The Emmett index. [volume] (Emmett, Idaho) 1893-1925, 1895-01-19

among the Indians appears the following
quaint narration Of legend which had
been handed down through generations
Of the Wampanoags, warlike tribe Of
great power and prosperity in those days
fills peaceful ruinistrations among them;
II trust your reverence will not deem
it trivial in me Cbut rather a manifesto
ton Of my zeal that your reverence viii
have an understanding Of these strange
people) If relate a curious legend cher
ished by these simple savages. 1t goes
20 the following effect:
Upon the death Of a great chief in
battle his squaw gave birth to a blind
son. whom. when he had come into man
hood. the young men of the tribe took
away into distant forest and left there
70 perish. believing that by reason Of his
blindness and his total lack Of skill as q
hunter he must perish. for to what they
supposed had been curse sent upon him
in the form Of blindness they ascribed
the dire suffcrings Of the tribe and the
imminence of its extinction. Well, it Is
related that the tribe. some time after
the supposed death Of the blind chief,
mustered its energies for a final resist
ance against the Nahigonsilss. its ancient
enemies, who. finding that the newly
elected chief Of the Wampanoags was
merely loud braggart. without the true
metal Of q great warrior in him. deter
mined to fall upon the feeble Wampano-
ags and sweep them from the earth.
THE battle was very unequal one.
for the Nahigonsilss greatly outnumbered
the Wampanoags. But it is related that
in the fercest part of the fight. when the
arrows Of the Nahigonsilis were reaping
the Wampanoags as ripened wheat, and
despair and CONSERVATION sat upon tho
weaker tribe. there suddenly sprang
forth n stalwart young man of great size
and strength. who. with commanding
voice and gesture. swinging aloft club
which he had wrenched from a tree,
cried. For your lives. my people, and
leaped to the front.
II feel constrained to inform your rev.
erence that. according to the legend, this
visitant dropped from heaven. but your
reverence will understand that believe
nothing of the kind. having. through the
mercy of the Son of God. received u
clearer light than that which illumiDes
the minds of these tenighted savages,
and that am constrained to believe that
this savage young chief. left by his COM
rades to perish Of hunger. suffered men
tai agonies SO fierce and radical as to have
broken up knotted and tangled places
within him. to the end that the slight
cause which had held his vision in abey-
ance had Leen removed, but upon this
matter your reverence. with superior wis
dom. may be able to pass II more intelli-
gent opinion 1t ismy function solely to
report affairs as have heard them. and
in this pursuit report the following:
THE Wampanoags recognized in this
strange conner the spirit of Chikkatabac.
the blind young chief: you and |, your
reverence. recognized in him Chikkata-
bac himself with sight restored Be that
as it may. his superior presence. the
calm majesty Of his bearing. the infinite
~ sad earnestness of his glance and the
superb daring of his movement inspired
the Wampanoags with an almost for
gotten courage. to the end that they fol-
lowed their strange leader. despite the
frantic warnings of their newly elected
chief. and moved to extraordinary dar-
ing flung themselves upon the enemy
with incredible ferocity.
Foremost in all their bloody enter
prises was the new leader. his great
frame towering above all others. his club
swinging with deadly regularity and
crushing out the lives of hapless Nahi-
gonsiks with every blow. and his clear
voice ringing far above the din of strife,
crying. For your lives and your chill
dren. my countrymen. Your reverence.
| trust you will not think am too deep
ly stirred by this narration. give the
legend merely rs it has been told to me.
1T is related that the Wampanoass
carried the field and won the day. aud
that this was but the beginning Of a
series of victories which restored them
to their original glory and sent tho Ma
higonsiks into another part of the world.
That which more directly concerns this
legend is Il matter of simple record. The
new chief. il is said after placing his
tribe upon the old footing by means of
numerous valOrOus battles-maintain-
ing always the extraordinary reticence
and solitude which followed his advent
among his people-kept apart and silent
until all had been finished Then one
evening as the sun was setting he was
seen upon an eminence with arms out
stretched toward the west and eyes up
lifted to heaven, his lips moving in ST.
lent invocation. And after that he walked
slowly toward the west and was never
seen again by his people. He had faded
forever into the silent mysteries Of the
twilight. IL. G. uarton and w. c. Nor.
row in San Francisco Examiner.
DIR. Gimp Takes Exercise.
My old friend. Lucius Gimp said