THE SCHOOL OF THE WOODS
In the green groves of Swansea was an Indian national mill which may
still be seen on the main road from Warren to Barneyville, about
half-way between the two towns. A stone wall runs over it. It is
worn smooth with the grindings of the corn, and was probably used by
generations of aborigines.
Here gathered the native Indian races, and here it is probable the arts
and crafts of these races were taught before the great sickness, when
the Wampanoags were in their glory.
The mill was not far from the simple cabin of timid Susan, and here the
sharp, hard stone probably furnished material for arrows.
Little Metacomet was educated by the grinders and the arrow-makers
in places like these. On the shores he was taught to make spears and
arrows in the lodges, or saw how this work was done. In places like
the Indian mill he saw how mortars and pestles for pounding corn and
meals were made. At Mt. Hope Lands he saw how it was that the Indian
women painted their fabrics with pigeon-berry and how fruit was dried
for winter use. The great cloaks of the chieftains and sagamores were
probably painted there, for there were the royal lodges.
His instructor may have been his mother, or his father's brother, who
died early in the Indian war, and who is said to have studied at the
Indian school at Cambridge. Though he was only a little boy, princes
were trained young in the Indian arts.
The first thing that was taught such children was picture making, on
white birch bark. The books of the Indians were pictures on bark, and
these represented the sun, moon, stars and the manitous, or gods.
The Indian boys were early taught to run. The Indian runners were
almost electric in their motions, and made quick journeys from Mt. Hope
or Sowams to Plymouth, or to the Narragansett country.
Little Metacomet was probably taught to use the sassafras bow and to
feather his arrows from osprey-wings. The ospreys or fishing hawks
were very peaceable, dwelling among the great rugged oaks. They never
quarreled among themselves. But the great eagle sometimes attacked
them, and then they would gather for war against him.
Little Metacomet was taught to attack the great eagle, and to help
the peaceable ospreys. When his arrow brought down the eagle with its
wings broken and torn, he received the applause of the arrow-makers,
spear-makers, mortar-makers, and basket-makers.
In the winter canoes were hollowed from logs, and he was taught the
arts of fishing. He was told of the Great Spirit who dwelt in the happy
hunting-grounds in the regions of the sun. These places of departed
souls were said to be in the south. The Indians sang themselves to
sleep, by thoughts of the happy hunting-ground.
The making of wampum was one of the arts of the Indian schools. Wampum
was made of shells, and was the Indian money.
It was reckoned by "fathoms," or the length of the string. The making
of beads and ornaments of fur, feathers, and shells was also among
their arts.
When the children of the braves began to grow rapidly, they were put
into the hardening process, or what might be termed physical education.
They were cast out into the cold in winter that they might endure cold;
they were tortured that they might learn never to complain. An old song
tells this story--
"The sun sets at night and the stars shun the day,
But glory remains when the light fades away.
Begin, ye tormentors, your threats are in vain,
For the son of Alknomok will never complain."
How to become stolid was one of the arts of this forest education.
As the months passed on, the hostility of the Indians toward the white
people grew, and Susan every day talked with Roger about what would
happen if hostile Indians were to "come diving down the road, right
past her door."
"Mother," Roger used to say, "they would remember what the little
prince has said of us. An Indian never harms a friend. The women all
know how we have treated Metacomet."