The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1894-03-29
INDIAfsS REAe AND IDEAL.
Romance Has Given Poor LO a Halo Which
the Truth Causes to Vanish.

Romance Has Given Poor Lo a Halo Which
the Truth Causes to Vanish.
The student of ethnology finds no
more fascinating branch of human
ity than the Indian. Not the race
as depicted by Catlin, SchOo.craft,
and Drake, who have painted him in
glowing colors, but the Indian as he
exists to-day. The time has come
when the truth about Indian life
should be told. The gentlemen men,
TONED gave much thought to the
subject OF which they are now the
accepted authorities, but he who
goes among Indians as a student will
at once perceive that the whole
study Of the red men has been one of
externals to the exclusion of the
more secret and inner life chat dis
closes the real character of the race.
The following paragraph appears in
the introduction OF brakes master
piece
There was found in him (he Indian) an
~unbounded hospitality, a friendship vouched
Tor with life itself, and unfaillng remcm-
brance of u kindnoSs done him, Il nobility
Of soul that held it firmly TO his ideas of
honor, filed him with reverence for the
sages AID heroes of the tribe and inspired
in him an ardent longing to emulate their
renoWn. In social and domestic life kind
ness and Self-contrOi were constantly mani
tested. w%ranglng and strife being unknown
in the Indian dwelling.
1t is difficult. says the Pittsburgh
Dispatch, to conceive Of a mO@G ~
correct statement of the case regard
ing the mental attributes Of the In
dian. In addition to the error that
has been constant in the minds of the
people, through such statements and
ideas as romantic and prejudiced
writer's have given out as ethnologi-
cal data, there has been a funda-
mental error in the study of Indians
in chasing or grouping them all TO-
gcther. 1t is true that there are
certa constant characteristics
amors the Indian. Just as there are
in the Caucasian race. but it is also
true that the mental and physical
differences between tribes are more
marked than between the European
nations.
1t is through reading such authors
a viewed the outside or apparent
life Of Indians that the world knows
almost nothing about the dominant
characteristics of the red man. in
civilized circles the belief is current
that the perceptiye faculties OF the
Indian are highly developed: that he
is acute in all things, and that his
mind almost intuitivcly graspS phi
1,.r,l ;onl .,h.Oa+-, chat 10 i; =, lon.
orator with q natural rhetoric: that
he pierceS the tallacieS OF soDhlStry
with almost divine powers of an
alysis: that he has evolved a re.
ligiOuS system and WOrShlps n God
under the title OF Great Spirit. These
are the mental attributes with which
he is clothed by those who have been
accepted as authority. His physical
rowerS are no less those of Il demi-
god. He is supposed TO be Il bundle
Of muscles and nerves, capable of al
most superhuman Endurance. His
eye is so true that be distinguishes
objects and tells their cnaracteris-
tics before they come within the
range Of vision Of the whites. Owing
to his unerring aim his markham
ship is phenomenal. Ills idea Of 10
cation is so highly developed that he
dnds his way over untrod plains and
mountains, and notices the slightest
displacement OF stick or stone.
WHAT are the facts? The Indian
is not an orator. He expresses HIM
self with extreme difficulty and in the
simplest manner He has neither
rhetorical nor analytical power. His
phy!osos y; is Of the crudest sort, and
he has 10 religion. lie does not
worship a great spirit, except as he
has been taught by the whites. His
mental powers have nothing super
natural IN them. Physically he is
the inferior of the white As he is
mentally. His muscles. are weaker
and his nerves more easily unstrung:
his eye iS.less keen than that of the
whitcFpldfl Srtian, and he is a tyro at
markmahship? his idea OF location is
bounded bX his environments. He
sees few. sights hears few sounds,
smells few .odors and tastes few
liayors. The result is that his whole
life is narrow as the facts presented
to him are few. His pcrccptiye fac
uities are OF. q low order and his pow
crs Of discrimination small. This,
however. is. a rule which, like all
ctherTules, has exceptions, for there
are now. and have been in the past,
elevated minds among the Indians.