The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-01-19
EVOLUTION OF THE COMING SAVAGE.
A Consideration of the Question, care We
Becoming Children of Nature?


Springfield Mass Republican.
There is theory among ethnologists that the eau
clsllnS OF this country i'll every respect save
color rapidly approximating the type of the aborigi
nal American ri vsicaiy and morally Tall straight
and slender white men, with high cheek bones, eagle
nose and keen eyes are continually startling the Tor
egn visitor to this country by their resemblance to
the noble red man." His differentiation from the
original Caucasian type is ascribed to climate and
the ozone IN our atmosphere while the development
OF peculiar intensity in our intellectual and moral
character is aseribed to the moral OF poti
cal and social life-St Louis Dispatch.
There is perhaps more to this than might at
first appear to an untutOred mind. The fact
that the visiting Caucasian is terrified upon be
holding the features of the untamed American
citizen abounds in suggestions of the utmost
gravity Is the white man indeed becoming
child of nature9 VIII he forsake the pursuit of
wampum for a life of freedom and dwell with
squaW and papooses in tepee knowing no furni-
ture but dilapidated blanketsl 1t seems, indeed,
that there is some chance of this With the
matters touched upon by esteemed contem-
porary the most important physical difference
between the races is that of color, but 1t Is no
| torious that great numbers of pale-faces are as
Stunning a ruddy aspect, and who knows but the
generally accepted firewater theory is wrong
and the whole change is due to atmospheric
ozone! Another matter of differentiation" is
the walk. Says frontier observer:
"A white man always toes out, and you can
tell his track anywhere but an lnjun walks
straght-foot like dang animal" This ought to
be easily corrected by the climate, however, and
So with reference to the sealping business the
white mans tendency to grow bald on the top of
the head should disappear, and with all this
done, the physical transformation would be com
plete.
But if we turn from physical to other charac-
teT1stlcs the progress already made seems re-
markable enough. Moral ozone is even more
potent than the other variety, and the tendency
toward the ways of the red man appears upon
every hand. Take the case of the bondholding
crank who hunts and fishes day after day to get
| e. L.
or beg, or steal the same thing with compare
lively little trouble, and the course he takes only
shows that the savage instinct is uppermost.
Take the dude another turn of the screw
and his wonderfully tight panties would disap-
pear altogether, and the rings and other metallic
ornaments left need only be supplemented by
blanket and moccasins-and an aversion to soap.
There are hosts of men in the community so far
developed as to require only very slight change
to pass for braves of the first consequence. They
have the simplicity of mind, the direct ways,
and the aboriginal habits and manners of chill
dren of the wilderness themselves There is
surely no need to enlarge upon these things, for
! they are familiar-of course, in the neighbours
houses and not in our own-to US all
Then there are the more purely intellect
ual affairs. 1t must be admitted that in the
matter of religious belief there is wide gap
between the races, for Indian faith in the
Great Spirit is so universal that no red-skinned
Bob Ingersoll could ever have found occupation,
but we are at last approaching the standard of
the savages in regard to making war upon mere
petty points of doctrine. Let us make the most
of that In matters of taste there is also plain
progress. Nobody can fail to see in the esthetc
craze as it generally appears, something which
finds its most perfect development in the gaudy
oeadwork and baskets constructed In the lodge
and the application of paint to the counte-
nances of the heads of families. Look at the
colors employed in painting some houses here in
Springfield Surely no one can fail to recognize
in these evidences of a longing which is only sat
isfied by the wigman striped with blue and
birthstone and all the coors within the artists
reach that are bright and dazzling.
Countless phases of this drifting toward the
ways of the noble red man, with all their beauty
and poetry, will occur to anyone Let us take
one or two more: Are we not adopting, perhaps
unconsciously, the red mans system of nomen-
clature3 Calico Charley is to-day big sachem
of the great State of Ohio: the Tall Sycamore
of the Wabash is Hooser sycamore of no less
note, and so on with a long list. These appella-
tiOns are not whit less musical and appropriate
than that of the Modoc called SHACK Nasty
JIM, or that of the unprecedented pOtentate up
in Canada who is known "Eagle-sitting -on-a-
Rock-with his Tail Hanging Over" And again,
while the gravity and eoquence of the Indian
seems yet far in advance of ours, perhaps there
the distance is more apparent than real. 1t Is
true that the powwow and the scalp dance
often appear i'll our legislative bodies. but some
improvement to this is noted rs time passes,
and occasionally the proceedings in some of
them, and notably in the national Senate. rival
in dignity and elaboration the council fire itself
So in regard to oratory. Political ambition
leads to a great deal of speech-making by the
American citizen, and some efforts are worthy OF
the aboriginals themselves. Take for instance
certain famous series of addresse from the
stump in this State last fall whichwas listened to
and read by everybody although they somehow
failed to accomplish the end in view. 10 be
sure, a good many words were used but by
wonderful coincidence the substance of the
whole lot was precisely the sa me as that of an
grafton by a celebrated chief which has become
classical. 1t ran thus: ugh! Me! Me- Heap big
Injun! Whoop"