 | CHAPTER VII. The Shoshonee Valley |  |
7. CHAPTER VII.
But yearly is her grave turf drest;
And still the autumn vines are thrown,
In annual wreaths around her breast,
And still the sighing autumn grieves,
And strews the hallowed spot with leaves.
M. P. F.
Projects ripened, meanwhile, in the intercourse
between the two adopted guests of the Shoshonee and
the family of William Weldon. The Indian hunter
traced the haunts of the deer, elk or mountain sheep
The trapper repaired under the covert of night
to the secluded lakes, where the beavers had built
their amphibious cities. Jessy had finally fixed her
abiding estimates of her daily companions. Blinded
at first by the fine person and specious manners of
Julius, perhaps influenced in some degree by the studied
richness and elegance of his dress, she had paid
the natural tribute of juvenile impulse to these advantages.
But her strong perception of character soon
disclosed to her his innate want of principle, his narrowness
of heart, and his cold blooded selfishness.—
She saw, that self gratification, at whatsoever risk or
expense, or howsoever procured, was the simple and
single motive of his pursuit. She was still struck
with the elegance of form, the beauty of countenance,
the grace of manner, the polished deportment and
quickness of tact, which she was sensible the society
of the great world only could give; but the superficial
admiration, the involuntary homage of a young
female eye to these external attractions were constantly
giving way to the higher ascendency of intellectual
and moral worth, which was imperceptibly raising
her estimation of Frederic. She began to discover,
that his seeming sternness was principle; that his silence
resulted from the self criticism of a highly disciplined
mind; that his moral courage and capacity
of self control were great, and that when he did speak,
it was always wisely and to the purpose. She observed,
that his estimates of character were clear and
just, that his judgment was ripe, and generally dictated
the true and right in action. When he bestowed
an attention, it had the value, as of coming from the
heart, and as paid on reflection, and as a felt debt. A
compliment from him came with the flattering unction
that it was not intended as such, but as the simple
tribute of truth. Her eye soon learned to trace
thought in his manly countenance, than the perfect
model of unmeaning beauty in the other. His words
were remembered. His kind remarks were treasured
as the testimonies of a sort of external conscience.
Yensi was slower in reaching the same issue. She
had at first, with her daughter, paid a like tribute to
the personal beauty of Julius. A thousand trifling
circumstances, none of them weighing much singly,
but together turning the scales, settled her estimate
of him. To William Weldon he was simply indifferent.
There were no points of union in their temperaments
and dispositions, and he gave himself no trouble
to study his character. His thinly veiled contempt
of religion, in every profession and form, procured
the silent, but cordial dislike of Elder Wood.
Areskoui had viewed him at first with the bitterness
of invidious and jealous comparison of his advantages
of person. To this was soon added dislike, the natural
repulsion of good to bad, a worthy to an unworthy
mind.
The consequence was, the gradual assorting of the
elective attraction of like to like, began to take place
among the inmates of the valley. Kind feeling and
something like friendship began to grow up between
Frederic, Elder Wood and Areskoui. No rupture
had yet taken place between the two adopted guests,
but any keen observer could have remarked a gradual
shyness, and an increasing distrust of each other.
Whereas Baptiste, Julius, Nelesho and Hatch, were
seen imperceptibly to assimilate, and to connect and
draw round them, by the ties of common feeling, a
party of the more reckless Indians from the two tribes.
When a trapping party made an excursion, this division
of the whites moved off with the Shienne, while
the others as naturally associated with Areskoui, and
his faithful Shoshonee.
Nelesho, without any sanguine hopes, after the
prize of the salmon fishery, had, according to prescribed
custom, waited on the father of Jessy, and solicited
her as designed for him by the Wakondah, in
the success of that evening. Neither words nor deliberation
were needed; and he received from father
and daughter an unqualified refusal. He again imprecated
the evil influence of the `little white men of
the mountains,' in half audible murmurs, and, as appeared
in the sequel, henceforward transferred his
claims to Julius.
It was not until after some time, that things had
found their bearings in this secluded society. The
self complacency of Julius was as slow to be enlightened
as the unassuming modesty and the unaffected
humility of the other. According to the stipulated
arrangement between the young men, as far as might
be, without making their purpose known to her, each
allowed the other equal and alternate opportunities to
converse with her, and have his chances of gaining
her good will. When any circumstance engaged her
in conversation with the one, the other by the terms
of the compact, fixed himself intently in some pursuit,
which left the conversation undivided, and unmolested
to the other. Frederic loved intensely, in the
energy of a first born passion; and felt all the natural
diffidence and distrust of such a passion. In presence
of the beloved object, he became timid, silent, reserved,
and showed to less advantage, than in any other place.
This restraint and distance was, in consequence, interpreted
by her to indicate any feeling but love.
