Democratic Ideals: A Memorial Sketch of Clara B. Colby. Olympia Brown

Stern guardians of the trysting-place below,

       And of the secrets none but gods might know.

      ​Dark pines and stately firs of lordly height

      Enclosed this hidden glade so strangely bright;

       While sounds of gently murmuring waters heard

       Mingled their tones with those of sweet-voiced bird:

       The plaintive whip-poor-will, the turtle dove,—

       A song of mingled joy and pain and love.

       This was the "Garden of the Gods," where meet,—

       When slow-revolving cycles are complete,—

       The Guardian Spirits of this Western plain:

       To give to him by whose command they reign,

       Account if they their trust have well fulfilled,

       And governed all things as their Master willed.

      WAKONDA, THE GREAT SPIRIT.

      Raised on a granite throne sat one who wore

       The plume of power; his hand a sceptre bore

       Dim outlined 'gainst the sky. No mortal proud

       Was he; but like some grand majestic cloud,

       Through which the noonday splendor shines, his form

       The likeness bore of mingled sun and storm.

       This was Wakonda, the "Supreme Unknown,"

       The great "Above," the Spirit whom alone

       The Western nations worship as the source

       Unseen of all existent spirit force.

       To him the lesser Guardians of the West

       Their homage paid, and thus their speech addressed:

      HEYOKAH, THE GUARDIAN SPIRIT OF THE LAKOTAHS.

      And first Heyokah from the North spake forth:

      "Wakonda, mighty one, to thee I bow.

       Upon my mountains high, the pole star near,

       I dwell alone and rule the seasons there.

       "Far South, from Britain's country on the North,

       And Westward to the Rocky Mountains' top,

       There stretched of old a prairie vast and wide,

​Nebraska^[1] named; and over this broad plain Thou placedst me to guard and keep for thee.

       "Where from the sacred thunderbolt long since

Were born my children brave,—Lakotahs called;^[2] A name which means allies, or friends, because While strong in war, peaceful and good they were.

       "A happy people they, and one that saw

       A power benign in all of Nature's works.

       To them the birds were symbols of the winds,

       By whom the gods to earth their mandates sent.

       The dawn they worshipped, for from thence there came

       The light which drove away the gloomy shades,

       And freed them from the hostile powers of Night.

      "The corners four of Heaven most sacred were.

       To these, and to their spirits, the four winds,

       They altars built,—low mounds in form of cross,

       Or bird with wings outstretched,—in token that

       They live by these, the source of life and health.

       From these they learned the sacred number four

       To hold in rev'rent awe. In all their fasts

       And feasts, in birth, in death, in war and peace,

       The number four must be considered; else

       No good might they expect.

       Four souls they deemed

       Were clothed in mortal garb, and after death,

       One soul was free to roam o'er all the earth,

       Assuming other shapes; and one must stay

       Around its home, and, in the guise of bird,

       Might hold communion with its former friends.

       A third must in the body stay to guard

       It, so that some time a new form might spring

       Therefrom; and for this reason they preserved

       The bones with care and buried them in mounds.

       ​And e'en the bones of game they likewise saved

       And ranged in circles round, that in the days

To come, the prairies might be stocked anew.^[3] The fourth, the highest soul, when freed by death, Went to the Sun, the Red Man's hunting ground, Along the Milky Way—the Path of Souls."

       "The thunder was to them thy voice on high,

       Which bade them know corn-planting time was near.

       And to the sky, thy home, when 'round the fire

       In Council gathered, the first puff of smoke

       Ascended with:—'Wakonda, this to thee.

       "I taught them thus; but, Wakan, more than all,

       I taught them, O World's Heart, to honor thee,

       As the unknown 'Above,' and present in all,

       All signs and symbols of an unseen power.

       "With them I roamed the prairies wild, in chase

       Of mild-eyed deer, or bison fierce. Their game

       I sheltered from the pale and baneful moon.

       To battle with their foes I led them forth:

       Their hands I strengthened in the thickest fight;

       I placed the eagle plume on the proud head

       Of him who first laid touch on fallen foe.

       "In Council grave was I, and wild in sport;

       In war was followed and in peace obeyed.

       And when the harvest o'er,—my huge pipe filled,

       I puffed the purpling smoke from far North down,

Enwrapping all the land with mellow haze,—^[4] Their yearly feast the brave Lakotahs held, And worshipped thee as source of every good.

       "But Spirits hostile to my rule have come

       Among my people and corrupted them,

       ​

       And turned their hearts from me away. Their stren gth Has weakness grown since devastating wars Have cut them down in the first flower of youth; And white men from beyond the dawn have come And bought our lands and paid for them with blood. Among my people they sowed seeds of woe, And e'en my power to their service yoked. My children hear and heed my voice no more; But as some giant oak, into whose heart Disease has crept, will flourish for a time, Then, one by one, the branches fade and fall, Until a bare and withered trunk it stands For the first storm to fell,—e'en so decay, With slow and certain blight has seized upon The Red Man; and the nation which agone Flourished with branches wide and rootlets deep, Now tottering stands, and in its leafless age, Casts but a shadow of its coming doom.

      "Wakonda, thy Lakotahs look to thee For help. Let loose thy fiercest thunderbolts Upon th' invaders heads; and let the braves Their fathers' lands and graves once more possess." He ceased.

      UNKTAHA, GODDESS OF WATERS AND

      OF NIGHT.

      The fair Unktaha then