Bartlett High School - Chronicle Yearbook (Webster, MA)

Page 53 text:

3X lllbqmmlflligllmlfcm 19 3 flEH11mDN11mEM39 ffgsqf 3, gl llwl Q NM A1 . . , , '-' A 1174- -1? Y-qlml:' mnlumuuuw flnmlllll 1 lllW' f ff Fig Ei si l g t? Q 'lg' Q 9.51 A 3 ff' -115 Qullllyfl , M W J ff f ff- 4 , SE -A , K4 , 'x 'M ldff v 5 itmfature

Page 52 text:

56 Q v E fa, has JTO FLEXSI

Page 54 text:

NBARGILECIGI 19 3 ttiiinomician 'K fi: 3 The Nipmuck Indians j 'vN the present site of Webster once stood the Nipmuck village of Chaubuna- gungamaug. It took its name from the lake, the full Indian name of which was Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoiggchaubunagungamaugg, signifying 'M , the fishing place of the boundary. lt was sol called because it served as a dividing line between the territories of the Nipmucks and their southern neighbors, the Narragansetts and the Pequots. The Nipmucks, the English name for which would be fresh-water people, were of Algonquin stock and occupied the territory extending from the Connecticut River eastward through southern-central Massachusetts. Their chief seats were at the headquarters of the Blackstone and the Quinebaug Rivers and about the ponds of Brookheld. Their villages had no apparent political connection, and the vari- ous bands were subject to their more powerful neighbors, the Massachusetts, the Wanipanoags, the Narragansetts, and the Mohegans, some of them being tributary to the distant Mohawks. The Nipmucks usually spent their winters in villages, making occasional hunt- ing excursions into the neighboring forests. Their temporary summer encampments were light coverings of bark on a framework of poles. Their winter homes were more compactly built and sometimes strongly fortified with palisades, because of which construction they were often called forts. This particular group of red men were settled in their habits, being less no- madic than many o-f their brethren. To some extent they were tillers of the soil. In the spring they planted their fields, and then retired into the wilderness to hunt deer until harvest time. Hunting and fishing furnished the principal means of subsistence. Their vegetable diet consisted mainly of corn, accompanied by roots, nuts, berries, beans, pumpkins, and squash. A hoe made of clam shells or of the shoulder blade of a moose fastened to a wooden handle was the one tool which sufliced for their hus- bandry. The Nipmucks trained no animal to assist them in cultivation, hunting, or war. They had neither flocks, herds, nor poultry. Their lines and nets for fishing were made of twisted fibers of dogbones or of the sinews of the deer. The scoop-net, a cylindrical basket, was employed to catch small fish. Torches were waved over the water to attract the larger fish to the surface, where they were speared. The Nipmucks fashioned hooks of sharpened bones of fish and birds. Arrows and spears were tipped with bone or the claws of larger birds. Axes, hatichets, and chisels were made of stone brought to a point. The tomahawk was a wooden club about two feet in length, terminating in a heavy knob. Baskets, nets, and boats were the chief manufactures of this people. They had no law which forbade polygamy, although each brave generally had but one wife. She was his drudge and his slave. All the heavy labor fell to her portion. She covered and lined the Wigwam, and took it down when it was to be moved. The mats and baskets were plaited by her. She tended and harvested the corn and vegetables, and prepared all of the food. The squaw followed her hus- band on his hunting trips and dragged home all the game which he brought down. Her toils were lightened by no participation in the tribal feasts, and she was re- quited with little if any expression of tenderness. The leavings of the meat were her share, and the spot most exposed to the weather was her place in the Wigwam. The Nipmuck brave led the laziest of lives. When not engaged in tribal War, he slept in the retirement of his Wigwam, or engaged in the solitude of the chase. For hours at a time he would sit silent, his elbows on his knees, garrulousness was not an Indian trait. He was a desperate gambler and would stake his most prized possession, his Wigwam, his wife, his personal liberty, on the chances of play. Independence, pride, dignity, and stoicism distinguished the Nipmuck. Seldom if ever did he betray his emotions. In war, craft rather than valor stood high in his esteem. Stealth and speed composed his strategy. In the field he manifested little daring or constancy, but took great pride in being able to bear the most horrible torture without giving evidence of complaint or anguish. To his enemies the Nipmuck was sullen, vindictive, and cruel. The first white men to wend their way into the region of the Nipmucks were a group of colonists from Watertown. On their journey they passed through what is today Webster, establishing a settlement at Vifethersfield, -Connecticut. At that time the Westerly part of the Nipmuck territory was wild hunting ground, and the eastern portion was only thinly inhabited by these red men li-ving in scattered villages, their numbers having been greatly reduced by recent wars with western tribes and with an even more deadly foe, the pestilence. Their early relations with the 'whites were of the IIIOS-t friendly and peaceatble character.