Mingo people

“ Mingo, Mrs. Mingo, and Miss Mingo, as they had been named, had made great progress in civilization. All of them were regular attendants at the meetings in Conference Hall, and always behaved themselves with the greatest propriety. The mother usually occupied one of the arm-chairs, while the baby was held in the lap of one of the ladies. They looked at the speaker just as though they understood what he was saying. [182] They joined in the applause when the lecturer presented himself before his audience with their "Ra, ra, ra!" finishing with the squeak which was a part of their language. ”

“ I distrusted myself, knowing that a Mingo is no favorite in my own eyes."
"As for the scalps, I think you were right enough, my worthy friend; but as for the armament and the stores, they would have been condemned by any prize-court in Christendom."
"That they would, that they would; but then the Mingos would have gone clear, seeing that a white man can no more attack an unarmed than a sleeping inimy. No, no, I did myself, and my color, and my religion too, greater justice. I waited till their nap was over, and they well on their war-path again ”

“ A Southern gentleman sent them to a friend in Boston, as a curiosity, and they were published in the Boston Journal, many years ago. The night after Mingo wrote them, he escaped from the slave-prison; but he was tracked and caught by bloodhounds, who tore him in such a shocking manner that he died. By that dreadful process his great soul was released from his enslaved body. His wife lived to be an aged woman, and was said to have many of his poems in her possession. Here are the lines he wrote in his agony while in prison:—
"Good God! ”

“ You have heard of the Red Mingos?”
“I have heard of minks,” said Paul, taking the old man by the arm, and gently urging him towards the thicket as he spoke; while, at the same time, he cast quick and uneasy glances behind him, in order to make sure he was not observed. “Of your common black minks; but none of any other colour.”
“Lord! Lord!” continued the trapper, shaking his head, and still laughing, in his deep but quiet manner; “the boy mistakes a brute for a man! Though, a Mingo is little better than a beast ”

“ Once upon a time there was a little black girl, and her name was Little Black Mingo.
She had no father and mother, so she had to live with a horrid cross old woman called Black Noggy, who used to scold her every day, and sometimes beat her with a stick, even though she had done nothing naughty. ”

“ Lawrence, to the land where is now the State of New York.
Till this time, the Mingo nation had consisted of five independent tribes, unconnected with each other, except by the bond of mutual danger. While suffering under defeat, it came to the minds of some of the chiefs, that if they should all be united, and always act in concert, they would be much more powerful, and less easily conquered, than while each tribe acted, as seemed best to itself, without reference to the others. Accordingly, they proposed to the tribes, a strict union, both in war and in peace. ”

“ Why, I believe it is natur' to give a preference to one's own quarrels before those of strangers. Now, for myself, I do love justice; and, therefore, I will not say I hate a Mingo, for that may be unsuitable to my color and my religion, though I will just repeat, it may have been owing to the night that 'killdeer' had no hand in the death of this skulking Oneida. ”

“ Bivins, and listening to her remarkable flow of small-talk, while Mingo hovered around, the embodiment of active hospitality.
"Mingo 'lowed he'd ast you up," said Mrs. Bivins, "an' I says, says I, 'Don't you be a-pesterin' the gentulmun, when you know thar's plenty er the new-issue quality ready an' a-waitin' to pull an' haul at 'im,' says I. Not that I begrudge the vittles—not by no means; I hope I hain't got to that yit. But somehow er 'nother folks what hain't got no great shakes to brag 'bout gener'ly feels sorter skittish when strange folks draps in on 'em. ”

“ Here we are told that, after all, Minyo is not the name of the Sultan, as before mentioned, but the name of the province, which is sometimes called Minyoma, as being more euphonic; but all people love harmony in language. ”

“ Not by no means was I begrudgin' of the vittles. Says I, 'Mingo,' says I, 'ef the gentulmun is a teetotal stranger, an' nobody else hain't got the common perliteness to ast 'im, shorely you mus' ast 'im,' says I; 'but don't go an' make no great to-do,' says I; 'bekaze the little we got mightent be satisfactual to the gentulmun,' says I. What we got may be little enough, an' it may be too much, but hit's welcome."
It would be impossible to convey an idea of the emphasis which Mrs. Bivins imposed upon her conversation. ”

