Page:The Overland Monthly, Jan-June 1894.djvu/260



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Minnie- Wah- Wah.

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Probably the proof of her desperate sin- cerity in her religious faith struck them with some superstitious terror : at all events, whether from grief or supersti- tion, her lover was stricken with illness and died in three days ; and both tribes were afterward very well disposed to the preaching of Christianity which spread rapidly among them. The nu- merous converts looked on the girl as a sort of pioneer and martyr of their re- ligion, and though the circumstances of her death have become vague and tra- ditional, her name is preserved with a sort of religious reverence.

The above is the story as the Chris- tian Indians tell it ; and though it is now apparent that at the time of the oc- currence it was somewhat known among the whites, it seems to have been for- gotten among them. It is only lately that it was told to white men by the In- dians, and might have passed for a mere romance, but for a remarkable confirm- ation of the story that I was fortunate enough to stumble upon. The Indians themselves had long forgotten the place of the grave, but while I was engaged recently, with eight engineers, in run- ning lines on the reservation, in a se- cluded place we came upon a large rock, on which was lettered the name " Min- nie- Wah- Wah," and near by were evi- dences of an Indian grave. This name could scarcely have been cut by Indi- ans : and a further evidence that at the time some whites knew and honored the grave, and were in possession of the cir- cumstances of the girl's death, we found on an embankment of slate just south of the grave. Here was scratched a re- markable series of inscriptions, extend- ing over a dozen years : the first ones sin- cere efforts to leave a tribute to the dead girl's memory ; the others attempts of later prospectors to follow more or less respectfully the suggestion of the earlier ones. I give the curious string of stanzas just as it stands, and has stood for about a half-century.

" Poor little Minnie Wah Wah, There 's nothing we can do, To call you back to earth again, Or it would soon be done."

Djun, Hudson Bay Co., 2838.

"Little brown-eyed Minnie, Your soul was white as snow ; Where you are now I 'd like to be, That's where I want to go."

G. B., Hudson Bay Co., June i, 1838.

" She served good Marcus Whitman, Likewise his faithful wife ; In doing so she served the Lord, But lost her earthly life."

M. IV., H.B. C.,July 4, 1838.

" Life on earth is a short one, 'T is filled with sad dismay, But we who trust in Jesus, Will see a brighter day."

Sister of Mercy, August,

" Who is this Minnie Wah Wah ? A Siwash, I presume ; From all accounts I guess the girl Is sailing round the moon."

Gold Hunter, 2838

"The rainbow's burning splendor, Reflecting in the sky, Is nowise near as beautiful As is Minnie Wah Wah's home on high." Prospector, 1839.

" She 's gone to join the angels, Dear little Minnie girl ; Her soul is in the realms Where all space is in a whirl."

/. P., 1840.

"She '11 visit the apostles And all the heavenly host. Minnie Wah Wah 's in the star land, Why fear her earthly ghost ? "

D. M., 1840.

"She died, they say, broken-hearted, Precious Indian maid ; Her soul 's as pure as heaven, And free from earthly jade."

M. C., 1840

She could n't marry a Siwash, That 's what she claimed and said ; Her people all condemned her, But poor gal, now she's dead."

Jack, 1849*