seldom
+any unmixed romance about "love and nonsense," which moved _her_ to the
+sacrifice: if she entertained notions of that sort, they were such only
+as could find a place in her well-balanced mind, and, above all, were
+the subject of no raptures or transports of delight. If she indulged any
+enthusiasm, in view of the approaching change, it was in the prospect of
+endless shirt-making, and in calculations about how cheaply (not how
+happily) she could enable her husband to live. She had no squeamish
+delicacy about allowing the world to know the scope and meaning of her
+arrangements, and all her friends participated in her visions of comfort
+and economy. False modesty was no part of her nature--and her sentiment
+could be reduced to an algebraic formula--excluding the "unknown
+quantities" usually represented by the letters _b_, _c_, and _d_:
+meaning "bliss," "cottages," and "devotion."
+
+Yet, though she cared little for poetry, and seldom understood the
+images of fancy, she was not averse to a modicum of scandal in moments
+of relaxation: for the faults of others were the illustrations of her
+prudent maxims, and the thoughtlessness of a sister was the best
+possible text for a moral homily. The tense rigidity of her character,
+too, sometimes required a little unbending, and she had, therefore, no
+special aversion to an occasional surreptitious novel. But this she
+would indulge only in private; for in her mind, the worst quality of
+transgression was its bad example; and she never failed, in public, to
+condemn all such things with becoming and virtuous severity. Nor must
+this apparent inconsistency be construed to her disadvantage; for her
+strong mind and well-fortified morals, could withstand safely what would
+have corrupted a large majority of those around her; and it was meet,
+that one whose "mission" it was to reform, should thoroughly understand
+the enemy against which she battled. And these things never unfavorably
+affected her life and manners, for she was as prudent in her deportment
+(ill-natured people say _prudish_) as if some ancestress of hers had
+been deceived, and left in the family a tradition of man's perfidy and
+woman's frailty.
+
+She was careful, then, of three things--her clothes, her money, and her
+reputation: and, to do her justice, the last was as spotless as the
+first, and as much prized as the second, and that is saying a good deal,
+both for its purity and estimation. Neat, economical, and prudent, were,
+indeed, the three capital adjectives of her vocabulary, and to deserve
+them was her eleventh commandment.
+
+With one exception, these were the texts of all her homilies, and the
+exception was, unluckily, one which admitted of much more argument.
+
+It was the history of the puritans. But upon this subject, she was as
+dexterous a special pleader as Neale, and as skilful in giving a false
+coloring to facts, as D'Aubigne. But she had the advantage of these
+worthies in that her declamation was quite honest: she had been taught
+sincerely and heartily to believe all she asserted. She was of the
+opinion that but two respectable ships had been set afloat since the
+world began: one of which was Noah's ark, and the other the Mayflower.
+She believed that no people had ever endured such persecutions as the
+puritans, and was especially eloquent upon the subject of "New England's
+Blarney-stone," the Rock of Plymouth.
+
+Indeed, according to the creed of her people, historical and religious,
+this is the only piece of granite in the whole world "worth speaking
+of;" and geologists have sadly wasted their time in travelling over the
+world in search of the records of creation, when a full epitome of
+everything deserving to be known, existed in so small a space! All the
+other rocks of the earth sink into insignificance, and "hide their
+diminished heads," when compared to this mighty stone! The Rock of
+Leucas, from which the amorous Lesbian maid cast herself disconsolate
+into the sea, is a mere pile of dirt: the Tarpeian, whence the Law went
+forth to the whole world for so many centuries, is not fit to be
+mentioned in the same day: the Rock of Cashel, itself, is but the
+subject of profane Milesian oaths; and the Ledge of Plymouth is the real
+"Rock of Ages!" It is well that every people should have something to
+adore, especially if that "something" belongs exclusively to themselves.
+It elevates their self-respect: and, for this object, even historical
+fictions may be forgiven.
+
+
+But, as we have intimated, in the course of time the schoolmistress
+became a married woman; and as she gathered experience, she gradually
+learned that New England is not the whole "moral vineyard," and that
+one might be more profitably employed than in disputing about
+questionable points of history. New duties devolved upon her, and new
+responsibilities rained fast. Instead of teaching the children of other
+people, she now raised children for other people to teach. New sources
+of pride were found in these, and in her husband and his prosperity. She
+discovered that she could be religious without bigotry, modest without
+prudery, and economical without meanness: and, profiting by the lessons
+thus learned, she subsided into a true, faithful, and respectable
+matron, thus, at last, fulfilling her genuine "mission."
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[79] Author of the Life of William Penn, whose accuracy has lately been
+questioned.
+
+[80] By this form of expression, which may seem awkward, I mean to
+convey this idea: That consistency of character would seem to preclude
+any heartfelt reverence in the descendant of those whose piety was
+manifested more in the _hatred of earthly_, than in _the love of
+heavenly_, things.
+
+[81] The language of a precious pamphlet, even now in circulation in the
+west.
+
+
+
+
+X.
+
+THE POLITICIAN.
+
+    "All would be deemed, e'en from the cradle, fit
+    To rule in politics as well as wit:
+    The grave, the gay, the fopling, and the dunce,
+    Start up (God bless us!) statesmen all at once!"
+
+    CHURCHILL.
+
+
+In a country where the popular breath sways men to its purposes or
+caprices, as the wind bends the weeds in a meadow, statesmanship may
+become a _system_, but can never rise to the dignity of a _science_; and
+politics, instead of being an _art_, is a series of _arts_.
+
+A system is order without principle: a science is order, based upon
+principle. Statesmanship has to do with generalities--with the relations
+of states, the exposition and preservation of constitutional provisions,
+and with fundamental organizations. Politics relates to measures, and
+the details of legislation. The _art_ of governing is the accomplishment
+of the true politician: the _arts_ of governing are the trickeries of
+the demagogue. _Right_ is the key-note of one: _popularity_ of the
+other.
+
+
+The large majority of men are sufficiently candid to acknowledge--at
+least to themselves--that they are unfit for the station of law-giver;
+but the vanity and jealousy begotten by participation in political
+power, lead many of them, if not actually to believe, at all events to
+_act_ upon the faith, that men, no more able than themselves, are the
+best material for rulers. It is a kind of compromise between their
+modesty and self-love: not burthening them with the trials and
+responsibilities of positions for which they feel incompetent, but
+soothing their vanity by the contemplation of office-holders not at all
+their superiors. Below a certain (or uncertain) grade, therefore,
+political stations are usually filled by men of very moderate abilities:
+and their elevation is favored--indeed, often effected--by the very
+causes which should prevent it. Such men are prone to thrust themselves
+upon public notice, and thus secure, by persistence and impudence, what
+might not be awarded them on the score of merit.
+
+It is a trite remark, that people are inclined to accept a man's
+estimate of himself, and to put him in possession of that place, in
+their consideration, which he has the hardihood to claim. And the
+observation is just, to this extent: if the individual does not respect
+himself, probably no one else will take that trouble. But in a country
+where universal suffrage reigns, it may be doubted whether the elevation
+of an ordinary man indicates any recognition of the justice of his
+claims. On the contrary, they may be endorsed precisely because they are
+false: that is, because he really possesses no other title to the
+support of common men, than that which is founded upon fellow-feeling or
+sympathy of character. Many a man, therefore, who receives his election
+as a compliment from the voters, if he understood the motives of their
+action, would throw up his office in disgust; for in a large majority of
+cases, the popular choice, so far from being an assertion of the
+candidate's peculiar fitness to be singled out from among his brethren,
+is only a declaration that neither talent nor character entitles him to
+the distinction. The cry that a man is "one of the people," will bring
+him great strength at the ballot-box: but this is a phrase which means
+very different things, according as it is used by the candidate or the
+voter; and, in many cases, if they could thoroughly understand each
+other, the latter would not give his support, and the former would not
+ask it.
