andon the
expedition, whenever he became dissatisfied, or thought proper to return
home. And if this want of discipline sometimes impaired the strength,
and rendered unavailing the efforts, of communities, it at least
fostered the manly spirit of personal independence; and, to keep that
alive in the breasts of a people, it is worth while to pay a yearly
tribute, even though that tribute be rendered unto the King of Terrors!

This self-reliance was not an arrogant and vulgar egotism, as it has
been so often represented in western stories, and the tours of
superficial travellers. It was a calm, just estimate of his own
capabilities--a well-grounded confidence in his own talents--a clear,
manly understanding of his own individual rights, dignity, and
relations. Such is the western definition of independence; and if there
be anything of it in the western character at the present day, it is due
to the stubborn and intense individuality of the first pioneer. He it
was who laid the foundation of our social fabric, and it is his spirit
which yet pervades our people.

The quality which next appears, in analyzing this character, is his
_courage_.

It was not mere physical courage, nor was it stolid carelessness of
danger. The pioneer knew, perfectly well, the full extent of the peril
that surrounded him; indeed, he could not be ignorant of it; for almost
every day brought some new memento, either of his savage foe, or of the
prowling beast of prey. He ploughed, and sowed, and reaped, and
gathered, with the rifle slung over his shoulders; and, at every turn,
he halted, listening, with his ear turned toward his home; for well he
knew that, any moment, the scream of his wife, or the wail of his
children, might tell of the up-lifted tomahawk, or the murderous
scalping-knife.

His courage, then, was not ignorance of danger--not that of the child,
which thrusts its hand within the lion's jaws, and knows naught of the
penalty it braves. His ear was ever listening, his eye was always
watching, his nerves were ever strung, for battle. He was stout of
heart, and strong of hand--he was calm, sagacious, unterrified. He was
never disconcerted--excitement seldom moved him--his mind was always at
its own command. His heart never lost its firmness--no suffering could
overcome him--he was as stoical as the savage, whose greatest glory is
to triumph amidst the most cruel tortures. His pride sustained him when
his flesh was pierced with burn