Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1898-03-24
RELENTLESS FATE.

country have paid so little atten-
ton to candid accounts of the life
and habits OF the simple Indians
in their little settlements and
small holdings in the hills. The
few incidents and "reminiscences
that have accidentally come to US
are full of interest and give US
glimpseS of Indian character no
where else obtainable. The stero-
typed traits of aboriginal character
that have come down to US from
the earliest writers at the time of
the first settlements along the
eastern shores of the United
States are inaccurate and fabulous,
largely. The life of the common
fullblood Cherokee Indian, as liv-
ed in the Spavinaw hills or along
the Illinois river, or scattered
through the hill country between
or on either side, or along the
streams west of the Grand river, is
not devoid of interest. Before the
game was entirely driven out, and
the horde of white and mixed blood
settlers had penetrated these wilds,
and when the Indian could get a
living in his own natural way from
the primitive woods, there was
certain charm in his rude way of
life. A great writer has said that
society is like a lawn, where every
roughness is smoothed, every
bramble eradicated, and where the
eye is delighted by the smiling of
a velvet surface, but he who would
study nature in its wildness must
plunge into the forest, must explore
the glen, must stem the torrent and
dare the precipice. So in the
study of the Indian, one must
know how he lives and has lived
for generations in his own retreat
in the mountain fastness-his
iilT7oe;;a4e long before his noble forests
were despailed and laid low by the
ex OF q more progressive, a more
civilized, and less simple and
and primitive. and we believe a
less conscientious people.
The fullblood Cherokee Indian !
in our own country is a type pecu-
liar unto himself-the product of
conditions and environments that
be had 20 hand in directing or
bringing about. lie is of natures
cwn coinage and is worthy of
thought and study as an object les
son on large scale of the ebb and
flow of human existence on this
old earth of ours. He, as found in |
bis native haunts, frequently in
squallor now, where a quarter of
century ago he was in his pristine
glory, having reached the highest
point possible for uncivilized and
primitive man to reach, and as
such he vas, and is, fit subject
for local story and romantic remi-
niscence.
No history of these people will
ever be complete that does not de-
tail something of the character
typical of the common Indian,
stripped of the halo of fiction and
romance and anecdote furnished
largely y his enemies. To those
Wao Know him as he is, he is
looked upon as the remnant of a
brave bnt unfortunate people, per-
secuted q great deal while living,
and siandered and dishonored
when dead. But we must find that
after all the harrassing cares of be-
ing driven from one reservation to
another, always with the solemn
promises on the part of the gov
ernment that each move should be
the iast-after all these cares and
h----1- esses-he has maintained
and retained much of his nobler
and better nature, and that he has
always been a patriot ready to
yield up his life in defense of his
country. The fullblood Cherokee
scarcely realizes the great changes
that are so rapidly taking place in
his country. He knows that the
deer and the buffalo are all gone,
and that he is very, very poor, but
the march of civilization is all a
painful mystery to him; it is like a
horrid dream and he plainly real (
ICES that his lonely bark is fioun-
dering amid darkness and tempest (
and night, with no pitying eve to I
weep his fall, or friendly pen to {
record his hopeless struggle.
Thought Bryan Was Elected.