New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1888-12-12
received at the hands of Mr.. Cleveland,
Carlisle, Mills, sand other free traders,
during the present administration,
Wah-teto.v
THE PEARL OF THE MINNESOTA.
Chapter 4.
Continual. \
Continued. j

Il
! Chapter 4.
Continued.
1sYou are aware, Reuben he said,
s.that have led a trapper's life away
/ from the settlements ever since I left
my home, over twenty-five years ago.
and since then / have never again be-
held the dear, old place where a moth
er's tender hand has led me through my
infant life. Reuben, that and few
short years afterwards, were the only
times in my life in which / was truly
happy, and when / left that home, 5
wayward boy, full of the romantic ideas
characteristic of a young man, / left be-
hind all that was true and good to me
in this world. Well-its all over since
many a day. I've paid for my youthful
folly heavily enough but yet has there
been since then brief time in which /
thought my sins forgiven, and in pos
] session Of peace and love. 1t was when
! married. Reuben, she was but a
poor hunters daughter, uneducated
and without claims other than that of a
simple hearted child Of the prairies. It
was on my frequent rests at her fathers
house that learned to know and love
her, and nineteen years ago last month
Ellen Vaar became my wife. Reuben
do you think that I, the lonesome,
world forgotten scout, was happy? tt
was a moment of such. sweet conscience,
such heavenly bliss. that long as may
live, / shall never miss the memory of
that sublime minute, and when year
later, my little Blossom was born, there
was not happier trapper, not a keener
scout and better hunter in the entire
Minnesota Valley. My home was with
her father, and when, after [ had con-
Quoted a party of soldiers or surveyors
over the prairies, | returned, there was
JOY and happiness underneath the straw
covered roof of the Martel Cabin. NY
stay at home was usually for few
weeks, and sometimes my companion
on the scout, Onalaska, a trusty Chippe.
wa, came home with me to enjoy the
hospitable board. He and [ had
learned to love each other as brothers,
for the rain and the storm on the bleak
plains found us many a time under one
blanket and our feet at the same fire.
Ona. as called him, was the delight of
my little Blossom, who would climb on
his knee, and in spite of his dusky
countenance look up at him and laugh.
Under his eyes she grew up to a little.
handsome miss of twelve, gentle and
kind and loving. ''Wah-te-to,'' he
named her, '.the pure and good and
she was proud of her Indian name and
the Indian tongue which she learned to
speak as well as myself. TO her grand
father was confided the care of the
house when Ona and I were on the prai-
ries, and although he had laid aside his
hulting-shirt, the old man was yet as
trustworthy with the rifle as myself,
who had it daily by my side and called
it my warmest friend.
The Spring Of 56 came upon us with
the first great influx of settlers. and Ona
and |. after bidding our lonely but
peaceful and happy home a fond adieu,
contiding the care of my loved ones to
father and Providence, set out to lead
a company of emigrants toward the
country west Of the Minnesota river.
All was hustle and excitement on the
virgin prairie, and white laWn-covered
prairie -schooners, as the emigrant wag-
ons were called, dotted the swarthy
green. Sturdy pioneers were these pro-
gressiYe harbingers Of civilization, and
health and beauty in their families gave
promise of Almost desirable class to
populate these laughing plains. The
wandering red-skin, the Sioux, would
gaze from the back of his sineWy pony
on the advancing hosts Of the colonists,
and with derisive laugh and a loud
po-kat-sche to his animal, would scam
per away toward his own tepee, set in
some sheltered river-nook or perchance
in an open area Of the dark and sombre
woods.
It took Ona and myself far away
from our own abode, this trip, but il
was work for US and money too, to lead
the strangers to a hospitable field, and
although my heart was yearning. for a
sight of my beloved wife and my little,
laughing Blossom, I consolved myself
with the thought that was working for
their good, that the return would q
thousand times repay my lonely life as
/ a scout.
i Reuben, when that return came,
there came with it q surprise as cruel
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