HISTORY OF VERMONT. 211 



tlie savage state, to corrupt and pervert the mo- 

 ral sense, than there are in a polished state of so- 

 ciety : But there were also fewer motives, oc- 

 casions, and opportunities for virtue. Rever- 

 ence and respect to the Deity, had little 2:)lace 

 or effect on the uncultivated mind of the savage. 

 There was nothing in his situation to produce 

 those offices of kindness, and tenderness, which 

 poften the heart, and sweeten the intercourse of 

 life, in the civilized state. The sullen pride of 

 independence, was the strongest passion in the 

 heart of the Indian 5 and it left but little room 

 for tender and generous affections to others. 

 Depending solely upon himself, the heart of the 

 savage contracts an insensibility, an hardness, a 

 roughness, very Imfavorable to social connex- 

 ions. Expecting no offices of kindness from 

 others, he v/as very little employed in relieving 

 the distresses, supplying the wants, or gratifying 

 the desires of others. In a heart thus contract- 

 ed, but few virtues will reside. The natural 

 affections will remain, and may become strong 

 and vigorous : But the divine, social, and hu- 

 man virtues, find an unfriendly soil ; become 

 few in their number, and weak in their opera- 

 tion. 



No Attainment in the Arts. Those 

 arts, which are the most necessary and useful to 

 men in the civil state, were almost wholly un- 

 known among the savages. To provide a cov- 

 ering to defend the body against heat, cold, and 

 moisture, is one of the first arts that man must 

 have attended to. The Indian had gone no fur- 

 ther in this primary and essential art, than to 

 apply the skins and furs of animals to this pur- 



