Part 32 (2/2)
”Cut off from all courts, man's earthly s.h.i.+eld from harm, They looked for help to Him whose court's above, And learned to lean on labor's honest arm, And live the higher law, the law of love.
”Not one but ought to wear a crown of gold, If crowns were made for men who do their best Amid privations cast and manifold That unborn generations may be blest.
”Among these rugged pioneers the rule Was equal rights, and all took special pride In 'tending Mother Nature's matchless school, And on her lessons lovingly relied.
”And this is doubtless why they are in touch With Nature's n.o.blemen neath other skies; And though of books they may not know as much Their wisdom lasts, as Nature never lies.
”And trusting G.o.d and His unerring plan As only altruistic natures could Their faith extended to their fellow man, The image of the Author of all good.
”Since Nature here has done her best to please By making everything in beauty's mold, Loads down with balm of flowers every breeze, And runs her rivers over reefs of gold,
”It seems but natural that men who yearn For native skies, and visit scenes of yore, Are seldom satisfied till they return To roam the Gardens of the G.o.ds once more!
”And since they fell in love with nature here How fitting they should wish to fall asleep Where sparkling mountain spires soar and spear The stainless azure of the upper deep.
”And yet we're saddened when the papers say Another pioneer has pa.s.sed away!
And memory recalls when first, forsooth, We saw him in the glorious flush of youth.
”How plain the simple truth when seen appears, No wonder that faded leaves we fall!
This is the winter of the pioneers That blows a wreath of wrinkles to us all!
”A few more mounds for faltering feet to seek, When, somewhere in this lovely sunset-land Like some weird, wintry, weather-beaten peak Some rare old Roman all alone will stand.
”But not for long, for ere the rosy dawn Of many golden days has come and gone, Our pine-embowered bells will shout to every sh.o.r.e 'Pacific's Pioneers are now no more!'
”But lovely still the glorious stars will glow And glitter in G.o.d's upper deep like pearls And mountains too will wear their robes of snow Just as they did when we were boys and girls.
”Ah well, it may be best, and is, no doubt, As death is quite as natural as birth And since no storms can blow the sweet stars out, Why should one wish to always stay on earth?
”Especially as G.o.d can never change, And man's the object of His constant care And though beyond the Pleiades we range His boundless love and mercy must be there.”
CHAPTER X.
FAMOUS INDIAN CHIEFS.
Sealth or ”Old Seattle,” a peaceable son of the forest, was of a line of chieftains, his father, Schweabe, or Schweahub, a chief before him of the Suquampsh tribe inhabiting a portion of the west sh.o.r.e of Puget Sound, his mother, a Duwampsh of Elliott Bay, whose name was Wood-sho-lit-sa.
Sealth's birthplace was the famous Oleman House, near the site of which he is now buried. Oleman House was an immense timber structure, long ago inhabited by many Indians; scarcely a vestige of it now remains. It was built by Sealth's father. Chief Sealth was twice married and had three sons and five daughters, the last of whom, Angeline, or Ka-ki-is-il-ma, pa.s.sed away on May 31, 1896. In an interview she informed me that her grandfather, Schweabe, was a tall, slim man, while Sealth was rather heavy as well as tall. Sealth was a hunter, she said, but not a great warrior. In the time of her youth there were herds of elk near Oleman House which Sealth hunted with the bow or gun.
The elk, now limited to the fastnesses of the Olympic Mountains, were also hunted in the cove south of West Seattle, by Englishmen, Sealth's cousin, Tsetseguis, helping, with other Indians, to carry out the game.
Angeline further said that her father, ”Old Seattle,” as the white people called him, inherited the chiefs.h.i.+p when a little boy. As he grew up he became more important, married, obtained slaves, of whom he had eight when the Dennys came, and acquired wealth. Of his slaves, Yutestid is living (1899) and when reminded of him she laughed and repeated his name several times, saying, ”Yutestid! Yutestid! How was it possible for me to forget him? Why, we grew up together!” Yutestid was a slave by descent, as also were five others; the remaining two he had purchased.
It is said that he bought them out of pity from another who treated them cruelly.
<script>