A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons — John Shaqi
A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the MormonsWilliams, Elizabeth Whitney
History
A Child of the Sea; and Life Among the Mormons
Williams, Elizabeth Whitney
Beaver Island (Mich.); Latter Day Saints -- Michigan; Strang, James Jesse, 1813-1856
One still, cold morning in November our boat was prepared and we started
to Manistique, ten miles distant. Charley and I were again placed in
among warm blankets. Our little puppies of the springtime had grown to
be great, large dogs and watched over little brother and me like two
faithful sentinels. The day was cold and still. Father and the boys
rowed while mother steered. We kept close to the shore. Little brother
and I were half asleep most of the time. I can hear my father even now
singing his old hymns, "Rock of Ages" and the "Evergreen Shore". Many
times I imagine I can hear the sweet music of his voice. Mother, too,
sang her French glee songs, the boys joining with her. French was our
mother's language. Father could not speak it, but understood nearly
everything. French and Indian were the languages spoken by almost
everybody in those days around the western islands and shores. The men
that came from eastern homes soon learned to speak the language of both
French and Indian as it was necessary to carry on their trade.
ARRIVING AT MANISTIQUE.
As we neared the shore Mr. Frankle and his men stood ready to meet us
and catching hold of our boat we were landed safely out on the dry land.
Our house was all warmed with a nice fire burning in the great stone
fireplace. Lights were lighted and supper was soon ready for us all.
Beds were put up and soon we felt we were at home.
Mr. Frankle had some friends visiting him from York State who had
delayed their going home until they had seen my mother in regard to
preparing some sturgeon for them. Sturgeon were so plentiful in the
river they could be pulled out with a gaff hook. Mother contracted with
them for several tons of smoked sturgeon. The Indians from their
village, three miles distant, agreeing to catch the sturgeon, the fish
were prepared and smoked, but the season closed too early to ship them
that fall, so they had to be packed and kept over until the following
spring for shipment to New York.
The river was so full of suckers that the mill had to shut down many
times while the men scooped the fish out with a large scoop-net and
loaded wagons with them, which were hauled a distance down the beach and
piled upon the sand.
At night the bears, wolves and foxes would come to that pile of fish,
making night hideous with their barks and growls. None of us dared go
out doors after night came. We lived on the opposite side of the river
from Mr. Frankle's mill. Father had to cross the river every morning
many times. Bears were swimming across the river and we children used to
watch them from our windows. The wolves would come to our large
smokehouse at night and take the smoked sturgeon, growling and snarling
around our windows. Our boys were busy days and got their lessons in the
evening.
THE OLD GRANDPA AND BOB COMING TO LIVE WITH US.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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