The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1834-11-19


bow of the hunter hang neglected in his wigwam:
the scalping knife w's throwi aside, while stretch
ed beneath the tall td beautiful! sycamores, which
stood like mighty soltinels along the bank Of the
river he cave his nnd prey to the anguish which
a naughty spirit feeh, under the pressure of cal
amity which no human eXcrtion can avert. Sand
is it even thus 2" said the sad warrior, rs his eye
glanced over the beautiful hills and tall forests hy
which he was surrounded: "and is it even thus,
that graves of our fathers and the homes of our
childhood must be abandoned to a new race. Yes!
the pale faces will stnld over OnalooSa's grave and
not one red warrior VIII be there to tell he was the
eagle of his tribe. But why should murmur an
other race was swep away to make room for ours,
and his eve rested on one of those mighty mounds,
so frequently met with IN the western states, sand
we in turn, must yield before the whites. Vet who
are they for whom the red man must be swept from
the earth :" and musing ON the painful yet exhaust
less theme, the old sachem perceived not the APP
proach of n boat down the river, until the song of
the boatmen burst in wild strange music on the ear
Starting To his feet to ly for he remembered he was
unarmed, he turned TO view the strangers, when as
tonishmcnt chained him TO the spot. In boat diff
fcrcntlv constructed from any hc had before seen,
sat a fair young girl and youth of twenty summers
while the boat was guided " two men of large pro-
portions and skins which tod too truly TO the Indi-
an that they belonged to the hated race of whites.
Claspng his hands his heaying chest he con-
tnued to follow the boat with his eyes, while a
whir ofbcwidering thought rushed through his brain
as the boat TRANQUILITY hoated down the stream. They
could not be spirits from the other world, for the
young maidcn's laugh rang arross the water, and
they spoke in tones, though not undcrstood; yet
resembling human accents. Yet, they were white
men. The thought was worse than death, it was
annhation to his race, for the Indian knew that
wherever the white plantedhis foot the red man
must flee from before him.
: Dark and gloomy were the locks of the chef, as
, he summoned the elders of his tribe and impaired
to them his discovery tha, the white men were al
ready in the heart of their county and boldly saiet
over their waters The council fire was lighted anc
:. fierce and high the debate; while the war
rors of the tribe declared against their old cefiail
who had so often led them to battle, when he tret
suppress their thirst for the strangers blood AN,
with all that metaphorical cloquencc which dstin
guishes the Iudian orator, they invited each other
discriminating war, and spoke scornfuy of thei
chieitain's tameness, as they deemed it.--Onaloos
rose to his feet age could not repress the fire thi
shot from his eye and cnricd his lip, slowly an
and haughtily he looked around the assembled cil
n Gle. 'Who dared to say Onoaloosa feared tn
:. strangers! He knows no fear, because he does II
i wrong. AS well to say the eagle fears the su
: when he wings his flight far above the god of day
But the Great Spirit, my brothers, has whispere
TO that the path lies open towards the setting Sun
!, and we must obey"
J, At this moment all eyes were simutoncousl
i turned towards the opening ftho circle where stoo
i knot of young warriors; and in their centre, boun
and wounded, the chiclain recognized the bcautl
/ iu fair girl who had passed him in the evening re
70 semblIng more a vision from another world than It
l. nhabtant of this. Her shining tresses, then CLAN
"a ced to the setting sunbeams, like threads of gold
=, were dabbled in gore, and the bright sufusion
~ health, and youth, and beauty, had fled before tn
Ipallor ofdcath The beautiful girl was dying, an
/ faint and far the cry rung III her ear and close
Dr the eye that had glanced 50 brightly WOO
- and river Long the old chicftan looked upon IN
beautiful specimen Of the race he believed woui
soon supcrscde his own then resgnlng the sym
e bOs of his authority over the tribe he made on
last request that the maiden might be buried undc
~ the spreading sycamore where so often he had muse
over the fearful destiny ofhis countrymcn; and turn
ing his steps towards the setting SUM- he was no MOI
u seen.
$ Nearly twenty years had elapsed, and the India
" wigwam had given place to the mill and forge, whc
> already prcsagcd our prosperity, when an India
canoe, apparently loaded with skins, was seen
nigntfa, to row down the river. The occurenC
oi was too common to elicit any remark, but whc
morning came, the was gone, none knc
le whether but il was observed that the ground VIZ
20 broken beneath a sycamore and pile of stone
collected on the spot. Often the mist from the riy
!" CLEANS in the still moonlight in fnciul folds
s. that tree and Imagination shadows out the form
? the murdered maiden; and the lofty shade Of Il
m Muskngum Eagle, still seems to the fanclul
10 hover around the haunted tree.
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