The Black Swans 



tribes. Poise, dignity, faith, pathos, 

 patience! The red warrior with folded 

 arms and vision keen recalls a sceptre 

 lost and calmly waits the verdict of 

 the centuries. On the very verge of the 

 precipice at his feet a blasted cedar 

 stands, defying the lightnings of the 

 passing years. Tradition has it that 

 the eagles nested once within its 

 scraggy arms from which all life has 

 long since passed. Fit symbol this of 

 broken hopes; and what a story could 

 be told if any one of its skeleton arms 

 were placed upon our fire tonight! 

 But it is sacred now and for all time. 

 Were the red men as savage as they 

 have been painted? Perhaps. We 

 know that the Iroquois, the most in- 

 telligent, the most capable, the most 

 outstanding of all the so-called un- 

 civilized races of which there is record 

 in the world's history, extended their 

 armed sway across the American wil- 

 derness as far west as the land of the 

 Dakotas. But their worst has been 

 [28! 



