C. Schuessele del. Drawn by Capt. S. Eastman. Chromolith of P. S. Duval Pha.
WENONA'S LEAP. LAKE PEPIN, MISS. RIVER.
THE LOVER'S LEAP:
OR, WENONA'S ROCK.
BY MRS. MARY EASTMAN.
Love, which "rules the court, the camp, the grove," is not without a share of influence in the wigwam.
It is true that in a polished and refined society, woman is more likely to receive a just appreciation, than where the intellect of man is like the one talent rolled in a napkin, useless, because neglected and unimproved. In an enlightened country, woman is not considered as being only created to perform the household duties of a wife and mother. She is a companion, in the highest sense of the word. Her aim, like his, may be towards the great purposes of life.
Not unmindful of her first duties, those which lie in her province alone, she can go on towards that exalted state of perfection of which the soul is capable, though not to be attained here. Religion, that teaches her "that the price of a virtuous woman is far above rubies," also commends her that "she openeth her mouth with wisdom." We find her in the sacred history not only the friend, the mother, and the wife, but the poet, the heroine, the prophetess, and even the judge. But among Indian nations we find her position more than equivocal. Her influence is undoubted in the domestic relations, but she is still a slave. She was born to labour—what merit then in her strongest efforts! She is an inferior—how then can she hope for justice?