in deep study. [Footnote: Col. Wm. Jones.]




CHAPTER IV.

Early struggles--Red Jacket's opportunity for trial--Council at Fort
Stanwix--Red Jacket's office of Sachem--Red Jacket's opposition to the
proposed treaty--Excitement created by his speech--Allayed by Cornplanter
--His influence in deciding the treaty--How it affected him.


How long and toilsome the way, ere the ambitious aspirant passes from the
low grounds of obscurity, to the dazzling heights of fame! How many hours
of anxious toil, through wearisome days and nights, protracted through
months and years, are passed, before the arena even is entered, where the
race commences in earnest! How many struggling emotions between hope and
fear, encouragement and doubt, promise and despair, mark the experience,
and clothe it with the sublimity and interest that belong to action in its
highest forms!

Did this child of nature cherishing the bright dream from early life,
never suffer from these contending emotions, ere he awoke finally to the
consciousness of the reality, where he could exclaim, I am an orator, yes,
I AM AN ORATOR!

This idea Red Jacket began now to cherish. He had practiced in his native
wilds, the forest depths had echoed back those strains of eloquence, that
had struggled for utterance in his impassioned bosom, and their force