The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-09-28
AN ABORIGINAL LAMENT.

| From the Arkansaw Traveller
o, Great Master, the pale face comes
and the red man is driven from the
face of the earth. The land that was
ours is gone from us and the rocks are
our bed and the leaves our cover.
We sigh in vain for yesterday, we
have no hope, no comfort for to-mor.
row. All our greatness is gone and
the red mans days are but few.
return to the land of my fathers.
gaze on the placid river. o, that !
might die and sleep here where the
great Waubonsie breathed the air, be-
meath the same trees which have shell
tered him.
o, where are the friends of my
father? Where is the war chief, Wau.
bonsie?
Here I stand where my tribe once
roamed, but no vestige of the powerful
Pottawatomies remain. The lake and
the river on which my canoe was won't
to glide knows not the dip of the red
skins paddle. Where once i moored
my canoe to the shore now the great
steamer is at anchor and the dip of my
paddle is heard no more forever.
Here the Kickapoos caught the
great fish which weighed nigh 10 the
half hundred and now the pale face
gathers in the half pound infant of the
deep and calls it game. Alas, o, my
Master, / sigh for those golden days
but they are no more.
No more does the flint tipped arrow
fell the deer and the woodland resounds
no more with his bounding footsteps.
Upon the brink of the flowing river
comes the gentle bovine in his stead.
The majesty of nature is dwarfed and
humbled in the march of the white
man, and on his trail is naught but
nature ruin.
gaze on the camp of the white man
and hear him call it Chicago. o, Maui
nee-bo-zho forgive the cruel white man
for destroying the peace of the great
Shaubanee.
Here | seek in vain for the wigwam
of my sire and find in its place the
schoolhouse of the white man.
Here l turn to the spot where the
great chief held his councils and where
the pipe of peace was smoked by the
great warriors and find a temple of the
city. The brick walls rise on the spot
where the deerskin was spread and the
great trees have been taken away.
The memories of the red man have
been buried beneath the white mans
AK and troweL
Here where the great Waubonsie
held council with the peace chief;
here where the Mascoutins and the
Winnebagoes assembled in opposition
to the great Black Hawk, now the
pale faced chief, che mayor. gathers
his peace warriors a bout him, and re-
solves TO despoil the land of. the red
man.
O, great is the work of the pale face:
great is the civilizing influence of the
usurper.
Why do we suffer ourselves TO be
banished from the land the Great Mas
ter gave US? Is IL for the treachery of
Naunongee or the murders OF Red
Bird?
Where the trail ran 10 the great
lake on which my fathers aoated their
canoes and shot the wild fowl; the lake
which we knew as the Big Foot, now
runs the iron rail and the pale faces
which inhabit the groves of my ances-
tors go thither but they call it the lake
of Geneva o. memories of kishkau-
kon. wherefore are the idols of my sires
so shattered? All about me is desola-
ton and | turn from the scene which
sought. 20 return 70 the land OF the set-
ting sun. driven thence by the remOrse-
less usurpers- The pale face has no
love for our memories and our tradi-
tons he regardeth not
o. sad i the heart OF the red man.
Where / wooed nv squaw / now be-
hold the home of the law chief who
knows not the word of justice. On the
same swamp where NV pappoose pad I
died i now the hien temple and the Z
homes of the pale faces
Memories Of the chase are swept from 4
nv mind a. ! behold the works Of the /
despoiler and the dealings Of the des- 4
pot
Where the war dance made the air \
ring now hear TIE bras hand playing 4
-McGinty- and the tolling Of the bells 4
IN the towers tell - the departure 81 4
the red man who worsaipped the Great .
Master in the quiet groves where the
SKY and the trees were not shut out-
To the red man nature zvas the high
est art and a. I sat IN nav esns-e with
oslemos aud M little pappooss. foat-
ing between the green banks. over the
siiyery waves. | -sx the Great Master
in everything. There ws< IA black
smoke. no rails and fences 10 mar ths1
beautiful Iznd which the Great master
gave % the red man.
O. gone arc the days Of rsy youth and
the memories - mr. sires. and the beau
tics Of our poUnt.fGl land arc forever