The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1897-09-17
ETuyOL0GCiLFACTS REGARDING
INDIANS AND WHITES.
IErERal22.lGES MORE FREQUENT
Tile Ued Mnn, Though urlng Rapidly
pccImatrd Is Well liked aud
Happy Wlthai.

marrying Indian girlsmoro frequently
thns ever before Indeed, he said,
'the dusky maidens seem 90 prefer
the pale faces 10 their own race and
color.
This proyokes me 20 write n letter
about Indians for the special pleasure
and benefit Of our young people. Boys
and girls like 90 read about them,
know, bat most of the stories that APP
pear are more romantic than true.
During the war our brigade camped
one night on the Chickahomny river,
about thirty miles below Richmond,
and we were shown the very stone on
which Captain John Smith laid his
head for Powhattan's club when
the beautiful pocahontas rushed
wildly in the circle and threw her
self upon his bosom and saved his life
| About the stone / have my doubts, but
it is historically true that Powhattan
lived there, and that his daughter, q
lovely lass Of fourteen, did save John
Smiths life, as he in his letter 10 the
queen Of England says, cat the minute
Of my execution she hazarded the
beating ont Of her own brains to save
mine" She afterwards married John
Rolfe, with her fathers consent, and
i from that Inion came the Randolphs
Of Virginia, and a little strain of that
same Pocahontas blood flows in my
wife's veins, and she is proud Of it,
and loves to tell the story to her nu-
merous and lovely offspring. That
little strain isn't bigger than cam
brio needle, but it has never lost its
strength. She would make a right
good Pocahontas now if anybody that
she loved was in danger. In fact, she
has some Indian traits still lingering
IN her bosom, and should have been
named Indiana when she was chris
! tened.
But it seems that ever since Poca-
hontas married a white man the In
dian maidens Of all the civilized tribes
have been willing to do the same
thing. 1t is we'll known that the
daughters of the Creeks and Chero-
KEGS in Georgia always said yes when
good-looking white man proposed
marriage; but such unions were not
hasty nor deceitful; they had to be in
earnest and from honorable motives.
/ If on Indian maid was betrayed by a
designing white man, he could hardly
escape for the whole tribe became
avengers of blood Her virtue was
her dearest ornament, and if she lost
it the third finger Of her left hand was
dismemberGd at the second Joint, and
that left her shame always visible.
Now it seems to he settled by the
men of science that the Indian belongs
to the Caucasian or white race, or
else he is aboriginal and is a race Of
his own. He is neither Monaghan.
Malay nor negro. He was first found
here on this continent, just as the
negro was first found in Africa As
the elephant was found in Asia, the
kangaroo in Australia and the llama
in Peru, so the Indian may be n native
OF the manor born, for biologists say
that 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 exist
ence of Aztecs in Mexico is still an I'M
solved problem, and who were the
mound builders is a matter of doubt
and speculation. One thing, however,
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 reports, in 1853 there were in
the United States and territories 4OO,-
1854; in 1850, 1886, 421; in 1870, 313, 712;
in 1880, 306, SAB; in 1890, 248, 253.
OF these So, sos are classed as civil
lied. The Cherokees and Greeks were
sent from Georgia to the Indian Ter
ritory about sixty years ago. The
former then numbered near $4,000;
they number less than that now What
is the matter with them? They have
fine lands, both for pasturage and Gull
tivation, and the bounty Of the gov
ernment would nearly support them.
They have good framed houses to live
in and have rs good schoolhouses and
churches as our country people have
in Georgia. They are classed as civil
lied, 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. [ mingled
with their people and talked with them.
They did not seem to be sad or dis
tressed about anything. 1t was not
that the children died before maturity,
but that the mature died faster than
children were born to take tneiI
places. The exception to this decline
of the race seemed to be in the families
where white men had intermarried with
Indian maidens. These unions were
prolific Of children who were healthy