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Article SPEECH OF A CREEK INDIAN, ← Page 2 of 3 →
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Speech Of A Creek Indian,
1 ripened manhood a premature victim to disease , to sickness , to ' death ; and our venerable sachems a solitary scanty number . ' . Part of what follows a few pages after this , it would be almost a criminal omission not to quote , the sentiments are so elevated , and at the same time so natural . » - ' And now , O Creeks ! if the cries of your country , if the pulse ' of gloryif all that forms the hero and exalts the manhas not
, , ' swelled your breasts -with a true indignation against the immoderate c use of this liquor ; if these motives are insufficient to produce such ' resolutions as may prove effectual , there are yet other ties of huma' nity , tender , dear , and persuading . Think on-what we owe to our ' children , and to the gentler sex . ' With regard to our children , besides affecting their health ,
enere vating all their powers , and endangering the very existence of our ' nation , by the unbounded use of these pernicious draughts ; think ' how- it must affect their tenderness , to see the man that gave them ' being thus sunk into the most brutal state , in danger of being suffo-. ' cated by his own intemperanceand standing in need of their infant
, . ' arm to support his staggering steps , or raise his feeble head while he ' vomits forth the foul debauch——' O Warriors ! 0 Countrymen / - ' How despicable must such a practice render us , even in the eyes . * of our own children 1 Will it not gradually deprive us of all autho' rity in the families which we ought , to govern and protect ! What a
' waste of time does it create , which might otherwise be spent round ' the blazing hearth , in the most tender offices . —It perverts the great ' designs of nature , and murders all those precious moments , in which ' the warrior should recount to his wondering offspring his own great ' actions and those of his ancestors . - By these means the tender bosom ' has often caught ' the patriot flame , and an illustrious succession ' of sachems and warriors was formed among us from generation to
' generation , before our glory was eclipsed by the introduction of this ' destructive liquid . ' 0 Creeks ! you all remember the great Garangula , who is now gone ' to our fathers , and from whose loins I immediatel y sprung . You ' know how often he has led forth our warriors to conquest , while his ' name sounded like thunder , and flashed terror on our foes . You
' will then pardon the necessary vanity , if I presume to remind yon * how piously he adhered to the ori g inal simplicity of life . Often has ' he said , that if he did not fly from this cup of perdition , his name ' would never be sounded from hill to hill by the tongue of posterity z ' and I can affirm , that if he had wasted his time in such practices , f . my bosom would never have been fired to glory by the repeated
' story of our family virtues and atchievements ; nor should I have ' dared , on this occasion , fondl y to emulate them , by raising my un' practised voice in the cause of my country , before such a venerable 1 assembly of chiefs and warriors . ' In the remainder of the speech the Indian orator gives some hints relating to the delicacy of behaviour in men towards the female sex . 3 K . 2 ' .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Speech Of A Creek Indian,
1 ripened manhood a premature victim to disease , to sickness , to ' death ; and our venerable sachems a solitary scanty number . ' . Part of what follows a few pages after this , it would be almost a criminal omission not to quote , the sentiments are so elevated , and at the same time so natural . » - ' And now , O Creeks ! if the cries of your country , if the pulse ' of gloryif all that forms the hero and exalts the manhas not
, , ' swelled your breasts -with a true indignation against the immoderate c use of this liquor ; if these motives are insufficient to produce such ' resolutions as may prove effectual , there are yet other ties of huma' nity , tender , dear , and persuading . Think on-what we owe to our ' children , and to the gentler sex . ' With regard to our children , besides affecting their health ,
enere vating all their powers , and endangering the very existence of our ' nation , by the unbounded use of these pernicious draughts ; think ' how- it must affect their tenderness , to see the man that gave them ' being thus sunk into the most brutal state , in danger of being suffo-. ' cated by his own intemperanceand standing in need of their infant
, . ' arm to support his staggering steps , or raise his feeble head while he ' vomits forth the foul debauch——' O Warriors ! 0 Countrymen / - ' How despicable must such a practice render us , even in the eyes . * of our own children 1 Will it not gradually deprive us of all autho' rity in the families which we ought , to govern and protect ! What a
' waste of time does it create , which might otherwise be spent round ' the blazing hearth , in the most tender offices . —It perverts the great ' designs of nature , and murders all those precious moments , in which ' the warrior should recount to his wondering offspring his own great ' actions and those of his ancestors . - By these means the tender bosom ' has often caught ' the patriot flame , and an illustrious succession ' of sachems and warriors was formed among us from generation to
' generation , before our glory was eclipsed by the introduction of this ' destructive liquid . ' 0 Creeks ! you all remember the great Garangula , who is now gone ' to our fathers , and from whose loins I immediatel y sprung . You ' know how often he has led forth our warriors to conquest , while his ' name sounded like thunder , and flashed terror on our foes . You
' will then pardon the necessary vanity , if I presume to remind yon * how piously he adhered to the ori g inal simplicity of life . Often has ' he said , that if he did not fly from this cup of perdition , his name ' would never be sounded from hill to hill by the tongue of posterity z ' and I can affirm , that if he had wasted his time in such practices , f . my bosom would never have been fired to glory by the repeated
' story of our family virtues and atchievements ; nor should I have ' dared , on this occasion , fondl y to emulate them , by raising my un' practised voice in the cause of my country , before such a venerable 1 assembly of chiefs and warriors . ' In the remainder of the speech the Indian orator gives some hints relating to the delicacy of behaviour in men towards the female sex . 3 K . 2 ' .