The other, associating with her daily, his pride and
self consequence piqued, having no other object of
comparison, or distraction, feeling the power at once
of her beauty, and influenced, no doubt, in some degree
by the charm of the place, and the peculiarity of
the inspiring scenery, showed signs that a seminal
The feelings which he entertained for her, though not
worthy the dignified name of love, were yet new and
unexperimented sensations. They brought no inspiration
of virtue and high thought, but enough of bitterness
and jealousy, enough of wrath and vindictiveness.
But, accustomed to conquest from the commencement
of his career, he felt no diffidence, no humbling
comparisons, no doubt, nor fear. He not only
gave scope to all his powers in this pursuit, but there
was an excitement in it, which elicited all his conversational
talents, all his acquired wit, vivacity and insidiousness.
Jessy sometimes sighed, after an hour's
conversation with him, and wished, that the other,
with his generous principles and elevated mind, had
possessed something more of the amusing vivacity,
and easy and flowing conversation of the former.
An occurrence soon offered Julius a chance, to
bring his standing in her thoughts to the test of experiment.
They were together in the bower. It was a
beautiful afternoon, toward the close of summer, when
the sun and the clouds diffused upon earth, valley,
mountains and sky, that mixture of light and shade,
of cerulean with gold, purple, orange and green, in
which stillness rested every where on the face of
nature, and even the eagle suspended his scream, and
seemed to be sleeping, as he sailed slowly up and
down the sky. The hunter's fires threw up cylindrical
spirals of smoke at different points in the cope
of vision. Elder Wood and the two young men sat
silently admiring the beauty of the day. A flock of
mountain sheep bounded by, just above them. Elder
Wood and Frederic had too much of the hunter in
them, not to be stirred to pursuit. They took their
yagers, of which there were always some at hand,
and followed them. Julius saw his opportunity, and
remained to improve it.
`You have asked me,' he said, as soon as they were
by themselves, `for a view of my long labor, since I
have been a visitant with you. I felt reluctant, as
you will suppose, to show it in presence of our friend,
as I have no particular taste for being the subject of
ridicule. If you knew, how little used I have been
to patient industry, you would at least allow me that
meed, in the painting.' At the same time, he produced
a painting of the vale of the Shoshonee, upon
which, she knew, he had been laboring, since his residence
in it; and which he had hitherto refused to
exhibit. At first look, the painting had an aspect of
imposing and dazzling splendor. The period in the
season was about the time of the salmon festival, and
every point of vision presented all the flauntiness
and gaiety and depth of verdure of spring. The
coloring was rich and glowing, and rather marked
with warmth, than mellowness. Different points of
vision were copied with a gorgeous fidelity. There
stood the mountains, with their black and awful peaks,
high in the blue. There were the lights and shadows,
the gorges and waving indentations of the forest,
the skirted and meandering river, the green sward
enlivened with its Shoshonee, their dogs, flocks and
herds, all apparently moving, or ruminating. The
sea fowl, with their long necks stretched out, seemed
to be in flight up the stream. The very eagles,
hawks and buzzards, between the banks of clouds of
crimson and brass, showed, as if suspended on the
wing, and reposing in the heavens. There were the
domestic smokes from the Indian cabins above the
dark grey bluff. The drapery was splendid, and the
coloring respired the pictured thought of the painter;
while it was at the same time admirably true to nature.
Those parts of the valley, most remote from
the assumed point of vision were first displayed; and
as her undisguised admiration, in the keenest degree
it, nearer and nearer to the point whence it
was taken, still evincing a power of the pencil more
graphic and vivid. There was no need that she
should affect delight. As the scroll was uncovered,
she saw that the bower was the centre of the picture.
It was completely unrolled. She saw herself just in
advance of the bignonias of the bower; and she would
have known herself even by the fidelity of her pictured
reflection in the sleeping mirror of the blue
lake below. She had seen no effort of portrait painting
to compare with it. All the taste, skill and power
of both the young artists had been thrown into this
common effort, until they had disagreed, touching
what might be called the keeping of the painting.
Frederic would have had the drapery chaste, plain,
and even severe. The beau ideal of Julius was the
bard's conception of Cleopatra, on her excursion with
Anthony. Voluptuous imagery was decidedly predominant.
There had been even an attempt to flatter
in the richness and the clinging and gossamer humidity
of her dress, and the artificial glossiness of her
curling tresses. The costume and style were of the
ultra and latest fashions of London. The dazzle of
gems, which she had never seen, seemed to sparkle on
the canvass. She had never before fully conceived
the power of the pencil. Never had mind given
birth to a more splendid conception of beauty, robed
in her most voluptuous attributes, and the whole adjusted
and colored to the poet's dream of pleasure.
