And you come again with the same
story on your forked tongues, and wish to buy the last we have of all
we had, and offer us a home away beyond the Great River, and money,
and tell us we shall there have a home forever, free from the white
man's claims, and in which we shall dwell in peace, with no one to
make us afraid.
"Our traditions tell us that our fathers fled before the powerful red
men who dwell beyond the Great River, and who robbed us of our homes
and made them their own, as you, the white men, have done. Have you
bought the home of our fathers from these red men? or have you taken
it? that you bid us take it from you, and go back, and make a new home
where the fathers of our fathers sleep in death? If you have not, will
they not hunt us away again, as you have? How shall we know you will
not come and make us sell to you, for the white man, the homes you
promise shall always be ours and a home for our children's children?
"We love the land where we were born and where we have buried our
fathers and our kindred. It is the Great Spirit which teaches us to
love the land, the wigwam, the stream, the trees where we hunted and
played from our childhood, where we have buried out of sight our
ancestors for generations.
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