LESSON CII. LOGAN, THE MINGO CHIEF. 1. THIS unfortunate chief, better known to the world by the eloquent and pathetic speech which he has left as a record of his misfortunes and sorrows, than by his exploits in war, refused for many years to take up arms against the whites. He was attached to them by the most friendly feelings, and exerted himself as a peacemaker. He lived on the northern frontier of Virginia, near the banks of the Ohio River. 2. In the year 1774, his friendship was requited with a series of such barbarous and wanton cruelties as rendered him at once a most vindictive enemy to the whole civilized race. The whites, excited by certain reports as to a contemplated attack on their settlement by the Indians, took measures to exterminate this unhappy race, wherever any of them could be found. There was not the slightest indication of hostility on the part of the savages, except what could be gathered from these reports, and these turned out afterward to be unfounded. 3. A canoe, containing a few unoffending Indians, was fired into, and its occupants were all killed or drowned. Some time after, another party were invited across a river, into the territory of the whites. Rum and other intoxicating liquors were given to them to drink, when they were all murdered, with the exception of one little girl. The Indians in the camp heard the firing, and sent off two canoes with armed warriors. 4. The whites, who lay in ambush, received them with a deadly fire, killing the greater part. In these wanton massacres, the whole family of Logan perished. It will hardly excite wonder that the love of Logan for the pale-faced race was turned into hate, and that from that moment he breathed nothing but vengeance against the treacherous whites. Logan was the foremost On the 10th of October, 5. A general Indian war followed. in leading his countrymen to battle. 1774, a severe contest took place between the whites and the combined forces of the Shawnees, Mingoes, and Delawares. After an incessant fire of twelve hours, darkness put an end to the conflict. 6. One hundred and fifty were killed and wounded on each side, and the next day the Indians retreated, and shortly after made proposals of peace. Logan was consulted, and a messenger sent to him to inquire whether the proposition met his approbation. On this occasion he delivered the speech to which he owes his reputation. After giving vent to a copious flood of tears, he addressed the messenger in the following words: 7. "I appeal to any white man to say if ever he entered Logan's cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed as they passed, and said, 'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relatives of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that this is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan ?—Not one." 8. This affecting appeal will be remembered longer than any other existing specimen of Indian rhetoric. Every reader will be touched with its simple pathos and eloquence. Mr. Jefferson asserted that neither Greek, Roman, nor modern oratory has any passage that surpasses it. It is mournful to state that the great qualities of Logan were obscured, later in life, by intemperance. He fell by assassination, on a journey homeward from Detroit. GOODRICH. THE SPANIELS OF ST. BERNARD. 1. THE convent of the Great St. Bernard is situated near the top of the mountain known by that name, near one of the most dangerous passes of the Alps, between Switzerland and Savoy "-destined to perform from age to age 2. In these regions the traveler is often overtaken by the most severe weather, even after days of cloudless beauty, when the glaciers glitter in the sunshine, and the pink flowers of the rhododendron appear as if they were never to be sullied by the tempest. But a storm suddenly comes on; the roads are rendered impassable by drifts of snow; the avalanches, which are huge loosened masses of snow or ice, are swept into the valley, carrying trees and crags of rock before them. 3. The hospitable monks, though their revenue is scanty, open their doors to every stranger that presents himself. To be cold, to be weary, to be benighted, constitutes the title to their comfortable shelter, their cheering meal, and their agreeable converse. But their attention to the distressed does not end here. They devote themselves to the dangerous task of searching for those unhappy persons who may have been overtaken by the sudden storm, and would perish but for their charitable succor. 4. Most remarkably are they assisted in these truly Christian offices. They have a breed of noble dogs in their establishment, whose extraordinary sagacity often enables them to rescue the traveler from destruction. Benumbed with cold, weary in the search for a lost track, his senses yielding to the stupefying influences of frost, the unhappy man sinks upon the ground, and the snow drift covers him from human sight. 5. It is then that the keen scent and the exquisite docility of these admirable dogs are called into action. Though the perishing man lie ten or even twenty feet beneath the snow, the delicacy of smell with which they can trace him offers a chance of escape. They scratch away the snow with their feet; they set up a continued hoarse and solemn bark, which brings the monks and laborers of the convent to their assist ance. 6. To provide for the chance that the dogs, without human help, may succeed in discovering the unfortunate traveler, one of them has a flask of spirits round his neck to which the fainting man may apply for support, and another has a cloak to cover him. These wonderful exertions are often successful; and even where they fail of restoring him who has perished, the dogs discover the body, so that it may be secured for the "recognition of friends; and such is the effect of the cold, that the dead features generally preserve their firmness for the space of two years. 7. One of these noble dogs was decorated with a medal, in commemoration of his having saved the lives of twenty-two persons, who, but for his sagacity, must have perished. Many travelers who have crossed the passage of St. Bernard, have seen this dog, and have heard, around the blazing fire of the monks, the story of his extraordinary career. He died about the year 1816, in an attempt to convey a poor traveler to his anxious family. 8. The Piedmontese courier arrived at St. Bernard in a very stormy season, laboring to make his way to the little village of St. Pierre, in the valley beneath the mountain, where his wife and children dwelt. It was in vain that the monks attempted to check his resolution to reach his family. They at last gave him two guides, each of whom was accompanied by a dog, of which one was the remarkable creature whose Iservices had been so valuable to mankind. 9. Descending from the convent, they were in an instant overwhelmed by an avalanche; and the same common destruction awaited the family of the poor courier, who were toiling up the mountain in hope of obtaining some news of their expected friend. They all perished. 10* THE MENAGERIE. |