Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-09-05
Drawn by Ernest McGcc.
AN INDIAN LEGEND.

| When my mother was n girl she lived
ut place called Beaver Dams. This
valley was cncirclcd on three sides BY
the foothills of the Shenandoah Noun
tairs. and on the fourth by the Walker
Mountain. which Is said to he the prct-
TEST mountain in the state of Virginia
ard in Spring is covered with wild
honeysuckle and calycanthus. y deep,
cool stream formed by the mountain
J springs flowed through this valley and
mad its outlet in a little gorge not moro
/ than nifty feet wide. Many years ago
beavers had dam across this gorge
and the whole valley above was a beau
tltu- lake OF several miles in area. An
ole legend tells of n tribe Of friendly
lnGians who once lived on the banks of
TINS lake. Once when a party OF them
were returning from 4 hunt they found
n poor, tcrror-strickcn woman and her
child fleeing from massacre several
miles away. where the husband and
father had been killed. They took them
nome ana treated them kindly and final
~ adopted them into the tribe They
named the little girl Morning star and
she soon became a favorite with every
one from the chief to the children
While the mother lived she taught
Morning Star all she could, and told her
OF the wonderful world outside OF their
valley In which she used to live 4
young Frcnchman who came to trade
with the Indians saw Morning Star and
fc!! in love at once with her beauty
ana GuaintncsS. Morning Star, whose
mother was now dead, welcomed the
stranger who could speak in her own
tongue, and was soon as deeply in love
with him as young girl can be And
when he asked her to marry him and
10 20 out into tho big world to live
she was happier than she thought she
could ever be when her mother died
Hut after a while Jeans absence grew
CT
though his love for her seemed great
rs ever tho old chief began to S,iS-
poet that he was playing false with
his adopted daughter. whom he loved
dearly. After longer absence than
usual in which tho Indians heard that
he was paying court TO n beautiful girl
in town, the old chief determined to
vunish him with death were he false q
Morning star So when next he came
tho old chief told him Of the rr,mors he
had heard, and asked If they were true
Jean Indignantly denied tho story and
,olo him he had been making a home
for Morning Star and had come to
marry her this time
He asked all tho Indians to 20 with
them TO the town. whore n priest would
marry them, and soon tho whole viii
laSc was busy with prcpa rations for
Inc journey. Jean wished TO marry the
cir! IN town and sought to rid himself
Of Morning star. SO ,hc dav before
their journey ne told Morning Star
they would take n row on the lake, n 8
il would he her last chance for rui,c
while. He gathered arms full of water
lilies. letting tho canoe drift with tho
current. Soon they heard the roar OF
the Beaver Dams and Morning star
reached for the oars to row back ont
or danger. and to her surprise found
:hey We're gone. she asked Jean whore
they were. and he told her he had thrown
them in tho stream and intended to
jump out and swim to the shore and
let her go over the Beaver Dams, where
she would surely perish. AS he sprant,
out OF the canoe his foot caught in the
stout rope by which the canoe had been
m"orcd, and he was D0wcrless to get
away from the canoe, which was drag
rtne him to death with Morning Star
Morning Star tried in vain to unite the
rope or pull him into the canoe hut
Ia. knot was too hard and Jean too
heavy. SO in n few moments they both
went over the dam into the scething
waters below. Morning Star sat calmly
in the canoe and died bravely, as an In
while lean vainly caught at the sticks
and logs and struggled Ia escape his
fate. hut to no avail And now in
SprinGtime n maiden in canoe is said
10 glide along this creek, but II is ONLY
the mists lowering over the water lilies
that float along it's hanks
CLARA NENABLE
(Orjgipal)