+
+
+These remarks are applicable to all stages of society's progress; for,
+if the world were so enlightened, that, in the scale of intellect, such
+a man as Daniel Webster could only be classed as an idiot, there would
+still be the "ignorant vulgar," the "uneducated classes." Society is one
+entire web--albeit woven with threads of wool and silk, of silver and
+gold: turn it as you will, it must all turn together; and if a whirlwind
+of enlightenment should waft it to the skies, although each thread would
+be immeasurably above its present condition, the relation of one to
+another would still be the same. If the baser wool should be transmuted
+into gold, the very same process would refine and sublimate the precious
+metal, in a corresponding ratio; and the equilibrium of God's appointed
+relations would remain undisturbed.
+
+
+But it is more especially in the primitive periods, before the great
+political truths become household words, and while the reign of law and
+municipal organization is a vague and distant thing, that most citizens
+shrink from official duties. Diffidence, in this matter is,
+fortunately, a disease which time will alleviate--a youthful weakness,
+which communities "outgrow," as children do physical defects; and, I
+believe, of late years, few offices have "gone begging," either east or
+west of the great barrier of the Allegheny.
+
+In the earlier periods of its history, we have seen that the western
+country was peculiarly situated. The settlements were weak and the
+population small; with the exception of a few narrow fields, in the
+vicinity of each frontier fort, or stockade, the land was a wilderness,
+held in undisturbed possession by the savages and wild beasts. The great
+struggle, which we call the Revolution, but which was, in fact, only a
+justifiable and successful rebellion, had exhausted the force and
+drained the coffers of the feeble federal government; had plunged the
+infant states into enormous debts; and the only means of paying these
+were the boundless but unclaimed lands of the west, which the same
+causes rendered them unable to protect. The scattered settlements on the
+Mississippi side of the Alleghenies, were thus left to their own scanty
+resources; and the distance was so great, that, had the older states
+been able to afford assistance, the delays and losses attendant upon its
+transmission across so wide a tract of wilderness, would have made it
+almost nugatory.
+
+In those times, therefore, though a few were looking forward to separate
+political organization and the erection of new states, the larger number
+of the western people were too constantly occupied with their defence,
+to give much attention to internal politics. Such organization as they
+had was military, or patriarchal: the early pioneer, who had
+distinguished himself in the first explorations of the country, or by
+successfully leading and establishing a new settlement, as he became the
+commander of the local fort, was also the law-giver of the community.
+The pressure of external danger was too close to allow a very liberal
+democracy in government; and, as must be the case in all primitive
+assemblages of men, the counsels and commands of him whom they knew to
+be the _most able_, were always observed. He who had proven himself
+competent to lead was, therefore, the leader _ipso facto_ and _de jure_;
+and the evidence required was the performance of such exploits, and the
+display of such courage and sagacity, as were necessary to the defence,
+well-being, and protection of the community.
+
+It is obvious that no mere pretender could exhibit these proofs; and
+that, where they were taken as the sole measure of a man's worth,
+dexterity with a rifle must be of more value than the accomplishments of
+a talker--Indian-fighting a more respectable occupation than
+speech-making. Small politicians were, therefore, very small men, and
+saying that one had "a turn for politics," would have been equivalent to
+calling him a vagabond. The people had neither time nor patience to
+listen to declamation--the man who rose in a public assembly, and called
+upon his neighbors to follow him in avenging a wrong, made the only
+speech they cared to hear. "Preambles and resolutions" were unmeaning
+formalities--their "resolutions" were taken in their own minds, and, to
+use their own expressive words, they executed them "without preamble."
+An ounce of lead was worth more than a pound of advice; and, in the
+vindication of justice, a "charge" of gunpowder was more effectual than
+the most tedious judicial harangue. It is, even now, a proud, but
+well-founded boast, of western men, that these traits have been
+transmitted to them from their fathers--that they are more remarkable
+for _fighting_ than for _wrangling_, for _acting_ than for _talking_.
+
+In such a state of society, civil offices existed scarcely in name, and
+were never very eagerly sought. That which makes official station
+desirable is obedience to its authority, and if the title of "captain"
+gave the idea of more absolute power than that of "sheriff," one would
+rather command a company of militia than the "_posse comitatus_."
+Besides, the men of the frontier were simple-hearted and unambitious,
+desiring nothing so much as to be "left alone," and willing to make a
+compact of forbearance with the whole world--excepting only the Indians.
+They had never been accustomed to the restraints of municipal
+regulations, they were innocent of the unhealthy pleasures of
+office-holding, or the degrading impulses of office-seeking. Their lives
+had given them little or no knowledge of these things; experience had
+never suggested their importance, for their acquaintance with life was,
+almost exclusively, such as could be acquired in the woods and forest
+pathways.
+
+But as time rolled away, and the population of the country became more
+dense--as the pressure of external danger was withdrawn, and the
+necessities of defence grew less urgent--the rigor of military
+organization came gradually to be somewhat irksome. The seeds of civil
+institutions began to germinate among the people, while the extending
+interests of communities required corresponding enactments and
+regulations. The instincts of social beings, love of home and family,
+attachment to property, the desire of tranquillity, and, perhaps, a
+leaven of ambition for good estimation among neighbors, all combined to
+open men's eyes to the importance of peaceful institutions. The day of
+the rifle and scalping-knife passed away, and justice without form--the
+rule of the elementary strong-hand--gave place to order and legal
+ceremony.
+
+
+Then first began to appear the class of politicians, though, as yet,
+office-seeking had not become a trade, nor office-holding a regular
+means of livelihood. Politics had not acquired a place among the arts,
+nor had its professors become the teachers of the land. There were few,
+indeed, who sought to fill civil stations; and, although men's
+qualifications for office were, probably, not any more rigidly examined
+then than now, those who possessed the due degree of prominence, either
+deemed themselves, or were believed by their fellow-citizens, peculiarly
+capable of discharging such functions. They were generally men who had
+made themselves conspicuous or useful in other capacities--who had
+become well or favorably known to their neighbors through their zeal,
+courage, sagacity, or public spirit. A leader of regulators, for
+example, whose administration of his dangerous powers had been marked by
+promptitude and severity, was expected to be equally efficient when
+clothed with more regular authority. A captain of rangers, whose
+enterprises had been remarkable for certainty and _finish_, would, it
+was believed, do quite as good service, in the capacity of a civil
+officer. A daring pioneer, whose courage or presence of mind had saved
+himself and others from the dangers of the wilderness, was supposed to
+be an equally sure guide in the pathless ways of politics. Lawyers were
+yet few, and not of much repute, for they were, for the most part,
+youthful adventurers, who had come into the field long before the
+ripening of the harvest.
+
+
+There was another class, whose members held prominent positions, though
+they had never been distinguished for the possession of any of the
+qualifications above enumerated. These might be designated as the
+_noisy_ sort--loud-talking, wise-looking men, self-constituted oracles
+and advice-givers, with a better opinion of their own wisdom than any
+one else was willing to endorse. Such men became "file-leaders," or
+"pivot-men," because the taciturn people of the west, though inclined to
+undervalue a mere talker, were simple-minded enough to accept a man's
+valuation of his own powers: or easy-tempered enough to spare themselves
+the trouble of investigating so small a matter. It was of little
+consequence to them, whether the candidate was as wise as he desired to
+be thought; and since, in political affairs, they knew of no interest
+which they could have in disputing it, for _his_ gratification they were
+willing to admit it. These were halcyon days for mere pretenders--though
+for no very flattering reason: since their claims were allowed chiefly
+because they were not deemed worth controverting. Those days, thanks to
+the "progress of intelligence!" are now gone by: the people are better
+acquainted with the natural history of such animals, and--witness, ye
+halls of Congress!--none may now hold office except capable, patriotic,
+and disinterested men!
+
+Nor must we be understood to assert that the primitive politician was
+the reverse of all this, save in the matter of capability. And, even in
+that particular, no conception of his deficiency ever glimmered in his
+consciousness. His own assumption, and the complaisance of his
+fellow-citizens, were inter-reactive, mutually cause and effect. _They_
+were willing to confirm his valuation of his own talents: _he_ was
+inclined to exalt himself in their good opinion. Parallel to this, also,
+was the oracular tone of his speech: the louder he talked, the more
+respectfully silent were his auditors; and the more attentive _they_
+became, the noisier _he_ grew. Submission always encourages oppression,
+and admiration adds fuel to the fire of vanity. Not that the politician
+was precisely a despot, even over men's opinions: the application of
+that name to him would have been as sore a wound to his self-respect as
+the imputation of horse-stealing. He was but an oracle of opinion, and
+though allowed to dictate in matters of thought as absolutely as if
+backed by brigades of soldiers, he was a sovereign whose power existed
+only through the consent of his subjects.
