All politics, or discussions of the
affairs of government were entirely unknown; the commandant took care
of all that sort of thing. But instead of them, the processions and
ceremonies of the church, and the public balls, furnished ample matter
for occupation and amusement. Their agriculture was carried on in a
field of several thousand acres, enclosed at the common expense, and
divided into lots.... Whatever they may have gained in some respects, I
question very much whether the change of government has contributed to
increase their happiness. About a quarter of a mile off, there was a
village of Kickapoo Indians, who lived on the most friendly terms with
the white people. The boys often intermingled with those of the
white village, and practised shooting with the bow and arrow--an
accomplishment which I acquired with the rest, together with a little
smattering of the Indian language, which I forgot on leaving the place.
[Footnote 38: Distinguished in literature and as a political writer; a
native of Pennsylvania.]
* * * * *
=_Gulian C. Verplanck, 1786-1870._= (Manual, p. 487.)
From the "Literary and Historical Discourses."
=_121._= THE SCHOOLMASTER.
The schoolmaster's occupation is laborious and ungrateful; its rewards
are scanty and precarious.
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