to command and to obey, without being questioned himself, or
questioning others concerning the reasonableness of the mandates, he was perhaps
too much disposed to believe that his daughter would marry the man he might
select, while he was far from being disposed to do violence to her wishes. The
fact was, few knew the Pathfinder intimately, without secretly coming to believe
him to be one of extraordinary qualities. Ever the same, simple-minded,
faithful, utterly without fear and yet prudent, foremost in all warrantable
enterprises, or what the opinion of the day considered as such, and never
engaged in any thing to call a blush to his cheek, or censure on his acts, it
was not possible to live much with this being, who in his peculiar way, was a
sort of type of what Adam might have been supposed to be before the fall, though
certainly not without sin, and not feel a respect and admiration for him, that
had no reference to his position in life. It was remarked that no officer passed
him, without saluting him as if he had been his equal, no common man without
addressing him with the confidence and freedom of a comrade. The most surprising
peculiarity about the man himself, was the entire indifference with which he
regarded all distinctions that did not depend on personal merit. He was
respectful to his superiors from habit, but had often been known to correct
their mistakes and to reprove their vices, with a fearlessness that proved how
essentially he regarded the more material points, and with a natural
discrimination that appeared to set education at defiance. In short, a
disbeliever in the ability of man to distinguish between good and evil, without
the aid of instruction, would have been staggered by the character of this
extraordinary inhabitant of the frontier. His feelings appeared to possess the
freshness and nature of the forests in which he passed so much of his time, and
no casuist could have made clearer decisions in matters relating to right and
wrong; and, yet, he was not without his prejudices, which, though few and
coloured by the character and usages of the individual, were deep-rooted, and
had almost got to form a part of his nature. But the most striking feature about
the moral organization of Pathfinder was his beautiful and unerring sense of
justice. This noble trait, and without it no man can be truly great, with it no
man other than respectable, probably had its unseen influence on all who
associated with him, for the common, rude and unprincipled brawler of the camp
had been known to return from an expedition made in his