The Van Buren press., 1897-10-09
INDIANS AND WHITES.
Bill Arp Writes Of Marriages with
Savage Redskins.
He Discusses neutrality-suspicious. &c
Recent Diatribes In the Boston
Transcript-There Are Men
of Many Minds.

Transcript-There Are Men
of Many Minds.
Not long ago some writer from the
west told us that white people were
marrying Indian girls more frequently
than ever before. Indeed he said,
1.-THE dusky maidens seem to prefer the
pale faces to their own race and color
This proyokes me to write a letter
about Indians for the special pleasure
and benefit of our young people. Boys
and girls like to read about them, |
know, but most of the stories that ap-
pear are more romantic than true. Dur
ing the war our brigade eamped one
night on the Chckahominy river, about
80 miles below Richmond, and we were
shown the very stone on which Capt.
John Smith laid his head for Powhat-
tan's club when the beautiful Poca-
hontas rushed wildly in the circle and
threw herself 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 II, did save
john Smiths life, as he in his letter to
! the queen of England says, "at the
minute of my execution she hazarded
the beating out of her own brains to
/ save mine" She afterwards married
John Rolfe, with her fathers consent,
and from that union came the Ran
dolphs, of Virginia, and little strain
| of that same Pocahontas blood flows in
my wifes veins, and she is proud of it.,
and loves to tell the story to her numer-
Gus and lovely offspring. That little
strain isn't bigger than a cambric
needle, but ii has never lost its strength.
She would make a right good Pocahon-
tas 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 christened.
But it seems that ever since Poea-
hontas married white man the Indian
maidens of all the civilized tribes have
been willing to do the same thing. II
is well known that the daughters of the
! Creeks and Cherokees in Georgia al
ways 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
f 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 to be 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 Mongolian, Malay nor ne
gro. 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 Aus
tralia and the llama in Peru, so the
Indian may be native of the manor
born, for geologists say that this CONT
nent 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
Mexico is still an unsolved 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 COM
mand "be fruitful and multiply" does
] lo11 - In 10 ha
United States census reports, in 1853
there were in the United States and ter
ritories 400, ,764; in 1860, 1886, ,421; in 1870,
313,7l2; in 1890, BOG, ,543; in 1890, GAS,
253. OF these 5S,S06 are classed as
civilized. The Cherokees and Creeks
were sent from Georgia to the Indian
territory about GO years ago. The
former then numbered near 10000;
they number less than that now. What
is the matter with them? They have
fine lands, both for pasturage and culti-
walton, and the bounty of the govern
ment would nearly support them.
They have good framed houses no 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?" l asked of 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 distressed
about anything. 1t was not that the
children died before maturity, but that
the mature died faster than children
were born to take their places. The
exception to this decline of the race
seemed to be in the families where
white men had intermarried with In
dian maidens. These unions were
prolific of children who were healthy
anj handsome, and always bred after
the mother, having her cinnamon color
her straight black hair and high cheek
bones. There is no apparent mixture
OF blood as that which appears in the
mulatto who is the half breed Of white;
and blacks. But these Indian types
weaken in succeeding generations OF
quadroons and octoroons, and il ever
the tribes are saved from extinction
1. will be by this increasing amalgama'
ton 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 college
would not be horror stricken at the
discovery of an octoroon among hel
pupils. Indian students may be found
In many Of our COLLEGES and are not