Lydia Sigourney

“ Martha covered her face with her hands, and hid it on the couch, fearful lest she might see agony in one so beloved. Yet she fixed on that pallid countenance another long, tender gaze, as the expiring voice said—
"I go, where is no shade of complexion—no trace of sorrow. I go to meet my parents, who died in faith; my Edward, whose trust was in his Redeemer. I shall see thy daughter, and she will be my sister, where all is love. Father! Mother! that God, whom you have learned to worship, whose spirit dwells in your hearts, guide you thither also." ”

“ Yet his heart is soft, when he sees one so young, and beautiful, falling like the green leaf before the blast. Zachary is old, but his mind is selfish. He had desired to look on thy brow, during the short space that he hath yet to measure. He hath prayed the Eternal, that his ears might continue to hear thy voice; for it was sweet to them. His heart wished to have something to love, which should not be as himself, every day decaying like the tree stripped of its branches, and mouldering at the root. But he must humble his heart. Thou hast told him that God giveth grace unto the humble. ”

“ Our Heaven is not so. The poor Indian would tear to enter such a glorious place. He is contented to lie down in the forest, whose, lofty columns prop the blue arch of the skies, and to see the moon look forth in brightness from her midnight throne. This is splendour enough for his untutor'd soul. He loves not the pomp of cities. He loves better to stand on the cliff, where the cloud rests, and gaze upon the troubled ocean, while the voice of its storms dies beneath his feet. He loves to feel himself to be but as a drop in its bosom, swallowed up in the vast and awful creation. ”

“ When thy boat is as a speck, I shall know it, from those which surround it. When it loses itself in darkness, I will lay my face in the dust, and weep. But what are the tears of a woman. Regard them not, O son of Lodonto! Think of the fame of our fathers, ere the glory departed from them. When the Sun sinks to his rest, or rising reddens the hill-tops, and I speak to Him whom the eye seeth not, thy name, Ontologon, will be first,—last in my prayer. ”

“ Proud of my strength and valour, I sought the front of danger, and his eye distinguished me. Once, at the dawn of day, he sent for me to his tent. He, whose heart was a stranger to fear, trembled as he spoke—"Maurice, thou hast a true heart. I adjure thee to keep secret what I intrust to thee, and to lend me thine aid." I promised to be his friend; and often his tongue faultered with emotion, as he proceeded. "We are within a league of Fort Edward. It is to be attacked. The inhabitants have fled,—all, save one whom I hold dearer than life. ”

“ The solemn hour of midnight had long passed; yet the forest seemed to assume a still darker hue, and the decaying fires, scarcely cast a feeble ray upon the scattered forms of the slumbering warriours.
"Daughter!" said the aged man, "rest in peace. I watch over thee. I have prayed the Great Spirit that I may lead thee in safety to my home, and put thy hand into the hand of my wife. Knowest thou why she will love thee? Why the tears will cover her face, when she looketh upon thine? Because thou wilt remind her heart of the blossom whose growth she nursed, whose blasting she bemoaned. ”

“ Robert raised it in his arms, and with the aid of his companion, bore it from its dismal abode. The glassy and immoveable eyes, seemed to have started from their sockets, and their stony glare was awful. The hand, in its stiffen'd grasp, enclosed a crucifix, and the joints of the bended knees were firm as adamant.
"He has kept his Lent with such strictness," said John Cooper, "that the feeble spark of life was almost smothered before this storm blew upon it."
"The dark Angel, who demands the spirit," said Robert Ashbow, "saw it in devotion, as the altar from whence incense rises." ”

“ My boat shall pursue the fish into the deepest waters, and my arrow bring the birds from the highest boughs for thee. Thou shalt watch by the couch of thy mother; but let me be thy husband, Zenelasie, and sustain the heart that pours life into hers."
"Thou hast given thy word to the chiefs and warriours," she answered. "Make not thyself false for a woman. I will not see the finger pointed at thee, and hear the brave say, Ontologon hath no soul. Thou wouldst soon be as the chained lion, for love is a fleeting flame. ”

“ Ah! what hath been the sin of our nation, above that of all other nations, that our name must be blotted from among the living? For what crime is our heritage taken away, and given to another people? On the land which our fathers gave us, we may not set our feet, except as strangers. Like shadows we flee away to our sepulchres. Even these are no longer ours. Monuments of those whom our fathers knew not, are there, and the dust of the Indian is scattered by the winds. Ere long, white men will cease to crush us, for we will cease to be. ”

“ Such was the man who, like a shepherd seeking his sheep in remote places, now entered the abode of Zachary and Martha. He received their respectful salutations with that smile for which he was distinguished—a smile which seemed the irradiation of a spirit, whose light was not kindled beneath the stars. He appeared struck with the exceeding beauty of the stranger; and, comparing it with the rude apartment, and the dark faces of her aged attendants, he could scarcely forbear exclaiming, "verily we have this treasure in earthern vessels, but the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man." ”

“ Let the intercourse of kind affections sooth your spirit. In the failure of your designs, you deserve more praise, than many victors whom the world have applauded. I cannot again risk you in this war. Your life is too valuable to me, and to your country, to be again exposed to the dangers of battle, or to the hazard of that vengeance, which the enemy would inflict, if you became their prisoner."
"Champé received his discharge, and retired to private life, embellishing it with his virtues, and carrying with him, what was to him above all price, the friendship of Washington." ”

