is a man; for whether it be in Polynesia or in Paris, in
the Saskatchewan or in Sweden, in Bundelond or in Bulgaria, fighting is
just the one universal "touch of nature which makes the whole world
kin."

"My good brothers," said a missionary friend of mine, some little while
ago, to an assemblage of Crees, "My good brothers--why do you carry on
this unceasing war with the Blackfeet and Peaginoos, with Sircies and
Bloods? It is not good, it is not right; the great Manitou does not like
his children to kill each other, but he wishes them to live in peace and
brotherhood."

To which the Cree chief made answer--"My friend, what you say is good;
but look, you are white man and Christian, we are red men and worship
the Manitou; but what is the news we hear from the traders and the
black-robes? Is it not always the news of war? The Kitchi Mokamans (i.e.
the Americans) are on the war-path against their brethren of the South,
the English are fighting some tribes far away over the big lake; the
French, and all the other tribes are fighting too! My brother, it is
news of war, always news of war! and we--we go on the war-path in small
numbers. We stop when we kill a few of our enemies and take a few scalps;
but your nations go to war in countless thousands, and we hear of more of
your braves killed in one battle than all our tribe numbers together. So,
my brother, do not say to us that it is wrong to go on the war-path, for
what is right for the white man cannot be wrong in his red brother. I
have done!"

During the seven days which I remained at Carlton the winter was not
idle. It snowed and froze, and looked dreary enough within the darkening
walls of the fort. A French missionary had come down from the northern
lake of Isle-a-la-Crosse, but, unlike his brethren, he appeared shy and
uncommunicative. Two of the stories which he related, however, deserve
record. One was a singular magnetic storm which took place at
Isle-a-la-Crosse during the preceding winter. A party of Indians and
half-breeds were crossing the lake on the ice when suddenly their hair
stood up on end; the hair of the dogs also turned the wrong way, and the
blankets belonging to the part even evinced signs of acting, in an
upright manner. I will not pretend to account for this phenomenon, but
merely tell it as the worthy pere told it to me, and I shall rest
perfectly satisfied if my readers hair does not follow the example of
the Indians dogs and blankets and p