After
walking an hour, two had passed. Another hour, and the three had
passed, Then I saw the tracks were my own, and that I had been
walking, as the squaws reason, round and round, but not going
ahead."
"I understand my friend, but he is wrong. It is no matter which path
the lost tribes travelled to get here. The main question is, whether
they came at all. I see in the red men, in their customs, their
history, their looks, and even in their traditions, proof that they
are these Jews, once the favored people of the Great Spirit."
"If the Manitou so well loves the Indians, why has he permitted the
pale-faces to take away their hunting-grounds? Why has he made the
red man poor, and the white man rich? Brother, I am afraid your
tradition is a lying tradition, or these things would not be so."
"It is not given to men to understand the wisdom that cometh from
above. That which seemeth so strange to us may be right. The lost
tribes had offended God; and their scattering, and captivity, and
punishment, are but so many proofs of his displeasure. But, if lost,
we have reason to believe that one day they will be found. Yes, my
children, it will be the pleasure of the Great Spirit, one day, to
restore you to the land of your fathers, and make you again, what
you once were, a great and glorious people!"
As the well-meaning but enthusiastic missionary spoke with great
fervor, the announcement of such an event, coming as it did from one
whom they respected, even while they could not understand him, did
not fail to produce a deep sensation.
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