Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-04-21
CHAPTER VII

SARAH PARRIS TO HULDAH WHITMAN.
81 was the wettest girl you ever did seel
Indeed, I did not know anyone could be so
wet. And, as we dragged ourselves along
the beach and over the trunks of fallen
trees, it seemed to me as though I should
have done better if were drowned. But
poor little Mary was crying bitterly, and it
seemed to do me good to have to Keep her
alive And in a minute more saw smoke,
and took it for granted that all was we'll
never once thought that the Indians could
make such good fires as the white people,
though for day or two We had been on the
lookout for Shawnees"
In truth, the one terror of the expedition,
especially of the women of the expedition,
had been that they might fall into the hands
of some rowing Shawnees, who would prefer
the present plunder of such party to any
advantage, real or potential, which might
belong to such treaty obligations as bound
them to the Great Father at New York. The
Great Father, as he then existed was hardly
three years old, and any prospect of his
strength or power to redress injury did not
much effect the average Shawnee con-
science. But, as it happened in this case,
and Sarah soon found, there was no occasion
for alarm. The men of the party were away
hunting, and the dirty. smoke-begrimed
squaws and children who met them seemed
at first as much afraid as she was.
She had native pluck enough to make the
best of the situation. She dragged the cry
ing child across the beach up to the fire and
said to her, "You will soon be dry" as if
she had built the fire herself; and then,
with cheerful smile, offered her hand
frankly to the only woman of the party
who rose from the ground to meet her. She
remembered at the moment that the Shaw
nee squaw would not be likely to speak
English, and was wondering for a moment
what she should say; when the other, good
naturedIy enough, but without smiling,
gave hand to the child, lifted her where
she could rest upon the cotton wood log
against which the fire was burning, and
said, "Wet-wet-cold,w wet. Warm more
by-by, by-by warm more; cold, wet--cold,
wet"
Sarah was amused and surprised that the
responsibility of the conversation was thus
taken from her. She assented to these sim
pie propositions, chiefly by repeating the
words ofthe other, in ndifferentinfections and
varied order, somewhat as she would do in
saying LESSON in French primer; and she
adapted herself to the occasion by taking off
some of her outer clothing and of that of
the little girl, and proceeding to wiring the
water out from them as well as might be.
In this act sufficiently necessary, the other
Joined her, Sarah laughing already, and
her hostess quiet and grave.
''But, really, my dear Aunt" Sarah
wrote to Mrs. Whitman, "from that time
she and were very good friends. I remem-
Der thinking that if they were going to
roast me alive, it would be good to get dry
and warm as it began. But the young
woman was so good-natured in her deeds,
though she was so glum in her looks. that L
was not afraid two minutes after it began"
The other women looked on, quiet as three
or four sphinxes might have been. But,
gradually, as the three worked over petit
coats and shawls and stockings, and brought
them into tolerable condition, hag number
one, hag number two, and hag number three
took more and more interest in the process,
and at last little Mary Titcomb found that
she had conquered her terrors, and was not
above wondering what would come out of
the broken iron pot. which formed sort of
centre piece in the fire, and from which
clouds Of steam came up in pufs as the
women kept the fire up with driftwood
As the long twilight advanced, one and