Zachary was an Indian of the Mohegan tribe, and belonged to the
royal family of his people. He was one of the best of hunters, never
returning empty-handed from the chase. But he was a poor, miserable
drunkard. He had learned from the white man how to drink "fire-water,"
and had become so fond of it that he was drunk nearly all the time when
he was not hunting. When he had reached the age of fifty years, several
of his superiors in the tribe died, leaving only one person between him
and the position of chief.
One day Zachary was returning from hunting, and while on his way began
to think of his past life and of his future prospects. "What a fool
I have been," said he to himself, "having lived so long to act so
foolishly. How can such a drunken wretch as I ever hope to be the chief
of my tribe? What will my people think and say of me? I am not worthy
to fill the place of the great Uncas. I will drink no more!"
When he reached his wigwam, he told his wife and friends that he would
never, as long as he lived, taste any drink but water. And he kept this
resolution to the day of his death.
Many of the whites who heard this story could not believe it. They
said Zachary had been so long in the habit of drinking that he could
not live without it, and they had no doubt that he often took a glass
slyly when no one was looking on. Among these was a young man, the son
of the governor of one of the New England colonies; for this story I am
telling you is about matters which took place many years ago, before
America was a separate nation, and when what are now States were called
colonies, and governed by rulers sent over from England.
Zachary had by this time become the chief in his tribe, and the
governor invited him one day to dine with him. While they were seated
at the table the governor's son thought he would try the temperance
principles of the old chief, and offering him a glass of beer, said:
"Zachary, this beer is excellent, will you taste it?"
The old man dropped his knife and fork, and leaning over the table,
looked with a sharp eye upon the youth, and said: "John, you do not
know what you are doing! Boy, you are serving the devil! Do you want
to make me what I once was, a poor, miserable man, unfit to govern
my tribe? John, the acorn grows into an oak; the cub becomes a bear;
the brook swells into a river; and a single spark of fire will spread
through a whole forest. So one drop of your beer would make me want
more, and then I should want something stronger, and I would drink rum
until I became as wretched as I once was. Do you not know that I am
an Indian? I tell you that I am; and that if I begin to drink beer I
cannot stop without tasting rum. _John, while you live, never again
tempt a man to break a good resolution._"
The young man knew not what to say. He felt that he had done a mean
thing in trying to get old Zachary to break his pledge. His parents
were deeply affected at the scene, and often reminded their son of it
afterward, charging him never to forget it; and he did not. For years
after the Indian chief died, John made frequent visits to his grave,
repeating to himself the valuable lesson he had learned, never to tempt
a man to break a good resolution.
Men, and children too, who are trying to become better, ought to be
helped, not hindered. Kind words and kind deeds will greatly encourage
them; but to frown upon them, to sneer at them, or to make sport
of them, is often a sure way of making them as bad as ever.--_The
Christian._