The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-09-16

CSS8'-
COMING HOME WITH A FRIEND.
his son, who is attending the Indian
school at Carlisle, Pa, and shows SO
much humanity, even in the bronzed
bosom of the stoical warrior, that there
can certainly be no harm in publish
ing it:
CHEROKEE STRIP, Aug. 20.
My DEAR SoN-We got your letter
last week regarding your matriculation
fee, but l could not answer till l had
went to town and found out what it
was. That took time, and besides met
O number of old friends who was with
me in the late war when, as you remem-
Der, the Pawnees seeded from the
United States. We met in town and
passed the time of day, after which we
went to the drug store and opened
bottle of pain killer, and l was late get
ting home. Your mother says that you
must not overdo this matriculatiOn bust
ness, as times here are not very plenty.
If | had knew that education comes
SO high, and had of been told about this
matriculat4on business when | was east
to see the White Father, ! would have
touched him for aid. He was very
kindly toward me and wished to know
what he could do for my people. said
that we wished to know more of the
white mans religions, and which one of
them was the best. We have made it a
business, as you know, to ask the differ
emit White Fathers at Washington this
question, so that we might know, and
their answers have been different. One
White Father, when we asked him this
question, told us to go to -! So we
still grope in darkness.
| note what you say regarding the
band, and trust that you shall learn
to play upon it if you can have suit
able uniform and buy an Orpheclyde.
You know how anxious am to see you
get an education, and that shall try to
keep you in funds if possible, but it wor-
ries me at first to do it because you
know what a poor farmer l am. The
Indian, however, suffers, but he does
not weep. He can endure anguish, but
he disdains to cry like woman. am
an aged hemlock; so is your mother.
Possibly some day when you get edu-
Gated you may redeem your people. You
may be the Moses of our race. In the
future you may get Il position i'll a bank,
and then times with my people will not
be so scarce as they are now.
want you to learn all the languages
and to spell the hardest word, as did
Bruno Demi-J ohnson, who went to the
Indian school at Haskell and Is writing
this letter for me. Learn also to respect
the laws of the land in which you live
and how to turn jack from the bottom
Al. l. ,knE
shall try to meet your demands for
means to prosecute your studies to tn"
bitter end. have had no advantages
myself, but nature endowed me richly
with 4 massive brain, and no man even
Outclassed me except your mother, and
that was when had my skates on, as
you say at college, having been out the
night before brooding over the wrongs
Of my people.
Iwant you to become familiar with
the laws of your country, SO that you can
keep out Of Jail and not plead guilty, as
did in Kansas City once, not knowing
then that it was customary to plead not
guilty and then let the other side find
out whether you arc SO or not.
II had my life TO live over again l
would get classicle education and keep
store in Kansas, dealing in drugs, paints,
oils, dyestuffs, toys, notions and stomach
bitters for mechanical purposes.
Try to study economy along with your
other branches, as hate to beef the old
COW before cold weather, and the calf is
too small to turn into q money order yet.
Learn all the languages, as l say, SC
that you can talk as we'll with a foreigner
American.
Learn astronomy. | am most sixty
wears of age and did not know till yes
terday that the sun is $4,000, 900 of miles
from here. These things are pathetic
when you come to think about 1t. There
was no one near to tell me when was
lad that it would take train of cars
269 years to go to the sun, even If there
was no accidents. was giddy young
thing and thought only of the present.
To go fishing as soon as the law was up
was my delight, and to lead an outdoor
life was the thing that my physician
Thought best for me at the time.
So did not know until recently that
il took $4,000 years for the light of
star to reach the earth, and even then
that il does not amount to much. l
grew up wild and free, ana would have
laughed to see the man who could over
take and mstriculate me.
Look at Alexander the Great did
not know that he studied elocution
without Aristotle. / did not know that
an educated man could take the tariff,
for instance, and use it as an excuse for
leading an immoral life.
But 1 was left to run wild, as it were,
making faces at people in the spring
time of life, and now in the autumn of
my days my name is Dennis. Here
on the Cherokee Strip am all the time
brought in contact with inferior people
who have never been east. Since l have
been east myself | can see how rough
and coarse we are here in the west.
We are earnest and open hearted, but
we lack refinement.
We had little merrymaking here
when got home from Washington, D. &.
Fungus Tamarac, a Brule Sioux who
is spending the summer with US, drank
bottle of iodine that / got in Pitts
burg for my rheumatic.
Those who opened him with suitable
exercises said that on the inside he
looked like a Mardy Graw, whatever
that is
want you to become refined and get
good manners. The government will
pay for the bulk of your education, but
want you also to learn etiquette and
roulette while east. Our table manners,
too, here ON the Cherokee Strip are very
tart and tacky, 1 find. Even Black Hawk,
the great orator, while dining with Lord
Baltimore, l am told, put sugar and
cream on his olives and blew the pits
across the room at q mark.
1t is such things as these that have
kept the Indian back and induced people
to. hesitate about inviting him to the
annual dinner Of the bong tong.
Sitting Bull was just beginning to OBJ
tain social recognition of Washington
when In reaching across the table one