“ Let him pray then to that Great Spirit who watched over his fathers, whether his throne be amid the roll of mighty waters, or where the tempest folds its wings. The white man may seek the God who loveth him, who hath given him a book from heaven, and continually calleth to the torn that he will heal, to the smitten that he will bind him up. But where shall the poor Indian turn in his sorrow, but to that spirit of mystery, which hath led him on through darkness, all his life long? ”

“ Edward came to us depressed at the depth of his poverty. But my heart with deep gratitude thanked the Eternal Sire, that I might now return his affection without the imputation of mercenary motives, and relieved from the dread of a father's malediction. He departed for a few days to seek some prospect of maintenance, and returned only in time to support me to my mother's grave. The fatal disease, which has set its seal upon me, triumphed over both my parents. The bitterness of my orphanage was consoled by the voice of love as pure, as ardent, as holy, as ever dwelt in the breast of man. ”

“ Kehoran drew his first breath in this valley, and he loved it when his heart was young. He thought not then, to die like the miserable Maurice. But he has grown old before his time. Sorrow and penance have wasted his strength. Yet in his bosom hath been a goad, sharper than that of famine. Ask ye, what bows the body sooner than age? what traces deeper furrows on the forehead than care? what sheds snows upon the temples, whiter than the frost of grief? I tell ye—it is guilt."
Mr. Occom, with that majesty which he well knew how to assume, standing near the bed of the sufferer, said,
"Maurice! ”

“ We cannot fly so swiftly that he overtakes us not; so far, but he is there before us. He speaks, and our wigwams vanish, and his cities spring up, like the mushroom, in one night. It is written upon the earth, and in the sky, that the Indians must perish, and the white man blot out his name. Yet fear not that the soul of Ontologon shall bow. No! he will go to another land where the ancient spirit of his race hath yet a little resting-place, "like a wayfaring man, who tarrieth for a night." When it slumbers, he will awake it; when it departs, he will follow it. ”

“ Religion had been his anchor from his youth, sure and stedfast; and, with the dignity of a patriarch, he descended to the tomb, illustrious at once, by the good name he bequeathed to his offspring, and by the lustre which their virtues in turn, reflected upon him. He lived at a time, when to hold in servitude the children of Africa, had not been set in a true light by the eloquence and humanity of a more favoured age. Clarkson, and Wilberforce had not then arisen to unlock "indignantly the secrets of their prison-house," nor Cowper, to bid the eye of sensibility weep over their wrongs. ”

“ Observing the children of John Cooper, to speak in low voices of his recovery, he addressed them in a milder tone.
"To your young eyes Maurice seems as the dry tree, whose roots quit the earth, that its head may rest there Yet has he numbered fewer years than many, whose hairs are not white like his. He was young and full of vigour, when Braddock, and his soldiers strewed the earth, like autumn leaves. He saw Washington lay that proud warriour in his lowly grave—Washington, who was then preparing like a bold, broad river, to run his course toward a sea of glory. ”

“ Lady! I seek not to praise man, but God, who hath breathed goodness into his heart. Yet there is written a book of remembrance, and the righteous need not shrink from it in the day of scrutiny, for the traces of errour, over which Repentance weeps, shall be blotted out in the blood of Calvary. Farewell, blessed Lady! When, before the throne of mercy, you remember the sorrowful, let the outcast Indian share in your petitions."
The sorrow-stricken Chief drew near, and bowed with the deepest reverence upon the hand which was extended to him. ”

“ I shall commence, with equal speed, a tour of instruction among the uncivilized natives. Turn thy steps towards thy kindred, and native country. And now," he added, with a deep solemnity, "kneel, and receive the doom of penance, with which thine absolution is purchased. Throughout this war, lift thy hand upon neither side. Seek out some lonely cell, and live like the imprisoned monk. Every year, come to me as a pilgrim, with thy feet uncovered, and make thy confession, and I will pardon thy sins." I departed, but my heart accused me, for leaving behind the unsuspicious Canadian. ”

“ The abode of old Zachary and Martha felt the influence of this enlivening season. Already their aromatic herbs yielded a pure essence to the busy inhabitants of the hives, and their cow cropped with delight the juicy food of her little pasture. A rose-bush near their door displayed its swelling buds, and the woodbine protruded its young tendrils, to reach the window of the invalid. But within the walls, was Age which knew no spring, and Youth, fading like a blasted flower; night that could know no dawning, and a morn that must never ascend to noon. ”

“ When I lay down to sleep in the forest, wrapped closely in my blanket, and surrounded by the dark-brow'd warriours, no slumber visited me; for before my diseased imagination swam continually images of the prisoner at the stake, the flame, the death-song, and all the features of savage vengeance, and exultation. Plans of escape occupied every night, and every day revealed their impracticability. During this season of excitement, I felt no fatigue. My strength was more than equal to the labour imposed: so much is the mind capable of modifying its terrestrial companion. ”

“ His eyes were raised upward, as if he contemplated the Maker of that majestic blue arch, where a few stars faintly twinkled. I said silently, can it be that an Indian thinks of God? Ah! I knew not then, of what deep devotion their souls were susceptible. Judge, into what fearful surprize I was startled from my reverie, when a low voice uttered, "Oriana! Is thy mind wakeful? Fear not to sleep. Thou art redeemed from torture. No flame shall touch you. Believe what the old warriour has spoken, and rest in peace." ”