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Gordon, Hanford Lennox, 1836-1920

"The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems"

"
Thrice the Chief puffed the red pipe of peace,
ere it passed to the lips of the Frenchman.
Spake DuLuth: "May the Great Spirit bless
with abundance the Chief and his people;
May their sons and their daughters increase,
and the fire ever burn in their _teepees_."
Then he waved with a flag his adieu
to the Chief and the warriors assembled;
And away shot Tamdoka's canoe
to the strokes of ten sinewy hunters;
And a white path he clove up the blue,
bubbling stream of the swift Mississippi;
And away on his foaming trail flew,
like a sea-gull, the bark of the Frenchman.
[AO] i.e. fire-arms which the Dakotas compare to the roar of the wings
of the Thunder-bird and the fierey arrows he shoots.
[AP] DuLuth was a devout Catholic.
[AQ] _Nee-wah-shtay_--Thou art good.
[AR] Spirit-River, now called Rum River.
[AS] Fire-arm--spirit-metal.
[AT] Lake Superior--at that time the home of the Ojibways (Chippewas).
[Illustration: TWO HUNDRED WHITE WINTERS AND MORE HAVE FLED FROM THE
FACE OF THE SUMMER ...
* * * * *
AH, LITTLE HE DREAMED THEN, FORSOOTH, THAT A CITY WOULD STAND ON THAT
HILL SIDE]
Then merrily rose the blithe song
of the _voyageurs_ homeward returning,
And thus, as they glided along,
sang the bugle-voiced boatmen in chorus:
SONG.


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