The Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1809-1841, 1835-07-22
From The Knickerbocker.
THE SNAKE EATERS STORY.


out hope / do not speak thus for your sympathy
iEr human sympatIly can at best but awake afrcsl
lthc wells of mournul tenderness in my Breast with
out poGrinp one ray of sunshine upon the troubled
fountains they must flow on in darkness, wllhou
la prospect of day. Listen to me.
"Ei pht short years ago, with the spirit Of adyen
lure stirring within me, came as 1t were directly
from the walls Of university III one OF the Attain
tic states to this : far country, l came with prod
cal cndowments from my father and seeking thC
then frontiers of civilization, embarked in trade will
settlers and Indians. bought urs and sold all kind
Of mercantile riches prospered; my capital re-
doubled itself, and in all respects was prosperous
You may perhaps desire 10 know my motive for thus
leaving the charms of society and seeking the Sc
cusion of the wilderness. 1t was the strongest o
motyes,-human dfectiOn. An uncle had preceded
me. lie had ward, to whom / had been deeply
and dcvotedly attached from my childhood. She
was the paragon of her sex. speak not as a
rhapSodiSt, or with cnthusiam for the joveest be-
ing that ever came from the hands of God into this
lower world could not excel her for beauty. She
made that beauty perfect, by the graces of a mind
pure and clear as the forming diamond Her voice
was melody; her smile burst Of living and pcarly
light /; and her calm blue eyes were the sweet ex-
positors of sness affection. The young peach
when the airs and beams of summer have awakened
its rpening bushes, the pomegranate, glows
among the leaves that rcmblc to the rich chanting OF
the nightingale, surpassed not her cheeks for bloom
or loneliness, when her fair har was divided on her
brow and fell in masses of waving and sken gold
around them. Truly, | loved her with my whole
soul She was my idol,-my cynosure,-the cen
rc of every desire, and the object of every inspira-
ton.
"Wc were married. Time went on and brought
me a bud from the rose | had established in my
green bower of home. We were blest indeed. A.
looflrom society, though missed few oflts luxures
we suffered none of its vexations and dcmoralizino
corruptons
"On the day that our dear little Sarah attained
her second year, she seated by my counter, and
her mother was standing by, when three fierce
looking Indians entered the store. They had ev
denly travelled a long way for their leggns wer,
torn and dirty, and their feet were almost bare.
recognized one of them instantly, as The Crouch
ing IVOJ,' desperate being, who hung alternately
around the skirts of settlements, begging for rum
getting it in barter for small paltry, which he OBJ
tanned in chase. Just year before, he had vsi-
ted me for The purpose of procuring the fre-wacr
or ardent spirit. / refused him, and he left me witt
n vow of future vengeance.
Hoogh said he, as he rccled up, with his gruf-
looking companions, towards the counter, where my
child was playing, and my wife stood: The
Crouching Wolf said he would come back. lie
wants the talking water, he wants that or-revcngc
lie will have one y
| " | tried TO reason with him-but he was deaf (,
reason. lie had already tasted from the hagon O.
one of his red comrades, and the fumes were ii
his brain.
Come, mcdicine-man, the Wolf wants the fire
milk. Where is it lie cannot wait. His spri
is up, and his forehead is warm
81 saw that he grew dcspcratc-but my rcsolu
ton was fixed; sterny denied him. twas u fata
denial
lie stepped back few PAGES, growlcd SOM
lgutural sentences to his companions and the thre
then advanced toward my child was motionlcs
and paraZed with terror. As the Wolf approachc,
my daughter, he drew tomahawk from his belt ant
hourishcd 1t on high. Isprang toward him, but wa
pushed back by his companions. The dear limo
cent, unatlfghcd, smiled in the face ofthe Crouch
ing Wolf, and it seemed if the cheerful purity @
her look stayed his vengoful hand. He paused
until a scream from the mother aroused her frs
born. She shrunk back from the relentless savage
while her mother was kept like myself at bay, an
while her sweet red lip, chseod like her mother:
was quivcring with dismay, said, in childish sin,
plicity:
Naughty Indian,-if he hurts Sarah, ma will b
angry, and punish him. As she said this, she bur:
into tcars-hcr last for ever
"In one instant the trcnchant weapon of the in
furiatcd Indian Glove in sundcr the head of my babe
IN the next, his excited comrades had murdered IN
wife of my bosom. | have an ndstinct and horri
remembrance of my burning store,-the rcd iiend
yelling over the consuming roof and walls-my cs
cape to the forest the rest was but silence and obli'
ion. | was a mailman!
"Tcn months after, | found myself in New-Ol
leans | had reached the city, no one know how
had been conveyed to a hospital kindly treated, an
discharged as cured,-but an outcast and a begga
Misfortuncs seldom comes single. My father ha
Idicd, and as had already received my share
his estate, the residue melted away among host
brothcrs. My inheritance had been destroyed /
the Indian, l was without a home or a friend.
How | subsistcd, scarcely know, At last as
was walking one day on the lcvce, saw group CO
lccted around an Indian, who was performing &C
tain tricks from box, with rattlesnakc, IL WI
the Crouching Wolf
1.-The murderer Of my wife and child exclain
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