10. And ripe. What though the sickle, sometimes keen, More than thy balm, O Gilead! heals the wound. Were death denied, poor man would live in vain,— LESSON CXV. VENERATION FOR THE TOMB, A PROOF OF THE SOUL'S IMMORTALITY. From the French of CHATEAUBRIAND. 1. THE veneration of mankind for the tomb, is a proof of the immortality of the soul. There, by an invisible charm, life is attached to death; there the human race declares itself superior to the rest of creation, and proclaims aloud its lofty destinies. What animal regards its grave, or disquiets itself about the ashes of its fathers? Whence comes then the allpowerful idea which we entertain of death? 2. Do a few grains of dust merit so much consideration? No: we respect the dead because an inward voice tells us that all is not lost with them; and that is the voice which has everywhere consecrated the funeral services throughout the world; all are equally persuaded that the sleep is not eternal, even in the tomb, and that death itself is but a glorious transfigura tion. THE CONSOLATION OF DEATH. JOHN FOSTER. 1. WHAT a superlatively grand and consoling idea is that of death! Without this radiant idea, this delightful morningstar, indicating that the luminary of Eternity is about to rise, life would darken into midnight melancholy. Oh! the expectation of living here, and living thus, always, would be indeed, a prospect of overwhelming despair! 2. But thanks to that fatal decree that dooms us to die,thanks to that Gospel which opens the vision of an endless life, and thanks, above all, to that Savior who has promised to conduct us through the sacred trance of death, into scenes of paradise and everlasting delight! THE DYING CHRISTIAN TO HIS SOUL. 1. VITAL spark of heavenly flame, Quit, O quit this mortal frame: 2. Hark! they whisper; angels say, 66 What is this absorbs me quite ?—- 3. The world recedes; it disappears; Heaven opens on my eyes; my ears POPF LESSON CXVI. INDIAN MODE OF KILLING THE BUFFALO. 1. THE Buffalo is a noble animal that roams over the vast prairies, from the borders of Mexico on the south, to Hudson's Bay on the north. Their flesh which is easily procured, furnishes the Indians of these vast regions of the west, the means of a good and wholesome subsistence, and they live almost exclusively upon it, while of the skins, horns, hoofs, and bones, they construct dresses, shields, bows, and other utensils. 2. The mode, in which the Indians kill this noble animal, is spirited and thrilling in the extreme. I have almost daily accompanied parties of Indians to witness the sport, and have often shared in it myself; but oftener have run my horse by their sides to see how the feat was accomplished,—to study the modes and expressions of these splendid scenes. 3. In the chase of the Buffalo or other animals, the Indian generally "strips" himself and his horse, by throwing off his shield and quiver, and every part of his dress, which might be an incumbrance to him in running, grasping his bow in his left hand, with five or six arrows drawn from his quiver, and ready for instant use. In his right hand, or attached to the wrist, is a heavy whip which he uses without mercy, and forces his horse alongside of his game, at the swiftest speed. 4. The horses are all trained for this business, and seem to enter into it with as much enthusiasm, and with as restless a spirit, as the riders themselves. While preparing and mounting, they exhibit the most restless impatience; and when approaching, (which is all abreast, upon a slow walk, and in a straight line toward the herd,) they all seem to have caught entirely the spirit of the chase; for the laziest nag among them prances with an elastic step,-champing his bit,-his ears erect, his eyes strained out of his head, and fixed upon the game before him, while he trembles under the saddle of his rider. 5. In this way they carefully and silently march, until within some forty or fifty rods of the game; when the herd discovering them, wheel and lay their course in a mass. At this instant they start!-and all must start, for no one could check the fury of those steeds at that moment of excitement, —and away all sail, and over the prairie fly, in a cloud of dust. which is raised by their trampling hoofs. 6. When the Indian has directed the course of his steed to the animal which he has chosen as his victim, the training of the horse is such, that it knows the object of its rider's selection, and exerts every muscle to give it close company; while the halter lies loose and untouched upon its neck, and the rider leans quite forward, and off from the side of his horse, with his bow drawn, and ready for the deadly shot which is given at the instant he is opposite to the animal's body. 7. The horse, being instinctively afraid of the animal, (though he generally brings his rider within the reach of the end of his bow,) keeps his eye strained upon the furious enemy he is so closely encountering; and the moment he has approached to the nearest distance required, and has passed the animal, whether the shot is given or not, he gradually sheers off to prevent coming on to the horns of the infuriated beast, which often are instantly turned and presented for the fatal reception of its too familiar attendant. 8. These frightful collisions often take place, notwithstanding the sagacity of the horse, and the caution of its rider; for in these extraordinary and inexpressible exhilarations of chase, which seem to drown the prudence alike of instinct and reason, both horse and rider seem rushing on to destruction, as if it were mere pastime and amusement. 9. I have always counted myself a prudent man, yet I have often waked, as it were, out of the delirium of the chase, into which I had fallen, as into an agitated sleep, and through which I had passed as through a delightful dream, in which, to have died, would have been but to have remained, riding on, without a struggle or a pang. In some of these, I have arisen from the prairie, covered with dirt and blood, having parted company with gun and horse, the one lying some twenty or thirty feet from me with broken stalk, and the other coolly grazing at half a mile distance. 10. With the Indian, who has made this the every-day sport and amusement of his life, there is less difficulty and less danger; he rides without "losing his breath," and his unagitated hand deals certainty in its deadly blows. LESSON CXVII. INDIAN MODE OF KILLING THE BUFFALO.-CONTINUED. GEORGE CATLIN. 1. A FEW mornings since, I was an eye-witness to one of these scenes, which I deem worthy of being described. The MINATAREES, as well as the MANDANS,* had suffered for some months for want of meat, and had indulged in the most alarming fears that the herds of buffaloes were emigrating so far off from them that there was great danger of their actual starvation; when it was suddenly announced through the village, one morning at an early hour, that a herd of buffaloes was in sight. Immediately a hundred or more young men, with weapons in hand, mounted their horses and steered their course to the prairies. 2. The chief informed me that one of his horses was in readiness for me at the door of his wigwam, and he wished me to go and see the curious affair. I accepted his polite offer, and mounting the steed, galloped off with the hunters to the prairies, where we soon descried, at a distance, a fine herd of buffaloes grazing, when a halt and a council was ordered. 3. The plan of the attack, which in this country is familiarly called a "surround," was explicitly agreed upon, and the hunters who were all mounted on their "buffalo horses," and armed with bows and arrows or long lances, divided into two columns, taking opposite directions, and drew themselves gradually around the herd at the distance of a mile or more from them; thus forming a circle of horsemen at equal distances * Names of Tribes of Indians on the Upper Missouri. |