Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-02-17
An Old Hunters Story

uefe IS SOlHtluluS duOuL 81
American Indian that alwayI
reminds me of the brute creation
| do not refer particularly to thei,
well known savage disposition
aud their frequent total lack oil
mercy to innocent persons, but t
certain characteristics which seen
born with them, and which / nev
er observed in my own race.
In my experience in the early
settlement of Missouri and Iowa
/ certainly have had abundant
opportunity to study the pc
culiar people whose history il
so interviewer with our own. Il
has been my fortune to encounter
the red man in every mood an6
under every imaginable circum
stance. Ny habit Of linpini
when / walk, ard numerous aches
and pains that frequently rack
my limbs, and which my friends
generally attribute to rheumatism,
are the results Of many a grievous
wound received long years ago.
Few persons live to carry more
scars than / do, and there are few,
| can honestly say, who give a
more varied experience than mine,
but at the present ] can only illus
trate my observations with sin
gle incident that happened near
ly fifty years ago.
When a white man is shot NOR
tally, he frequently gives utter
ance to some gasping exclamation,
and as frequently suecumbs with
out a word; but I never saw an
Indian winged without yell and
a frenzied leap in the air, just as
a wild animal does when struck
to death.
The unrelenting passion OF re-
venge is more characteristic of the
same race than our own, and the
sullen, melancholy disposition,
which for a lifetime in some of
their race, is never thawed into a
smile or evidence of pleasure, is
the same as that shown in the
feline species, that seem to live
only to prey upon the weaker and
unresiStlng portion of animal
creation. q4
When I went to Iowa Territory
N 1918, I made my home with
an old acquaintance by the name
of Green who went from West
Pennsylvania, where be had led
a pretty eventiul life, his house
having been burned twice over
his head by Indians during the
early settlement of that State
He had lost two of his children
by the same means, SO that he had
cause enough to emigrate.
He settled on Mason's River, or
rather Creek, which flowed just
by bis door, and which mile or
two below descended fully hum
dred feet by a series of rapids which
were sure death for any man to
attempt to shoot who was not q
perfect master in guiding q canoe.
Green could never summon cour-
age to attempt it in his birch ca
noe until he had seen me do it;
but he gained courage after awhile
and learned to do it with al ease
and confidence equal to my own.
When he engaged in fishing we
frequently performed the feat, un-
I'll it became a matter of amuse.
ment with both of us.
Green had a wife and one child
of about six years, who was as
interesting a little girl as / ever
saw. / was much attached to her
as never had family of my own,
and she appeared to regard me
with an affection second only to
that which she entertained for hel
parents. 90.
Shortly after ! took up my
quarters with item, in the autumn
Of 1918, ] was seized with the
chills and fever, and did not en-
tirely recover until spring. / wat
nursed and treated SO well by the
entire family that when / became
well again, agreed % remain