The times., 1897-07-19
ONE LITTLE INDIAN.


keep pretty cIoseto my mother. She does
not often like to face a responsibility
OF my size. but she willshoulder 1t any day,
so we are bound together by the strongest
ties. when / am at home / live in wig
wan which mother and built. We made
We built it together. Mother did the work
and lacked her up heavily and between
US both we pulled through without inter
rupting father, who was sitting on the
warm side and seeing mother and ne
work. My father is proud and lofty
being. The sun is his father; he basks 10
his rays. The earth is his mother; he re-
poses upoa her bosom. My father honoTs
his parents; he is bound to bask in all the
sun there is and repose upon all the bosom
he can lie down upon. no matter how much
time it takes to do it. He cliDgs to hrs
mother earth and she hangs on TO him.
Many waters cannot part them; In life
they hold close and in death nobody knows
them apart. My father gives all his time
TO iasking and Teposing, and he worries
in his working, drinking and eating at odd
times. But when there is hunt or a war
or a dance Of the braves. he arises. paints
himself all glorious, beats mother to make
her good, and goes off with gun.
Mother and L do ali the rest OF the
work We plant and hoe and harvest
the crops; we grind the corn betw cen
stones or pound it in a mortar. Mother
does it. but I keep right round after her
and see to 1t all Sometimes we have
nothing To eat; roots. acOrns berries, every
thing gives out. My father can hunt no
squirrels, my mother can get no corn
Then we startfo the Agency TO get ratiOns
1t is a long tramp. but don't mind it, for
mother does the walking We form a
procession double header. Mother heads
the front and head the rear. As the col
umn moves forward go ahead backward
like born leader OF the hindermOst, and
pass everything on the road that is not
going my way. or course, I can't see
what I'm coming TO till am going away
from it. The first thing | notice is our
wigwam and cornstalKs and beanpoles
They large at first. then they grow
smaller. and then they fade quite away
So all the village goes from sight and the
sky gets big and empty and the earth has
no end. AIlength we come to things, horses,
mules. bitches, rivers, trees, houses One
by one they bounce out upon me from
around mothers shoulders. They all begin
big and strong and go away little and
faint. Everything 1 see is going away
from me.
don't know what is coming, and !
can't dodge it till it is past That's what
comes of going ahead backwards Ny
people are pretty much like me Old
Mother Government straps them upon 4
board and shoulders them around from
one place to another n she hears them
Eoa n with hunger she feeds them: ifshesee es
them shiver with cold she blankets them;
when they shrek and kick with rage she
beats them. she lets them live on this side VI
somewhere till sunebody else wants Il. and
then she bundles them off 10 the other side
OF nowhere which nohasiy wants NV peo-
pie, like me, are going ahead backward
Once they had all America to hunt and
fight in: how they have only d small por-
tion Of land where they can stay. The
father OF al my fathers could shoot an
arrow straight through a bison, but his
son could only kill bear, and the bear
Killers son could only kill a deer. AMI
the deerk killers son shot foxes, and the
fox killers son shot squirrels, and the
squirrel. killer S ssOn-thaU is nnyseif-can only
catch flies.
My people started in big Injun, but they
are coming out little pappoose. White
men who stay at home and make book
say my people are dying out, but white
men who look around and count say my
people are as many as ever Oh. am
the Interrogation point that points the
Indian Question. What am 1? person?
OF folks? How did I come so? Where
When? How? How am I coming out,
voter or scalper9 There are thousands
upon thousands like me, bIight-eyed.
brown-skinned. lusty young braves, at
this very moment cutting our eye-teeth
on our knuckle-hones and toughenine our
lungs on young war whoops; but we are
always on the hind side. and either VIC
are not going the way we are headed or
else we are headed the way we are not
going Who knows? Either we shall
come 70 the polls-we fellows-as citizens.
perhaps ballotin hand, asoutlaws, maybe,
tomahawk aloft-and hang 'em at our
Deib- Tue pOiiS-
Hoopla; Toss upl
They say there are white babies that
are carried on their mothers hearts and
next their cheeks: these babies always
look forw ard. and everything starts in
small and grows large and comes toward
them These babies have their eyes and
ears trained 70 meet future events. and
their noses are sharpened upon them as
they whiz by So the babies grow up TO
be strong men, and they talk with light
ming: fire and water are their servants
and smoke is their banner The noun
tains and forests bow before them
Oh, Old Mother Government take us
up and carry MS next your heart Teach
US TO look up and not down, and TO look
forward and not back. and to lend a
hand