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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 3495, 11 March 1905, Page 4

THE ORIGIN OF A CUSTOM. How the First American Ctrl Cam* to Marry a Foreigner. The mighty chief Powhatan eat on his tanbark throno and waited for the procession to appear. It was to be a long procession, for its leading feature was Captain John Smith of England, and Powhatan proposed in his noble, aboriginal mind to make the time of Iris passing a given point extremely indefinite, not to fay permanent. In the words of a later historian, “Powhatan was layin fer John with a club.” True, he was not. In concealment, ready to spring upon the unsuspecting captain and sandbag him, so to speak, for the captain more than suspected that ho was persona non grata to the mighty chief and was aware that at the hour appointed ho was to be brought before Powhatan, and then and there, at a given signal, to lay his head upon a stump In order to facilitate the chief’s purpose in getting rid of him with promptness and dispatch. Presently the enlivening notes of the James River Falls brass band were heard In the distance, and the old chief’s face, before frowning at the uncalled for delay, broke into a seraphic smile, and ho toyed with his club merrily. “What air plays the band?” Inquired the chief of his private secretary. “I believe, sire, it is called ‘Goodby, John.’” “How much bettor,” sighed Powhatan, “than 'Johnnie Got Your Gun,’ or some . other of those seditious and insurrectionary tunes the band was accustomed to play before we scalped the loader!” Powhatan smiled grliply, and the private secretary bowed with grave deference. The music of the band sounded nearer, and the shouts of the Algonquin Light infantry wore wafted in on the soft Virginia air. A few more moments of Impatient waiting, and the procession filed down before the tnnbark throno, Powhatan stood up in all Ids fuss and feathers, and ho looked like an October sunset with fringe on it. Captain Smith had halted directly In front of the chief, and ho gazed defiantly at the vermilion landscape before him. “Good morning, John,” said Powhatan In the hospitable tones of the old Virginian. “How are you, Black-and-tan —excuse mo Powhatan,” responded Captain Smith, with the bluff cordiality of the Englishman. The chief's face reddened, but it didn’t show through. “Thanks,” he said, “I’m ready for business.” “Reddy is good, ” smiled Captain Smith, noting Powhatan's war paint, but Powhatan was not a subscriber to Punch, and this witty sally of the Englishman fell unheeded. “I presume,” ho continued as ho balanced his cordwood stick in his hand with graceful ease, “that you know what you arc hero for?’ ’ “I fancy,” replied the captain with charming naivete and bonhomie, “that 1 am to take the stump and join your campaign club.” “ You guessed it the first time,” smiled the chief. “But a truce to such airy fairy persiflage, ’’ ho added. ‘ ‘ Take your place. ’ ’ Captain Smith was conducted to the stump at the foot of the throne, and Powhatan jauntily stepped to his side, twirling his club as the policemen do on pleasant summer afternoons as they stroll along. “This pillow,” laughed the captain as he placed his head on the stump in several positions in order to find a comfortable one, “reminds mo of the pillow I had in the Pullman coming up hero.” “It’s soft enough for my purpose,” growled Powhatan, for tho first time showing his anxiety to get his work in. Tho chief braced himself, sighted along his club to get tho proper distance, the band played “Annie Laurie, ” and he drew back his formidable weapon. A silence, broken only by the mournful music of tho band, fell upon the scone, but it was for an instant only, then a wild cry pierced tho stillness, accompanied by a swish of petticoats, and a fair girl stood between tho captain and the club. “Oh, popper," cried Pocahontas, for it was she, the chief’s beautiful daughter. “Oh, popper, what are you going to do?” “Back, girl,” lie shouted; “back I say, or you’ll get it in tho neck, sure.” ‘ ‘ Nay, nay, popper, ’ ’ she pleaded in sweet, cajoling tones. “I shall not back. You ‘ know not what you are about to do.” “Stand from under for a minute, and you will see if I don’t,” tho chief answered sullenly as he let his club fall by his side. "Butl tell you,” sho insisted, "that you don’t.” “Why don’t If" “Because you don’t.” “Because mo no becausos, girl,” thundered Powhatan, reaching for his club. “Have you no other reason than a worn* an’s reason?” “Being a woman,” she replied haughtily, “I don’t have to have.” “Now, Pokie," said Powhatan caressIngly, “you get out of this and give your papa a chance.” “No, popper," she responded ns shs i threw her plump and tawny arm around tho nock of the captive captain, “I came hero to give Captain Smith a chance and to give every American girl, for all thus to come, a chance,” sho added In almost tragic tones. ‘ 1 Como off, ’ ’ he growled. “No, popper,” she persisted, “Mr. Smith 1 must come off—off of that stump. Will It bo necessary for mo to give you a map and a diagram before you will understand that Captain Smith Is a foreigner, that I am an i American girl of marriageable ago and i that tho entente cordiale between the two must and shall bo preserved? Don’t you know that you owe something to posterity 1 and tho future social conditions of this great and glorious republic? Popper, popper, ” she pleaded, "can’t you see that your Pocahontas is endeavoring to establish* precedent that will stand for all time?" Powhatan hesitated. A light as .of * now day was breaking in upon hla aboriginal perception. “Old man,” exclaimed Captain Smith, taking the stump with his feet instead of his head, “Pocahontas has called you, and you’ve got to show down.” Powhatan dropped his gory club in supremo disgust. “Tell that confounded band to play ‘Tommy Atkins,’ ” ho commanded hi# private secretary. “I guess ITI take you,” said Pocahonta# to tho captain as ho came down off the stump. “Please guess again,” said John. But despite this ungallant and ungenerous rebuff history records the fact that Pocahontas was the first American girl to marry a foreigner.—W. J. Lampton in [ Life. [ , NO Help For It. ! Miss Summit (lunching with Castleton) ; —I really don’t feel as if I could eat * thing, Mr. Castleton. Castleton (resignedly to waiter) —Bring In the whole bill of fare.—Now York Her- { aid. Zfamhtrhin's ® Ml*h PRBVBHT MkOHINO,