The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1898-05-18

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80 -, which the Crazy
NJ @ river flows and
AIlANNV from which the
klSs,,sSyYN mountains ascend
gTGdW abruptly, range on
bSSSSNS9LN\ range, to the far
S&O<yB thest heights of the
ASSsSS;TAw Holy Trinity, is the
MtkINlW Wachapi Indian
MINVlN reservation.
W !" " 1t was in the
wachapi that Judy lived. The tribe
to which she belonged had dwelt here
Tor unknown years, beyond the mem
ory even of the gray-haired Judy's
grandfather, Comachsen, who was so
old that his eyes and mouth were lost
in the burrows of his face. Comach-
sen said that their race had originally
issued from the depths of Mt. Tehatli,
the greatest peak of the Holy Trinity,
and that that mountain was their
mother and that they we're the chill
dren of the earth. But the mission
aries invariably rebuked him for this
and declared it was nonsense, whereat
Comachsen would shake his head
in senile pity for their ignorance and
answer oracularly: "Was not Judy
the mother Of Inotlin, the little Dane
ing Flame?"
Now, the little Dancing Flame had
gone out thirty years ago, which was
nothing to Comachsen, but great
deal to Judy, and these references, to
the ancient sorrow still had the power
to move her heart. For, incredible as
it might seem, the gaunt and weather
beaten Judy had once been young and
pretty. The daughter of chief, she
could have married any man in the
tribe, but her choice fell on Tuosilt,
the tallest and bravest, and the day
that she knelt before him and held up
to him in her arms the baby-ah, me
But within twelve-month her young
husband had died in her arms, shot
to death by the white settlers in the
old war. They called it ''the war, y
these Indians, although it was but q
border feud brought about by the lust
of INSCRIPTIONS pioneers for the In
dian lands, and which, further in
famed by the sale of whisky, burst
forth one summers day in bloodshed
and then settled into months of re
prisal, with the occasional killing of {
white man and the more frequent kill
ing OF red one, with starving Indial
women and children hiding in th,
mountains.
And when, after the death OF hel
young warrior, the fall passed an(
winter came, poor Judy's strength
gradually left her young body, and th'
Dancing Flame cried for hunger as h
lay upon her helpless breast, and ST
at last the little light had flickered anC
gone out.
Soldiers had been sent to th,
Wachapi in response to the settlers
demand and had ended the war b,
quelling hostilities and bringing tn
poor, broken remnant of the tribe bacl
to their homes in the valley, whicl
was then made government reserva
tion. Since then agents had come an,
gone, honest men and rogues, preach
ers, laymen, politicians and reformers
and through all these changes, goo
and evil, Judy maintained sort O
independence, supporting herself an,
the patriarch of the tribe, her grand
father, with her own strong hands an
woodcraft. She was silent and repel
liant, ever rememt ering the great sor
row of her youth which the grindin
years had not been able to match.
II.
One day the government at Wash
ington reversed its Indian policy an
placed the agencies in the control {
army officers, and q Captain Bayno
was detailed for duty at Wachap
Now Judy had always been on goo
terms with the soldiers at the militar
post lear the agency. They bougE
her fish and other small wares withou
haggling, and Mrs. Donovan, the VIII
Of the quartermaster sergeant, takin
pity on "the Ions, lorn haythen, i" ofte
hired her help on cleaning days, an
in. course of time taught her goo(
strong barracks English, with an Iris
accent, which accomplishment Jud
carefully concealed beneath the dig
nifty of her original ignorance.
Shortly after the arrival Of the cal
tain, however, Judy, for the first tim
in her life, was taken sick with pleI
risy, whereupon the new agent heai
ing from the doctor that there was
woman lying seriously i'll in wickin
near old Jacks ferry, rode thither
investigate. Entering the smoky il
terror, he noted with a comprehensi'
glance where rain and wind foun
their way in through crack and cram
of the ancient lodge, and the dam
ness, dirt and desolation of it all, al
forthwith ordered Judy's removal
an empty log house near the fort.
There were no ''ifs" or lands"
/ "by your leave" but she was take
up bodily within the hour and co
veyed to the clean, dry house. Her
with an iron cot, a chair and table,
: fire cracking on the hearth, the smol
Of which went out through the chiI
ney and a young Indian woman
. take care of her, the astonished Ju'
for the first time in her life had h
weary body made comfortable and b
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