seems, ordinary independence of character. Her
grandfather, by the maternal side, had been a distinguished chief of his
nation at the ancient council-fire, or seat of its government at
Chegoimegon and Lapointe. By her father, a native of Antrim, in the
north of Ireland, she was connected with a class of clergy and gentry of
high respectability, including the Bishop of Dromore and Mr. Saurin, the
Attorney-General of Ireland. Two very diverse sources of pride of
ancestry met in her father's family--that of the noble and free sons of
the forest, and that of ancestral origin founded on the notice of
British aristocracy. With me, the former was of the highest honor, when
I beheld it, as it was in her case, united to manners and education in a
marked degree gentle, polished, retiring, and refined. No two such
diverse races and states of society, uniting to produce such a result,
had ever come to my notice, and I was, of course, gratified when any
persons of intellect and refinement concurred in the wisdom of my
choice. Such was Mr. Conant and his family, a group ever to be
remembered with kindness and respect. Having passed some weeks in his
family, with her infant boy and nurse, during my absence South, his
opportunities for judging were of the best kind.

"If you will suffer me to indulge the expression of both my own and Mrs.
Conant's feelings, I am sure that you cannot but be pleased that the
frankness and generosity of one, and the virtues and gentleness of the
other of you, have made so lively an impression on our hearts, and
rendered your acquaintance to us a matter of very sweet and grateful
reflection. Truly modest and worthy persons often exhibit virtues and
possess attainments so much allied to their nature as to be themselves
unconscious of the treasures. It does not hurt such ones to be informed
of their good qualities.

"When I first visited Mr. Schoolcraft, I looked about for his _Indian
girl_. I carried such a report to my wife that we were determined to
seek her acquaintance, and were not less surprised than recompensed to
find such gentleness, urbanity, affection, and intelligence, under
circumstances so illy calculated, as might be supposed, to produce such
amiable virtues. But all have learned to estimate human nature more
correctly, and to determine that nature herself, not less than the
culture of skillful hands, has much to do with the refinement and polish
of the mind.

"Mr. S.'s book ('Trav. Cent.