The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1875-04-10
LO-A-WATHA.
By sHoRrrjELLow

w nlcn We puDllsE Tor the Denefi
t those of our readers who are ad
lirers of the ''noble red man" fant
is maple sugar.
Should you ask me where / wander!
Wander DER the western prairies,
Wander through the western forests,
Wander DER the western mountains.
Wander mid the rushing rivers,
where their frequent repetitsons,
And their wild reverberationk
As of thunder in the mountains ?"
| should answer, l should tellsyou,
Near the North Pacific Railroad,
Near the Center of Creation,'
Near the very Seat of EMPIRE
Near the Road that leads to China
Where the summers are so pleasant,
Aud the winter gently freezes,
Where the snow falls soft and feecy,
Covering like a downy blanket
All the wheat fields of Dakota,
All the lands of Minnesota;
Where old Boreas never busters,
Never heaps up mighty snow drifts,
Never blows It from the wheat lands,
Never spoils the winter sleighing,
Never causes teeth TO chatter,
It's so dry-'that's what the matter;'
In the land of the Dakotas,
In the land of the Ojibways,
On the North Pacific Railway
Where the heron-the shu-shu gah,
Feeds among the reeds and rushes'-
i repeat them as | hear them,'
From the tales of Wilke and Carlton"
Should you ask me where they found them
Found these legends and traditions,
should answer, | should tell you,
'Never in the beaver ledges,
Never in the forest birds nests,
Never in the eagles eyry,
Never in the bisons foot prints;
Nor did Wild fowls sing them to them,
Plover, duck, nor prairie chicken,
Swan, nor goose, nor hawk nor pigeon,
In the moorlands, in the Park lands
In the Paradise of Eden;'
Bat they felt an inspiration,
Their imagination moving,
Therefore wrote they as directed
Wrote they as the spirit moved them,
OF the green and silent valleys,
Of the pleasant water courses,
OF the never failing corn fields,
OF climate quite perfection.
We begin to understand them
We who lack the Inspiration,
May not see the golden vistas
OF the clouds with situer lining.'
Still, it is glorious country!
Glorious in its lakes and rivers!
Glorious in its woods and prairies
Glorious in its golden harvests!
Glorious in its mineral treasures
Glorious in its men and women
Glorious past, aud glorious present
Promising future glory
Happy land of the Dakotas
Happy land of the 0jibwaysi
Happy land of Hiawatha!
Happy land of Minnehaha ~
Now I've answered, now Pve told you,
Tod the Eagle in its eyry,
Why l wander in Dakota,
What l think of Minnesota,
WHAT / think of the great Noi Inland
Land so famed for big mosquitoes,
And the North Pacific Railroad,
Think the chase is wild goose IVA wa? ?"
Beware ''Keneu"-great War Eagle,
/ say, "Esa," shame upon you!
You talk like ''ma ma" the woodpecker,
Quite unlike the Ohio Eagle.
Shall | tell you of the Indians
Tell you of the "Noble (?) Red Man ?"
Pm not Fellow very lengthy
Never wrote a "Hiawatha"-
Was never called the prince of poets,
Was never eaten yet by Laura. Poet Lau
Still, I've seen the Minnehaha, reate.
misunderstanding water
In this surpass that other fellow.
When he wrote his "Hiawatba."
And Eve been among the Red Men,"
Seen them daily in thir wigwams,
Seen them gaming, sporting, fishing,
Seen the men who lived among them,
Heard them tel their trightful stories,
Stories that your blood would curdle,
Stories of these thieves and traitors,
OF their malice, hate and envy;
Drunken, dissipated wretches
STEPPED in vice, and full of vermin
Filthy, lazy, cruel, bloody!
Unrestrained by laws most wholesome,
Is the verdict that is given
By the men who've lived among them
Men of every creed and party
All say distance lends enchantment,"
Keep the monsters very distant"
Poets take poetic license,
Plume the wing Imagination,
Soar into the realms of fancy,
Then they make, with ink and paper,
Heroes, like our paper cities"
Only found upon the paper,
Solely made for speculation.
X
Mid the curling smoke of wigwams,
Mid the fish scales and the offal,
Lo the maidens there are squatting,
Seeking animated something's"
Finding them among the tresses,
Raven tresses, tangled tresses,
Thick as blackbirds in the corn-felds,
Thick as locusts in their season,
Thick as crows around carcass,
Hark the cracking now commences,
Not of riaes-game is plenty,
Quite too plenty, should fancy.
Here we see your "Minnehaha,"
innehaha--laughing WATER"
& she is, and true to nature;
Oh behold her! She needs water.
Yonder see them making sugar.
Maple sugar in The forest;
Packing it in birchen baskets,
Sweeter than the sweetest nectar
Sweet as lips of Minnehaha,
When she kissed her Hiawatba-
Sweet O sweet, beyond expression
But I'd like TO see them make it,
See them boil it, see them strain it,
See them cleanse it, see them stir it.
Well, behold them they are at it;
Now they spread their Indian blanket
Dirty, greasy, full of vermin;
See them strain the syrup through it;
Here's your nectar. poet, sip it
Made for you by 'Mnnehaha."
She, the arrow-maker's daughter,
In the land of the Dakotas,