THE GEORGE CATLIN INDIAN GALLERY. 643 



talk with you a little, and before we talk we always make our presents, if we have any- 

 thing to give. We are here poor, and a great way from home, where we also have our 

 little children to feed; hut the Great Spirit has been kind to us, and we have enough 

 to eat." 



To this the Indians who were passing the pipe around, all responded "How ! how ! 

 how !" 



The old chief then proceeded to ask the poor woman how she became so poor, and why 

 the white people did not take care of her and her child. She replied that she had been 

 in the work-house, and her husband was there still; she described also the manner in 

 which she had left it, and how she became a beggar in the streets. She said that when 

 she and her husband were taken into the poor-house they were not allowed to live to- 

 gether, and that she would rather die than live in that way any longer, or rather beg 

 lor something to eat in the streets', as she was now doing; and as the cold Aveather was 

 coming in, she expected her child and herself would be soon starved to death. 



The poor Indians, women and all, looked upon this miserable shivering object of pity, 

 in the midst of the wealth and luxuries of civilization, as a mystery they could not ex- 

 pound, and giving way to impulses that they could feel and appreciate, the women 

 opened their trunks to search for presents for the little child, and by White Cloud's 

 order filled her lap with cold meat and bread sufficient to last them for a day or two. 

 The good old doctor's politeness and sympathy led him to the bottom of the stairs with 

 her, where he made her understand by signs that every morning, when the sun was up 

 to a place that he pointed to with his hand if she would come, she would get food enough 

 tor herself and her little child as long as they stayed in Birmingham: and he recollected 

 his promise, and made it his especial duty every morning to attend to his pensioners at 

 the hour appointed.* 



VISIT TO MISS HUTTON. 



A note was written to me in a bold and legible hand by Miss Catherine Hutton, desir- 

 ing to know ' ' at what hour it would be suitable for her to come from her house, a few 

 miles out of town, to see the Indians (for whom she had always had a great love), so as 

 not to meet a crowd, for her health was not very good, being in the ninety-first year of 

 her age." This venerable and most excellent lady I held in the highest respect, from 

 a correspondence I had held with her on the subject of the Indians ever since I had been 

 in England, though I never had seen her. Her letters had always teemed with love and 

 kindness for these benighted people, and also with thanks to me for having done so 

 much as I had for their character and history. I therefore deemed it proper to respond 

 to her kindness by proposing to take the whole party to her house and pay her the visit. 

 Her note was answered with that proposition, which gave her great pleasure, and we 

 took a carriage and went to her delightful residence. 



We were received with unbounded kindness by this most excellent and remarkable 

 lady, and spent a couple of hours under her hospitable roof with great satisfaction to 

 ourselves, and with much pleasure to her, as her letter to me on the following day fully 

 evinced, f After a personal introduction to each one in turn, as she desired, and half an 



* It is worthy of remark, and due to these kind-hearted people, that I should here explain that 

 this was by no means a solitary instanee of their benevolence in Birmingham. Whenever they 

 could get out upon the portico to look into the streets they threw their pence to the poor ; and dur- 

 ing the time they were residing in London we ascertained to a certainty that they gave away to 

 poor Lascars and others in the streets, from their omnibus, many pounds sterling. 



f Bennett's Hill, near Birmingham, November 1, 1844. 



My Dear Mr. Catlin : I have seen the nobility of England at a birth-night ball in St. James's palace. 

 I have seen the King and Queen move around the circle, stopping to speak to every individual, 

 and I have wondered what they could have to say. I have seen the Prince of Wales (afterwards 

 George the Fourth) open the ball with a minuet, and afterwards dance down a country dance, and 

 I thought him a handsome young man and a fine dancer. This was in the year 1780. 



Yesterday, as you well know, for you brought them to visit me, I saw the 14 Ioway Indians. I 

 §hook hands with each, and told them, through the interpreter, that red men were my friends. J. 



