Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-06
PINE RIDGE SKETCHES.
Scenes Around the Post Office and the
Traders Stores.
WHAT THE INDIANS BUY.
Getting the Mail for the Soldiers-The In
dians rs Patrons Of the Post OfRce-Buying
Beads, Blankets and Gewgaws-Small De-
mand for White Shirts.
All Correspondence Of TIE Evening Star.

savage-is the post office. So far as the bust
ness done is concerned, when compared wi th the
hustle Of a month ago, it is but tho shadow of
its former greatness. yet it is most interesting
center OF information and gossip. When there
were more than three thousand soldiers within
rifle shot the amount of business done was
simply astonishing, and even yet there is good
deal of a ''rush' Ordinarily the stage used to
arrive at Pine Ridge about IL an, and within
five minutes thereafter Postmaster James A.
Finlay (popularly designated Jim and As
sistant Postmaster s. N. Clarke were up to their
eyelids in business and over their knees in mail
matter, while outside the counter from forty to
sixty or seventy men waited with varying de-
grees Of patience and impotence for that
which might or might not have come for them.
III take the seventh cavalry mail" yells one
stalwart trooper.
Perhaps you will?" remarked Mr. Clarke,
and then he added, ''Climb over the counter
and get it." Then he would smile and never
let on that he saw the back-breaking efforts of
the anxious one as that gentleman tried q catch
as-catch-can hold on 200 pounds Of letters and
papers.
requirements Of the feverish public which
numerously did congregate on the public side
of the counter and then assistance WAS called
for. The cry for help brought Charles E. Finlay
(but they would not know him here by any other
name than that of "CharIey'), Joseph knight
and Johnnie Graham. Both these latter have
Indian blood in their veins; both are well
educated and both take to labor as an Indian
does to cigarettes; rather en- extraordinary and
inexphcable condition Of affairs.
THE POST OFFICE.
The post Office at Pine Ridge is necessarily a
somewhat primitive affair, but it is much
more healthfuI subdivision OF Nh. Wanamaker's
realm than the one over which Capt Harry
Sherwood presides. Postmaster Finlay's of
fetal home is built of logs, and consists of but
single story, yet. from a sanitary point of
view. it will compare quite favorabiy with the
archaeological brick structure on Louisiana
avenue, in which are enshrined the mortal re-
mains Of c. NJ. Merrill, Seymour Tulloch. JAS
Z. Bell, John Hadley Doyle and other estimable
citizens.
A low room. sixty feet long, with salmon
hued walls and a blue-green ceiling, within ten
feet OF the western end q set of imprinted letter
boxes and plain pine desk Behind the nj
geon holes table on which the sorting and can
ceiling Is done. On the floor assortment of
cracker, corned beef soap and match boxes
into which the mail is sorted. That is the Pine
Ridge post office.
THE POSTMASTER.
Always busy. invariably cheerful not given
to unnecessary oratory, but possessed of dis
position to be accommodating; a Missourian in
all that the word implies, except as to politics;
man of medium height; not resident at
Pine Ridge for his healths sake. That is the
postmaster.
Behind the mildness which might properly
characterize the outward appearance of
thoroughly sanctiied man, Assistant Post
master Clarke conceals more methodical energy
than the stranger would credit him with, and
there have been times when the madness was
completely eclipsed by physical and expletive
force of an unexpected description. You can
not always tell what these quiet men are going
to do. Very few men could preserve perfect
composure when their feet would be
tangled up in six or seven big sacks of
overdue mail while on the other side of the
counter a hundred men were bowling for
letters and papers and registered mail Cav
airy. infantry, artillery would all be repre-
sented numerously and vociferously. Hos
pital corps men pleaded for their portion of
the day literature; scouts put up vocal prayers
for what they believed was awaiting their
coming; headquarters orderlies insisted on
the priority OF the general commanding; civilian
breeds and squaw men hung around the
fringes of the crowd, and not
few Indians also waited their opportunity
to ask for letters or papers. Nor was the in
coming mail all that had to be wrestled with
Most of the men who came to look for one let
ter mailed two. and these latter had to leave
for Rushyille by 2 pm. Just how the work of
distribution was so satisfactorily done does
not appear, but two or three men must have
worked like slaves for awhile.
INDIANS AND THE POST OFFICE.
One of the interesting features of post Office
business at Pine Ridge is the part the Indian
plays. People unGcquainted with the modern
red man may suppose that lie continues to COM
municate with absent copper-colored friends
by means Of runners or signal fires; but the
suppositions have no foundation save in time
of actual strife. The Indian patronizes the
United States mail with the easy grace of an
old correspondent and he patronizes it extern
siveiy. Every day a big bunch of letters arrives
for Indians, and when the mail has been
sorted johnnie Graham leans over the
desk and recites a string of names which sounds
like an Indian edition of Hiawatha. These let
tiers are almost invariably written in the Da-
kota language and the number of Indians who
can read is somewhat astonishing Teachers
here tell me that as soon an an Indian learns
the Dakota alphabet he or she can write their
native language with remarkable readiness and
accuracy;
THE POST TRADERS
The remainder of the building. not used nv
the United States for post Office purposes, is
devoted to the acquisition of goods by the In
dams and other residents and the acquisition of
wealth by the trader. There three post
traders at Pine Ridge and by the competition
they put up the Indian ought to prosper. SO
intimated to one of the more intelligent savages
but he said that dldn make any difference; that
instead OF one trader trying to bid more for
Indian wares tnan his brethren each of them
tried to pay less than the other. Following out
that strange line OF aboriginal logic the Indian
would not be able to get any thing if there were
two or three additional traders licensed, The
two traders other than Mr.. Finlay are Mr.
James Assay and Mr.. Dawson, the latter a native
Of Maryland.
A more heterogeneous compound of things
to sell than the stock of an Indian trader would
be hard to find anywhere except i'll the store of
some other Indian trader. The necessities of
the situation demand q startling variety. The
Indian is initiative and has arrived ut that
stage of civilization where he will buy al most
anything white man has any use for. Lately
the Pine Ridge specimen has taken up
civilized underclothing as hobby and
now there ls n rage for the warm
products Of New England looms. SO far the
fashion affects only those Of the male persua-
sion; the squaw is always at the rear of the pro-
cession. Philanthropists who donate feminine
underwear for the use of the dusky ladies of
! the plains will probably be grisyed to learn
that their charity almost invariably goes astray
The bucks take possession Of the clothing and
rejoice therein. Only day or two since saw
stilwart Brnie warrior crawling into a combi-
nation undergarment that had but a short time
previously encased the form of Boston lady
whose bust measurement was somewhere in the
neighborhood Of forty-two inches.
WHAT INDIANS BUY.
Occasionally an Indian buys white shirt and