The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1881-12-08


1T would require some high
flights of Imagination to do justice
girls. but tie pleasing variety would
gay for the trouble. One belief has it
that the tower was put up By a par
eel of vOyagers in Chinese junk, in
the tine Of COnfucius- to see If they
could see any of the Chinese noun +
taius or towers from the top; but as
they couldn't see as they could, they +
put to sea as they might, with a sup /
piv Of corn and beans, which they /
paid for by leaving the tower behind, /
and teaching the Indians their first /
lessons In smoking and how 10 wear
their hair
And hew was that, uncle ?"
"PIgtail fashion, of course, my love !
/ but the indians corrupted the style af- /
/ ter a time This reminds me that the /
! STYLE of this structure is said to be ex-
! actly the same in which all the dwell
! Iings of the Notadamrag tribe were
built. They inhabited these parts
: from time immemorial, and some
! think remnants of that once powerful
nation remained as late as the begin
ming ofthe seventeenth century; one
| legend stating that this tower was
reared by the celebrated prophet of
the tribe, named Hellovarora, who
4 had prophesied the coming of the
white folks for over fifty years. He
proved to be a true prophet, only he
made a mistake in regard to time.
which caused him no little trouble du-
ring the manv years he kept anxious
watch here, daily expecting their ap-
proach Unfortunately for him he fell
into disgrace as a false prophet ow-
ing to the long delay he had occa-
stoned and he was denied the salts
faction of proving to them he was
right. With the exception of himself,
the tribe became extinct, and when he
found himself the sole survivor, he
thought it not worth while to watch
any more to vindicate himself, but,
filled with professional grief, he
Ieaped from the summit of the tower
and fell, after many consecutive SOM
ersets, martyr to his faith"
"And had not the Pilgrims got over
before he died ?"
Not a Pilgrim. But that was no
object to HelloVarOra, after all the
other Notadamrags were dead. The
whites did not arrive till years after,
= and even then they landed at too
: great a distance for him."
"What a pity Z"
eyes but that is the way they use
t prophets the world over. A man
who is a profit to his country is sure
p to be loss to himself"
'Dionysius could put that into
sweet poetry"
: ''And my Egbert could paint the
= somersets to match it beautifully"
). There may not be any truth in the
; legend"
f Il should hope it was true, it is so
: romantic" said both the nieces.
: "Some are more inclined to believe
# that the tower was built by runaway
V Puritan, who was threatened with
; death by the earliest colonists, jour
o neved here, and put up this as q kind
of fort, by the help of the Indians Inc
It was forced to league with"
''What did the PuTitans want tC
e kill him for ?"
"For saying that Saturday was The
it Sabbath, and Sunday the first day o
d the week"
d Dear me! Were they so strict a
} that ?"
1T was the fashion in those days
The runaway was as set in his notion
d as those nc ran from. He acquired
to great influence over the Indians, be
al came a dictator, and tried to cur
them of the awkward habit of walk
e ing parrot-toed; but as he got himsel
lie into an awkward habit of treadin;
u on all toes that would not point as h
n said, the savage wouldn't stand it, bu
id pitched him from the tower, and turn
ed their toes in more than ever. l
g is always the case when reformation
ar goes to extremes"
:, But which of the Indian stories d,
d, you believe, uncle =
IN at would be difficult to say. Their
AZ are more of them. There was a re
y port that the tower was built by tn
~ crew of the vessel which followed tn
re Mayflower, secretly, all the way from
m Europe, to see what the Pilgrims Wer
t really rp to. After they got in sigh
to of Cape Cod they lost the trace, steer
he ed northeast, and got here where the,
III fortified. and died all off, after tw
rs years of peril, sickness, starvation
d. thanksgiving and prayer"
d thanksgiving Uncle Davis ?"
- Eyes, so the story goes. 1 suppOs
- they were thankful they could suffe
~ so long, and see their companions a
Nv miserable as themselves. Miser
IN loves company. Another interest
"a ing romance has it that th
personal sachem, as a stOrehOuse 70
dried fish and corn to supply tn
tribes in time of need. When a sea
III son of famine came, he gave out a
- there was, and as soon as soon as the
a. found there was 10 more for then
u they shut him in and starved him I
-, death. Besides all these, there is a ia
=. bic about a young Indian lover, VIII
We was crazed by the loss of his In
dian squaw, who was upset in cano
II while out catching mackeTel. ii
!" had erected this place for her to liv
e- in. and insisted that she was comm
~, back, and swore that he would wal
d a. inside till she did come; but as nc
II body cared whether he did or not, nc
IL body went near him, and his fate re
~ mains a mystery up TO the presei
s day.
ng 4 hope he did not starve t
15y death ?"
De perhaps he went off somewhere.
- perhaps he did" said amiable IN
u Gle David. "But l have told you all th
z tower legends 1 can think of at pre-:
Is ent."
lat 'Have you Uncle? How interes
n ing they all are. Any Of them wcul
no be subject for painter, like my
u Cor poet, like my"
hu Like your sweethearts No dOub
II girls. They could embellish thcI
Ps much better than / cam
w ''But which of them, Uncle Davi'
ne do you think is true p
=, Neither one"
er s.XVbat uucIa1 not one of all tbes