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414
walked out to meet Lucy, who at once
screamed out:
“ Oh, George, don’t hold her so ; it
will hurt her.”
“You don’t understand cats yet, my
little cousin, don’t you know this is the
way their mother’s carry their dear lit
tle ones. But Lucy I want to propose
a frolic for Spotty for Christmas. I
have often heard that cats could catch
rabbits, and now I will take her out to
the woods down below the school-house,
where I know such game is plenty, and
let her have a good chance.”
After some hesitation, Lucy consent
ed, but declared that she could not go
so far bare-headed, for mamma would
never let her go without her hood ; so
she would make a paper cap for Spotty.
Soon she placed it on her head, and
charging George not to keep her out too
long, bade her good-bye.
Now, George was not a cruel boy,
but too fond of mischief, which he call
ed fun. After getting under the trees
raid all alone, he thought he would pre
tend to hang Spotty, partly as a punish
ment, and partly just to see how she
would caper and kick. So, feeling in
bis pocket, he found a string, which he
tied around her neck and hung over a
limb.
Poor Spotty, left to the mercy of this
rude boy, struggled violently to rid her
neck and head of such unusual appen
dages. These struggles George thought
very amusing. He laughed loud and
long, and threw himself on the ground
“ to have,” as he said, “ a better view
of her countenance, and see her pretty
smiles, as she displayed her pearly
teeth.”
But really he determined to watch
and be sure not to leave her there too
long, for he honestly intended to carry
out Lucy’s charge of taking her home
early, but the exercise had somewhat
fatigued him, and soon after his fit of
laughter passed off, and while “ giving
her a few quiet moments,” as he said,
“ to digest the egg nog,” he fell asleep.
In the meantime, Lucy, who had re
pented letting her pet go as soon as it
was out of sight, enlisted Brother Ben’s
sympathy in her behalf, and off he start
ed in pursuit.
Ben reached the fence just in time to
save poor Spotty’s life. Not losing a
moment, he climbed to the top of the
fence, cut her down, and was running
off to restore her to Lucy’s arms, when
the noise awakened George.
Bennie never stopped to look back
BURKE’S WEEKLY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS.
until George shouted to him to stop,
and raising a stick declared if he did
not he would let him or his ‘ ‘ dear little
niece ” feel the weight of it.
Bennie halted, and George, after ex
plaining matters, begged him to keep
dark ; said Lucy wouldn’t care if she
didn’t know, and as for the demure lit
tle hypocrite, she had at least eight lives
left, which would last long enough to
eat Christmas egg nog for several years
to come. I am sorry to say that Ben
consented to keep this wicked prank of
George's secret.
When the boys reached home, they
found Lucy anxiously waiting at the
gate to welcome her darling, too much
overjoyed at her return to ask any ques
tions, not even noticing the loss of the
cap, which had been left under the fatal
tree.
Spotty never enjoyed her home more
than she did that evening, and when
Lucy kissed her papa good night, she
gave Spotty an extra hug, and turning
to take a last look at her as she
left the room, she said : “ Oh, papa,
don’t she look sweet, watching for mice
there in that little hole bp the grate.”
•
Retirement bears the same relation
to the mind that sleep does to the body.
It affords it the necessary opportunities
for repose anS recovery.
There is no weakness and there are
few vices which are punished more se
verely by public opinion than decided
shyness or reserve.
«.».
Character, like a machine, is no
stronger than at its weakest point.
Written for Burke’s Weekly
SAL-O-QUAH;
OR,
Boy-Life Among the Indiana
3Y REV. F. It. GOULDING,
Author of 11 Young Maroontr'sf ii Marooner's
lilandf etc.
CHAPTER X LIY.
WOLF TRAP —CHEROKEE WEDDING AND
FUNERAL —ETOWAH RIVER —MR. MIL
LER’ B—TA-KAH-TO-KUII.8 —TA-KAH-TO-KUII.
\ UR journey that day was wild
var * et y- A f" ew
minutes ride showed us Scos
sit-equah near the roadside, in company
with the eldest of Chattaka-neeta’s sons.
