The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-06-18

by oRLENA :. MATTEsoN.

AZ III uOOnltu tO luue anu ulc.
Moonbeams family threw their greetings,
Slowly neared the mystic sea,
Making spectres In the woodland
As they glanced DER shrub and tree.
Dead and duh the wind had fallen,
And the silence brought chill,
For the hush seemed but the omen
OF "A fearful, vengeful thrill.
Then athwart the dome came creeping,
With their folds of blacklist dye,
Clouds that held within their bosoms
Strength TO rend the earth and sky.
Fold on fold-then lurid lightning
Darted out in fiercest hate,
And the crash and rush and rumble
Seemed the vengeful knell of fate.
Then the tree tops shivered harshly,
And the wind in gusts arose,
Till the storm seemed filled with demons,
Battling fercely with their foes.
Up from out the dismal woodland
Rose the savage battle-cry,
And hundred dusky warriors
Sent il vaultng through the sky;
Lights flashed out from dell and thicket-
Flames shot up with lurid glare,
And the wild wolves howled their terrors,
Frightened from their midnight lair.
Round and round their camp-fires circling
Danced those wildly-painted forms,
While the tree-tops moaned above them,
Groaning. creaking meath the storm;
In and out through flame and darkness
Fitted shadows weird and dim,
And the air seemed filed with voices,
And the clouds with specters grim.
Warriors :" cried the stern chief, Blackhawl
When the hdeous dance was done;
''We will cru h the hated white men
Ere three warnings of the sun
They have turned us from our wigwams!
They have burned our happy homes!
All our hunting grounds are wasted,
And our race in sorrow roams.
''Must we, too, give up these prairies-
Sent like dogs from stream and wood?
Shall the pale-face rear his cabins
Where our wigwams long have stood?
Near the lakes had plenty blessed us,
For the waters gave us meat;
But like cringeing ours we left them
When the white men said 'retredt!'
Sup from woods and plains and rivers
Let our war-whoop pierce the sky!
For Chicago's pale-faced settlers
Ere another moon must die
Six hours hence we take the war-path-
Three DAYS more-the land is won
Scores of scalp-locks, long and CORY,
Trophies for the deeds thus done ~
Down the vale the war-cry sounded
As the chieftain closed his speech,
And the tree-tops quaked and muttered
Meath the whoop and howl and screech!
From their dens came lank wolves proving,
Sending dismal howls on high,
Till il seemed from hell's deep dungeons
Must have burst that fearful cry.
Downward shot the fierce-tongued lightning
As the cry was upward borne,
And the ram now poured in torrents
a.,1nt IL tlat1a mont mud form
They had held their wrath suspended
Till that fearful dance was DER,
And the race had been decided
That should end in death and gore.
Camp-fires Missed and seethed and faded
Till the embers dimly flashed,
And the darkness gathered closely
A. the rain in torrents dashed.
Inky blackness soon was brooding
Where just now had been such life
For the storm held ceaseless orgies
With the wind in fearful strife.
Toward their dens the wild beasts scattered,
Through the darkness dense and drear,
While the red men crouched i'm thickets,
Stunned and crushed by dread and fear.
Had their .HdHit0u been angered
BY their cry for human blood,
That he sent such fearful hatred
In the lightning, wind and flood?
In their midst one form had quivered-
One poor soul been crushed with woe;
And the storm now seemed prophetic
As its blasts swept to and fro.
Now he Crept from out the woodland,
Barred his brow 10 brave the storm,
And a fierce, determined battle
Shook and swayed his stalwart form.
He had joined the savage war-dance-
Listened to the chieftain's speech,
And his heart grew numb with terror
Meath the deaf'ning whoop and screech.
Ere the war-cry ceased its echoes
He had gained the open plain,
And his fierce eye pierced the darkness
With wild and tortured strain.
"Nerer! NEVER" cried the warrior,
As he bent before the blast
And the storm caught up the echo
As it vaulted, bowling, past.
''Fair Chcago's brave defenders
Shall not meet such tortured death
Men and maidens, wives and children
Swept away like autumn breath.
- have spoken. like Chief Blackhawk,
Who has sworn the doom shall fall.
But 10 Shabbona his honor
l. his life, his hope, his all
Do your worst, We angry demons,
Rend the earth and air and sky
ShabbOna will stand unconquered
In his zeal to do or die!
See the storm has ceased It's tumult!
Shabbona has chose the right:
Demon darts have spent their fury,
And the pale moon rides the night.
Ere the sun climbs DER the woodland
Horse and rider must away,
For the doom that waits Chicago
Shabbona has sworn to stay ~
An was still when daylight gathered;
Nothing told of last nights din
Save the rent and shattered tree-tops,
Torn 10y lightning, bent by wind.
1t had seemed a voice from heaven,
Yet Chief Blackhawk burned for blood
And he needed not the warming
Of the lightning, wind and food.
Out from woodland, stream and forest
Gathered up that gavage band.
And their steeds they proudly guided
As they vaulted DER the land.
Saw they not that one lone horseman,
Far ahead. in widest flight q?
lie had started ere the dawning
of the faintest CLEAN of light.
ON and on DER stream and prairie
Dashed that proud and dusky brave,
And the woodlands caught the echoes
That his gallant war-stced gave.
on and on, 10y fields and wigwams-
BY the frontier white mans cot
Anu MS cry was, - lney are coming.
Fly tor life, and linger mott"
Painting steeds fell dead beneath him,
But the goal at last was won
And the grand old warrior rested,
For his noble work was done.
He had saved his loved Chicago
Reused the frontier by his blast
For the news swept DER the country
AS he sped so wildly past
Not himself alone he gave us,
For his son caught up the cry,
And his words were, as they parted
- will do your work or diel"
Back and forth to distant hamlets
Those two brave souls sped for us,
And Chicago rose i'm grandeur
I'm her strength, her hope and trust!
ICAGo, III.
CONYICTS ON THE SEA.