A Little Girl in Old Detroit | Page 8

the top of them. It was placed in the corner, and so, out of sight, Pani
felt that her charge was always safe. In the morning Jeanne generally
turned a somersault that took her over to the edge of the big bed, from
whence she slid down.
The English had abolished slavery in name, but most of the Pani
servants remained. They seldom had any other than their tribal name.
Since the departure of the Bellestres Jeanne's guardian had taken on a
new dignity. She was a tall, grave woman, and much respected by all.
No one would have thought of interfering with her authority over the
child.
"Hear the cannon at the Fort and the bells. And everybody will be out!
Pani, give me some breakfast and let me go."
"Nay, nay, child. You cannot go alone in such a crowd as this will be.
And I must set the house straight."
"But Marie De Ber and Pierre are to go. We planned it last night. Pierre
is a big, strong boy, and he can pick his way through a crowd with his
elbows. His mother says he always punches holes through his sleeves."
Jeanne laughed gayly. Pierre was a big, raw-boned fellow, a good
guard anywhere.
"Nay, child, I shall go, too. It will not be long. And here is a choice bit
of bread browned over the coals that you like so much, and the corn
mush of last night fried to a turn."
"Let me run and see Marie a moment--"
"With that head looking as if thou hadst tumbled among the burrs, or
some hen had scratched it up for a nest! And eyes full of dew webs that
are spun in the grass by the spirits of night."
"Look, they are wide open!" She buried her face in a pail of water and
splashed it around as a huge bird might, as she raised her beautiful

laughing orbs, blue now as the midnight sky. And then she carelessly
combed the tangled curls that fell about her like the spray of a
waterfall.
"Thou must have a coif like other French girls, Jeanne. Berthê
Campeau puts up her hair."
"Berthê goes to the Recollets and prays and counts beads, and will run
no more or shout, and sings only dreary things that take the life and
gayety out of you. She will go to Montreal, where her aunt is in a
convent, and her mother cries about it. If I had a mother I would not
want to make her cry. Pani, what do you suppose happened to my
mother? Sometimes I think I can remember her a little."
The face so gay and willful a moment before was suddenly touched
with a sweet and tender gravity.
"She is dead this long time, petite. Children may leave their mothers,
but mothers never give up their children unless they are taken from
them."
"Pani, what if the Indian woman had stolen me?"
"But she said you had no mother. Come, little one, and eat your
breakfast."
Jeanne was such a creature of moods and changes that she forgot her
errand to Marie. She clasped her hands together and murmured her
French blessing in a soft, reverent tone.
Maize was a staple production in the new world, when the fields were
not destroyed by marauding parties. There were windmills that ground
it coarsely and both cakes and porridge were made of it. The Indian
women cracked and pounded it in a stone mortar and boiled it with fish
or venison. The French brought in many new ways of cooking.
"Oh, hear the bells and the music from the Fort! Come, hurry, Pani, if
you are going with us. Pani, are people slow when they get old?"

"Much slower, little one."
"Then I don't want to be old. I want to run and jump and climb and
swim. Marie knits, she has so many brothers and sisters. But I like
leggings better in the winter. And they sew at the Recollet house."
"And thou must learn to sew, little one."
"Wait until I am big and old and have to sit in the chimney corner.
There are no little ones--sometimes I am glad, sometimes sorry, but if
they are not here one does not have to work for them."
She gave a bright laugh and was off like a flash. The Pani woman
sighed. She wondered sometimes whether it would not have been better
to give her up to the good father who took such an interest in her. But
she was all the poor woman had to love. True she could be a servant in
the house, but to have her wild, free darling bound down to rigid rules
and made unhappy was more than she could stand. And