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SETTLEMENT-early 1800s |
Many a time in walking I have thought: Whenever this country becomes settled how delightfully will the inhabitants pass their time. There is no place perhaps on this globe where nature has displayed & diversified land & water as here. I always felt as if invited to settle down & admire the beautiful views with a sort of joyful thankfulness for having been led to them.
We had two Indian widows to pass the winter by us in a wretched hut. They had two daughters & two boys, I surprised to remark the boys frequently with black faces, upon inquiring, I found they were fasting. They sometimes dreamed of their departed friends, and on those occasions, when they awake in the morning, they bruise soft charcoal in their hands, with which they rub their faces so as not to leave one spot of the natural color, take their guns or bow & arrows & go into the woods a hunting, and to mourn & weep where they may not be seen nor heard." They return at even & eat after sunset! The woman would frequently go out to the foot of the hill some distance off, & weep & mourn & moan, addressing her departed husband & friends in accents & a tone of voice not to be misunderstood even by me, young, thoughtless & boisterous as I was.
What is this ? Is it Barbarism? if so, what signify the "Irish wakes"? or our own wailings on the departure of those dear to us? After a few months, & not infrequently only some days, & we return to the busy occupations of life, & finally become quite reconciled & oblivious--yet here, children after several years, go into the woods & bewail their departed friends in quiet & solitude, fasting the whole day. All on their return, they would generally be cheerful, as if it had not been them who but a moment before were making such wailing, or, as if they had just been pouring off all their grief! I have very often witnessed such scenes and they have left an indelible impression.
Metropolitan Toronto Library Board, George Nelson papers
© 1996, Twin Cities Public Television.