STORY OF HAWKSEYE. they move, cause earthquakes and other disturbances. My children, look to the north, and you will see a star which always stands still, to tell the red men their way through the forest." Hawkseye having exhausted his stock of knowledge, now changed the subject. 333 backs of four great turtles, who, when I saw that the rest of our venison had been stolen by a little old man with a short gun and a little dog. He is a little man," said he, "for he had to make a pile of stones to reach the meat; and he has got a short gun, for I saw where it rubbed against the tree; and he is an old man, and his dog is a little one, for I saw their tracks in the mud; and if the man had not got off so far, I would overtake and punish him." 66 My children," continued Hawkseye, "look around you; you see this rich and beautiful country, stretching far and wide. All this once belonged to the red men, but the white men crossed the great waters in ships, and are rapidly driving us away before them. Our forests are cut down, our council fires have gone out, our springs are dried up, and we are fast, very fast, dwindling away. A few years hence, and we shall be forgotten; and on this very hill, perhaps, the white man will live." As Hawkseye said this, he looked sad, and his wife and two children looked sad also. Being fatigued with the labors of the day, they retired to rest, but no heaps of down, or piles of bed clothing awaited them. A few bear skins, and two or three blankets were all the comforts for sleeping they possessed. Yet this having always been their situation, they thought nothing in the world could equal their resting place. About sun-rise the next morning, while Pomouse was preparing breakfast, Hawkseye entered the wigwam with no very pleasant countenance. As soon as he sat down, he said to his squaw; "As I went down to the brook this morning, As it would take too long to relate every thing about this family, I shall pass over much that might be mentioned, and hasten to conclude. But it occurs to my mind that here, also, we may learn a lesson from Hawkseye, and examine every thing closely, and not be satisfied with knowing a part only, but know the why and wherefore of every thing. Dreary winter had departed, and Spring, with all its charms, had again visited this part of the country, when the last and closing scene in Hawkseye's life took place. It was a pleasant morning in April, the sap ran in abundance from the trees, and Pomouse was very busy in boiling it. The children were enjoying themselves in the woods, the old spaniel slept quietly in the shade, and Hawkseye was engaged in improving his wigwam, and clearing away the underwood. Little did they think, as they pursued their various employments, that this would be the last day they would ever pass together in this place. The day, the hours, the minutes, passed quickly 334 STORY OF HAWKSEYE. away in the manner described, and the night came, when they retired to rest, and were wrapped in the sweetest slum bers, when a horde of barbarians came upon them, murdered Hawkseye and his squaw, demolished the wigwam, hastily dug a hole and buried them, and then went off carrying the two children with them. The old spaniel took his station on his master's grave, and faithfully remained there until death relieved him of his sufferings. My young friends, let us remember Hawkseye, and follow his example, as far as we are able, overlooking his faults and remembering his virtues. Like Hawkseye, the whole Indian race are rapidly decreasing, "and the few who remain within the precincts of civilized society, stand as human monuments of gothic grandeur, fearful and trembling, amidst the revolutions of time." Slowly and sadly they climb the western mountains, gazing on the setting sun as it gradually hides itself behind the hills, as a type of their own extinction from the earth. The time is not far distant when the last Indian's sun shall have gone down forever. The names of the two children carried off by the barbarians, were Red Jacket and Powell. The former was at this time about eight years of age, and Powell nearly ten. Red Jacket was a very strong child, and could endure great fatigue; catching fish in the brook, and chasing small animals from sun-rise until dark, yet he could not en dure the hardships of the present journey; and, after three days, felt that he was unable to proceed much farther. 