The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-06-04
HOW IT STRIKES A SAVAGE.

From. the NJ Y. Times.
AS people, we have been greatly describ-
ed. Travellers have decended upon us from
every point of the compass, and, notebook in
hand, have compiled for the information of
wondering world marvellous sketches of the
great nation of the West. At last, however,
we have found the long-sought-for impartial
observer-the critic born of our own SOIL
who is yet as destitute of native PROPOSES
sions as of foreign prejudices. The noble
red man is at Washington in all his uncultur-
ed and polysyllabic majesty and in numbers
sufficient to hold council in the Capitol
When it was lately reported that Spotted
Tail feared his veracity would suffer from
recital of the marvels he had seen, we made
sundry Intellectual guesses as to what special
novelty could have so powerfully impressed
the great chief. Now we have found key
to the mystery. The less reticent Red Cloud
has not waited for return to his people to
give his impressions of our civilization
From the safe altitude of his hotel balcony
he has looked upon things as they are, but
instead of being awed by the sight of the
latest products of centuries of refinement
and invention, his savage mind is absolutely
moved to mirth at the contemplation of the
triumphs of modern fashion as displayed in
ladies bonnets, dresses, and waterfalls. What
he would think of their boots, we can only
dimly conf lecture; and it would be no less
interesting to know whether Thunder Skin
and her sisters will be moved to a Jealous
emulation Of the inexpressibly graceful stoop
which is inseparably associated with paniers
and high heels.
For the elucidation of questions so inte-
resting, we would suggest that Gen. Parker
reconsider his resolution to keep the Great
Chief out of the reach of the interviewers.
Even should some enterprising publisher
induce the hero of the Sioux to give his i'm
pressions to the world, it is probable that
we may then have reached a new cycle of
fashionable change, and that the old may
appear as ludicrous to us as it now does to
Red Cloud. And besides, it is in the nature
of things impossible that the Chief can know
as much about his own opinions as an enter
prising interviewer could extract from him,
even with the disadvantage of conversing
through an interpreter. Were this embarrass-
ing prohibition but removed, a flood of light
might be thrown upon our institutions. The
immense talking power of Congress could
scarcely fail to receive its need of unsophis-
ticated admiration, while a vague astonish-
ment would be elected regarding the crowds
of people who throng the capital with no
ostensible occupation, and no perceptible
means of living. 1t is sad to think that we
may never know whether Red Cloud and his
companion braves ever felt moved to invest
in pearl-colored beaver, or to carry an um-
brella with them as memento of civilization.
What their opinions may be about ice-cream
and mixed drinks are as much lost to pos
terity as their judgment about the tariff the
income tax, or the value of Congress from a
purely business point of view There is still
a chance, however, of the imaginative faculty
of the interviewer coming into play and in
venting for us a complete synopsis of the
opinions of Mrs. White Cow-Ratt and Mrs
Thunder Skin on the manners and customs of
the pale faces.