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46. It is an ill wind certainly that blows nobody any good. I had been with the Indians a year lacking fourteen days; and if not for my sister, yet for me it was a lucky circumstance indeed, which thus in an unexpected moment, snatched me out of their cruel hands, and placed me beyond the reach of their insolent power.

47. After my Indian master had disposed of me in the manner related above,and the moment of sober reflection had arrived,perceiving that the man who bought me had taken the advantage of him in an unguarded hour,his resentment began to kindle, and his indignation rose so high, that he threatened to kill me if he should meet me alone; or if he could not revenge himself thus, that he would set fire to the fort.

48. I was therefore secreted in an upper chamber, and the fort carefully guarded, until his wrath had time to cool. My service in the family, to which I was advanced, was perfect freedom in comparison with what it had been among the barbarous Indians.

49. My new master and mistress were both as kind and generous towards me as I could reasonably expect. I seldom asked a favour of either of them, but it was readily granted. In consequence of which I had it in my power, in many instances, to administer aid and refreshment to the poor prisoners of my own nation, who were brought into St. John's during my abode in the family of the above-mentioned benevolent and hospitable Saccapee.

50. Yet even in this family, such trials awaited me as I had little reason to expect; but stood in need of a large stock of prudence, to enable me to encounter them. In this I was greatly assisted by the governor, and Col. Schuyler, who was then a prisoner.

51. I was moreover under unspeakable obligations to the governor on another account. I had received intelligence from my daughter Mary, the purport of which was, that there was a prospect of her being shortly married to a young Indian of the tribe of St. Francois, with which tribe she had continued from the beginning of her captivity. These were heavy tidings, and added greatly to the poignancy of my other afflictions.

52. However, not long after I had heard this melancholy news, an opportunity presented of acquainting that humane and generous gentleman, the commander in chief, and my il

lustrious benefactor, with this affair also, who in compassion for my sufferings, and to mitigate my sorrows, issued his orders in good time, and had my daughter taken away from the Indians, and conveyed to the same nunnery where her sister was then lodged, with his express injunction, that they should both of them together be well looked after, and carefully educated as his adopted children.

53. In this school of superstition and bigotry, they continued while the war in those days between France and Great Britain lasted. At the conclusion of which war, the governor went home to France, took my eldest daughter along with him, and married her there to a French gentleman, whose name is Cron Lewis.

54. He was at Boston with the fleet under Count d'Estaing, (1778) and one of his clerks. My other daughter still continuing in the nunnery, a considerable time had elapsed after my return from captivity, when I made a journey to Canada, resolving to use my best endeavours not to return without her.

55. I arrived just in time to prevent her being sent to France. She was to have gone in the next vessel that sailed for that place. And I found it extremely difficult to prevail with her to quit the nunnery and go home with me.

56. Yea, she absolutely refused; and all the persuasions and arguments I could use with her were to no effect, until after I had been to the governor, and obtained a letter from him to the superintendant of the nuns, in which he threatened, if my daughter should not be delivered immediately into my hands, or could not be prevailed with to submit to my parental authority, that he would send a band of soldiers to assist me in bringing her away.

57. But so extremely bigotted was she to the customs and religion of the place, that after all, she left it with the greatest reluctance, and the most bitter lamentations, which she continued as we passed the streets, and wholly refused to be comforted. My good friend major Small, whom we met with on the way, tried all he could to console her; and was so very kind and obliging as to bear us company, and carry my daughter behind him on horseback.

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58. But I have run on a little before my story; for I have not yet informed you of the means and manner of my own redemption; to the accomplishing of which, the recovery of my daughter just mentioned, and the ransoming of some of

my other children, several gentlemen of note contributed not a little; to whose goodness therefore, I am greatly indebted, and sincerely hope I shall never be so ungrateful as to forget it. 59. Col. Schuyler, in particular, was so very kind and generous as to advance 2700 livres to procure a ransom for myself and three of my children. He accompanied and conducted us from Montreal to Albany, and entertained us in the most friendly and hospitable manner a considerable time, at his own house, and I believe, entirely at his own expense.

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XXII. The WHISTLE.

HEN I was a child of seven years old, says Dr. Franklin, my friends on a holiday filled my little pockets with coppers. I went directly to a shop where they sold toys for children; and being charmed with the sound of a Whistle, which I met by the way in the hands of another boy, I voluntarily offered, and gave all my money for one.

2. I then came home, and went whistling all over the house, much pleased with my whistle; but disturbing all the family. My brothers and sisters and cousins, understanding the bargain I had made, told me, I had given four times as much for it as it was worth.

