The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1897-09-09
! BILL ARP'S WEEKLY LETTER.
PSYCHOLOGICAL FACTShtGA
INDIANS AND WHITES.
IN7ERMgRRIAGES MORE FREQUENT
IT,. Rod Man. Though Bein. Eap'dis
Decima.ed. Is Well Fixed an"
Happy Withal.

Happy Nith:'!.
Not long ago some writer FROM the
west told us THAI white people we're
marrying Indian girls more frequently
than ever before. Indeed. he sad.
'the dusky maidrns seem 70 lreier
the pale faces to their own Ence and
color.
This provokeS me to write letter
about Indians for the special pleasure
and benefit OF our young people. Boys
and girls like to read about them. l
know, but most of the stories that ap-
pear are more romantic than true.
During the war our brigade camped
one night on the Chickahomlnv 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.
lovely lass of fourteen, Id save John
Smiths life, as he in his lettc" TO the
queen of England says, cat the minnie
of my execution she hazardcl the
beating ont of her own brains to save
mine" She afterwards married John
Role, with her fathers consent. and
from that ;lnion came the RandolphS
of Virginia, and 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, hut it has never lost its
strength. She would make a right
good Pocahontas now if anybody that
she loved was III 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 Toca-
hontas married 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
a 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 an Indian maid was betrayed by
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
dismembered at the second joint, and
that left her shame always visible.
Now it seems 10 be settled by the
men of science that the Indian belongs
to the Caucasian or white race, or
else he is aboriginal and is race of
his own. He is neither Mongolian,
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 native
of the manor born, for geologists 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 uu-
solved problem, and who were the
mound builders is 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 400,-
764; in 1860, 339, 421; in 1870. 313. 10:
in 1880, 800, 543; in 1890, 24S,253.
OF these 5S,S06 are classed as civil
lied. The Cherokees and Creeks 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 cul-
tivation, and the bounty of the gov
ernment would nearly support them.
They have good framed houses to live