13. TIME DISCLOSED AN INDIAN SUITOR.

And soon there came unto the maid,

Narragansett born, James Chaugham,

Accustomed to the woodland shade,

Later to a home of culture.

As the days went rolling onward,

Time disclosed an Indian suitor,

Noble member of New England's

Greatest tribe of warring Indians,

Narragansett born, James Chaugham,

From the confines of Block Island,

Called “The Island of Manisses”

By the Narragansett Indians.

In his veins a little Spanish —

This the legends whisper faintly —

Mingled with the Narragansett

From a Spanish Senorita,

Shipwrecked, Spanish Senorita,

Mother of his honored father,

Rescued from the roaring billows,

On the shore of lone Block Island,

By the Narragansett sannups

And adopted by the chieftain,

As a loved and honored daughter.

Tall and straight and very handsome

Was this Narragansett suitor,

Once a savage from the forest

With a face with paint resplendent,

And a head-dress gay with plumage

Gathered from the feathered inmates

Of the forest dense and dusky.

In the cold and dreary winter,

When the snow was on the hill-sides

And he hunted in the forest,

On his back hung bow and arrow;

On his feet soft shoes of deer-skin

Made a many colored cov'ring,

And the brilliant, shaggy leggings

Made his brawny limbs more graceful,

While his body was protected

By a blanket yellow, blue and crimson.

In the sweet and pleasant spring-time,

Wearing apron soft and pliant,

Bordered round with beaded colors,

On his feet his shoes of deer-skin,

On his head the plumes of eagles,

Traveled softly by the rivers

While his honored father taught him

How to fish with bow and arrow,

How to shoot the flying squirrel,

How to trail the wary roebuck,

How to build a humble dwelling,

Midst the., lonely forest shadows,

How to meet each changing season.

Later lived he in the village,

In a house and not a wigwam,

“Many moons” among the settlers

In the hamlet by the river,

By the mighty Central River,

Where the big canoes were floating

On the Cove beside the village.

Educated, too, this Indian,

In the manner and the customs,

In the language, and the habits

Of the whiteman's way of living,

Dressed in shirt and coat and trousers,

Seemed he hardly from the forest

But as one with habitation

In a home of gentle culture.