dred years old he never forgot that race for life in the days of his childhood. Pontiac besieged Detroit for fifteen months, although most of his allies, in Indian style, became discouraged, and gave up the contest after a few months of ineffectual effort to capture the fort, which was well protected by cannon on the ramparts, and by schooners at anchor on the broad deep river in front. The other tribes made peace with the English, but Pontiac was defiant. When Capt. Morris came with proposals of peace to him, Pontiac met him on the outskirts of his camp and refused to take his hand. With flashing eye, he exclaimed, "The English are liars." He rejected all proposals, and with his four hundred warriors passed from vil lage to village among the tribes, calling on them to rise and fight for the preservation of their race. When appeals were unheeded, he threatened the timid -"If you hesitate, I will consume your tribes as the fire consumes the dry grass on the prairies." They agreed to rally when he would give the signal for war again. He made a vain attempt to secure the aid of the French at Fort Chartres, on the Mississippi, and sent messengers to the warlike tribes all over the West and down both sides of the great river, even to New Orleans. The French commander there discouraged the movement by assuring the messengers that they had made peace with the English, and that Pontiac must not expect any aid from them. slain by a large body of Illinois Indians. Pontiac was wounded, but made his escape by the superior fleetness of his pony. of Raids and reprisals were made by the Ottawas and the Pottawatomies, and many were from time to time slain on both sides. At length a council of leading war chiefs of the respective tribes met near the present site of the city Joliet, Ill. The harmony of their deliberations was broken when the Ottawas and their allies claimed part of the territory of the Illinois as a condition of peace. Kinebro, the head chief of the Illinois Indians, said, "Rather than submit to these terms, he and his warriors would sacrifice the last drop of blood in their veins, and let their squaws and pappooses be scalped by a barbarous enemy." Pontiac then rose and spoke with his old-time eloquence, urging his brother chiefs to stand firm and never lay down the tomahawk until their demands were granted. Kinebro, finding himself unable to cope with Pontiac in debate, and seeing that the allies were carried away by the enthusiastic valor of the great chief of the Ottawas, drew his scalping knife and plunged it into the heart of Pontiac. Thus fell one of the master spirits of the Indian race. Some historians have given different versions by confounding the real Pontiac with an impostor of that name, who was assassinated at Cahokia, in 1767, by a drunken Indian, who was bribed to do the deed by an English trader named Williamson. The death of Pontiac, under the circumstances, created intense indignation among all the tribes who had ever been marshalled under his leadership. Rumors were sent to the Winnebagos, of the North, and the Kickapoos, of the South-West, who agreed to help avenge the death of the great Pontiac. Over his remains a council was held by the allies, who swore by the great Manito of war not to lay down the tomahawk until the fallen chieftain's death should be avenged by the destruction of the Illinois Indians, who abetted the cowardly Baffled and disappointed, full of rage and indignation, he at length had to give up his grand project, which Tecumseh took up at a later period with similar results. Refusing to make terms with the English, Pontiac withdrew to the country of the Illinois Indians and located, with 200 warriors, near the junction of the Kankakee with the Illinois river. He entered into an alliance with the powerful tribe of the Pottawatomies, which prevented the Illinois from enforcing their threats against Pontiac, to drive him and his Ottawa warriors off by force if they did not leave before two moons had transpired. Pontiac and thirty of his warriors, deed of Kinebro. The Miamis united tles, was being married to the beautiful daughter of chief Kinebro. while hunting Buffalo on one occasion, were waylaid, and, with the exception of Pontiac and a few others, all were with the tribes already mentioned, and Bernet, the white outlaw, also with a band of warriors, joined in the bloody strife. When the assault was made upon the Rock, Belix stood forenost and most valiant among the defenders, and with but when she saw him fall with skull cloven by a tomahawk, she uttered a wild scream and sprang over the Rock, falling from crag to crag until her life The combined forces made the most over the precipice into the river below. formidable Indian army ever collected After losing many of their bravest warin the West. Death and annihilation to riors, the allies gave up the assault and the Illinois was the savage oath of the began the slow and tedious work of ferocious avengers. The smaller towns starving out the besieged Illinoisans. along the Illinois river were first de- At the time of the attack upon the stroyed, and finally La Vantum, their town a French and Indian half-breed great capital, which was defended by warrior, named Belix, who had greatly their bravest warriors, was suddenly as- distinguished himself in previous batsaulted. The skull and cross