The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-07-07


This is not the first time in this coun-
try that the wearing of the blue" has
been sign of abstinence from intoXi-
eating drinks, nor were white men the
first to establish a temperance society on
American soil. No; the red men, who
never knew drunkenness until tempted
to it by the Cupidity of white men, were
the first to associate themselves together
against the use of alcoholic drinks.
In the last century, and previous to
the Revolutionary war, after the Six Ma
lions had dwindled fearfully in numbers,
and had lost much in character as noble
sons of the forest, an Iroquois prophet,
brother of the head chief of the Six Ma
tions, visited the various tribes of his
confederacy to look into their condition
and endeavor to devise and suggest
means to arrest their degeneracy and de-
cay One of the first tribes he visited
was the Onondaga. 1t did not take him
long to learn that the chief agent of their
generalization was rum. From one end
of his journey to the other, in every tribe
he visited, evidences of its destroying
power met him, and he determined to
use all the power of his influence as a
teacher and prophet to induce his people
to turn from the habit which was destroy
ing them.
At Onondaga, after serious consulta-
ton with the chief men, a tribal meeting
was called, every soul of the tribe, man
and woman, old and young, even to the
youngest pappoose, being present. 1t
was an occasion of great solemnity. Not
the head chief himself was more august
than the prophet; for he was regarded as
standing between his people and the
Great Spirit. He had come many hun
bred miles for their sakes, and they
| looked eagerly for his message from the
Great Spirit. Looking about him sorrow
fully. he exclaimed;
How few you are! Once you stood
like the primeval forest, covering hill
and dale, mountain and valley; from
where the sun rises to its setting, you
covered the land. Now you are few
scattered, scorched, blasted trunks; a
few weak, withered saplings here and
there What has wrought this change?
Has fire come from heaven and destroyed
you? Has the sharp ak of the invading
forester been laid at your roots? No.
The poison is in yourselves, and soon the
canker of it will leave none of you on the
face of the EARTH Remember the legends
of your fathers; how but two or three
generations have passed since your
lodges were countless; how they clus
tered in forest and field, around the lakes
and along the streams. Remember the
thousands of your warriors, their brav-
cry, their battles, their triumphs; how
their name was everywhere honored;
their bow and their battle-aX every
where feared. Where now, oh, Onon-
dagas are the columns of smoke that
went up from your wigwams above the
tree tops in the valleys and on the hill
side? Where now are the crowds of
young braves who once made your sum-
mer wild woods merry with mimiCry of
hunting or of war, or sent their winter
snow skates swiftly gliding over the
crusted snow or bound stream?
Where are the long line of warriors which
in other times went, in the glory and ter
ror of their war paint, out on the war
path, still and swift as the serpent in
their movements, fierce and destructive
as wolves and panthers in their assault?
What has made this wide difference be-
lNCCn IuCA anu INV las luC cal Ill
opened her mouth and swallowed your
wigwams and your people? Has the
Great Spirit sent a pestilence, and de-
stroyed your braves and your women?
Have your enemies, with greater num-
bers and Drawer courage, OverpOwered
you and beaten you in war, and reduced
you to your present condition: No;
none of these things have happened you.
What then has done it? What has
wrought the change? Why is it that to-
day my voice can reach every member of
the tribe? Why are you such handful?
1t is the white mans fire-water! 1t is
the evil spirit that you let the white man
tempt you with that has eaten your life
away. Go on as you have been doing;
continue to yield yourselves to this dead
ly poison, and how many summers will
pass ere your last lodge will be gone, the
last fire be quenched in the wigwam?
Ere many winters, as one of your sons,
or your sons son, hungry and ragged,
staggers, a beggar, to the white mans
door, the finger of the white mans scorn
will be pointed at him as The last
of the Onondagas.'"
Such is the story, as old men tell it.
This is certain: from the visit of that
prophet, for many years no member of
the Onondagas tasted liquor. Every In
dian, squaw, and pappoose foreswore ar
dent spirits, and all kept their pledge.
Within forty years it was always known
that if drunken Indian was seen in Cen
trail New York he had not the blue leg
gings of the Onondagas, but the reg leg
gin9s of the Oneidas, of whom only a
part took the pledge. If an Onondaga
asked for a drink of water in a store
where liquor was sold, he smelt the glass,
and if there was a suspicion of liquor in
it, he carefully washed it before drinking.
>-r1yond Fashionable J;,orsio,, e bo