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William Priest - Travels in the United States of America
cider; it will be my friend, when all others fail and forsake me - Choicest gift of God to man! and which
the white people alone possess the art and knowledge of producing!' - He courteously offered me a share
of his beverage; but I found it so intolerably sour, that I was forced to swear by all the gods of the
Indians, I would not have any connexion with it. - He then pointed to the stream where the girl was
angling, and said, with a peasant countenance that had brightened up for a moment, 'Go; you are a
sober man; the clear waters are good for you; for my own part, this juice of the apple shall be
sufficient.' - Two hours now elapsed, without any one uttering a word. - The Indian had by this time
drunk two large gallons of cider; and recollecting in an instant, he had signed away his lands and
wigwam, some days before, for a mere trifle, he became at once outrageous; his rage heightened
to an alarming degree of extravagance by the strong fumes of the liquor he had swallowed. - ' It is
enough,' said he; 'my house and lands are departed: I will speak a word in favour of suicide.
"'Tis all in vain! These flowers, these streams, these solitary shades, are nothing to me. I shall not offend
the spirit of truth when I say, they are odious in my eyes. Sixty times has the sun performed his journey
of a year, since I was first struck with the beauty of his yellow rays. Could I be a witness of sixty yet to
come, would there be any thing new, or which I had not seen before? It is high time we should intrude
ourselves into the invisible abodes, when all things satiate and grow stale upon us here below. I will this
very night enclose myself in my wigwam, and, setting it on fire, depart with the thin vapour that shall
arise from the dried wood of the forest, when piled around me - No, no,' continued he, tasting the remains
of his cider 'there is nothing new; all is old, stale; and insipid.'
"At this instant an Indian trader alighted at the door. He appeared to have come a considerable distance,
and now proffered to barter a keg of french brandy for some beaver skins, he saw hanging out a
post.
"French brandy!' cried Tomo cheekily 'that must be something new.'
"It is surely such,' replied the wandering trader, 'at least in this remote wilderness.'
"I will taste it, by Heaven,' said the Indian.
"But will it not prove the falsehood of your position and assertion,' interrupted I, 'that there is nothing
new under the sun? To him that exists through all ages nothing can be strange or novel; with the
transitory race of man, the case is wholly different. Art and Nature are combined in perpetually
composing new forms and substances for his use and amusement on the ocean of life.'
"The Divinity himself must surely reside in that precious liquor!' exclaimed the Indian, after tasting it a
second time; 'take all my skins and furs; and when the dawn of the morning appears, return home,
stranger, and bring a fresh supply of this celestial beverage. My existence had indeed begun to be a
burden: I was meditating, to extricate myself by the shortest method. I have now learned wisdom, and am
convinced, that it is variety alone that can make life desirable."
* * * * *
In order to understand the following, I must inform you, F - - had been telling the story of a
love-distracted maid, somewhat similar to Sterne's Maria. You will suppose her lately to have put an end
to her existence. -
"We had not proceeded very far on our way, when we discovered a funeral procession advancing towards
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