The natural impulse of a young and unsophisticated
female mind, perhaps unduly attached to the creations
of the pencil, was the first, she felt in view of
such a laborious and expensive compliment. She
saw herself in this glorious landscape standing forth
in loveliness and light, resembling a thing descended
from the spheres, more enchanting, than even her glass
the sparkling admiration in her eye. He noted that
he had been able to give birth to unwonted and unconscious
feelings of delight, which he enjoyed none
the less for knowing, that her sense of propriety would
seal up the expression of those thoughts. He remarked
her changing countenance. He discovered
an embarrassment, the struggle of mingled emotions,
a thousand times more eloquent to the effect, than any
words or exclamations. There was no single image,
to revolt purity of thought. The idea of the painter,
and the effect intended to be produced, were gathered
from the toute ensemble; and this was entirely the conception
and the finish of pleasure in the `Choice of
Hercules.' `I shall know,' thought Julius, as he
waited with intense curiosity, to catch the ultimate
effect upon her thought. `I shall know, what choice
she would have made. I shall be satisfied, whether
she is a prude, or a woman, like my former acquaintance
with the species.'
She looked more intently, and seemed perplexed,
and in study. His estimation of what she was, or his
beau ideal of what he would have her, gradually unfolded
to her innate perception of right. `I have but
one question,' she said at length, `to ask, Julius, respecting
this most splendid painting. Was the keeping
of this landscape your friend's conception, or
yours?' `Mine, I assure you, entirely,' replied Julius,
his self-complacency settling the feeling, with which
the question was asked, and wishing to appropriate
all the honor and advantage. In the confidence of
the moment, he took her hand, fell on his knees, and
poured forth a profusion of declarations of love in
forms, which he had so often, and so successfully practised
before. `Love inspired the idea,' he said.
`Love colored the landscape. Love imparted patience
and industry to finish it. In drawing the figure,
impress which was indelibly engraven on his breast.
His wealth, his rank, his family—all were hers. He
would transfer her from these pleasant, but savage
solitudes. He would show her to the world in all the
embellishments, in which she was here painted. He
would remove with her and her parents, to London.
He would see her the idol of admiration of one sex,
and the general envy of the other.
When he had exhausted his wonted routine of
words, the speaking flush of triumph in his eye indicated,
that he expected at first an affected semblance
of coyness, and then an eager acceptance of his offer.
She had withdrawn her hand from the first. She
now raised her eyes from the painting, and, looking
him calmly in the face, questioned, `is this all, Julius?'
The question and the accompanying look, confounded
him, and put his self-complacency for a moment to
flight; but he summoned his effrontery, and, coloring
a little, commenced another series of protestations.—
`Enough! Enough! my friend,' she interrupted him,
laughing. `The first will answer. I ought to be
grateful for all this. But we cannot always command
our gratitude. The ladies, with whom you have been
acquainted, would, probably, have been charmed with
such a flattering painter, such fluent protestations,
and such an earnest lover. I need not fear to say,
that I have found pleasure in your society, and have
been so much delighted with your talent at painting,
that I wished no evil hour of love-making might occur
to interrupt it. But, since you have been so explicit,
it becomes me to be equally so. I would not accept
your love, if I could. I could not, if I would; and
this, on the score of love, is my final answer.' Unaccustomed
to control a feeling, and wholly unprepared
for such a prompt and unqualified negative, his face
reddened rather with anger and wounded pride, than
the first words, that rose to his lips. `I am to consider
this, then, as a decided refusal?' She smiled,
still looking him calmly in the face. `I hope, I expressed
myself in terms sufficiently clear and positive.
It seems to me, Sir, that I remember to have heard
you speak rather disrespectfully of marriage.' The
blood flashed back in his face, as he eagerly asked,
`was that your reason for refusing me? If a gentleman
of opulence and family has conquered that dislike,
and has shown himself ready to contract a union,
under circumstances of an apparent inequality, which
I need not explain, I should deem, you would see in it
a triumph of love over all considerations of interest,
more complete, and a bond of confidence more worthy
of dependence, than any that a mere preaching
moralist could offer.' `You mistake the matter, I see,'
she answered, `altogether. I have no idea of leaving
this valley. I do not believe my parents have. If I
had, I assure you, I should not accept you, as the companion
of my departure, in such a relation, or in any
other.'
