"
"That is prejudice," I said.
"No, it is the truth," she replied. "I know it. My people have removed
twice, if not three times, and the next move will be to the sea or the
grave."
"It is the effect of civilization, and arts, and the power of sciences
and learning, over untutored nature," I said.
"If learning makes men wicked, it is a bad thing," she observed; "for
the devil instructs men how to destroy. But rum ain't learning, it is
poison; nor is sin civilization, nor are diseases blessings, nor
madness reason."
"That don't alter things," I said, "if it is all true that you say,
and there is too much reality in it, I fear; but the pale faces are
not all bad, nor the red all good. It don't apply to your case."
"No," she said, "nature forbids the two races to mingle. That that is
wild, continues wild; and the tame remains tame. The dog watches his
sleeping master; and the wolf devours him. The wild-duck scorns
confinement; and the partridge dies if compelled to dwell with
domestic fowls. Look at those birds," she said, as she threw a chip
among a flock of geese that were floating down the lake, "if the
beautiful Indian wild bird consorts with one of them, the progeny die
out. They are mongrels, they have not the grace, the shape, or the
courage of either. Their doom is fixed. They soon disappear from the
face of the earth and the waters.
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