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Cooper, James Fenimore, 1789-1851

"Oak Openings"

It is
an honor, and not a disgrace, to be what I have said my friends
are."
"If this be so, why do not the pale-faces let us keep out hunting-
grounds to ourselves? We are content. We do not wish to be Jews. Our
canoes are too small to cross the great salt lake. They are hardly
large enough to cross the great lakes of sweet water. We should be
tired of paddling so far. My brother says there is a rich land under
the rising sun, which the Manitou gave to the red men. Is this so?"
"Beyond all doubt. It was given to the children of Israel, for a
possession forever; and though you have been carried away from it
for a time, there the land still is, open to receive you, and
waiting the return of its ancient masters. In good season that
return must come; for we have the word of God for it, in our
Christian Bible."
"Let my brother open his ears very wide, and hear what I have to
say. We thank him for letting us know that we are Jews. We believe
that he thinks what he says. Still, we think we are red men, and
Injins, and not Jews. We never saw the place where the sun rises. We
do not wish to see it. Our hunting-grounds are nearer to the place
where he sets.


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