Wisconsin School for the Deaf - Tattler Yearbook (Delavan, WI)

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Nineteen thirty-eight After reaching the Dells he turned West, consequently the Wisconsin River empties into the Mississippi. Another legend is connected with the forming of l.ake Michigan. It furnishes an amusing explanation as to why that lake is so rough at times. It was believed by the Sauk Indiana that when the world was created, the area where hake Michigan now lies was occupied by small lakes. Since they varied greatly in size, it wasn't long before they began quarreling. Each wanted to be situated in the best place. For a long time this continued; until wearying of the constant dispute, they at last held a meeting, where it was decided that the only solution to the problem was to form one groat lake. This would bring satisfaction to all. This body of water we now call taike Michigan. While it is usually quiet, it at times seems to put forth an effort to destroy boats traveling on its surface. The reason for this is supposed to be that the smaller lakes are trying to break themselves free again. The following story enables us to see the methods that the Indian used in making his wants known and how he saw them through: We find that a tribe called the Noquets for many years had possession of the islands off the shores of Green Bay. These islands were rich in game and fish, on which the Noquets lived, never knowing the pangs of hunger. Theirs was a quiet, peaceful life. All of a sudden one day a Potawatomi tribe, upon finding out that the Noquets were away, landed on the islands claiming them as their own. With the return of the Noquets trouble began. There was nothing by which the intruding tribe could prove any claim, so the Noquets took the invasion as a serious insult and vowed revenge. This, of course, meant war. Their method of proclaiming it was filling their canoes with Indian warriors and heading for the pen- Pagc nineteen insula with intentions of raiding the Potawatomi village. They had not gone far. however, when a terrible wind swept the waters. Every canoe sank beneath the mighty waves and not one Noquet survived. Their people waited in vain for their return. Sometime later bodies were found on Detroit Island, so here the Noquet braves were given a mass burial. A legend concerning the love of an Indian maiden gives us the name Maiden Rock, a name borne by a bluff and a village which are located a few miles east of Red Wing. Minnesota. Wenona. the daughter of Red Wing, a Dakota chief, was loved by many a young Indian brave; and to one she gave her heart. This brave. White Eagle, happened to be one from an enemy tribe with which her father’s people were almost constantly at war. Wenona pleaded in vain for her father's permission to marry White Eagle. He so strongly opposed the marriage that he said he would prefer seeing his daughter dead than to have her wedded to an enemy tribesman. Her father had alread r chosen for her husband an old Dakota chief. One day while White Eagle was waiting on a bluff for Wenona, her father called all his warriors together and commanded them to find and kill this Chippewa brave. The girl ran to warn her lover. While talking to him. an arrow pierced his heart Refusing to give herself up to her own people, she ran to the edge of the bluff and jumped before anyone could prevent her. Rather than become the wife of one she didn't love, she preferred following her true lover into eternity. The above legends are a mere fraction of the number collected. Nevertheless, these may give some idea of Indian lore connected with Wisconsin and how it originated. Reading them, we realize that our own state, too, once knew primitive life and the superstition associated with it. MARY ANN I.AKKN was forced to withdraw from school on account of Mines , and. therefore, was unuble to complete her e jtay for putilication.

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Page eighteen rival to the well-known falls of the Yellowstone. The many lakes of the State are surrounded by cottages and summer homes of Wisconsin and out of state people. Wisconsin is the chief play ground of Chicago's millions. Here near Deiavan lie some of the most popular summer resorts in the Middle West. Lake Geneva is one of the loveliest lakes of this region. Many costly summer homes of Chicago people are built on its shores. The lake with its high wooded banks, is very beautiful and its waters crystal clear. Thousands of visitors find health and happiness there. Deiavan Lake which is about three miles from Deiavan is not so large as Lake Geneva but it is just as popular. Lake Como is the name Legends of By IRENE A LIST of Wisconsin topics would hardly be complete without “Legends of Wisconsin'’. a subject which has suffered some neglect until recent years, when people have become interested in Indian lore and have carefully accumulated and preserved all legends that could be obtained. As many of these weird, fantastic. Indian tales have been carried down through generations, and since they are usually based on historical facts, we can gain through them ideas of the early history of Wisconsin. Sometimes it was a war between enemy tribes that prompted a legend. Often it was the personal affair of Indian lovers, who had to compete against the greatest of odds in attempts to meet. This was true of Indian braves who loved Indian maidens of an enemy tribe, or maidens who had their husbands chosen for them by their stern father-chiefs. Much, perhaps most, of Indian lore is founded on some outstanding peculiarity of a place or district. It is for these reasons that many of our Wisconsin names are of Indian origin. Of all the legends, the one presenting the Indian’s idea as to how the Wisconsin River was formed is, perhaps, the most interesting. It is of Chippewa origin and is related as follows : The Wisconsin River bed was formed by a The Tattler given to a third lake near by all of which get their names from three famous lakes in Switzerland. The hills, valleys, rivers, and lakes of Wisconsin extend a friendly hand to man. Its hills are not too large to climb nor its valleys too wide to walk across. One can row across its lakes. There is nothing remote or inaccessible about Wisconsin. It invites one to stay ami live there. Southern Wisconsin, with its fertile farms is the garden spot of the earth and can well be described by Scott’s lines: “Far to the south and east where lay. Extending in succession gay, Deep waving fields and pastures green. With gentle slopes and groves between. Wisconsin IVERSON gigantic serpent that lived in the dark forests, which surrounded a great lake in Northern Wisconsin. No other animal dared venture near him. so huge and powerful he was. One time when this monster left the forest and started for the sea. every creature that saw him trembled with fear. As he moved along, a deep groove was made in the ground by his heavy body. This filled immediately with water. In crawling the serpent would Hap his tail so hard that the water splashed far and wide, leaving a small lake wherever it happened to fall. When the other animals heard him. they made their eseupe to the right and left. This explains the origin of the numerous rivers and streams that empty into the Wisconsin River. Often rocks were in this monster’s way so he crawled over them making water falls. The rugged beauty at Wisconsin Dells is the result of this animal’s passing through that region. There being so much rock, instead of going over it as he had done previously when encountering such formations, he thrust his head through cracks tearing the rocks in two. The distorted movements made to get through can be easily guessed by the queer shnpes of the rocks. In some places the banks of the river are wider than in others owing to the fact that in these he rested.

