The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1855-05-02
a5fl1serllaucous.
From the Knickerbocker Gallery.
ON LAKE PEPLN.
BY ErEs SARGENT.
The winter months bad newer seeme


ze The winter months had never seemed
to We-no-ra less tedious, March, with
It's cold blasts, and April, with its tor
rents of rain, had passed and the south
wfnd unlocked the fettered Mississi ppi,
y and the blue waters of Lake Pepii
again sparkled in the sunshine, and the
Vordurs began to creep over the bluff
{ II and prairie, aud the delicate foliage to
fringe the trees, and bright flowers to
.l open amid the springing grass and by
the borders of toe groves We-no-ra' s
winter experience had given her feel
ing of independence and self-reliance,
which was in itself great source of hap
pinesz Never before had she known
the true luxury of freedom. If here
tofore she had roaned the prairie. or
padded the canoe, 1t was but to antic-
slpate her degradation the moment she
should enter the filthy novels where her
people were herded She had woman
ly sense of neatness, which now she
could indulge unchecked. She delight
ed IN nature, and her delight was now
unmarried by embittering associations.
She grew 10 stature and in beauty, and
in strength and fectness; and as she
= snuffed the pure morning breeze, and
saw the sun erimsoning the eastern
clouds, or as she looked up to the starry
heavens, or to the corruscations of the
Aurora by night, she would exclaim !:
Yes, the GREAT Spirit is generous and
good: it is man only who is bad, ard
who spoils the giftsdhat are lavished on
his racei ~ -
...-'i It was one of the last days of May,
when as We-no-na was descending to
that beautiful prairie, where the little
house now stands she saw red straw
berry amid the grass, and plueked it
? She then remembered Ish-te-nah's in
junction, and walked musingly back to
her wigwam. It was almost with a
;pang of regret that she prepared to
leave this beautiful region. All the
means of subsistence seemed SO abun-
.daut around her; earth, air, ard water
seemed SO kind in rendering up their
stores and then, as summer came on,
1fhs whole. landscape was clothed in af
fluent beauty the verdant bluffs swept
in such graceful curves to the waters
edge and the distant prairie began to
heaye its sparkling waves of green so
sguxnriantlyf But might there not be
: fair spots eastward of the lake ? She
would go as Ish-te-nah had recommend
Il ed but first she wouldcollect, as me-
s. morial, some of the beautiful stones
scattered along the shore.
- These stones, as you are aware, are
and eornelians; and Lake Pepjn
has yielded them in abundance for many
years.
Weno-na descended and ran along
the shore as far as the point we are now
skirting. She would stop here and
there to pick up handful of agates,
and then, as she saw others more beauti-
fu., she would throw aside those she had
! gathered, and replace them with new
treasures She was thus lured on to
wander several miles; and the evening
twilight was far advanced before she re-
gained her pigvam. 1t was now too
late to start upon her pilgrimage. No
J. matter; she would commence it carly
I. next morning.
when morning came. there were ma
>
ny preparations to make; and the sun
had been up. couple of hours before
3 she had set forth on her journey. She
carried her canoe fastened by strap to