Catharine was always very particular and punctual in performing her
personal ablutions, and she intimated to Indiana that it was good for her
to do the same; but the young girl seemed reluctant to follow her example,
till daily custom had reconciled her to what she evidently at first
regarded as an unnecessary ceremony; but she soon took pleasure in dressing
her dark hair, and suffering Catharine to braid it, and polish it till it
looked glossy and soft. Indiana in her turn would adorn Catharine with the
wings of the blue-bird or red-bird, the crest of the wood-duck, or quill
feathers of the golden-winged flicker, which is called in the Indian tongue
the shot-bird, in allusion to the round spots on its cream-coloured breast:
[Footnote: The Golden-winged Flicker belongs to a sub-genus of woodpeckers;
it is very handsome, and is said to be eatable; it lives on fruits and
insects.] but it was not in these things alone she showed her grateful
sense of the sisterly kindness that her young hostess showed to her; she
soon learned to lighten her labours in every household work, and above all,
she spent her time most usefully in manufacturing clothing from the skins
of the wild animals, and in teaching Catharine how to fit and prepare them;
but these were the occupation of the winter months.
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