Wyandotte

Wyandotte

The Project Gutenberg eBook, Wyandotte, by James Fenimore Cooper
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Wyandotte
Author: James Fenimore Cooper
Release Date: December 11, 2003 [eBook #10434]
Language: English
Character set encoding: iso-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK
WYANDOTTE***
E-text prepared by Project Gutenberg Distributed Proofreaders

Wyandotté;
or,
The Hutted Knoll.

A Tale.
Complete in One Volume.
By J. Fenimore Cooper.
1871.

"I venerate the Pilgrim's cause, Yet for the red man dare to plead: We
bow to Heaven's recorded laws, He turns to Nature for his creed."
Sprague.

Preface.

The history of the borders is filled with legends of the sufferings of
isolated families, during the troubled scenes of colonial warfare. Those
which we now offer to the reader, are distinctive in many of their
leading facts, if not rigidly true in the details. The first alone is
necessary to the legitimate objects of fiction.
One of the misfortunes of a nation, is to hear little besides its own
praises. Although the American revolution was probably as just an
effort as was ever made by a people to resist the first inroads of
oppression, the cause had its evil aspects, as well as all other human
struggles. We have been so much accustomed to hear everything
extolled, of late years, that could be dragged into the remotest
connection with that great event, and the principles which led to it, that
there is danger of overlooking truth, in a pseudo patriotism. Nothing is
really patriotic, however, that is not strictly true and just; any more than
it is paternal love to undermine the constitution of a child by an
indiscriminate indulgence in pernicious diet. That there were
demagogues in 1776, is as certain as that there are demagogues in 1843,
and will probably continue to be demagogues as long as means for

misleading the common mind shall exist.
A great deal of undigested morality is uttered to the world, under the
disguise of a pretended public virtue. In the eye of reason, the man who
deliberately and voluntarily contracts civil engagements is more strictly
bound to their fulfilment, than he whose whole obligations consist of an
accident over which he had not the smallest control, that of birth;
though the very reverse of this is usually maintained under the
influence of popular prejudice. The reader will probably discover how
we view this master, in the course of our narrative.
Perhaps this story is obnoxious to the charge of a slight anachronism, in
representing the activity of the Indians a year earlier than any were
actually employed in the struggle of 1775. During the century of
warfare that existed between the English and French colonies, the
savage tribes were important agents in furthering the views of the
respective belligerents. The war was on the frontiers, and these fierce
savages were, in a measure, necessary to the management of hostilities
that invaded their own villages and hunting-grounds. In 1775, the
enemy came from the side of the Atlantic, and it was only after the
struggle had acquired force, that the operations of the interior rendered
the services of such allies desirable. In other respects, without
pretending to refer to any real events, the incidents of this tale are
believed to be sufficiently historical for all the legitimate purposes of
fiction.
In this book the writer has aimed at sketching several distinct varieties
of the human race, as true to the governing impulses of their educations,
habits, modes of thinking and natures. The red man had his morality, as
much as his white brother, and it is well known that even Christian
ethics are coloured and governed, by standards of opinion set up on
purely human authority. The honesty of one Christian is not always that
of another, any more than his humanity, truth, fidelity or faith. The
spirit must quit its earthly tabernacle altogether, ere it cease to be
influenced by its tints and imperfections.
Chapter I.

"An acorn fell from an old oak tree, And lay on the frosty ground-- 'O,
what shall the fate of the acorn be?' Was whispered all around By
low-toned voices chiming sweet, Like a floweret's bell when swung--
And grasshopper steeds were gathering fleet, And the beetle's hoofs
up-rung."
Mrs. Seba Smith.
There is a wide-spread error on the subject of American scenery. From
the size of the lakes, the length and breadth of the rivers, the vast
solitudes of the forests, and the seemingly boundless expanse of the
prairies, the world has come to attach to it an idea of