150 CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. the most suitable one to be called upon in such an The sun was just rising above the eastern horizon when Pierre awoke. The Indian maid was bending over him with looks of tender solicitude. She had nursed him through the silent watches of the night, had pillowed his head upon the soft plumage of the swan, and covered him with robes of the finest fur. She had watched his dreamy sleep through the long hours, when all others were sleeping, and no eye witnessed her assiduous care-had bathed his throbbing temples with water from the spring, and passed her slender fingers through his ringlets, with the fondness of a young and growing affection, until she had soothed the unconscious object of her tenderness into a calm repose. It was her first love, and she had given her heart up to its influences with all the strength, and all the weakness, of female passion. Under other circumstances it might long have remained concealed in her own bosom, and have gradually become disclosed by the attentions of her lover, as the flower opens slowly to the sun. But she had been suddenly called to the discharge of the duties of a wife; and woman, when appealed to by the charities of life, gives full play to her affections, pouring out the treasures of her love in liberal profusion. But her tenderness was thrown away upon the slumbering bridegroom, whose unusual excitement, both of body and mind, had been succeeded by a profound lethargy. No sooner did he open his eyes, than the dreadful images of the night became again pictured upon his imagination. Even that anxious girl, who had hung over him with sleepless solicitude throughout the night, and still watched, dejected, by his side, seemed to wear a malignant aspect, and to triumph in his anguish. He shrunk from the glance of her eye, as if its mild lustre would have withered him. She laid her hand upon his brow, and he writhed as if a serpent had crawled over his visage. The hope of escape suddenly presented itself to his mind. He rose, and rushed wildly to the shore. The boats were just leaving the bank; his companions had been grieved at his marriage, and were alarmed when they found he had left the village; but Father Francis, a rigid moralist, and a stern man, determined not to wait for him a moment, and the little barks were already shoved into the stream, when the haggard barber appeared, and plunged As he climbed the side of the nearinto the water. est boat, he conjured his comrades, in tones of agony, to fly. Imagining he had discovered some treachery in their new allies, they obeyed; the oars were plied with vigor, and the vessels of the white strangers rapidly disappeared from the eyes of the astonished Illini, who were as much perplexed by the abrupt departure, as they had been by the unexpected visit of their eccentric guests. Pierre took to his bed, and remained an invalid during the rest of the voyage. Nor did he set his foot on shore again in the new world. One glance at the lake of fire was enough for him, and he did not, like Orpheus, look back at the infernal regions from which he had escaped. The party descended the Mississippi to the gulf of Mexico, where, finding a ship destined for France, he took leave of his companions, from whom he had carefully concealed the true cause of his alarm. During the passage across the Atlantic he recovered his health, and, in some WILLIAM L. STONE. WILLIAM LEETE STONE was born at Esopus, in New York, in 1793, and was the son of the Rev. William Stone, a clergyman of the Presbyterian church. When quite young he removed to the western part of that state, where he assisted his father in the care of a farm, acquiring a fondness for agricultural pursuits which he always retained. At the age of seventeen he left home; placed himself with Colonel Prentiss, the proprietor of the "Cooperstown Freeman's Journal," to learn the printing business; and from this time began to write newspaper paragraphs. In 1813 he became the editor of the "Herkimer American." He next edited a political newspaper at Hudson, then one at Albany, and then again one at Hartford in Connecticut. He at length, in the spring of 1821, succeeded Mr. Zachariah Lewis in the editorship of the "New York Commercial Advertiser," becoming at the same time one of its proprietors. He continued in charge of this till his death, which took place at Saratoga Springs, August 15, 1844. M.L. Leave Though an acknowledged political leader, Mr. Stone's attention, during his career as an editor, was very far from having been absorbed by the party contentions of the day. While residing at Hudson, besides the political journal, he edited a was distinguished for sprightliness and frequent literary periodical styled the "Lounger," which sallies of wit. Subsequently, he furnished a number of tales to the Annuals, some of which, with additions, he republished in 1834, under the title of Tales and Sketches. Many of the characters and incidents in these are historical, being founded on traditions respecting the revolutionary or