[Footnote: It was of these same prairies, rivers, and skies,
these same elemental ever-present forces, that Abraham Lincoln learned the
simple, rugged eloquence that made him the most powerful soul that valley
has known.] A beautiful earth, sprinkled with flowers, a bright sun, a
calm river free of rocks, sweet-flavored tobacco, thriving corn, an
acquaintance with the Great Spirit--well might the old man who received
the French man say: "thou shalt enter all our cabins in peace."
Indian eloquence is not of the lips only. It is a poor Indian speech
indeed that is not punctuated by gifts. And so it was that the French
travellers resumed their journey laden with presents from their prairie
hosts, and a slave to guide them, and a calumet to procure peace wherever
they went.
It is enough now, perhaps, to know that the voyagers passed the mouth of
the Illinois, the Missouri, the Ohio, and reached the mouth of the
Arkansas, when thinking themselves near the gulf and fearing that they
might fall into the hands of the Spaniards if they ventured too near the
sea, and so be robbed of the fruits of their expedition, they turned their
canoes up-stream.
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