bones of Pontiac were borne on a red pole by the avengers. Their first attack met with a bloody repulse. A council of war was called by the invaders, at which the leading war chiefs, with fiery eloquence, his war-club dealt death-blows upon advocated that nothing short of exter- many of the assailants. His bride stood mination of the Illinoisans would meet near by to encourage her gallant lord, the demands of the case or be accept able to the great Manito of war. The Illinois warriors had spent much of the night in dancing and premature rejoicing over the repulse of the assailants, less body dropped into the river below. and were taken by surprise in the mornFifty-one years had elapsed since the ing. After terrific carnage, the allies rock had been abandoned by the were again repulsed with great slaugh- French, and the palisades and earthter. But again and again they returned works afforded but little protection with reinforcements to the conflict. against sharp-shooters who took possesThus for twelve long hours the carnival sion of neighboring cliffs and joined in of death went on in and around La Van- a galling fire upon the Illinois. Kinetum, the great Indian city of the West. bro, whose rash and dastardly act had Night came on, and still the battle precipitated the war, was killed in this raged, until a heavy rain storm put an way. But soon a rampart, sufficient to end to hostilities. During the darkness ward off bullets was erected by the beand storm the Illinois Indians crossed the river in their canoes and ascended Starved Rock, the old site of Fort St. Louis, where Tonti had so signally repulsed the Iroquois. Here the remnant of 1200 Illinois Indians, including 300 warriors, rallied and thought themselves secure. But the allied forces, not content with the destruction of the town and other property of the Illinois, quickly surrounded the Rock, determined to avenge sieged along the exposed edges of the precipices. But the worst enemy now began to assail them. Hunger began to gnaw at their vitals with remorseless tooth. The small supply of provisions, brought along in their flight from La Vantum, were soon exhausted. The Rock of refuge became an altar of sacrifice, of whole burnt offering, to the Illinois in the end. For their relentless foes never relaxed in the siege until the last Illi the death of Pontiac by the complete nois but one had perished. A warrior, annihilation of all who in any way ap- the solitary exception, let himself down proved of his assassination. With fero- by a buckskin cord into the river on a cious yells they rushed up the rugged dark and stormy night and escaped, pathway on the only accessible side of but all the rest-warriors, squaws and the rocky summit. But brave and des- pappooses perished. Some of the perate Illinois warriors, with war clubs squaws, in the delirium of hunger and and tomahawks, sent them bleeding and thirst, would spring with their infants mangled down the steep declivity. into the river. Warriors would make a Again and again did the fierce avengers sortie only to be slain or driven back by attempt to storm the almost impregna- the merciless avengers. Some feasted ble heights. Many were slain as soon on the dead. The death-song was as they reached the summit, and hurled chanted, and at last, when a final as sault was made, only a few feeble survivors remained to be tomahawked. shall be enabled to overcome the world and enter triumphant the better counThus perished the once powerful and try where wars and rumors of wars, sin arrogant Illinois, and thus terribly was and sorrow, wrong and outrage, sickness the assassination of the great Pontiac and suffering, never mar the peace and avenged. Great must have been the joy of the sanctified and glorified inhabmagnetism of the man in life and death itants. SOMETHING ABOUT WOMEN. BY REV. I. E. GRAEFF. who marshalled the conspiracy which nearly drove the English East of the Alleghanies, and which combined the savage hosts of the lakes and the prairies to expiate "the deep damnation of his taking off" by a holocaust that is unparalleled even in the history of savAmong all the social questions of the age warfare and retaliation. Well may day there is none more vital, and more the old site of Fort St. Louis, the scene in a direct line with the progress of the of the first white settlement in the Mis- times, than that of the proper status of sissippi valley, two hundred years ago, woman. Her position in relation to the be called STARVED ROCK in commem- stronger sex has been in a gradual oration of that closing tragedy and ca- course of change ever since the blessed tastrophe in the history of the great tribe Gospel began to shed its light in the whose name is perpetuated not only by world. Christian women, from the days the river along which they roved, fished of the apostles, were understood to be and hunted, and fought their numerous on a level of perfect equality with men foes, but also by the title of one of the in all the spiritual blessings of the faith. greatest and most prosperous States in And this worked for their temporal the American Union. Had the policy good. It delivered them from the blind of Tonti been pursued, or an earnest and barbarous contempt in which the and persevering effort to Christianize sex is held in the heathen world. Still, the Illinois and neighboring