Page 167. On the Red Swan floating, off toward the sinking of the sun." - pp. flying. The fanciful tradition of the Red Swan may be found in Schoolcraft's Algic Researches, Vol. II. p. 9. Three brothers were hunting on a wager to see who would bring home the first game. "They were to shoot no other animal," so the legend says, "but such as each was in the habit of killing. They set out different ways: Odjibwa, the youngest, had not gone far before he saw a bear, an animal he was not to kill, by the agreement. He followed him close, and drove an arrow through him, which brought him to the ground. Although contrary to the bet, he immediately commenced skinning him, when suddenly something red tinged all the air around him. He rubbed his eyes, thinking he was perhaps deceived; but without effect, for the red hue continued. At length he heard a strange noise at a distance. It first appeared like a human voice, but after following the sound for some distance, he reached the shores of a lake, and soon saw the object he was looking for. At a distance out in the lake sat a most beautiful Red Swan, whose plumage glittered in the sun, and who would now and then make the same noise he had heard. He was within long bow-shot, and, pulling the arrow from the bowstring up to his ear, took deliberate aim and shot. The arrow took no effect; and he shot and shot again till his quiver was empty. Still the swan remained, moving round and round, stretching its long neck and dipping its bill into the water, as if heedless of the arrows shot at it. Odjibwa ran home, and got all his own and his brother's arrows, and shot them all away. He then stood and gazed at the beautiful bird. While standing, he remembered his brother's saying that in their deceased father's medi cine-sack were three magic arrows. Off he started, his anxiety to kill the swan overcoming all scruples. At any other time, he would have deemed it sacrilege to open his father's medicine-sack; but now he hastily seized the three arrows and ran back, leaving the other contents of the sack scattered over the lodge. The swan was still there. He shot the first arrow with great precision, and came very near to it. The second came still closer; as he took the last arrow, he felt his arm firmer, and, drawing it up with vigor, saw it pass through the neck of the swan a little above the breast. Still it did not prevent the bird from flying off, which it did, however, at first slowly, flapping its wings and rising gradually into the air, and then flying 10-12. Page 170. When I think of my beloved. The original of this song may be found in Oneóta, p. 15. Page 170. Sing the mysteries of Mondamin. The Indians hold the maize, or Indian corn, in great veneration. "They esteem it so important and divine a grain," says Schoolcraft, "that their story-tellers invented various tales, in which this idea is symbolized under the form of a special gift from the Great Spirit. The Odjibwa-Algonquins, who call it Mon-dá-min, that is, the Spirit's grain or berry, have a pretty story of this kind, in which the stalk in full tassel is represented as descending from the sky, under the guise of a handsome youth, in answer to the prayers of a young man at his fast of virility, or coming to manhood. "It is well known that corn-planting and corn-gathering, at least among all the still uncolonized tribes, are left entirely to the females and children, and a few superannuated old men. It is not generally known, perhaps, that this labor is not compulsory, and that it is assumed by the females as a just equivalent, in their view, for the onerous and continuous labor of the other sex, in providing meats, and skins for clothing, by the chase, and in defending their villages against their enemies, and keeping intruders off their territories. A good Indian housewife deems this a part of her prerogative, and prides herself to have a store of corn to exercise her hospitality, or duly honor her husband's hospitality, in the entertainment of the lodge guests." - Oneóta, p. 82. Page 171. Thus the fields shall be more fruitful. "A singular proof of this belief, in both sexes, of the mysterious influence of the steps of a woman on the vegetable and insect creation, is found in an ancient custom, which was related to me, respecting corn-planting. It was the practice of the hunter's wife, when the field of corn had been planted, to choose the first dark or overclouded evening to perform a secret circuit, sans habillement, around the field. For this purpose she slipped out of the lodge in