The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-01-03

The true heaven OF those Indians is in their
memories. behind them. Their young
bucks SIG of their Wet ries and scalps be-
cause their songs aud ceremonies require it.
but very few Of them ever saw the buffalo
OF Except in certain tribesl ever took part
in a 6ght. However, they have tie old
men with them TO tell Of the past.
and their legends. traditions, dances, and
sports all ted to keep the Ind an
nature vigorous. even while it is idle. As q
rule, they are not big or strong men as
compared with the whites, but they COM
mand respect because the white mans
Knowledge of them has never gotten be-
tremely unreliable. They are the play
things of impulse and emotion. and one
will laugh at you to-day fer doing that for
which the next one would kill YOU. With
them it is all as il happens, and the conse-
Quence is that bad white men have adopted
the motto that ''the only good In
dian is the dead one" while white
men of better nature are apt to
respect the Indian, and are certain not to
trifie or fool with him. As a rule the In
dians and our soldiers get along well
together. The Indian likes a soldier b.
cause he is fighting mau, and l suspect the
feeling is reciprocated for the same reason.
At all events, it is mistake to suppose that
these opposing forces hate one another; just
as il has always been a mistake not to let
the war department manage he Indians.
Few readers In the east understand what
an Ind an reservation is. 10 is simply a
slice of nature, unimproved, unfenced. un-
altered. The reservations differ with the
varying regions in which they occur. One
may be well wooded and watered, and the
next a half bare, hot tract of sand and
buttes and alkali. On each reservation the
Indian agent has his quarters, which are
like a farm house or frame cottage such as
is the typical home in every thrifty village
The meat contractor has his slaughter
house elsewhere in the reservation, and
near it is apt to be a sort of storehouse,
where accounts aud supplies are kept. The
Indians live where how they please. In
one reservation you find considerable land
under tillage by them, in another very
little. They are encouraged to undertake
the simplest forms of farming, but at the best
the larger number live idly. The major ty
live in tepees. as of old, but the tents are of
cotton instead of buffalo hide or buckskin.
The boys from the Indian schools who have
been taught the use of tools go
back .to the reservation and
build cabins. This is is to show the stay
at-homes what an Indian can do, if he will
These cabins are increasing in number very
rapidly, but he who looks for the pict-
uresque will halt at the tepee every time.
The life within is not altogether what we
cons der luxurious. The ashes of the lodge
fire blacken the middle of the grou I'd, as
the smoke of the fire has dyed the walls of
the tent; the women are squatting here and
there, aud the dogs and children are
running in and out. If there is baby. il
may be stark naked in its mothers hands,
or it may be done up in a sort of a stocking,
and thrown down among the litter of rags
and blankets on which the people sleep.
The rations OF raw meat hang from hooks
or on wires overheads, and the men recline
royalty, pipe in mouth, in the place of
honor, precisely opposite the flap or hole
which serves as door
just now, if n white man meets an In
diaa on the northern plains, they watch
each other from afar. The white man does
not know what will be the outcome of the
encounter. Nor does he know how many
unseen red men are in hiding on their bellies
in his path. He makes the peace sign,
raising one hand. palm out. and then he
waits for a repetition of it from the
red man. If he gots the sign he is
only slightly relieved, but under that, ten
| sion the slightest relief is grateful, and he
spurs his horse and meets his coppery
brother. They salute, tobacco or water
passes from one to the other, perhaps, and
they go on together or apart, as it happens.
JULIAN RALPH.