He stepped back from her, drew himself up, and
absolutely bit his lips with undissembled temper. `I
dare say,' he cried, `I owe the remark that I disregard
marriage, and your apparent dislike, to the sincerity
and good offices of my friend, Frederic, with you in
my absence.' `Sir,' she answered, manifesting resentment
in return, `you forget yourself, your friend and
me. It is time for me to return. Frederic is as incapable
of slandering the man, whom he calls friend,
in his absence, as he would have been of painting
that picture. He ought to know, how little like himself
his friend is in these particulars. Sir, my own
observation and memory have told me all, I know,
touching your general views of morals, and your estimate
of marriage in particular. We need have no
on these subjects with any relation to you at all. One
thing more. I do not say, that our acquaintance is at
an end; but I say, that if ever you utter a word, or
make an allusion to this subject again, or insinuate a
remark unfavorable to your friend, I shall deem it my
duty to be invariably denied to you in future.'
She turned from him, as he was mustering his pride
and indignation to reply again, and arose to return,
calling to her side her simple companion, who had
been chasing butterflies, perfectly unconscious of all
that had transpired. He, too, walked, as in scorn, in
another direction, revolving dark thoughts of pride
and revenge.
The marked change in her deportment towards him
from that time was only apparent to the parties, who
took the keenest interest in it. Frederic and Areskoui,
from the same impulse, had misjudged her estimate
of him. They had calculated the influence of
his beauty and manners by their own jealousies
and fears. They discovered that something unpleasant
had transpired between the two. Frederic, from
the moment that he sincerely loved, had indulged no
hopes. But he had become sufficiently enlightened
to the principles and character of his companion, not
to feel disinterested satisfaction at the idea, that she
had broken with him. He had imagined every symptom
of a growing affection between them; and would
have warned her of his principles, but that it would
have had the aspect of originating from selfish jealousy
and envy. Happy was he to see, that the right
issue had resulted, without the necessity of such a
questionable interference. Shyness and distrust had
been growing for sometime between him and his quondam
friend. It now proceeded to the point of apparent
mutual avoidance.
By a kind of tacit understanding, the labors of the
pencil, and the charming evening concerts of the bower,
were suspended. At least, if Jessy continued to repair
there, it was with no other companion, than her girl.
In regard to the society of both the young men, she
manifested not a studied, but a general avoidance, and
seemed imperceptibly sliding into her former solitary
way of passing her time, before they came to the
valley.
Not long, however, after the interview mentioned
above, accident brought the two companions together,
as they returned from different hunting excursions, the
one with a swan and the other with a wild turkey
slung over his back. They were still half a league
from home, and they stopped on the green moss at the
foot of a sycamore that held out its ancient arms over
the Sewasserna. They sat down murkily, at some
distance from each other, and each fanned his temples
with his hat. `A rare pleasure this, of late,' said Julius,
`to meet, and compare notes, as we used formerly.
I think, we were then accustomed to call each other
friend.' `I am not conscious of having forfeited that
appellation,' answered Frederic. A conversation,
thus commenced in coolness, shortly verged to crimination
and recrimination. Julius, finding that he was
in a fair way to be foiled at this kind of rencontre,
changed the conversation, by adverting to the ridiculous
part they had both been acting for some time;
and remarked that, as the return ship might shortly
be expected from China at Astoria, he thought it quite
time for them both to drop the curtain upon the ridiculous
drama, and relieve their friends from the regret
of supposing them drowned, by returning to society,
Frederic replied, that he felt himself completely an
isolated being in the world, that he did not imagine,
the news of his supposed death had reached his friends,
that he felt himself accountable to no one, that he had
should not be the first to abandon it, that listless and
reckless as his existence was here, he felt himself as
useful as he had supposed himself any where, and far
happier than in society, and that he had no present
purpose to return to it.
To these cool remarks Julius replied in a tone of
dryness and decision. He admitted, that his friendly
Mentor had formed more accurate estimates of the
wonderful daughter of Yensi, than he had. A pretty
affair, truly, to give herself such airs, as though she
were already an Indian princess. It was not to be
denied, that she had a pretty face and beautiful locks,
and could converse, in terms, like a book. But what
was all that? Was she not after all a simple, affected,
awkward thing, an Indian blue-stocking, that was
all! They ought to have had too much sense from
the beginning, not to have been forewarned, that her
modes of life had been so different from theirs, and
her scale of judging so humble, as to have precluded
the hope, that she would be pleased with any one,
but an Indian. `Lay not,' he continued, `the flattering
unction to your soul, my virtuous and considerate
friend, that while she slights me, it is through a preference
for you. On the score of putting our mutual
chances of interest to trial, I am persuaded, that we
are both on one footing. Areskoui is the man, Sir.
While he is at hand, we may both paint, and whistle,
and pipe, and flatter, and look killing with all our
might. The Indian prince will always carry it over
us, humble commoners.' `Be it so,' answered Frederic.
