Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1904-06-18
4oj<s, HEN / was fifteen years
rryk old my two sisters, Doris
. Q and Edith, took a home.
a stead on Big Fish Lake. in

but to raise ginseng. Doris had beer
employed in wholesale drug house
and so had learned the possibilities Of
ginseng culture.
The ginseng root grows wild on thu
hardwood lands Of Minnesota. Dori,
believed that we could start "pklabnttta}
@@eeffe worth Sc a pound.
We lived in a pine log house, and oul
nearest neighbors-two bachelor
wOodsmen-were two miles away
across an arm of the lake. Our visi
BILE resources were provisions enough
for few months. yoke Of old oxen
one COW and wagon and plow.
On the whole we had good times
Fish and game and berries were abund
ant, and we rugged a sailboat from q
cared skiff which had been left
at an abandoned sawmill. Doris and
Edith. like many Minnesota girls, were
good lake sailors.
We spent much time in open seasons
hunting for ginseng plants. AS we
each carried a tin bucket and butch
er knife with a long blade, we were
able to take up roots with plenty OF
earth and to transplant them success.
fully.
I'VE had rival sang diggers" in our
woods, too. The Pillager Indians,
whose reservation line was but a few
miles away. We're energetic hunters of
the root. There was one band Of sew.
eral men and women that we used to
! meet frequently. The women would
scowl and mutter angrily when they
saw the green leaves of the Sang
root in our pals.
One day in our second season Doris
and Edith met four of these squa VS.,
who boldly attacked them, took away
heir ginseng roots and beat them with
switches. This was too much for me,
ana despite Morals entreaties, got my
gun and went after tn, Indians. |
knew where their camp was, and |
went first after the Crosby boys-our
bachelor neighbors.
When they heard my story they also
ook their guns. Then we rowed across
The lake and made those Pllagers
pack their wagons. We drove them
'ix miles over logging road. to the
Inc OF their reservation, where we
oade them never again to set foot on
Wien got home late at night Doris
md Edith were both crying. in fear
hat something dreadful had happened
% me. DORIS admitted that the In
iians should have been punished
But she said, I'VE shall have more
rouble with them, they're so vindic-
i've"
In September one of our oxen-the
attest one-disappeared under circum-
stances which made 1t certain the ami
nal had been stolen. We We're sure
hat Hawks band" as our Pillager ri
vals were called, had taken the OK and
killed it for beef.
The next spring the band again
,amped in our vicinity, this time pitch
ing their lodges at the north sxtrem-
ty Of Big Fish Lake. Several times
Doris and Edith, while sang hunting.
met the squaws who had punished
them with switches; but the women Of
tered no hostile demonstration. and the
girls would not let me take any often
Siye action
But all that spring and summer we
were careful not to leave our house
and our growing ginseng patch unpro-
!ected
The next spring. however, as the In.
dians had offered us no further mis-
chief. and there came on beautiful
weather for the ginseng hunter, we
were less careful. We had now. neat
" fenced. a profit paying plantation
Of nearly 1000 seedbearing roots.
Then Little Hawk and his three wo-
men descended upon our plantation
and robbed US of 100 Of our choicest
plants.
If we bad not returned early that af.
ternoon our three years work would
have gone for nothing AS 1t was, we
caught the scamps at the beginning of
their foray.
They saw US or heard us as we came
mp the path to our house, and we saw
!hem-four scuttling figures-as they
plunged into the bushes at the opposite
edge Of our clearing. They ran toward
the main shore of the lake. We knew
that they had canoe in hiding down
there. and that we could not hope to
catch them on foot.
Doris, thoroughly angry, proposed
that we should chase the rascals in our
sailbOat, and recapture the stolen roots
The Mallard was pulled up in the bay
back Of our house, with quarter mile
Of rushes in her path to the lake.
1t seemed to me hopeless under.
taking, but we ran to the boat. and
while Doris and Edith rugged the sail
l poied the Mallard through the rush
field and 4ut upon the rough waters
of Big Fish. The wind was blowing q
stiff breeze straight down the eight
mile stretch OF open water, but the In
dim canoe was already mere speck
going into the teeth of the wind and
bObbing like distant water fowl.
Doris handled our sheet pope, l the
filler, and Edith, who was light
slender girl, stood at The mast where
sic COULD watch the quarry and report
progress. We ran far enough away
from the WED to get speed, and aftel
twenty minutes Of swift, though rough
sailing, Edith gave the order to tack.
Port yon- helm little, Rossw she
called. preset ty; and little ater
>Wre're going 10 catch them Oh tn,
Third tack she announced. gleefully
"and We ran easily upset them il they
don. hesvc ctr roots aboard"
Eut SOON there came one Of tlios,
March squalls which made the issue
docliful The Wilpl dill rot change