The Brattleboro daily reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1913-1955, 1915-03-02
RonanceVersus
Matter of Fact
By OSCAR cox

=
ically, as all aborigines do. Her vo-
cabulary is small. but she makes up
for the deficiency of words in i'm
agery. One summer Miss Susan Jones.
a matter of fact young woman as
ever trod the soil, took it into her head
to spend her vacation in upper Canada.
These two met in the Indian girls
home on the banks of the Little Whale
river. Miss Jones said she had heard
much of Indian legends and asked
didn't get the girls name; Miss Jones
said it was Minne-Something- or Other
to tell her one. Thereupon the Indian
told the following story:
"Abasca was the daughter of a great
chief. who lived long. long ago when
the first white man came to this coun-
try. She had never seen any man ex
cept a.
Indian" suggested Miss Jones.
"She had only seen the dusky men |
of the forest like herself. The first
man to come was tall as the young |
pine, straight as the arrow and his
eye was that of the eagle. Abasca |
saw him, and her heart few to him !
like the bird
"a case of love at first sight, you
mean?"
"Abasca was loved by StorTnwind. |
the son OF chief Stormwind was
brave as the water that leaps from the |
rock, and his arrow could pierce the /
leaf that trembles at the top of the I
tree
"a regular William Tell" Miss Jones
interrupted.
HE had not the heart to give way
to another. He was not born to know
that to love Abasca truly he should
| give her to the man she loved The
white man might do that. not the In
dian. Stormwind learned that she had
| given her heart to the white man. and
he resolved that the white man should
die
"Stormwind made this VOW Mt the
season when in this country the lamp
never goes out ut night"
did they use kerosene or oil?"
For the winter had passed when
the sun at midday is small and cold in
| the south. The white man was in the
wood where he hunted the fox and
the mink and the otter. Stormwind
followed the trail and came to his
enemy when the sun stood high above
their heads.
"'Trapper.' said Stormwind.'
what a funny name. / like Storm.
wind much better"
1.-The white man may come; the
white man may hunt the fox and the
/, mink and the otter; he may ride in his
boat over the waves of the great bay.
but he shall not take the maiden from
the Indian
when he said this Stormwind fitted
an arrow to his bow. 1t may be be
had never seen the white mans rife
, it may be he had never seen the white
I man raise the rife quickly to his shout
t der and the deer far away drop dead
Before he had fitted his arrow to his
Q bow and pointed it at his enemy the
white mans eye ran along the barre
of his weapon"
"Trapper had the drop on him. hadnt
he? How thrilling. Go on
{ 'Stormwind,' he said, put back
your arrow into your culver before
G send the lead into your heart. Abascs
g is yours. do not wed here in the for
* est. The white man loves the white
woman, not the Indian squaw.'
c From the woods came a piercin:
c shrek The white man lowered hi
. rife and the red man his bow. 1t wa
n woman's voice they heard. From
: cliff near by it came again. fainter
p but more despairing than before.
n was the echo"
For heavens sake, what was it? I
n spook? 2"
10 'It was the vail of Abasca. She ha
r seen Stormwind go away with tn
II look Of an angry Manitou on his brow
l. and she knew that he was going I
- fight the man she loved Selling a r
as fie from the tepee. she followed he
10 dusky lover and saw him when h
ne spoke to-
'Trapper"
X "She held her rife to her shoulde
IN ready when Stormwind was about I
e send his arrow to his rivals heart
a. when the white man raised his riff
y to kill the man she did not love"
i "She must have been awfulIy ra
-, tied"
ID when she heard the white man 50
he did not love her she dropped b,
be rife. giving a cry that caused the viii
of cloud sailing in the heavens above
cd tremble.'
= Il wonder she hadn't shot the brute
'er .Srhan +ba white man apd tbe Indie
went in the direction from whence Il
sound came and saw on a high rot
the form of Abasca. She was on Il
edge of deep gulf beneath her. swa
ing here and there as the branch
90 moved by the wind. Then slowly h
head bowed over the chasm, and
Il the bird folds its wings and drops
g., beautiful form descended to DEATH