Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-02-14
THE PREHISTORIC RACES.
Thoughts Suggested by a Visit to the
HauntS Of the MOund.Ruilderks

HaInts of the MOund-Builders.
tBurdett's Letters to the Burlington Hawkeye.l
rd Less IMAM IAN Two miles from the courthouse Of
In these, enclosing the race-track is the So
caI!ed "old fort" circular earthwork, twenty
Ieet nigh, over a mile In circumference. and
nearly true circle, the diameters being 1,15O
ana 700 feet. 1t belongs, they tell me, to the
class Of mound-builders' work known as s'enclo-
su1es, ana the circle shuts in thirty acres OF
ground. On the east gateway seventy-f1ve feet
VIDE forms the only break in the circle and high
parapetS flank the entrance on either side. In
the center Of the circle is what is called the
Eagle mound, " so named because 1t resembles
an eagle with outspread wings. 1t is six feet in
height, and measures 240 feet from tip to tip,
and 210 feet from head to tail. When the apex
Of this mound was removed fiat surface was
discovered, with marks of fire, ashes and burned
wood, upon an altar of stone. believe the best
archaologists OF the state think this .,old fort"
never was a fort, but that 1t was built for re-
ligious purposes. Here the mound-builders
said their prayer and carved their captive enc
mics on the efiigy mound, the "eagle" altar in
the center. Here the legislature OF those days
met; here gifted Solons went out into the cloak
room to see the busy lobbyist and receive their
cash before they voted ON the bill. Here the
immediate issue of 100000, 0o0, 600 bushels of
Eastwood wampum, which should in all re-
and copper money. Here, in the dusky twilight
Of by-gone age, men who weren't fit to be
pound-master wanted to run for Congress, and
did run ana peat , peter men and got elected,
to give bounty land and money to all soldiers OF
the late war who had attained the age OF one
hundred years and upward.
Two thousand years ago! To-day the circle
is lonely; the sunshine of May Is flooding the
leaf1eSS January landscape; forest trees crown
the circle and the eagle mound. Centuries have
passed away since their tiny germs put forth
the first tender shoot that struggled through the
cltngtng moss and numbering leaves, and looked
out upon the world and saw that it was good, and
that 1t was made principally for the Ohio man.
And these trees do not know the mystery of
these mounds or the traditions of their builders.
And II they do they won't tell. Here in this
haunted spot other hearts have throbbed with
love and ached with pain. Friends have walked
and loved in these dusky solitudes friendships
have been broken and hearts eStranged; the
leaping fires of generous ambitions have died
away In sullen ashes; bright hopes that glowed
like sunlight In the morning have gone down in
raylesS night and pitless storm Here manhood
has barred its peerless Lreast to the shafts of the
savage foe, and here lovely women has stepped,
with her bare feet on little green snake not
four inches long, and jumped clear over the
mound with howl that soured all the milk this
they planned and Schemed; they knew the sting
of envy and the bitterness Of hate; they wor-
shipped here, and the arching aisles of the for
est rang with their anthems as they sang with
"Sthresrexl is lanxdrchtl pltchtocl,
8rxtl, brXtl away;
WhrXtZl antZchOcu Xr glchtrdZvcma
Chtotzl, chtotzl as day."
The throbbing hearts are still; the light is
gone out OF the beaming eyes, the hands that
wrought are idly folded in eternal rest; the
no dreams disturb. The busy thousands, the
generation succeeding generation that once
thronged the solitudes where stand alone to-
day-here in their Sepulchre the air Is haunted
with their dusky forms, one circle is charnel-
house; the spirit OF death is in the forest.
The roll Of the muffled drum echoing through
Of white and scarlet and black, glitters In the
sunlight, picture of joy and life and beauty
Think of death and misery in the world while
that bright spirit touches the blarsted tree with
flash OF color and beauty before you
You think SO, do you? That a little dash of
color and beauty drives away the dark shadow
Of death and suffering? Well does It, them
sunlight, respondent in his gorgeous livery,
but you just take the deposition of the unhappy
worm the woodpecker is boring after.
You look about you. This enc1rcling mound;
once it was alive with dusky forms that joined
in national worship, and participated In the
grand councils of state and chose new king
ject. And to-day?
To-day, that very same encircling mound is
just black with Christian men and women,
and betting their money on the equine stopper
with the white foot This mound is the boss
place to see the races FROM The amphitheater
seats lust go begging at the Licking county
fairs.
Well, they are gone, these Mound-builders,
and they didn't leave their present address, and
ulonu teI tne postmaster Wnere 10 forward
their mail Thus passes the vanity of this
world. Our troubles can last no longer than
did theirs. From their history let us learn
patience. What availeth 1t to worry? What
are the little trials that beSet our path? What
the tears that come unbldden to our eyes?
What the d1sappontments that come like shad-
ows of the cloud across our hearts? Only a
little WHILE and the tranquil peace, the dream
less rest, the Slumber undiSturbed that crowned
their lines at last, will come to u.s. and with
gentle hands will smooth the burrows from our
brows, and take the sorrow from our hearts
and with the lotus balm of sweet