have; but in public life public duty was his sole guide, and the man does not live who can truthfully say that Mr. Childs as a legislator ever cast a vote contrary to his convictions to further his own interests, or that he ever subordinated the rights of the public to his own selfish ends. Nor, though he was a strong politician in a party sense, was it ever his purpose or desire to treat his opponent unfairly. We have all listened with pleasure to the just and very hearty tribute which has been paid to him by the one just elected to the place he formerly held in the senate, a gentleman always opposed to him politically, but who recognized and cheerfully testifies to his public and private virtues. Mr. Childs never stooped to low tricks to advance party ends. He labored hard for his party, but he always sought to convince the reason of his opponents, and while he used the utmost plainness of speech, when he thought the occasion called for it, he always accorded the same freedom of speech to those who opposed him. I might say many things of him in this connection which it would be pleasant to recall, but time will not permit. We are accustomed, when we place above the coffin the flowers and the emblematic sheaf and sickle, to say: "This is the end of earth." But my friends, this is not the end of earth with Webster Childs. A large part of our business in this life is educational; it consists in imparting to the rising generation our own acquirements and accumulated experience, and the benefits of the accumulations of those who have gone before us; and it is by such means that we hope that each generation will be wiser and better than the last. I was not aware until to-day that Mr. Childs had ever taught school; but I knew that he was a teacher always. He taught public morality by his public conduct; he taught private morality in the meetings which convened to hear him in the school-houses and churches. He was a man who loved to gather and impart facts, and I doubt if ever a man met him, in the Grange or any other society of which he was a member, and was within the sound of his voice, without taking with him as he went away some new fact or new thought, or some valuable suggestion which had not occurred to him before. For myself, I count the institution by Mr. Childs of the Sunday-school in this house as a part of his public life. And it is a touching evidence of his devotion to duty that he retained this position of teacher of children, which to many will appear so very humble, even when he was most prominent in the public counsels His labors in instruction on a large field are a part of the public history of the State. He stood by the side, and was the ready and wise assistant of the president of the State Agricultural College while that institution was achieving a reputation, and acquiring a standing of which the State is justly proud, and his heart was in the educational work of the State in every branch of it, from the highest to lowest, and his careful attention frequently given to the details of its legislation and administration. No, my friends, this is not all of earth of J. Webster Childs. He lives in the instruction he has given within this church; the children of this whole community are the better and the wiser for his teaching. He lives in the example which he has been to his neighbors and friends. He lives in the legislation of the State which he assisted to shape and improve, and in the noble college of whose governing board he was so long a faithful and a useful member, and he lives, I trust, to some extent in our own lives and conduct; for we severally ought to be, and I trust we are, the better that he has lived, and that he has set for us so noble an example of strict fidelity to every public and private duty. REMARKS BY PRESIDENT ABBOT OF THE AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE He said other speakers had gone over the private character and public life of Mr. Childs. It only remained for him to endorse what others had said and to speak of Mr. Childs as his own personal friend. He could assure these, his many friends who were manifesting such respect and love for the deceased, that such as Mr. Childs appeared to them he was when away from them. President Abbot had known Mr. Childs' family in their home, and when busiest with public cares and duties, Mr. Childs had always found time to talk about them, and his brother, and the family gathering at Niagara Falls, and the home group as a means of education-a social force in society, and of his temperance work and of his Sunday-school. The same interests followed him everywhere, and one rarely finds a person away from home and duty whose thoughts and affections so constantly revert to home and neighbors. It was the custom of Mr. Childs, when traveling with intimate friends at least, to begin the day with prayer. He was never beguiled away from his christian principles and duties, nor away from their enjoyment and support. Early in his legislative career he was known as the friend of education. The Normal school looked upon him as its champion. To the day of his death he spoke of "our noble university." Hearing Mr. Childs make a speech in the state senate upon agricultural topics led President Abbot to suggest to a friend that Mr. Childs was just the man needed on the Agricultural College Board. Put upon the State Board of Agriculture by Gov. Baldwin, reäppointed by Governors Bagley and Jerome each time for a term of six years, the Agricultural College has found in him a firm friend and wise manager of its affairs, and the speaker, its president, a sympathizing counsellor and friend. HIS LAST MESSAGE TO HIS SABBATH SCHOOL "To the Sabbath School. Tell them to be faithful scholars. Never be ashamed to study the Bible. Study it as your