the evening, unobserved, to some obscure nook, where she completely dis robed. Then, taking her matchecota, or principal garment, in one hand, she dragged it around the field. This was thought to insure a prolific crop, and to prevent the assaults of insects and worms upon the grain. It was supposed they could not creep over the charmed line.". Oneóta, p. 83. Page 171. bound him. With his prisoner-string he are "These cords," says Mr. Tanner, made of the bark of the elm-tree, by boiling and then immersing it in cold water. The leader of a war party commonly carries, several fastened about his waist, and if, in the course of the fight, any one of his young men takes a prisoner, it is his duty to bring him immediately to the chief, to be tied, and the latter is responsible for his safe keeping." - Narrative of Captivity and Adventures, p. 412. Page 172. common use. It is rather confined to cer game of hazard among the Northern tribes Mr. Schoolcraft gives a parof Indians. ticular account of it in Oneóta, p. 85. "This game," he says, "is very fascinating to some portions of the Indians. They stake at it their ornaments, weapons, clothing, canoes, horses, everything in fact they possess; and have been known, it is said, to set up their wives and children, and even to forfeit their own liberty. Of such desperate stakes I have seen no examples, nor do I think the game itself in tain persons, who hold the relative rank of gamblers in Indian society, -men who are not noted as hunters or warriors, or steady providers for their families. Among these are persons who bear the term of Ienadizze-wug, that is, wanderers about the Wagemin, the thief of cornfields, country, braggadocios, or fops. It can Paimosaid, who steals the maize-ear. hardly be classed with the popular games "If one of the young female huskers of amusement, by which skill and dexterfinds a red ear of corn, it is typical of aity are acquired. I have generally found brave admirer, and is regarded as a fitting present to some young warrior. But if the ear be crooked, and tapering to a point, no matter what color, the whole circle is set in a roar, and wa-ge-min is the word shouted aloud. It is the symbol of a thief in the cornfield. It is considered as the image of an old man stooping as he enters the lot. Had the chisel of Praxiteles been employed to produce this image, it could not more vividly bring to the minds of the merry group the idea of a pilferer of their favorite mondámin. the chiefs and graver men of the tribes, p. Page 181. To the Pictured Rocks of sandstone. "The literal meaning of the term is, a mass, or crooked ear of grain; but the ear of corn so called is a conventional type of a little old man pilfering ears of corn in a The reader will find a long description cornfield. It is in this manner that a sin- of the Pictured Rocks in Foster and Whitgle word or term, in these curious lan-ney's Report on the Geology of the Lake guages, becomes the fruitful parent of Superior Land District, Part II. p. 124. many ideas. And we can thus perceive From this I make the following extract: why it is that the word wagemin is alone "The Pictured Rocks may be described, competent to excite merriment in the husk-in general terms, as a series of sandstone ing circle. bluffs extending along the shore of Lake "This term is taken as the basis of the Superior for about five miles, and rising, cereal chorus, or corn song, as sung by the in most places, vertically from the water, Northern Algonquin tribes. It is coupled without any beach at the base, to a height with the phrase Paimosaid, -a permuta-varying from fifty to nearly two hundred tive form of the Indian substantive, made feet. Were they simply a line of cliffs, from the verb pim-o-sa, to walk. Its lit- they might not, so far as relates to height eral meaning is, he who walks, or the or extent, be worthy of a rank among great walker; but the ideas conveyed by it are, natural curiosities, although such an ashe who walks by night to pilfer corn. It semblage of rocky strata, washed by the offers, therefore, a kind of parallelism in waves of the great lake, would not, under expression to the preceding term."