The Kalida venture. [volume] (Kalida, Ohio) 1841-1865, 1846-04-30
WHOLE NO. go.

One chill May evening, he sat by the
fire of his lonely sittng-room. The wealth
er had been unusually warm throughout the
spring, until that day, when one of the
changes of our fitful New England climate
made fire not only comfortable but neces-
sary.
The bright sparks went chasing each
other up the capacious chimney, and he sat
idly watching their fantastic play, with his
thoughts full of the past. There is some
thing in the first kindling a fire afel a long
cessation that peculiarly disposes the mind
TO Renaissance. 1t is like warming the
chilled fountains of memory and unsealing
all their depths till recolectons throng so
thick that the present is lost among the sha-
dowy gatherings.
Twenty years had gone by since the loss
of the little Agatha, and nothing had been
learned of her fate. Sydney was now All
elderly man. A sprnkling of gray was in
his hair, and crow feet were around his eyes
and on his checks. and his mind was still
more deeply stamped with age. The past
lay spread before him, and he was sad
That bright-e yed boy sleeping so prematurely
in his grave, his glad existence so fearfuly
quenched by his maddened mother, if he
had lived, would he have been thus desolate?
The boy pas affectionate, and the child of
Oniska, must have been loving and true.
Agatha might have worn the hollow smile
of her mother, but the boy was Oniska's and
she was ever faithful. And he thought
sadly too of Oniska-of her noble heart,
and the integrity of her noble nature, even
tnctured as it was with the fierce energies
of her wild training. He might have done
her justice, and his love might have turned
those strong powers into SO many sources of
domestic happiness-and now he sat in a
desolate home!
The door opened and figure wrapped in
an Indians blanket approached the table at
which he was sitting. "Who are you?' said
he seizing loaded pistol from the table
The figure threw off its disguise. Well
might Sydney shrink from the queeniy look
of those melancholy eyes! Time had dealt
more kindly with her than with Sydnoy,-
perhaps she had sooner learned the wisdom
OF resignation. She spoke, and her voice,
though firm and cold, had lost the fierce
sharp tone that ever rang in his ears those
fearful words Life had given her gentler
lessons since he last met Oniska.
You know me, white man, would you
hear of your childw
"What OF her, Oniska? Is she living, and
where is she?"
"She is living. Sunseeta, the pale flower;
IS as sunbeam in the wigwam of Mionimab.
sachem among the people who live at the
Wachusetts, and two song-birds made glad
the hearts of Sunseeta and Mioninah.n
Sydney groaned in the bitterness Of his
spirit. His only child an Indian in her ha-.
bits and enucaton, his only v descendants the
red people of the forest! 1t was a sad pros
pect for tender father, and humiliating, for
a proud and vain, one, such as Henry Sydney.
In his agony he exclaimed, Why did You
come TO tell me this? Oniska, you have had
your revenge! My child! my child! why
did you not die in the cradle, rather than
live to be red mans slave-the Gre ature of
toll and unrequited love?"
A stern shadow passed over the face of
Onska, but she only said, g Oniska was
creature Of toll and unrequited love, Is it
harder for the white skin than the red Has
the Great Spirit made the pale flower better
than the forest rose?"
Sydney wept bitterly. The dark feelings
passed from the mind of Oniska, and better
ones took their place. "False white man,"
she said mournfully you have no nature no
true feeling in your heart. 1t would be Just
if your little bud slept with the blighted
iorest-nursling! Oniska meant it when she
was the avenger, but she remembered her
sunny-eyed boy, and she could not kill.
Then the Good Spirit spoke to her heart,
and took away its revenge, and she gave the
child to those who would be kind to her
Sunseeta is beloved by good chief and she
is happy. Ohiska thought you would like to
hear ths?"
But Sydney made no reply. He was loo
deeply smitten by contending feelings 10
heed aught else, but sat, with his face buried
in his hands. When the rush of his grief
had subsidized, and he looked up, he was alene.
Oniska had departed.
A few weeks after this interview W, vessel
lay at the harbor of the settlement known now
as Newburyport, ready to convey Sydney
and his Indian family 10 his native land
He, with two other trusty friends watched
the wigwam of Mionimah 10 take advantage
of his absence TO carry off Sunseeta and her
children. At length they were graiifed BY
seeing most of the men leave the hamlet,
and amongthe rest, Monimah. Then they
entered the hut, and Syeney knew at the
first glance his lost Agatha. Even in the
rude dress of squaw, the eyes and the air
of the polished Agatha Stanly, such as won
his young love in the days of his hope and
youth were apparent.