The Missionary's Mistake. 233 



then. He didn't make Christian men and women of 

 tlie Ingens^ nor win them from their wild and savage 

 way either. To them, he didn't do much good, and 

 the world knew all it wanted to know about 'em. 

 They were a cussed, scalpin', murderin', savage set, 

 and warn't worth savin' any how. If that missionary 

 had just told us all about the woods, and the game, the 

 beasts, and the birds, and the appearance and nater of 

 things, and especially all about them wild cows and 

 bulls with horns like the stag, he'd a done something 

 to be remembered by, and the world would have 

 thanked him for it. But he told just enough to make 

 the world want to know more, and to cuss and swear 

 at him for not tellin' more, instead of goin' cruisin' 

 after them blasted red skins. It's provokin', Squire, 

 for men like you and me, to have such a little corner 

 of the cover lifted up, that conceals so much knowl- 

 edge, and lettin' us see that there's a great many things 

 beneath it that we'd like wonderfully to know about, 

 and then shutting it against us forever, especially when 

 thinkin' and studyin' won't help us to find it out. I'm 

 blamed if I havn't been mad with that missionary, 

 ever since I read his journal. It's a thousand pities he 

 didn't take an observin' hunter with him, who'd a set 