66 As they lay on the ground, at night, around the fires kindled by the Indians, Red Jacket said to his brother, "I do not think I shall live long, for my present sufferings are more than I can bear. One thing I wish you to promise me; when I am no more, I wish you to remember it." What is it?" inquired Powell. "It is this," answered Red Jacket. "When you become a man, you must certainly be revenged on your enemies, those enemies who have murdered your friends." "It shall be so," answered Powell. Thus ended the conversation. As the sun was setting, two days after this, and night had once more enshrouded the earth, when the company, above described, was deprived of one of its number. Red Jacket was no more. They hastily committed his body to the ground, and marched on. The party, after a long and tedious journey, arrived at their homes. They resided in a small Indian village on the banks of the Ohio river. Powell was conducted to a wigwam near the river, by an Indian called Leatherstocking. The return of Leatherstocking caused great rejoicing among his family; neither were they less pleased with the boy he had brought with him. A good supper was quickly prepared, to which justice was done by the hun STORY OF HAWKSEYE. gry travellers. After supper, they all retired to rest on blankets spread upon the ground. Early the next morning, Powell was called by his master to go out with him to shoot something for breakfast. He supplied Powell with a bow and arrows. After proceeding some distance, Leatherstocking came to a halt, and showed Powell a fawn feeding near them. Powell was ordered to fire, which he immediately obeyed, and so good was his aim that the fawn immediately fell down dead. Leatherstocking praised the skill of the young huntsman, and, with the young deer he had shot, they returned to the wigwam. Here this wonderful story was repeated, and commented up on by the wondering family; and Powell was repaid with a good breakfast. After such a beginning he might have lived very pleasantly, but an occurrence, I am now about to relate, happened, which separated him forever from the family of Leatherstocking. A few days after this, a relative of Leatherstocking's ame to visit him, who was so much pleased with Powell, that, on his return home, he persuaded his friend to let him take Powell with him. It was not without reluctance that Leatherstocking agreed to this proposition, but the entreaties of his friend soon removed all his objections. 335 there any who are reading this history, who are at times discouraged when they are crossing the desert of Grammar, or passing through the swamp of Arithmetic? Let such follow the example of Powell, who was never discouraged, but through the darkest prospects could see some rays of hope. Logon (for this was the name of his new master) conducted Powell to his new home, and here he employed himself in hunting, fishing, and whatever else Logon required of him. Thus passed Powell's time; but let it not be supposed that he had forgotten the promise which he had made his brother. No! it was constantly in his mind; when he lay down at night, or as he pursued the panting deer through the dark forest, revenge sounded in his ears. At length he became a man not only in age but in size, stature, and bravery. It was then he undertook the promised, the bloody work. He allowed nothing to impede the early execution of his designs, but had every thing ready to strike the fatal blow when circumstances would best admit of it. The long-looked-for time at last arrived. The day of Powell's vengeance had come. He put on his simple armor. He thought within himself, "I will dig up my hatchet, and bend my oak bow, By night and by day I will follow the foe; Nor lakes shall impede me, nor mountains, Powell did not leave the family of his master without some regret, yet he betrayed no signs of sorrow, nor did he at any time seem discouraged. Are Their blood can alone give my spirit repose." nor snows, "O THAT would be noble fun;" Robert will say, I suppose, when he sees this picture. "How I should like to see them hunt the zebra !" Yes, I dare say it seems to you like noble fun; but how seems it, think you, to the poor zebra? Has not this animal feeling, as well you? Is he happy-is it noble fun to him to have a troop of men and horses at his heels, and the teeth of a cruel mastiff deep fixed in his limbs; to be frightened almost to death besides being hurt; and to crown all, to be made a slave, and carried several miles from home, and kept all the rest of his days in a strange country, and exhibited to people in a strange manner? It has always appeared mysterious to me how people could delight so much in cruelty! How few there are to whom it is a feast to see animals-as kittens, and lambs and pigs-play together, and yet how many who are delighted to see dogs and cats and bulls and many other animals worry and tear and destroy one another! And still worse than all this, and as if the cruel creatures could not tear each other to pieces fast enough without our aid, we assist in tearing them to pieces ourselves! How deep and how mysterious is the perversity of the human heart! What shall we say to it? Shall we say, O, yes; other people are cruel, but we are not? Beware. Watch yourselves with care, and ten to one but you will find this same cruelty, in some form or other, lodged, as it were, in your own bosom. And if so, tear it out at once. Learn to love all living beings, and try to make them as happy as you can, instead of making them miserable. And if at any time it becomes your painful duty to seize on animals and commit them to slavery or take away their lives, do it with the greatest possible tenderness and love, remembering that the merciful person is merciful to his beast. |