theme of the touching ballad: inquisitive white man: the the Indian as the subject of

sad poems. council fire:

the fire around which Indians held their councils at which they decided for

war or peace. mighty tide: the westward

progress of the white man. last wave:

knowledge-seeking white man. ponder: think seriously about. disturbed remains: burial places of Indians broken into. chronicles: records, stories. exterminators:

those who de

stroyed, or exterminated the Indians.

the flood of white rude virtues: good qualities of the Indians.

men moving westward.

NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS

Not many generations ago, where you now sit, circled with all that exalts and embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his hole unscared. Here lived and loved another race of beings. Beneath the same sun that 5 rolls over your head, the Indian hunter pursued the panting deer. Gazing on the same moon that smiles for you, the Indian lover wooed his dusky mate. Here the wigwam blaze beamed on the tender and helpless; the council fire glared on the wise and dar-10 ing. Now they dipped their noble limbs in your sedgy lakes, and now they paddled the light canoe along your rocky shores. Here they warred; echoing whoop, the bloody grapple, the defying deathsong, all were here; and, when the tiger-strife was 15 over, here curled the smoke of peace.

the

Here, too, they worshiped; and from many a dark

bosom went up a prayer to the Great Spirit. He had not written his laws for them on tables of stone, but he had traced them on the tables of their hearts. The poor child of Nature knew not the God of Revelation, 5 but the God of the universe he acknowledged in every thing around. He beheld him in the star that sank in beauty behind his lowly dwelling, in the sacred orb that flamed on him from his midday throne; in the flower that snapped in the morning breeze, in the lofty 10 pine that had defied a thousand whirlwinds; in the timid warbler that never left its native grove, in the fearless eagle, whose untired pinion was wet in clouds; in the worm that crawled at his foot, and in his own matchless form, glowing with a spark of that light, to 15 whose mysterious source he bent, in humble though blind adoration.

And all this has passed away. Across the ocean came a pilgrim bark, bearing the seeds of life and death. The former were sown for you, the latter sprang up 20 in the path of the simple native. Two hundred years have changed the character of a great continent, and blotted forever from its face a whole, peculiar people.. Art has usurped the bowers of nature, and the anointed children of education have been too powerful for the 25 tribes of the ignorant. Here and there, a stricken few remain; but how unlike their bold, untamable progenitors! The Indian of falcon glance and lion. bearing, the theme of the touching ballad, the hero of the pathetic tale, is gone!

As a race, they have withered from the land. Their arrows are broken, their springs are dried up, their cabins are in the dust. Their council fire has long since gone out on the shore, and their war cry is fast fading to the untrodden west. Slowly and sadly they climb 5 the distant mountains, and read their doom in the setting sun. They are shrinking before the mighty tide which is pressing them away; they must soon hear the roar of the last wave, which will settle over them forever. Ages hence, the inquisitive white man, 10 as he stands by some growing city, will ponder on the structure of their disturbed remains, and wonder to what manner of persons they belonged. They will live only in the songs and chronicles of their exterminators. Let these be faithful to their rude virtues as 15 men, and pay due tribute to their unhappy fate as a people.

QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Who made this speech? | 4. What became of the Indians

What is it about?

2. How many pictures are there

in the first paragraph? Name them and tell what 5. you see in each of them. 3. Whom did the Indians worship? What is he called in Hiawatha"? Who wrote 6.

laws on

"tables of stone"?

Where did the Indians see
their God?

of New England? Name
some of their famous
chiefs.

Read aloud the description of
the splendid Indian chiefs-
of long ago. How does the
race differ now?

As this is an

66

oration," it should be read aloud in

the best possible manner.

THANATOPSIS

WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT

"Thanatopsis" means a view of death, or better, thoughts about

death.

This famous and remarkable poem was written by William Cullen Bryant when he was a boy not yet eighteen years of age. He earnestly wished for a college education; but his money giving out before he had finished the course, he returned home very sad and deeply discouraged. At this time and while in this mood, he wrote the first draft of this great poem A View of Death showing that the gifted boy was so deeply discouraged that his thoughts were of death and not of life. Yet, in the last stanza, he shows that he had a brave and noble heart, and that, despite all grief and discouragement, he wished so to live that when his time should come, he could lie down calmly to die, thinking only pleasant dreams.

Now let us see what the poem means, for the meaning is of much more importance to you than any story about the poem.

Division 1. In these lines the poet tells us that Nature "speaks a various language " to him who understands her voice. With this thought, you can easily master the meaning of these lines. Here are the opening thoughts in order:

"To him who

In the love of Nature,

Holds communion

With her visible forms,
She speaks