`It proves the soundness of her judgment, and
the correctness of her taste. She ought to prefer
him. He is the nobler person. The more I study
him, the more I feel small beside him. True dignity
and real greatness lose none of their claims, because
we call the possessor savage. He is a study, and a
for him, as good and as beautiful as Jessy, that I might
learn her to love this being, so nobly forbearing and
magnanimous, so generous and elevated in motive and
action; and that he in turn might learn this simple,
awkward, rustic Indian girl, against whom you have
indulged in so much tirade, to love me. For a long
time, I thought you were the favored man. You
would have been, had you deemed success worthy of
securing, by a little more concealment and disguise.'
`Frederic,' he replied, `you know I cannot cant.—
Do you think that I am a man to sit down and prate
about morals and principles, to gain the good will of
a girl among the Indians; I, who have borne the palm
of success from females of so different an order? But,
Sir, we are wide from the point. You know, I presume,
from her own lips, for she rates you in her confidence
next to Elder Wood, that I am at this time in
mauvaise odeur with her? I warrant me, my faithful
friend has talked me over with her often enough. At
any rate, I can assure you from her own lips, that we
are both alike indifferent to her, or rather positively
disagreeable.'
`Julius,' replied the other, `I respect myself too
much, and you too little, to answer to such charges.
While you supposed me capable of availing myself of
her private ear to prejudice you in her thoughts, you
measured me by your own conscience. So would
you have done, with the chance so to do, and she
would have despised you for your pains. That knowledge
alone would have kept me from the baseness,
to which you allude. That I am indifferent to her,
I have no doubt. But, Sir, I do not believe, that I
am disagreeable. I have striven to avoid all offence,
and she is intrinsically too good, to dislike without
cause.'
`Canting,' answered Julius. `Base canting. It
surprises me, to hear, how nearly you both converse in
the same strain. I am positive, you must have learned
your lesson together. I shall wait to hear, that you
have both been under the water with Elder Wood.
However, just be pleased to take warning, Sir. In
pursuit of love, of his purpose, or his revenge, Julius
Landino is neither to be trifled with, nor frightened.
It is for those, who come in his way, to fear.' `Julius,'
said the other, `I do not mean to understand your
threats, until you compel me. But I can assure you,
that Frederic Belden fears Julius Landino as little,
as he fears any thing beside, and throws down defiance
against defiance.' `Look you here, Frederic,'
he replied, `I shall not quarrel with you, except at
my own time and place, and that is not the present.
I only say, that I am persuaded, you two good and
pious people have an understanding. It gives me
pleasure to believe, that we shall both be alike rejected,
and that Areskoui will cage the pretty bird
after all; and he shall have all my interest, when I
find it will not make for myself. Some boats depart
next week for Astoria. I offer to depart with you.
We are both egregious fools to remain here longer.'
`Sir, let us remember, that neither of us has more than
his individual folly for which to answer,' replied Frederic.
`You may be thankful, that I will not allow
you to have mine upon your conscience. I choose to
remain here; and I will not go with you next week.'
`Well, my Master Frederic,' retorted the other, `if
you will not budge, so neither will I. You staid at
first, to play Mentor over me. I will shift parts, and
enact Argus for you. Good night'—and they murkily
separated in opposite directions.
Though the incident recorded below belongs not
directly to these annals, yet, as it tends to elucidate
the influence of Elder Wood in his Missionary efforts,
passage in the humble history of the valley, and it
deeply moved the feelings both of the whites and the
Indians. Though Elder Wood had not been favored,
in his own phrase, with any special success in his
Apostleship among the Shoshonee, his undeviating
uniformity of correctness and sanctity, his earnest desire
to do good, manifested by his active and discriminating
benevolence, was steadily acquiring for him
an increasing influence among that silent, but observing
people. They saw him disinterested, chaste,
temperate and just. His earnest devoutness in his
own way, his silent dignity, the tenor of his life giving
constant proof of his own undoubting conviction,
were steadily operating the natural effect upon the
minds of the Indians. A young woman among them
had taken a fancy to Elder Wood, as a husband; had
dreamed a dream in relation to him; had painted her
face in black, and had caused him to be instructed,
that she was under an interdict. `Let her remain interdicted,
then, if she will,' was the reply of the minister.
`They may burn me, if they choose, and give
the crown of martyrdom to me, when they please.
But I will not marry her!' The answer was reported.
But there was no one to sustain her. No shadow of
suspicion rested upon the minister. The girl became
the derision of her own people; and, after an ample
experiment of the inefficacy of her interdict, came
forth in vermillion again, to make a more fortunate
set at some other person.
But though few were so far converted, as to profess
the religion of Elder Wood, many were observed,
after his earnest sermons and religious exercises, to
be thoughtful, and now and then an individual, generally
a woman in the more advanced stage of life,
went into the Sewasserna with him. He had a small,
but growing church, and he felt, when he was dispensing
the red wanderers of the mountains for the great
Shepherd, that he was performing no humble nor
useless labor.
