The Truce of Piscataqua: 1675
RAZE these long blocks of brick and stone,
These huge mill-monsters overgrown;
Blot out the humbler piles as well,
Where, moved like living shuttles, dwell
The weaving genii of the bell;
Tear from the wild Cocheco’s track
The dams that hold its torrents back;
And let the loud-rejoicing fall
Plunge, roaring, down its rocky wall;
And let the Indian’s paddle play
On the unbridged Piscataqua!
Wide over hill and valley spread
Once more the forest, dusk and dread,
With here and there a clearing cut
From the walled shadows round it. shut ;
Each with its farm-house budded rude,
By English yeoman squared and hewed,
And the grim, flankered blockhouse, bound
With bristling palisades around.
These huge mill-monsters overgrown;
Blot out the humbler piles as well,
Where, moved like living shuttles, dwell
The weaving genii of the bell;
Tear from the wild Cocheco’s track
The dams that hold its torrents back;
And let the loud-rejoicing fall
Plunge, roaring, down its rocky wall;
And let the Indian’s paddle play
On the unbridged Piscataqua!
Wide over hill and valley spread
Once more the forest, dusk and dread,
With here and there a clearing cut
From the walled shadows round it. shut ;
Each with its farm-house budded rude,
By English yeoman squared and hewed,
And the grim, flankered blockhouse, bound
With bristling palisades around.
So, haply, shall before thine eyes
The dusty veil of centuries rise,
The old, strange scenery overlay
The tamer pictures of to-day,
While, like the actors in a play,
Pass in their ancient guise along
The figures of my border song :
What time beside Cocheco’s flood
The white man and the red man stood,
With words of peace and brotherhood ;
When passed the sacred calumet
From lip to lip with fire-draught wet,
And, puffed in scorn, the peace-pipe’s smoke
Through the gray beard of Waldron broke,
And Squando’s voice, in suppliant plea
For mercy, struck the haughty key
Of one who held in any fate
His native pride inviolate !
The dusty veil of centuries rise,
The old, strange scenery overlay
The tamer pictures of to-day,
While, like the actors in a play,
Pass in their ancient guise along
The figures of my border song :
What time beside Cocheco’s flood
The white man and the red man stood,
With words of peace and brotherhood ;
When passed the sacred calumet
From lip to lip with fire-draught wet,
And, puffed in scorn, the peace-pipe’s smoke
Through the gray beard of Waldron broke,
And Squando’s voice, in suppliant plea
For mercy, struck the haughty key
Of one who held in any fate
His native pride inviolate !
“ Let your ears be opened wide !
He who speaks has never lied.
Waldron of Piscataqua,
Hear what Squando has to say!
He who speaks has never lied.
Waldron of Piscataqua,
Hear what Squando has to say!
“ Squando shuts his eyes and sees,
Far off, Saco’s hemlock-trees,
in his wigwam, still as stone,
Sits a woman all alone,
Far off, Saco’s hemlock-trees,
in his wigwam, still as stone,
Sits a woman all alone,
“ Wampum beads and birchen strands
Dropping from her careless hands,
Listening ever for the fleet
Patter of a dead child’s feet!
Dropping from her careless hands,
Listening ever for the fleet
Patter of a dead child’s feet!
“ When the moon a year ago
Told the flowers the time to blow,
In that lonely wigwam smiled
Monewee, our little child.
Told the flowers the time to blow,
In that lonely wigwam smiled
Monewee, our little child.
“ Ere that moon grew thin and old,
He was lying still and cold;
Sent before us, weak and small,
When the Master did not call !
He was lying still and cold;
Sent before us, weak and small,
When the Master did not call !
“ On his little grave I lay;
Three times went and came the day;
Thrice above me blazed the noon,
Thrice upon me wept the moon.
Three times went and came the day;
Thrice above me blazed the noon,
Thrice upon me wept the moon.
“ In the third night-watch I heard,
Far and low, a spirit-bird ;
Very mournful, very wild,
Sang the totem of my child.
Far and low, a spirit-bird ;
Very mournful, very wild,
Sang the totem of my child.
“'Menewee, poor Menewee,
Walks a path he cannot see :
Let the white man’s wigwam light
With its blaze his steps aright.
Walks a path he cannot see :
Let the white man’s wigwam light
With its blaze his steps aright.
