The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1890-01-17
APACHE MOURNING.
Strange Scenes BY the Bier Of an
Indian Woman,

was held in the new schoolhQRse, and
it was a field day for the Apachesl
The pretty little arched room, with its
patches of stained glass here and there
looked very inviting. A large black
board hung at the back of heplatform
between the two end windows. 5On
one side was a table with chart, pencil,
ink, etc., and on the other side the
melodeon.
One day, just as Miss Shepard was
about to close the children's school.
Miss Stephens hurried in and told her
to dismiss Immediately and come with
her to the camp, where she would see
a sight she might never again have an
opportunity of witnessing. The
young ladies went into the heart OF
the village. There, in front of Vir-
ginia's house, they found an assem-
blage of women all seated on the
ground in a sort of a circle, with their
shawls over their heads and their faces
buried either in their hands or on their
knees. They were sobbing, weeping
and wailing.
In the centre was a pile of gaudy
materials - bright quilts, lowered
cloths, red woollens lying in
state on them was a beautiful dead
woman. Her face was dyed with @
delicate red coloring that prevented
all ghastliness of look. There was
not a trace of emaciation, and h
looked as though death had come to
her in a sudden stroke, leaving her no
time to suffer. Her neck, bosom and
arms were profusely o~rnamented with
gorgeous beadwork; her clothes were
gay and clean, and her feet were en-
cased in deliberately wrought sandals.
But all these things were soon for
gotten before the shattered old woman
the mother-who was %crouching be-
side her. She was naked to the waist,
and such garments as she wore sug-
gested the idea Of sackcloth and ashes.
She was bent almost double, with her
eyes fixed on the dead face, and was
perfectly silent, while the others
walled around her. Presently she,
too, burst into wild sobs, and, stretch
ing out her wasted arms, she lifted the
senseless form and pressed it to her
naked bosom. rocking it to and fro.
All the while her tears were falling
like rain, and her hysterical wailing
was translated in phrases not unlike
the old Biblical words, "Cry aloud!
Cry aloudln Whether she vas asking
for sympathy or calling on her child
to speak to her again the teachers
could not tell; but there was a wild
unstudied pathos in the whole thing
that brought their tears thick and
fast.
The dead woman left three children,
one of them quite a large girl. She
was seated at a little distance with the
''cayousen basket in her arms, weep
ing softly. The old grandmother
went to her and led her to the corpse,
forcing her to kneel beside it. The
child shu1ddered and sobbed piteously,
but the old woman took her in her
arms and forced hert take the cold,
dead hand'in hers 1t was the little
girls farewell to heramother. 1s
Presently the two Ladies' 4lslipped
away to q garden just beyond the
camp and came back with theirhands
filled with pink and white roses, ne
poor mother was sitting silent by this
time, and they asked her, through .ah.
interpreter. if they might place their
flowers on her child She consented,
and theg 11aaSRaaa9elfSadoS@ among the
acknowledgements and spread them
d9efsher, Fastening their SIC MS, by the
mothers silent directions, under her
brass-studded belt.
After a little one might notice
women coming up with different art
icles in their handsome with an elab-
crate bead necklace, another with a
shawl, another with a gayly decorated
saddle, and SO on. They were bring
ing their offerings to their friend for
her long journey. Later these gifts
were all buried with her in a grave
whose location is. and always will be,
kept a profound secret. Later still,
everything the family owned was
burned, and they are required by the
customs of the people to live for a
stated term in the most heart-rending
isolation7especially the bereaved
husband. -Pbitadelphia Times.
EI LFE-N