The herald., 1893-02-19
TALKS ABOUT RECENT BOOKS,
A Book About the Indian and
His Traits.
A Collection Of Recent Stories by
J. s. Wade.
0corge Bird Grinnell's Book on Pawnee
Folk Lore-A Comedy of Elope-
ment-Book Notes and
Gossip.
BY L. BEHYMER.

Almost a year ago picked up book
which completely fascinated me, owing
to the fact that 1 had lived almost 10
years among the Sioux Indians and was
well acquainted with their hero stories
and folk tales. The book WAS Pawnee
Hero Stories and Folk Tales, by George
Bird Grinnell. Charles Scribner's Sons
have just published another interesting
book by the same author and in the
game vein entitled Blackfoot Lodge
Tales: The Story of q Prairie People.
1t is book full of instruction as we'll as
entertaining from beginning to end.
The most shameful chapter of American
history is that in which is recorded the
account of our dealings with the In
dians. The story of our governments
intercourse with this race is an un-
broken narrative of injustice, fraud
and robbery. Our people have
disregarded honesty and truth
whenever they have come in
contact with the Indian, and he has had
no rights because he never had the
power to enforce any. Many stories
about Indians have been written, some
of which are interesting and some, per-
haps, true. All, however, have been
written by civilized people, and have
thus of necessity been misleading. The
reason for this is plain. The white per-
son who gives his idea Of story of In
dian life inevitably locke at things from
the civilized point of view, and assign to
the Indian such motives and feelings as
govern the civilized man. But often
the feelings which lead an Indian to
perform particular action are not those
which would induce white man to do
the same thing, or if they are, the train
of reasoning which led up to the In
dams motive is not the reasoning of
the white man. In this volume the
author shows how Indians think and
feel by letting some OF them tell their
own stories in their own fashion, and
thus explain in their own way
how they look at the everyday
occurrences of their life, what motives
govern them, and how they reason. The
Blackfoot stories are given as they were
told by the Indians themselves, not
elaborated on or anything added to
thHm. In ell cases they were written as
they fell from the lips of the Indian mar
rators. Some sentences may have been
transferred or few words of explana-
tion added, but the stories are all told in
the words of the original narrators as
nearly as it is possible to render their
words into the simplest everyday Eng
lish. They are Indians stories, pictures
of Indian life drawn by Indian artists,
and showing this life from the Indian
point of view. If you read the book
you will have the tales just as they
came from the lips of the Indians them
selves; and from these tales you can
get true notion of the real man who is
speaking. He is not the Indian of the
newspaper, or of the novel, nor of
the eastern Eentimentalist, nor of the
western boomer, but the real
Indian as he is in his daily life among
his own people, his friends where he is
not embarrassed by the presence OF
strangers, nor trying to produce effects,
but is himself-the true, natural man.
And as you read these pages you will
nee that when you are talking with your
Indian friend, as you sit beside him and
smoke with him onFthe bare prairie dur
ing halt in the days march, or at
night lie at length about your lonely
camp fire in the mountains, or form one
of circle Of feasters in his home lodge,
you get very near to nature. Some of
the sentiments which he expresses may
horrify your civilized mind, but they
are not unlike those which your own
small boy might utter. The Indian
talks Of blood and wounds and death in
commonplace, matter -of-fact way that
may etartle you. But these things used
to be part of his daily life; and even
today you may hear a dried.up, palsied
survivor of the ancient wars cackle
out his shrill laugh when he tells as q
merry jest q blood-curdling story OF the
torture he inflicted on some enemy in
the long ago. This book teaches that
the Indian is man, not very different
from his white brother, except that he
is undeveloped. In his natural state he
is kind and affectionate in his family,
is hoepitable, honest and straightfor-
ward with his fellows-a true friend. If
you are his guest, the best he has is at
your disposal; If the camp is starving,
you will still have set before you your
share of what food there may be in the
lodge. For his friend be will die, if
need be. He ia glad to perform acts of
Kindness for those he likes. While trav-
cling in the heats of summer over long,
waterless stretches of prairie, the author
suffering from thirst, left him, without
mentioning his errand and rode 80 miles
to fetch him canteen of cool water.
This little volume teaches that the
Indian is intensely religious. No peo-
pie pray more earnestly nor more
frequently. This is especially true of
the Indians of the plains. The Indian
has the mind and feeling of child with
the stature of man /; and if this is care
fully read and clearly understood and
considered, it will readily account for
much of the bad that we hear about
him, and for many of the evil traits
which are commonly attributed to him.
Civilized and educated, the Indian of
the better class Ia not less intelligent
than the average white man, and he
has every capacity for being good citi-
zen. Much time and effort have been
devoted by the author in accumulsting
from the old men and best warriors the
facts bearing on the history, customs,
and oral literature of the tribe, which
are ell presented in this volume. Many
of the Indians who assisted in giving
the author help in regard to ira
dition, history and customs are
noted men, including Wolf Calf,
Big Nose, Heavy Runner, Lone
Medicine Person, Double Runner,
the venerable Red Eagle, the noble old
man Almost.a.dog, and that matchless
orator Four Bears. The stories cover q
wide range of subjects and are fair ex.
amples of the oral literature OF the
Blackfeet. They deal with the religion
xha orioin of thinQs the performance=