Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1869-09-30
Seleft 8,isteliaa
BORDER "REMINISCENCES.

| >nnne "reminiscences Gi bOfucr ne. III
the October number the following good
story is told
Various ingenious expedients were lie
vised 10 make the time pass off agreea-
| ,,ly during my sojourn inS H, and
! Jne of these, which originated with my
self, is the adventure | proposed to re-
| late at the commencement of this paper.
1t SO happened upon one occasion that
| | had obtained two complete Sioux In
| ,iian warrior costumes, and l proposed
| 10 a gentleman, Mr.. c., that we
-hould dress ourselves in them, and try
| our powers in personatInS the Indian
character. Accordingly my wife, at our
| suggestion, accepted an invitation to a
ea- party that evening at the hOspitabie
mansion OF her friend, Mrs. c.. thus
vacatiig our apartments Tor us to make
our toilets in.
With copper-colored crayon, pulver-
zed and mixed with oil, we besuleared
Iur faces, necks. and hands. We then
put OH the coats, leggings, moccaslns,
iorsehair wigs, and feather head-iress-
:. and, with our tomahawks, pipes, aud
obauco- pouches, We were probably the
most metaunorphosed white men, and
he best representatives of the characters
sIsSibly have been mag led.
in order, however TO enaule the read
# tn get full appreciation OF what
an ;tOoal to relate, renlIrk that both
II ,is were very tall erect. and well de
rloyed, ani our dresses tiLted our per
.DIiS admirably Sn that when we sur
veyeG ourselves in the large mirror in
nv parior our transformation was so
.,erfect that really | could mt for my
lie have told which WAS which.
had passed several years among the
ChippewHs and other Indian tribes ana
was familiar with many OF their hahitS,
and some of their songs ard dances, and
could even make mvsalf Understood in
the Ch ppewa tongue. An3 fortunately
for our project an acquaintance Of mine,
who was :. stranger i'll the place and
vino also could speak some Chippewa,
arrived Just in time to take the part OF
interpreter on the occasion.
After the completion OF our elaborate
toilets We sent out the interpreter 10
procure a carria Z, and at about % CLOCK
III the evening quietly slipped out OF the
back door, and, entering the carriage,
drove around to the TrOnt-do0r OF our
hotel, when the interpreter went in and
inquired of the landlord if he could fur
nlsn louSluSS ioI tNo ui91'h Q aiS'iNN.
Seminole chiefs Jim Jumper" and
wild Cat" who had just arrived from
Florida, en- route to visit their Great
Father at Washington.
This was, it will be RENE mbered, du-
ring the prOtracted Seminole war. when
everybody had the keenest desire to- see
two such redoubtable warriors. And the
host eagerly responded 10 the appiica-
ton, That he should be most happy to
have the honor of entertaining them"
Accordingly he at once threw open
large private parlOr, which he placed at
our disposal, and We were ushered INTO
it with all possible ceremony, After
locking the door we seated ourselves
upon The carpet near the fire, loaded our
huge pipes, and commenced smoking.
Scarce V ten minutes Lad ELAPSED be-
for. the news of our arrival had circula-
ted over the whole city, and hundreds
of curious citizens swarmed about the
doors and halls of the hotel, all anxious
iy awaiting an opportunity to get peep
at the renowned savages After we had
kept them in suspense for some time,
and their patience had become pretty
well exhausted, the door was unOolteu
and the crowd rushed in. Immediately
filling the room to its utmost capacity
They gathered around Us, scrutInlzlng
Us from head to foot most nInutely, and
making all sorts of comments upon our
dress, accouIreinents, and personal APP
appearance, all of which We, of 'coLrse.
were not supposed to understand. They
then commenced interrogating the in
terpreter in reg ,rd 70 our warlike ex-
ploits, the number Jf scalps We had ta-
ken, and the number of men we had
killed in battle, ETC., which wereanswer-
ed to their entir" satisfaction.
In the meantime my red brother
c.. under the pretense OF talking To
u1e, kept up an incessant jarSon not one
syil tuie of which either he or tnybody
else could uu ierStan and which sound
ed more like u cung Generation OF Ditch,
Irish anI hog Latin th.n amy thing
else, yet distinguished paiIoioglSt
present took especial pleasure IN listen
ing 10 him, and pronounced his vernac-
.Iltr "a mast beautiful Specimen OF the
language OF nature; Indeed he gave 1t
as his candid opinion that The dialects
pI civilized nations might be benefited
by the adoption Of some Of those strl-
kingiy Illustrative tropes and figures
with which James Jumpers i'ny com
panion's) conversation seemed TO De so
exuberantly embeIlished.
Among the moss prominent ot the
spectators was Judge NJ, distin-
guished, portly gentleman of the "oid
school" of highly dignified presence,
who priaed himself Oh being able to
trace back his lineage directly to the
Pilgrims He manifested the most live
Iy interest in the red men, ami alter
hands with us, said to me in
loud, distinct tone of voice: do you !
speak English, Mr.. Wildcat"
/ gave Il negative grunt; then looking
fiercely at him, added, Whisky, heap"
which caused the venerable Old gentle |
man 70 recoil from me with astonish- |
ment, and eXclaim:
"What melancholy fact it il. gem !
tlemen, to see these magnificent specl- (
mems of the human race thus bent upon /
their own destructiouI The history of |
the red man shows that when he comes
in contact with the pale-faces, instead.
OF pr r,liting by their moral teachings he |
only learns to ini atate their worst |
vices; and you observe, gentlemen, that
almost the only words of Elsllsh which
these poor benighted savages can utter
are whisky and tobacco. Alas, the poor
Indian his fate is sealed; he seems to
be destined to a speedy extinction The
last of his unfortunate race Will soon
nave ulSappedTeu IIUil Aiic AteOC " viz
earth. and the land OF his lorefathers
will become the heritage of strangers"
Another gentleman present, who had
been engaged with my FREUD Jim Jump
er for six months OH the northeast
professed to be familiar with
the Indian character. and had vis-
tied several tribes. His opinions We're
listened to with profound respect by the
tyros. Among other remarks
that his observations upon us ELECTED
was THAT there had from time to time
been many civilized aud mixed blooded
Indians who went about the country
passing themselves off in public exhlbi-
tinns a. real unadulterated natives; but
| assure you, gentlemen" said he, that
| am good judge of the race, and |