LA FAMILLE Chapter 15 PUTTING THINGS IN ORDER

The Indians Wanted to Be Involved in Everything
courtesy photobucket.com

 

The next day after the wedding, or should I say weddings the party was on. The reception had been planned in advance and people were expecting to have fun eating and dancing to the music.

There were some friendly Indians who came and joined in.  They were now considering themselves part of everything that went on at the post.

They always came to see Doc when they had a health problem and was glad he had some wives for himself.  They didn’t think bad of him because he had more than one wife for some of them did also.

The party lasted until after midnight and people were sleeping wherever they could find shelter for the nights were getting nippy.  

Jean had staked out a large parcel of land around the post but outside that area people were starting to build homes for themselves.  There were some people coming north and stopping instead of going west.

Jean had brought the government surveyors up and the government agreed to lay out parcels of land and set up a land office to allow people to have deeds to the property they had cleared and were farming.

The trappers were not too happy with the arrangement for they had to travel many miles further to trap.

Jean felt this was the right thing to do but it could lead to trouble so he set up a small outpost he called West Ward Inn, that was many miles away from the main post.

This way the trappers could use this smaller post when they had a need for supplies.  It was a one man operation with a man, Moses and his wife Mary, running it.

Jean wanted to enlarge the Doctor quarters by three times its size so that became his number one priority.  He also had some houses built around the post/fort for people who wanted to live further north of St. Louis.

He sent for his brother, Jean 2 to start setting up the headquarters at St. Louis and to start hauling all the goods by wagons instead of mule train.  Jean 2 still had the idea that he wanted to find a pretty Indian girl as pretty as Elise.

Each time he came up to what has now began to be called Jean’s outpost he would ask Elise when she was going to find him his pretty maiden.  Finally he wore her down and she said, “Let’s go into Canada as it was now called and we will see what we can find.”

Jean told her to take Grandfather and the head mule train scout with her for he thought she should have some protection.  It took two days of hard travel when they arrived where Grandfather’s tribe was.  After greeting the people they knew; Little Dove (Elise) began to introduce Jean2 to the women of the tribe.  

Most of the women were either old or married and none of them were what you might call pretty. 

 

After a half a day Jean2 was ready to head home.  Elise saw she had about all the fun Jean2 could stand so she said, “Tomorrow we will try some where else.”

He said, “I have seen enough I want to go home.”  

She said, “After tomorrow we will.”
 

Convent
courtesy Photobucket.com

Jean2 had a restless night and was tired the next morning.  Elise made him get up and get ready to go.  

Grandfather wish to stay with his old friends so Elise and Jean2 went alone to the convent and there she met with the sisters that were her teachers while she grew up there.

After looking the girls over Elise picked out a couple who were part Indian and were ready to leave the convent.  She brought them out and introduced them to Jean2 and his eyes got as big as saucers.

He hadn’t been allowed into the convent and he whispered, “I want them both.”  Elise said, “Keep your distance and you can talk to them.”

One of the nuns kept watch over them while Elise visited with the sisters and brought them up to date on what had happened to her.

The nuns thought that Jean2 had enough time with the girls and took them back into the convent.

Elise came out and asked if he liked either one of them.

He replied, “I want them both.”  Elise went back into the convent and talked to the Mother Superior about allowing the two women to visit the outpost with the view of getting married.  

Both of the girls wanted to get a husband and wanted to go with Elise.  The mother Superior said she was placing them into her hands and if it didn’t work out she wanted the women returned in the same condition as they were when they left.

Elise agreed and after packing up they left to pick up Grandfather.

Two days later they were back at the outpost and the two girls and Jean2 were well on the way to getting acquainted.

To be Continued