, 1863-10-10

Correspondence St. Paul p1css.]
RrD LAKE CHoss.o, Sept. u, 1853,
DEAR PEEss:-I hare stood faca to far
with The n:todle Of the Eighteenth Centur]
and looked into its dim and hazy ewes. 1 hay
setn the cotemporary Of the Grand Mouasquf
II Frederick the Great, and Bossuet and Vo
tst1e, and Walpole--the link which connect
the golden age of absolutism and Utopia
PollcsoPhles which the iron age Of ravolu
lions and republics coevi with the dream c
the one and the fnlltllment of the other. 1
short, have eeen u Chippewa squaw a hun
d1ed and twenty years old
l first met this ancient lady at tAbercrombIe
crouchlrg on the ground, half hid, as II t
symbolic her own decay aud desolation, Il
the smoke and ashes Of amouldering fire
among the children Of hall: great
granddaughter, with knife In her t.emnlou
III gers, emitting up coon for stew she wa
cook1rg IN the Pot which hung over the half
dead emhe1s, and looking, for all the world
HEe one of the weird witch. hags whom Mac
beth met upon the heath, and mu' ter1ng, likt
cursed boufllon.
She Is, they cay, the great great great .ant
tMtce great grandmother Of an Indian ans
Ea1fbreed progeny numbering hundreds, tht
gray progenit1ix and spring head Of the cin,
me1tan Rsd Lakc1e-that uucouth aud hyper
boresn tribe who dwell beyond the farthes1
sources and submits Of tie Mississippi, b3
the shores .of an inland eea, riuged In witt
the gloom Of pfimeTa1 woods. She Is the
first Chippewa roman, she says, who ever sei
loot or skinned muskrats On the shores Of Red
Lake.
a hurd1cd years ago, when the Chippe yas
had driven the Sioux from the borders Of
Lake Superior and the lucustrine forest re-
gfon around the headwaters of the AfississippI
INTO the naked plains to the west and south,
the sault st. Marie to find home ID ths
newly conquered territory, and passing
through the dark forests and the labyrinth 81
: !skes, which are strung along the current Of
the Mies!ssippi. Ike ths gigantic rosary Of
cone dsrk spirit called like monk, forever
lasting pines, passing beyond the maze Of rico
sHamps and bogs. and leaving their less ad-
verturcus kin behind them, pressed on TO-
wards the setting sun till they reached the
luasgin Of Bed Lake, and there founded col
cnY tf thtir own. Others soon after 5o1ned
them AID made village there, and she re-
members that there party Of Sioux came to
prcpi'fate the i1trudiDg strangers, and to
make treaty ofpeace. But
''71nseo Duncioset dona 5trzentes,"
vas the maxim Of the ruthless invaders. The
Sioux were attacked, two Of their number
killed, and from that day to this, the old lad =
says the Red Lakers have been OF war with
the Slcnx.
Gov; Ram3ey, who was present, having In
ty for the lsnds Of the Rid lakers, she replied
with senile chnckle that he ought to treat
With her as she Was the original owner; and
could Lot help feeling a sort Of supersti-
tious awe Of this st.ange, old, mummided
relic Of dead century, claiming her own In q
World she had outlised and which had forgot
ten htf-as if the widow Of Romu1us Ind
risen from her ashes to claim her Sabine doH-
er in the eeyen billed city.
And grand old classic squaw she grew
upon me, as locked at her grooming over
tie stmmeripg Kettle, dlugy, and begrimmed,
Ike Picture Of the old masters, with the
emoky aoumbration Of the ages that had
was not white, rs I could not help thinking it
might have been half q century ago, but Of q
dun and slatJ grey, as If the SHOWS OF her SIX.
eco{e winters had been tonched with the
shadows of an antiquity overtoppfng the
common rnpge Of human life, Us the hoary
heads Of the highest mountains ara hooded
in the clouds.
Her face certified to the Euperhuman an
tiquity ct its owner, which wns rather dispar-
aged BY the liveliness Of her movements, for
sne hoobled about. crutch in hand, with an
.agiltty more becoming blooming maiden Of
eighteen than lady Of her mature years. Bnt
her face was positively the oldest face--the
oldest, fabby, age. .tattoed, Hrinked. retIcula.
ted, parchment of face you ever saw on hu-
man being. The history Of ali her 100 years
vas crowded IN the mystic hieroglyphs which
Time and: Its cares had cut, and carved. and
countersjgned in her leathe1y skiu-bafl.ng
all attempts to fancy her the round and
smooth checked Indian girl, the beauty Of q
hundred years ago, as she was said to be.
=. Bnt these misty, rheumy eyes, just peepIng
from their nearly closed lids, upon the deep
enlrg twilight IN which she Etopes her way
o1bed radiance, and we're In their auroral
splendor one hundred years ago. It WAS
thtn Joung Frenchman, named Messon,
came to Red Lake to trade in fnts, when her
husband vas sway hunting, and pitt5iDg her
soled her Tor the absence Of her 1iege lord By
assuming his duties. In honor Of this tenn
poraty connection, she proudly bears tho
name Of Elizabeth Messon; and she gleefnlly
relates that on her husbands return he Ind
the benignity, on seeing the presents she had
1eceiTed from her paramour, to approve the
lucrative traneaction, but insisted that the
ha1fbreed gl1l who was the fruit Of the con-
nectiou, should be reared by her father. This
ras agreed to, aud from ths ingrah 6prang
wide famly Of half breed descendants, among
whom, as among the Red Lakers, the a7uncu-
tllial yeneratIon due to her fabulous age, aud
her historic dignity, as the living aud coeyal
embodiment Of all their traditions.
In the true PIckwickian spirit Of antiquari-
IN research, hdSe accepted the remote an
nqui.y which her. half breed descendants as.
sign to their are Elizabeth, without submit
tibg their chronology to the test Of a too i'm
pertinent ekepticism. am the chronicler
and not the critic. To be sure, when eaw
her getting out Of Red River cart, makIug
ladder Of the wheels, to nselst her feeble and
faltertng, but cautious and sure descont-I
thought-but no matter; to Others leave
the vulgar Eac1ilege Of doubt. The-lezepd Of
her years is written In the papYrus ekln which
enrc1ts the monumental mummy other body.
years ofage; and old grey.headed men-the
ratriarchs Of the tribe-remember her when
tfey Eere boys, rs even then IN old woman.
Could anything be more authentic? J.A. ".