The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1897-01-23
HIS mi REQUEST.
He Wanted a'DInEfer of Beer But WASH .
gatlshed with One.

n0 wanted 1'DiMn@E OF Beef HUI Wash q
Satisfied with One.
Not long after the close Of the war
Of the rebellion the government APP
pointed an agent to look after the in
terests of the Moqui Indians of Arizona,
and sent him TO visit them in their
pueblos. The agent stopped on his way
at the nearest military station, and OBJ
tanned an escort of soldiers under com.
mand of an officer, to accompany him
to his destination. The party reached
the neighborhood OF the most e~asterly'
pueblo mi cold, winter day, late in the
year, and climbed up laboriously along
side Of a great bleak nat topped noun.
tain to the village on the summit. The
Indians received the agent and his es-
cort with great Kindness and conducted
them to shelter in a part OF the building
occupied by the 'govenador,' or head
chief. The first day on the mesa" as
the fat-topped mountain was called,
was spent in speech making, shak-
ing hands and smoking, the In
dians granting approval Of every
thing that was said and done by the
agent and their own people. The pow
wow came to an end at last with a
speech by the agent, in which he invited
the Indians 20 meet him on, the follow.
ing day to receive presents which the
great father had sent for distribution
among them. A couple of hundred In
dams gathered about the casa" of the
goyenador on the following day.
While the presentation was in prog
ress, an old, gray-headed Indian forced
his way through the crowd into the
presence Of the officer who had ac-
companied the agent. He Immediately
Observation-Disclosures dis He-wan-itch-e the
rabbit hunter, and in tremulous tones
besought the officer for an audience.
The interpreter, who stood near by,
FASTENED to translate the message of
the old man, and supplemented it by
saying that the Indian was q youth
when the first census Of the New Mex
lean and Arizona Pueblo Indians was
taken by the Spanish franciscan IA
theirs in 1896, and that it was believed
the old man was now more than 100
years old. When the interpreter had
concluded, the officer inclined his head
towards the old Indian to listen to what
he had to say. There was but little.
however, to listen to for some
time except the monotonous con-
ventional professions of friendship
commonly indulged in by Indians
when they desire to obtain some
unusual fayors. The old man got
down to the subject in hand after
awhile and told a pathetic story Of 81
visit he had made many long years be-
fore TO a military post. where he had
been given all the fresh beef he could
eat. The memory Of the feast had
never left him, he said, asleep or awake,
and he longed for another indulgence
of a similar kind. His people, he
asserted, had no beef cattle, and
but few of them had ever en-
joyed the great privilege of an
ing themselves with beef as he had, and
could not, therefore, sympathize with
him in his present desire. He reminded.
the officer that he Ind but a short tima
to live. and assured him that if he could
only obtain one single meal Of beef, he
would go no his home and lie down on
his bed satisfied with life and its pleas
and ready to close hiscareer.
The old fellow got his beef eventually
from the officers meager store and
went his way rejoicing, to eat andtodie.
The story would have been a very pref
~ one. and would have enabled q pa.
thetic ending if the sequel hnd followed
the lines suggested by the Oldham, but,
quite or the contrary, it had no such
conclusion. The old beggar made his
appearance on the following day and
made the same appeal as before, but.
the supply of beef in the officers mess
chest having become exhausted, He
wanItch-e lost his temper and finally
took his departure from the officers
presence breathing maledictions as he
went agai@st the hard-hearted whit.
man who had no compassion upon the
poor, suffering red man, and would NOT
listen to his simple and reasonable re-
quest for the gift Of a few pounds Of
beef from his abundant storcs-Chh
cago Military Gazette.