+
+
+In personal appearance, he was well-calculated to retain the authority
+intrusted to him by such men. He was, in fact, an epitome of all the
+physical qualities which distinguished the rugged people of the west:
+and between these and the moral and intellectual, there is an invariable
+correspondence--as if the spirit within had moulded its material
+encasement to the planes and angles of its own "form and pressure."
+
+
+National form and feature are the external marks of national character,
+stamped more or less distinctly in different individuals, but, in the
+aggregate, perfectly correspondent and commensurate. The man, therefore,
+who possesses the national traits of character in their best
+development, will be, also, the most faithful representative of his race
+in physical characteristics. At some periods, there are whole classes of
+these types; and if there be any _one_ who embodies the character more
+perfectly than all others, the tranquillity of the age is not calculated
+to draw him forth. But in all times of trouble--of revolution or
+national ferment--the perfect Man-emblem is seen to rise, and (which is
+more to the purpose) is sure to stand at the head of his fellows: for he
+who best represents the character of his followers, becomes, by God's
+appointment, their leader. To this extent, the _vox populi_ is the _vox
+Dei_; and the unfailing success of every such man, throughout his
+appointed term, is the best possible justification of the choice.
+
+What was Washington, for example, but an epitome of the steady and noble
+qualities combined of cavalier and puritan, which were then coalescing
+in the American character? And what more perfect correspondence could be
+conceived between the moral and intellectual and the physical outlines?
+What was Cromwell but _the Englishman_, not only of his own time, but of
+all times? And the testimony of all who saw him, what is it, but that a
+child, who looked upon him, could not fail to see, in his very
+lineaments, the great and terrible man he was? And Napoleon, was he
+aught but an abridgment of the French nation, the sublimate and "proof"
+essence of French character? Not one, of all the great men of history,
+has possessed, so far as we know, a physical constitution more perfectly
+representing, even in its advancing grossness, both the strength and
+weakness of the people he led.
+
+In tranquil times, these things are not observed in one individual more
+than in others of his class, and we are, therefore, not prepared to
+decide whether, at such periods, _the one man_ exists. The great
+Leviathan, the king of all the creatures of the ocean, rises to the
+surface only in the tumult of the storm; his huge, portentous form, lies
+on the face of the troubled waters only when the currents are changed
+and the fountains of the deep are broken up.
+
+Nature does no superfluous work, and it may require the same causes
+which produce the storm to organize its Ruler. If a great rebellion is
+boiling among men, the mingling of the elements is projecting, also, the
+Great Rebel: if a national cause is to be asserted, the principles upon
+which it rests will first create its appropriate Exponent. But when no
+such agitation is on the point of breaking out--when the crisis is not
+near, and the necessity for such greatness distant--national character
+probably retains its level; and though there be no _one_ whom the people
+will recognise as the arch-man, the representatives, losing in intensity
+what they gain in numbers, become a class. They fill the civil stations
+of the country, and are known as men of mark--their opinions are
+received, their advice accepted, their leading followed. No one of them
+is known instinctively, or trusted implicitly, as the leader of Nature's
+appointment: yet they are, in fact, the exponents of their time and
+race, and in exact proportion to the degree in which they possess the
+character, will they exhibit, also, the physical peculiarities.
+
+
+Thus it was at the time of which we are writing, with the class to which
+belonged the politician, and a description of his personal appearance,
+like that of any other man, will convey no indistinct impression of his
+internal character.
+
+Such a description probably combined more characteristic adjectives than
+that of any other personage of his time--adjectives, some of which were
+applicable to many of his neighbors, respectively, but _all_ of which
+might be bestowed upon him _only_. He was tall, gaunt, angular, swarthy,
+active, and athletic. His hair was, invariably, black as the wing of the
+raven; even in that small portion which the cap of raccoon-skin left
+exposed to the action of sun and rain, the gray was but thinly
+scattered; imparting to the monotonous darkness only a more iron
+character. As late as the present day, though we have changed in many
+things, light-haired men seldom attain eminence among the western
+people: many of our legislators are _young_ enough, but none of them are
+_beardless_. They have a bilious look, as if, in case of illness, their
+only hope would lie in calomel and jalap. One might understand, at the
+first glance, that they are men of _talent_, not of _genius_; and that
+physical energy, the enduring vitality of the body, has no
+inconsiderable share in the power of the mind.
+
+Corresponding to the sable of the hair, the politician's eye was usually
+small, and intensely black--not the dead, inexpressive jet, which gives
+the idea of a hole through white paper, or of a cavernous socket in a
+death's-head; but the keen, midnight darkness, in whose depths you can
+see a twinkle of starlight--where you feel that there is meaning as well
+as color. There might be an expression of cunning along with that of
+penetration--but, in a much higher degree, the blaze of irascibility.
+There could be no doubt, from its glance, that its possessor was an
+excellent hater; you might be assured that he would never forget an
+injury or betray a friend.
+
+A stoop in the shoulders indicated that, in times past, he had been in
+the habit of carrying a heavy rifle, and of closely examining the ground
+over which he walked; but what the chest thus lost in depth it gained in
+breadth. His lungs had ample space in which to play--there was nothing
+pulmonary even in the drooping shoulders. Few of his class have ever
+lived to a very advanced age, but it was not for want of
+iron-constitutions, that they went early to the grave. The same services
+to his country, which gave the politician his prominence, also shortened
+his life.
+
+From shoulders thus bowed, hung long, muscular arms--sometimes, perhaps,
+dangling a little ungracefully, but always under the command of their
+owner, and ready for any effort, however violent. These were terminated
+by broad, bony hands, which looked like grapnels--their grasp, indeed,
+bore no faint resemblance to the hold of those symmetrical instruments.
+Large feet, whose toes were usually turned in, like those of the Indian,
+were wielded by limbs whose vigor and activity were in keeping with the
+figure they supported. Imagine, with these peculiarities, a free, bold,
+rather swaggering gait, a swarthy complexion, and conformable features
+and tones of voice: and--excepting his costume--you have before your
+fancy a complete picture of the early western politician.
+
+But the item of costume is too important to be passed over with a mere
+allusion. As well might we paint a mountain without its verdant
+clothing, its waving plumes of pine and cedar, as the western man
+without his picturesque and characteristic habiliments. The first, and
+indispensable article of dress, was the national hunting-shirt: a
+garment whose easy fit was well-adapted, both to the character of his
+figure and the freedom of his movements. Its nature did not admit much
+change in fashion: the only variations of which it was capable, were
+those of ornament and color. It might be fringed around the cape and
+skirt, or made plain; it might be blue, or copper-colored--perhaps
+tinged with a little madder. And the variety of material was quite as
+limited, since it must be of either jeans or deer-skin.
+
+Corresponding to this, in material, style, and texture, he wore, also, a
+pair of wide pantaloons--not always of precisely the proper length for
+the limbs of the wearer, but having invariably a broad waistband, coming
+up close under the arms, and answering the purpose of the modern vest.
+People were not so dainty about "set" and "fit," in those days, as they
+have since become; and these primitive integuments were equally
+well-adapted to the figure of any one to whose lot they might fall. In
+their production, no one had been concerned save the family of the
+wearer. The sheep which bore the wool, belonged to his own flock, and
+all the operations, subsequent to the shearing, necessary to the
+ultimate result of shaping into a garment, had been performed by his
+wife or daughter. Many politicians have continued this affectation of
+plainness, even when the necessity has ceased, on account of its effect
+upon the masses; for people are apt to entertain the notion, that
+decent clothing is incompatible with mental ability, and that he who is
+most manifestly behind the improvements of the time, is best qualified
+for official stations.
