CHILDREN’S PAGE.
THE STORY THAT SUBDUED HIM.
BY MRS. HARRIET A. CHEEVER.
A man of towering form, straight as an arrow, with copper-colored skin, stood before a bit of looking-glass in a small wooden dwelling. The clearing about the little habitation indicated perseverance and thrift on the part of the owner. It had taken more than that—hard labor and an almost endless amount of patience had been required to bring this little portion of a “reservation” into its present condition.
The tawny man regarding himself in the bit of mirror was unmistakably a savage, and savage enough his regular features were as he addressed himself at that moment. He was decently and comfortably clothed, in garments coarse, but clean and not ill-fitting. But with an angry, scowling face, and quick, fierce movements, the young giant was throwing off his garments, growling in thick, guttural tones, “I kill, I shoot, I burn! Pale face shan’t push Indian any more; I take th’ warpath again, let pale face beware—him serpent!”
Ten minutes later, and he would never have passed for the same man first seen. His face was daubed with streaks of paint, making it hideous indeed. The broad wampum belt contained both bowie knife and pistol, while a coarse jacket and leggings of wolf-skin made the tall figure appear animal-like in its ungainly trappings.
But what wonder the slumbering savage nature was asserting itself! For two long years, Trapper Dan—he liked the name the white men had given him, successful hunter that he was—yes, for two years, Trapper Dan had worked and slaved, encouraged by really kind leaders, and with simple faith in the white man’s promises, he believed the plot of land he was cultivating so untiringly, and the rude but enduring little building would be his to keep forever. He was a bright man naturally, and grasped eagerly the offers made by the superior class of beings known to him as the pale faces.
But now, when things were working never so easily and prosperously, the reservation was to be broken up, or at least so meanly encroached upon, that Trapper Dan’s little mite of an estate was included in the reservation to be reserved no longer.