The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1892-08-13
hEAThEN NEAR HOME.


fhs Tribes That Blot Berhshirs's nssuts.
full nills--Missiop Work Needed.
Hidden away among the blue hills Of
Berkshire, or appearing like scars upon
her sunny valleys, one occasionally sees
weather beaten. raInshackle houses, sur
rounded by neglected gardens, fields and
orchards. Yards encountered with old
wagons. q bony, superannuated horse,
grazing at will. and the presence Of un-
couth individuals show, what we would
otherwise scarcely suspect, that these are
the dwelling places of human beings In
| ninety-nine cases out Of hundred the
dwellers In these isolated rookeries and
mountain cabins belong 10 q class whose
standards are far below those Of the ordi-
nary illiterate laborer-a class that is
considered hardly within the pale Of our
civilization. The children Of this class
are dull often to idiocy. This and their
irregular attendance at school accounts
Tor the fact that they are furnished with
the barest rudiments OF know ledge.
Catherine Sedgaick speaks Of these as
people who hang on the outskirts Of
civilization" and comments on their dia.
Iect and peculiar manners.
A gentleman of unquestioned veracity
says that in one Of the families there
were not as many articles Of clothing as
there were children. and on the rare ap-
proach OF a team the unclad ones scut-
tied like 80 many rabbits into the bushes.
The mother made bread by stirring
water into flour and throwing this paste
on the stove. In summer the children
led. like the babes in the wood. mostly
ON berries. There was but one chair,
which was occupied by the father. The
mother. after throwing the potatoes Oh,
OF the pot, made IL do duty as a chair.
Another numerous tribe. living near this
one, had but one bed.
| The picturesqueness OF the street gamin
Is lacking among the children Of this
class. They are positively repulsiye.
One OF them. remember, was dis
tinguished from all the res, by certain
fawn like grace and shyness. and an ex-
preston OF great sadness in her dark
eyes. One cold day walked with her
toward her cheerie home. Bitter winds
blew her straight. dark hair about her
pale. Tim face: no shoes projected her
feet from the ground, and only thread
bare waterproof cape MAS thrown over
her calico gown. Al first she was very
reticent. but by and by growing com
municauye among other things she told
me that one Of her brothers had died the
winter before. "Iie set his clothes oil
fire an got burnt awful Biineby m
gran father and IN Uncle Ding came in.
an N father he took the quilt often 81
TO show um. They want no fire, an ST
so, awful bad an hoIlared an hollared.
Then grandfather an Ding an pa they
started 10 get the doctor. but they forgot
10, an ST lac died an the hide cum all
ofien him" The lack Of feeling In the
ehild's tone and face as she related this
story told but too plainly Of her blunted
moral sense and of the distortion Of
natural affection. That her brother E
death should be due 10 carelessness was
TO her as much a matter Of course as that
frost should blight flowers
Last winter babe belonging 10 one
tribe was left alone in a cold house. II
crcp, out into the deep snow, where il
was found by passer by. CRYING bit
teTly. lts mother. when informed Of the
fact. not only made no excuse. bu,
showed no pain al the thought, OF her in
fants suffering. One family in Great
harrington WAS discovered living on the
flesh OF an old dead horse. The women
have none OF tina; faculty known in
fankeedotn AS 'gumplion." They waste,
or do not adapt TO their wants. what is
given 10 them. On BeartoUn mountain
have seen o-rear-old boy tripping
down the hill in a l5-year-oid girls
dress
Missionaries are needed among these
tribcs-not the sort that degrade sacred
things by issuing such invitations as
come and grab Jesus, but intelligent.
earnest and sympsihotic men. let us
mourn less over the fate of the Pacific
heather and the dense ignorance Of Tho
Tennessee mouniainccr while such :
beam remains in our eyes as the Coolies:
and illitcra,e condition Of these tribes
Irc Mass Cor. Boston Herald.
L~pr"sy Here and Elsewhere.