The North-Carolinian., 1850-02-16
From the Noah's Sunday Time.
THE FAWN OF PASCAGOULA

|
an elegant paper, feIicitousIy called
Love, Laughter, Fashion and the Fair
and issuing from '' Cupid's Realm" whicI
was started for the occasion TO give atldi
| t'onal zest to the entertainments. 1t i.
edited by the Ladies of the Telegraphc
OHice," at Mobile. and streams over viti
| choice jems Of wit and humor. AS a sam
pie OF It's contents, we extract the follow
ing beautiful tale.
Shall tell you story Of real life, as
romantic and affecting as any in fiction :
wen, listen Every citizen Of Mobile is
familiar with the sight of the Indian girls
who are seen in our streets in winter.
With their little bundles of lishwood O.,
their back, they mark the advent Of cold
weather as regularly as the mocking bird
and the cardinal chronicle the approach of
spring. They peddIe their small parcels
of pine from door to door. aud all are
familiar with the soft, quick, petitionery
voice in which they exclalm Chumpa, as
| they offer their cheap burden for sale.
These Indian girls, it is we'll known be-
long to certain Choctaw families who re-
fused to emisrate with their tribe beyond
the Mississippi. and yet Iinger upon their
aboriginal hunting grounds, on the waters
OF the Pearl and the PascasouIa.
Though they thus exhibit an uncon-
querabIe attachment to their natl We soil,
they have yet refused to adopt the habits,
language, or pursuits of the whites, by
whom they are surrounded, and perverse-
ly indifferent to all the inducements of
civilization, they persist in leading spi-
c'es OF savage, gipsey life-the men sus-
tanning themselves by hunting. and the
l<,lo
wild fruit in the summer, and bundles
Of pine in the winter. With these simple
productions they visit Mobile semi-an-
nually, and for the time reside in the
vicinity, in small huts or camps, construct
ed Of bark, boards, and the limbs Of trees.
This has been their usage from time i'm
memorial. and it yet continues.
These Indians are generally a misera-
bic and ignorant race, but with all their
degredations. they possess some Of the
virtues in a singular degree. The women
are proverbially chaste and modest. and
Of all the young girls that annually visit
our city. none have been known to depart
from the paths of rectitude. 4 strong in
terest, therefore. surrounds these simple
daughters Of the woods, who resist all
the Establishments of their station, and
pass unt,armed through the streets, of our
city. Many Of them are quite handsome,
and possess, beneath their rustic garbs
the calico gown and the red blanker-
considerable graces Of manner and appear
ance. As they invariably refuse to talk
English. very little conversation can be
had with them. and that only in reference
to the small bargains which they desire to
make.
Chumpa and picayunc are almost the
only words which they employ in their
intercourse with our inhabitants. Still
where they wish to make a bargain. am!
enter the different houses of the city, stores,
dwellings and Offices without hesitation,
ceremony. or announcement. Who has
not been startled many morning. by the
low voice, at the chamber door, exclaiming
80 chumpa."
The stOcal demeanor of these Ch0ctaw
maidens has the natural sensibilities and
sentiments Of the sex.
They have bright flashing eyes, we'll
developed, symmetrical and flexible forms,
beautiful small hands and feet, and show
in their love for brilliant articles of dress, |
rings, heads, and other personal decora
tons. the taste aud vanity Of their civi'Iz-
ed sisters. Is it possible that they are
destitute of those delicate sympathies and
tender affections which have marked wo-
men in all other classes and conditions Of
like This question has no doubt suggest
ed it self to many. as an interesting pro-
blem Of char acter. In one instance, at
least, an attem pt-perhaps heartless one
was made to solve it, and it Is that the |
story which have to tell refers.
1t came to my knowledge in all its de-
tails, but will attempt to narrate it i'll
such a manner as not to detain the re ader |
with particulars which he can imag inc for |
himself.
Among the Choctaw gipsies, who visited
Mobile in the winter Of 1849, was one Of
unusual and attractiveness. Although |
scarcely developed into womanh"od-not |
more than seventeen suns'' having kiss
ed the rich bronze Of her cheek-she was
vet tall, round-limbed. straight and grace
fuI-a very model Of feminine form. Her
features, more prominent and regular than
is usual with her tribe, we're delicateIy
and the erect attitude Of her
head. with her large, fawn-like eyes, and
coal-bIack hair, always neatly |
plated in massive folds. gave to her aP- /
pearance an air OF superiority such as the
youthful Pocahontas is said to have
Her dress was extremely neat
though with large number Of silver and
wampum ornaments, and her small feet |
which any of the prosnenaders on DauphiO |
might have envied, were invariably dress
ed IN nlocasins oruamented in the most |