The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1901-05-14
RM0N BY
REV. ]. SHAPE

A great council was once nelu Ill
the Red mems forest home and
sachems, sagamores, chiefs, prophets,
hunters, guards, warriors, and braves
were there. The daughtersof POcha-
honLas have also come, and squaws
with their pa pooses draw respectfully
near. Never before in the history of
the tribe has such council fire been
kindled, SO much mystery seemed to
be filling the very air. 1t is the
flower moon month when all nature
seems unfolding in perfected loviness.
Spring, long imprisoned in her win
ter $ cage has found freedom and like
an unfettered bird sings out glad
notes of liberty Grass unrolls her
long rolls of natur's tapestry and
covers brown hills and meadows with
grseness all her own, while flowers
feck the forest paths with the beauty
of a Thousand hues.
The gray.h aired sachem is speak
ing. Listen to HIM.
"My children l have not long to
meet with you in these delightful
councils. ] must soon hang up my
bow and arrow, cease threshing the
fields and streams for game and fish,
smoke my last calumet Of peace and
go to join the larger tribe in the
Happy Hunting grounds above. But
before | 60, my children, | want to
speak a word to you. ] deeply love
you all land stolid Indians as they
are, they turn their brown faces at
mention of the old sachem' j atfection)
| love the principles for which you
stand" freedom, friendship. and
charity" "Freedom." inbreathed in
the very air of this great forest and
coursing freely like blood in the veins
Of braves: ''friend,hip''-deep rooted
in the honor of every Indian and
worth more to him than the life he
counts his own, and ''charty" great
est and best of the three, whose high
er meaning Of love Is partly learned
by every Rei Man and whose highest
meaning is yet to be graSped in the
Happy Hunting grounds beyond,
where love itself is at its best, where
partial knowledge is made complete,
where faith gives place to sight, and
the Great Spirit is all in all.
Now you have been good TO me and
brave as every true Indian must be,
to he true to his own nature. And L
would like to reward You here before
| die. Let seven Of you come forward
and each narrate his claim to great
reward and | will place a proper
crown upon his head.
OThus the cd sachcm spoke and
paused. Then forth steps chief
"My claim to a crown is my claim to
elo9ucnce. Once when our tribe was
in danger, by my persuasive powers
and magnetic eloTucnce, turned the
course of action and well nigh saved
| the lives Of all. | claim the crown.
The old chief placed a bright crown
on the head OF the young chief but as
he did SO he whispered, "Though |
| speak with the tongues of men and Of
angels and have not charity. | am be-
come as sounding brass or tinkling
cymbal."
The prophet now steps forward and
declare that in the fultilment of his
Office he has been indispensable to the
| tribe.
lie has propcsied concerning the
early and the latter rain and once
when great famine was imminent, he,
by prophetic vision that swept the
horizon of future trCth-Saw clearly
the way out Of the difficulty and
while other tribes had suffered
| and MANY of them became almost eX-
tnct, he had saved them much EN-
barraSSment.
The old chief placed a shining
crown upon his head, quietly saying
as he did 50, "Though ! have the
gift of prophesy and have not charity
am nothing.
Forth stcEs another to claim the
crown, because he understood al! mys.
tcrics. and another because he laid
claim to all Knowledge. The old man
murGured, 'Though | understand
all mysteries and all knowledge and
have not charity | am nothing, but
rewarded each for what he had and
! was.
| Said another, 'by faith | claim the
| Gown. A mountain at my word was
cast into the sea, and have believed
where Others failed. Once when u
voice from the Great Spirit had d.
rccLed me to Stay my own brave son
with cleaning tomahawk, l obeycd
until by the same commanding voice
was told 20 cut his thongs in stead
Of his scalp, and it was afterward
written in the records Of the tribe.
by faith ne offered up his only son. ;
Their chief reached higher for a
brighter crown, but not yet does he
bestow the brightest, for mountain
removing faith is far removed itself
from charity.
Another claims the crown for aims
giving, and still another for a willing
ness to suffer martrydum, and each Of
those is rewarded according to that
he had done, but the brightest crown
is still reserved for the greatest viz
tue, for bodies to be burned and goods
to feed the poor are nothing apart
from charity.
Then comes forward a modest
daughter of Pocahontas land De.
cares that her name is love, that she
embodied all the other virtues, she
spoke and prophpsied, and unravellcd
mysteries and mastered knowledge,
and believed and gave and died, be-