3. This put me in mind of what good things I might have bought with the rest of the money. And they laughed at me so much for my folly, that I cried with vexation; and the reflection gave me more chagrin than the whistle gave me pleasure.

4. This, however, was afterwards of use to me; the impression continuing on my mind, so that often when I was tempted to buy some unnecessary thing, I said to myself, Don't give too much for the Whistle. And so I saved my money. 5. As I grew up and came into the world, and observed the actions of men, I thought I met with many, very many" who gave too much for the Whistle.

6. When I saw one too ambitious of court favours, sacrificing his me in attendance at levees, his repose, his liberty, his virtue, and perhaps his friends to obtain it, I have said to myself, This man gives too much for his Whistle.

7. When I saw another fond of popularity, constantly employing himself in political bustles, neglecting his own affairs, H

and ruining them by that neglect, He pays, said I, too much for his Whistle.

8. If I knew a miser, who gave up every kind of comfortable living, all the pleasure of doing good to others, all the esteem of his fellow citizens, and the joys of benevolent friendship, for the sake of accumulating wealth, Poor man, said I, you do indeed pay too much for the Whistle.

9. When I meet with a man of pleasure, sacrificing every laudable improvement of the mind, or of his fortune, to mere corporeal sensations, and ruining his health in the pursuit ; mistaken man, say I, you are providing pain for yourself instead of pleasure; you give too much for your Whistle.

10. If I see one fond of fine clothes, fine furniture, fine houses, fine equipage, all above his fortune, for which he contracts debts, end ends his career in prison; alas ! he has paid dear, very dear for his Whistle.

say I, 11. In short, I conceived that great part of the miseries of mankind were brought upon them by the false estimates they had made of the value of things, and by their giving too much for their Whistles.

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XXIII. HISTORY of POCAHONTAS.

ERHAPS they who are not particularly acquainted with the history of Virginia, nay be ignorant that Pocahontas was the protectress of the English, and often screened them from the cruelty of her father.

2. She was but twelve years old, when captain Smith, the bravest, the most intelligent, and the most humane of the first colonists, fell into the hands of the savages-He already understood their language, had traded with them several times, and often appeased the quarrels between the Europeans and them. Often had he been obliged also to fight them, and to punish their perfidy.

3. At length however, under the pretext of commerce, he was drawn into an ambush, and the only two companions who accompanied him fell before his eyes. But though alone, by his dexterity he extricated himself from the troop which surrounded him; until, unfortunately imagining he could save himself, by crossing a morass, he stuck fast, so that the savages, against whom he had no means of defending himself, at last took and bound him, and conducted him to Powhatan.

4. The king was so proud of having captain Smith in his power, that he sent him in triumph to all the tributary princes, and ordered that he should be splendidly treated, till he returned to suffer that death which was prepared for him.

5. The fatal moment at last arrived. Captain Smith was laid upon the hearth of the savage king, and his head placed upon a large stone to receive the stroke of death; when Pocahontas, the youngest and darling daughter of Powhatan, threw herself upon his body, clasped him in her arms, and declared that if the cruel sentence was executed, the first blow should fall on her.

6. All savages (absolute sovereigns and tyrants not excepted) are invariably more affected by the tears of infancy, than the voice of humanity. Powhatan could not resist the tears and prayers of his daughter.

7. Captain Smith obtained his life, on condition of paying for his ransom a certain quantity of muskets, powder and iron utensils. But how were they to be obtained? They would neither permit him to return to James-Town, nor let the English know where he was, lest they should demand him sword in hand.

8. Captain Smith, who was as sensible as courageous, said, that if Powhatan would permit one of his subjects to carry to James-Town, a leaf which he took from his pocket-book, he should find under a tree, at the day and hour appointed, all the articles demanded for his ransom.

9. Powhatan consented-but without having much faith in his promises, believing it to be only an artifice of the captain to prolong his life. But he had written on a leaf a few lines, sufficient to give an account of his situation. The messenger returned. The king sent to the place fixed upon, and was greatly astonished to find every thing which had been demanded.

10. Powhatan could not conceive this mode of transmitting thoughts; and captain Smith was henceforth looked upon as a great magician, to whom they could not show too much respect. He left the savages in this opinion, and hastened to return home.

11. Two or three years after, some fresh difference arising between them and the English, Powhatan, who no longer thought them sorcerers, but still feared their power, laid a horrid plan to get rid of them altogether. His project was

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