Explore "The Amulet" by Mary Noailles Murfree on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Ensign Raymond was no polemic nor versed in the Hebraic analogies rife at that day among those who ascribed a Semitic origin to the American Indian and sought to recognize in them the "lost tribes of Israel. " When at last he set foot on the "ever-sacred" soil of the city of refuge and opened his sealed orders, it was less a resemblance to ancient Jewish customs that appealed to him than an appreciation of the prudence of his commander in choosing this site for the delivery of his mission. For he had that to say to the head-men of the Cherokee nation which elsewhere might cost him his life. Here, however, at the horns of the altar, had he, himself, been the shedder of blood, he was safe. Here his blood could not be shed. He was under the shadow of the "wings of peace. " The "infinitely holy" environment protected him and his.
When he drew up his command and addressed the soldiers, ordering them on no account to venture beyond the limits of the "beloved town," the amazement and flouting ridicule on their florid Irish and Cockney faces marked the difficulty which the ordinary mind experiences in seeking to assimilate the theories of eld. With the heady severity characteristic of a very young officer, he replied to the nettling surprise and negation in their facial expression.