Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-02-19
The WOODEN INDIAN.
How He Is Carved Out of Pine in
Defiance of Nature.
A Maker Of Cigar Signs Tells the Secrets
Of His Trade-Splendor, Rather Than
Fidelity to Nature, His Object-A
Neglected Art.

of His Trade-Splendor, Rather Than
Fidelity TO Nature, His Object-A
Neglected Art.
There, Pop, I've got all done but the
top. What color shall paint thatm The
specialized wood carver looked up from the
bit of cardboard that he was lettering and
saiG, in answer to his sons interruption; !;
"Pairt the head red, Jimmy" Jimmy, q
Lad Of thirteen, with symptoms of incipient
painters collie, was devoting his best ener-
gies and the last fifteen minutes before din
ner to the decoration Of wooden squaw in
colors whose brilliancy and variety would
have shan ed the splendors Of the first rain
bow. The little shop was a sort of tawdry
statuary hall, respondent with the gorgeous
presencs Of half dozen cigar-store Indians
in various states of incompleteness. A tall
sqI4w, having a scornful face as yet una
dorned with eyes, occupied a conspicuous
plaza in the room; her drapery, consisting
OF yellow blanket and red buffalo robe,
skillfaly arranged so as to display swell
inS bos )m and pair Of monstrous calves.
"a SPECIAL order" SAID the wood carver TO
a New York Star reporter, "the man would
have tnat buffAlo robe red because he
bnOu Sut u WOulN dbll dCb hbbCublOhs
''ULr business might be called arJlstic,'
heco 1tmue'., "blt there haln't much money
in o u. Years ago, wnen was a young ap-
prenIce hal the nonor of making two 1ne
snip tigureu .ads. They Represented parties
sLan1ln' fun lsIgth, with scrolls IN their
han1s. don't know who the Jarties was
and don't Gnow the names Of the ships,
nut was proud Of the job. That sort OF
hua,na.a fbo,,Uh drotonad NJ hftaan vaa re
ago. The American pc )ple ls Q ,onomlcal TO
the de .r.ment Of art, and our business isn't
appreciated as II ought TO oe. do little or
nothing wv out maze ana repair Indians
md Istter carus with sentiments such as
them"
The carver spoke with the air OF man
whose art had been prosututed to the sor-
lid demands of trade. He set no store by
The Il1lans turned In whole tribes, and
fashioned with small regard for the truth
of niJure. "They don't look like Indians,
yod ku DIV, )" he said, with arnlaole franKness.
"No In 1lan ever had features like that big
fellow there, anu reckon there never was
a sQdaw who dressed like That one with the
re:t bu falo rope IL we made 'em like real
Indians they'd De too ugly to sell. We have
m oaels, but just keep on making them as
they've been made for the last fifty years.
The Idea is to make them look pretty and to
WORK In as many colors as possible. Some
times we get seven or eight different tints,
besides gliding. What are they made of
White pine. 1t works easy We hack 'em
out with saw and hatchet, rough 'em up
WITH big tools and polish em of with finer
Jimmy, show the gentleman
the logs In the c4lar."
Jimmy promptly led the way to the un-
derground lumber rom, where lay half
dozen great pine logs from sixteen to
twenty four feet in length. Against the
wal. leaned rudely-haaKed piece OF tim Der
that looked like damaged gate-post. jim
my averred that IN time this would be
splendid squaW, with painted skirt and
headdress of plumes. He pointed out where
eacn leg would be, which way the face
would turn and how the arms would appear
The figure, limbs, pedestal and all were
carved from the single log in one piece. 1t
lid not seem to contain the promise ana po.
tency Of the cleverly carved figures in the
shop above, but Jimmy had faith that he and
his father would yet evolve from the I'M
slightly log comely squaw OF conventional
pattern.
'h takes from six to sixteen days to make
one Of these figures" SAID the master Of tho
saop, taking up the thread of his dis
course. "The simpler ones can be Whitfield
out in three days and painted IN three more.
The big, complicated ngures, with toma-
hawks and wampum necklaces and beaded
bows, take a week or more, and the paint
ing requires nearly as long. That squaw,
you see, isn't the right color for
u squaw. That's only the ground
work. We've got to paint her copper
color tomorrow. Then we've got to put in
her eyes. They may be blue, gray or
brown After that comes the fine work on
the feather he doress. Nobody cares much
what they look like, so they're snowy, and
pants the thing that makes 'em SELL
What do they costa From SIS to $50. A
good Indian, well taken care Of, will last
thirty years. Once year he ought to be
sent back for repairs. Taste in Indians
does not change much, and my customers
trust to me to do the thing right. Yes, we
deal in secondhand Indians" he continued,
glancing up at the faded splendors Of
squaw, over whose arm the wood-carver's
street coat was hung for want OF better
"When a man moves to new place he
sometimes gets a fresh Indian. We take
the old one off his hands and sell it to some
small dealer. We used to make negroes
from '4S to about go, but later they got un-
Then the girl of the period and
the }recian bend had go; but mostly the
trade ru 8 steady on Indians. Goingi
Well you may say that business is dull,
though it might be worse; but on the
whole, the public doesn't appreciate our art
as 1t once did"