Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-12-12


pressly manufactured to sustain her
too, too solid flesh" shriveled sud-
denly, as if smitten by a thunderbolt.
into infinitesimal chips!
An Indian Girls Love.
+ The Rev. Alexander Wright, a chap
lain of the United States army, narrates
true but tristful romance of the late
Princess Monica, daughter of Spotted
Tail. This narrative is the most inter
esting in that it explains the uniformly
peaceful attitude of the chief toward
the whites. One summer Monica
visited Laramie to look upon the pale
faces and their manner of living. She
vas shown around by a handsome
young Lieutenant of acavalry regiment,
and, in thanking him for his courtesy,
she acknowledged, with charming mai
vete, that she loved him. The sur
prised and fattered officer told her that
she must not love him, as his heart was
placed among the pale-face girls in an
Ohio town. Monica visited the fort on
the day following that on which she
lost her freedom, and so on for many
weeks, in plain, neat attire, the poor
girl sat throughout the afternoon on
the doorsteps of the officers quarters.
The great Sioux chief, whose warriors
o1tnumbered those of Sitting Bull, was
mortified at the conduct of his best-be-
loved daughter, and sent her to little
camp in the Rocky mountains. One
day courier arrived at the chiefs camp
with the tidings that Monica was dying.
Spotted Tail rode with all haste to her
side and heard her farewell Injunction:
my chief, live with the pale-faces in
peace, and bury Monica on the hill be-
fore the fort" Gen. Maynadier, COM
mander at the post, Col. Bullock, tho
post trader, and Chaplain Wright gavo
the body Christian burial. The grave
is now point of interest to travellers
as Fort Laramie is approached on the
Cheyenne road. Gen. Maynadier tes-
tilted as to the truthfulness of the girls
death from a broken heart and to the
effect it had upon the Sioux.
A Wedding in Zu1uland.
The wedding was ct kraal about
two miles from the camp. Shall I ever
forget that drive as we jolted over
stones and "shaved" ant-hills, and
bumped in and out of holes, the mules
oil the time going at full gaQop, till we
really expected that the cart would turn
over with us every moment? But we
have grown so used to that sort of driv-
ing now that we only laugh and try to
avoid having our hats smashed and our
heads broken against the sides of the
wagons. AS we approached the kraal
our ears were greeted by the shrieks,
yells and bowls of the wedding party,
and on surrounding ridge of ground
we came. upon company all in "full
fig" practicing one of their dances.
The men wore large plumes of black
feathers, which covered their heads
and hung down over their shoulders
They had shields covered with cowhide,
and carried sticks, which they waved
and brandished in a very war-ike man
ner. They were continually in motion,
stamping, grunting and shouting, and
at last fell into kind of procession,
which moved on toward the kraal.
dancing all the way. Every now and
then some warrior, more than usually
excited, would burst from the ranks
and bound, with a housekeeping action,
several yards in advance. He wouLs
then stop, and with queer antics and
strange gyrations would go through the
motions Of killing his antagonist, con-
tinuing them amid the plaudits of his
companions till they caught him up,
when he would fall in, only to be sue
ceeded by an excited rival, eager to
equal, if not to Guido, him.
The two sisters of the bride, elegantly
attired in few rows of green, white
and pink Leads, accompanied this jovial
crow, shrieking and racing about as if
possessed The father of the bride was
here, too, distinguishable from the
other braves" by the extra length of
his tail of feathers, which hung from
the top of his head and reached ell
down his back. As this interesting
company proceeded they we're met by
women in pairs oil dressed( y alike in
the same charming simplicity, who ran
to meet them, screaming ct the top of
their voices, and making q most pecul-
lar, tremulous, shrill noise, which re-
minded me more of "neighing" than
anything else. These fell into the
ranks, as did large company of young
girls and children, who all rushed to
! meet the procession, yelling as loud as
they could, and appearing to, be quite
mad with excitement. " i<s# e = -.
The whole body then advanced at q
majestic sort Of pace, all taking one
step forward at the same moment, rails
ing their shields, giving aamp and a
yell, and so on till they got to sort OF
battle-ground in front of the kraal,
where they drew up in line two OF
three deep, and continued the stamping
and shouting, waving Of arms, position
ing, and all the other maneuvers, &c
companying themselves by d song
which consisted In the perpetual reit-
Grafton Of three notes in q minor key.
I have ascsrtained that this tune is the
same which is used BY Thorn On all sim
liar occasions. $50
The bride, surrounded by whole
bevy o. sisters and sympathizine
/ friends, knAlt on mat facing the
dancers and held : shield md s knife
il her hand. Her dress consisted 81
Ibeads arranged with great tste, and