The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-06-23

our QeaQ 10 tue UuQLlDR RTOuuUS VI Tue
Great Spirit, and it is waiting for the
loved one she holds to her breast Yes,
father, yes; and this is why l love my
country more than all our tribe-because
I see the evil that is coming upon u.s."
The elders of the tribe then spoke
softly among themselves, saying: San
Evil Eye hath looked on Toccoa, giving
her power for harm. Our people say
that she is wise, and they revere her; our
young men say she is beautiful beyond
all other women, and they worship her.
Should Toccoa speak thus to them, they
will hearken to what she says, and will
think, wherefore shall we strive with
other nations to enlarge and keep our
hunting grounds, when q more powerful
people will come to take them away.from
US? Then their spirits will grow slug
gish, their hearts will become heavy,
their strength will fail, their courage will
depart, an6 they will become as women.
Then viii come to pass the things Of
which Toccoa speaks. 1t is for this pur.
pose she has been bewitched by our ene-
mics. Toccoa must die I" The aged
men said to the girl:
"Toccoa, thou must die for the good of
our country"
"Fathers of my tribe" replied the
maiden, II would die myriads of times
to aave my country; but my death will
not avert the doom of my people. hear
the steady coming steps of the snow.
faced people; onward, onward they
come, over our plains, by our rivers and
up our mountains. | hear the mighty
pines crashing to the ground, and our
lovely oaks groaning beneath the strokes
of their great tomahawks, and you, my
people, will surely flee before them, into
a distant land. alone will remain to
keep watch where our council fires have
burned, and my spirit, that you have
deemed unwomanly, will mingle with
the race that shall displace ours, to
kindle in their hearts a love for my coun.
try. All and they will love it, fathers,
as Toccoa has loved it. Their women
will be fair and gentle in times of peace;
when the war-whoop rings around their
wigwams the spirit of Toccoa will be.
come as the hearts of warriors. They
will place bows and arrows in the hands
of their boys, and bid them fight for the
lands they have wrested from the red
man.
"Be still, ToccoaW said the fathers.
This cannot be! There is no nation so
great as ours. Thou art laboring under
the spell of an Evil Eye, from which
thou canst be released only in the Spirit
Land, where those of our tribe who have
gone before US hunt milk-white deer
across crystal hills, and drink the blood
of our enemies in gourds made of the
breath of flowers. We will send thee to
join our maidens there, who live by
streams blue as the sky, and are crowned
with wreaths that shine like the face of
the Great Spirit; and thou wilt tell our
kinsmen we are great and powerful
people, and our hunting grounds cover
the world"
1t went abroad through the tribe that
an Evil Eye had looked upon Toccoa,
and that the aged men had decreed she
must die, or harm would befall their
people; and though grie7ed for the
maiden's fate, they did not murmur, for
they believed that their fathers were wise
men.
They took Toccoa to high mountain.
The maiden stood upon the edge of
precipice, line of warriors stood before
her, With their bows and arrows. They
would have bound her eyes, that she
might not see the death missiles, but
Toccoa waved them away, saying:
II die for my country. Let me die
like warriorr
At signal the arrows of the warriors
flew true to their aim, and quivered in
the young girls heart. She uttered no
sound, but sprang into the air, and dis.
appeared over the precipice.
Long did the Indian maidens search
for Toccoa's body, but it was never
found but before two moons had rolled
away, a clear, bright stream flowed to the
edge of the rock and fell over the preci.
pice where Toccoa had been sacrificed,
and the maidens of the tribe said: 1T is
the spirit of our lost companion come to
prove to us that she is happy" and they
called the cascade the Falls of Toccoa.-
SCOTS Magasine