+
+A neck-cloth, or cravat, was never seen about the politician's throat;
+and for the same reason of expediency: for these were refinements of
+affectation which had not then been introduced; and a man who thus
+compassed his neck, could no more have been elected to an office, than
+if he had worn the cap and bells of a Saxon jester. The shirt-bosoms of
+modern days were in the same category; and _starch_ was an article
+contraband to the law of public sentiment--insomuch that no epithet
+expressed more thorough contempt for a man, than the graphic word
+"starched." A raccoon-skin cap--or, as a piece of extravagant finery, a
+white-wool hat--with a pair of heavy shoes, not unfrequently without the
+luxury of hose--or, if with them, made of blue-woollen yarn, from the
+back of a sheep of the aforesaid flock--completed the element of
+costume.
+
+He was not very extravagantly dressed, as the reader sees; but we can
+say of him--what could not be as truly spoken of many men, or, indeed,
+of many women, of this day--that his clothing bore distinct reference to
+his character, and was well-adapted to his "style of beauty." In fact,
+everything about him, form, face, manners, dress, was in "in keeping"
+with his characteristics.
+
+
+In occupation, he was usually a farmer; for the materials of which
+popular tribunes are made in later times--such as lawyers, gentlemen of
+leisure, and pugnacious preachers--were not then to be found. The
+population of the country was thoroughly agricultural; and though (as I
+believe I have elsewhere observed) the rural people of the west were
+neither a cheerful nor a polished race, as a class, they possess, even
+yet, qualities, which, culminating in an individual, eminently fit him
+for the _role_ of a noisy popular leader.
+
+But a man who is merely fitted to such a position, is a very different
+animal to one qualified to give laws for the government of the citizen.
+After all our vain boasting, that public sentiment is the law of our
+land, there is really a very broad distinction between forming men's
+opinions and controlling their action. If the government had been so
+organized, that the pressure of popular feeling might make itself felt,
+directly, in the halls of legislation, our history, instead of being
+that of a great and advancing nation, would have been only a chronicle
+of factious and unstable violence. It does not follow, that one who is
+qualified to lead voters at the polls, or, as they say here, "on the
+stump," will be able to embody, in enlightened enactments, the sentiment
+which he contributes to form, any more than that the tanner will be able
+to shape a well-fitting boot from the leather he prepares. "_Suum cuique
+proprium dat Natura donum_."[82] A blacksmith, therefore, is not the
+best manufacturer of silver spoons, a lawyer the ablest writer of
+sermons, nor either of them necessarily the safest law-maker.
+
+But those things to which his qualifications were appropriate, the
+politician did thoroughly and well. For example, he was a skilful
+farmer--at least in the leading branches of that calling, though he gave
+little or no attention to the merely ornamental. For the latter, he had
+neither time nor inclination. Even in the essentials, it was only by
+working, as he expressed it, "to the best advantage,"--that is,
+contriving to produce the largest amount of results with the least
+expenditure of labor and patience--that he got sufficient leisure to
+attend to his public duties; and as for "inclination," no quaker ever
+felt a more supreme contempt for mere embellishment.
+
+
+He was seldom very happy in his domestic relations; for, excepting at
+those seasons when the exigencies of his calling required his constant
+attention, he spent but little of his time at his own fireside. He
+absented himself _until_ his home became strange and uncomfortable to
+him: and he then did the same, _because_ it had become so. Every man who
+may try the experiment will discover that these circumstances mutually
+aggravate each other--are, interchangeably, cause and effect. His
+children were, however, always numerous, scarcely ever falling below
+half-a-dozen, and not unfrequently doubling that allowance. They
+generally appeared upon the stage in rapid succession--one had scarcely
+time to get out of the way, before another was pushing him from his
+place. The peevishness thus begotten in the mother--by the constant
+habit of nursing cross cherubs--though it diminished the amount of
+family peace, contributed, in another way, to the general welfare: it
+induced the father to look abroad for enjoyment, and thus gave the
+country the benefit of his wisdom as a political counsellor. Public
+spirit, and the consciousness of ability, have "brought out" many
+politicians: but uncomfortable homes have produced many more.
+
+
+He was an oracle on the subject of hunting, and an unerring judge of
+whiskey--to both which means of enjoyment he was strongly attached. He
+was careful, however, neither to hunt nor drink in solitude, for even
+his amusements were subservient to his political interests. To hunt
+alone was a waste of time, while drinking alone was a loss of
+good-fellowship, upon which much of his influence was founded. He was
+particularly attached to parties of half-a-dozen, or more; for in such
+companions, his talents were always conspicuous. Around a burgou[83]
+pot, or along the trenches of an impromptu barbecue, he shone in
+meridian splendor; and the approving smack of his lips, over a bottle of
+"backwoods' nectar," was the seal of the judgment which gave character
+to the liquor.
+
+"Militia musters" were days in his calendar, "marked with a
+white-stone;" for it was upon these occasions that he appeared in his
+utmost magnificence. His grade was never lower than that of colonel, and
+it not unfrequently extended to, or even beyond, the rank of
+brigadier-general. It was worth "a sabbath-day's journey" on foot, to
+witness one of these parades; for I believe that all the annals of the
+burlesque do not furnish a more amusing caricature of the "pomp and
+circumstance" of war. Compared to one of those militia regiments,
+Falstaff's famous corps, whose appearance was so unmilitary as to
+prevent even that liberal-minded gentleman from marching through
+Coventry in their company, was a model of elegance and discipline.
+Sedeno's cavalry in the South American wars, though their uniform
+consisted only of "leggings," a pair of spurs, and a Spanish blanket,
+had more the aspect of a regular _corps d'armee_ than these! A mob of
+rustics was never armed with a more extensive variety of weapons; and no
+night's "haul" of a recruiting sergeant's net, ever made a more
+disorderly appearance, when mustered in the morning for inspection.
+
+The "citizen-soldier" knew no more about "dressing the line," than about
+dressing himself, and the front of his company presented as many
+inequalities as a "worm-fence." Tall men and short men--beaver hats and
+raccoon-skin caps--rusty firelocks and long corn-stalks--stiff brogans
+and naked feet--composed the grand display. There were as many officers
+as men, and each was continually commanding and instructing his
+neighbor, but never thinking of himself. At the command "Right dress!"
+(when the officer _par excellence_ knew enough to deliver it) some
+looked right, others left--some thrust their heads out before--some
+leaned back to get a glimpse behind--and the whole line waved like a
+streamer in the wind. "Silence in line!" produced a greater clamor than
+ever, for each repeated the command to every other, sending the order
+along the ranks like a rolling fire, and not unfrequently enforcing it
+with the push of a corn-stalk, or a vigorous elbow-hint. When a movement
+was directed, the order reached the men successively, by the same
+process of repetition--so that while some files were walking slowly, and
+looking back to beckon on their lagging fellow-soldiers, others were
+forced to a quick run to regain their places, and the scramble often
+continued many minutes after the word "halt!" The longer the parade
+lasted, the worse was the drill; and after a tedious day's "muster,"
+each man knew less, if possible, of military tactics, than he did in the
+morning.
+
+But the most ludicrous part of the display, was the earnest solemnity
+with which the politician-colonel endeavored "to lick the mass into
+shape." If you had judged only by the expression of his face, you would
+have supposed that an invading army was already within our borders, and
+that this democratic army was the only hope of patriotism to repel the
+foreign foe. And, indeed, it might not be too much to say, that some
+such idea actually occupied his mind: for he was so fond of "supposing
+cases," that bare possibilities sometimes grew in his mind to actual
+realities; and it was a part of his creed, as well as his policy to
+preach, that "a nation's best defence" is to be found in "the
+undisciplined valor of its citizens." His military maxims were not based
+upon the history of such countries as Poland and Spain--and Hungary had
+not then added her example to the list. He never understood the relation
+between discipline and efficiency; and the doctrine of the "largest
+liberty" was so popular, that, on his theory, it must be universally
+right. Tempered thus, and modified by some of the tendencies of the
+demagogue, his love of military parade amounted to a propensity, a trait
+which he shared with most of the people among whom he lived.