Among his converts was Lenahah, or the Song
Sparrow, an orphan girl of seventeen, of uncommon
attractions of person and mind, for an Indian girl; at
least it seemed so to Elder Wood. In fact, except
for her black hair, and her peculiar eye, her countenance
would have proclaimed her a Creole-Spanish
girl. She had always been a selected favorite with
Jessy. She was the poetess of the valley, and her
songs had sweetness, simplicity, tenderness, and graphic
fidelity to nature; for she painted what she saw,
and felt; and painted directly from nature. They
were in the mouths of all the singers in the nation, and
she thence derived her name. She was, in short, one
of those gifted minds, that sometimes shoots forth
among a simple and unlettered people. The tenderness
and the ardor of feeling, that had prompted her
songs, finally took the direction of religious impression.
She had been among the first, that had been
struck with the preaching of Elder Wood. Moral
worth and dignity had more charms for her, than
youth and beauty, the common objects of attraction
for one of her years. It is saying all, that can be said
of an uninstructed Indian girl, that she had a heart to
feel the charm of worth. Had the handsome Julius,
and Elder Wood, reckless as he was of appearance,
presented themselves for her favor before Lenahah,
she was one of those rare minds, that would instantly
have preferred the stern and high minded minister to
the handsome and unprincipled youth. This single
trait will serve, as an index to her character. The
beautiful, tender and gifted Lenahah, though humbly
born, a circumstance of peculiar disqualification
among the Indians, and an orphan besides, had received
had refused even the powerful Nelesho himself. But
among no people under heaven is the course of love so
perfectly free, as among the red people. The rejection
even of Nelesho passed off without offence. It
was said, that Lenahah did not love him, and there
was the end of the affair. The rejected warrior, who
afterwards took so much offence at the rejection of
Jessy, went his way, and attributed his failure to his
destiny, and spoke as kindly of Lenahah, as before.
She had been observed, after she had attended the
services of Elder Wood, to remain thoughtful, and as
if deeply pondering what she had heard. With favorable
impressions, in regard to his religion, began
to be associated kind thoughts of the preacher himself.
She had been heard to say, that it was pity, the good
medicine man of the whites had no wife to bring him
water, and dress his venison for him. After the arrival
of the two young men in the tribe, she was at
first strongly impressed with their fine appearance,
and she gave an extemporaneous song to the stranger
youths of fair hair, and bright complection. But
their gaiety chimed not with the thoughts that Elder
Wood had awakened. Her feelings vibrated back,
and rested again upon the minister. She went into
the Sewasserna, and professed the Christian religion
in the form of Elder Wood's worship. Her earnest devotion,
her undeviating purity and sanctity of life,
corresponded with her profession. Her being the
first convert of name among the Shoshonee, her natural
attachment to her spiritual father, so artlessly expressed,
finally won first the unconscious and unacknowledged
tenderness, and finally the avowed affection
of Elder Wood. The young people of the ruder
sort laughed, when they heard, that the minister was
smitten with the Song Sparrow, and that she returned
his love. But the Indians generally respected the
approved the connection. They had learned from
different sources, how the white people conducted towards
their ministers, when they settled among them,
and they determined that the couple should see that
they knew how to imitate such an example. The respectable
warriors met, and labored a number of days
in succession, to build them a comfortable dwelling, in
the same range of the other habitations, between that
of Hatch and William Weldon. As was the case with
theirs, pine trees caught the breeze in front, and the
everlasting battlement of rocks curved for their roof,
and formed the rear. They enlisted their pride to
make it spacious, convenient and comfortable; and as
they are very exact imitators, they succeeded in producing
a house much resembling that of Hatch.
The time was announced for their marriage; and
it is probable, that this man of profound sentiments,
which had been concentrated, and disappointed, loved
this tender and gifted daughter of another and a heathen
race with a romantic affection, more ardent than
he could possibly have bestowed upon a woman of his
own people. Her wild and sweet songs, the poesy of
the daughter of a red hunter, had first operated on
the imagination of this son of a Kentucky hunter.—
Where there were few subjects of comparison, she
was uncommonly pretty; and it may not be said, how
far Elder Wood, like other people, was influenced by
his eyes. He first pitied her, as an interesting heathen.
