An advertisement to that effect was inserted in the Fort Worth _Gazette_, when General Ross at once forwarded him a copy. To his untutored mind it seemed that a miracle had been wrought in response to his “paper prayer;” and his exclamations, as he gazed intently and long upon the faithful representation of “Preloch,” or Cynthia Ann, were highly suggestive of Cowper’s lines on his mother’s picture; and we take the liberty of briefly presenting a portion of the same in verse:
My mother! and do my weeping eyes once more-- Half doubting--scan thy cherished features o’er? Yes, ’tis the pictured likeness of my dead mother, How true to life! It seems to breathe and move; Fire, love, and sweetness o’er each feature melt; The face expresses all the spirit felt; Here, while I gaze within those large, dark eyes, I almost see the living spirit rise; While lights and shadows, all harmonious, glow, And heavenly radiance settles on that brow. What is the “medicine” I must not know, Which thus can give to death life’s bloom and glow. O, could the white man’s magic art but give As well the happy power, and bid her live! My name, me thinks, would be the first to break The seal of silence, on those lips, and wake Once more the smile that charmed her gentle face, As she was wont to fold me in her warm embrace. Yes, it is she, “Preloch,” Nocona’s pale-faced bride, Who rode, a matchless princess, at his side, ’Neath many a bloody moon afar, O’er tortuous paths devoted alone to war. Long since she’s joined him on that blissful shore,-- Where parting and heart-breakings are no more,-- And since our star with _him_ went down in gloom, No more to shine above the blighting doom, ’Neath which my people’s hopes, alas, are fled, I, too, but long that silent path to tread,-- A child, to be with her and him again, Healed every wound an orphan’s heart can pain!
Quanah Parker is a Nocone, which means wanderer, but on the capture of his mother, Preloch, and death of his father, Quanah was adopted and cared for by the Cohoites, and when just arrived at manhood, was made chief by his benefactors on account of his bravery. His name before he became a chief was Cepe. He has lived among several tribes of the Comanches. He was at one time with the Cochetaker, or Buffalo Eaters, and was the most influential chief of the Penatakers. Quanah is at present one of the four chiefs of the Cohoites, who each have as many people as he has. The Cohoite Comanches were never on a reservation until 1874, but are to-day further advanced in civilization than any Indians on the “Comanche reservation.” Quanah speaks English, is considerably advanced in civilization, and owns a ranche with considerable live stock and a small farm; wears a citizen’s suit, and conforms to the customs of civilization--withal a fine-looking and dignified son of the plains. In 1884, Quanah, in company with two other prominent Comanche chiefs, visited Mexico. In reporting their passage through that city, the San Antonio _Light_ thus speaks of them: