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 night I was awakened out of a sound sleep by hearing footsteps in
the room. I opened my eyes and saw mother with the Indian woman and
another woman going up stairs. I waited sometime for them to come down,
but fell asleep before they came. I was awakened again. There was a very
dim light in the room. I saw a tall Indian who seemed to walk about
very feeble as if sick. His black hair was pulled over his eyes and he
held his hand up as if to shade his eyes from any light. There were two
Indian women in the room, one the Menominee woman, the other was a
stranger but she wore her hair cut across the forehead. She seemed young
and was dressed very beautifully. Her moccasins were trimmed with pretty
beads, and many strings of bright colored beads were about her neck, and
I thought she must be a princess, the daughter of a chief. She and the
Indian walked about the room several times, while mother and the
Menominee woman spoke to them in their language, they answering in the
same. I saw father nod and smile, at which they all took up parcels and
small bundles from the table and walked out in single file.
DEPARTURE OF THE INDIANS.
I waited some little time, and hearing nothing I got frightened,
thinking father and mother had gone away and left me, I got up, ran out
of doors and met mother. She took a blanket from my bed, saying, "Come
Elizabeth and see the Menominee Indians, they are going away. They must
go home and see to their crops and cannot stay here any longer." I said,
"Where did the other two come from?" She made a quick motion, putting
her hand over her mouth, which I understood was to be silent and ask no
questions. We were both speaking in French. I followed her to the beach,
where a large birch bark canoe was packed. I saw four little children
packed away Indian fashion, each had a little black puppy dog in his
arms. The tall sick Indian got in first, seating himself and smoking his
pipe, then the young Indian woman followed, then the Indian and his
wife. There were many "bou shou's" (good-byes) spoken in subdued tones.
The Indian and his wife took the paddles, father gave one hard push and
away sped the bark canoe over the blue water. The sky was just getting
red in the east, little birds were twittering in the branches of the
trees, we all stood watching the fast receding canoe, which soon looked
a speck upon the water. I ran to the house and crept into bed, and when
I awakened the sun was high. I asked mother where the Indians were now;
she answered. "They are far away." All day she seemed cheerful, and I
heard her sing for the first time since I came home from Ohio. I
wandered down to the Indian camp and all I saw was just a few marks
where the wigwams had stood. No rubbish was lying about. They had
vanished as if they had never been. Surely "They had folded their tents
like the Arabs and as silently stole away."
THE APOSTLE AND HIS FAMILY AMONG THE INDIANS.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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