Tallyrand and Firefly
By J. HacNEILL JOHNSON
I
I
CHAPTER VII.
Mr. Studebolt and Old Horseshoe
had great good fortune in St. Louis,
and received for the scalps and furs
a certified check for Thirty Thousand
Dollars. Old Horseshoe at first want
ed it all in silver, but Mr. Stude
bolt assured him that the State of
Tennessee would rather have the
check than the silver coin. Old
Horseshoe could not understand it,
but accepted his white brother’s word
for it, and they quickly left St. Louis
on a little steamer, named the Lady
Jane, which at that time plied be
tween St. Louis and Nashville; and in
a little less than a week they were at
the Capitol of the State of Tennessee,
and went directly to the State Land
Office.
On the boat from St. Louis Mr.
Studebolt and Old Horseshoe had
many serious talks about the new
name the old Indian was to assume in
order to hold title to his land. The
Old Chief was sorry to change his
name at all, and he made many sug
gestions for very slight changes,
which showed that he regarded it as
one of the bitterest sacrifices he had
to make in order to become a civili
zed citizen. After casting about Mr.
Studebolt suggested that he change
his name from the English word
horseshoe, which had been adopted
by the Mohawk Tribe as a man’s
name, to the French word which
means the same thing, and the old
man seemed to find some comfort in
this; and when Mr. Studebolt asked,
“How would you like the name of
F. A. Cheval?—that means ‘fer a
cheval,’ which is the French for horse
shoe, and literally means ‘Iron of the
Horse.” The old man grasped at it
eagerly, and said: “My name F. A.
Cheval.”
The Land Office took $25,000.00 of
Mr. F. A. ChevaPs money, and con
veyed to Mr. F. A. Cheval a tract of
land described in his title deed thus:
“All that tract of land bo^unded on
the north by the Mussel Shoals; on
the east by the High Hills; on the
South by Boone’s Creek; and on the
West by the Mississippi River, and
more definitely described as follows:
Beginning on the east bank of the
Mississippi River at Low Water
Mark, at the mouth of Boone’s Creek;
thence up the channel of Boone’s
Creek about four miles to Boone’s
Bluff—the same being the abutment
of the High Hills on the channel of
said creek; thence a line northward
following the comb of the High Hills
about six miles (as the crow flies) to
Mussel Shoals; thence down the chan
nel of Mussel Shoals Creek to the
Mississippi River; thence down the
eastern bank of said river following
low water mark to the beginning,
containing 15,000 acres, more or less,
and including the place where Cap
tain Clark’s party killed a bear when
returning from the Mussel Shoals
voyage.”*
Mr. Studebolt handed this grant to
Old Horseshoe and said with much
natural jdignity, “Mr. Cheval, when
that grant is recorded you will be a
wealthy proprietor.” It is not often
that a North American Indian Chief,
savage as he may be, can be outdone
in pure simple dignity. The true test
of dignity is that it never borders on
the ridiculous; and the greatest praise
we can give to Old Horseshoe, is that
his dignity nearly always rang true.
On this occasion he simply said:
“Brother, I trust I may be found
worthy of my wealth, and that I may
never abuse it, nor forfeit the friend
ship of my white friend.”
The two men rested at a hotel in
Nashville that night, and ^the next
morning after Old Horseshoe had done
considerable shopping in the way of
high, heel shoes and millinery for
Wenona and Minnehaha* he and Mr.
Studebolt caught another steamboat
down the Cumberland River. They
passed through the State of Ken
tucky into the Ohio River, and down
the Ohio to the Mississippi; thence
down the Great Father of Waters
after one change of boats, and in an
other Mr. F. A. Cheval was landed
at the wigwam of Old Horseshoe, and
the last word he said to Mr. Stude
bolt was, “Mr. Cheval still Old Horse
shoe to his friends.”
Tallyrand and Firefly had gone
home nearly a week before, so Old
Horseshoe gravely introduced himself
to his wife and daughter as “Mr. F.
A. Cheval.” Then he began to un
pack the high heel boots and millin
ery, as if his new name needed no
explanation, Wenona, patient and
dutiful wife that she was, was always
ready to accept her husband’s words
as true without question; but Minne
haha could take more liberties with
her father, and besides she had spent
a week with Tallyrand and Firefly,
and had picked up some very ex
pressive slang. She made bold to
say: “Pappie, the shoes and hats are
so very pretty, and we are so, so
happy, but what is this pappie, you
are giving us about your name?”
Then Old Horseshoe explained that
he was no longer a Mohawk, but an
American, and that he must have a
name that fitted his new station in
life: that he and Mr. Studebolt had
selected the name of F. A. Cheval.
At first Wenona and Minnehaha
were so exultant over their fine shoes
and hats, they seemed to care little
for names; but after a while they
j began to think that if Old Horseshoe’s
i name had been changed to F. A.
I Cheval, what would be the names of
I Wenona and Minnehaha ? The more
I they discussed this trouble the worse
I it seemed to become tangled, and they
fell into a deep silence. After while
I the old man aroused from his brown
I study, and said: “It is all plain now:
Wenona be called Cheval Squaw, Min
nehaha be called Cheval papoose.”
Youth is often a better judge of the
fitness of things than age, and Min
nehaha showed symptoms of rebel
lion; so they agreed to write a letter
to Tallyrand, and ask him what their
names ought to be under the circum
stances. Minnehaha could WTite a lit
tle, and she at once took her pencil
and paper and wrote Tallyrand this
letter:
“If Old Horseshoe name Cheval,
how Wenona and Minnehaha name?”
