The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1891-06-10
THE HOWARD Library.
THE "OTHER SELF"

parlor of hotel in c., discussing with
a friend the primitive worship OF the In
dams, apropos their coming Messiah.
''Do you know" said be, the theory OF
their spirit land?"
replied in the negative
well" said he, "Sihmanism is the
Sanscrit for ascetic. and u the lower form
OF religious development it is known as
fetichism. Nearly every pne has fetch.
You have one, perhaps, al home IN the
shape of gilded horseshoe. This Is idol
airy and can be traced to the earliest
tribes. A savage youth dreams about a
certain animal or bird; it is caught and
put of its skin is made his medicine bag.
Then Shama or Media usesevery effort TO
control the evil spirit with sometimes
comes to the sick through the thunder
bird"
The subject interested me profoundly,
and could not refrain iron asking:
DO you believe that the sayages wor-
ship one great sririt?'
"In general, you will find the belief is
erroneous, for such conception Is beyond
the stage of culture reached by them, and
was not found in any tribes before the
missionary influence"
Don't you think thata belief in a god
or gods or spiritual being is naturally an
instructive one to all men at all timesW
Possibly this may be So" he contin-
ued; "a great many think so, but we have
no positive proof OF it. / speak OF people
in the lower stage of culture. The mys-
teries of life to the savage are sorrowful
indeed, else why did they ask: "On what
pillars do the stars rest? Who hath
touched them with their hands? The
al a.
ceasing, and who makes them flow thus ?"
We had been talking in this way for
perhaps half an hour, when there passed
beside me person OF sombre mien and
took his seat opposite me. lie would
glance at me out of his deep sunken eyes,
and occasionally brush back his long
straight hair from off his forehead. He
was evidently looking at some picto-
graphs, and frequently would pass his
medicine bag over them TO avert the evil
spirit.
Presently he glanced at me uneasily,
and thrusting the paper in his pocket be-
gan TO walk up and down the floor. Ac-
cidentally his ewes fell upon his reflection
in one of the long mirrors, and his agita-
tion changed to delight.
"Nushka, Nushka." said he, 'see self in
spirit world. Nushka jeebi." (See spirit.
/ looked, perhaps, little skeptical at
my friend and betrayed. perhaps the fact
that "a little knowledge is a dangerous
thing"
How dangerous my friend seemed de-
termined to find out by asking: "Do you
know that is your other self"
''Shah shah (long ago., me dream me
know me sleep; fish on lake. Have dog,
nice dog; catch otter, keego fish. Me
see big light. go to lake; see me in lake.
hon Trr,A faNo. fr.flr
me. Catch wawa (goose) Mishe-mokaw,
mish-mokaw two bears. Other me 90
hunting, dancing. Me bad Striking self;
me good pointing to glass;. Want Media,
Media keep Thunder Bird away. Me
dream Tall Panther come and say:
"Good Bird happy ground above rainbow.
Get good dog; dog know home. No large
black stone. Thunder Bird heard Shama."
At this he handed me Photograph. A
winged bird with waving lines extending
from the mouth downward, signifving
lightning. l made him understand fin
ally that l would like for him to translate
one OF the photographs as keepsake.
While so doing / asked my friend what
he understood by such harangue?
Here he turned with a friendly nod, put
bis hand on my knee and said:
"Let us not forget that primeval man
was in the lowest depth of savagery, SUI
perstitions, great dreamers and constantly
talking about them. He had no one to
explain to him the nature of dream,
knows nothing about the mind as distinct
from the body. He goes to sleep and
dreams that he is fishing on some beauti-
full lake. He catches many fish and bears
while in this mood. Dream-life is a happy
one. Who is it that has not said, Will
my dream come true
Oh J.,
of lamentation ghost.)
Something on Good Birds face told of
the actualities Of the past, not the dream
life of the future.
"His ugh. ugh, reminded me of an in
cident in my fathers life, but" he contin-
ued, ''the theory they form is that other
self, ordinarily invisible, lives with the
body and another self goes abroad when
he is asleep. He also sees his shadow in
the lake, and on bright nights he finds
that he Is accompanied by an attendant,
something that moves as ne moves. lie
sees his figure against the outlines of the
clouded sky. His dream theory is con-
frmed. To US the mysterious pow
ers Of nature eloquently proclaim
a God of nature The mission
of Christianity is to correct the false no
tons drawn from nature who takes her
feeble children by the hand, even in a
savage state, and leads them TO hope for
immortality. But no man mistakes
natures teachings. His errors are cor
rected by culture, i. e., religion and
science"
Was my friend becoming abstruse?
"What was the incident" / interpellated.
"Ugh, ugh, the incident" he exclaimed,
'"twas about my fathers courtship" At
this Good-Bird produced his magic medi-
cine bag and charmed away the "other
self"
Here is the original ss my father told
me: "He used to 90 up there la CITY in
the Cumberland mountains) off and on
for about two years, and ne got well ac-
quainted with her The better he knew
her, why the oftener he went TO see her
Finally he got to takin' a team O. blacks
up there and goin' ridin' with her. They
used 10 ride and talk and have Just the
incest time twofolks ever did have. We'd
been a ridin' pretty late one night and all
the folks had gone to bed. A niger took
the gals TO the barn and Dick Frances
was her name) and brought some chairs
onto the porch and sat down. 1t was late
in mild November and it was full moon
and II was just too nice to go off and leave.
We didn't say much for a good while
inst looked AT the skv and hills and wooda