Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-03-08

fellow, swearing overmuch, brimming
with help when help is Of use, is careless
Of blood-either his own or yours-far
beyond an Arab, almost beyond a
Chinese. This path through the prairie
has been paved by him again and again,
with bones; but the trace OF his passage,
of his suffering, dies away out Of sight
with the autumnal flowers. Nature is
here too strong for man to do more than
throw trail upon her landscape, which
may show itself for day In the bunch
grass, among the gray sand, then vanish
from sight like the track of ship at sea.
Pincked by hunger, Mr.. Dixon once
killed and prepared to eat prairie dog.
"Lord r' cries the boy at the rancho,
"you will never eat that, sir
"Why not2 ! am hungry enough to
"WelI, sir" says the lad, eve prairie
folks. consider the OWL the rattlesnake
and the prairie dog to be all Of kith and
kin, the DEVILS own spawn, and that any
body who eats them will 90 mad. "
"'Put him in the pan; | must take my
chance The flesh proved to be deli
cious, with something like the taste of
squirrel; and on seeing me suck the
savory bone, the prairie boy instantly
seized and devourod leg. hope the
teamsters and drivers will continue in
their want of faith as to the wholesome
ness of prairie dogs, for the antics of
these little animals should make them
dear to every man who has to cross the
plains, in which the supply of comedy
is extremely scant
Ofthe Indian tribes on the plains, Mr..
Dixon is not at all enamored After a
long disquisition on their evil character
and worse habits, he observes
"The Anglo-Saxon power of assimila-
ton is very great; but the Cheyenne and
Dakota present TO it, perhaps, the very
hardest meal it has ever been called on
TO digest. The Anglo.SaXon has not
gone far in the process of eating up the
red man, yet he shows by hundred sigr.
the effect of that ndigestible meal pyon
his health. The Indian fibre is CHceed.
ingly tough. Can any one say whether,
up to this moment, though the white men
have an easy mastery, the action OF the
white men on the red has been stronger
than that of the red men on the white 2"
He continues: II canuot say that
their domestic life is either noble or
lively. A prairie brave, mounted on a
strong pony, with a rifle on his saddle,
blanket strapped behind him, dressed
in a handsome skin jacket, adorned with
beads and tags, with his squaw trudging
heavily by his side on foot, carrying her
papoose on her back, and parcel of
provisions in her hands, was one of my
earliest illustrations of the chivalries of
Indian life. A mob of Ute warriors tear
ing through the streets of Denver, rush
ing into shops and painting their faces,
while the squaws and papooses tumbled
after them in the mire, laden with cab
bages, buffalo skins and miscellaneous
domestic fry, was another. A listless,
insolent crowd of Pawnees, smoking and
drinking on the Pacific road, while the
squaws were laboriDg on the railway
lines as navvies, hired out by the braves
at fifty cents day and ration of corn
and meat uncooked, was third. As
such examples grew in strength upon
me, | began to think the noble Indian
was not SO much of gentleman as be-
lieving reader of the Last of the Mohi-
gans' might suppose. Why don't these
fellows work for themselves, instead of
lounging in groceries and grog shops
while their wives are digging earth and
carrying wood2' An Omaha friend who
stood near me smiled: Don't you see
they are warriors and gentlemen They
cannot degrade themselves by work.