 | Hope Leslie, or, Early times in the Massachusetts |  |
NOTES.
(1.) “She understands, and speaks English perfectly
well.”
—Page 36, Vol. I.
We would take the liberty to refer those, who may think
we have here violated probability, to Winthrop, who speaks
of a Pequod maiden, who attended Miantunnomoh as interpreter,
and `spoke English perfectly.'
(2.) “Monoca, the mother of these children, was noted
for the singular dignity and modesty of her demeanour.”
—Page 37, Vol. I.
For those who disbelieve the existence in savage life, of
the virtues which we have ascribed to this Indian woman,
we quote our authority—
“Among the Pequot captives was the wife and children
of Mononotto. She was particularly noticed by the English
for her great modesty, humanity, and good sense. She made
it as her only request, that she might not be injured, either
as to her offspring or personal honour. As a requital for
kindness to the captivated maids, her life and the lives of her
children were not only spared, but they were particularly
recommended to the care of Governor Winthrop. He gave
charge for their protection and kind treatment.”
—Trumbull's
Hist. Connecticut. See also, Hubbard's Indian Wars, p. 47.
(3.) “They told him they would spare his life if he would
guide them to our strong holds; he refused.”
—Page 86,
Vol. I.
“But finding that the sachems whom they had spared,
would give them no information, they beheaded them on
their march at a place called Mekunkatuck, since Guilford.”
—Ibid.
(4.) “You English tell us, Everell, that the book of your
law is better than that written on our hearts,” &c.
—Page
86, Vol. I.
The language of the Indians, as reported by Heckelwelder,
verifies, so strongly, the sentiment in our text, and is so
powerful an admonition to Christians, that we here quote it
for those who may not have met with the interesting work of
this excellent Moravian missionary.—“`And yet,' say those
injured people, `these white men would always be telling us
of their great Book which God had given to them. They
would persuade us that every man was good who believed in
what the Book said, and every man was bad who did not believe
in it. They told us a great many things, which they
said were written in the good Book, and wanted us to believe
it all. We would probably have done so, if we had seen
them practise what they pretended to believe, and act according
to the good words which they told us. But no! while
they held their big Book in one hand, in the other they had
murderous weapons, guns and swords wherewith to kill us
poor Indians. Ah! and they did so too!”'
(5.) “She entered the enclosure, now the church-yard of
the stone-chapel.”
—Page 278, Vol. I.
This was the first burial place in Boston; and as early as
the year 1630, consecrated by the interment of Mr. Johnson,
who died of grief for the loss of his wife, the Lady Arabella,
“the pride of the colony.” “He was,” says Winthrop, “a
holy man and wise, and died in sweet peace.” And another
contemporary historian says, that he was so beloved that
many persons requested their bodies might be interred near
his.
(6.) “The Indians remained standing,” &c.
—Page 241,
Vol. I.
The characteristic conduct of the Narragansett chief is
transferred to our pages from Winthrop, who thus describes
it. “When we should go to dinner, there was a table provided
for the Indians, to dine by themselves, and Miantunnomoh
was left to sit with them. This he was discontented
at, and would eat nothing till the governor sent him meat
from his table. So at night, and all the time he staid, he sat
at the lower end of the magistrate's table.”
(7.) “That gentleman, sir, is the apostle of New-England.”
—Page 181. Vol. II.
We believe we have anticipated by three or four years,
this title, so well earned and generally bestowed. We cannot
pass the hallowed name of Eliot, without pausing earnestly
to beseech our youthful readers to study his history, in
which they will find exemplified, from youth to extreme old
age, the divine precepts of his master. He was the first protestant
missionary to the Indians; for nearly half a century
their instructor, friend, and father; and when, during the
war with the terrific Philip of Mount Hope, fear had turned
every hand and heart against them, and their utter extinction
was regarded by most, as necessary to the salvation of
the English colonies, Eliot was still their indefatigable and
fearless advocate. The christian philanthropist will delight
to follow this good man through his diocess of Indian churches;
to see him surrounded by his simple catechumens, dealing
out the bread of life to them; to go with him to his “prophet's
chamber” at Natick—that apartment prepared by the
love of his Indian disciples, and consecrated by his prayers;
and finally, to stand by his bedside when, in extreme old age,
like his prototype “the beloved apostle,” all other affections
having melted into a flame of love. “Alas!” he said, “I
have lost every thing. My understanding leaves me. My
holds out still. I find that grows rather than fails.”
His name has been appropriately given to a flourishing
missionary station, where the principle on which he at all times
insisted is acted upon, viz: “that the Indians must be civilized,
as well as, if not in order to their being christianized.”
This principle has no opposers in our age, and we cannot but
hope, that the present enlightened labours of the followers of
Eliot, will be rewarded with such success, as shall convert
the faint-hearted, the cold, and the skeptical, into ardent
promoters of missions to the Indian race.
(8.) “I know,” she said, “that it contains thy rule.”
—
Page 190. Vol. II.
This reply of Magawisca, we have somewhere seen given
as the genuine answer of an Indian, to the solicitation of a
missionary, but are not able now to refer to our authority.
(9.) “Moscutusett.”
Among the various conjectures respecting the etymology
of the word Massachusetts, the following communicated by
Neal, appears the most satisfactory. “The sachem who
governed this part of the country, had his seat on a hill, about
two leagues to the southward of Boston. It lies in the shape
of an Indian arrow-head, which is called in their language,
`Mos,' or `Mons.' A hill in their language is, `Wetusett,'
pronounced in their language Wechusett; hence the Great
Sachem's seat was called `Moscutusett,' from whence, with
a small variation, the province received the name of Massachusetts.”
—History of Boston.
This hill is in the town of Quincy, and now known by the
name of “Sachem's hill.”
| Hope Leslie, or, Early times in the Massachusetts | |