tribes been in secular matters, it must be acknowmade by the early French settlers, in- ledged the process of improvement was stead of giving themselves up to mer- slow in coming up to the ideal which cenary traffic and carnal indulgence, the gospel set up. It required time to how different might have been their own break up the force of habit and of deep history and that of the rude barbarians rooted ideas. But time, and the grace who hailed their first advent as a boon from heaven. of God, have wrought a wonderful change, and we see to day a state of things which has in it all the possibilities of a rational equality. The progress made in this matter, just like progress generally, was not Nemesis still stalks through the ages. Time brings its revenges sooner or later, not always in the terrific form in which the death of Pontiac was expiated, but still sure and certain is the final judg- without conflict and without one-sided ment of history and of humanity, whe- false movements. There have been ther civilized or barbarian. Witness false notions and exaggerated claims, the fate of avaricious Spaniards in both in its favor and against it. No Mexico, Peru, etc. True it is and ever vital movement of any kind is likely to shall be, "Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is the reproach of any people"-yea, not only the reproach, but the ruin of all who persist in violating the laws of God and the rights of humanity. "The heathen shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." But saith the great Redeemer of mankind, "The gates of hell shall not prevail against my Church." By living union with Him, as faithful members of His Mystical Body, we escape from these troubles. Christianity, the central power and life of history, could not take hold and grow in the world without running into dangerous extremes. Nothing is more interesting and more instructive within the entire range of human study than the manner in which Christian ideas developed and made themselves felt. Surely, the manner was not always the same, and sometimes it was far out of the way, and yet the living force that was back of it was always the same blessed rogative. Hence we may reasonably agency of progress. And this divine power in history, in spite of the follies and errors of men, did not fail to do its great work and leave its many blessings. If women have crossed the bounds of reason and have endeavored to force themselves into positions for which they were never intended, they have committed no greater wrong, either to themselves or to the other sex, than has been done to them and to the nobler tendencies of humanity from the days of the fall in Paradise to the age in which we live. It is enough that we know that things have changed for the better, and that now society is in possession of the light and experience by which the highest possible degree of happiness can be secured, provided people do not shut their eyes wilfully and suffer themselves to be led by blind passion rather than by the enlightened common sense of this Christian age. The intellectual and social advance made by the fair sex within the lifetime of the present generation has been rapid and comprehensive. Time was when intellectual culture was regarded conclude that we have very nearly reached the climax of female emancipation, at least in public opinion, although there is still a great deal to do to bring up individual cases to this high standard of the popular modern Christian mind. And that no one may run wild on the subject of social progress and imagine that all the injustice of former prejudice. ignorance and selfishness is effectually left behind in our new and more enlightened state of affairs, it may be proper to hint that this new order involves some serious risks. Girls must not imagine that they are in a world in which they will be free from the hardships of former generations, simply because they are cultivated and in a condition of self helpfulness. The ignorance of the sex has caused it much wrong, and the physical dependence of woman has encouraged a dominating spirit in those on whom they depended. Wrongs of this kind may be removed by the force of intelligence and self dependence, only, however, to be encountered again in another form. It will as of but small importance in the edu- be best to illustrate this matter to cation of women. Along with this popular notion went theories and customs which so effectually held all the avenues of business and professional life for the occupancy of men that a woman could get into them only by dint of extraordinary force of character and good luck. This matter is now radically changed. Men are no longer in exclusive possession of high intellectual cul ture, and in elementary popular education they do not find themselves simply on a square level with their fair companions, but in some communities at least they are in imminent danger of being left egregiously behind, just because girls stay at school longer and study better than boys do. It is a common thing in these days, and is getting to be more and more common, to see women in places and pursuits formerly not filled by them, and therefore in the enjoyment of an independence of which their mothers and grandmothers had not the faintest idea. From this state of things may come all that the sex can justly claim