Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-06-04
THE NOBLE RED MAN.
The Indian as He rIs-Belles Of the
Wigwam - Aboriginal Wooing
and Matrimony.

4
| sito Of the Cheyenne Camp, thirty miles from
| For. Larned, Kansas (April 20), Correspon-
derce Of the 81. Louis Democrat
Without exaggeration we style the spot
on which the Indians pitched their village
a paradise. We should judge that some
fanciful notions might be excited in the
heart of q person looking at it from Q
distance, especially if that person bad q
grain Of poetry'in his system But on
approaching it, much Of the charm which
the imagination must have coDjured up
in connection with il would be worn off,
and on entering it the charm would be
entirely dissolved Within the village
all was corruption and flth; on their
backs, with their faces exposed TO the
sun, lay the tawny warriors fast asleep.
Indian boys practiced with bows and
arrows on every object they could see, or
played ball after their own fashion, in q
! perfectly nude state. ~ lCoppor-colored
pappooses were slung in wicker cradles
from limbs of trees, Or, were stretched
and bound numerically to shingles slung
on their mothers backs, while squaws
themselves seemed busy over some mys-
terious culinary preparations
We shock the sensibilities Of ro'
mance.loving boys and girls by relating
| the manner in which the dark-eyed abo-
riginal damsel is espoused.. There have
been poems sung on the heavenly beau
| ties Of Pocahontas and Hiawatha, but
we have not seen an Indian girl yet that
we could compose an ode upon. The
voluptuous form, olive features, ripe,
red lips, delicate > feet,r well-formed
ahcles, lustrous, humid eyes, wavy
masses of raven hair, queenly head
and swan.like neck, we have not seen.
But we have seen a matter Of fact, prac-
teal, and most'unpoetical Indian girl,
handling most dexterously the AK, cut
ting wood for her liege lords supper,
with coarse, black hair, low forehead,
blazing, coal-black eyes, nose inclined
to be fiat, her face of dirty, greasy
color, q, large mouth, monstrous and fiat
| feet, dwarfish legs, and not over mod
estly dressed, and sometimes carrying a
staring, round-eyed and grinning pap
poose, on whom she seemed to scorn
those little foolish maternal endear
meants,so natural and spontaneous to a
mother heart. When an Indian wishes
a squaw to attend his lodge, cook his
meals and wait upon him, he does not
launch into lyrical enthusiasm or fervid
expressions of love; nor does he forget
in his wooing mood the existence of
sky, or the green woods about him, but
simply asks the prosac question: How
much is she worth 2" The amount being
ascertained, f,he has the means, he lays
it at the feet of her father, and takes her
to his lodge. From that time she is his
own, bought by his own money and by
his own hand. ~
a The style and architecture of o wig
wan is almost invariably the same, its
size varying from fifty to seventy.Gve
feet in circumference at the base, and IN
hight from the base to the apex of
the. tent about twlye feet, about twenty
poles planted around, meeting at the top,
where they are tied firmly with cover
ing of tanned buffalo robes, form wig
wan. The top is left open to represent
window, and flap in the side is typi
cal of door, by which the Indian enters
on all fours. In this unpartitioned
lodge sleep the Indian, his wife Tor
wives), and children, and frequently his
children's husbands and their wives.
The furniture is quite in keeping with
the house Name the saucepan, camp
kettle, three or four horn spoons, of
home manufacture, two or three wooden
dishes, likewise of home manufacture,
and you have as thorough an inventory
as any knight of the hamnar could in
vent
Morality is hardly known among the
Indians, but it frequently happens that
when squaw is unfaithful tothe mar
riage bed her nose is cut of which, we
are positive, does not add one jot to the
beauty of her countenance. As a
mother, the ssuaw ranks but little above
the lower animals, making no prepara-
ton, and possessing, apparently, no in
stinctive forethought for childbirth, but
as frequently Introducing her young into
the world on the open prairie as under
the friendly shelter of the wigwam.
The pappoose is swaddled in any chance
rag that offers, and the mother resumes
her work or journey as if nothing had
happened. s 4.ll E9l