Eliot's Bible. Quite early in the
war it had been discovered that these converted savages still felt the
ties of blood to be stronger than those of creed. At the attack on
Mendon, only three weeks after the horrors at Swanzey that ushered in
the war, it was known that Christian Indians had behaved themselves
quite as cruelly as their unregenerate brethren. Afterwards they made
such a record that the jokers and punsters of the day--for such there
were, even among those sombre Puritans--in writing about the "Praying
Indians," spelled _praying_ with an _e_. The moral scruples of these
savages, under the influence of their evangelical training, betrayed
queer freaks. One of them, says Mrs. Rowlandson, would rather die than
eat horseflesh, so narrow and scrupulous was his conscience, although it
was as wide as the whole infernal abyss, when it came to torturing
white Christians. The student of history may have observed similar
inconsistencies in the theories and conduct of people more enlightened
than these poor red men. "There was another Praying Indian," continues
Mrs. Rowlandson, "who, when he had done all the mischief he could,
betrayed his own father into the English's hands, thereby to purchase
his own life; ... and there was another ... so wicked ... as to wear
a string about his neck, strung with Christian fingers." [Sidenote:
Conduct of the Christian Indians]

Such incidents help us to comprehend the exasperation of our forefathers
in the days of King Philip. The month which witnessed his death saw also
the end of the war in the southern parts of New England; but, almost
before people had time to offer thanks for the victory, there came news
of bloodshed on the northeastern frontier. The Tarratines in Maine had
for some time been infected with the war fever. How far they may have
been comprehended in the schemes of Philip and Canonchet, it would be
hard to say. They had attacked settlers on the site of Brunswick as
early as September, 1675. About the time of Philip's death, Major
Waldron of Dover had entrapped a party of them by an unworthy stratagem,
and after satisfying himself that they were accomplices in that
chieftain's scheme, sent them to Boston to be sold into slavery. A
terrible retribution was in store for Major Waldron thirteen years
later. For the present the hideous strife, just ended in southern New
England, was continued on the northeastern frontier, and there was
scarcely a village between the Kenn