She broke through the throng, and rushing up, threw her
arms around him and wept aloud. He kept up the spirit and demeanor of a
warrior to the last, but expired shortly after he had reached his home.
The village was now a scene of the utmost festivity and triumph. The
banners, and trophies, and scalps, and painted shields were elevated
on poles near the lodges. There were warfeasts, and scalp-dances, with
warlike songs and savage music; all the inhabitants were arrayed in
their festal dresses; while the old heralds went round from lodge to
lodge, promulgating with loud voices the events of the battle and the
exploits of the various warriors.
Such was the boisterous revelry of the village; but sounds of another
kind were heard on the surrounding hills; piteous wailings of the women,
who had retired thither to mourn in darkness and solitude for those who
had fallen in battle. There the poor mother of the youthful warrior who
had returned home in triumph but to die, gave full vent to the anguish
of a mother's heart. How much does this custom among the Indian woman of
repairing to the hilltops in the night, and pouring forth their wailings
for the dead, call to mind the beautiful and affecting passage of
Scripture, "In Rama was there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping,
and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be
comforted, because they are not.
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