Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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my CONCLUSION TO “THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS” By Lawrence La Favv The conclusion which J»m« Foni tnonf CflOjv.r has given us in hi Indian Util'. • no- Last of tt»» Mohicans” will and thwv lived happily over wf-l f : l.u ♦ In my opinion. tho ondliiR of this one i nl ogvther too tragic That my ronrlttrlon may he understood, It t uuilt Itece wry to briefly pi i • tit n few at thi loading episodic of the narrative. While England and Franco were lighting for lund wc-t of the Alleghenies, both the EngH h nnd the French huil to rtteMnbr the danger of hi foiyst liefore they could meet. The oidi'n related In The of the Mo him ns took place In 1757 between (he headwater of the Hudson and the adjacent lakes Fort William Henry, on the north i ho tv of bake George, was held by Munro. a Scotchman; while Fort Edward, at th« southern termination of ihe lfl p was in charge of Gtmernl Webb, an Englishman. Owlnr to a tumor that .Montcalm wiu moving toward Lake Chumplaln with a vast army. Munro sent an order lo Fort Kdwnrd. t-ome twenty mile distant, for speedy nnd powerful reinforce-menu. A- thi story opens, we And that a detachment of llfteen hundred men b slurting from Fori Kdwnrd to aid Munro. It h» followed by Fora nnd Alice Munro. on their wnv to join their father, under company of Major Heyward nnd guided by un Indian runner. Through the treachery of their guide Mngua, who i a Huron, they Ion- their way. Later they are led to a cuve by Hawkevn, n Scout, and hit Indian friend . Uocas and Chingach-g..ok. A bond of Huron i- directed thither by Mngua. While the friends are lleclng for help. Heyward and the girl are discovered nnd captured. Mngua Icadt them to the Huron camp and n«k« Corn, the older daughter, to become his wife in order to save tire live of the rest of the party. At her refusal preparation are made to burn them nt the stake. Ju«t in time to prevent thit. the Scout. Uncn and his fa ther, rhlngachgook. anive. Following a short buttb, we find only Magna of nil the enemy making hb escape. After spending the night in a block house, the patty rMurow It journey. Vi hlle going over the mountains, it unexpectedly meet Munro. Fori William Henry is soon under a siege and -'lortly surrender to Montcalm. iam Henry, the KhicUsh are obliged to p.i s through » narrow valley, where Megua with a great fore • of Huron attack th» m. A terrible ron- acre follow, v Fortutiutv’y Munro, Ilawk eye, L’nca ami Chingorhgook fall back to tho fort; by this they an raved. Cora, Alien and David Uwniui, a dnglng matter, a queer typo of individual, who httf. by chalice previously Iuined the party, nre recaptured by Magun. The next day M iruu . tiall-re closely .ought by Unc«. . and thi thcr three with him. After encountering many hardship-ind following numoroun blind troll , all of a udden tbvv run ncro- Gamut, from whom infornmtlon that the Ou ters Imvo been separated in obtained. At this, Heyward, who i deeply in love with Alice, dn r- an In- hy Gamut to the Huron rump In march of hii sweet heart, while tho other c«nt about, tinea is chining lined that H«lttd , cowardly Huron, he l» captured. That night he b con-detuned to die at the stake. After being : ouml front hand to fool, he it thrown into a ten , and left under guard. In the mi .tntime Hoy vurd, who U now. of course, •uppoaed to bo a medicine man. ha been fulled to euri n Huron ebb : r squaw. Disguising himself by donning a bear skin. HnwKeyo assists Heyward in rescuing Alt««-from the Huron camp. They are sure ful lit capturing Mngua and lyinw him up. With the aid of Gamut. Hnwkcyc free. Uucas; then iho three start for the Delaware camp do., by. Magun, who In the m aniline hns been -t free, follow them with a band of warrior . After consulting Tatttunend. tho groat Delaware chief, in regard to those concealed in hi» camp. Maquu cvpluin that they arc hi- prisoners and Inflate that they be returned to him. Again right then and then death at the sake is pronounced :or Unca . A hi shirt b torn otT. a tatoo on hi chest reveals tho fact that hf b long lost Delaware chief. But Mngua doe not lose out entirely; ho i allowed to take Corn, who was previously left at the camp by him when tc-parating the girls. According tn Indian custom he I given a certain length of time before they give him chase. After DnciJ is reinstated as u Delaware chief, he loads some of hi warrior n the chine. Even though lie succeed in forcing back the Huron . he doesn’t consider the victory complete —23— nineteen thirty-five