“ ‘All-uncalled, he dares not show
Empty hands to Manito:
Better gifts he cannot bear
Than the scalps his slayers wear.’
Empty hands to Manito:
Better gifts he cannot bear
Than the scalps his slayers wear.’
“ All the while the totem sang,
Lightning blazed and thunder rang;
And a black cloud, reaching high,
rolled the white moon from the sky.
Lightning blazed and thunder rang;
And a black cloud, reaching high,
rolled the white moon from the sky.
“ I, the medicine-man, whose ear
All that spirits hear can hear,—
I, whose eyes are wide to see
All the things that are to be,—
All that spirits hear can hear,—
I, whose eyes are wide to see
All the things that are to be,—
“ Well I knew the dreadful signs
In the whispers of the pines,
In the river roaring loud,
In the mutter of the cloud.
In the whispers of the pines,
In the river roaring loud,
In the mutter of the cloud.
“ At the breaking of the day,
From the grave I passed away ;
Flowers bloomed round me, birds sang glad,
But my heart was hot and mad.
From the grave I passed away ;
Flowers bloomed round me, birds sang glad,
But my heart was hot and mad.
“ There is rust on Squando’s knife
From the warm red springs of life ;
On the funeral hemlock-trees
Many a scalp the totem sees.
From the warm red springs of life ;
On the funeral hemlock-trees
Many a scalp the totem sees.
“ Blood for blood ! But evermore
Squando’s heart is sad and sore ;
And his poor squaw waits at home
For the feet that never come!
Squando’s heart is sad and sore ;
And his poor squaw waits at home
For the feet that never come!
“ Waldron of Cocheco, hear !
Squando speaks, who laughs at fear :
Take the captives he has ta'en ;
Let the land have peace again ! ”
Squando speaks, who laughs at fear :
Take the captives he has ta'en ;
Let the land have peace again ! ”
As the words died on his tongue,
Wide apart his warriors swung;
Parted, at the sign he gave,
Right and left, like Egypt’s wave.
Wide apart his warriors swung;
Parted, at the sign he gave,
Right and left, like Egypt’s wave.
And, like Israel passing free
Through the prophet-charmèd sea,
Captive mother, wife, and child
Through the dusky terror filed.
Through the prophet-charmèd sea,
Captive mother, wife, and child
Through the dusky terror filed.
One alone, a little maid,
Middleway her steps delayed,
Glancing, with quick, troubled sight,
Round about from red to white.
Middleway her steps delayed,
Glancing, with quick, troubled sight,
Round about from red to white.
Then his hand the Indian laid
On the little maiden's head,
Lightly from her forehead fair
Smoothing back her yellow hair.
On the little maiden's head,
Lightly from her forehead fair
Smoothing back her yellow hair.
“ Gift or favor ask I none;
What I have is all my own :
Never yet the birds have sung,
‘ Squando hath a beggar's tongue.'
What I have is all my own :
Never yet the birds have sung,
‘ Squando hath a beggar's tongue.'
“ Yet, for her who waits at home
For the dead who cannot come,
Let the little Gold-hair be
In the place of Menewee !
For the dead who cannot come,
Let the little Gold-hair be
In the place of Menewee !
“Mishanock, my little star!
Come to Saco’s pines afar!
Where the sad one waits at home,
Wequashim, my moonlight, come ! ”
Come to Saco’s pines afar!
Where the sad one waits at home,
Wequashim, my moonlight, come ! ”
“What!” quoth Waldron, “leave a child
Christian-born to heathens wild ?
As God lives, from Satan’s hand
I will pluck her as a brand ! ”
Christian-born to heathens wild ?
As God lives, from Satan’s hand
I will pluck her as a brand ! ”
“ Hear me, white man !” Squando cried.
“ Let the little one decide.
Wequashim, my moonlight, say,
Wilt thou go with me, or stay ? ”
“ Let the little one decide.
Wequashim, my moonlight, say,
Wilt thou go with me, or stay ? ”
Slowly, sadly, half-afraid,
Half-regretfully, the maid
Owned the ties of blood and race,
Turned from Squando’s pleading face.
Half-regretfully, the maid
Owned the ties of blood and race,
Turned from Squando’s pleading face.
