St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-03-22
w. G. kENTZEL, Editor.

red Beneath all this he wore WELL
worn twelve-dollar business suit. Be
hind him staIked a typical logwood-col-
ored farmer. and behind him brave,
who carried the dog. Its neck was
decked with blue ribbons. and its tail
was done up in red love-knot. Other
ribbons were wound around its body.
As it was borne in the men and women.
with one voice. uttered the yell with
which the red man descend upon the
gentle white maiden in one of Hon.
William Ii. Cody's aboriginal melo-
dramas. The dogs legs were tied to-
gether with rope, and the medicine
man swung it on school-bench in the
middle of the room. Six chiefs, headed
by Head-Chief Daniel La Fort, sat on =
bench at right angles with the dogs
head. and six centenarian squaws sat
opposite on a bench behind the dogs
decorated tail.
The med;cine-man's aids sat down,
and he began solemn chant as he
walked around and around the dog. His
bearing was impressive and his singing
very weird. Suddenly he stopped be-
fore chief, who told him what especial
blessing he desired from the Almighty.
The medicine-man repeated the chiefs
words in his monotonous song. At the
next turn the next chief named his
needs, and so the chiefs and the squaws
one after the other urged their petitions
through their priest Presently the med
| icine-man started for the door, and his
aids followed, one carrying the decorat-
ed dog. They went over to the council
room of the Sni pes, the Bears and the
Deer, and there repeated the ceremony.
Here the dog was laid in a pretty wick
er basket. 1t was such as New York
merchants use as rcceptacles for waste
paper, except that il was hung with col
ored ribbons and was one-third full of
cheap tobacco When the prayers ended
all followed the medicine-man, the bas-
ket and the dog across the campus and
through the big council-hall. where all
the others jo:ned them. and filed behind
them i'm a march around and around the
outside of the building.
Going back TO the council-room again
they laid the dog and the basket down
| in front of the stove. Nobody but an
| Indian could have looked with a grave
face upon the substitution o. a modern
Utica-made stove for the funeral-pyre OF
tradition; but they moved no muscle,
and when aft rwards the reporter sug-
gested that this was violent innova-
ton chief replied that it did not mat
ter-as long as the top fitted c'ose and
| the door was shut the sacrifice would
not smell. The medicine-man circled
around the stove and the tribe listened
with bowed heads and occasional grunts.
The priest sang four new verses at this
| time. The first one was to the effect
that spring was coming and the snow
would melt, the seeds would sprout,
| babies would be born, game would be
plenty, and the red man would prosper,
if God so willed. The next verse told
of the blessings of summer, the next
those OF autumn, and the last those of
winter. He sang that the sins of the
Nation be forgiven. and that the Offer
inr he accepted in the spirit in which it
was rendered. When he ceased. war
rior in red worsted comforter, a sack
coat and brown Jean trousers lifted Oft
the top of the stove, and the dog and
the basket were lowered upon the blaz-
ing logs. the action being accompanied
by n veil that sent a tingle along the
| tIltteT >uIidCt vi tNSiy NultC SSsaAp. Ahas
ended the first day ceremony.
The men and women quilted their
sea and filed out of the doors. They
did not speak to one another. In
another moment the roads, the snow
upon the fields and the yards were
illed with rigid figures as they made
their way to their houses. They had
n performed the fall ceremony. 1t
had been modified because of the pres
ence of strangers, and because of the
wide rupture between this heather half
of the Nation and the moiety of Chris
tians. The Christians are anxious for a
new treaty with the State, and are bent
on exposing what they say is the truth
about the depravity of their heathen
| brothers and sisters. They have laid
great stress on the Ecentious and horri-
bl, features of this ceremony of Burn
inc the White Dog. with which, they
say, nothing has teen found too dis
gusting to be incorporated.-Syracusc
| On y Cor. n. T. San.