Page:Mennonite Handbook of Information 1925.djvu/81



Mennonites as a people have never been known to come into aggressive or defensive conflict with the Indians. When Mennonites or Quakers were known by them, they were readily recognized as peace-loving and peace-practicing people who were not suspected in the least of betraying a league of confidence. One of the first and earliest traits of the Indian character was to court the friendship and good will of their pale-faced neighbors. It was not until the principles of peace were ruthlessly violated by white men that the animal spirit in the Indian became aroused to acts of fury, desperation, and bloodshed.

The speeches of Logan, chief of the Mingoes, and the one given at the time of Black Hawk's farewell, very lucidly and pointedly illustrate this thought. History records instances when the first ships of white men touched the shores of the New World, when the Indians at once recognized them as heaven-sent friends, and hastened to offer them the best things they had to eat in the form of cooked venison and fish, two of the choicest articles and most toothsome of foods to be found in our market squares today. The story of their league made with William Penn and his people is a tribute to the