Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1884-06-27
A CHEROKEE ROMANCE.

A CHEROKEE ROMANCE.
How a New Jersey Girl Became an
Indian Queen-The PstffuI Tale OF
the Fair Young Pale Face John
Ridge Made His Bride
Cincinnati Inquirer
Talking about houses, visited one
the other day In Rome, of this state,
which interested me greatly. This
Rome, by the way, is as beautiful in
nature as the ancient city is in art. 1t
has 1.-The seven hills" among which
the town seems to be playing hide AID
seek, for go where you may, even to
the summit of the loftiest, you can
only see portion of the place.
These hills are magnificent In their
holiness and grateful to the eye in
their green nearness and purple dis
lance. On the pinnacle of one is the
cemetery, where the blue and gray
sleep together with lilies of the field
and red roses; flowers of peace and
war, nodding their snowy and glow
ing heads above them. Oh, these
graveyards, with their countless
nameless slabs of marble bring to the
generation that cannot remember
terrible shuddering definition of the
word war!
A drive along the thickly wooded
banks of the river, which in the early
spring rises gently but with deadly
purpose, sometimes twenty feet in a
single night, flooding even the houses
,aiea1 DC fhnry lIor of hrioly
and stone, brought us to a fine estate,
most of which has been converted
into fields of corn, now nearly ready
for the sickle, and surrounding a
large piece of land, studded with
splendid oaks and elms, in the very
heat of which stands an old-fashioned
house, which even new face or front
can not metamorphose into.
\ MODERN EXPRESSION.
This house was built by, and was
the home until 1885 of, John Ridge,
chief of the Cherokees, who, as his
dwelling and location would show,
was less child than a lover of IA
| ture.
The Cherokees knew good land
when they saw it, and hundred
years ago they were settled on the
richest parts of Tennessee, Alabama
and Georgia, and were the possessors
of sixty-fve populous towns. Hills
covered with forests and fertile valleys
gratified their mountaineering in
stincts ard dairy wants. They were
brave fighters, and until taught horse
stealing by a..Vlrginian were consider
ed singularly honest.
They loved their land and fought
for 1t, and chung to it with a bravery
and fidelity that was touching, and
there was much crashing of teeth
among the men and wailing among
the women when the paternal govern
ment said to the Cherokee nation, as
the policeman did to Little Joe:
:'Move onn' with the difference that
Uncle Sam offered to pay the moving
expenses, and for the rich farms and
log houses where the men worked
and the women spun-thiS was in
1S35-gave them unbroken lands in
| Arkansas.
On this proposition the tribe di-
vided, one faction headed by John
Rust, who was thoroughbred Che
rokee, passionate in his love of tribe,
and .nore passionate still in his in
! tense hatred of the whites. He, of
course, was
BITJE RLY OPPOSED
to an; settlement with the Govern
ment and proposed rather than give
up the lands to fight it out. Better
dead Indian than a bought one, "
was fav0rite axiom of his.
| The other faction was headed by
John Ridge, a man of remarkable at
tainments, extremely handsome,
naturally poetic and refined, and in
tellectual to a degree that made him
respected and admired even by the
whites. He was well educated, gradu-
ating with honor at the Princeton
college, and making his mark in
society. His sister Sallie Ridge, was
very beautiful and talented and was
educated in New York, where later
she was known as the Indian princess,
and married to Mr.. Pascal, a man of
high position. They left one son,
Ridge Pascal, who is now leading
lawyer ia Texas and reputed to he a
man of brilliant attainments.
To return to John Ridge. After he
had finished his college career he met
and fell violently in love with an ex-
quisite New Jersey beauty of tender
and extremely romantic susceptible
| ties.
The story of Claude McInotte and
| the fair Pauline was repeated in this
| colder cline.
Carried away by his personal fas-
cinations. his bold wooing, and lofty
ideas for the enlightenment and ele-
walton of his race, she consented to
be his wife and share in his grand
la5ors.
His pictures of the superb scenery
in the mountains of Georgia, the flow
ing rivers that curled about the base
of tn: hill where among the loft trees
their new home should be bailt,
bright with the blossoms of the woods
and sweet with the songs of the wild
birds, captivated her fancy, and she
saw in herself beautiful white queen,
whose magic wand should raise the
people of her kingdom from the
depths Of
PICTURESQUE SAyAGERY
to the height of love, light and edu-
cation.
So 1t came about tkat Lowell; and
delicate girl, full of sentiment and the
enthusiasm of youth left the charms
OF civilization, the fond home circle
and all old associations behind her,
and went with John Ridge to his
forest home in Georgia. There the
house was built | have spoken ola
low, old fashioned frame dwelling,
with a double row of balconies up
! held by wooden pillars-and there
the New Jersey girl awoke to the an
guish woman knows when she has
made fatal mistake.
She found herself among a people
fast losing tke virtues of their own
race, and as rapidly acquiring the
vices of hers; lacking the picturesque
| nose Of tho tho Hooonau nf