+
+The inference from this characteristic, that he possessed what
+phrenologists used to call "combativeness," is not unavoidable, though
+such was the fact. He was, indeed, quite pugnacious, ready, at all
+times, to fight for himself or for his friends, and never with any very
+special or discriminating reference to the cause of quarrel. He was,
+however, seldom at feud with any one whose enmity could materially
+injure him: extensive connections he always conciliated, and every
+popular man was his friend. Nor was he compelled, in order to compass
+these ends, to descend to any very low arts; for "the people," were not
+so fastidious in those days, as they seem since to have become; and a
+straightforward sincerity was then the first element of popularity. The
+politician was not forced to affect an exemplary "walk and
+conversation;" nor was an open declaration of principle or opinion
+dangerous to his success.
+
+This liberality in public sentiment had its evils: since, for example,
+the politician was not generally the less esteemed for being rather a
+hard _swearer_. In the majority of the class, indeed, this amounted only
+to an energetic or emphatic mode of expression; and such the people did
+not less respect, than if, in the same person, they had had reason to
+believe the opposite tone hypocritical. The western people--to their
+honor be it written!--were, and are, mortal enemies to everything like
+_cant_: though they might regret, that one's morals were no _better_
+than they appeared, they were still more grieved, if they found
+evidence, that they were _worse_ than they claimed to be.
+
+
+But, though the politician was really very open and candid in all the
+affairs of life, in his own estimation he was a very dexterous and
+dangerous intriguer: he often deceived himself into the belief, that the
+success, which was in fact the result of his manly candor, was
+attributable only to his cunning management. He was always forming, and
+attempting to execute, schemes for circumventing his political
+opponents; but, if he bore down all opposition, it was _in spite of_ his
+chicanery, and not by its assistance. Left-handed courses are never
+advantageous "in the long run;" and, perhaps, it would be well if this
+lesson were better understood by politicians, even in our own
+enlightened day.
+
+For the arts of rhetoric he had small respect; in his opinion, the man
+who was capable of making a long, florid speech, was fit for little
+else. His own oratorical efforts were usually brief, pithy, and to the
+point. For example, here follows a specimen, which the writer heard
+delivered in Illinois, by a candidate for the legislature:--
+
+"Fellow-citizens: I am no speech-maker, but what I say, _I'll do_. I've
+lived among you twenty years, and if I've shown myself a clever fellow,
+you know it, _without_ a speech: if I'm not a clever fellow, you know
+that, too, and wouldn't forget it _with_ a speech. I'm a candidate for
+the legislature: if you think I'm 'the clear grit,' _vote_ for me: if
+you think Major R---- of a better 'stripe' than I am, vote for _him_.
+The fact is, that either of us will make a devilish good
+representative!"
+
+For the satisfaction of the reader, we should record that the orator was
+triumphantly elected, and, though "no speech-maker," was an excellent
+member for several years.
+
+
+The saddest, yet cheerfullest--the quaintest, yet most unaffected of
+moralists, has written "A Complaint upon the Decay of Beggars," which
+will not cease to be read, so long as pure English and pure feeling are
+understood and appreciated. They were a part of the recollections of his
+childhood--images painted upon his heart, impressions made in his soft
+and pitying nature; and the "besom of societarian reformation,"
+legislating busybodies, and tinkers of the general welfare, were
+sweeping them away, with all their humanizing influences, their deep
+lessons of dire adversity and gentle charity.
+
+There are some memories of the childhood of western men--unlike, and yet
+similar in their generous persuasions on all pure young hearts--upon
+whose "Decay" might, also, be written a "Complaint," which should come
+as truly, and yet as sadly, from the heart of him, who remembers his
+boyhood, as did that from the heart of Elia. Gatherings of the militia,
+burgou-hunts, barbecues, and anniversaries--phases of a primitive, yet
+true and hearty time!--are fast giving way, before the march of a
+barbarous "progress" (erroneously christened) "of intelligence." The
+hard spirit of money-getting, the harder spirit of education-getting,
+and the hardest of _all_ spirits, that of pharisaical morality, have
+divorced our youth, _a vinculo_, from every species of amusement; and
+life has come to be a probationary struggle, too fierce to allow a
+moment's relaxation. The bodies of children are drugged and worried into
+health, their intellects are stuffed and forced into premature
+development, or early decay--but their _hearts_ are utterly forgotten!
+Enjoyment is a forbidden thing, and only the miserable cant of
+"intellectual pleasure" is allowed. _Ideas_--of philosophy, religious
+observance, and mathematics--are supplied _ad nauseam_; but the
+encouragement of a generous _impulse_, or a magnanimous _feeling_, is
+too frivolous a thing to have a place in our vile system. Children are
+"brought up," and "brought out," as if they were composed exclusively of
+intellect and body: And, since the manifestations of any other element
+are pronounced pernicious--even if the existence of the element itself
+be recognised--the means of fostering it, innocent amusements, which
+make the sunshine brighter, the spirits more cheerful, and the heart
+purer and lighter, are sternly prohibited. Alas! for the generation
+which shall grow up, and be "educated" (God save the mark!) as if it had
+no heart! And wo to the blasphemy which dares to offer, as service to
+Heaven, an arrogant contempt of Heaven's gifts, and claims a reward,
+like the self-tormentors of the middle ages, for its vain
+mortifications.
+
+But, in the time of the politician, of whom we write, these things were
+far different. We have already seen him at a "militia muster," and fain
+would we pause here, to display him at a barbecue. What memories,
+sweet, though sad, we might evoke of "the glorious fourth" in the olden
+time! How savory are even the dim recollections of the dripping viands,
+which hung, and fried, and crisped, and crackled, over the great fires,
+in the long deep trenches! Our nostrils grow young again with the
+thought--and the flavor of the feast floats on the breezes of memory,
+even "across the waste of years" which lie between! And the cool,
+luxuriant foliage of the grove, the verdant thickets, and among them
+pleasant vistas, little patches of green sward, covered with gay and
+laughing parties--even the rosy-cheeked girls, in their rustling gingham
+dresses, cast now and then a longing glance, toward the yet forbidden
+tables! how fresh and clear these images return upon the fancy!
+
+And then the waving banners, roaring cannon, and the slow procession,
+moving all too solemnly for our impatient wishes! And finally, the
+dropping of the ropes, the simultaneous rush upon the open feast, and
+the rapid, perhaps ravenous consumption of the smoking viands, the jest,
+the laugh, all pleasant merriment, the exhilaration of the crowd, the
+music, and the occasion! What glories we heard from the orator, of
+victories achieved by our fathers! How we longed--O! brief, but
+glorious dream! to be one day spoken of like Washington! How wildly our
+hearts leaped in our boyish bosoms, as we listened to the accents of the
+solemn pledge and "declaration"--"our lives, our fortunes, and our
+sacred honor!" The whole year went lighter for that one day, and at each
+return, we went home happier, and better!
+
+How measureless we thought the politician's greatness then! This was his
+proper element--here he was at home; and, as he ordered and directed
+everything about him, flourishing his marshal's baton, clearing the way
+for the march of the procession--settling the "order of exercises," and
+reading the programme, in a stentorian voice--there was, probably in his
+own estimation, and certainly in ours, no more important or honored
+individual in all that multitude!
+
+In such scenes as these, he was, indeed, without a rival; but there were
+others, also, in which he was quite as useful, if not so conspicuous. On
+election days, for instance, when a free people assembled to exercise
+their "inestimable privilege," to choose their own rulers--he was as
+busy as a witch in a tempest. His talents shone forth with especial and
+peculiar lustre--for, with him, this was "the day for which all other
+days were made." He marshalled his retainers, and led them to "the
+polls"--not as an inexperienced tactician would have done, with much
+waste of time, in seeking every private voter, but after the manner of
+feudal times--by calling upon his immediate dependants, captains over
+tens and twenties, through whom he managed the more numerous masses.
+These were the "file-leaders," the "fugle-men," and "heads of messes;"
+and it was by a judicious management of these, that he was able to
+acquire and retain an extensive influence.
+
+The first article of his electioneering creed was, that every voter was
+controlled by somebody; and that the only way to sway the privates was,
+to govern the officers: and, whether true or not, it must be admitted
+that his theory worked well in practice. He affected to entertain a high
+respect for those whom he described as "the boys from the heads of the
+hollows"--men who were never seen beyond the precincts of their own
+little "clearings," except upon the Fourth of July and election day,
+from one end of the year to the other. With these he drank bad whiskey,
+made stale jokes, and affected a flattering condescension. With others,
+more important or less easily imposed upon, he "whittled" sociably in
+the fence-corners, talked solemnly in conspicuous places, and always
+looked confidential and mysterious.