guide. Where my teachings have been scriptural follow them, when I have erred forgive me. I love the scholars and shall love them still." HISTORICAL J. Webster Childs was the youngest son of Deacon Josiah and Abigail Childs. He was born at Henniker, N. H., the birth place of his parents, June 16, 1826, and hence was 56 years, 4 months and 23 days old when he died. His father died at the age of 77, while his mother reached the ripe age of 88 years. At an early age he entertained a strong desire to obtain a good education, and by dint of his own efforts obtained his desire. In 1848 he came to Michigan and located in the town of Augusta. The next year he was elected school inspector and served in that capacity for more than twenty-five years. In 1850 he was elected a member of the Board of Supervisors in which office he served seven years. In 1858 he was elected to the State Legislature and re-elected in 1860. And since that he has been elected three times to the state senate and during the last term was president pro tem., of that body. In 1868 he was made a member of the Board of Agriculture, which he held to the day of his death. In 1848, Aug. 30, he was married to Lucy A. Hubbard, who survives him and mourns the loss of a faithful and beloved busband. DEATH OF GEORGE W. LEE From the Evening News, Detroit, June 8, 1882 Col. George W. Lee, Indian agent for the State of Michigan, died June 8, 1882, at 7 o'clock, at his home in Ypsilanti. He had been an invalid for some months, and his death will hardly be a surprise to his numerous friends. Col. Lee was born Oct. 24, 1812, in Chenango county, New York, his father having removed thither from Vermont. His grandfather was Col. Noah Lee, an officer both in the French and revolutionary wars, and a participant in the finishing stroke at Yorktown. This subject of this sketch was brought up on his father's farm and received but a meagre country school education. In 1836 the family removed to Livingston county, Michigan, where Mr. Lee continued the pursuit of farming till 1845, when, in connection with a younger brother, he opened a store at Howell. He continued in business at Howell till 1861, when he was appointed quartermaster in the army and assigned to duty in Detroit, a position he held throughout the war, having entire charge of the equipment and transportation of troops for the entire State of Michigan. He was honorably discharged from the service in 1866, and a few years later was appointed Indian agent for this State, a position he has since held. Mr. Lee was, in early life, an enthusiastic whig, and prominent in the party councils in this State. In 1854 he cast in his lot with the movement to organize the republican party, and was a member of the famous mass convention which assembled at Jackson in July of that year. In 1855 he founded the Livingston Republican. In 1858 he was appointed warden of the board of control for the State reform school, an office which he held down to quite a recent period. In 1860 Mr. Lee was chosen presidential elector on the ticket that elected Mr. Lincoln, and served as messenger to carry the vote of Michigan to Washington. Col. Lee was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, a man of the highest integrity, and was withal possessed of a warm social nature and popular manners that attached to him all with whom he was brought in contact. WAYNE COUNTY INDIAN AFFAIRS AROUND DETROIT IN 1706 SPEECH OF MISKOUAKI, BROTHER OF JEAN LE BLANC, AN OTTAWA OF DETROIT, WHO [Taken from the Historical and Archæological Tracts, number eight of the Western Reserve Historical Society, and translated by Col. Charles Whittlesy, from a manuscript brought with other historical papers from Paris by Gen. Lewis Cass.] My father, you will be surprised by the bad affairs that I am about to inform you of on the part of Pesant, and of Jean Le Blanc, touching what has passed at Detroit. I desire you, my father, to open to me your door, as to one of your children, and listen what I have to say. When I left Mackinaw, my father, our old men did not expect me to come so far as this place, hoping you would be still at Montreal. The time is short for me to return. I desire you to be willing to listen to me. Listen! The Ottawa nations who were at Detroit, the Kikakous, the Sinagoes, and the nation Du Sables have been killed, and such as have returned to Mackinaw, came in the greatest distress. It is the Miamis, my father, who have killed us. The reason we were obliged to fight the Miamis is, that having gone to war against the Sioux, as we have said to Sieur Bourmont, we had been informed by a Pottawattomie encamped near the fort of the Hurons, that the Miamis who were at Detroit had resolved to allow us to depart and march three days, after which they would attack our village and eat our women and children. My father, we were unable to comprehend, and you yourself will be surprised, as well as we, when you know that Quarante Sous, who was employed by Sieur La Mothe to bring all the nations to Detroit, made use of this pretext, to give them wampum privately, to engage them to destroy us. I have not come, my father, to lie to you, I have come to speak the truth. You will do after this what shall please you. We have learned by a Pottawattomie named who married a Miami, that the Miamis would eat our villagers. Upon this news, my father, the war chiefs of three nations of Ottawas, with whom we had set out, held a council, and concluded that we should not deliberate upon an affair of this consequence without the consent of Pesant and of Jean Le Blanc, who are their principal chiefs, and who were sent for at once. Le Pesant and Jean Le Blanc, after having heard the news told us by theconcluded by stamping his foot, that since the Miamis had resolved to kill and boil