The Indian: On the Battle-Field and in the WigwamFrost, John
History
The Indian: On the Battle-Field and in the Wigwam
Frost, John
Indians of North America
On entering the cabin, they beheld an Indian woman, apparently
seventy-five years old, painted and jewelled. Yet her hair was as the
agent had described it, and her skin beneath her dress appeared white.
They obtained an interpreter and began to converse. We may imagine the
feelings of the little party, while they listened to the Indian
wo-an’s tale. The incidents of the assault and capture--too well known
already--were disclosed with a faithfulness which left no room for
doubt. “How came your nail gone?” inquired the sister. “My elder brother
pounded it off when I was a little child in the shop.”
“What was your name then?” She did not remember. “Was it Frances?”
She smiled on hearing the long-forgotten sound, and promptly answered,
“Yes.” All were now satisfied that they were of one family, and yet
there was little joy in that meeting. There was a sadness, not merely
through remembrance of the past, but of a kind present, deep, painful;
for though the brothers were walking the cabin unable to speak, and the
sister was sobbing, yet there sat the poor Indian sister, no throb of
emotion disturbing her equanimity.
Her previous history may soon be told. It was the Delaware tribe who had
taken her captive, and when she grew up among them, she married one of
their chiefs. He died or deserted her, and she then married a Miami. She
had two daughters, who both grew up and married Indians. They all lived
in one cabin. The brothers and sisters tried to persuade their sister
to return with them, and, if she desired it, to bring her children.
She answered that she had always lived with the Indians; that they had
always been kind to her; that she had promised her late husband, on his
death-bed, never to leave them, and that promise she was resolved to
keep. The three generous relatives then retraced their steps, sorrowing
that they were compelled to leave their sister in the wilderness.
The Indian sister died in 1847. Her manners and customs were those of
the Indians until her death, yet she was admired alike by the red and
white men. Her grave is on a beautiful knoll, near the confluence of the
Mis-sissiniwa and the Wabash, a spot which had been her residence for
nearly thirty years.
[Illustration: 0038]
PARENTAL AFFECTION.
[Illustration: 9038]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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