Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1859-06-24


requesting that it might be published. -
BY some unaccountable blunder, it lay
in the office for two years before it was
published. In few days it fell into
the hands of Mr. Slocum, of Wilkes
barre, who was the little two and half
year old boy when Frances was taken.
In few days he was off to see his sister.
taking with him his oldest sister, the one
who aided him to escape writing NJ a
brother who Tow lives in Ohio, and who.
| believe, was born after the captivity,
to meet him and 90 with him.
The two brothers and sister are now
on their way to see little Frances, Just
sixty years after her captivity. After
travelling more than three hundred miles
through an unbroken wilderness, they
reach the Indian country, the home of
the Miami Indians. Nine miles from
the nearest white habitation, they find
the little wigwam. q shall know nv
sister" said the civilized sister, 'because
she lost the nail of her first finger. You,
brother, hammered it off in the black
smith shop, when she was four years
old"
They go into the cabin and find an In
dian woman having the appearance of
sevcnty-fvc. She is painted and jeweled
off, and dressed like the Indians in all
respects. Nothing but her hair and cov-
cred skin would indicate her origin
They get an interpreter and begin to
converse. She tells them where she
was born, her name, &C., with the ordor
OF her fathers family g How came
your nail gomez said the oldest sister.
=" My older brother pounded it off, when
| was child, in the shop" In word,
they were satisfied that this was Fran
ces, their long lost sister. They asked
her what her Christian name was. She
could not remember. " Was it Fran
ces? She smiled and said eyes" TT
was the first time she had heard it pro-
nouncod for sixty years. Here, then,
they were mct-two brothers and two
sisters; they were all satisfied that they
were brothers and sisters, but what
contrast The brothers were walking
the cabin, unable to speak; the oldest
sister was weeping. but the poor Indian
sat motionless and passionlcss rs spec
tator; there is no throbbing, no fine
chords in her bosom to be touched.
When Mr.. Slocum was giving me this
history, ! said to him, ''but could she
not spcakY' Not a word p "Did
she know Lor ago 90 fyo--nau no idea I
oft" " But was she entirely ignorant?'
Sir, she didn't know when Sunday
comes p This was, indeed, a copsumma-
ton of Ignorance in descent of tao Pu-
ritans.
What picture for painter would the
inside of that cabin afford Here were
the children of civilization, respectable,
temperate, intelligent and wealthy, able
to overcome mountains to recover their |
sister. There was the child of the forest
not able to toll the day of the week,
whose views and feelings were all CON
fined to her cabin Her whole history
might be told in a word She lived with |
the Delawarcs who carried her off, till |
grown up, and then married Delaware.
He either died or ran away; she then
married a Miami Indian, a chief | be-
lieve.
The brother and sister tried to persuade
their lost sister to return with them, and
if she desired it, bring her children.
They would transplant her again on the
banks of the Susquehanna, and their
wealth make her home happy. But no,
they had always been kind to her, and
had promised her late husband on his
death bed that she would never leave the |
Indians. And there they had left her
and hers, wild and darkencd hcathens.
though they sprung from pious race.
You can hardly imagine how much this
brother is interested for her. lie says
he intends this Autumn to 90 again that
long journey to see his tawny sster-to
carry her some presents and perhaps pc
1ltion Congress that if ever these Miamis
arc driven of, there may be tract Of
land reserved for his sister and her de-
sccndants. His heart ycarns with an
indescribablo tenderness for the helpless
one, who, sixty one years ago was torn
from the arms Of the mother. Mystcri-
Gus Providence How wonderful the
tie which can thus bind a family together
with chain so strong that nothing can
break its links
/ will only add that nothing has ever
been heard Of the boy Kingsley. The .
probability is that he is not living. This
account hastily and impcrfectly given,
had from the lips Of Mr.. Slocum, the
brother, and the same gho was two and .
a half years Old when little Frances was
carried away. | believe | have altered
nothing, though lave omitted to make .
the good part Of az interesting volume. /
She had two daughters both of whom /
are married, and I've in the glory of an
Indian cabin, skin clothes, and COW skin
head dresses. None Of the people can
speak a word Of English. They have
horses in abundance and when the In
dian sister wants to accompany her new
relatives, she whippd out her horse,
bridlcd it, and then ala Turk, mounted
astridc and was of. Il night she could
throw blanket arouul her, lie down
upon the floor, and at be asleep.
ES- You may ns thousand OK
colent things in now ,or, and never
hear word of aaproba ! from the rca-
dcrs but inst lot rah. nh siin in Ms,