Everlasting, perpetuates
That sweet, sweet Indian name, which, in
Nobler accents, English spoken,
Echoes the wide, wide world around:
"Minnesota! Minnesota!"
MRS. FANNIE L. STONE.
The Descending Star.
(A CHIPPEWA LEGEND.)
The Chieftain sat in his wigwam door
And smoked his evening pipe,
While a crowd of Indian boys and girls,
Knowing his wisdom ripe,
Were begging him to a story tell,
For votive offering brought,
The tobacco loved by the aged sage;
So he told the tale they sought.
"There was once a time when the world was filled
With a people happy," he said:
"The crimson tide of war rolled not,
Nor against each other led,
Each rival tribe their warriors brave:
For the nations were as one,
The frightful scourge that has wasted us
Had, happily, not begun.
"With game in plenty forest and plain
Abounded. None were in want
And ghastly famine never touched
The tribes with its finger gaunt.