and successfully hold in the way of legal enactment and social pre make it plain and easily understood by any one, by citing a case of family life. Somewhere in the anthracite coal fields of our keystone State there is a wedded couple. Both husband and wife first saw the light of day under the immediate shadow of the British Lion, and were both well brought up and highly educated in their native country. Apparently they are living happily together, and have children. Both have the capacity of doing each its full share towards making a comfortable living. The wife is making a fair and square use of her ability, but the husband always got tired of the best positions, and made it a business to lean on the strong character of his generous, active and cultivated wife for the necessaries of life, though he was fully able to do as much for the financial exchequer of the household as his devoted companion. By this time the reader may be inclined to pass judgment, and to set this man down as an unfeeling boor, or as a haughty, tyrannical scapegrace, who has neither feeling nor manners. But no; whatever may be supposed to be wanting in his character, he is said to be a man of gentle manners and of kind impulses, and, as far as his neighbors are able to judge, lives in full harmony with his family. Both he and his wife and children seem to have so much of the milk of good nature in them, that his unmanly habit of dependence is quietly tolerated, and all goes smoothly on, while the wife makes all the living. And this, one may be allowed to suggest, should be taken as an illustration of the risk that goes along with the independence of modern women. Of course, wives of a different constitutional make-up would likely find some way of arousing a sense of manly self-respect in their worser halves, and bring them promptly into the traces; but then that is no reason why women should not be told that, in proportion as they advance in personal self-reliance, they may be met with a corresponding decrease of support from the other side of the house. At any rate, as the fair sex takes possession of the active walks of life and thus decreases the opportunities for practical effort on the part of men, a heavier burden may sometimes fall on those who seem to be the gainers in the case, and this is a matter that may as well be looked squarely in the face. Goethe, the great German poet, by the transcendent force of his genius, is occupying a high place in the realm of literature. As a poet, he stands on a level with Homer, Dant and Shakespeare, and as a social economist, he has left some deliverances which are original, masterly, and replete with useful suggestions. He has put on record a brief narrative of an incident in family life, which comes in admirably here as a help in setting forth clearly the rights and responsibilities of women, and more particularly of those who are married. "A young man once became tenant of a large hotel, which was established in a good situation. Amongst the qualities which recommended a host, he possessed a more than ordinary share of good temper. He was peculiarly fortunate in selecting a pursuit in which he found it necessary to devote a considerable portion of the day to his home du ties. He was neither careful nor negligent, and his own good temper exercised a perceptible influence over the numerous guests who assembled around him. "He had married a young person who was of a quiet, passive disposition. She paid punctual attention to her business, and was attached to her household pursuits, and loved her husband, though she often found fault with him in secret for his carelessness in money matters. She had a great love for ready cash; she thoroughly comprehended its value, and understood the advantage of securing a provision for herself. Devoid of all activity of disposition, she had every tendency to avarice. But a small share of avarice becomes a woman, however ill extravagance may suit her. Generosity is a manly virtue, but parsimony is becoming in a woman. This is the rule of nature, and our judgments must be subservient thereto. "Margaret (for such was the name of this prudent personage) was very much dissatisfied with her husband's carelessness. Upon occasions when large payments were made to him by his customers, it was his habit to leave the money lying for a considerable time upon the table, and then to collect it in a basket, from which he afterwards paid it away. without making it up in packages, and without keeping any account of its application. His wife plainly perceived that, even without actual extravagance, where there was such a total want of system considerable sums must be wasted. She was, above all things, anxious to make her husband change his negligent habits, and she became grieved to observe that the small savings which she collected and so carefully retained were as nothing in comparison with the money that was squandered, and she determined, therefore, to adopt a rather dangerous expedient to make her husband open his eyes. She resolved to defraud him of as much money as possible, and for this purpose had recourse to an extraordinary plan. She had observed that when he had once counted his money, which he allowed to remain so long upon the table, he never reckoned it over a second time before putting it away; she therefore rubbed the bottom |