Page:Works of the Late Doctor Benjamin Franklin (1793).djvu/269

259 ſpirit that perhaps has ſmelt our broiling veniſon, and wiſhes to eat of it: let us offer ſome to her. They preſented her with the tongue: ſee was pleaſed with the taſte of it, and ſaid, Your kindneſs ſhall be rewarded. Come to this place after thirteen moons, and you ſhall find ſomething that will be of great benefit in nouriſhing you and your children to the lateſt generations. They did ſo, and to their ſurpriſe, found plants they had never ſeen before; but which, from that ancient time, have been conſtantly cultivated among us, to our great advantage. Where her right hand had touched the ground, they found maize; where her left hand had touched it they found kidney-beans; and where her backſide had ſat on it, they found tobacco." The good miſſionary, diſguſted with this idle tale, ſaid, "What I delivered to you were ſacred truths; but what you tell me is mere fable, fiction, and falſehood." The Indian, offended, replied, "My brother, it ſeems your friends have not done you juſtice in your education; they have not well inſtructed you in the rules of common civility. You ſaw that we, who underſtand and practiſe thoſe rules, believed all your ſtories, why do you refuſe to believe ours?"

When any of them come into our towns, our people are apt to crowd round them, gaze upon them, and incommode them where they deſire to be private; this they eſteem great rudeneſs, and the effect of the want of inſtruction in the rules of civility and good manners. "We have" ſay they, "as much curioſity as you, and when you come into our towns, we wiſh for opportunities of looking at you; but for this purpoſe we hide ourſelves behind buſhes where you are to