It was eight years afterward when I learned just who it was that stole
away on that quiet morning in the bark canoe. I was living for a short
time in the Green Bay country. I was invited out one afternoon to a
quilting party. The men were to come for supper and a lady was to play
for us on the violin, she being an accomplished musician. She had come
there from Baltimore for her health. As we sat at our quilting in the
afternoon, one of the women asked the lady of the house why it was they
had settled there near the Menominee Indian reservation, and if they
were not afraid to be killed sometime by the Indians. Then the lady of
the house explained and told her story of how her husband, herself and
children had been saved by one family of these Indians with the help of
a white family, and this was why her husband was devoting his time to
preaching among the Indians. I, being a stranger in the place, had not
met this family before, but had been invited to their home with others.
Before she had finished I seemed to understand it all. I knew now what
all the beads and bright colored ribbons were used for and I knew who
the tall sick Indian was with the pretty young Indian woman and the two
little children with the others in the canoe. When I made myself known
to the lady and her family they were overjoyed to see me. I met them
several times afterward, and she told me how they crossed over to the
north shore and kept along close to the shore, camping many times where
the Indian and his wife set their net and caught all the fish they
needed to eat, all the time teaching them to speak their language. They
did not go direct to the Indian settlement until fall, then her husband
concluded to settle among them and act as a missionary to them. Never
very strong in health he had grown stronger in the open air life. Their
children were educated at Green Bay.
I will try to tell just a little of this woman's story. Of how they came
to Beaver Island with many others, and how they got away from the Island
after much sorrow.