The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-31 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULY 31, 1858.

Other instances of "sticking by the stuff," little
less remarkable, are to be found in various parts
of the volume. _

One remarkable trait in the Indians was that
they never seemed to have any idea of inflicting
on their female captives the injury to which they
are usually exposed on such occasions. Murder
and mutilation was all they thought of :

Some of those scenes we often heard described in our
childhood by those who witnessed them. We were raised
in old Tiyon Country, in Middlefield, equidistant from
Cherry Valley and Cooperstown. The settlement in Middle.
field, then called " Newtown Martin," was destroyed,
and the people scattered. Some of them lived to return
and spend the. remainder of their lives on the soil which
had been stained with the blood of their relatives and
neighbours. Ohl Mrs. Writer—who used to be called
" Aunt Recter "—once related to our excellent mother,
while se sat by her side, the story of her captivity and
sufferings. She was stripped of all her clothing except
ber chemise and under-skirt. There was a most
beautiful girl of her acquaintance who was the admiration
of all. As Mrs. Writer—then Miss Cook—was hurried
along by her c iptors, she saw a stout Indian cut the
throat of the beautiful girl referred to a few steps before
her. As she passed she saw her in her death struggle.
Her nose, her ears, her eyelids, and her breasts were cut
off, and her rosy cheeks were deeply gashed. All this
barbarous mangling of the poor girl was indicted while she
was alive, as a matter of sport and derision. Could fiends
have devised deeds of such abominable atracity ?

One of the most interesting portions of the
work is the account of the discovery of a white
woman among the Indians in 1835, sixty years
after she had been carried off, by her friends.
She had become perfectly Indianized; had mar-
ried an Indian husband, and had children and
grandchildren. She had been sought for perpe-
tually by various members of her family, and was
at one time supposed to be the wife of a cele-
brated chief, who rejoiced in the appellation of
" Between-the-Logs." This, however, turning
out to be a false report, the search was for some
time abandoned, and it was not till the year we
have mentioned that she was accidentally dis-
covered by a Colonel Ewing. The interview
between her and her " long-lost brother" is very
well told by Mr. Peck :

He found her, to all appearance, a perfect Indian. He
bad fined in his mind an infallible insrk of distinction.
Before she was rained off, her brother Ebenezer had struck
her forefinger on the left hand with a hammer, in the
blacksmith's shop, and so injured the bone that the nail
was permanently destroyed, and the finger otherwise dis-
figured. Mr. Slocum accordingly took hold of her hand,
and brought her to the light, and saw the mark still re-
maining, with very little variation from the changes of time.
" How came that finger jammed ? " asked he, through the
interpreter. "M y brother struck it with a hammer in the
shop, a long time ago, before I was carried away," was the
answer.

The scar which thus served the purpose of the
strawberry leaf on Mr. Boa's arm, though it con-
vinced the brother, did not produce the same
effect upon the sister :

The family circle scrupulously folio Ned the lead of the
venerated head of the household, making no advances,
exhibiting no emotion. On this occasion only one tender
chord was touched. The long lost sister had forgotten her
own mite. She was asked if she thought she could
remember it if she should bear it mentioned. lier answer
was, "It is a long time ; I do not know." " Was it
Frances?" Something like emotion instantly agitated her
iron.cast features, and, with a smile, she answered iu the
affirmative, " Franca, Franck."

Afterwards, however, they got on better, and the
brother resolved to go back and fetch his two
daughters to visit their new-found aunt and
cousins in the wilds of the Indian forest :
The Slocums and their friends arrived at the residence
of Frances, September 30. Captain Bmuriette met them
at the door and brought them into the house. Mrs. Drake
says, " We found our aunt seated in a chair, looking very
much as represented in the water-coloure.l portrait now in
possession of Judge Bennet, with her two daughters
standing by her."

Mr. Slocum, after the accustomed salutations, told his
sister that he had brought his eldest and youngest children
to see her. The coldness and reserve of the former visit
were now entirely gone, and Frances expressed great joy
upon the occasion of again seeing her brother, and parti-
cularly that he had brought his daughters so tar to see her.
The mother and daughters immediately commenced an
animated conversation upon the subject of the family re-
semblances which were observable. The old lady, looking
at the ladies earnestly, passed her band down her cheeks,
stopping the motion at the posterior point of her lower jaw.
There is an unusual fulness and prominence at that point
of the Slocum face.

The preparations for dinner were soon commenced.
They spread the table with a white cotton cloth, and wiped
the dishes, as they took them from the cupboard, with a
clean cloth. They prepared an excellent dinner of fried
venison, potatoes, shortcake, and coffee. Their cups and
saucers were small, and they put three or four table-
spoonfuls of maple sugar in 5 cup. They were told by
the white visitors, "Our way is not so mach sugar." They