The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1875-10-23
LETTER FROM FORT SCOTT, KANSAS.
FORT ScoTT, Kansas, Oct. 10, 1875.

roRT oCoTT, Kansas, OcI. IL, 1910.
EDITOR WHIG:-In my last letter pro-
missed to tell you and your readers some
thing about the International Indian Fair,
recently held at Muskogee, Indian Terri
tory; but owing to circumstances over
which no one had any control but Provi-
dence, was only privileged to spend about
one hour at that curious gathering, there
fore cannot tell you much about it. l can
say, however, that the display of articles
was very meagre-not by any means up to
the expectations of the managers. The
showing was not in keeping with the re-
puted progress of the country, and the
attendance was very slim on the part of
those who should have been most inter-
ested. The move is too far ahead of the
people, and there is time enough yet for
such an enterprise in the far future. No
greater idea could have been conceived for
the advancement of the Indian people than
the International Fair, where the exhibit
ton of products and works of art would
be an incentive to laudable emulation; and
quirements of the people on such an occa-
sion would go far toward refuting the Oft
repeated land they claim UNJUST accusa-
tions against them. But they made an
ignominious failure in showing anything
but their utter worthlessness as a nation in
an industrial point of view.
Probably the most notable event of the
occasion was the test of horseuomanship
between six young Indian women. was
at the Judges stand when they refined in
their ponies before him to await his deci-
sion. Surely they presented the most per-
feet picture of humility ever saw-heads
hair flowing in the breeze, and their coun-
tenances so calm and humliating!
thought, "what a picture for an artistw
Presently the Judge beckoned to one of
the number to come to him, in answer to
which signal she quickly alighted, and as
she stepped toward him her figure showed
stately and upright. There was perfect
harmonious grace in her movements which
her barbarously- shaped clothing could not
conceal, and the face that was set in the
frame of red cotton kerchief was worthy
of more elegant head dress. Her youth
and beauty triumphed over even the dress
of an Indian girl. Her face was beautiful
with the beauty of regular classic lines,
and when she looked up at the Judge and
waited for him to speak, it was lovelier far
with the loveliness of fresh, unsullied, un-
care-stricken happiness. There was sitting
beside the Judge the daughter of rich
railroad official, and if you could have seen
them both you would have said that the
rich woman was as plain and awkward as
engaging. Her father is Frenchman and
her mother Creek Indian. She was the
fairest object at the fair.
1t is extremely improbable that the ma
jority Of Indians will ever become agricul-
tural in their habits. The drudgery of
farm work is SO distasteful to them that
few will ever undergo it, even from neces-
sity, and fewer still will adopt it from
choice. A pastoral life, on the contrary, is
suited to their habits, and to their rowing,
unsettled dispositions. Were they to be-
come shepherds and stock raisers, the
change from their present condition would
be slight; they could still live in tents, and
wander from place to place as usual. This
life would not be incompatible with white
settlement of the country, and the Indian
" Cowboy could fraternize with the
blonde s'bull whacker'' in the most friendly
manner. But this method of life would
too closely resemble work, and the Indians
could not stand even SO remote an insinua-
ton of labor as this would be.
Colonel Boudinot, commonly called the
"Indian Orator." himself an Indian, has
the misfortune to be a cultivated gentle
man, withal man of ability, and far in
advance of his race. Seeing the good re-
suits which would accrue to the tribes
inhabiting the Territory from contact with
civilization, he recently proposed partial
throwing open of the country to the whites,
that any and all advantages possible might
be derived from better system of govern
ment, moro extended RAIDS, and future
railways. But the action of the General
Council of tribes, just adjourned, is but
another instance of the apparently incur
able stupidity which atflicts the Indians.
The chiefs were by no means SO astute as
Colonel Boudinot supposed them to be, and
instead of seeing the matter with his eyes,
they persisted in looking at it with their
own. They were shrewd enough to per-
ceive that opening the country to the whites
would result in bringing white industry in
this would be so much to the disadvantage
of the latter that the comparison would
become even more odious than comparisons
usually are. Not that the Indians cared
for the looks of the thing-they are by no
means so thin skinned as that; the ques-
ton, in their opinion, assumed more
practical shape. The intermixture of In
dian hunting grounds and cultivated farms
would have deleterious effect in restrict
ing the range of game, and this is probably
one potent reason why the Indians objected
to the proposal. Considering, however, the
small amount of game and the large sup
plies of stores furnished by the United
States Government, this would readily sink
to secondary rank as an objection, and
another must be allowed its full force.
The race antipathy which the Indians feel
toward the whites must enter largely as
factor in this problem. The Indian natur-
ally hates the whites. His hatred does not
proceed to the extent of non intercourse;
by no means. He is perfectly willing to
receive rations, arms, horses, and war-like
munitions from the agents, and as willing,
when occasion serves, to use those same
arms in the murder of inoffensive white
travellers through the country. Then, too,
past experience has taught the savages
when the whites come the Indians must
either work, move, or starve. Being utterly
unwilling to do either the first or the last,
they generally adopt the middle alteIna-
tive, and travel on. Circumstances are now