FOUR-LEGS, THE DANDY.
The companies of the First Infantry, which had hitherto been stationed
at Fort Winnebago, had before our arrival received orders to move on to
the Mississippi as soon as relieved by a portion of the Fifth, now at
Fort Howard.
As many of the officers of the latter regiment were married, we had
reason to expect that all the quarters at the post would be put in
requisition. For this reason, although strongly pressed by Major Twiggs
to take up our residence again in the Fort until he should go on
furlough, we thought it best to establish ourselves at once at "the
Agency."
It seemed laughable to give so grand a name to so very insignificant a
concern. We had been promised, by the heads of department at Washington,
a comfortable dwelling so soon as there should be an appropriation by
Congress sufficient to cover any extra expense in the Indian Department.
It was evident that Congress had a great spite at us, for it had delayed
for two sessions attending to our accommodation. There was nothing to be
done, therefore, but to make ourselves comfortable with the best means
in our power.
The old log barracks, which had been built for the officers and soldiers
on the first establishment of the post, two years previous, had been
removed by our French engagés and put up again upon the little hill
opposite the Fort. To these some additions were now made in the shape
of dairy, stables, smoke-house, etc., constructed of tamarack logs
brought from the neighboring swamp. The whole presented a very rough and
primitive appearance.
The main building consisted of a range of four rooms, no two of which
communicated with each other, but each opened by a door into the outward
air. A small window cut through the logs in front and rear, gave light
to the apartment. An immense clay chimney for every two rooms, occupied
one side of each, and the ceiling overhead was composed of a few rough
boards laid upon the transverse logs that supported the roof.
It was surprising how soon a comfortable, homelike air was given to the
old dilapidated rooms, by a few Indian mats spread upon the floor, the
piano and other furniture ranged in their appropriate places, and even a
few pictures hung against the logs. The latter, alas! had soon to be
displaced, for with the first heavy shower the rain found entrance
through sundry crevices, and we saw ourselves obliged to put aside,
carefully, everything that could be injured by the moisture. We made
light of these evils, however--packed away our carpets and superfluous
furniture upon the boards above, which we dignified with the name of
attic, and contentedly resolved to await the time when Government should
condescend to remember us. The greatest inconvenience I experienced, was
from the necessity of wearing my straw bonnet throughout the day, as I
journeyed from bedroom to parlor, and from parlor to kitchen. I became
so accustomed to it that I even sometimes forgot to remove it when I sat
down to table, or to my quiet occupations with my mother and sister.
Permission was, however, in time, received to build a house for the
blacksmith--that is, the person kept in pay by the Government at this
station to mend the guns, traps, etc. of the Indians.
It happened most fortunately for us that Monsieur Isidore Morrin was a
bachelor, and quite satisfied to continue boarding with his friend Louis
Frum, _dit_ Manaigre, so that when the new house was fairly commenced we
planned it and hurried it forward entirely on our own account.
It was not very magnificent, it is true, consisting of but a parlor and
two bedrooms on the ground-floor, and two low chambers under the roof,
with a kitchen in the rear; but compared with the rambling old
stable-like building we now inhabited, it seemed quite a palace.
Before it was completed, Mr. Kinzie was notified that the money for the
annual Indian payment was awaiting his arrival in Detroit to take it in
charge and superintend its transportation to the Portage; and he was
obliged to set off at once to fulfil this part of his duty.
The workmen who had been brought from the Mississippi to erect the main
building, were fully competent to carry on their work without an
overseer; but the kitchen was to be the task of the Frenchmen, and the
question was, how could it be executed in the absence of the
_bourgeois_?
"You will have to content yourselves in the old quarters until my
return," said my husband, "and then we will soon have things in order."
His journey was to be a long and tedious one, for the operations of
Government were not carried on by railroad and telegraph in those days.
After his departure I said to the men, "Come, you have all your logs cut
and hauled--the squaws have brought the bark for the roof--what is to
prevent our finishing the house and getting all moved and settled to
surprise Monsieur John on his return?"
"Ah! to be sure, Madame John," said Plante, who was always the
spokesman, "provided the one who plants a green bough on the chimney-top
is to have a treat."
"Certainly. All hands fall to work, and see who will win the treat."
Upon the strength of such an inducement to the one who should put the
finishing stroke to the building, Plante, Pillon, and Manaigre, whom the
waggish Plante persisted in calling "mon nègre," whenever he felt
himself out of the reach of the other's arm, all went vigorously to
work.
Building a log house is a somewhat curious process. First, as will be
conceived, the logs are laid one upon another and jointed at the
corners, until the walls have reached the required height. The chimney
is formed by four poles of the proper length, interlaced with a
wicker-work of small branches. A hole or pit is dug, near at hand, and,
with a mixture of clay and water, a sort of mortar is formed. Large
wisps of hay are filled with this thick substance, and fashioned with
the hands into what are technically called "_clay cats_," and these are
filled in among the frame-work of the chimney until not a chink is left.
The whole is then covered with a smooth coating of the wet clay, which
is denominated "plastering."
Between the logs which compose the walls of the building, small bits of
wood are driven, quite near together; this is called "chinking," and
after it is done, clay cats are introduced, and smoothed over with the
plaster. When all is dry, both walls and chimney are whitewashed, and
present a comfortable and tidy appearance.
The roof is formed by laying upon the transverse logs thick sheets of
bark. Around the chimney, for greater security against the rain, we took
care to have placed a few layers of the palisades that had been left
when Mr. Peach, an odd little itinerant genius, had fenced in our
garden, the pride and wonder of the surrounding settlement and wigwams.