“ The outposts were recalled, the other negroes aroused from among the roadside bushes where they had been resting, and the full company assembled for drill. The outfit was heavily officered, and the captain allowed them to take turns at putting the men through their paces. At last they were turned over to Mingo Brown, a pompous corporal, so puffed up with “a little brief authority” that most of the negroes grinned in his face, and some openly guffawed, “eh, eh, Buh Mingo swonguh fuh sowl!” ”

“ Bivins's emphatic response. "Niggers is niggers, but them Wornum niggers was a cut er two 'bove the common run. I'll say that, an' I'll say it on the witness stan'. Freedom might a turned the'r heads when it come to t'other folks, but hit didn't never turn the'r heads 'bout the'r young mistiss. An' if Mingo here hain't done his juty 'cordin' to his lights, then I dunner what juty is. ”

“ The Mingo squaws cried out at the sound of his rifle. The Mingo warriors were made squaws. When did he ever shoot twice? The eagle went above the clouds when he passed the wigwam of Chingachgook; his feathers were plenty with the women. But see,” he said, raising his voice from the low, mournful tones in which he had spoken to a pitch of keen excitement, and stretching forth both hands, “they shake like a deer at the wolf's howl. Is John old? When was a Mohican a squaw with seventy winters? No! the white man brings old age with him—rum is his tomahawk!” ”

“ So Little Black Mingo and the Mongoose got the nice little house for their very own, and there they lived happy ever after. And Little Black Mingo got the Mugger’s beard for her seat, and the Mongoose got Black Noggy’s handkerchief for his. ”

“ A short and impressive pause succeeded, during which it was very apparent with what reluctance the multitude admitted the justice of the Mingo's claim. At length the sage, in whom alone the decision depended, said, in a firm voice,—
"Huron, depart."
"As he came, just Tamenund," demanded the wily Magua; "or with hands filled with the faith of the Delawares? The wigwam of Le Renard Subtil is empty. Make him strong with his own."
The aged man mused with himself for a time ”

“ Even the Mingo adores but the true and loving God. 'Tis wicked fabrication of the whites, and I say it to the shame of my color that would make the warrior bow down before images of his own creation. It is true, they endeavor to make truces to the wicked one—as who would not with an enemy he cannot conquer! but they look up for favor and assistance to the Great and Good Spirit only."
"It may be so," said David ”

“ All women are fools.”
“And how about small boys?” I asked.
247“Oh,” said he, “small boys are very much like women; but of course we will be real men when we grow up.”
Not that the African is destitute of the instinct of humanity—by no means; but a false ideal calls for the repression of his best instincts.
In the course of a war between two villages, in which I knew nearly all the people, a young man named Minkoa, a bright and rather manly young fellow, was one day out in the forest hunting when he was shot to death by a party who were in hiding near the path. ”

“ Shipman tried to control his humor. "Of course not," he echoed.
"Just the same," Minga was dramatic, "she goes around picking up queer people and sick dogs and babies and spending her money on them and getting them into hospitals and oh, awful things," said Minga, darkly. "She knows girls that haven't husbands and well——" she gave a gesture which though vague was eloquent.
The lawyer led her on. "So Miss Sard picked up this vagabond."
"Well, maybe not a vagabond," Minga looked over her shoulder warily, "a tramp, sort of, and he might be crazy. ”

“ This generous conduct of Mansong towards me, has made his name much respected in the land of the white people. The King of that country has sent me again into Bambarra; and if Mansong is inclined to protect me, and you who are here sitting, wish to befriend me, I will inform you of the real object of my coming into your country."
(Here Modibinne desired me to speak on, as they were all my friends) , "You all know that the white people are a trading people; and that all the articles of value, which the Moors and the people of Jinnie bring to Sego, are made by us. ”