+
+But, however earnestly engaged, he never forgot the warfare in which he
+was chief combatant. Like a general upon a field of battle, with his
+staff about him, he had sundry of his friends always near, to undertake
+any commission, or convey any order, which he desired to have executed;
+and not a voter could come upon the ground, whom there was the remotest
+chance to influence, that his vigilance did not at once discover and
+seize upon, through some one of these lieutenants. He resorted to every
+conceivable art, to induce the freemen to vote _properly_; and, when he
+could not succeed in this, his next study was to prevent their voting
+_at all_. The consequence usually was, that he secured his own election,
+or that of his chosen candidate; for, in him, vigilance and shrewdness
+were happily combined.
+
+
+But, perhaps fortunately for the country, his ambition was generally
+limited to such small offices, as he was quite capable of filling. The
+highest point at which he aimed, was a seat in the state legislature;
+and on reaching that goal, he signalized his term, chiefly, if at all,
+in advocating laws about division fences, and trespassers upon
+timber--measures which he deemed desirable for his own immediate
+constituency, with very little care for the question of their general
+utility. Indeed, he never went to the capital, without having his
+pockets full of "private bills," for the gratification of his personal
+friends, or near neighbors; and if, after a reasonable term of service,
+he had succeeded in getting all these passed into laws, he came home,
+contented to "subside," and live the remainder of his days, upon the
+recollection of his legislative honors.
+
+In the course of time, like all other earthly things, his class began to
+decay. The tide of immigration, or the increasing intelligence of the
+people, raised up men of larger views; and he speedily found himself
+outstripped in the race, and forgotten by his ancient retainers.
+Then--like his predecessor, the original frontierman--disgusted with
+civilization and its refinements--he migrated to more congenial regions,
+and, in the scenes of his former triumphs, was heard of no more.
+
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[82] Translate "_donum_," talent.
+
+[83] A kind of soup, made by boiling all sorts of game with corn,
+onions, tomatoes, and a variety of other vegetables. When skilfully
+concocted and properly seasoned, not at all unsavory. So called from a
+soup made by seamen.
+
+
+
+
+EPILOGUE.
+
+
+Here we must pause.
+
+On the hither side of the period, represented by the early politician,
+and between that and the present, the space of time is much too narrow,
+to contain any distinct development: those who superseded the primitive
+oracles, are yet in possession of the temple. We could not, therefore,
+pursue our plan further, without hazarding the charge of drawing from
+the life.
+
+It is remarkable, that anything like a fair or candid estimate of--for
+example--a public man's character, while he is yet favored with the
+people's suffrages, is very certain to be pronounced a caricature; and
+it is not less singular, that, while the complaints of popular critics,
+in effect, affirm that there is fidelity enough in the picture to enable
+even obtuse minds to fit the copy to the original, they at the same time
+vehemently assert that the whole portrait is a libel. A just
+admeasurement of a demagogue's ability is thus always abated by the
+imputation of partisan falsehood or prejudice; and whosoever declines to
+join in the adulation of a temporary idol, may consider himself
+fortunate, if he escape with only the reproach of envy. Sketches of
+contemporaneous character--if they seek recognition among the masses,
+must, therefore, not reduce the altitude which blind admiration has
+assigned, nor cut away the foreign lace, nor tear the ornaments, with
+which excited parties have bedaubed their images of clay. And, yet, so
+prone are men to overrate their leaders, that no estimate of a prominent
+man can be just, without impugning popular opinion.
+
+There is probably no other ground quite so perilous as politics, unless
+it be literature: and, as yet, the west is comparatively barren of those
+"sensitive plants," literary men. But any attempt to delineate society,
+by portraiture of living characters, even though the pictures were
+purely ideal, would, upon the present plan, involve the suspicion (and
+perhaps the temptation to deserve it), indicated above. Before venturing
+upon such uncertain paths, therefore, we must display a little
+generalship, and call a halt, if not a council of war. Whether we are to
+march forward, will be determined by the "General _Orders_."
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
+J. S. REDFIELD,
+
+110 AND 112 NASSAU STREET, NEW YORK,
+
+HAS JUST PUBLISHED:
+
+[Illustration]
+
+_EPISODES OF INSECT LIFE._
+
+By ACHETA DOMESTICA. In Three Series: I. Insects of Spring.--II. Insects
+of Summer.--III. Insects of Autumn. Beautifully illustrated. Crown 8vo.,
+cloth, gilt, price $2.00 each. The same beautifully colored after
+nature, extra gilt, $4.00 each.
+
+     "A book elegant enough for the centre table, witty enough for after
+     dinner, and wise enough for the study and the school-room. One of
+     the beautiful lessons of this work is the kindly view it takes of
+     nature. Nothing is made in vain not only, but nothing is made ugly
+     or repulsive. A charm is thrown around every object, and life
+     suffused through all, suggestive of the Creator's goodness and
+     wisdom."--_N. Y. Evangelist._
+
+     "Moths, glow-worms, lady-birds, may-flies, bees, and a variety of
+     other inhabitants of the insect world, are descanted upon in a
+     pleasing style, combining scientific information with romance, in a
+     manner peculiarly attractive."--_Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "The book includes solid instruction as well as genial and
+     captivating mirth. The scientific knowledge of the writer is
+     thoroughly reliable."--_Examiner._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_MEN AND WOMEN OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY._
+
+By ARSENE HOUSSAYE, with beautifully Engraved Portraits of Louis XV.,
+and Madame de Pompadour. Two volume 12mo. 450 pages each, extra
+superfine paper, price $2.50.
+
+     CONTENTS.--Dufresny, Fontenelle, Marivaux, Piron, The Abbe Prevost,
+     Gentil-Bernard, Florian, Boufflers, Diderot, Gretry, Riverol, Louis
+     XV., Greuze, Boucher, The Vanloos, Lantara, Watteau, La Motte,
+     Dehle, Abbe Trublet, Buffon, Dorat, Cardinal de Bernis, Crebillon
+     the Gay, Marie Antoinette, Made. de Pompadour, Vade, Mlle. Camargo,
+     Mlle. Clairon, Mad. de la Popeliniere, Sophie Arnould, Crebillon
+     the Tragic, Mlle. Guimard, Three Pages in the Life of Dancourt, A
+     Promenade in the Palais-Royal, the Chevalier de la Clos.
+
+     "A more fascinating book than this rarely issues from the teeming
+     press. Fascinating in its subject; fascinating in its style:
+     fascinating in its power to lead the reader into castle-building of
+     the most gorgeous and bewitching description."--_Courier &
+     Enquirer._
+
+     "This is a most welcome book, full of information and amusement, in
+     the form of memoirs, comments, and anecdotes. It has the style of
+     light literature, with the usefulness of the gravest. It should be
+     in every library, and the hands of every reader."--_Boston
+     Commonwealth._
+
+     "A BOOK OF BOOKS.--Two deliciously spicy volumes, that are a
+     perfect _bonne bouche_ for an epicure in reading."--_Home Journal._
+
+
+_PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES_
+
+By ARSENE HOUSSAYE. With beautifully-engraved Portraits of Voltaire and
+Mad. Parabere. Two vols., 12mo, price $2.50.
+
+     "We have here the most charming book we have read these many
+     days,--so powerful in its fascination that we have been held for
+     hours from our imperious labors or needful slumbers, by the
+     entrancing influence of its pages. One of the most desirable fruits
+     of the prolific field of literature of the present
+     season."--_Portland Eclectic._
+
+     "Two brilliant and fascinating--we had almost said,
+     bewitching--volumes, combining information and amusement, the
+     lightest gossip, with solid and serviceable wisdom."--_Yankee
+     Blade._
+
+     "It is a most admirable book, full of originality, wit, information
+     and philosophy. Indeed, the vividness of the book is extraordinary.
