St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-10-24
THE WALKER HOUSE.
The Indian Question.
THE EXPERIENCE OF ONE WOMAN.


As intend this article to he pOliti-
cal one, | shall endeavor to keep per
sonalities out of it: but somehow the
subject always takes me back to the
time when Charley and first went out
West.
You see, it was our wedding tour,
and that alone would be sufficient to
make one remember journey for a
lifetime. ! WIS not at all eager that
this grandeur should he added to our
espouSalS. and would much rather have
dispensed with it. Fashion was not 50
extremely rigorous at that time: and
oh, how glad ,oOuId have been to have
not gone away one step from home. but
boarded with mamma
We might have had that big sunny
room on the second floor. with the little
snuggery Oft, and mamma would have
given me that pretty white and green
set. curtains and porcelain and every
thing to match, and | could have had
my own dear little rocking chair and
work-boX and writing desk, and we
could all have shared the piano; it
needn't have been moved an inch ont of
its old place in the back parlor. Mann
ma and | could have been together the
whole day long, and when evening
came, Charley would have come in with
the rest. and what Il dear old. Jolly.
splendid life it might have been, if
Charlcy'S rich old uncle had never been
born, or hadn't gone ont West. or
hadn't made Charley that very advan-
tageouS offer to bring his Young wife
and come ont there and get rich.
Get rich, That was the poison that
infused itself into our vitalS. and east
that glittclimg glamour over every
hodN'S vision but minc-thank God
not mine. was too young and too
much III love to care about getting rich
and wasn't So sclfiShly in love with
Charley that could quite gladly give
mp my people and dear old home to
feed an mholy ambition. Every kind
ly and gracious line in my mothers face
was dear to me; | loved every hair,
gray or black, in the head of my father /:
and although my brothers and were
continually having little petty disputes
about something, we kissed and made
up aftcrward. and loved each other all
the more dearly.
But what with 'wifcly duty" and
''womanly devotiun.'' and THE grand
spirit of enterprise" the sacrifice was
dcckcd ont in such gaudy coloIS that
one was forced to stop and wonder if it
could he possible that |, Kitty Malcolm.
WAS really going away from home and
kindred. to travel thousands of miles
almost, in fact, to the exact spot where
the sun really set to leave father and
mother and the boys. and go away out
there in the desert with Charley Pierce :.
My wedding dress was. of course.
ruined. While | lay perfectly uucon-
scinus and unable to demonstrate (tor
tainted dead away at the end of the
ccrcmony.) they drcnchcd me with wa
ter. never even putting Il rug or any
thing to catch the dclugc. and three ell
tire hreadthS were spoiled beyond re-
demption. Then | wiped my eyes on
my bonnet strings. and spotted my
gloves, and rumpled my travelling
dress. and WAS altogether Il very dis
comSolate and hcdragglcd piece of mat
rimonial woe when we started on that
diretul journey.
OF course l loved Charley Pierce.
Once having known him, | couldn't
live without him, and if he wouId go
ont in that dreadful region, was com
PEELED to 60 with him. But | left half
my heart. and half my youth, and half
of so many things behind me that was
quite il lapSidcd creature. and never got
over that gone feeling that took pos
session of me when the carriage went
round the corner, and the last faint out
line of mamma was lost to me.
The first sight | got of the prairie |
hated it. | never saw any thing so
dreary in my life. The infinity of it
appalled, me, and the monotOny of it
= h.,I lao. , t,,nn
or rock, or shanty, or telegraph pole,
or any thing to break the view, it might
have been endurable; but | looked at
it till my eyes ached, and the more |
looked the worse it appeared to me.
Ny desperation took the guise of
courage, and acquired the reputation
of being strong minded woman. When
we got out of the wagons, and the ''cOr-
railing was gone through with, every
thing available in the way of material
about lis being used as a sort of pro-
lection against the Indians, Charley al
ways said to me the last thing before
we went to sleep,
"Remember Kitty, remember my
brave little wife-death before being
dragged away by the red-skins.'
..Oh YES. u said certainly" and look
/ tt tp lnt WI thS pi'e'' 'i'ii
great interest. Charley went right off
to sleep: but many and many an hour
went by and lay wide awake, looking
mt the queer gloomy skeletons i'll the
clouds. and wondering how coldly and
mockingly the stars glittered in the
great desolate sky!
| suppose the food had something to
do with it. | always had an instructive
aversion to pork and saleratus and dried
beef, and | really never supposed there
could he so loathsome and repelling
thing as coffee without milk. / must
say | think it was very careless and
thoughtless for Charley Pierce to forget
to procure some necessary articles OF
food in the "stores," as he called them.
He personally superintended the trans
portatiOn of IL great deal of material for
his uncle, and it wouldn't have hurt
him to have provided us with at least
plain, coarse, wholesome provisions.
Because he had the digestion of an os-
trich it didn't follow that every body
else had and | wasn't the only one
that suffered in that wretched caravan.
I'm sure mamma took the trouble TO
have every thing nice for him at our
table, and he seemed to enjoy his meals
.I | of ,,-n,,larf,n,- The hpHll-