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Isaac Coates Journal of Journeys to the Indian Country

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We then withdrew a few minutes to confer upontheir proposals and requests, and soon returned to in- form them what we agreed upon. John Shoemakerrose and informed them that we believed it would notbe best to send one boy only, because he would be likelyto feel himself lonesome and so become uneasy;neither did we think it would be best to send oneyounger than 13 years, lest when the older one hadserved out his time and had gone home, the youngerone would be uneasy. But if they could get two orthree boys of good disposition and near of an age who would be willing to come and work as some of ourchildren do, we should be willing to accept of them and use our endeavours to instruct them. Then Thomas Stewardsoninformed them thatalthough we had not proposed to do any great mattersfor them, yet as they appeared desirous of improv-ing, we were willing to assist them a little, and wouldsend them a pair of bellows, an anvil, vise, and someother tools to begin with, if they thought Sam Jemi-son, (who has been instructed in the business atGenesinguhta), would come and do their work; alsowe would furnish them with one hundred lbs. of iron,a set of plow-irons, and some steel to begin with. Wau-un-de-guh-ta then replied: "You are wiserthan we, and we believe have come to a good conclu-sion about the boys, and we think we shall be likelyto get two pretty near of an age in a few weeks, whowill be willing to go, and whose parents and rela-tions will consent to their going. And if any of ourboys are sent, we want them taught to work as yourchildren are; for it will be of very little use for themjust to learn to read and write if they do not knowhow to work. During almost all the time of the council, I thinkthat notwithstanding they are a very dirty, meanpeople in and about their houses, cookery, etc., Inever felt a greater flow of near affection to anypeople, accompanied with what I took to be an as- surance that their souls are as precious in the eyes ofHim who is impartial in judging of the inmost re-cesses of the heart, as ours are who have been blessedwith so many inexpressible favours; (I fear too oftenwith but little sense of gratitude; to the Great Spirit for influencing our hearts to take pity on them,and to us in manifesting our kindness, insomuch thatI could not suppress a flow of tears; and although agood deal had been said on both sides, it being likelyI should never have the same or a like opportunity,I thought I could not leave them easy without en-deavoring to open to them the real cause of our com- ing; the origin of the concern which the Society isengaged in for their good; that the good men in ourSociety always loved our Indian brothers, and duringthe whole time the white people and Indians were atwar and killing one another, we had no hand in it norcould not be at war with anybody, but were sorry forit. And although we had no outward power in ourhands, generally when treaties were appointed be-tween the white people and themselves, some of usattended to try to keep them from being cheated. And when the war was over we were willing to tryto help and instruct them. With much more similarto what I expressed in the council at Genesinguhta, relative to the bad effects attendant upon the use ofardent spirits both upon white men and Indians, with a strong recommendation to them to endeavourto avail themselves in every respect of the opportu- nity put into their power of improving the little goodland they have left, and following the advice and ex- ample set and given them by our young men who re-side with their brother Senecas on the AlleghenyRiver. Also I informed them that Jacob Taylor in-tended to stop on his return from Buffalo and viewtheir saw-mill. And although we were desirous ofgetting forward this afternoon, on our way to BuffaloCreek, and made attempts to conclude the council,they were so pleased with our company that itseemed too hard for them to part with us; and thechief warrior said he was sorry and ashamed they were not in a capacity to entertain us better, but ifwe would be so kind as to stay another night withthem they would do the best they could, and Flying Arrow said he would bring as much corn as ourhorses could eat. For my part, I was not in a ca-pacity to refuse their request and told my companionsI would rather stay with them until the next morn-ing. To this they all consented and we informedthem so. They seemed much rejoiced; the chiefwarrior saying we had made the hearts of theirwomen and children glad, and some more of themwould be glad to take us by the band. Flying Arrowsoon sent us plenty of corn, and his father cut corntops enough and brought to our horses. The chiefwarrior's wife exerted herself in doing all she couldfor us. After the council was concluded and the most ofthe Indians gone, also Harry, who was our interpreter,I had a good deal of very friendly conversation withWau-un-de-guh-ta, (our landlord), Jacob Taylor in-terpreting. I soon found there were such impres-sions made upon his mind that it has opened a doorto a large scope of inquiry; and I believe manythings appeared in a fresh or new light to him. Idiscovered him for some time to be in a deep study;at last he said there was one thing he wanted to askbut was afraid the question would not please us. We told him he might ask anything. He then said,some time ago when he was at the Federal City, onhis way there he saw a great many black men thatwere slaves to white men and looked miserable; andhe wanted to know whether the Quakers kept any ofthem. We told him we did not, and did not think itright. He seemed very much pleased. Many thingsmore he asked; [so] that truly the undissembled ap-pearace and conduct of this man and his wife madevery pleasant impressions on all our minds. [To be Continued.]