The Indiana State sentinel., 1878-11-13
LITTLE REDsKIss.
The TrfbuIafious Of Iodfan Babies
Their Kockerless Cradle s-Indian Boys
Rnd Girls.

II. w. Elliott In Harpers Mayazlne.l
A pleasant and envious notion IS enter
tanned here and in other civiliz d precincts
that young Indians grow-just grow as
Topsy thought she did. But 1t Is not SO:
they have sore eyes and bad tempere; they
wake up in the night with lusty yeils and
the collie; they have fits; they raise riots
when cutting their teeth; and they ara Just
as much petted and just as misohlevous
as our own.
The mothers OF Pochahontss and Red |
Jacket worried over them with just as much |
earnestness as perhaps did the maternal pro- |
genilors OF Mrs Hemans and George Wash |
ington, while quite as much paternal super
vision was given doubtless to one as the |
other When the question OF love and ten |
derness alone Is mooted, then it should be |
said without hesitation that the baby born |
to-day in the shadow and smoke OF savage |
life is as carefully cherished as the |
little stranger that may appear here,
simultaneously with it. amid ali |
the surroundings of civilized wealth;
and the difference between them does not |
commence to show itself until they have |
reached that age where the mind begins TO
feed and reason upon what il sees, hears, |
feels and tastes; then the gulf yawns be- |
tween our baby and the Indians; the latter |
stands still while the former is ever moving |
onward and upward.
The love Of an Indian mother for her child |
is made plain to US by the care and labor |
which she often expends upon the cradle; |
the choicest production OF her skill in grass |
and wooden weaving, the neatest needle |
work, and the richest bead embroidery that
she can devise and bestow are layished upor =,
the Quaint looking cribs which savage mot A.
era nurse aud carry their little ones aror md
in. This cradle, though varying in n inor
details with each tribe, Is essentiall' /, the
same thing no matter where 1t is fou ad. he
tween the Indians of ALASKA and tho 20 far TO
the south OF Mexico The Esqulm aux are
the exception, however, for they =, no era
ole whatever, carrying their inf .nts snugly
en- sconced in the hoods to their oarkies aud
otter fur jumpers. The COVER sing priuci ole
of papoose cradle IS an un! 1elding board
upon which the baby can be lashed at full
length on his back.
This board Is usually covered by softly
dressed buckskin, with f1aps and pouches in
which to envelop the ,aby; other tribes, not
rich or fortunate emo ngh TO procure this ma.
| terial, have recour % to a neat combination
OF shrub wood poles reed splints, grass mat
| ting and the soft and fragrant ribbons of the
bass or linden tree bark. Sweet grass is used
here as bed or the youngster' s tender back
or else clearI, dry moss plucked from the
\ bended limbs of the swamp frs; then with
buckskin thongs or cords Of plated grass the
baby is cound down tight and secure for any
and all disposition that its mother may see
fit to make Of it for the next day or two.
Indian babies, as q rule, are not kept in
| their cradles more than 20 10 "a consecutive
hours at any one time. They are usually
| unlimbered for hour or two every day,
and allowed to roll and tumble at will on the
blanket or in the grass or sand if the sun
shines warm aud bright. But this liberty is
always conditional upon their good behavior
when free, for the moment a baby begins TO
fret or whimper the mother claps it back
into its cradle, where il rests with EN- mphasis,
for il can there move nothing save its head;
but so far from dshking these rigid couches,
the babies actually sleep better in them than
free, and positively cry to be returned to
them when neglected and left longer than
usual at liberty. This fact is certainly an
amusing instance of the force of habit
When the papoose is putaway in its cradle,
the mother has little or no more concern
with it. other than to keep within sight or
hearing. II she is engaged about the wig
wan or in the village, she stands it up In the
lodge corner or hangs it to some convenient
tree, taking it down'at regular intervals to
nurse. When she retires at night the baby
is brought and suspended at come point
within easy reaching; II the baby is i'll, it is
kept at her side, or she sits up all night with
1t in the most orthodox fashion. When the
women leave the village on an errsnd, such
! as going to the mountains for berries or to
the river canyon for fish, the cradles, with
The babies therein, are slung upon the mo-
Tiers backs and carried no matter how
far how rough the road or how dismal the
Indian babies are born subject to all the
lis that baby flesh is heir TO, but with this
great difference between them and ours
when sick they are either killed or cured
without delay. This does not happen how
ever, from sinister motives; it is no. done to
avoid the !rksome care of a sicklY, puny
child; il is not the result of lack of love for
off pring-not any or all OF these; it is due
to their wonderful medicine" their fearful
system Of incarnation.
A papoose becomes i'll; 1t refuses to eat or
tn be comforted; and after several days and
nights of anxious. tender endeavor to relieve
her child, the mother begins to fear the
worst, and growing thoroughly alarmed, she
at last sends for the ''shaman," or doctress
of the tribe, and surrenders her babe TO bis
or her merciless hands This shaman at once
sets up over the wretched youngster steady
bowling, and then anon a whispered conjur-
alton, shaking hideous rattle or burning
wisps OF grass around the cradle. This is
kept up night and day until the baby rallles
or dies, one doctor relieving the other until
the end is attained, and that result is death
nine times out OF ten.
The state of communism in which Indians
live generally permits no privileged class
among them and the girls of the chief walk
as heavy burdens as are carried by the
daughters OF the others who have no rank or
standing whatever in the village. Liberty,
equality and fraternity among the children
ere a patent fact There are no heart burn
ings caused by wealth here or high public
position. The boys are never known to have
quarreled among themselves because the
father of one was richer than the father OF
the other, aud the little girls never attempt
or think OF queening it over one another
on the strength of better dresses and
their mothers carriage. There are no
rivalries OF this kind among In
dian children until they assume the toga
virilis; but they have jeslousies and mali
cious promptiDgs which culminate in blows
and taunts that spring out OF their childish
games for they play at bat and foot ball, at
hide and seek, at tag, and have several out
door psstimes not unlike blindman's buff
and hunt the slipper. Indian boys do not
know anything about marbles; they have no