The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-09-05

told ms that white people ware marrying
1nd;on girls more frequently than ever
hefore Indeed" he said, the duskS
maidens seem to prefer the pale races ~
their own race and color. -.
This proyokes me to write a ie''er aoou'
Indians for the special pleasure ana peh.
eft of our young people. BOYS anu 81 -
Ike TO read about them, know, out hos'
of the stories that appear are more to
mantle than true. During the war our
hr;cade camped one night on the Chlch"-
bominy river. about thirty mics peio"
p;obmond and we were shown the very
e.+,,o I'm which Captain John Smith lalu
he boad for Powhatans club when the
beautiful Pocahontas rushed Wildly III
tho circle and threw herself upon MS DOS
ON and saved his life. About the stone
have my doubts, but it is hlstoricaiis t,ue
that Powhattan lived there, ana that ms
daughter. a lovely lass of fourteen. dla
save John Smiths life. as he III ms ietteF
to the queen of England says at Tue
minnie of my execution she hazzardeu
the beating out of her own brains TO save
mine She afterwards married John
Rolfe. with her fathers consent, ana
from that union came the Randolpns OF
Virginia. and little strain of that same
Pocabontas blood flows in my VIE S
veins and she is proud Of it, and loves to
tell the story to her numerous ana loVeiy
offspring. That little strain isn't bigger
than a cambria neddle, but 1t mas never
lost it's strength. She would make risht
good Pocahontas now if anybody tnat she
loved was in danger. In fact, sne mas
some Indian traits still lingering IN her
bosom. and should have been named In
diana when she was christened.
But it seems that ever since Pocahoh-
t.s married a white man the Indian maid
ems of all the civilized tribes have peen
willing to do the same thing. 1t is well
known that the daughters of the Greeks
and Cherokees in Georgia always SAID
YES when a good-looking white man pro-
nosed marriage; but such unions were not
hasty nor deceitful, but they had to be IN
earnest and from honorable motives. IL
an Indian maid was betrayed by a de-
signing white man, he could hardly es-
cane. for the whole tribe became aveng-
,Ars of blood. Her virtue was her dearest
ornament. and if she lost it the third
finger Of her left hand was dismembered
Ut UDe ScCVuu Joih'' "A ,~
shame always visible.
Now il seems to be settled by the men
Of science that the Indian belongs to the
Caucasian or white race, or else he is an
original and is a race of his own. lie is
neither Monaghan, Malay or negro. lie
was first found here on this continent,
Just as the negro was first found in AIR.
ca. As the elephant was found In ASIA,
the kangaroo in Australia and the llama
i'm Peru. so the Indian may be native
of the manor born, for BIOLOGISTS say tnat
this continent is the oldest by several
thousand years But where he came from
or how he got here is a question too deep
for me. The existence of AZtecs IN MeXi-
co is still an unsolved problem, and who
were the mound builders is a matter or
doubt and speculation. One thing, now
ever, seems certain, that the race Is
doomed to extinction. The command be
fruitful and multiply" does not belong
to them. According to the United States
census report in 1893 there were in
the United States and territories 400,674;
in 1860, 339,421; in 1870, 313,712; in
1880, OG,543; in 1890, 249,253. OF these
IS, SOC are classed as civilized. The Chero-
to the Indian Territory about sixty years
ago. The former then numbered near TO-
600; they number less than that now.
What is the matter with them! Ihey
have fine lands, both for pasturage and
cultivation, and the bounty of the gov
eminent would nearly support them.
They have good framed houses to live
in and have as good schoolhouses and
churches as our country people have in
Georgia. They are classed as civilized,
and dress just like white folks. and cook
and eat as nourishing food as we do.
What is the matter? / asked one of their
educated ministers. God knows" said
he. l mingled with their people and talked
with them. They did not seem to be sad
or distressed about anything. 1t was not
that the children died before maturity,
but that the mature died faster than chill
dren were born to take their places. The
exception to this decline Of the race
seemed to be the families where white
men had intermarried with Indian maid
ems. These unions were prolific of chill
dren who were healthy and handsome,
and always bred after the mother, hav-
ing her cinnamon color, her straight black
apparent mixture of blood as that which
appears in the mulatto, who is the half
breed of whites and blacks. But these
Indian types weaken in succeeding
generations Of quadroons and octoroons,
and if ever the tribes are saved from ex-
tinction, it will be by this increasing
amalgamation with the white race.
These unions do not seem to shock the
sentiment of mankind as do the unions
of whites with negroes. Even Vassar col
lege would not be horror stricken at the
discovery of an Octoroon among her pu-
pills. Indian students may be found in
many Of our colleges and are not rejected
at hotels or boarding houses or theaters
or churches or on railroads. In some Of
the tribes, as in the Greeks and Chero-
KEGS, their features, their beauty and
their traits of character approximate the
Anglo-Saxon. Schoolcraft, who is the high
est authority, says their features are reg
ular, their expression noble; they are tact
turn and stoical to the last degree, cum
ming and watchful, persevering in the