The DeLamar nugget. [volume] (DeLamar, Idaho) 1891-1900, 1894-04-14
INDIANS REAL ANDIDEAL
The Halo Which Romance Has
Given Foor Lo.
Whom the Truth Is Told tho Noble Red
MN Becomes Anything But tho
Grand FEATURE Imas nation
Has Painted Him.


= Grand { FEATURE Imas nation
Has Painted Him.
n The student of cthnology finds n
5 more fascinating branch of humanit
n than the Indian. Not the race as d,
S picted by Catlin. Schoolcraft an
Drake, who have painted him in glow
: ing colors, but the Indian as he exist
: to-day. The time has come when tn
) truth about Indian life should be told
? The gentlemen mentioned gave muel
: thought TO the subject of which the,
. are the accepted authorities, but h
who goes among Indians as a studcn
, will at once perceive that the who
study of the red mon has been one
externals to the exclusion of the nor
secret and inner life that discloses I'll.
real character of the race. The fol
lowing paragraph appears in the intro
duction of brakes masterpieces:
There was found in him fthc In
diam an unboundcd hospitality, n
friendship vouched for with life itseli.
an unfailing remembrance of n kind,
ness done him, a nobility of soul tn;
held it firmly to his ideas of hone
filled him with reverence for the sac,
and heroes of the tribe and inspired
HIM an ardent longing to emuiat
their renown. In soclal and domcst
life kin:ness and scif-control we,.
constantly mantle ited, wrangling aua
strife being unknown in the Indian
dwelling"
1t is difficult, says the Pittsburgh
Dispatch, to conceive of a more incor-
rect statement of the case regarding
the mental attributes of the Indian.
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 chronological data. there
has been fundamental error in the
study of Indians in CHASING or group
ing them all together 1t is true that
there are certain constant character |
istics among the Indians, just as there
are in the Caucasian race. but it is also |
true that the mental and physical diff |
fcrences between tribes are more
marked than between the European
nations.
1T is through reading such authors
Us viewed the outside or apparent life
If Indians that the world to-day knows
Utmost nothing about the dominant
characteristics of the red man. In
civilized circles the belief is current
hat the pereeptive faculties of the
indian are highly developed; that he
acute in all things, and that his
and almost intuitively grasps phil
sophical subjects; that he is a born
rator with d natural rhetoric: that he {
lerces the fallacies of sophistry with I
most divine powers of analysis; that
has evolved a religious system and c
orships one God under the title of T
reat Spirit These are the mental at f
lbutes with which he has been t
othed by those who have been accept v
as authority. His physical powers C
e no less those OF q demigod. lie is o
opposed to be bundle of muscles Ii
I'd nerves, capable of almost super
imam endurance. His eye is so true ri
at he distinguishes objects and tells II
cir characteristics before they come W
thin the range of vision of the W
hites. Owing to his unerring aim his I'll
arkmanship is phenomenal. llisidea 1T
location is SO highly developed that tie
finds his way over untrod plains
d mountains. and notices the slight
displacement of stick or stone
What are the facts? The Indian Is =.
t an orator. lie expresses himself =.
tn extreme difficulty and in the sim I I3l
st manner. lie has neither rhet- -
cal nor analytical power. His .,o
liosophy is of the cruGest sort, and =
has no religion. He docs not wor, DC
P great spirit except as he has "
IN taught by the whites. His men
powers have nothing supernatural IN IN
them. Physical y he is the inferior
The whites as he is mentally. His sol
scles are wea err and his nerves
re easily unstrnrg; his eye is less on
n than that of the white plains thi
n, and he is n tvro nj ma rlssman. the
?; his idea of location is bounded ]
his environments. lie sees few ten
ITS, hears few sounds, smells few yol
RS, and tastes few 1avors. The re- it
is that his whole life is narrow. as Rec
facts presented to him are few S
=pcrceptive faculties are of low Gee
n and his powers of discrimination dea
IL. This, however, is rule which. for
all other rules, has exceptions, for Syr
c are now, and have been in the
, elevated minds among the In
. ~