The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-07-24
The Trouble With Indians.

! The Trouble With Indians.
d There is much interest manifested
1t among white people, just at this time,
in regard to the habits of the Indians,
the wards of the government, in view
9 of the fact that the Apaches are scalp
g ing everybody in sight down in New
Mexico. They are an interesting race,
s these Indians are when they become
o tame, but in a wild state they are ter
i. rors. 1t is the duty of white people to
: teach the Indians many things which
S they do not know. For instance, read
the following account of an interview
t with Col. Ilges, al Indian fighter, in
regard to the. way Indians do their
} counting:
! Indians make love in a peculiar
| way. A buck when his affections are
z centered'upon a girl, will try to catch
her away from camp. He will throw
his blanket over her and slip under
meath with her. If she rejects his suit
there will be trouble underneath the
blanket, and she will escapefrom him.
But if she accepts him they will sitfor
hours without saying a word or en-
gagIng in any affectionate demonstra-
tons. Indians, you know, don't kiss.
They manifest affection by a kind of
slapping of each other on the breast
and moaning"
1t would seem that with all the In,
dian commissioners we have had to
teach Indians the ways of civilization,
that some attention ought to have
been paid 20 instructing them in the
United States star spangled orthodox
way OF counting. As long as Indians
are allowed to Assoc the girl, they
think they love, by throwing a blank !
ct over their heads, and holding the
precious things in that way, Indians
are bound to be hostile and full of
hight. In such q case, if the Indian
wins the girl, he will want to fight, if
he has to sit for hours under an old
blanket with her, doing nothing but
pounding her on the stomach; and If
she rejects him he will want to go off
and scalp somebody. If the Indians
could be instructed in the art of kiss
ing and counting IN the right way,
they would not want to fight. These
fighters who are killing people, and
disemboweling them, and Draining lit
tie children, could be tanned easily by
love, the way white people love. Let
a buck Indian come off of the wal
path and get IN love with a girl, and
go to work to win her the way white {
folks do, and there would be no room |
in his mind for thoughts of murder t
and revenge. If he sat up eight or {
nine nights a week with his girl he 8
wouldn't have strength enough to get f
on a war path without somebody
''boosted' him on. If he saw a war i
path and got on it by mistake, he |
turn off at the first forks of the c
road and hurry back to The wiowam q
his girl, and one look of love from
her eyes would knock all the fight out n
him. Shaping a woman on the n
tomach is no way to express love,
Ind the Indian commission and agents ii
to explain it to these untutored D
children of the forest. And how is it, n
all the commissioners, agents, d
suffers and soldiers
hat have been sent among o,
he Indians, that they have never II
earned the poor things to kissP a,
t does not look reasonable that such y
ignorance prevails among the children in
Il the forest. after all we have done
or them, though Colonel Ilges may be =,
light. The kiss of an Indian maiden. r
properly directed and reasonably 4.
Tell performed, would draw a fight
ng, scalping Indian off of a war path NJ
s a mustard plaster would draw pain. W.
let us teach the Indians so that in 90
tead OF tieing a girl up in a bag and
her, they will touch her gent CO
z, put their arms around her, HUG her, in
old her in their laps, stroke her hair 70
nd kiss her, and display their affec- or
on like human beings instead of like 90
ears aud wolves, and when once
ley AVE learned to love decently, 70,
will be safe to urn loose AMONG 20
When the young Indian mr.
arms to go to The wigwam of the girl m
; loves, sit around and talk about the ~, M
ops and things till the old folks go 70,
bed, and then put IN the time I'M I;o
morning hugging and kissing the or,
and talking over plans for the th,
ture, and he goes to his wigwam a Pc
RE before daylight with his heart no,
aging the snare drum on his ribs, nv
ID crawls under a buffalo robe to ~,
'ep all day and dream of her, and bo'
feels as though night would never 81,
me again so he can go back to her, FL,
tn an excuse to the old folks that he onr
lnts to borrow a gun or a dog or yit
mething-when the young Indian M M
Is it that bad, you can turn him '
'se among len with long hair and hlo
won't scalp them. He Will have Wv.
a man instead of a wild beast, emo
he will begin to realize that other tho
n have hearts full of love for those tn !
D are dear to them, and he wouldn't -
rm the halr of the head of n single ,vh,
, OF Gods creatures. Let the new l,ar
ninistration go TO work to show In Nv
us how to love each other without III
railing and sitting under n blanket
at a time without speaking or n,
and they can be ciu1liznd -