+     The scenes and descriptions are absolutely life-like."--_Southern
+     Literary Gazette._
+
+     "The works of the present writer are the only ones the spirit of
+     whose rhetoric does justice to those times, and in fascination of
+     description and style equal the fascinations they descant
+     upon."--_New Orleans Commercial Bulletin._
+
+     "The author is a brilliant writer, and serves up his sketches in a
+     sparkling manner."--_Christian Freeman._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_ANCIENT EGYPT UNDER THE PHARAOHS._
+
+By JOHN KENDRICK, M. A. In 2 vols., 12mo, price $2.50.
+
+     "No work has heretofore appeared suited to the wants of the
+     historical student, which combined the labors of artists,
+     travellers, interpreters and critics, during the periods from the
+     earliest records of the monarchy to its final absorption in the
+     empire of Alexander. This work supplies this deficiency."--_Olive
+     Branch._
+
+     "Not only the geography and political history of Egypt under the
+     Pharaohs are given, but we are furnished with a minute account of
+     the domestic manners and customs of the inhabitants, their
+     language, laws, science, religion, agriculture, navigation and
+     commerce."--_Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "These volumes present a comprehensive view of the results of the
+     combined labors of travellers, artists, and scientific explorers,
+     which have effected so much during the present century toward the
+     development of Egyptian archaeology and history."--_Journal of
+     Commerce._
+
+     "The descriptions are very vivid and one wanders, delighted with
+     the author, through the land of Egypt, gathering at every step, new
+     phases of her wondrous history, and ends with a more intelligent
+     knowledge than he ever before had, of the land of the
+     Pharaohs."--_American Spectator._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_COMPARATIVE PHYSIOGNOMY_;
+
+Or Resemblances between Men and Animals. By J. W. REDFIELD, M.D. In one
+vol., 8vo, with several hundred illustrations, price, $2.00.
+
+     "Dr. Redfield has produced a very curious, amusing, and instructive
+     book, curious in its originality and illustrations, amusing in the
+     comparisons and analyses, and instructive because it contains very
+     much useful information on a too much neglected subject. It will be
+     eagerly read and quickly appreciated."--_National AEgis._
+
+     "The whole work exhibits a good deal of scientific research,
+     intelligent observation, and ingenuity."--_Daily Union._
+
+     "Highly entertaining even to those who have little time to study
+     the science."--_Detroit Daily Advertiser._
+
+     "This is a remarkable volume and will be read by two classes, those
+     who study for information, and those who read for amusement. For
+     its originality and entertaining character, we commend it to our
+     readers."--_Albany Express._
+
+     "It is overflowing with wit, humor, and originality, and profusely
+     illustrated. The whole work is distinguished by vast research and
+     knowledge."--_Knickerbocker._
+
+     "The plan is a novel one; the proofs striking, and must challenge
+     the attention of the curious."--_Daily Advertiser._
+
+
+_MOORE'S LIFE OF SHERIDAN._
+
+Memoirs of the Life of the Rt. Hon. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, by THOMAS
+MOORE, with Portrait after Sir Joshua Reynolds. Two vols., 12mo, cloth,
+$2.00.
+
+     "One of the most brilliant biographies in English literature. It is
+     the life of a wit written by a wit, and few of Tom Moore's most
+     sparkling poems are more brilliant and fascinating than this
+     biography."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+     "This is at once a most valuable biography of the most celebrated
+     wit of the times, and one of the most entertaining works of its
+     gifted author."--_Springfield Republican._
+
+     "The Life of Sheridan, the wit, contains as much food for serious
+     thought as the best sermon that was ever penned."--_Arthur's Home
+     Gazette._
+
+     "The sketch of such a character and career as Sheridan's by such a
+     hand as Moore's, can never cease to be attractive."--_N. Y. Courier
+     and Enquirer._
+
+     "The work is instructive and full of interest."--_Christian
+     Intelligencer._
+
+     "It is a gem of biography; full of incident, elegantly written,
+     warmly appreciative, and on the whole candid and just. Sheridan was
+     a rare and wonderful genius, and has in this work justice done to
+     his surpassing merits."--_N. Y. Evangelist._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_BARRINGTON'S SKETCHES._
+
+Personal Sketches of his own Time, by SIR JONAH BARRINGTON, Judge of the
+High Court of Admiralty in Ireland, with Illustrations by Darley. Third
+Edition, 12mo, cloth, $1.25.
+
+     "A more entertaining book than this is not often thrown in our way.
+     His sketches of character are inimitable; and many of the prominent
+     men of his time are hit off in the most striking and graceful
+     outline."--_Albany Argus._
+
+     "He was a very shrewd observer and eccentric writer, and his
+     narrative of his own life, and sketches of society in Ireland
+     during his times, are exceedingly humorous and interesting."--_N.
+     Y. Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "It is one of those works which are conceived and written in so
+     hearty a view, and brings before the reader so many palpable and
+     amusing characters, that the entertainment and information are
+     equally balanced."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+     "This is one of the most entertaining books of the season."--_N. Y.
+     Recorder._
+
+     "It portrays in life-like colors the characters and daily habits of
+     nearly all the English and Irish celebrities of that period."--_N.
+     Y. Courier and Enquirer._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_JOMINI'S CAMPAIGN OF WATERLOO._
+
+The Political and Military History of the Campaign of Waterloo, from the
+French of Gen. Baron Jomini, by Lieut. S. V. BENET, U. S. Ordnance, with
+a Map, 12mo, cloth, 75 cents.
+
+     "Of great value, both for its historical merit and its acknowledged
+     impartiality."--_Christian Freeman, Boston._
+
+     "It has long been regarded in Europe as a work of more than
+     ordinary merit, while to military men his review of the tactics and
+     manoeuvres of the French Emperor during the few days which preceded
+     his final and most disastrous defeat, is considered as instructive,
+     as it is interesting."--_Arthur's Home Gazette._
+
+     "It is a standard authority and illustrates a subject of permanent
+     interest. With military students, and historical inquirers, it will
+     be a favorite reference, and for the general reader it possesses
+     great value and interest."--_Boston Transcript._
+
+     "It throws much light on often mooted points respecting Napoleon's
+     military and political genius. The translation is one of much
+     vigor."--_Boston Commonwealth._
+
+     "It supplies an important chapter in the most interesting and
+     eventful period of Napoleon's military career."--_Savannah Daily
+     News._
+
+     "It is ably written and skilfully translated."--_Yankee Blade._
+
+
+_NOTES AND EMENDATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE._
+
+Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare's Plays, from the Early
+Manuscript Corrections in a copy of the folio of 1632, in the possession
+of JOHN PAYNE COLLIER, Esq., F.S.A. Third edition, with a facsimile of
+the Manuscript Corrections. 1 vol. 12mo, cloth, $1.50.
+
+     "It is not for a moment to be doubted, we think, that in this
+     volume a contribution has been made to the clearness and accuracy
+     of Shakespeare's text, by far the most important of any offered or
+     attempted since Shakespeare lived and wrote."--_Lond. Exam._
+
+     "The corrections which Mr. Collier has here given to the world are,
+     we venture to think, of more value than the labors of nearly all
+     the critics on Shakespeare's text put together."--_London Literary
+     Gazette._
+
+     "It is a rare gem in the history of literature, and can not fail to
+     command the attention of all the amateurs of the writings of the
+     immortal dramatic poet."--_Ch'ston Cour._
+
+     "It is a book absolutely indispensable to every admirer of
+     Shakespeare who wishes to read him understandingly."--_Louisville
+     Courier._
+
+     "It is clear from internal evidence, that for the most part they
+     are genuine restorations of the original plays. They carry
+     conviction with them."--_Home Journal._
+
+     "This volume is an almost indispensable companion to any of the
+     editions of Shakespeare, so numerous and often important are many
+     of the corrections."--_Register, Philadelphia._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_THE HISTORY OF THE CRUSADES._
+
+By JOSEPH FRANCOIS MICHAUD. Translated by W. Robson, 3 vols. 12mo.,
+maps, $3.75.
