The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-08-19


the patient.
"Well, sir" said M. Grubbe, attempting in
vain, as he usually oia Mt the commencement
of a discourse, to Giles lis bronchitic voice, an
organ without stops, shkh in its tone resem.
bled an asthmatic wstchman's rattle, /" May be
its with bears meatt end buffalo as they say lis
with human fesh-I regor tasted none O. that
if you eat it once, you'll have to again. After
you've got Injured to The West, the East's too
close and shut up an crowded for you, and you
want elbcw.room:
| Why, this is free lon these pure skies
| Were never sol ed with city suits
as our great national poet Whittiet observes,
sir; though as to that. the Indians lodges are q
great deal smuttier than any chimney-to those
under 'em, at any rat,. When the wind blows
putting down the hde atop, it seems as il
'twould smoke your vary eyes out. Bat mark
my words, my dear young friend, nobody ever
got nothing with hss ax get, s~ithous So fsring
some fort; and / have got the vocabularies
complete of twenty Ir dian dialects Think Of
that, sir; think of that -
Have you, indeed y said wicked Herman,
with an inward chuckle, IN the midst of his woe.
How happy it must make youl How long
has it taken you 2"
"Let me see. Stop, sir-eighteea hunderd
twenty-one, twenty teo, twenty-three - well,
about thirty years, SIR
"After ALL" thought herman, Z" his within is
rarer one, but why ia il at all more absurd
than that of the moneyed man, who has spent
the same time in adding, 20 his ample fortune.
by less harmless means pc rhsps, SONS hundreds
of thousands of dollars, which neither he nor
his neighbors will ever uss, but which he must
soon leave behind him, ts' buy very likely the
destruction of his idle rurse1proud children
Mr.. Grubbe's Indian diaeects will do nobody
any harm, at any rate, eysn if they do nobody
any good"
Mr.. Grubbe lifted I'D .ais, voice the while,
continuously
81 hope they have at been Improbable
years, sir, to the Indiani any more than to me-
1t was his habit - speak always as if
there was only one Inc al, as it is that of Ger
tain other philanthropy ss.to speak as if there
was only one slave in The gorld-plea illu.
sive idea Also, he was arbject to grammatical
Inconsistencies and tam leme nts in his speech,
as are most of thoA who abor under the afore.
said idiosyncrasy. Ifksslas taught me much,
hope that he has learE,t something from me
in return. According 10. my poor ability,
have labored, 1 trust conssientiously, to impart
unto 'em the glad tidings IF great Joy, sir. 1t
goes to my heart, as tell 'em, to see 80 many
fine, brave, copper. colered fellers going with
their horses and feathers AID fringes a rampa
ging over the purrayrs, snl to think that il
ain't nothing, as you may say, but great green
sieve to let 'em through down into hell-fire lust
for want of their knowing what nobody'il take
the trouble to come and teach hm, and wha,
nobody can fad out for themselves; and the
wicked trappers going and telling him that our
God will love him, sir, if he'll only give them
bis squaws and horses, and let 'em have his
furs reasonable, sir!"
at does seem hard and discreditable
enough" answered Herman, forgetting that he
was thinking aloud, that we should live on
near them so lazily, on the very lands which we
have taken from them or from their kindred,
and do nothing, or worse than nothing, for
these poor half .witted children of our Heavenly
Father!"
" Half-witted, did you observe, sir ? No, they
are not, sir. beg your pardon. They're out
witted sometimes-more shame to us-but, if
they had as much privileges, they'd be every bit
as smart a. you or me, sir."
"You have great advantages over most other
people in Judging of that. l wish had your
familiarity with their languages"
swell, sir, it is an advantage, especially to
the missionary. Interpreters are often good for.
nothing. Why, once, when l just come out
here, lot of em come TO me, a seekin the
way of salvation, and I thought I'd do my best,
for want of better, to make known to 'em
some of the plainest doctrines. So commooni.
Gated with 'em through my interpreter, and told
him to tell 'em they must have new heart.
What should he e6sand do as afterwards
found out, in his partial acquaintance with their
dialect-but tell 'em they must have new giz
zard It's enough to make one weep. Such
good souls as they are, too-some on 'em.
They had ought to have good Instruction"
"You like them, then said Herman, absent
ly; I" am glad of that"
swell, sir, I ask your pardon but that's Just
as sensible as if you'd SAID, Do you like white
folks p Some of 'em do, and some on EN- 1
don't. like the good ones, of course; and
there's some of that sort, and some O. the other,
| expect, to be found everywhere; though the
traveller amt apt to discover it. Why, when
was to Boston, there was gentleman in com.
pany with me one day, that had just been to
England; and, says he, The Englishman never
laughs Well, that very same day, couple of
hours afterwards, in book. store, took up
book OF travels, or letters, or something, by an
Englishman, who'd been a.visiting our country;
and, says he, The American does no. lauph ,
Well, l take it, the one statement was inst about
as true as the tother. One on 'em had happened
to have fell in with sober Englishmen, and the
tother with sober Americans that was all.
The traveller judges according.to what he sees,
and thinks there amt nothing but wha. he does
see. Suppose, now, an Indian sets off to travel
to Washington about treaty; and he goes
through Arkansas, and somebody gives him a
bottle of 6re-water; and he goes to Kentucky,
and somebody points double revolver at him,
and tells him to be off. When he gets back.
he'll commoonicate to big tribe, like as not,
that the folks in Arks nsas are all kind and
friendly, and the Kentuckiaps niser'b bic wretch.
%. If he's aggravating Indian, he'll get bad
treatment everywhere; and then he'll come
back and say all the VII to folks are bad. Now,