Gift books; Indians of North America -- Literary collections
She has struggled with the ills of life;
For her no parent's prayers
Have risen to the throne of God,
To sanctify life's cares.
But God will judge her kindly:
He sees the sparrow fall;
And, through his Son's atoning blood,
May he mercy show to all!
FIRE-FACE.
BY MRS. MARY EASTMAN.
Fire-face was willing to die, he said, but not until he had killed
another white man. He was sincere in acknowledging hatred towards the
people of the United States. There was no doubt but he had stained
his hands with the blood of one white man; but this did not satisfy
him: let him take the life of another, and he was willing to be made
prisoner, and to meet what punishment might be designed for him. The
mantle of Cain had indeed fallen upon him; his heart was turned even
from his own people, and angry threatenings were ever upon his lips,
against those with whom he had grown up side by side. Wabashaw, chief
of one of the bands of Sioux on the Mississippi, left his home, where
the prairies stretch out to the distance, without even a hill to
relieve the level sameness, or trees to shelter them from the short
but intense heat of the summer, to encamp, by permission, on the St.
Peter's River, opposite Fort Snelling. Fire-face, one of the band, was
with them, accompanied by his two wives.
He was feared by all of the band; even the brave chief Wabashaw, whose
life he had threatened, turned from the fierce gaze of the man, over
whom had been cast a spell from the spirits of evil, for he frowned
alike upon friend and foe. Only his wives seemed easy when he was
near, and they not only feared but loved the strange being, whose hand
was against every man's.
He passed the most of his time seated near his lodge, with his
medicine-bag hanging near; his implements of war and hunting glistening
in the light, and his loaded gun ever by his side.
Many efforts had been made to apprehend this desperate man, yet he had
always eluded the pursuit of the soldiers; and now, although aware of
the danger he was in, when living so near the garrison, he appeared
to be perfectly unconcerned, saying, he knew the soldiers would make
every effort to arrest him; but that he would never be taken until
another of the pale faces had fallen by his arm. Wabashaw, the chief,
frequently visited the Fort, always accompanied by his late friend Many
Lightnings, and on every occasion he pressed the necessity of taking
Fire-face prisoner. "He was a bad Indian," said Wabashaw, "who loved to
see blood; and, if allowed to go at liberty, some one would be murdered
by him."
The chief said that he did not sleep at night in his own lodge, but
went for safety to the near village of Mendoto, where he remained until
the sun was high in the heavens the next day. In consequence of these
representations, a party of soldiers was sent to arrest him, and the
Indians were to assist in the capture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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