Abraham Lincoln has become the typical character of American
institutions, and it is the purpose of this book, which is a true picture
in a framework of fiction, to show how that character, which so
commanded the hearts and the confidence of men, was formed. He
who in youth unselfishly seeks the good of others, without fear or
favor, may be ridiculed, but he makes for himself a character fit to
govern others, and one that the people will one day need and honor.
The secret of Abraham Lincoln’s success was the “faith that right
makes might.” This principle the book seeks by abundant storytelling
to illustrate and make clear.
In this volume, as in the “Log School-House on the Columbia,” the
adventures of a pioneer school-master are made to represent the
early history of a newly settled country. The “Log School-House on
the Columbia” gave a view of the early history of Oregon and
Washington. This volume collects many of the Indian romances and
cabin tales of the early settlers of Illinois, and pictures the hardships
and manly struggles of one who by force of early character made
himself the greatest of representative Americans.
The character of the Dunkard, or Tunker, as a wandering schoolmaster,
may be new to many readers. Such missionaries of the
forests and prairies have now for the most part disappeared, but
they did a useful work among the pioneer settlements on the Ohio
and Illinois Rivers. In this case we present him as a disciple of
Pestalozzi and a friend of Froebel, and as one who brings the
German methods of story-telling into his work.
“Was there ever so good an Indian as Umatilla?” asks an
accomplished reviewer of the “Log School-House on the Columbia.”
The chief whose heroic death in the grave of his son is recorded in
that volume did not receive the full measure of credit for his
devotion, for he was really buried alive in the grave of his boy. A like
question may be asked in regard to the father of Waubeno in this
volume. We give the story very much as Black Hawk himself related it. In Drake’s History of the Indians we find it related in the
following manner:
“It is related by Black Hawk, in his Life, that some time before the
War of 1812 one of the Indians had killed a Frenchman at Prairie des
Chiens. ‘The British soon after took him prisoner, and said they
would shoot him next day. His family were encamped a short
distance below the mouth of the Ouisconsin. He begged permission
to go and see them that night, as he was to die the next day. They
permitted him to go, after promising to return the next morning by
sunrise. He visited his family, which consisted of a wife and six
children. I can not describe their meeting and parting to be
understood by the whites, as it appears that their feelings are acted
upon by certain rules laid down by their preachers!—while ours are
governed only by the monitor within us. He parted from his wife
and children, hurried through the prairie to the fort, and arrived in
time. The soldiers were ready, and immediately marched out and shot
him down!’ If this were not cold-blooded, deliberate murder on the
part of the whites I have no conception of what constitutes that
crime. What were the circumstances of the murder we are not
informed; but whatever they may have been, they can not excuse a
still greater barbarity.”
It belongs, like the story of so-called Umatilla in the “Log School-
House on the Columbia,” to a series of great legends of Indian
character which the poet’s pen and the artist’s brush would do well
to perpetuate. The examples of Indians who have valued honor more
than life are many, and it is a pleasing duty to picture such scenes of
native worth, as true to the spirit of the past.
institutions, and it is the purpose of this book, which is a true picture
in a framework of fiction, to show how that character, which so
commanded the hearts and the confidence of men, was formed. He
who in youth unselfishly seeks the good of others, without fear or
favor, may be ridiculed, but he makes for himself a character fit to
govern others, and one that the people will one day need and honor.
The secret of Abraham Lincoln’s success was the “faith that right
makes might.” This principle the book seeks by abundant storytelling
to illustrate and make clear.
In this volume, as in the “Log School-House on the Columbia,” the
adventures of a pioneer school-master are made to represent the
early history of a newly settled country. The “Log School-House on
the Columbia” gave a view of the early history of Oregon and
Washington. This volume collects many of the Indian romances and
cabin tales of the early settlers of Illinois, and pictures the hardships
and manly struggles of one who by force of early character made
himself the greatest of representative Americans.
The character of the Dunkard, or Tunker, as a wandering schoolmaster,
may be new to many readers. Such missionaries of the
forests and prairies have now for the most part disappeared, but
they did a useful work among the pioneer settlements on the Ohio
and Illinois Rivers. In this case we present him as a disciple of
Pestalozzi and a friend of Froebel, and as one who brings the
German methods of story-telling into his work.
“Was there ever so good an Indian as Umatilla?” asks an
accomplished reviewer of the “Log School-House on the Columbia.”
The chief whose heroic death in the grave of his son is recorded in
that volume did not receive the full measure of credit for his
devotion, for he was really buried alive in the grave of his boy. A like
question may be asked in regard to the father of Waubeno in this
volume. We give the story very much as Black Hawk himself related it. In Drake’s History of the Indians we find it related in the
following manner:
“It is related by Black Hawk, in his Life, that some time before the
War of 1812 one of the Indians had killed a Frenchman at Prairie des
Chiens. ‘The British soon after took him prisoner, and said they
would shoot him next day. His family were encamped a short
distance below the mouth of the Ouisconsin. He begged permission
to go and see them that night, as he was to die the next day. They
permitted him to go, after promising to return the next morning by
sunrise. He visited his family, which consisted of a wife and six
children. I can not describe their meeting and parting to be
understood by the whites, as it appears that their feelings are acted
upon by certain rules laid down by their preachers!—while ours are
governed only by the monitor within us. He parted from his wife
and children, hurried through the prairie to the fort, and arrived in
time. The soldiers were ready, and immediately marched out and shot
him down!’ If this were not cold-blooded, deliberate murder on the
part of the whites I have no conception of what constitutes that
crime. What were the circumstances of the murder we are not
informed; but whatever they may have been, they can not excuse a
still greater barbarity.”
It belongs, like the story of so-called Umatilla in the “Log School-
House on the Columbia,” to a series of great legends of Indian
character which the poet’s pen and the artist’s brush would do well
to perpetuate. The examples of Indians who have valued honor more
than life are many, and it is a pleasing duty to picture such scenes of
native worth, as true to the spirit of the past.
