"I believe I understand you, Peter," observed Boden, finding that his companion paused. "You War is the 12 Indian mode of redressing all wrongs; war against man, woman, and child!" mean war. Peter nodded in acquiescence, fixing his glowing eyes on the bee-hunter's face, as if to read his soul. "Am I to understand, then, that you and your friends, the chiefs and their followers, that I saw on Prairie Round, mean to begin with us, half-adozen whites, of whom two are women, who happen to be here in your power-that our 13scalps are to be the first taken?" "First no, Boden; Peter's hand has taken a great many, years since. He has got a name for his deeds, and no longer dare go to the white men's forts. When he meets a pale-face on the prairies or in the woods, he tries to get his scalp. This has he done for many years, and many has he taken." "This is a dreadful account you are giving of yourself, Peter, and I would rather you had not told it. Some such account I have heard before ; but living with you, and eating, and drinking, and sleeping, and travelling in your company, I had not only hoped, but begun to think it was not true." "It is true. My wish is to cut off the pale-faces. This must be done, or the pale-faces will cut off the Indians. One nation or the other must be destroyed. I am a red man; my heart tells me that the pale-faces should die. They are on strange hunting-grounds, not the red men. They are wrong, we are right. But, Boden, I have friends among the pale-faces, and it is not natural to scalp our friends. I do not understand a religion that tells us to love our enemies-it is a strange religion -I understand that we ought to love our friends. Your squaw is my daughter. I have called her daughter, she knows it, and my tongue is not forked like a snake's. What it says, I mean. Once I meant to scalp your young squaw; but now my hand shall never harm her. My wisdom shall tell her how to escape from the hands of red men who seek her scalp. You, too, now you are her husband, and are a great medicine-man of the bees, my hand shall not hurt you either. Open your ears wide, for big truths must go into them." He then directed him to put Margery in the canoe, and hasten from the place. The other palefaces, he said, were already in the hands of the Indians, and that if Boden did not at once hasten away, he could not answer for the consequences. 14 Cooper. Explain squaw, wigwam, medicine-man, idiom. Describe the red men of North America. What were their traditions and laws? What injustice have the white races done them? What have been the consequences? Name some high-spirited savages. Whence is the above extract taken ? Give an account of the author. 4 1 squaw (Indian), wife. 2wigwam (Indian), hut. 3idiom, a mode of expression peculiar to a language. It is impossible to translate from one language to another every expression made use of in talking. medicine. The Indians call men who appear to do wonderful things medicine-men. Boden was very skilful in discovering the hives of wild bees, and as the Indians supposed he did it by magic or charming, they called him a medicine-man. In Africa. certain men are supposed by their fellow-countrymen 5 to have the power of causing rain; these are also called medicinemen. pale-faces, white men. 6 red men. The aborigines of North America are of a red or copper-colour hue. The story shows how bitterly the Indians resented the inroads of the Europeans on their favourite hunting-grounds. (see app.) 7 Manitou (Indian), Great Spirit. The Indians believe in one God, whom they call Manitou. such are our traditions. Many of the Indians are said to have shown great wisdom in their reasonings, and to have spoken their thoughts in most eloquent language. this is not, etc. It is indeed a sad fact that white men, having a knowledge of the Gospel, have acted so contrary to its teachings that the heathens have hated them, and have been slow to believe their faith. Had the white people acted according to the teachings of the Gospel, they would not have swept so many of the dark races off the face of the earth. 10 traditions, customs, opinions, doctrines, handed down by word of mouth from father to son. "the setting sun: the Europeans landed on the east coast of North America and spread towards the west. 12 Indian mode. All high-spirited savages have contested their country inch by inch,-the natives of New Zealand, of Kaffraria and Zululand, as well as the tribes of North America. (see app.) 18 scalp. An Indian warrior's chief boast is the number of scalps he has taken. A scalp is the skin which covers the top of the head. The name Scalping Peter was given to this chief because of his ferocity and the number of scalps he had taken. Peter assisted the bee-hunter and his wife to escape, and years afterwards went to live with them among the white faces, whose dress and religion he adopted. 14 Cooper: James Fenimore Cooper, an American novelist, was born at Burlington, New Jersey, United States, September, 1789. His books, like those of Sir Walter Scott, are very entertaining, instructive, and healthy reading for boys and girls. The above extract is taken from one of his works entitled "Oak-openings, or the Bee-hunter." (see app.) DROP follows drop, and swells the distant windows are extinguished, one after the other. The village will soon be lost in slumber. When all the men and the women are asleep, must we keep awake to learn lessons? In large cities, there may be heard, now and then, the rushing wheel of the traveller. The watchmen pace their round, and cry, "All is well." In the garrison, or the endangered fortress, the armed sentinel keeps watch, lest they should be surprised by the foe. But in this peaceful village there is no need of either sentinel or watchman. Why may we not go to sleep, instead of learning Night's lessons? My son, one of these you may learn in a moment. Did you say that all will soon be sleeping? No! there is one Eye that never slumbers. He who made all the people, keepeth watch above the everlasting hills. Commit yourself to His care. Now, will you learn with me the second lesson of the night? Lift your eyes to yon glorious canopy. Seest thou not there a sentinel, set by the Eternal, at the northern gate of heaven,-1the pole-star? The pole-star! Blessings are breathed upon it, by the weary caravan, fearing the poisonous wind |