Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-21


airs of some of the students is striking,
The freshmen are the grandest of all.
THE OMAHAS.
Il Lady's account of the Customs and Node
of Life of an Indian Tribe.
Miss Alice Fletcher, who has spent much
time among the Omaha tribe of Indians,
laboring for them both morally and physi-
cally, made an interesting address on the
manners and customs of the tribe before
large audience in the lower town hall at
Brookline, Mass, the other evening. She
explained the formation of an Omaha
camp, with its various sgens," or clans,
and the construction of small model
wigwam, placed upon table in front,
which had been made and presented to her
by some of her friends among the Oma-
has. Upon the skins of which it was COM
posed are painted two peace pipes. In
such tent, she said, every one
had his or her. particular position.
A guest when entering one, was
on no account to pass on the sum-
mer side of the fre-that belonged ex-
clusively to the host and hostess, while
guests occupied the back part, which they
reached by the winter side. The wigwam
was always erected by the women, and
was always done with great expeditions
ness. The corn, which was done up in
small sacks, along with spare old things,
ETC., in skin packs, was placed on the
ground in the back part of the tent, and in
L. L,l g..
and months at time. It was against all
rules of Indian etiquette to mention any
one by name in his or her presence. She
herself was rechristened by the Omahas,
and was known by the name which indi-
Gated an eagle circling round and round
high up in the air. Upon asking her In
dian friends their reason for thus naming
her, she was informed that the
eagle, when on high, could see the
day coming long before those in the
valley, and that her coming among
them was like the dawning of a new day.
The Omahas, Miss Fletcher went on to say,
were very expert in bead work of all de-
scriptions, some Of the examples which
she exhibited to her hearers being ex-
tremely beautiful in construction and ar
rangement of colors, particularly one or
two scarfs of most brilliant hues, and all
obtained from native dyes.
There were three most important cere-
monies in connection with the life of an
Omaha Indian. The first was the name of
a child, which did not take place until it
was able to walk, when it was taken to one
of the sacred tents. There its hair, which
has been allowed to grow up to that time,
was cut of, its name bestowed, and it was
then allowed to follow it's
parents home to its own wig
wan. Upon arriving at maturity, in the
case of man he had to go through certain
trials of endurance, which were followed
by the usual feasting. If a girl, why, said
the lecturer, she ''came OUT into society,
as it were, and soon afterward got married
Last of all came the ceremony of death,
an instance of which she once witnessed.
While the man was still alive, but when all
hope was gone, the flaps of the wigwam
were thrown back to the fullest extent, and
his former comrades, all dressed in their
best, sat round, chanting solemn death
song, while the women of the tribe almost
rent the air with their walls. As soon as
death had come, the deceased warriors
nearest relative brought out his favorite
horse and shot it in front of the circle of
chanting warriors, while his dog was
served in the same way. Then everything
belonging to the deceased was distributed
among the members of the tribe. His
widow cut off her long black hair and
threw it on the corpse, which was quickly
burned, and soon nothing was left but the
spot of charred ground where the fire had
been. In conclusion, Miss Fletcher asked
her listeners not to forget that they were
dealing with people whose customs were
as permanent as ours, and with men and
women with feelings like unto ours. The
open sesame to the Indian was his child.
Let them, therefore, help the Indian child,
and in doing that they would be helping
him to face the future, where he mist take
his place side by side with us as member
of the same great family.
Palace Car Porters' Earnings.
A Pullman car porter has been telling a
st. Louis reporter about the earnings of
the employees on those cars. Drummers
are liberal, young married men are good,
women are very bad, millionaires worst.
II had sad illustration of that couple
of weeks ago. Mr.. Gillette, millionaire
mine owner (traveling with Bonanza Mack
OyJ, SdNO mo D1s 10 SdlU, WIFI d teTr1Dl0
stutter, 1T was all the ch-ch-ange he had
1t was terrible blow, but went in and
got Mr.. Mackey out for his brush. He
fumbled around among lot of keys
and finally fshed out fifty cents!
By jinks! I was mad, but I couldn't
say anything. It's so with most
rich men. There's Governor Tabor; he's
about as good as most of 'em, but he never
gives me more than 81. There's Senator
Jones; he went to Deming once with me
and gave me SIS. On the other
hand, Senator Fair, who is fifty
times richer than Jones, they
say, came up once, and he only gave 81.
He was nice about it, though-spoke SO
kind, and told me not to spend my money
foolishly. Politicians, when they get
money, are mighty good. There's Dorsey,
the star route man. When he goes down
to his rancho he always gives me hand
full of silver-don't stop to count it,"
The worst of all are the old ladies who
want bags and parcels carried, but never
give aught but thanks: in these however