The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-12-13
MODERN INDIAN oRAroRY.

Much has been written of and about Indian eloquence. and portions of many of their orations have been preserved. There is no room for doubt that some of them possessed eloquence of the highest order. The famous Seneca chief. Red Jacket. when referred to on one oc- eosion as a warrior. replied: 'T am an orator. I was born an orator." And so 1t was with many other Indians Their oratory was born in them and all their comparisons and similes were taken from the works of nature spread out on every hand. Lacking the advantages of educa- ton and of reading, they spoke from their hearts and as they felt. Red Jacket was notable instance of the natural gifts of poetic thought and expression.
 The speech of Logan, recounting the infamous murder of his entire family by Colonel Cresap has become a classic and Is to be found in almost every school reader. Not So well known, but none the less memorable. we may mention speeches delivered by Captain Pipe, a Delaware chief. White Eyes. another Delaware. DAeASA LA& As 1 CAAACA OA IlAC GdCOg OGCoOld, the Seminole, Weatherford, the Musko- gee, and various others. of former days.
 But 1t would be unfair to infer that changed conditions had taken all the imagery and poetry from the Indians for we have recent evidence to the contrary. Thero recently died in New York, Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse, who was known among the Six Nations forming the Iroquois Confectionery as ''The Great White Mother" In her childhood she was adopted by the senecas, and all her life was spent in work for her red frienda It was this devotion to their welfare which earned for her the title of Great White Mothsr.'' and at her burial there were chiefs and other promi- nent persons from all the nations and tribes with which she had been associated Several speeches were made. and from them we take two extracts, to show the style of oratory. William Crow. a sene- ca chief. said;
 We have lost our best and dearest friend. h the many gifts which the Great Spirit has given us there came nothing so beautiful as this woman She was the most beautiful of all our gifts, She knew us and understood us. She stood between us and those who would have wronged us. It will be a happy task now for the Great Spirit to make hesa home in the happy land.
 Another speaker was Dark Face, who said in part:
 l am not Seneca, but I come of the Denikee tribe. know the Great White Mother as every red man in this land knows her. She studied the Indians re- lgion, the true religion. It is founded on the true God. Our God touched this woman's heart and she understood us. She was the angel of God. We may not have Christ in our religion, but we have a mediator, and she was the great mediator between the whites and the In- dians. We see our God we hear our | God. We see Him in the trees, in the rivers and even in blade of grass. just as We hear him in the rustic of the leaves | in our forests Ours is the God of na- ture. She was a leader to us. She in- ! spirsd us to better things. We loved | her. and now she is gone from us. But while We are sad it is for us that we are sad not for her, because we know she ia | happy. We are sad because we are lefi alone. l think ours is the sweetest of all the religions.
 These extracts show not only the style and imagery of Indian oratory but attest