The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1880-01-01
A BROKEN HEART.

per 1n090Sane JOT January.
| A BROKEN HEART.
An Incident Connected with Indian Slavery
| on the Pacific Coast.
l. From the San Francisco Argonaut1
Many years ago it was custom,
quietly conducted, for certain lawless
white men to go among the Eel River
Indians and steal the children of the
tribe and carry them away to be sold as
slaves among families in other parts of
the State. [ have seen the poor crea-
lures, after they had been driven like
beasts before their captors, with sore
feet and sullen faces, sitting alone, ap-
parently hopeless and apathetic. But
who shall say that beneath that stolid
exterior there was not a human heart
hot and bitter from cruel wrongs en-
duredp
Two lustrums have passed since one
OF these raids resulted in the capture,
among others, of a girl, 5 or 6 years old
With the characteristics of her race she
possessed no beauties to soften the hearts
OF beholders, but, as she promised a
sturdy frame, she was readily disposed
| of to lawyer, who in turn presented
her to his wife to be trained as maid-of-
| all-work. She received the name of
Marie, and soon became neat and deft
| worker in all household ways. I can
| bear testimony to the immaculate neat
ness of her kitchen, and the snowy white
| ness OF the clothes that hung on wash
| day from her line, and also to the quiet
way in which all this labor was per-
formed. knew Marie for many years,
and | never heard her speak but once
or twice in all that time. Her face al
ways wore the same look, and | have
often wondered if she thought at all.
She went to no place, saw no company,
and year after year, with automatic pre-
cisiOn, performed her tasks.
As the years went by Marie grew to
womanhood, but she developed to our
eyes no new beauty and no new awak-
ening of the faculties and affections,
and she stirred no new thoughts on our
part concerning her. As the village
where her owner lived enlarged it had
the ambition to possess an Episcopal
church and curate. The man sent to
this place was a gentle, charitable char
acter, who strove to make his people
better, and worked faithfully among his
charge, always giving them the light of
true life and earnest purpose to help
them into better paths. This man had
an Indian in his employ whom he strove
to enighten. Pedro, like all his race,
was not easily impressed, and if things
touched the deep places of his nature
no outward sign betrayed the workings
within. It happened, if things ever
happen in this world, that Pedro and
Marie met, and, though no one ever
knew how, they soon developed into in
timacy. This intimacy in time
became love, and they planned to mar
ry and pass through the world to-
gether.
Marie was so much slave that she
had no idea of leaving her mistress, or
organizing home of her own, without
that mistress's consent. 1t will never be
known what mental struggles she passed
| through before she told her desires and
asked permission to wed Pedro. No
doubt astonishment was the first feeling
her story reused, but soon Indignation
appeared. Poor Marie. She was
| good servant; she saved dainty hands
from disagreeable tasks, and the
loss of her meant many disagree
able things. She must not mar
ry, and so she was told that she could
not be given up. Not muscle moved
as she heard the decision, but she
seemed to quietly submit, and went
about her work as usual. If she suf-
fered as her white sisters suffer it was
never known, and if the little chamber
in the attic she called her own was wit
ness to hearts anguish and remuneration
it never told the story. The mistress
rejoiced that Marie's nonsense had
passed away, and she was in no danger
of losing her efficient handmaiden.
| But one morning she did not come
down to her tasks, and. the mistress
crept up the narrow stairway to ascer-
tain why her repeated calls were not an
| swered. The room was neat and order
| ly, and on the bed Marie lay-dead.
| Beside her was the knife with which she
had taken her own life. She lay as if
| asleep, showing even in death no trace
of the deep despair that must have
nerved her for the awful deed.
Some compunctious STRINGS moved the
hearts of those who had caused this
| bondwoman to seek a release from her
woes; but the principal feeling was one
of regret that well trained servant had
slipped from their grasp forever. Marie
was buried, an alien in strange ground,
with no tears for her lost life and no
prayers for her peace. God pity the
soul that surely was touched with hui
man intirmities and gifted with immor-
tality. A broad board marks her Sleep
ing-place, with but one word painted
quantity upon it-Marie.
A COMMITTEE of ladies entered Par
Lament recently, on the floor of the