She was subsequently his first convert of any
consideration, earnest, simple, docile, humble, devoted
among the first fruits for the Redeemer between
those unnamed mountains. This last tie was strongest
of all; and Elder Wood unconsciously gave,
more than once, sufficiently amusing proofs that he
was under the full influence of the tender passion.—
As he walked alone in the forest, or beside the stream,
Lenahah been wrought into a hymn, partly religious,
and partly amatory, and committed to the echoes of
the forests and mountains, as thinking, that echo only
heard. But Baptiste had the song in the vilest travesty,
and even the long visages of the Indians relaxed,
as they chaunted the songs and the loves of the
Song Sparrow, and the grave and broad shouldered
Kentuckian, so solemn even in love, and whose head
was already well sprinkled with snow. But the laugh
abated none of their deep respect for the parties and
the connection. It may be, the mingled dreams of
earth and heaven of the Song Sparrow, and the Indian
Missionary, were they as worthily sung, possessed
as much intrinsic interest, as those of Eloise and Abelard.
The Song Sparrow had been long a selected
favorite of Jessy, who had completed for her a wedding
dress, after the fashion of the whites. William
Weldon and Ellswatta and Areskoui had made liberal
contributions to enable the house keepers to commence
in comfort; and few pairs had happier expectations
for the future.
Though this vale was generally blessed with an air
of extreme salubrity, and most of the deaths there
were those of nature, sometimes, when the full and enlarged
orb of the harvest moon shone in crimson
through the dim mists of Indian summer, and a kind of
unnatural and relaxing sultriness returned upon the
coolness of autumn, at that early period, when red and
orange begin to mellow the green of the leaves, diseases
sometimes sunk down with the mists upon these
vales. At such a time, Lenahah, now within a week
of her nuptials, was taken ill of a bilious fever. On
the very day, in the evening of which she fell sick,
she had wandered, singing extempore songs, on the
sides of the mountains, gathering evergreens, to deck
the common dwelling for the approaching marriage.
She sang through the night, and the names of her parents,
who died while she was yet an unconscious infant,
of Elder Wood, and her Saviour, were woven into
her imagery of rocks, streams, woods, and mountains—
the figures usually painted on an Indian imagination.
Next morning the fever was fixed. Her eyes glistened,
and she breathed quick and pantingly. The
medicine men of her people stood about her bed; but
she motioned them away, and yet with a courtesy,
that showed, that she wished not to revolt their
customs and prejudices. While she held her arm
to Elder Wood, and he felt her tense pulse, and
laid his palm on her burning forehead, tears started
simultaneously into the eyes of both. `My head is
wild,' she said, `and every thing whirls in confusion
before me. Let the Indian maiden speak, what is
on her mind, while that mind is still clear, and before
she goes down into the sunless valley. Hearken, my
father and my husband! The Saviour, whom thou
hast declared to me, hath showed himself the last night
to my dreams, all glorious in light and loveliness, as
thou hast described him to me. He held out his arms
to me, and offered to conduct me to the high and sunny
hills of paradise, where he hath a place for me and
thee. There, father, will I wait for thee. Do thou
commit my body to the dust, after the ways of the
Christian people, and do thou sing over my remains
those sweet and holy songs, from thy medicine book,
which speak of the life to come. Do thou plant
flowers and creeping vines over the sod that covers
me, and in thy medicine discourse do thou tell, that
the Song Sparrow loved thee much, but loved her Saviour
more; and that because she loved Him, she was
resigned to leave her love, and the green earth, and to
go down, confiding and fearless, into the sunless valley;
and do thou ask, as my last request, that the Wakona
will walk behind the bier of the young orphan.'
From the time, that she had given these last charges,
her mind was never long collected; but she continued
to utter breaks of her wild songs, still mingling
the name of her affianced husband with that of
her Redeemer. Universal interest was excited towards
this favorite of the nation. Elder Wood evinced,
that the man in his bosom was mingled in struggle
with the Christian. He remained constantly by
her bed, pale, absent, and giving answers wide from
the purport of the questions proposed to him. But
from the time she was seized till she drew her last
breath, he was not absent an hour at a time. From
his hand alone would Lenahah receive her food and
medicine; and when he spoke to her, however wildly
she answered others, to him her replies were collected
and calm. But it was in vain, that the white people
and the red made joint stock of their experience,
and proposed a hundred remedies; it was in vain that
Josepha and Yensi, with untiring zeal, lavished their
nursing and watching. It was in vain, that Jessy
kissed her burning cheeks, and implored her to keep
up her courage, and try to get well. It was in vain,
that Elder Wood administered decoctions, and sweating
drinks, and wiped the starting moisture from her
brow, and knelt in earnest wrestlings with the Author
of existence for her life. He had numbered her days,
and she closed her eyes upon her native vales, and
upon sin and sorrow at the same time. Not a noise
interrupted the awful stillness of her departure, but
the breathing of the breeze of sadness, moaning her
dirge in the tops of the pines over her cabin. It was
one of those impressive scenes, that carry home solemnity
to the most thoughtless bosom. The countenances
of the passing Shoshonee and Shienne gave
proof, that the departure of worth, innocence and
truth, snatched prematurely away, is every where
alike a subject of regret.