“ Gone to wolf trap,” said Saloquah
to us. “Caught a wolf close by road.”
“May we go see it?” Lorenzo and I
eagerly inquired, first of our Indian
friends, then of my father.
“ Go, go, if you want. No harm to
go,” Kaneeka answered.
We all went. The wolf, caught by a
foreleg in a steel trap was a formidable
looking beast, not large, but exceedingly
fierce } and being frantic with pain and
fear its teeth snapped together whenev
er we approached it, like the jaws of
the trap in which it was caught. Ka
neeka informed us that a steel trap set
for wolves is never baited, but is con
cealed in their accustomed path, usual
ly beside a small log which they always
cross in a trot, setting the foot so ex
actly in the same place as to leavo a
mark. We watched for some time its
wild motions, and when we expressed
ourselves satisfied, Scossit-equah with
one blo-w of bis tomahawk relieved it of
further pain.
Our pony-trail carried us by a coun
cil-ground, where a large company had
assembled in holiday costume. It was
a wedding occasion, conducted accord
ing to ancient Cherokee usage, and we
came up just in time to witness the clo
sing ceremonies. The groom, attended
by several of his companions, had been
feasted in a lodge on one side of the
council-house, and the bride similarly
attended had been feasted in one on
the other. Toward the close of the
feast the men and women took their
places in the council-house on opposite
sides, with a space between. When we
came up, the attendants were conduct
ing the groom and bride to the council
room. There they were placed stand
ing, as far apart as possible. While
there, the groom’s mother approached
him and put into his hands a blanket
and a venison ham, and the bride’s
mother, in like manner, put into her
hands a blanket and an ear of corn.
The parties then slowly approached,
and, on meeting, put their blankets to
gether, and exchanged the articles car
ried ; thus symbolizing the promise that
they would henceforth occupy the same
home, and that the man should provide
meat and the woman should provide
corn. The presiding chief then pro
nounced “the blankets joined,” or, in
English, the parties married, and the
assembly was dismissed.
Not many miles beyond this marriage
scene was one of an opposite character
—a funeral; so closely are deaths and
weddings associated in actual life, as
well as in the columns of the newspa
pers. The body, attired in its best ap
parel for making its entry into “ the
hunting grounds of the blessed,” was
borne by two on a kind of litter or hand
barrow ; a hole, two feet deep, was dug
by attending friends with sharp sticks j
the body, neatly coffined in bark strip
ped from a neighboring tree, was laid
in its shallow bed, and then covered
with the excavated earth, on which was
heaped a layer of stones to protect it
from the incursion of wolves. It was
then left with the understanding that
whosoever passed by in time to come,
should increase the mound by the addi
tion of a stone or pebble cast upon it.
Long before sunset we reached the
Etowah river, down which we travelled
for several miles, this was a beautiful
stream, clear as spring water, having its
banks overhung with trees and vines of
graceful form and luxuriant propor
tions. An enormous grape vine meas
ured nearly a foot in diameter, and a
sycamore required six of us with joined
hands to encircle it.
The house, destined for our second
night’s accommodation, occupied a
rounded knob jutting like a promontory
from the hills, and overlooking a rich
river bottom which waved far and near
with crops of corn. The contrast be
tween this well-proportioned building
of two stories and ten rooms, with a
promise of real beds and privacy, and
that of the night before with its one
room, crowded with men, women and
children, strewed upon deerskins on a
dirt floor, was in the highest degree
pleasing. All through the spacious
yards we could see poultry of divers
kinds, some of which were already pre
paring for an early roost in the branches
of trees, while from the woods beyond
came the grunt of pigs and the low of
cattle.
Mr. Miller, our host, as we afterwards
learned, was a wealthy half-breed, whose
father had sent him in his boyhood to
Massachusetts, where he had gained
first a fair education, and subsequently
a lair-skinned wife, by whom lie was
blessed not only with increased refine
ment of character, but with a large
family of lady-like daughters and two
sons. The evening of our arrival the
young people of the house had invited
the young people of their own standing
in the country around to meet them in