The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1897-04-10

one complained against her. But OF more
moment in the retention Of her place was
| her maidealy invincib;lity. There had been
school teachers before who had married
| Indians, and left vacancies. But there was
| 10 Indian in the tribe who had met favor
| in Miss Ames' eyes, and so she remained
at her post IN the school room drumming
knowledge in at one ear of the aborigine
and seeing it go out the other simultane-
ously. IN her case. without even frown.
| Just at this moment this good-natureG
woman was sitting Idly at her desk gazing
at paraielogram of light which shot
/ through the western window of the empty
room. She arose and stretched her arms
above her and said:
ct beats me"'
| She walked about the room and paused
before small chaiked figure on the black
| board. This figure consisted OF single
| mark to which were attached other marks
| for legs, others for arms and a square head
| with feather sticking out above. In one
| hand was a triangle at the end of a straight
| mark which she knew represented a toma-
! hawk. Then she addressed the figure audi
| bly,. but with no reference to it whatever:
''It amt Indian. It's white. It's Cawcas-
| shun. Whoever heard of an Indian remem-
! boring anything but an injury or an insult?
| 1t beats me. Didn't she say to me tonight
that she dedicated her life to closeness
and the lettering of my mind Think Of
| that. Dedicatingr What a word for an
| Indian. What sentiment for an Indian!'
The individual to whom the good Miss
Ames referred was Misty Dawn, who was
as much surprise to the Indians as to her
self.
Yet there was an explanation which Miss
| Ames could have found had she been dill
gen. enough. Two years before a young
white man had made love to Misty Dawn.
He had gone away, but she had loved him
and he had said: Read the white mans
books. Read all the time and learn to
speak good English" That was his COM
| mand. Her obedience was that of slave.
So she struggled with her books. Late
al night she wrestled with the strange let
tors and the strange sentiments which she
found there. AT dawn she was up again,
memorizing a page. Her advance in the
school was something astonishing. Miss
Ames viewed her pupil with alarm. 1t was
so unusual in an Indian, even half-breed.
The first three months Misty Dawn pro-
gressed to the head of the whole school.
Miss Ames had a reward for her. She was
made nomnally assistant. This was in
tended as an encouragement to the others.
But the others did not encourage. They
continued stupidity as before while Misty
Dawn gained upon them by leaps and
bounds. CONSERVATION was created in her
own household when she notified her old
mother and her two dark brothers that
she would speak no more Indian.
no. bar bad So in
Indian Take the bucket here and draw
the water
Misty Dawn had looked at her mutely.
Then she had said:
misty Dawn will not answer Indian.
Misty Dawn talks English and only Eng.
lsh."
And so she would never answer an Indian
question unless it was in English.
Misty Dawn ran through the readers OF
the school One day she had gone to Miss
Ames and asked
Tell Misty Dawn the white man that
writes best"
Miss Ames gasped in surprise. She really
didn't know, but after an imitation of pro-
found thought, she said:
Shakespeare"
els it a reader?"
cit is book.
do the Indian traders keep it?'
mo my child
'You will get me him. I will pay you,
though it may be many ponies"
II so happened that Miss Ames possessed
copy of Shakespeare. 1t had cost per-
haps dollar. She sold it to Misty Dawn
for ten dollars.
II would be as tedious to tell how Misty
Dawn mastered the Bard as it was tedious
for her to accomplish it. She started in
with the small biography in front and mem
orized every word. This memorizing pro-
cess included THE Tempest" II is one of
the virtues of the great poet that child
can catch the plot though he understand
few of the words much less the sentiments.
Imagine Misty Dawn's surprise when she
discovered the skeleton of the play. THE
Comedy of Errors came next. She stopped
memorizing and ran through it quickly.
She was panied because ii was not a con-
tinuation of The Tempest. She turned back
to the biography and read it and THE
Tempest Now she knew the biography
had nothing TO do with the play. She read
THE Tempest again with glowing delight.
Then again and again. BY chance she
found a dictionary and bought it of Miss
Ames. She picked out the words she knew
by heart and learned their meaning. Slowly
the grand play began to open to her. But
i: was not play to her. II was a reality
Ariel existed. These were the words OF
living creatures, not the creation of man.
1t had happened not centuries ago, but
yesterday. So she mastered The Tenn
pest forgetting that it was written, be-
ieving that il lived.
Now came Miss Ames' perplexity Misty
Dawn insisted on speaking English always
but such English. Where did the child
get those words and those sentiments. Miss
Ames had forgotten the Shakespeare trans
action.
Sngularly enough, few morning after
Miss Ames' talk 10 the chalked figure.
Louis Holding. the Agent, was walking
along Furnishing his memory in respect TO
his young friend Wynants whom he had
escorted off the reservation, when he met
Misty Dawn. He stopped her.
Cad" he said. "The boys taste was
good. What beautiful woman you are
coming TO be Misty DAWN"
Am I then passing fair?" she asked
frankly.
The Agent took one step backward; star
cd. felt his mead and said:
"Howling Rachel! child, where did you
get passing
She smiled upon him. II was not the
propitiating leer OF the Indian to an agent.
He knew that and wondered.
DO not 20, Misty Dawn" he said TAX
ing her arm. Il have heard something
about you. You come along famously in
your studies hear. l shall let the depart
ment know. II you are an instance Of
what half-breeds can 90. amalgamstiOn Is
he snl.I.:nr Of The Indian nrnhla-n- ] shall