The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-06-29
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STARLIGHT

ASu iSHASAhbSb hs0lAikhvt Va Soui 6os
You remember her dark, piercing eyes
and her long, black hair, and the look
Of almost fierce animation which took
possession Of her face as she pleaded
her cause.
Perhaps you heard her In New York
at the Cooper Union, and possibly you
listened to her eloquent words as, like
a Siouh Joan Of Arc, she told her
dreams in Handel hall.
Well, wherever you heard her, you
will never again listen to that pleading
voice which was raised in duplication
to the white man, asking him, for the
sake Of a common Maker, to be just
and kind to the Indian, and to be as his
elder brother. For Starlight is dead,
having lived only long enough to dis
prove her own philanthropic doctrine.
The Starlight that you knew was not
the Starlight who died in Dakota last
year-died there at the hands Of
drunken Indian whose squaw she was
and who had inherited all that beauty
and grace and learning and polish
which Prof. Gerralds wife had at
tained in-but perhaps it will be best
to tell the whole story.
Starlight, born of Indians and shar-
ing dirty blanket with dog which
was destined for future meal, passed
through chrysalis of barbarism and
emerged an Intellectual, an inspired
woman. After a kindly patron had sent
her to Carlisle for education, and aft
er Prof. Gerald had become her hus-
band and the sharer in her dreams.
you would have looked deeply into her
life without finding anything SUCCESS
tive of the dog and the blanket and the
tepee beside the frozen creek. Star
light as Mrs. Gerald became the ad-
mired friend of men and women of
great learning, and her portrait was
printed in the newspapers, and the ad-
dresses which she delivered were all
fully reported. When she lectured her
advertising matter always announced
shAI ShS opSAhOi WNulu pC MI IaLuy
wife of-Prof. Gerald, known in Sioux
as Starlight" and thousands came to
listen. Still, If her life was quite diff
ferent from the lives of those Sioux
squaws who still lived beside the creek
and chopped wood and performed 9TH
Ell duties of similar sort such as fall
to the lot Of conscientious sQuaw,
Starlight did not forget the people of
her birth. Her lectures were all calcu-
lated for the advancement Of her red
race, and with measureless depth of
learning she would plead the cause of
the dsinherited and despised red man.
She asked her hearers to accord him
his day in court-to give him chance,
and to try to believe that the stories
Of Unborn vengefulness and bloodthirst
were untrue. She sought to uplift and
to save her race, and Prof. Gerald,
loving his wife and loving anthropo-
logical enquiry, supported her fully in
her earnest efforts to show that If CIV
en- an opportunity, the man of the moe
casin might yet become the man of the
market and the yardstick and the dol
lar sign. Starlight was in demand.
Women's clubs called for her, and many
chapters Of Indian Rescuers were
because Of her persuasive words
and her sweet face. Whenever the
question of Indian aid was up, Star
light was invited to give her views, as
4 fair example of what an Indian can
become If civilized and befriended. She |
was considered as an authority on In
1an matters-she and her husband,
or his researches were quite as produc-
i've of knowledge as was her expert
'nce. That is why the two of them
we're sent to the Dakotas when the last
Uprising occurred. You remember lido
you notO the prayers which followed
Starlight and her good and learned
husband, and the many predictions
hat these two would be able to settle
he whole thing, and possibly by some
coup civilize the entire
Sioux nation over night?
1t is my intention to pass over the
1etails OF their settlement in the camp
II one band of the hostiles. Starlight,
icting as living passport, conveyed
he Professor readily into the village
Of the men Of bad heart, and a tepee
was given over to their uses. | am al
most tempted to tell Of the hundreds of
good things the Professor was able to
10 to endear himself to the Indian reb-
lis and to prove that the ways OF the
whites are not necessarily the ways
II harshness. l should like to speak
If the ministratioIs Of Starlight her.
elf. and Of the message of peace and
which she carried to
he stern and painted men, but | must
orego such recital and haste to the
lay after the battle.
You know the white mans end of the
tory, fer you have read the newspa-
ers, and certainly there were MANY
airing spirits among the correspond
nts who rode out with the general
hat December morning. But you have
ot heard the Indians part of it. You
ave not heard how one fainting mes
enger came rushing into the far-away
amp gasping an inarticulate sentence
bout blood and bullets and death and
orror, to be followed a little later by
mother messenger, who, besides being
A fainting condition from exertion,
'as also wounded, and who told of the
illiEg of women and of papooses. You
ave not heard Of the frost of dread
'hich settled upon the village and
billed every heart as runner followed
inner and each related more terrible
.ory Of that encounter on the creek
ank, when soldiers who were captors
lrned upon their prisoners and butch
ed them because of the fear which an
lsane medicine man had aroused by
Is silly and meaningless action in
handful Of earth into the
r. The last messenger was Prof.
errald, who had been visiting the
her and annihilatod camp and who
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