“ She of the pampered and sheltered life. "Oh, my goodness," the girl gasped. The face under the pretty hat paled. Minga, who had never before come up against the raw things of life, grew suddenly faint. The face of his friend peered up into Dunstan's. "Say, would you call that a curse?" inquired Minga. "It—it sounded awful, Dunce; I believe it was a curse. It sort of scares me."
The boy laughed. He changed gears. "These people are awful queer," he admitted; "they do know things; they're good to keep away from, I think." ”

“ He said no more, only as Minga, sitting back, tried to start up some of their old rallying songs and sallies the boy kept repeating dreamily, "She called us mates and it seems queer, for somehow I've always thought—you heard? She called us 'Mates,' Minga."
Perhaps it was the gypsy's prophecy making them conscious, perhaps it was the green world surrounding them like a round egg surrounding primal man and woman. But they grew silent and awed as though they walked toward a large surcharged destiny, so as they halted the car and took out their lunch basket they felt constrained ”

“ The King of Fooladoo's son, with five hundred horsemen, passed secretly through the woods, a little to the southward of Kamalia, and on the morning following plundered three towns belonging to Madigai, a powerful chief in Jallonkadoo.
The success of this expedition encouraged the governor of Bangassi, a town in Fooladoo, to make a second inroad upon another part of the same country. Having assembled about two hundred of his people, he passed the river Kokoro in the night, and carried off a great number of prisoners. ”

“ An apparently irrelevant inquiry, suddenly put, is sometimes confusing, and I fear I did not succeed in convincing Mingo of my unbelief.
"Some does en some don't," he continued, "but ez fer me, you kin des put me sorter 'twix' en between. Dey mout be ghos'es en den ag'in dey moutent. Ole nigger like me ain't got no bizness takin' sides, en dat w'at make I say w'at I does. I ain't mo'n kivver my head wid dat blanket en shot my eyes, 'fo' I year somebody a-callin' un me. Fus' hit soun' way off yander. ”

“ ABORIGINES OF MINDANAO.
Up in the mountains, living in nearly as wild a state as when the Spanish came, we still find the aborigines. This is a word which means the first dwellers in a country. It is thought that the first people who lived in the northern islands were the Aetas, or Negritos. A 45race called the Indonesians (in dō nā ́sē äns) are the aborigines of the great island of Mindanao.
The Negritos are dying out. They are a small, timid people, with thick lips and flat noses. Their hair is like curly wool. They hunt and fight with bows and arrows, and are very quick and active. ”

“ The great chief of the Amabuna claimed to be the equal of the House of Senzangakona. He did not approach the King as a subject, but as an equal; and by our custom Dingane was justified in causing him and his followers to be slain, for he had placed himself within the power of the King, and that as an equal. Whau, Nkose! You white people and ourselves see things differently, and I suppose it will always be so. Dingane and the Zulu people did not choose these invaders to seize their land, so they used what they thought was the quickest and easiest way of preventing them from doing so. ”

“ Minga looked earnestly at Dunstan's back. "You see," she worked this out as she had once worked it [Pg 312] out with Sard, "you see, Dunce, whether we like it or not, we've got to get busy, us young ones. It's queer," said little Minga with an omniscience not to be despised, "but though the grown-ups try all they can to discourage us when we do take hold, they know as well as we do that we've got to take hold. We," said Minga, with awed prophecy, "our kind, the Bunches, don't you know, all over the world. ”

“ It may be all as you say, friend Cap, but I am none the wiser for your words; and in ticklish times the plainer a man makes his English the easier he is understood. I know nothing of ports and anchors; but there is a direful Mingo trail within a hundred yards of this very spot, and as fresh as venison without salt. If one of the fiery devils has passed, so have a dozen ”

“ Miss Aurelia thought it must be Dvorak's "New World. The Largo...."
Minga, curly head to one side, listened a moment, then she shivered. "A little too weird and woozy for me," she announced. "I hate Sard's taste in music; I want everything calcium-colored—Fizz," said Minga explanatorily, "and jazz and dizz!" She stood there, a little undetermined, listening and staring at the white moonlight on the water of the river stretched far out below the terrace. ”