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Page twenty The Tattler Wisconsin Writers By LILLIAN ANDERSON THIS subject. Wisconsin Writers , has greatly interested me ever since I heard that Sinclair Lewis at the Teachers’ Convention in Milwaukee last fall said that Wisconsin had a large number of creditable authors. In my study of the subject 1 have discovered that Wisconsin has so many well-known writers that it will be impossible to mention half of them. It has been very difficult to make a choice. In our reading class we have frequently read stories by John Muir, whose one hundredth birthday is being celebrated this year. His stories of nature are most fascinating. He was born in Dunbar. Scotland, but spent his boyhood on a farm in Wisconsin near the Fox River twelve miles from Portage. While he was harvesting on his father’s farm, he would observe things that others didn’t see. At a late age he entered the University of Wisconsin. An amusing story is told of him while he was at the University. In his room was a contrivance which tilted his bed on end at a certain hour each morning to awaken him. This device is now in possession of the State Historical Society. Among his many books, the one that Wisconsin readers enjoy most is Story of my Boyhood and Youth.” Most of his other stories are of the West, for he became an adopted son of California. John Muir was also the first American conservationist. By the cleverness of his pen he begged for the segregation and preservation of National Parks and Forest Reserves. No one paid any attention to him until Theodore Roosevelt became president of the United States. Muir’s vision then resulted in a Federal Conservation policy which still exists. Every native of Wisconsin who is a nature lover should by all means read John Muir's “Story of my Boyhood and Youth. Besides stories by John Muir we have enjoyed in the class room some written by Hamlin Garland. His “Middle Border’’ stories are the best known. He not only has written fiction, but history, biography and poetry. However, his fame rests on his vivid portrayal of pioneer life in Wisconsin. The Middle Border” books will live on indefinitely. They rank as classics in the literary world. Hamlin Garland was born on a farm near New Salem, Wisconsin. September 16. 1860. After the Civil War the family moved to Iowa, where he completed his college course. After a few years of teaching in various places, he became a member of the faculty at the Boston School of Oratory. There he made the acquaintance of outstanding men. such as Oliver Wendell Holmes. Edward Everett Hale, and William Dean Howells. The thirty or forty volumes which he has written show how rich he is in ideas. A great many books that are among the best sellers” are soon forgotten, but this is not true of Garland's stories. Their valuable information will always be sought. Out of the city of Portage, Wisconsin, arose an author. Zona Gale, who will be remembered for her remarkable writings for years to come. Miss Gale attended the public schools of her native city and later was enrolled at Way-land Academy, which is in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. before entering the University of Wisconsin. At the age of seven, she printed and illustrated her first book of fiction. In high school she wrote a play. At an early age she received three prizes for producing the best stories and poems. After she was graduated from the University of Wisconsin, she was on the staff of a Milwaukee newspaper. Being very energetic, during her spare moments she wrote plays, loiter she went to New York, where she worked on the staff of the New York World. Finally, when she found that her work in the big city of New York engrossed all of her attention, she returned to the peaceful little city of her birth, where she could busy herself at the work she longed to do. Although Miss Gale is a writer by profession. she has always been enthusiastic over the social and economic advancement of Wisconsin. She has been a regent of the University of Wisconsin for a number of years. Life in a little town means so much to her that she shows in many of her stories the