The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1880-01-24
sPECKLED SNAKE.
THAT ELOQUENT INDIANS SPEECH IN BEHALF
OF The CHEEEs, FIFTY YEAHs AGO.

THAT ELOQUENT INDIANS SPEECH IN BEH4Lr
OF The CHEEEs, FIFTY YEAHs AGO.
At council Of the chiefs, head men and
warriors of the Creek Nation, convened by
authority, the talk of the President was
communicated by the Agent. After pro-
found silence Of many minutes duration,
Speckled Snake, a warrior whose head was
whitened with the frosts Of more than 90
winters, and who supported himself on the
shoulders of two young men arose and spoke
as follows:
"BRoTHERs We have heard Of the talk
of our Great Father; it is very kind he
says he loves his red children.
Brothers have listened TO many talks
from our Great Father. When he first came
across the wide waters, he was but a little
man and wore red coat. Our chiefs met
him on the banks of the River Savannah
and smoked with him the pipe of peace.
He was then very little. His legs were
cramped by sitting long in his big boat, and
he begged little land to light his fire on.
He said he had come over the wide waters
to teach the Indians new things and make
them happy. He said he loved his red
brothers-he was very kind. The Musco-,
gees gave the white man land and kindled
him fire, that he might warm himself,aud
when his enemies, the pale faces ofthe South,
made war on him. their young men drew
the tomahawk and protected his head from
the scalpng knife. But when the white
man had warmed himself by the Indians
fire and filled himself with their hominy.
he became very large. With a step he be-
strobe the mountains, and his feet covered
the plains and valleys. His hands grasped
the eastern and western sea, and his head
rested on the moon. Then he became our
Great Father. He loved his red children,
and he said: "Get a little further lest
l tread on thee" With one foot he
pushed the red man over the Oconee, and
with the other he trampled down the graves
of his fathers and the forests where he had
so long hunted his deer. But our Great
Father still loved his red children, and he
soon made them another talk, He said:
"Get little further; you are too near me.''
But there were sone bud men among the
Muscogees then as there are now. They
fingered around the gravas Of their ances-
tors till they were crushed beneath the
heavy tread of our Great Father. Their
teeth pierced his feet and made him angry,
Yet he continued to love his red children,
and when he found them too slow in NOV
ing, he sent his great guns before him 10
sweep the path.
Brothers have listeued to great many
talks from our Great Father, but they always
began and ended in this "Get little furth-
er, you are too near me-"
Brothers Our Great Father saws that
where we are now our white brothers have
always claimed the land Ho speaks with
straight tongue and cannot lie. But when
he first came over the wide waters, while he
was yet small, and stood before the grea
chief at the council on Yanlcraw Bluff, he
said; "Give me little land, which you can
spare, and will pay you for it,"
W utu OT0uI runner made
us a talk on former occasion, and said,
"Get little further. Go beyond the ocon-
ee, the ocmulgee, there is pleasant coun-
try" we also said it shall be yours forever.
have listened to his present talk. He
says the land where we now live is not ours.
Go beyond the Mississippi-the is game,
and you may remain while tho grass grows
and the water runs.
Brothers Will not our Great Father come
there also He loves his red children. He
speaks with straight tongue, and will not
he?
Brothers Our Great Father says our bad
men have made his heart bleed for the mur-
der of one of his white children. Yet where
are the red children which he loves, once as
numerous as the leaves OF the forest ? How
many have been crushed by his footsteps9
Brothers Our Great Father says we must
go beyond the Mississippi. We shall there
be under his care and experience his kind
ness. We have felt it all before.
Brothers have done.