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iho others danced. One night they made nn agreement to have a bigger feast than ufiunl. Each boy was to bring something. The plan which they mndo, their parent didn’t approve of. This made the children very end. However, one little boy took hi place on the mound and nan while the other arranged themselves around him and began to dance. A their disappointment left them, they grew lighter and lighter until they no longer touched the ground. Higher and higher they row till they reached thr very heaven , where they were changed into seven little star which formed the Pleiades. The palest Ktor of the seven i the little singer who became homesick for hi old p'ace on the So we cr that without lK oka an education was acquired by the Mohawk: enough to meet hi need as he roamed the forests. Though we have schools and books, let u» learn a lesson from the Indian boy and be more observing »o we can gain knowledge from what we see independent of our school and books. —22— T META T T L E R

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m Mugua ba not been captured. At gome ♦lift-tnncc. by the entrance of u cave, he catches sight of Mm Mimarling with Coru. In gront hunt - Uncoil make for the cave, but hit upend i interfered with when he in shot by one of .Magua' Indian . As Uncos draw nearer, and os Magua turns to give fight. u Huron stabs Corn, killing her. In face of Ihb cold blooded cruel deed, from u ledge above Uncos dives upon Magua but misao him. As he is getting up u hie feet. Mujrtin strikes him with hi knife. Since I'ncos has already been shot, he is weak, M- Is easily overpowered. No mercy for Uncos in shown. Time after time Magua' knife 1 thrust into him before he foils dead. Magua, then .seeing Hnwkeyo appear, tries to jump a precipice only to fail short of his mark: however, he catches hold of a shrub on the very edge. A he hang there. Hnwkcye, taking a good aim, succeeds in hitting Magua, Who Jet.-' go i«mi fulls to destruction on the sharp rock hundreds of feet below. Com u buried with pomp and ceremony, and for Unca an elaborate burinl service is given n' be was a very highly honored Delaware chief. Thus ends the lift- of the Ijist of the Mohicans. Instead of ending with the death of the hero and the heroine. I would have it thui: At the entrance of the cave us Mugua turned like a cornered rat to fight, he lifted his rifle to tuke aim at Unca . who wa drawing near, when quirk as u flash Unco shot, striking the fire-nrm» from Magun'-i hands. A fierce struggle en- sued. For some time it seemed os if they were of equal strength. Repeatedly Magua tried to thrust his knife into his enemy, but each time Uncos escaped unharmed. in spite of all of Mugua' varied evil and cunning tricks. Unca noon had Magua In hi power. Magua, playing the part of a coward, whined and bogged for his life. The Huron , whom the Delaware h id captured. heard of this dns.ordly act. which they considered a disgrace, one of the worst atrocities an Indian could inflict upon himself; in fact, i was absolutely unforgivable. They Pegged that Mugua be handed over to them and promised to do justice to him by burning him nt he •toko. This request wa quickly granted and .hey remained true to their word. After returning to the Delaware village. Unca and Cora were engaged in a long curious talk, in which die sincerely and kindly Mucc-udod in gut.ing him to understand that he would never be happy with her: that it would be imporsible for her to continue roaming .he wild forests with him. The truth of this Unca knew full well. “I shall never marry.” h. emphatically declared: then gently added. Return, my fair one, to your home and people.” Uneas. Hawkeye and ( hingochgook stopped nt the Delaware village a few day . All in vain the Delaware tried to purauitde Unca to return to them. Out into the deep forest the three tried friends plunged, to mam about hither and thither ns they were wont to do in the past, a freedom they deeply cherished. T II E T A T T I. K K