The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-12-23

Ny cloud mother asked me 70 leIl
her the stories she used to tell me.
She had forgotten them.
Il am the child now," she would say.
'Tell me the stories"
repeated mythical tribe legends,
gathered from Skenedonk on our long
rides, making them as eloquent as I
could. She listened, holding her
breath or signing with contentment.
If any one In the household smiled
when she led me about by the hand,
there was a tear behind the smile.
She kept herself in perfection, be-
slowing unceasing care upon her dress,
which was always gray.
81 have to wear gray. l am in a
cloud" she had said to the family.
"We have used fine gray stuff
brought from Holland and wools that
Mother Ursule got from Montreal"
Katarina told me. "Tbe Pawnees dye
with vegetable colors. But they can
not make the pale gray she loves"
Skenedonk was rot often in the
house. he took to the winter hunting
and snowshoeing. with vigor. When
ever he came indoors used to see him
watching Nine. de Ferrier with satur-
nine wistfulpess. She paid no atten-
ton to him. he would stand gazing at
her while she sewed, being privileged
as an educated Indian and my attend
ant to enter the family room where
the Pawnees came only to serve. They
had the ample kitchen and its log fire
to themselves. I wondered what was
working in Skenedonk's mind, and II
be repented calling one so bufeted q
sorceress.
The more thought about 1t the less
endurable it became to have her de-
pendent upon the Grignons. My bust-
ness affairs with Pierre Grignon made
IT possible to transfer her obligations
10 my account. The hospitable man
ana his wife objected, but when they
.saT now I took it TO heart gave me
my way. told them I wished her to
be regarded as my wife, for should
never have another, and while 1t might
remain impossible for her to marry
me, on my part was bound to her.
"You are young, M's'r Williams"
said Nine. Ursule. "You have long
life before YOU A man wants COM
fort in his house. And II he makes
wealth he needs o hand that knows
how to distribute and how to save.
She could never 60 to your home as
! she IS"
'I know it, madame"
"You will change your mind about a
wife"
MADAME, l nave not changed my
mind since I first wanted her. It Is
not mind that changes"
"Well, that's unusual. Young men
are often tickle. You never made pro-
posals for her?''
81 did, madame, after her husband
died"
"But she was still wife-4he wife
Of an old man-in the Pigeon Roost
settlement"
"Her father married her to q cousin
nearly as ole as himself when she was
child. Her husband was reported
dead while she was in hiding. She
herself thought, and so did her friends,
that he was dead"
81 see. Eli! These girls married to
old men! Nine. Jordan told me Made
leine's husband was very fretful- He
kept himself like silk and scarcely let
the wind blow upon him for fear Of
injurlng his health. When other men
were out toiling at the clearings he sat
in his house to avoid getting chills and
fever in the sun. It was well for her
that she had a faithful servant. Made
leine and the servant kept the family
with their garden and cornfeld. They
never tasted wild meat unless the other
settlers brought them yenison. Nine.
Jordan said they always returned
present Of herbs and vegetables from
their garden. 1t grew for them better
than any other garden in the settle
ment Once the old man did go out
with a hunting party and, got lost
The men searched for him three days
and found him curled up in hollow
tree, waiting to be brought in. They
carried him home on a litter and he
popped his head into the door and said:
Hero am, child! You can't kill mel"
"What did Mime. de Ferrler say?'
Nothing She made child of him,
rs If he were her son. He was In his
second childhood, no doubt. And Nine.
Jordan said she appeared to hold her
self accountable for the losses and
crosses that made him so fretful. The
children Of the emigration We're
brought up to hardship and accepted
everything as their elders could not
do"
81 thought the Marquis de .Ferrier a
courteous gentleman"
"Did you ever see hi1n!'
"Twice only
"He used to tell his wifo he intended
to live a hundred years. And l sup
pose he would have done it, if he had
not been tomahawked and scalped.
You'll never get De Chaumont,' he
used to say to her III see that he
never gets your 1 remember the name
very we'll, because it was the name Of
that pretty creature who danced for
US in the cabin on Lake George" :.
"De Chaumont was her father"
said. ''IIe would have married Nine.
de Ferrier and restored her estate If
she had accepted him and the marquis
had not come back
Saints have pityr' said Nine. Ur-
sule. "And the poor old man must
make everybody and himself so IN
comfortable"
'.But bow could he help livingT'
''True enough. Gods times are not
ours. But see what he has made OF
her!'
thought of my cloud mother walk
ing inclosed from the world upon a