FOUR-LEGS, THE DANDY
The companies of the first regiment which had hitherto been stationed
at Fort Winnebago,[83] had 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.
Major Twiggs had given Mr. Kinzie the old log barracks, which had been
built for the officers and soldiers on the first establishment of the
post, two years previous, and his Frenchmen had removed and put them up
again upon the little hill opposite the Fort. To these some additions
were now made in the shape of a dairy, stables, smoke-house, etc.,
constructed of the tamarack logs brought from the neighboring swamp.
The whole presented a very rough and primitive appearance.
The main building consisted of a succession 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, &c. 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
charge of it, 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." It was to be a long and tedious journey, 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 joined 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 then are
filled in among the framework 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 white-washed, and
present a comfortable and tidy appearance.
The roof is formed by laying upon the transverse logs, thick sheets of
bark, and 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 duty, 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,
and 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?"[AS]
[Footnote AS: It will be remembered that these were the arguments used
a quarter of a century ago, when the Indians possessed most of the
broad lands on the Upper Mississippi and its tributaries.]
I have never heard that Christian missionaries, with all their efforts
to convert them, have made much 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 to them, about forty consented to be baptized.[84]
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 tilings 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 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 wine-glass full, 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
"Whiskee!" 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.