colonial history of the United States. In 1832, he published his Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry; then followed Mathias and his Impostures, a curious picture of an instance of gross but remarkable religious delusions, which occurred in the state of New York; and in 1836, a volume entitled Ups and Downs in the Life of a Gentleman, intended as a satire on the follies of the day, although the main facts stated actually occurred in the life of an individual well known to the author. It has been stated that the parents of Mr. Stone, during his early childhood, removed to western New York. This section of country was at that time in fact, though not in name, an Indian Mission Station-so that in his very boyhood their son became well acquainted with the Indians of our forests, and his kindness of manner and offhand generosity won his way to their favor. To this it may be owing, that at an early period of his life he formed the purpose of gathering up and preserving what remained concerning the traits and character of the "Red Men" of America, intending to connect with an account of these, an authentic history of the life and times of the prominent individuals who figured immediately before the Revolution, more especially of Sir William Johnson. The amount of labor thus bestowed, and the success with which he found his way to dusty MSS. or gained knowledge of the invaluable contents of old chests and rickety trunks stowed away as lumber in garrets, and almost forgotten by their owners, was remarkable. Still more noteworthy was the happy facility with which he would gain access to the hearts of hoary-headed and tottering old men, and bring them to live over again their early days of trial and hardships -gleaning quickly and pleasantly, desirable information from those who alone could communicate what he wished to hear. The result was an amount and variety of material which could scarcely be estimated, for he had the habit of systematizing the retentiveness of a powerful memory by a time-saving process entirely his own, and the very arrangement of his MSS. and books assisted this process, so that his library served him a double purpose. In the course of these investigations be obtained an intimate acquaintance with the early annals of the country, and became a repository of facts in American and Revolutionary history. His predilections in this particular department were doubtless cultivated by his father, who when a mere boy left college hall and classics to shoulder his musket, and fight the battles of his country. While following out his main design, the materials collected enabled him to give to the public several works on the general subject with which they were connected. These were the Memoirs of Joseph Brant, in 1838; a Memoir of Red Jacket, in 1841; the Life of Uncas, and the History of Wyoming. He had completed the collection and arrangement of the materials for his more extended work, the history of Sir Wil liam Johnson, was ready to devote himself to its execution, and had already advanced to three hundred and fifty pages and upwards, when he was called to give up his earthly labor. When it is remembered that the investigations just referred to, and the volumes which resulted, were accomplished at the same time with the editorship of a leading daily paper in our commercial metropolis, and that he acted up to his own exalted views of the power, influence, and responsibility of the press, as an organ of good or evil, it may be safely asserted that his industry was untiring. The character of Mr. Stone could not be fully presented without mentioning his sympathy with those who were struggling in life, and how readily a word of kindness was written or spoken, or his purse opened for their assistance. The ingenuousness, transparency, and freshness of character, which he always retained, often shone forth with great beauty amid scenes and in circumstances little likely to elicit them. From his early youth Mr. Stone's motives of action were elevated. He was a firm, decided, and consistent Christian. The religious enterprises and benevolent associations of the day commanded his earnest efforts in their behalf. The Colonization Society, from first to last, found in him a steadfast supporter. The cause of Educntion lay near his heart, and to it he gave his energies, and spared not even his decaying strength. HENRY ROWE SCHOOLCRAFT Is the descendant of a family identified with the early border life of America. His first ancestor in the country, James Calcraft, for so the name was written then, came from England fresh from the campaigns of Marlborough. He settled in Albany County, New York; was a land surveyor and schoolmaster, which latter vocation led to the popular change of his name. He died at the age of one-hundred-and-two in the Otter Creek region, in the present state of Vermont. His children were variously distributed in Canada, on the Susquehannah, and in the state of New York. One of them, John, was a soldier under the command of Sir William Johnson. His son Lawrence was in Fort