and drudgery
and, later, relief from physical suffering.

Broken by over-work and compelled to abandon the practice of my
profession--the law, I wrote _Pauline_ after I had been given up to die
by my physicians. It proved to be a better 'medicine' for me than all
the quackeries of the quacks. It diverted my mind from myself and,
perhaps, saved my life. When published, its reception by the best
journals of this country and England was so flattering and, at the same
time, the criticisms of some were so just, that I have been induced to
carefully revise the poem and to publish my re-touched _Pauline_ in this
volume. I hope and believe I have greatly improved it. Several of the
minor poems have been published heretofore in journals and magazines;
others of equal or greater age flap their wings herein for the first
time; a few peeped from the shell but yesterday.

I am aware that this volume contains several poems that a certain class
of critics will condemn, but they are my "chicks" and I will gather them
under my wings.

"None but an author knows an author's cares,
Or Fancy's fondness for the child she bears."--_Cowper._

Much of my life has been spent in the Northwest--on the frontier of
civilization, and I became personally acquainted with many of the chiefs
and braves of the Dakota and Ojibway (Chippewa) Indians. I have written
of them largely from my own personal knowledge, and endeavored, above
all things, to be accurate, and to present them true to the life.

For several years I devoted my leisure hours to the study of the
language, history, traditions, customs and superstitions of the Dakotas.
These Indians are now commonly called the "_Sioux_"--a name given them
by the early French traders and _voyageurs_. "Dakota" signifies
_alliance_ or _confederation_. Many separate bands, all having a common
origin and speaking a common tongue, were united under this name. See
"_Tah-Koo Wah-Kan,_" or "_The Gospel Among the Dakotas,_" by Stephen R.
Riggs, pp. 1 to 6 inc.

They were but yesterday the occupants and owners of the fair forests and
fertile prairies of Minnesota--a brave, hospitable and generous
people--barbarians, indeed, but noble in their barbarism. They may be
fitly called the Iroquois of the West. In form and features, in language
and traditions, they are distinct from all other Indian tribes. When
first visited by white men, and for many years afterwards, the Falls of
St. Anthony (by them called the _Ha H