The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-06-13
THE AGATE NECKLACE
Or, Wauban, the Rose of Rock River

Some years ago a young gentleman of
Chicago was invited to attend the we'd
ding of a young Scotch lass, to be mar
ried at the seat of her famiiy-a branch
of the Grahams-in the highlands of
Scotland. He wished to take with him
a present Thich should be unique in
character, and also should be suggestive
of the United States, from which he
came. The writer of this legend was
asked what would be appropriate. Hav-
ing heard, while attending court on Rock
river, the legend of the Agate Necklace,
and believing that it was still in exist
ence, and might be procured, the writer
suggested to the gentleman that he
should try to obtain it, and present it as
8 wedding gift to the bride, This was
done the legend am now about to read
was read at the wedding dinner, giving
q history of the necklace. Imagine
yourselves, therefore, in Scotland, in an
ancient castellated hall at q wedding
party.
A hundred miles west of Chicago,
across the rolling prairles of nortneIn
Illinois, run the clear waters of Rock
river. From rocky bluffs, rising from
fifty to one hundred feet above the river,
issue innumerable springs which make
this the most beautiful river of the north
west, and as clear and cold almost as q
mountain stream. The varied surface of
the country is interspersed with many
park-like and grand old forest trees, some
of them of dignity and antiquity which
date far earlier than any existing mOnu~
ments of human skill-amOng them the
rock maple, the fir, the elm and the oak,
of such magnificent proportions as TO
al or ST1r hn 0f fhc
old world. An elm is still standing not
far from the scene of our legend which
measures thirty five feetin circumference,
and with branches creating a dense shade
hundred feet or more in diameter.
Flowers in countless numbers cover the
prairie. Flowers, in the wsTds of Bryant,
"Whose glory and whose multitude
Rival the consultations"
On the banks of this river, near g grove
of oaks, which would suggest some old
English park of more than medieval
antiquity, long, very long, before Chicago
existed even as a hamlet, there had
settled the family Of British emigraDt, a
retired British officer of Scotch ancestors.
Attracted, doubtless, by the park-like
scenery, the general beauty of the land
scape, and the facility of obtaining as
much land as he might choose to occupy,
this soldier, whom l shall call Captain
Graham, had constructed a cottage and
brought with him his family, consisting
of his wife, SONS and an only daughter,
now Just opening into the full bloom of
early womsnhood.
The cottage which he built, fronting
the river and at the edge of q grove, he
called Rockwood;" and here he at
tempted to live, as near as circumstances
W. uld admit, the country lie Of Old
England. Wild vines-the Virginia
creeper, the American ivy; the bitter
sweet and the lovely Michigan rose
soon covered the exterior of his cottage.
With an unlimited range of pasturage,
and gra s iOr hay, he SOON became an ex~
tensive stock-grower, and finding
market for his cattle in supplying the
frontier military posts with beef.
North and west of Rock river, roamN
ing and hunting over what now consti-
tutes Northern Illinois and Southern
Wisconsin, were bands of the Pottawat-
onlie and Ottawa Indians, some of the
same tribes that, under the leadership
of the celebrated chief, Black Hawk,
waged the last Indian war in Illinois,
and in which the late President Lincoln,
when young man, served as q private
soldier and lieutenant. One of these
bands of Indians had their camp and
village near beautiful grove OF timber,
81 I'll existing, called Sugar Grove. At
the head of this band was young chief
called We-nO-nah. Although still young,
he was famed from Lake Superior to the
Missouri as the most successful hunter
and the finest horseman in all the tribes
VIII ich roamed between Lake Michigan
and the falls of Minnie -ha-ha, and his
praises as a warrior were already sound
ed around the council fires OF his people
This band had always been friendly
to the few white settlers who had wan
dered into this then wild country, and
the chiel and his tribe were always vel
coined at the home of the British sol>
dier with the kindest hospitality: food
aud shelter were always freely offered,
and many were the kindly Offer
ings and courtesies exchanged between
the family OF Captain Graham and the
yeung chief.
We>no- nah himself often visited Rock
wood cottage, and his eyes fingered with
respectful admiration upon the form of
the young British maiden. She was
indeed, very beautiful, and of type
rarely seen on the prairies of Illinois !;
| with eyes as blue and dark as the sky at
sunrise her golden hair as bright as the
clouds Furnished by the rising sun, with
that rosy, transparent complexion,
variable and delicate, 50 peculiarly
Scotch.
She bad a smile, bright look, kind