“Brothers! I have listened to many
talks from our great white father. When he first came over the wide
waters, he was but a little man…very little. His legs were cramped
by sitting long in his big boat, and he begged for a little land to light
his fire on…. But when the white man had warmed himself before the
Indians’ fire and filled himself with their hominy, he became very large.
With a step he bestrode the mountains, and his feet covered the plains
and the valleys. His hand grasped the eastern and the western sea,
and his head rested on the moon. Then he became our Great Father.
He loved his red children, and he said, ‘Get a little further lest I tread
on thee.’ “Brothers! I have listened to a great many
talks from our great father. But they always began and ended in this—‘Get
a little further; you are too near me.’”