Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1902-12-22

| him 10 read and write Ihave taught him
| the history OF his family and of his
fathers country His head is as high as
my breast. When viii my head be as
| high as his breast?
/ Skenedonk loves you as a young supe-
rior brother. have often wondered what
he thought about when he went quietly
| around at your heels. You told me he
1 had killed and scalped and in spite of
| education was as ready to kill and scalp
again as any white man is for war.
dread him like toad, and wish him
to keep on his side Of the walk He is al
| ways with you, and no doubt silently
urges. Come back to the wigwams that
nourish your
! Am mistaken? Are we moving farther
| and farther apart instead of approaching
each other? oh, Louis, does this roadlead
! to nothing? .4
! l am glad gave you that key. It was
I given thoughtlessly, when i was IN
4 bubble of 10y But II you have kept 1t,
| It speaks TO you every day.
Sophie Saint Michel told me man some
times piles all LIS tokens in a restrospec-
| tive heap, and says, who the deuce gave
! me this or that?''r =
/, sophie's father used to be so enraged at
his wife and daughter because he could
4 not restore their lost comforts. But this
is really a better disposition than a mean
subservience to misfortune.
The children love to have me dance
| gavottes for them Some Of their mothers
| consider it levity. Still they feel the need
of little levity themselves.
we had a great festival when the wild
roses were fully In bloom. The prairie Is
1 called mile square, and wherever plow
/ has not struck, acres of wild roses grow.
They hedge us from the woods like a par
| apet edging a court. These volunteers are
| very thorny. bearing tender claws to pro-
! tect themselves with. But I am nimble
/ with my scissors sff
I, We took the Jordan oxen, a meek pair.
| that have broken sod for the colony, and
] twined them with garlands of wild roses
| Around and around their horns, and
1 around and around their bodies the long
ropes were wound, their master standing
( by with his goad. That we wound also,
| and covered HIS hat with roses. The huge
1 oxen swayed asides looking ashamed of
| themselves. And when their tails were
ornamented with a bunch at the tip, they
/ switched these pathetically. Still even an
| OK loves festivity, whether he owns 1t or
! not We made procession, child behind
child, each bearing on his head ali the
roses he could carry. the two oxen walk
i ing tandem, led by their master in front,
/ Every body came out and laughed It was
| a beautiful sight. and cheered us. though
| we gave it no nameaexcept the Procession
/ Of Roses. 1874 80 ~
] often when I open my eyes at dawn
hear music far..of ahat makes my heart
/ swell It is the waking dream OF a king
marching with drums and bugles. While
am dressing I hum. ''0hi Richard, o my
lxingr' @f
Louis Louisl Louis! sra
| cannot--I cannot keep It downs How
can hold stin that righteousness may
be done Through me. when / love-loveT
| love-when clenchsmy fists and walk on
| my knees Al
am a wicked woman! What is all this
sweet pretense of duty! Its covers the
| hypocrite that loves-that starves-that
1 cries. My kingtAmys kingA 81 cf1er7
Strike me!-driue me within boundsl
| This long repression--years, years of
| Warrington what?--for more waiting!-
| it Is driving me mag! is Ssssl z
You have the key
| have nothingh s)Fb fkSt
| g.s cf az TX ae eNf to
Ny. GodI What had she seen in me TO,
/ love? I sat up and held the book against
my bosom. It's cfySout OF her past filled
i the world from horizon to horizon. The
OK that she had wreathedfin roses would
/ have heard Il througffi her silence. But
/ the brutal slow Bourbon had gone his
/ way turning his stupid head from side
| to side, leaving her to perish. #tif
Punctuated by years, bursting from
eternities OF suppression, it brought an
accumulated force that swept the soul
1 out OF my body. t%t
| All that had not been written in the
book was as easily read as what was set
| down. saw the nonotony of her life,
J and her gliding of it's rudeness, the pas
| times she thought out for ehildren;I saw
| her nursing the helplessness which leaned
upon her, and turning aside the contempt
| of pioneer women who passionately ad-
| mired strong men. saw her eyes waiting
| on the distant laggard who stupidity pur
| sued his own affairs until 1t was too late
| to protect her. read the entries over
| and over. When day broke 1t seemed to
me the morning after my own death,
| such knowing and experiencing had pass
| ed through me- could not see her again
until hid command of myself ~
So 1 dressed and went silently down
/ stairs. The Pawnees were stirring In the
kitchen. l got some bread and meat from
| them, and also some grain for the horse;
| then mounted and rode to the river. A
| The ferryman lived near the old stock
| ade Some time always passed after he
| saw the signals before the deliberate
Frenchman responded 1 led my horse
upon the unwieldly craft propelled by two
huge oars, which the ferryman managed,
| running from one to another according to
| the swing of the current. It was broad
/ day when we reached the other shore;
| one of those days. gray, overhead, when
moisture breaks upward through the
| ground instead of descending. Many
| light clouds fitted under the grayness.
| The grass showed, with a kind of green
blush through it's old brown fleece. y Z,
| l saw the first sailing vessel of spring
/ coming to anchor, from the straits OF the
! great lakes Once would have hailed
that vessel as possible bearer OF news.
Now it could bring me nothing Of any
Importance. .N
The trail along the Fox river led over
rolling land. dipping into covers and ris-
ing over hills. The Fox, steel blue In the
| shade, becomes tawny as it's namesake,
| when it's fur Of rough waves is Acombed
to redness in The sunlight. Unuer gray
ness, with a soft wind blowing, the Fox
| showed his blue coat.
| The prospect was so large, with a ride
| running along in the distance, and open
| country spreading away on the other side,
that often turned in my saddle and look
| ed back over the half-wooded trail. l
thought saw figure walking a long
| way behind me, and being alone, tried to
| discern what It was But under that gray
/ sky nothing was sharply. defined, 1 rode
| on thinking OF the book in the breast OF
/ my coat.
1t was certain I was not to marry.
And being without breakfast and I'M
stimulated by the sky, 1 began to