Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-12-16

I
of whiskey, tobacco and finery. When
one meets you he is always first to ex-
tend a hand of greeting, and then he
will ask you for tobacco. If you give
it to him he will never forget the favor,
but should you refuse. or insult him.
he is your enemy forever. One of
them went into store here aud asked
the clerk to give him something to eat.
The clerk handed him small ginger
cake. The Indian turned to him with
look of scoru and mischief upon his
dusky brow. and says, Pooh! l tell
you this makee great bigee man. :"
Meaning if he ate that cake he would
be filled up to an enormous size, and
making light of the stinginess of the
clerk. When they start out OF the
reservation on visit anywhere, they
have to obtain a pass from their chief,
and to every person they meet they pre-
sent their pass; and If he is peaceable
well-behaved Indian they write on it
''GOOd Indian" II, on the other hand,
he is quarrelsome and ill-behaved they
write bad Indian" On his return to
the reservation the Chief examines his
paper, and if he has been a bad Indian
he is never allowed to go out of the
reservation again; but if he has be-
haved we'll, he can go any place, at any
time he wishes. When raveling, the
men folks ride laZily along, smoking
their pipes, with apparently no thought
or care of their wives and children.
But the poor squaws coming along be-
hind carry all the things necessary for
their use upon their backs. And if
there are any babies, they put them in
a sack and tote 'em along. When one
of their number gets so old he cannot
travel. they build high pen. put him
in it and let him starve to death. They
have no use for the aged and crippled.
Their way of Furnishing their children
put them in the tent, fasten up the holes
securely and build fire, and smoke
them till they promise to be good.
When one is tried for crime and SEN
fenced to be hanged, they never i'm
prison him, but just let him go about
as be had done before. When the day
of execution rolls around. the poor fell
low is on hand ready for the work to
be done. They are never afraid of
punishment when they know they de-
serve it.
1t is a seldom thing that one of them
ever proves false to the other in case
OF love and marriage. They believe
their life partners to be the greatest
and noblest of all, and if one ever falls |
short of his or her duty in this respect,
they are burned at the stake without
mercy.
As have stated before, the country
in rather thinly inhabited in this part
wise scarce. and not so we'll understood |
as might be expected. Happening to !
be in one of the large livery stables the
other day I noticed an old fellow of
about sixty years of age, who. had |
come into town and had taken a little |
too much of Paddy's eye water, which |
had unsettled his nerves to a consider |
able extent. He approached the new
tangled water faucet and concluded to |
water his horses. So he set his wits to
WORK to turn the water on, which he |
finally accomplished after several |
minutes of both mental and physical
exertion. How nicely the water flowed
into the trough, and the old fellow |
smiled and congratulated himself upon
his ready wit in understanding new
things. But by and by the horses fin |
ished drinking, and he set about to |
turn off the water. But work as hard |
as he might he had not mastered the |
ART SuluSISutAss duO bIC "otOt lIONO Gu
on as usual In a few minutes the
trough was running over and water
flowing on the floor. At this juncture
Mr.. Hayseed became desperate, and
hastily slapped his hand over the
spout. o my! how the water did fly
in every direction, and Mr.. Hayseed
and horses were drenched from head
to foot. But he didn't keep his hand
there long, but went to work with
more vigor than ever to turn of the
obstinate ..cuss." as he called it, max
ing one more final effort, and the
stream ceased flowing. As he stood
gasping for breath, with eyes dilated
and the perspiration standing out over
his forehead. gazing at the wonderful
water machine. a great big oath fell
from his lips'and he sadly and slowly
remarked, as he scratched his wise old
head and looked down upon his great
runover boots. II des be dadburned,
eff wouldn't have yer to pay fur, I'd
kick ye to whar yer blamed old water
wouldn't be SO cold. I'll bet We on that. "
And / thought, too, it would be pret-
~ cool bath, for the mercury was
standing several degrees below zero.