LINES OCCASIONED BY A VISIT TO AN OLD INDIAN BURYING-GROUND.
In spite of all the learn'd have said,
I still my old opinion keep,
The posture that we give the dead,
Points out the soul's eternal sleep.
Not so the ancients of these lands:—
The Indian, when from life releas'd,
Again is seated with his friends,
And shares again the joyous feast.
His imag'd birds, and painted bowl,
And ven'son for a journey drest,
Bespeak the nature of the soul—
Activity, that wants no rest.
His bow for action ready bent,
And arrows with a head of bone,
Can only mean that life is spent,
And not the finer essence gone.
Thou, stranger, that shalt come this way,
No fraud upon the dead commit;
Yet, mark the swelling turf, and say,
'They do not lie, but here they sit'
Here still a lofty rock remains,
On which the curious eye may trace
(Now wasted half by weiring rains)
The fancies of a ruder race.
Here still an aged elm aspires,
Beneath whose far projecting shade
(And which the shepherd still admires)
The children of the forest play'd.
There oft a restless indian queen,
(Pale Marian, with her braided hair)
And many a barb'rous form, is seen,
To chide the man that lingers there.
By midnight moons, o'er moist'ning dews,
In vestments for the chace array'd,
The hunter still the deer pursues—
The hunter and the deer—a shade.
And long shall tim'rous fancy see
The painted chief, and pointed spear,
And, Reason's self shall bow the knee
To shadows and delusions here.
* * * * *
Philadelphia, September 22d, 1795.
DEAR SIR,
I find from a perusal of the english papers, that fencibles are raising in all parts of the country, and every precaution taking, to put the kingdom in the best state of defence, in case of an invasion. I have for some years thought a few regiments of riflemen would much contribute to this desirable end.
Some lessons I have received in the use of the rifle, from back woodsmen, since my arrival in America, have confirmed me in this opinion.
I know it will be objected, that the rifle is not a fair weapon. Perhaps it is not.—I should be sorry to see it in general use in the european armies: but surely it may be used to repel an invader, without any infringement of the Law of Nations.
What I would recommend to Government on this subject is, first,