This being read over to the parents
they were better satisfied, and then
Old Horseshoe showed his land grant,
and had Minnehaha to read it all over.
He actually gave way to his feeling
of pride, and boasted that he • was
much richer than Red Cloud, even if
Red Cloud was the Chief of the Mo
hawks.
Then Wenona and’ Minnehaha told
the old man that the wolves were
getting very bold and were coming
across the pass in' the High Hills in
great numbers, and were making night
hideous with their howling. 01<1
Horseshoe was silent for a moment,
then fuming to his daughtei* said:
“Write more on letter: tell Tallyrand
and Firefly come with much shotguns
and big shot, help kill wolves.”
Minnehaha took her letter, and
wrote on it: “Wolves, Wolves,
Wolves! And many more wolves
come around wigwam. Bring many
big guns; Help pappie kill wolves,
come very quick.”
Next morning Old Horseshoe met
a down river steamer with his canoe,
and handed the letter aboard, and it
*
was carried quickly to Tallyrand’s
hands. He read it to the family, and
the part of it that referred to the
names caused great merriment; and
Mrs. Studebolt bade Tallyrand answer
it at once; which he did in the fol
lowing words:
“Wenona’s new name will be
Madame Wenona Cheval; andMinne-
haha’s new name will be Miss Minne
haha Cheval.
“Firefly and I will be at your home
about noon on Wednesday, with
plenty of shotguns and big shot, and
we will have great sport killing
wolves. Sincerely,
TALLYRAND.”
This was the first letter Minnehaha
had ever received, and she was near
ly as proud of it as she was of her
red silk dress, her high heel shoes,
and her fine Nashville millinery.
*The words included in the single
quotations above are copied from an
old land grant in the state of Ten
nessee, when that State was a part
of North Carolina.
To be continued
LAKEVIEW NEW
UNION ALWAYS FRIENDLY TO
MOORE
Mr. Editor:
Union county has always been
friendly to Moorland has supported
Moore’s candidates. Mr. A. M. Stack,
Union County’s candidate for Judge,
has always supported Moore’s can
didates for office. He supported
Judge Adams every time he was a
candidate for Judge. He supported
Mr. Spence for Congress while his
opponent supported Mr. Robinson.
He supported McDonald for Aiiditor
two years ago. I hope Moore demo
crats will remember Union’s friend
ship in the past, and especially Mr.
Stack’s support of Moore County men.
R. W. LEMMOND.
C. S. C. of Union Co.
At the rate Germany and Russia
are printing money the best thing a
fellow co^ld own over there is a
paper mill.
SAVE
\A/'hat You’ve Got!
YOUR PROPERTY
YOUR INCOME
INSURE IT
DO IT NOW
D. A. McLAUCHLIN, Agent
VASS, N. C.
Fire Insurance Life Insurance
Everybody Wants
HERE
Good Merchandise
at Low Prices
is your Opportunity
I OUB NEW SPRING GOODS ARE
\
i
I
unusually beautiful in color combination, and are of bet
ter, quality, too. The prices are in line with public de
mand, quality considered.
! SPRING OXFORDS
OXFORDS that fit your feet and are easy on your
purse are hard to find, but We Have Them.
Special Prices in DRESS SHIRTS this week
Gunter’s Store
VASS, NORTH CAROLINA
Mr. Haywood Frye spent ;
last week with his sister,
Eastwood.
Miss Lillian Tyler left
for Winston-Salem and Pit
route to her home in New
Rev. O. B. Mitchell and a
friends spent Tuesday of 1
fishing here.
Mrs. Lula Stevens has re
her home here after being
several weeks.
Several people from Vass
surrounding country have b
ing here for the past week.
Misses Maggie and Lexie
have returned to their hom
ham after spending some t
their aunt, Mrs. W. C. Smit
Master George Dyer while
at Mr. P. L. Gardner’s fan
into a heap of ashes and
very badly burned. We hop
be able to walk soon.
Mr. J. B. Eastwood was
thage Saturday on business.
Mr. and Mrs. J. R. McQ
away for a two weeks visit
dith. New Hampshire.
A large crowd attended th
Dance here Friday night.
Several people of Lakevi
been to see Sweetheart Lake
from here, most of whom
pressed by the little lake an
surroundings. We wish S
Lake a prosperous summer.
WANTS TO HEAR FROM A
CANDIDATES
Hemp, N. C., Ma
Editor Moore County News:
I have read with deep int
Resolutions passed by the No
lina Federation of Women’s
session at Greensboro, and
them to be highly commend
I should like to voice the se
I have heard expressed b
Moore county women, to t'
that we should like to know t
taken by each man who has a
his candidacy for office in thi
in regard to better laws and
forcement, especially as to w"
elected, he will pledge himsel
port the Constitution of th
States, including the 18th am
In plain English we want
what pledge each candidate
if elected, to enforce our law
lessness is gaining ground;
are becoming unsafe to trave
must have men in office who
force our laws. We want
just where each candidate s
this matter. ^
One candidate, whose pas
bears out his present promis
&ar R. Brown, for Sheriff.
IS a determined, fearless
makes no compromise with
whose record as a private
revenue officer and magistra
his determination and abilitj
'^ith lawlessness.
The women of this coun'
like to hear from each cand
this important topic. Are j
<^ry? LOUISA REA
(Adv.) It.
The wise candidate is the
comes out on a platform
than one spring bonnet a se
Radio will probably never
with politicians. There
"^ires to be pulled.
for SALE—By Wiggin
LV Byrd’s Headache
^ Guaranteed (5-