But all attempts to lure the lad into the habits of a civilized man,
were completely unsuccessful. As the severity of the weather increased,
the compassionate and thoughtful Ruth endeavored to induce him to adopt
the garments that were found so necessary to the comfort of men who were
greatly his superiors in hardihood and in strength. Clothes, decorated in
a fashion suited to the taste of an Indian, were considerately provided,
and entreaties and threats were both freely used, with a view to make the
captive wear them. On one occasion, he was even forcibly clad by Eben
Dudley; and being brought, in the unwonted guise, into the presence of old
Mark, the latter offered up an especial petition that the youth might be
made to feel the merits of this concession to the principles of a
chastened and instructed man. But within an hour, the stout woodsman, who
had been made on the occasion so active an instrument of civilization,
announced to the admiring Faith that the experiment was unsuccessful; or,
as Eben somewhat irreverently described the extraordinary effort of the
Puritan, "the heathen hath already resumed his skin leggings and painted
waist-cloth, notwithstanding the Captain has strove to pin better garments
on his back, by virtue of a prayer that might have clothed the nakedness
of a whole tribe.
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