+
+     "It is comprehensive and accurate in the detail of facts,
+     methodical and lucid in arrangement, with a lively and flowing
+     narrative."--_Journal of Commerce._
+
+     "We need not say that the work of Michaud has superseded all other
+     histories of the Crusades. This history has long been the standard
+     work with all who could read it in its original language. Another
+     work on the same subject is as improbable as a new history of the
+     'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.'"--_Salem Freeman._
+
+     "The most faithful and masterly history ever written of the wild
+     wars for the Holy Land."--_Philadelphia American Courier._
+
+     "The ability, diligence, and faithfulness, with which Michaud has
+     executed his great task, are undisputed; and it is to his
+     well-filled volumes that the historical student must now resort for
+     copious and authentic facts, and luminous views respecting this
+     most romantic and wonderful period in the annals of the Old
+     World."--_Boston Daily Courier._
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+_MARMADUKE WYVIL._
+
+An Historical Romance of 1651, by HENRY W. HERBERT, author of the
+"Cavaliers of England," &c., &c. Fourteenth Edition. Revised and
+Corrected.
+
+     "This is one of the best works of the kind we have ever read--full
+     of thrilling incidents and adventures in the stirring times of
+     Cromwell, and in that style which has made the works of Mr. Herbert
+     so popular."--_Christian Freeman, Boston._
+
+     "The work is distinguished by the same historical knowledge,
+     thrilling incident, and pictorial beauty of style, which have
+     characterized all Mr. Herbert's fictions and imparted to them such
+     a bewitching interest."--_Yankee Blade._
+
+     "The author out of a simple plot and very few characters, has
+     constructed a novel of deep interest and of considerable historical
+     value. It will be found well worth reading."--_National AEgis,
+     Worcester._
+
+=Life under an Italian Despotism!=
+
+LORENZO BENONI,
+
+OR
+
+PASSAGES IN THE LIFE OF AN ITALIAN.
+
+_One Vol., 12mo, Cloth--Price $1.00._
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+=OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.=
+
+     "The author of 'Lorenzo Benoni' is GIOVANNI RUFFINI, a native of
+     Genoa, who effected his escape from his native country after the
+     attempt at revolution in 1833. His book is, in substance, an
+     authentic account of real persons and incidents, though the writer
+     has chosen to adopt fictitious and fantastic designations for
+     himself and his associates. Since 1833, Ruffini has resided chiefly
+     (if not wholly) in England and France, where his qualities, we
+     understand, have secured him respect and regard. In 1848, he was
+     selected by Charles Albert to fill the responsible situation of
+     embassador to Paris, in which city he had long been domesticated as
+     a refugee. He ere long, however, relinquished that office, and
+     again withdrew into private life. He appears to have employed the
+     time of his exile in this country to such advantage as to have
+     acquired a most uncommon mastery over the English language. The
+     present volume (we are informed on good authority) is exclusively
+     his own--and, if so, on the score of style alone it is a remarkable
+     curiosity. But its matter also is curious."--_London Quarterly
+     Review for July._
+
+     "A tale of sorrow that has lain long in a rich mind, like a ruin in
+     a fertile country, and is not the less gravely impressive for the
+     grace and beauty of its coverings ... at the same time the most
+     determined novel-reader could desire no work more fascinating over
+     which to forget the flight of time.... No sketch of foreign
+     oppression has ever, we believe, been submitted to the English
+     public by a foreigner, equal or nearly equal to this volume in
+     literary merit. It is not unworthy to be ranked among contemporary
+     works whose season is the century in which their authors
+     live."--_London Examiner._
+
+     "The book should be as extensively read as 'Uncle Tom's Cabin,'
+     inasmuch as it develops the existence of a state of slavery and
+     degradation, worse even than that which Mrs. Beecher Stowe has
+     elucidated with so much pathos and feeling."--_Bell's Weekly
+     Messenger._
+
+     "Few works of the season will be read with greater pleasure than
+     this; there is a great charm in the quiet, natural way in which the
+     story is told."--_London Atlas._
+
+     "The author's great forte is character-painting. This portraiture
+     is accomplished with remarkable skill, the traits both individual
+     and national being marked with great nicety without
+     obtrusiveness."--_London Spectator._
+
+     "Under the modest guise of the biography of an imaginary 'Lorenzo
+     Benoni,' we have here, in fact, the memoir of a man whose name
+     could not be pronounced in certain parts of northern Italy without
+     calling up tragic yet noble historical recollections.... Its
+     merits, simply as a work of literary art, are of a very high order.
+     The style is really beautiful--easy, sprightly, graceful, and full
+     of the happiest and most ingenious turns of phrase and
+     fancy."--_North British Review._
+
+     "This has been not unjustly compared to '_Gil Blas_,' to which it
+     is scarcely inferior in spirited delineations of human character,
+     and in the variety of events which it relates. But as a description
+     of actual occurrences illustrating the domestic and political
+     condition of Italy, at a period fraught with interest to all
+     classes of readers, it far transcends in importance any work of
+     mere fiction."--_Dublin Evening Mail._
+
+
+"SHAKESPEARE AS HE WROTE IT."
+
+THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE,
+
+_Reprinted from the newly-discovered copy of the Folio of 1632 in the
+possession of J. Payne Collier, containing nearly_
+
+=Twenty Thousand Manuscript Corrections=,
+
+_With a History of the Stage to the Time, an Introduction to each Play,
+a Life of the Poet, etc._
+
+BY J. PAYNE COLLIER, F.S.A.
+
+_To which are added, Glossarial and other Notes, the Readings of Former
+Editions, a_ PORTRAIT _after that by Martin Droeshout, a_ VIGNETTE TITLE
+_on Steel, and a_ FACSIMILE OF THE OLD FOLIO, _with the Manuscript
+Corrections_. 1 vol., Imperial 8vo. Cloth $4.00.
+
+The =WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE= the same as the above. Uniform in Size with
+the celebrated Chiswick Edition, 8 vols. 16mo, cloth $6.00. Half calf or
+moroc. extra.
+
+These are _American Copyright Editions_, the Notes being expressly
+prepared for the work. The English edition contains simply the text,
+without a single note or indication of the changes made in the text. In
+the present, the variations from old copies are noted by reference of
+all changes to former editions (abbreviated f.e.), and every indication
+and explanation is given essential to a clear understanding of the
+author. The prefatory matter, Life, &c., will be fuller than in any
+American edition now published.
+
+     "This is the only correct edition of the works of the 'Bard of
+     Avon' ever issued, and no lover or student of Shakespeare should be
+     without it."--_Philadelphia Argus._
+
+     "Altogether the most correct and therefore the most valuable
+     edition extant."--_Albany Express._
+
+     "This edition of Shakespeare will ultimately supersede all others.
+     It must certainly be deemed an essential acquisition by every lover
+     of the great dramatist."--_N. Y. Commercial Advertiser._
+
+     "This great work commends itself in the highest terms to every
+     Shakespearian scholar and student."--_Philadelphia City Item._
+
+     "This edition embraces all that is necessary to make a copy of
+     Shakespeare desirable and correct."--_Niagara Democrat._
+
+     "It must sooner or later drive all others from the market."--_N. Y.
+     Evening Post._
+
+     "Beyond all question, the very best edition of the great bard
+     hitherto published."--_New England Religious Herald._
+
+     "It must hereafter be the standard edition of Shakespeare's
+     plays."--_National Argus._
+
+     "It is clear from internal evidence that they are genuine
+     restorations of the original plays."--_Detroit Daily Times._
+
+     "This must we think supersede all other editions of Shakespeare
+     hitherto published. Collier's corrections make it really a
+     different work from its predecessors. Compared with it we consider
+     them hardly worth possessing."--_Daily Georgian, Savannah._
+
+     "One who will probably hereafter be considered as the only true
+     authority. No one we think, will wish to purchase an edition of
+     Shakespeare, except it shall be conformable to the amended text by
+     Collier."--_Newark Daily Advertiser._
+
+     "A great outcry has been made in England against this edition of
+     the bard, by Singer and others interested in other editions; but
+     the emendations commend themselves too strongly to the good sense
+     of every reader to be dropped by the public--the old editions must
+     become obsolete."--_Yankee Blade, Boston._
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Western Characters, by J. L. McConnel
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK WESTERN CHARACTERS ***
+
+***** This file should be named 23155.txt or 23155.zip *****
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+        http://www.gutenberg.org/2/3/1/5/23155/
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