Not a word the Indian spoke,
But his wampum chain he broke,
And the beaded wonder hung
On that neck so fair and young.
But his wampum chain he broke,
And the beaded wonder hung
On that neck so fair and young.
Silence-shod, as phantoms seem
In the marches of a dream,
Single-filed, the grim array
Through the pine-trees wound away.
In the marches of a dream,
Single-filed, the grim array
Through the pine-trees wound away.
Doubting, trembling, sore amazed,
Through her tears the young child gazed.
“ God preserve her! ” Waldron said ;
“ Satan hath bewitched the maid!”
Through her tears the young child gazed.
“ God preserve her! ” Waldron said ;
“ Satan hath bewitched the maid!”
Years went and came. At close of day
Singing cattle a child from play,
Tossing from her loose-locked head
Gold in sunshine, brown in shade.
Singing cattle a child from play,
Tossing from her loose-locked head
Gold in sunshine, brown in shade.
Pride was in the mother’s look,
But her head she gravely shook,
And with lips that fondly smiled
Feigned to chide her truant child.
But her head she gravely shook,
And with lips that fondly smiled
Feigned to chide her truant child.
Unabashed the maid began :
“ Up and down the brook I ran,
Where, beneath the bank so steep,
Lie the spotted trout asleep.
“ Up and down the brook I ran,
Where, beneath the bank so steep,
Lie the spotted trout asleep.
“ 'Chip ! ’ went squirrel on the wall,
After me I heard him call,
And the cat-bird on the tree
Tried his best to mimic me.
After me I heard him call,
And the cat-bird on the tree
Tried his best to mimic me.
“ Where the hemlocks grew so dark,
That I stopped to look and hark,
On a log, with feather-hat,
By the path, an Indian sat.
That I stopped to look and hark,
On a log, with feather-hat,
By the path, an Indian sat.
“ Then I cried, and ran away;
But he called and bade me stay ;
And his voice was good and mild
As my mother’s to her child.
But he called and bade me stay ;
And his voice was good and mild
As my mother’s to her child.
“ And he took my wampum chain,
Looked and looked it o’er again ;
Gave me berries, and, beside,
On my neck a plaything tied.”
Looked and looked it o’er again ;
Gave me berries, and, beside,
On my neck a plaything tied.”
Straight the mother stooped to see
What the Indian’s gift might be.
On the braid of wampum bung,
Lo ! a cross of silver swung.
What the Indian’s gift might be.
On the braid of wampum bung,
Lo ! a cross of silver swung.
Well she knew its graven sign,
Squando’s bird and totem pine;
And, a mirage of the brain,
Flowed her childhood back again.
Squando’s bird and totem pine;
And, a mirage of the brain,
Flowed her childhood back again.
Flashed the roof the sunshine through,
Into space the walls outgrew,
On the Indian’s wigwam mat
Blossom-crowned again she sat.
Into space the walls outgrew,
On the Indian’s wigwam mat
Blossom-crowned again she sat.
Cool she felt the west wind blow,
In her ear the pines sang low,
And, like links from out a chain,
Dropped the years of care and pain.
In her ear the pines sang low,
And, like links from out a chain,
Dropped the years of care and pain.
From the outward toil and din,
From the griefs that gnaw within,
To the freedom of the woods
Called the birds and winds and floods.
From the griefs that gnaw within,
To the freedom of the woods
Called the birds and winds and floods.
Well, O painful minister,
Watch thy flock, but blame not her,
If her ear grew sharp to hear
All their voices whispering near.
Watch thy flock, but blame not her,
If her ear grew sharp to hear
All their voices whispering near.
Blame her not, as to her soul
All the desert’s glamour stole,
That a tear for childhood’s loss
Dropped upon the Indian’s cross.
All the desert’s glamour stole,
That a tear for childhood’s loss
Dropped upon the Indian’s cross.
When, that night, the Book was read,
And she bowed her widowed head,
And a prayer for each loved name
Rose like incense from a flame,
And she bowed her widowed head,
And a prayer for each loved name
Rose like incense from a flame,
To the listening ear of Heaven,
Lo ! another name was given :
“Father! give the Indian rest!
Bless him ! for his love has blest! ”
Lo ! another name was given :
“Father! give the Indian rest!
Bless him ! for his love has blest! ”