Lenahah was buried, partly after the Indian and
partly after the Christian ceremonial. Directly at
that point under the sycamore, where she had been
wont to sit, and listen to the preaching of Elder Wood,
was her humble grave; in digging it the whites and Indians
mingled labors. Elder Wood, his arm and his
hat in crape, and Jessy in full mourning, walked behind
the bier. The wail of Indian mothers, as they
bore her body to its last house, told the tale of real
grief, that pierced the heart of the hearer. The Indian
medicine men were so far indulged in their ancient
usages, that they walked behind the chief mourners,
now and then striking a blow on their drums, crying
at the same time in their deep and guttural note
—`The songs of the Song Sparrow are no more.—
Her spirit has gone down to the sunless valley. Weep
for the young Shoshonee maiden, for she was true.
Weep, and ask the Master of Life, to shed light upon
the path of her spirit, as it seeks its way to the hills
of paradise.'
When the procession reached the spot of worship,
under the shadowing sycamore, they sat down the
body, uncoffined after their fashion, but on a bier
covered with fawn skin, and strewed with flowers, beside
her open grave. Elder Wood drew his bible and
psalm book from his pocket, and his first essays to
speak were almost inarticulate. But he looked upwards,
made a strong effort, opened to his place in
the hymn book, and though his voice trembled, the
words were articulate, and line by line, translated
into the Shoshonee speech.
Of all the pious dead;
Sweet is the savour of their names,
And soft their sleeping bed.
They die in Jesus, and are blest, &c.
His own deep and trembling voice, as usual, gave
the key note of the dirge. The song of grief, of the
grave and immortality swelled, and sunk away, and
again increased and fell, and came back, in repeated
echoes from the mountains. The eyes of Yensi, of
Jessy, and many an Indian maid, of Frederic, and many
a stern warrior, filled at the thrilling impression.
Beauty and innocence and worth every where leave
the same halo around their departing course. Many
a warrior, that had never softened before, felt his
spirit moved in him. Even the heart of Julius was
for a moment impressed, that beauty and guilty pleasure
are not the only pursuit on the earth. Some of
the closing paragraphs of the funeral sermon follow.
`My dear red brethren, dear to me, as of my own
kind, and for Jesus' sake, I thank you for the considerate
kindness, with which you have performed the
last sad offices to one of your own daughters, who was
mine also in Jesus Christ, and was shortly to have
been my spouse. Though I preach to you a crucified
Saviour, it would poorly beseem the sincerity, required
of me before the All-seeing eye, not to acknowledge,
that I am in the flesh, and a vessel of clay,
like yourselves. As such, I loved the deceased; but,
I trust, a thousand times more, as a new born child
of God. Her poesy was both wild and sweet, when
she was an alien from God; but a thousand times more
so, after she had learned the name and the high praises
of Jesus. You all do know, how kind hearted and
true she was to all; I doubt not, that it was only, because
she believed, that I, too, was born of God, and
loved the Saviour, that she loved me, and was to have
been mine. That Saviour whom she loved, had the
highest claim to her, and has taken her to himself.—
The mortal body of her, we loved, is here before us;
but he will take charge of even that. Not an hair of
her head shall perish. She shall be raised incorruptible
away the tears of nature. I surely need not weep for
the meek and gentle spirit, that hath gone to the heavenly
country where all are alike good and happy.—
But while I remember my beloved, safely gathered to
the fold of the Great Shepherd, let me implore you,
in presence of Him who formed these ancient mountains,
and whose mercies are as unchangeable as their
rocks, the fountain of everlasting love, let me implore
you to make yourselves acquainted with the same God
and Saviour, and the same hope of immortality. This
I will ask of God day and night, when I draw near to
him. Rivers of water will continue to run down mine
eyes, until I see you washed from your sins in the
same crimson fountains.
`I will detain you no longer with my private griefs.
Let us hasten to perform the last sad offices to my beloved;—dust
to dust—ashes to ashes—but, blessed be
God, and the good word in this book, in the sure and
certain hope of a resurrection from the dead.'
Four aged chiefs then approached the body, taking
it up gently, and depositing it in its last dwelling.—
Then every person present walked round the grave,
throwing in flowers and a handful of earth in passing.
The song of sorrow and death was raised again; the
grave was filled, the benediction given, and the concourse
thoughtfully returned to their places. The
only memorial that remained of Lenahah, except in
the country beyond forgetfulness and death, was in
the heart of Elder Wood, and the record of a stone
tablet, on which he engraved these words in English
—`Lenahah was among the first fruits to the Redeemer
from the Shoshonee. She was alike good and gifted.
She came forth, as a flower, and was soon cut
down.'
| CHAPTER VII. The Shoshonee Valley | |