us, it was necessary to forestall them. When Pesant had said it was necessary to strike, we soon saw, and Jean Le Blanc first of us all, that he was going to do a wicked thing; but no person dared contradict him, on account of his influence, and because we should then have made ourselves contemptible in the eyes of the young men. My father, my brother and myself inquired what Pesant thought of striking while our people were divided. Some were at war with the Hurons, some at Montreal, and what would the commandant at Detroit say if we struck at his gate? We said thus to Pesant, but he would not listen. It is he, my father, who has caused all the misfortunes that have happened. Jean Le Blanc, my father, would have come with me, but being stripped of everything, and not daring to come as a malefactor, he told me to come, and know your mind. He would have come, my father, but according to our custom during all the time we were at war, being at Detroit, he had given the Sieur Bourmont all that we had, thinking it more safe there than in our fort, and in consequence of the misfortunes that have happened since our departure to war with the Sioux, it remains there, and all I can do is to offer you this wampum on the part of my nation, which is all I have, and have taken this from my pouch. According to our resolution, we resumed our way to our fort, and as we approached the fort of the Hurons, we found eight Miami chiefs, who were going there to a feast. As we met them Pesant said: "Behold our enemies. These are the men which wish to kill us. Since these are the leaders, it is necessary to rid ourselves of them;" and thereupon made a cry as a signal, encouraging us to let none of them escape. At the first cry no person moved; but Pesant having made a second as we marched along on each side of the way, and as we were in the midst, we fired, and none of them saved themselves but Pomakona, who escaped to the French fort. I dare tell you one thing that I have never said before, and it is, that he is a strong friend of mine; I made a signal to him before the discharge, to withdraw, and it is thus he was saved. After those were killed, our young men rose to take such as might remain in the lodges, and Le Pesant and Jean Le Blanc could not go as fast as the others, I was one of the first to reach there, but to prevent this some one forced me between the French and our people. The Miamis being camped near their fort when I arrived, I found the Miamis had withdrawn into the fort of the French, and one of our young men, a chief, had been killed, and that our youth in despair, on account of his death, resolved to burn the fort. I threw myself in the midst of them, and many times snatched the burning arrows, repeatedly imploring them with vehemence not to do the French any injury, for they were not connected with the quarrel we had with the Miamis. I heard during this time a voice that cried: "There is a black robe" (a priest); and I saw my brother sending the Pere Recolet into the fort, having not harmed him, and having desired him to say to Sieur Bourmont that he should not fire upon us, nor give any ammunition to the Miamis, but put them out of the fort, and leave us alone. We had not known, my father, that a Pere Recolet and the French soldiers had been killed, but the next day those who had fired upon them, not being (illegible) then, I blamed my brother very much, that he had not detained the Recolet father and the soldiers, who replied that he thought they would be more safe there than in our fort, on account of the irritation among our young men, for the death of two chiefs that we had lost. The next day, my father, my brother took a flag that you had given him, and insisted on speaking to Monsieur Bourmont, desiring him, our arms reversed all around, to give us missionaries an opportunity to explain. He said he had no reply for us, but that the Sieur De La Foret, whom he had expected early in the spring, would soon arrive with five canoes, when we could give our reasons. Seeing he did not wish to listen to us, we were obliged to return; and that night our young men determined to burn the fort. Our old men were embarrassed, and to prevent them, passed three entire days in council. After having been three days in council, Jean Blanc rose and said to Pesant: "Since it is you who has caused all this difficulty, what do you say? What do you think? As for me, I say we are dead, and that we have killed ourselves by striking the Miamis at the French stockade. In turn the Miskowakies and the Sinagoes will say the same thing." As soon as the Sieur De Tonty was gone, we were well agreed that affairs were becoming embroiled, of which there were sure signs in this last matter; since the Sieur De Bourmont, being able to arrange everything, did not wish to listen to us, referring us always to the arrival of the Sieur De La Foret. However, we had certain signs that he wished to fight (illegible) for he put swords at the end of his pike staves. We continued some time to have parleys with him, and went without fear to the fort of the Hurons, believing that they were our allies, but for fear of the Miamis, we always went in canoes. My father, the Hurons called the Ottawa Sinago, and said to him: "My brothers, it is a long time that we have been brothers, and that together we have fought the Iroquois. When we speak to you we speak to all the nations, "Outawase" (Ottawas), Sacs, Sauteurs, Poutawatamers, Saukies, Chippeways, and Mississaugies. "Look at this string of beads, my brother. I take it out for you to look at. It is a long time our old men have preserved it. Upon this string there is seen the figures of men. This string (or belt) signifies much. It is never shown unless we give life or death to those to whom we speak. I return it, and say |