The morning times., 1896-05-03

The Indians of the plains are fast pass
ing away and being swallowed up iii the
tidal wave Of Saxon civilization, which
sweeps steadily westward. What one
may know oil these original and primitive
people Will soon be locked up III formal his
torical writings.
1t Is quite Il different matter To be told
int resting facts ABOUT Inese people by
word OF mouth III Il spnghuy anu engaging
fashion Us only cDdrID,hg woman can uU,
and Wien tnaJ WOMAN Has lyeu mouths ut
Il Tune FOR years among tne Indians, known
tnem iii their dauy lne ana Witnessed tneIr
sacred ceremonials to Winch the ordinary
white person could not beg or buy IT.
served tIckcU, Then sucn Il Woman DeCUInes
an tpIuome OF lively and deIigntfui riiter-
taiDmeDt.
lucrc Is a woman in Washington who
gracefully carries about iii her DISTINGUISH
cd person just such exact ahG picturesque
knowledge as Indicated. She can write
tones OF dry ana exact facts such as VIII
strike the minds OF the people Ut the ethno-
logical bureau. telling tneIn Iii uct;til ana
generality all about tue Indians OItGc sUuIh-
west.
But this lady can draw brightly-colorcd
pictures in a nsteners mind as well, ana
fairly make u guest who drinks u O'Clock
cup OF tea with her feel that she Is snir-
the plains.
The listener can see the deep vault of
the heavens with the white sails of clouds
racing across them; she can stretch her
eve over the sage-covered plains for miles
and miles, or see in the prairie grass Tue
motion and roll Of the ocean, where the
ncver-dyiug winds swell and iaii, ana she
can see, as Mrs. NJ. C. stevenso talks
ii:c cupper-CoIorcd warTiC iCr and the straight
I .T..T q fGg.VsZ Z rfaas4
The little village OF wigwams springs up
and all the merry life Of such assoc cation
grows apparent.
4 rruoTter spent 10 hour the other day in
the UNIQUE aud beautiful dra wing-room or
| this woman scientist, whose moments oi
leisure are fe W owing to the serious atten-
| tion which she is giving 10 the presefFa-
| ton OF the facts she has gathered III hef
| life on the plains
But though leisure moments are rare
| as diamonds with such person. that ls
the more reason why they should sparkle
| aud scintillate with the stored-up carbon
| of thought and experience. In TINS pretty
| drIwing-roonl, where solemn o" perches
| on a branch: where snakes wriggie across
| uauels OF the doors, and where ieuches
and gods have places or honor III trap
| pings of beads and feathers-ln such
! fIr4 wiuc-rcom it is natural 10 turn one
Z
| devils, who formerly chased the plsoh
! across their great eXpanses
| Mrs II c. Stevenson regards these IN
| IN aplable. uncivilizable creatures not as
! savage devils, however, but as Ia thefs
| and husbands, with all the domestic tender
| ness OF white man The wives ana
| sv-apthelrts. the papooScS. all of them, have
| a human interest to her She SPEAKS OF
| them with the familiarity that Saliva
| ,i0n Army lasSie has for a drunka rd
| Being asked if size really never was afraid
| of an Indian, she broke into sIIVery
| laugh that was COuta gious, and made the
| question seem the funniest thing that had
ever been propounded.
| Am | afraid OF Indians? she replied
! in the way women have OF answering queS-
! tions by asking others. Why. l cannot
| remember even being anxious bat once
/ and as the a paChes We're on the war path.
| maSsacreing the whites on all sides. /
/ think il was excuSaDe don't you?
( I'm tell YOU about that she went on
/ IN her entertaining way, sinking back IN
| the depths of a bamboo chair and flashing
! her eyes expresSively as the picture came
| back to her mental vision There was
| a party of four of us crossing the prairie,
| and we had pitched our camp in the
! Indian SweUt country. We We're Just get
| ting our camp in shape for the eveningm
and ma king preparations for the chill
| night that always befallS the region of
| the plains and we were making merry over
| the camp fire and the kettles which had
| to serve for ba king and frying and stew
! ing alike and the men Were getting up
water. of which we had but a limited
| supply. when someone deserted three specks
on the horizon.
l. These specks grew in size and bore down
| upon us and We soon aw that they Were
three buck warriors riding Indian ponies
as only an Indian can ride To see them
coming toward you on the full run, with
all the terrible makeup which an Indian
deems fitting when he is on the wal
path, is enough TO make the stouteSt
heart quail
up they came and Just avoided runninl
our camp into the earth by throwing theil
ponies almost backwards with the sudden
ness of their stop. Did you ever see q
horse stopped like that? No" Well, the
cowboys do il today out in Montana. Colo
RADIO and Texas. 1t is a marvellous fea
of horsemanship. and always makes ont
pity the poor brute while his eye is pleased
with the maneuvre.
'sW>ten those warriors came up they
were full of fight. but were taken some
what aback at finding out who we were
Still they wanted to quarrel. saying thai
the white man had no business in their ter
ritory when they were on the war path