Boone, being now a son in a principal Shawnee family, presents himself
in a new light to our observation. We would be glad to be able give a
diurnal record of his modes of deportment, and getting along. Unhappily,
the records are few and meagre. It will be obvious, that the necessity
for a more profound dissimulation of contentment, cheerfulness, and a
feeling of loving his home, was stronger than ever. It was a semblance
that must be daily and hourly sustained. He would never have acquitted
himself successfully, but for a wonderful versatility, which enabled him
to enter into the spirit of whatever parts he was called upon to
sustain; and a real love for the hunting and pursuits of the Indians,
which rendered what was at first assumed, with a little practice, and
the influence of habit, easy and natural. He soon became in semblance so
thoroughly one of them, and was able in all those points of practice
which give them reputation, to conduct himself with so much skill and
adroitness, that he gained the entire confidence of the family into
which he was adopted, and become as dear to his mother of adoption as
her own son.
Trials of Indian strength and skill are among their most common
amusements. Boone was soon challenged to competition in these trials. In
these rencounters of loud laughter and boisterous merriment, where all
that was done seemed to pass into oblivion as fast as it transpired,
Boone had too much tact and keen observation not to perceive that
jealousy, envy, and the origin of hatred often lay hid under the
apparent recklessness of indifference.
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