Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-07-11

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Man of Americal A whole continent
once his entire possession, has passed
forever from his dominion. On the banks
of the Kennebec and the Connecticut
his council fires have been quenched for
ever. In the valley of the Wyoming
the smoke of his wigwam shall ascend no
more. BY the waters of the Tippecanoe
the voice of Tecumseh is as mute az the
ground which he watered with his blood.
Still toward the West, In the land of the
Ojibwsys, behind the setting SUP, thou
art travelling on to that elysium which |
prophets and seers have taught thy peo-
pie is there to be found. And there shall
the Indian find his relatives and tribes,
for many generations back, gathered to |
welcome him once more.
But while we may not explore the hid |
den antiquity of the Red Man; and while |
we may not be able to avert the destiny |
of final determination, we have learned |
much OF his tribes, his politics, his re-
igion, his morals, manners and customs; |
and much, too, do we find, that is beauti- |
ful-worthy of our consideration and pra-
tice. A great deal has been said of the |
savage element of the Indian, but we |
doubt not, when, in future years, history !
shall be written, side by side with that |
Of The French Commune, the Red Man |
will show quite as well as the boosted |
Celt. 1t is remarkable fact, with scare
an exception, that no people have ever
been found On earth who had not formed
some conception of future life, and of
Deity. But none have ever been found
who held more exquisitely beautiful con.
ceptions of the immortality of the soul
and the loving mercies of the Great
Spirit than the North American
Indian. The Red Man of the
forest lived in the conception, and died
in the thought of mercy. Ali who have
ever written of his manners and customs,
concur in sscribing to him, deep trust
in the life to come, cheerful view of its
condition, and remarkable freedom from
the dread of dying. There is nothing
better established OF the North American
tribes than their belief in the immortality
Of the soul. The Indian dies without
fear. No shrinking, and shivering with
fright, marks his departure. In his faith,
mercy, that most beautiful quality of the
God-head swallows up all the other at
fractions of Deity. He looks not so much
for punishment, in death, as for rewards.
The Gitche Manito-the Master of Life
is no angry, fierce, and avenging Mo-
kama he is kind, loving, and tender
father, who folds his poor children to rest
and happiness, when the chase of life is
finished, in the forests of earth. Ever
charmingly on his closing eyes, dawns the
prospect of the aboriginal elysium in the
West, gorgeous region of soft shades,
murmuring streams, that leap and dance
in perpetual sunlight, delightful groves,
filled with warbling birds, whose music is
forever; herds of stately deer, and brows-
ing buffalo, stalking on level and in
terminable plains; delicious fish,
that sport and gamble in bright
and gurgling waters, which flow with I'M
ceasing stream ever onward TO the westl
Indeed, his conception of heaven, is the
beautiful earth, in noiseless and solemn
met9morphosIs. Thus lived the Red Man,
his soul filed with the feeling that the
Great Spirit would show unto him, bound
less mercy; and thus, without fear, he de-
parted from his happy hunting grounds,
when death came upon him
In the glory Of the sunset
In the purple msts Of evening,
To the region of the home-wind,
| OF the northwest wind Keeway din,
| To the Islands Of the Blessed,
| To the Kingdom Of Ponemsh,
To the land Of the Hereafter!
But we will not take longer time to
dwell upon the origin and fate of the In
dian-the Oldest type of humanity, by
every rule, which science and shadOwy
history have furnished for our guide. We
are not here to lament the ways of that
providence which have permitted the
Red Men to be supplanted, their ancient
country occupied, and their places filled
with the Norman and Saxon blood. Nor
do we seek to exteTminate those
ugly and savage traits of char
aCter, which have been but too carefully
preserved in history. Suffice it to say,
while Fennimore Cooper shall keep his
place in our literature, the fate of the
asst of the Mohicans will ever be an at
tractive story to the young American
heart, and the stream of the WisahickOn
as classic as sweet Teviot. While Long
fellow shall be read, the wild and wierd-
like notes 10 the song of Hiswatha will
fill our bosoms with soft and pleasant en-
ioyment. While SchoOlcraft remains in
print, the story of Indian tribes will be
infinitely more fascinating Ithsn all the re-
cords of the msny-wived Turks, or the
accounts of all those abominable and
bab0onish Africans, which DR.. Living
stone has lately discovered in Central At
RIGA, feasting on soup stewed from the
miserable csrcssses of their captured
enemies. You will look in vain among
the languages of men for more expressive,
beautiful and natural descriptions of ideas
and things. He had his year expressive
ly divided. January was his cold and
ice-moon; February was his snow moon;
March was his warm moon; April was
his plant and NOON of bright
nights; May, his moon of leaves and
flowers; June, his hOt-mOon and moon of
strawberries; July, his buck-moon; Au-
gust, his sturgeon-mOCn; September, his
common and moon of falling leaves;
October, his traVeling-moon; November,
his beaver moon and moon of snoW-shoes;
December, his hunting moon. Twas
thus he shaped his annual calendar, and
each month was moon. His minute
was breath, mis- hour was run, his day
was sun, his night was a sleep, his
|, week seven suns, and thus he divided up
his time. His patriotism demanded that
he should die for his chief and tribe with
out murmur. His religion taught him
an unfaltering trust in the Great Spirit,
} and the immortality of the soul His
honor demanded, and his native instinct
taught, that he should keep with I'M
blemished faith the secrets and councils
of his chief and people. No rack, no
!; torture, no fear of death, no promise of
reward, could ever induce the Indian to
betrsy his chief, or turn his hand against
his tribe.
An now, methinks, these listeners
around me, are anxious to hear some-
thing of the Improved Order of Red
Men, under whose auspices, this glorious
day dedicated by our ancestry TO free
dom, is being celebrated. What is this
! order9 Where did it originated What is
its age3 What are its objects and aims3
Tell us all about the ofderl
The first close-society of men, to aid
in bearing one another's burdens, to com.
fort and cheer one another in distress,
and in old age, to create happiness for
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