Stanwix during the siege, and was the first volunteer to go forth to the relief of the brave Herkimer. He served through both wars with England, and died in 1840 at the age of eightyfour, with a high reputation for worth and integrity. His son, Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, was born in Albany county, 28th March, 1793. He received there, in the town of Guilderland, a good education from the schoolmasters of the region, but appears mainly to have instructed himself, his tastes leading him in his youth to a knowledge of poetry and languages, with which he connected the study of mineralogy. At fifteen he began writing for the newspapers. His first work was a treatise on Vitreology, published in Utica in 1817, a subject to which he was led by his father's superintendence of the glass manufacture. The next year he travelled to the Mississippi and made a mineralogical survey of the Lead Mines of Missouri, of which he published a report in 1819. His narrative or journal of this tour, published in 1820 in Van Winkle's Belles Lettres Repository Henry It Schoolcrust. at New York, is marked by a vein of unaffected simplicity and enthusiasm which has always been characteristic of the author. It was republished in London in Sir Richard Phillips's collection of Voyages and Travels; and has been lately reissued by the author in an enlarged form with the title, Scenes and Adventures in the Semi-Alpine Region of the Ozark Mountains of Missouri and Arkansas, which were first traversed by DeSoto in 1541. His next tour was in 1820, under the auspices of Monroe's administration, accompanying General Cass in his survey of the copper regions, and exploration of the Upper Mississippi. He published an account of this in a Narrative Journal of Travels from Detroit to the Source of the Mississippi River. In 1821 he journeyed to Chicago, examining the Wabash and Illinois Rivers, and published as the result his Travels in the Central Portions of the Mississippi Valley. In 1822 he Elmwood. received the appointment of Agent for Indian Affairs on the North-west Frontiers, taking up his residence at Michilimackinack, where he continued to reside for nearly twenty years, occupying himself diligently with studying the Indian languages and history, and improving the condition of the tribes. He was a member of the Territo rial Legislature from 1828 to 1832. He procured the incorporation of the Michigan Historical Society in 1828, and in 1832 founded the Algic Society at Detroit. The titles of his publications at this time will show his zeal in the promotion of his favorite topics, urged both in prose and verse.* He made a grammar of the Algonquin language. Mr. Du Ponceau translated two of his lectures before the Algic Society on the grammatical structure of the Indian language into French, for the National Institute of France. In 1832 he was chosen by the Indian and War Department to conduct a second expedition into the region of the Upper Missi-sippi. This he accomplished successfully, establishing his lasting geographical reputation by the discovery of the head waters of the river in Itasca Lake. Ilis account of the journey was published in an octavo volume by the Harpers in 1834; Narrative of an Expedition to Itasca Lake, the actual source of the Mississippi River. In 1839 his Algic Researches appeared in New York, a collection of Indian tales and legends, mythologic and allegoric. It is the working of one of the finest veins of the author's numerous aboriginal studies. The legends preserved in this and other of Mr. Schoolcraft's writings show the Indians to have possessed an unwritten literature of no little value in both a poetical and humorous aspect. There is much delicacy in the conception of many of these tales of the spirits of earth and air, with a genuine quaintness showing an affinity with the fairy stories of the northern races of Europe. In bringing these curious traditions to light, valuable as an historical index to the character of the tribes, as well as for their invention, Mr. Schoolcraft is entitled to grateful recollection for his pioneer labors. He was the first to challenge attention to this department of national literature; and without his poetical interest in the subject very much of the material he has preserved would probably have perished. Mr. S., too, i: a poet in his own right, the list of his writings numbering several productions in verse, chiefly relating to the Indians or the scenery of the west. In 1841 Mr. Schoolcraft removed his residence to New York and took part in the proceedings of the Ethnological Society. The next year he visited England and the continent, and was present at the meeting of the British Association at Manchester. On his return he was employed by the legislature of New York, in 1845, to take a census of the Six Nations, the results of which investigation were published in his Notes on the Iroquois, an enlarged edition of which appeared in 1847. In 1845 Mr. S. commenced the publication of a collection of Indian literary material with the title, Oneóta, or Characteristics of the Red Race of America; reissued in 1848 with the title, The Indian in his Wigwam. The Rise of the West, or a Prospect of the Mississippl Valley. A Poem. 1837. Detroit: G. L. Whitney; pp. 20Indian Melodies. New York: Elam Bliss, 1880; pp. 52, 8vo.A Discourse before the Michigan Historical Society in 1881. Detroit. Whitney, pp. 59.