The White Rose Of The Cherokees.

" Good gracious ! above Council Bluff , did you say ? Why , then , you must be rig ht among the red skins . You are surrounded by Indians , aren't you ? " The old man smiled and looked at his eager questioner . "Yes , " he said . "The Winnebagoes are just above us ; beloAV are the Sacs and Foxes ; if Ave cross the river Ave get among the Omahas , the Otoes , the Iowas , or the Kickapoos . Our country is certainly an Indian country , We have few Avhite neighbours . "

" I dare say that you are a trapper , " continued the little man . " You live there for the peltries that you can gain . Come noAv , do tell us all about it . I have read Capt . BonneA'ille ' s adA'entures , ancl was mightily interested in the book . May be , you can tell us as great stories as he does . For anything Ave know , you may be the Captain himself . "

The old man shook his head . " My name is Comstock , " he replied . " I have not the honour of being in any Avay related to the adventurer you speak of . I have never met Avith him or read his book . Moreover , you misjudge my occupation ; I am not a trapper . " The little man looked at the old gentleman more keenly than ever . " You trade Avith the Indiansthen ? " he said . " Do you belong to the Hudson

, Bay Company , or to the NorthAvest Company ? Exciting times those fur traders have : I should like to be among them myself . If it Avasn't for the old woman and the children at home , I'd be on my Avay there to-morrow . " " No , " said the old man ; "I am not a fur trader ; I nei'erbought a peltry in my life . "

" Is it possible that you OAVU a farm there ? Married an Indian , perhaps , and emigrated AAnth the nation ? Many did the same . You have a family among the Indians , hey ? It ' s too cold for cotton , I take it , up Avhere you are ; and then , again , where do you find a market ? " " I have neither Avife , farm , nor Lidian children , " said the old man . " I have but one relative that I knoAV of in the Avicle Avorld—one connected to me by ties of blood , I

mean . That is a daughter . The Indians call her ' The White Rose of the Oherokees . '" The little man Avas eA'idently nonplussed . He did not like to pursue his queries further ; and yet it Avas easy to see that he was half dying with curiosity . The peddler , too , changed the position of the hat upon his temples , and looked up from the almanack Avonderingly . The whist-players had been attentively listening to the conversation ; and the landlordAA'I IO had happened inas his custom wasto look after the firestopped

, , , , upon the hearth , Avith one hand resting upon the mantel-piece , and gazed into the strange old gentleman ' s eyes Avith an expression upon his rubicund face , which said , as plainly as Avords could have done , " Who in the deuce are you then ? " The whist-players , AA'ho about this time had finished their game , UOAV came in a row about the fire .

" Come , old man , " said one of them , " you have excited the curiosity of all these good people—that is very evident ; now tell us Avhat you do among the Indians , and IIOAV did your daughter win that A'ery pretty soubriquet of hers , ' The White Rose of the Oherokees ?'" . The old gentleman hesitated . _ " There is little of interest , I fear , " he said , " in my history : and yet , if you have mind

a ^ to hear it , gentlemen , upon this rainy day , I will relate it to you . My name , as I before said , is Comstock . The first that I can recollect of myself , I was , together with two hundred children , an inmate of an orphan asylum , or perhaps it might have been more properly called a Foundling Hospital . It AA'as , at any rate , a charitable concern ; the children Avere all picked up from the dregs of society , and scores of them were i gnorant of their parentageI made inquiries of the beadle and the atron

. many m in regard to my father and mother , but from neither could I obtain any satisfaction . J he matron said I was picked out of a ditch , she believed , somewhere—among so many brats she could not be expected to knoAV ( lie history of all . The beadle , who was a proane felloAV , cursed my inquisitiveness , ancl declared that I need not be over anxious to Know who my relations \ A'ere ; none of them were any too respectable .