- One- any circumstances, be destitute of granéta, p. 254. deur. To the voyager, coasting along their base in his frail canoe, they would, at all times, be an object of dread; the recoil of the surf, the rock-bound coast, affordthe ing, for miles, no place of refuge, Page 177. Pugasaing, with thirteen pieces. This Game of the Bowl is the principal -- - lowering sky, the rising wind, all these would excite his apprehension, and induce him to ply a vigorous oar until the dreaded wall was passed. But in the Pictured Rocks there are two features which communicate to the scenery a wonderful and almost unique character. These are, first, the curious manner in which the cliff's have been excavated and worn away by the action of the lake, which, for centuries, has dashed an ocean-like surf against their base; and, second, the equally curious manner in which large portions of the surface have been colored by bands of brilliant hues. "It is from the latter circumstance that the name, by which these cliffs are known to the American traveller, is derived; while that applied to thein by the French voyageurs Les Portails') is derived from the former, and by far the most striking peculiarity. "The term Pictured Rocks has been in use for a great length of time; but when it was first applied, we have been unable to discover. It would seem that the first travellers were more impressed with the novel and striking distribution of colors on the surface than with the astonishing variety of form into which the cliffs themselves have been worn. . "Our voyageurs had many legends to relate of the pranks of the Menni-bojou in these caverns, and, in answer to our inquiries, seemed disposed to fabricate stories, without end, of the achievements of this Indian deity." 487 credible gentlemen that were eyewitnesses cho. Golondrina is the feminine form of Golon- Page 217. Oliver Basselin. Vaudeville," flourished in the fifteenth Oliver Basselin, the "Père joyeux du century, and gave to his convivial songs the name of his native valleys, in which he sang them, Vaux-de-Vire. This name was afterwards corrupted into the modern Vaudeville. Page 218. Victor Galbraith. Galbraith was a bugler in a company of volunteer cavalry, and was shot in Mexico This poem is founded on fact. Victor for sonie breach of discipline. It is a common superstition among soldiers, that no balls will kill them unless their names are written on them. The old proverb says, Every bullet has its billet." 66 Page 219. I remember the sea-fight far away. This was the engagement between the Enterprise and Boxer, off the harbor of Portland, in which both captains were Page 189. Toward the sun his hands slain. They were buried side by side, in were lifted. the cemetery on Mountjoy. In this manner, and with such saluta- That of our vices we can frame The words of St. Augustine are, Sermon III. De Ascensione. Page 212. The Phantom Ship. A detailed account of this "apparition of a Ship in the Air" is given by Cotton Mather in his Magnalia Christi, Book I. Ch. VI. It is contained in a letter from the Rev. James Pierpont, Pastor of New Haven. To this account Mather adds these words: Page 222. Santa Filomena. "At Pisa the church of San Francisco contains a chapel dedicated lately to Santa Filomena; over the altar is a picture, by Sabatelli, representing the Saint as a beautiful, nymph-like figure, floating down! from heaven, attended by two angels bearneath, in the foreground, the sick and ing the lily, palm, and javelin, and bemaimed, who are healed by her intercession. -MRS. JAMESON, Sacred and Legendary Art, II. 298. Page 406. The Children's Crusade. Cologne for the Holy Land. When they | East, they broke up. Some got as far as reached Genoa only seven thousand remained. There, as the sea did not divide to allow them to march dry-shod to the Rome; two ship-loads sailed from Pisa, and were not heard of again; the rest straggled back to Germany. INDEX. [The titles in small capital letters are those of the principal divisions of the work, those in Aftermath, 231. Afternoon in February, 87. Allah, 392 Amalfi, 361. Angel and the Child, The, 339. April Day, An, 6. Arrow and the Song, The, 90. At La Chaudeau, 412. Autumn Within, 413. Beware, 23. Bird and the Ship, The, 22. Birds of Killingworth, The, 268. BIRDS OF PASSAGE. FLIGHT THE FIRST, 211. FLIGHT THE SECOND, 225. FLIGHT THE FOURTH, 358. FLIGHT THE FIFTH, 372. Bishop Sigurd at Salten Fiord, 254. Blind Girl of Castèl Cuillè, 135. PART SECOND, 380. Boston, 383. Boy and the Brook, The, 337. Bridge of Cloud, The, 318. Chimes, 408. Christmas Bells, 319. Christmas Carol, A, 140. Chrysaor, 126. City and the Sea, The, 407. Cobbler of Hagenau, The, 277. Coplas de Manrique, 11. COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH, THE, 191. Crew of the Long Serpent, The, 257. CURFEW, 94. Dante, 91, 393. Day is Done, The, 87. Daylight and Moonlight, 216. Death of Kwasind, The, 182. |