-Outline of the Natural History of Michigan, a lecture delivered before the Detroit Lyceum in 1881. Detroit.-The Influence of Ardent Spirits on the Condition of North American Indians. Tb.-An Address before the Algic Society. Ib.-The Man of Bronze, or Portraitures of Indian Character, delivered before the Algic Society at its annual meeting in 1884.-Iosco, or the Vale of Norma. Detroit: 1888.-Report on Indian affairs in 1840. Ib. One of the most interesting of the author's pub- | lications (in Philadelphia, 1851) is his Personal Memoirs of a Residence of Thirty Years with the Indian Tribes on the American Frontiers; with brief notices of passing events, fucts, and opinions, 1812 to 1812.* This book is written in the form of a diary, and has the flavor of the time, with its motley incident on the frontier, with Indian chiefs, trappers, government employs, chance travellers, rising legislators, farmers, ministers of the gospel, all standing out with more or less of individuality in the formative period of the country. No man was, then and there, so humble or so insignificant as not to be of importance. With an instinct for the poetry of the past, and a vigilant eye for the present and the future, Mr. Schoolcraft has employed his pen in writing down legend, noting anec lotes of manners, chronicling personalities, recording adventure, and describing nature the result of which is a picture which will grow more distinct and valuable with time, when the lineaments of this transition age-the closing period of the red man, the opening one of the white-will survive only in this and similar records. The latest literary employment of Mr. Schoolcraft is his preparation, under a resolution of the government, of the series of five quarto volumes, printed in a style of great luxury, and illustrated by the pencil of Lieutenant Eastman, entitled Ethnological Researches respecting the Rel Man of Americi. Information respecting the History, Condition, and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States. The comprehensive plan of this work covers a wide range of subjects in the general history of the race; their traditions and associations with the whites; their special antiquities in the several departments of archæology in relation to the arts; their government, manners, and customs; their physiological and ethnological peculiarities as individuals and nations; their intellectual and moral cultivation; their statistics of population; their geographical position, past and present. The work, gigantic as it is, is mostly from the pen of Mr. Schoolcraft; but it also contains numerous important communications from government officials and others relating to the topics in hand.† Mr. Schoolcraft has been twice married; in 1823 to a daughter of Mr. John Johnston, an Irish gentleman, who married the daughter of Wabo To this is prefixed "Sketches of the Life of Henry R. Schoolcraft:" a careful narrative, from which the facts of this notice have been derived. In addition to the works we have mentioned, Mr. Schoolcraft has published Cyclopædia Indiaensis, a specimen number. New York: Platt & Peters, 1842.-Alhalla, the Lord of Talladega. Ib. Wiley & Putnam. 1843. pp. 116.-Report on Aboriginal Names, and the Geographical Terminology of New York. Ib. Van Norden. 1845, pp. 43.-An Address at Aurora, Cayuga County, New York, before an association of young men for investigating the Iroquois history. Auburn, 1946, pp. 85-Historical Considerations on the Siege of Fort Stanwix in 1777, delivered before the New York Historical Society. New York: Van Norden. 1 46, pp. 29. Plan for investigating American Ethnology. . Jenkins. 1846, pp. 18.An Address before the New York Historical Society on the Incentives to the study of the ear, period of American History. Ib. Van Norden. 1847, pp. 83-Notices of Antique Earthen Vessels from Florida. Ib. 1847, pp. 15-Literature of the Indian Languages. Washington: C. Alexander. 1849, pp. 28. Mr. B. has also been a contributor to most of the periodicals of the country, including Silliman's Journal, the North American Review, the Democratic Review. Helderbergia: or the apotheosis of the Heroes of the Anti-Rent War-a poem. Albany, N.Y. 1855. 