The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1864-06-29
For the NORTH Iowa Times.

For the NORTH iowa Times.
sightseeing from a Pilot-Ho"se.
There is a merry party in the Pilot-house
of the Northern Light, noble steamer
whose PROV glances among the isles CT the
Mississippi gayly as Aurora herself.
We are FIVE: the good Capt. G., Pitts
burg banker, eloquent upon Petroleum and
the wonderful wells, Mrs. p, Of st. Paul,
Q. v. and the faithful watcher at the helm,
who, beside the ever turning wheel, is telling
us Of Escapes by fire and flood.
Below US a rainbow encircles the mist
about the water dashing from the side
wheel, and from the sunset sky is reflected
. golden column, irradiating those green
island shores with rare beauty. We have
left far behind us the Trempeleau Hills !;
three canoes filled with Indians are bearing
upon our right, while from point of land
cmerges daughter of the forest, brown
and 1.-the Of limb. We look with delight
are enraptured and in lofty mood wherein
only poetry can aid US, we quote:
s'Wnh knife OF bone she carved her food;
a. n Fuel with AZ of stone procured,
Could fire extract from flint wood,
TO toughest savage life Injured.
In kettles irail Of birch.n bark,
9 She boiled her food with heated stones;
&s The slippery fish from covert dark,
khe drew with hook Of jointed bones"
She lifts her blanket, and a corner of it
hoats toward US in token of recognition,
and in return We wave our embroidered
handkerchief. From this moment the
Pilot is silent and leaves the party to CON-
meht unassisted upon its surroundings :;
the conversation attains sublime heights
the watcher smiles grimly and steers for
'Pepin-"Lake Of Tears" A gentle ecstasy
pervades the group, we lavish upon the
mighty river and upon Minnesota, "land of
sky-tinted water" the choicest words of
the mother. tongue.
a'a A bold bluff, four hundred feet in height,
with bald, craggy summit, looms against
the glorious sky. The Capt, with out
stretched finger, bids US look upon the
, Maiden's Rock Of the Dacotahs; aglow with
the romance Of the Swallowed height, we
exclaim: "Who knows the Legend of this
wonderful Rock!" The Capt. draws from
bis pocket curious little book, and cx.
changing amused glances with the st. Paul
lady--who by the way regards us with
pity-passes it to US. We beg the banker
to read, and he gratfies the request
In the days Of the great chief Wapa-
shaw, there lived at Keoxa, where the city
Of Winona now stands, his daughter, a
maiden with loving soul, his st-born,
AID named Wee no.nah. Her chieftain
father in his pride had pledged her to his
fAvorite brave who had trod the war-path
many times, and whose head was epc:rcled
with Ojibway scalps, but the dusky maid
loved young hunter who had wooed her
in sweetest strains Of Indian melody. In
vain the warrior brought his costly gifts
and laid them at her feet, Wecn-n no nah
could not forget her first love- She must
be his or die! Wapashaw in his anger
banished the hunter from his sight. No
more rings her laugh 10 joyous sport; no
more her elastic feet outstrip her compan.
ions in the race; no more she braids her
hair beside the mirroring waters; but all
night long her soul chimed with the mourn
ful notes Of the whip poor-wi,l as she gazed
on the pale star above her. Wee.no.nah
seeks her lover; mutual vows Of constancy
are renewed, and then returning she feigns
compliance with her fathers wishes, and
watches the preparations for her nuptials
with affected indifference. With assumed
} checrfulness she wandcrs forth with her
companions for berries to grace the feast.
Silently she strays away from them they
know it not till wild death note strikes
their ears. AS they moved toward her, she
waved them back, and awe. stricken they
obeyed. Fleet as fawn she bounds to-.
ward the prccipcc. Wld flowers and
feathers of gayest plumage, adorn her
raven hair, and snow.white blanket en-
wraps her queenly form. One moH,ent
she pauses upon the brink with appraised
hands supplicates the Great Spirit, and the
next she is lying motiopless below"
While this famed story is unfolded, we
gaze sadly upon Maiden Rock, and at its
close, with suffuscd eye for the fate of the
love-lorn Wee.no.nah, we fully determine
to write "A Romance OF the Bluffs" to con.
tain at least four hundred pages. Gu,
pilot, however, during the reading, frequent
ly "shed derisive squnts," and is the frs
to break the silence. "The precise date O
that transaction was while Noah was build
ing the Ark, and | wish most hearth,
that when that squaw jumped off the whole
race had gone in after her." Fixing
glance of naughty, whitening sarcasm upo,
US. he inquired, "Who was that chal
Longfellow made such fuss about ?"-
"Hiawatha," We replied in an injured tone
giving the continental sound to all tn
novels. Eyes; well, haven't heard mucl
Of Longfellow since the Massacre, and
guess you can buy his book pretty chea
now up the river" and Mrs. p. and he fe
to discussing Sioux raids, the Sissitons
~ Winnebagoes, Yanktons and Assinniboine
with such tervor that we fed to the salo
and partaking Of lobster, picked oysters
Zoo