Ohio History Journal

Tecumseh.                       497

 

says her husband was killed fighting by the side of Tecumseh in the

battle of the Thames, but Shane speaks of him, as quoted by Drake, as

Tecumseh's "friend and brother-in-law, Wasegoboah." It would appear

from this that Masonville had united with the Indians, assumed an In-

dian name and became- reconciled to Tecumseh. Shane further states

that after the War of 1812 Tecumsapease went to Quebec (probably with

her nephew Pugeshashenwa) whence after a time she returned to Detroit

where she died. A few years ago (1884) some of her descendants were

still living in Missouri.

 

 

 

TECUMSEH.

 

[From the poem by Jessie F. V. Donnell in the Magazine of Western

Western History.]

True son of the forest, whose towering form

Imaged the pine in the wind-driven storm;

Whose eye, like the eagle's pierced keen and far,

Or burned with the light of a fiery star;

Whose voice was the river's tempestuous roar,

The surging of waves on a pitiless shore.

 

His tongue was a flame that leapt through the West,

Enkindling a spark in each rude savage breast;

The wind of the prairies, resistless and free,

Was the breath of his passionate imagery;

Ah! Never were poet's dreams more grand,

Nor even a Caesar more nobly planned!

 

His brain was as broad as the prairies' sweep;

His heart like a mountain-cavern deep,

Where silent and shadowed the water lies,

Yet mirrors a gleam from the star-strewn skies;

His soul ablaze with a purpose high,

Disdain of possessions, scorn of a lie.

 

What was Tecumseh? A threatening cloud

Over the untrodden wilderness bowed,

Vol. XV.-*32.

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498       Ohio Arch. and Hist. Society Publications. Bringing the storm in its desolate train, Heralding rush of the hurricane! Such to his foes; to his friends a spark, That a moment gleamed through the gathering dark.   A comet-flash through a midnight sky; The wail of the wind as it hurried by; The flight of a bird on its untamed wings,- All wild, resistless, impetuous things Symbol, though faintly, that barbaric guide Who led forth to freedom, and failed, and died. *    *    * Was Tecumseh then but a failure? A light That faded for aye in eternity's night? Will the sons of the forest forget their pride, Forget that a hero still he died? Defeat is not a failure when spirits are brave; God wastes not the spark his divinity gave.   Great souls are not made for failure; they fall, But God in his patience regathers them all; Like stars they are set in the dimness of time To illumine the world with their light sublime; And while glimmers a ray from the mightiest star, The soul of Tecumseh shall shine from afar.

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