not respected merely because they are old in
years; people there have not time to keep up appearances in that way;
when persons cease to have a real advantage in wisdom, knowledge,
or enterprise, they must stand back, and let those who are oldest in
character "go ahead," however few years they may count. There are no
banks of established respectability in which to bury the talent there;
no napkin of precedent in which to wrap it. What cannot be made to
pass current, is not esteemed coin of the realm.

To the windows of this house, where the daughter of a famous "Indian
fighter," i.e. fighter against the Indians, was learning French, and
the piano, came wild, tawny figures, offering for sale their baskets
of berries. The boys now, instead of brandishing the tomahawk, tame
their hands to pick raspberries.

Here the evenings were much lightened by the gay chat of one of the
party, who with the excellent practical sense of mature experience,
and the kindest heart, united a _naivete_ and innocence such as I
never saw in any other who had walked so long life's tangled path.
Like a child, she was everywhere at home, and, like a child, received
and bestowed entertainment from all places, all persons. I thanked her
for making me laugh, as did the sick and poor, whom she was sure to
find out in her briefest sojourn in any place, for more substantial
aid. Happy are those who never grieve, and so often aid and enliven
their fellow-men!

This scene, however, I was not sorry to exchange for the much
celebrated beauties of the island of Mackinaw.

CHAPTER VI.

MACKINAW.--INDIANS.--INDIAN WOMEN.--EVERETT'S RECEPTION OF
CHIEFS.--UNFITNESS OF INDIAN MISSIONARIES.--OUR DUTIES TOWARD THIS
RACE.

Late at night we reached this island of Mackinaw, so famous for its
beauty, and to which I proposed a visit of some length. It was the
last week in August, at which, time a large representation from the
Chippewa and Ottawa tribes are here to receive their annual payments
from the American government. As their habits make travelling easy and
inexpensive to them, neither being obliged to wait for steamboats, or
write to see whether hotels are full, they come hither by thousands,
and those thousands in families, secure of accommodation on the beach,
and food from the lake, to make a long holiday out of the occasion.
There were near two thousand encamped on the island already, and more
arriving every day.

As our boat came in, the ca