Page:Sketch of Connecticut, Forty Years Since.djvu/45

 which a civilized one bestows; and striking, as it were, both upon Scylla and Charybdis, made shipwreck of all.

Still some interesting features might be traced amid this assemblage of gloom; some individuals remained, around whom, as around Philipœoemon, "the last of the Greeks," gleams of brightness lingered. A few warriors, who, in the contest of 1755, dared death for the country which had subjugated them, still survived, to speak, with flashing eyes, of battle, and of victory. Some, who had shared the toils of that recent war which had emancipated from British thraldom one who was to rank among the nations of the earth, remained, to shew their wounds, so poorly requited. Many might still be found, in whose hearts, gratitude, hospitality, and inviolable faith, the ancient characteristics of their race, were not extinguished.

But over the greater mass hung the cloud of intemperance, indolence, and mental degradation. Consciousness of their own state, and of the contempt of others, presented hopeless obstacles to every reforming hand, except His who brought light out of chaos. The dwellings of this dilapidated tribe, though universally in a state of rudeness, exhibited considerable variety of appearance. Occasionally, the ancient wigwam might be detected, lifting its cone-like head among the bushes; then a tenement of rough logs, reeking with smoke, would pre sent its more substantial, though less romantic structure. Those, which fronted the road, were usually of boards,