“Tah-nee-zhoo-rah!” (Sugar!) was her delighted exclamation, and they all broke out into a hearty laugh.  It is needless to say that the cakes disappeared with all the celerity they deemed compatible with good-breeding.  Never having seen any sugar but the brown or yellow maple, they had supposed the white substance to be salt, and for that reason had hesitated to taste it.

Their visit was prolonged until Shaw-nee-aw-kee made his appearance, and then, having been made happy by their various gifts, they all took their departure.

About this time, Mr. Kinzie received a letter from Colonel Richard M. Johnson, of Kentucky.  This gentleman had interested himself greatly in a school established in that State for the education of Indian youths and children.  The purport of his letter was to request the Agent to use every endeavor to induce the Winnebagoes not only to send their children to this institution for their education, but also (what was still more important) to set apart a portion of their annuity-money to assist in sustaining it.

There happened to be, at this holiday season, a number of the chiefs in the neighborhood of the Portage, and a messenger was sent to convene them all at the house of Paquette, the interpreter, that their Father might hold a talk with them.

On the day appointed they all assembled.  The subject-matter of the letter was laid before them, and all the advantages of civilization and education duly set forth—­the benefits which would arise to their nation, if even a small portion of the younger members could be well taught by the whites, and then return to their tribe, to instruct them in the learning, the arts, manufactures, and habits of civilized life.  To each paragraph, as it was uttered to them, they responded with a unanimous “Humph!” (Good!)

When their Father’s address was ended, Day-kau-ray, the oldest and most venerable among the chiefs, rose and spoke as follows: 

“Father,—­The Great Spirit made the white man and the Indian.  He did not make them alike.  He gave the white man a heart to love peace, and the arts of a quiet life.  He taught him to live in towns, to build houses, to make books, to learn all things that would make him happy and prosperous in the way of life appointed him.  To the red man the Great Spirit gave a different character.  He gave him a love of the woods, of a free life, of hunting and fishing, of making war with his enemies and taking scalps.  The white man does not live like the Indian—­it is not his nature.  Neither does the Indian love to live like the white man—­the Great Spirit did not make him so.

“Father,—­We do not wish to do anything contrary to the will of the Great Spirit.  If he had made us with white skins, and characters like the white men, then we would send our children to this school to be taught like the white children.

“Father,—­We think that if the Great Spirit had wished us to be like the whites, he would have made us so.  As he has not seen fit to do so, we believe he would be displeased with us, to try and make ourselves different from what he thought good.