question your
fondness for him, but he is still more dear to me. You say that you
will keep him for yourself, and drive me far from you. But no, I will
remain with him; I can find some hole or corner in which I may creep,
in order to be near him, and sometimes to see him. If you will not
give me food, I will, nevertheless, remain until I starve before your
eyes.'

"The trader then offered her a considerable present, desiring her at
the same time to go, and leave the child. But she said, 'Is my child a
dog, that I should sell him for merchandize? You cannot drive me away;
you may beat me, it is true, and otherwise abuse me, but I will still
remain. When you married me, you promised to use me kindly as long as
I should be faithful to you; that I have been so, no one can deny.
Ours was not a marriage contracted for a season--it was to terminate
only with our lives. I was then a young girl, and might have been
united to an Omawhaw chief; but I am now an old woman, having had two
children, and what Omawhaw will regard me? Is not my right paramount
to that of your other wife; she had heard of me before you possessed
her. It is true her skin is whiter than mine, but her heart cannot be
more pure towards you, nor her fidelity more rigid. Do not take the
child from my breast, I cannot bear to hear it cry, and not be present
to relieve it[A]; permit me to retain it until the spring, when it
will be able to eat, and then, if it must be so, take it from my
sight, that I may part with it but once.'

[Footnote A: A mode of expression common to the Indians who are in the
habit of communicating their ideas by allusions to the senses.]

"Seeing her thus inflexible, the trader informed her that she might
remain there if she pleased, but that the child should be immediately
sent down to the settlements.

"The affectionate mother had thus far sustained herself during the
interview with the firmness of conscious virtue, and successfully
resisted the impulse of her feelings; but nature now yielded, the
tears coursed rapidly over her cheeks, and clasping her hands, and
bowing her head, she burst into an agony of grief, exclaiming, 'Why
did the Wahconda hate me so much, as to induce me to put my child
again into your power?'

"The feelings of the unhappy mother were, however, soon relieved. Mr.
Dougherty (an Indian trader), communicated the circumstance of the
case to Major O'Fallon, (the agent), who immediately and peremptorily
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