While all these matters were in progress, we received frequent visits
from our Indian friends. First and foremost among them was "the young
Dandy," Four-Legs.
One fine morning he made his appearance, accompanied by two squaws, whom
he introduced as his wives. He could speak a little Chippewa, and by
this means he and our mother contrived to keep up something of a
conversation. He was dressed in all his finery, brooches, wampum, fan,
looking-glass and all. The paint upon his face and chest showed that he
had devoted no small time to the labors of his toilet.
He took a chair, as he had seen done at Washington, and made signs to
his women to sit down upon the floor.
The custom of taking two wives is not very general among the Indians.
They seem to have the sagacity to perceive that the fewer they have to
manage, the more complete is the peace and quiet of the wigwam.
Nevertheless, it sometimes happens that a husband takes a foolish fancy
for a second squaw, and in that case he uses all his cunning and
eloquence to reconcile the first to receiving a new inmate in the lodge.
Of course it is a matter that must be managed adroitly, in order that
harmony may be preserved.
"My dear, your health is not very good; it is time you should have some
rest. You have worked very hard, and it grieves me that you should have
to labor any longer. Let me get you some nice young squaw to wait upon
you, that you may live at ease all the rest of your life."
The first wife consents; indeed, she has no option. If she is of a
jealous, vindictive disposition, what a life the new-comer leads! The
old one maintains all her rights of dowager and duenna, and the
husband's tenderness is hardly a compensation for all the evils the
young rival is made to suffer.
It was on Sunday morning that this visit of the Dandy was made to us. We
were all seated quietly, engaged in reading. Four-Legs inquired of my
mother, why we were so occupied, and why everything around us was so
still.
My mother explained to him our observance of the day of rest--that we
devoted it to worshipping and serving the Great Spirit, as he had
commanded in his Holy Word.
Four-Legs gave a nod of approbation. That was very right, he said--he
was glad to see us doing our duty--he was very religious himself, and he
liked to see others so. He always took care that his squaws attended to
their duties,--not reading, perhaps, but such as the Great Spirit liked,
and such as he thought proper and becoming.
He seemed to have no fancy for listening to any explanation of our
points of difference. The impression among the Winnebagoes "that if the
Great Spirit had wished them different from what they are, he would have
made them so," seems too strong to yield to either argument or
persuasion.
Sometimes those who are desirous of appearing somewhat civilized will
listen quietly to all that is advanced on the subject of Christianity,
then, coolly saying, "Yes, we believe that too," will change the
conversation to other subjects.
As a general thing, they do not appear to perceive that there is
anything to be gained by adopting the religion and the customs of the
whites. "Look at them," they say, "always toiling and striving--always
wearing a brow of care--shut up in houses--afraid of the wind and the
rain--suffering when they are deprived of the comforts of life! We, on
the contrary, live a life of freedom and happiness. We hunt and fish,
and pass our time pleasantly in the open woods and prairies. If we are
hungry, we take some game; or, if we do not find that, we can go
without. If our enemies trouble us, we can kill them, and there is no
more said about it. What should we gain by changing ourselves into white
men?"[47]
Christian missionaries, with all their efforts to convert them, had at
this day made little progress in enlightening their minds upon the
doctrines of the Gospel. Mr. Mazzuchelli, a Roman Catholic priest,
accompanied by Miss Elizabeth Grignon as interpreter, made a missionary
visit to the Portage during our residence there, and, after some
instruction from him, about forty consented to be baptized. Christian
names were given to them, with which they seemed much pleased; and not
less so with the little plated crucifixes which each received, and which
the women wore about their necks. These they seemed to regard with a
devotional feeling; but I was not sufficiently acquainted with their
language to gather from them whether they understood the doctrine the
symbol was designed to convey. Certain it is, they expressed no wish to
learn our language, in order that they might gain a fuller knowledge of
the Saviour, nor any solicitude to be taught more about him than they
had received during the missionary's short visit.
One woman, to whom the name of Charlotte had been given, signified a
desire to learn the domestic ways of the whites, and asked of me as a
favor through Madame Paquette that she might be permitted to come on
"washing-day," and learn of my servants our way of managing the
business. A tub was given her, and my woman instructed her, by signs and
example, how she was to manage. As I was not a little curious to observe
how things went on, I proceeded after a time to the kitchen where they
all were. Charlotte was at her tub, scouring and rubbing with all her
might at her little crucifix. Two other squaws sat upon the floor near
her, watching the operation.
"That is the work she has been at for the last half-hour," said Josette,
in a tone of great impatience. "_She'll_ never learn to wash."
Charlotte, however, soon fell diligently to work, and really seemed as
if she would tear her arms off, with her violent exertions.
After a time, supposing that she must feel a good deal fatigued and
exhausted with the unaccustomed labor, I did what it was at that day
very much the fashion to do,--what, at home, I had always seen done on
washing-day,--what, in short, I imagine was then a general custom among
housekeepers. I went to the dining-room closet, intending to give
Charlotte a glass of wine or brandy and water. My "cupboard" proved to
be in the state of the luckless "Mother Hubbard's"--nothing of the kind
could I find but a bottle of orange shrub.
Of this I poured out a wineglassful, and, carrying it out, offered it to
the woman. She took it with an expression of great pleasure; but, in
carrying it to her lips, she stopped short, and exclaiming, "Whiskey!"
immediately returned it to me. I would still have pressed it upon her;
for, in my inexperience, I really believed it was a cordial she needed;
but, pointing to her crucifix, she shook her head and returned to her
work.
I received this as a lesson more powerful than twenty sermons. It was
the first time in my life that I had ever seen spirituous liquors
rejected upon a religious principle, and it made an impression upon me
that I never forgot.