DRAININCJ THE SWAMPS 



years ago when this old Indian moved his beau- 

 tiful squaw to French Island, now the home of 

 the white man, and in the same swamp where 

 the young papoose paddled his log canoe is 

 now the Kankakee corn-fields. Where the war 

 dance made the air ring is now heard the brass 

 band playing "Just As The Sun Went Down." 

 And the tolling of the bells in the towers tells of 

 the departure of the Redman who worshipped 

 the Great /Aaster. In the quiet groves where 

 the sky and the trees were not shut out to the 

 f^edman, nature is the highest art. He would 

 sit in his canoe with Okemoes and his little 

 papoose floating between the banks over the 

 silvery waves of the river. He saw in the Great 

 /Aaster everything. There was no black smoke 

 from the railroad locomotive and traction en- 

 gines; no fences to mar the beautiful land which 

 the Great Father had given to them. As I was 

 about to leave their lodge and bidding them 

 good-bye. one of the old warriors rose to his 

 feet, threw a blanket around him and passed to 



196 