8vo. pp. 54. jeeg, an Indian chief. This lady, with whom he passed the whole of his frontier residence in Michigan, died in 1842. In 1847 he married Miss Mary Howard of Beaufort, South Carolina. Being deprived by a partial paralysis of the ready use of his hand, his wife acts as his amanuensis. Beyond his confinement to his room this difficulty has not affected his health, while it has concentrated his attention, never relaxed, still more on his literary pursuits. It is satisfactory to see a pioneer in a branch of science and investigation not usually very highly rewarded by the public, thus pursuing-under the auspices and with the resources of Government-the studies commenced nearly half a century before. THE WHITE STONE CANOE-FROM THE TALES OF A WIGWAM. There was once a very beautiful young girl, who died suddenly on the day she was to have been marriel to a handsome young man. He was also brave, but his heart was not proof against this loss. From the hour she was buried, there was no more joy or peace for him. He we at often to visit the spot where the women had buried her, and sat musing there, when, it was thought, by some of his friends, he would have done better to try to amuse himself in the chase, or by diverting his thoughts in the warpath. But war and hunting had both lost their charms for him. His heart was already dead within him. He pushed aside both his war-club and his bow and arrows. He had heard the old people say, that there was a path that led to the land of souls, and he determined to follow it. He accordingly set out, one morning, after having completed his preparations for the journey. At first he hardly knew which way to go. He was only guided by the tradition that he must go south. For a while, he could see no change in the face of the country. Forests, and hills, and valleys, and streams had the same looks, which they wore in his native place. There was snow on the ground, when he set out, and it was sometimes seen to be piled and matted on the thick trees and bushes. At length, it began to diminish, and finally disappeared. The forest assumed a more cheerful appearance, the leaves put forth their buds, and before he was aware of the completeness of the change, he found himself surrounded by spring. He had left behind him the land of snow and ice. The air became mild, the dark clouds of winter had rolled away from the sky; a pure field of blue was above him, and as he went he saw flowers beside his path, and heard the songs of birds. By these signs he knew that he was going the right way, for they agreed with the traditions of his tribe. At length he spied a path. It led him through a grove, then up a long and elevated ridge, on the very top of which he came to a lodge. At the door stood an old man, with white hair, whose eyes, though deeply sunk, had a fiery brilliancy. He had a long robe of skins thrown loosely around his shoulders, and a staff in his hands. The young Chippewayan began to tell his story; but the venerable chief arrested him, before he had proceeded to speak ten words. "I have expected you," he replied, "and had just risen to bid you welcome to my abode. She, whom you seek, passed here but a few days since, and being fatigued with her journey, rested herself here. Enter my lodge and be seated, and I will then satisfy your enquiries, and give you directions for your journey from this point." Having done this, they both issued forth to the lodge door. "You see yonder gulf," sai l he, "and the wide stretching blue plains beyond. It is the land of souls. You 154 entrance. CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN LITERATURE. stand upon its borders, and my lodge is the gate of meet no waves. no wars. It Listen to him, and you shall afterwards rejoin the WILLIAMS COLLEGE Owes its name and original foundation to a sol- On the breaking out of the war anew in 1755 he had command of a regiment for the general defence, which was ordered to join the forces then raising in New York by General Johnson against the French. On his way to the army he made, on the 22d July, 1755, his will at Albany, by which he bequeathed his property in Massachusetts as a foundation "for the support of a free-school in a township west of Fort Massachusetts; provided the said township fall within Massachusetts, after running the line between Massachusetts and New York, and provided the said township, when incorporated, be called Williamstown." Proceeding with a large body of soldiers in the following autumn, September 8, 1755, to attack the advanced guard of Dieskau's invading force, the party was entrapped in an ambuscade in the neighborhood of Lake George, when Colonel Williams fell, mortally wounded by a musket ball in the head. His bequest for the purposes of education seems to have grown out both of his respect for learning and his affection for the settlers, among whom his military life was passed. He was of a warm, generous disposition, with a winning ease and politeness; and though he was not much indebted to schools for his education, is said to have had a taste for books, and cultivated the society of men of letters.* By the will of Colonel Williams his executors were directed to sell his lands, at their discre tion, within five years after an established peace, and apply the interest of the proceeds, with that of certain bonds and notes, to the purposes of the free-school. The lands were sold, the money loaned, and the interest again invested till 1785, when an act of the legislature was procured incorporating a body of trustees "of the * Mass. Hist. Coll., First Series, vili. 47. |