El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-03-03
THE AMERICAN INDIAN.
CONTINUED from 9th page. ]

the Great Spirit, as they called the
sun, had gone Gown behind the noun
tains, now called the Blue Ridge, per-
haps the most beautifully picturesque
mountain range in the sJuthern states.
Se-qua-yah was not idle while spending
his days in the woods. While listening
to the prattle of his child, the notes of
the feathered sOngsters and the bark
ing of the squirrels as they scurried
from limb to limb and tree to tree, the
mind of the Indian was solving pro-
blem which none of his peOplehad ever
been able to solve, and which was to
lift them from ignorance to intel
ligence and Christianity.
THE FIRST PUPIL.
"Years rolled by and still Se-qua-yah
was in the woods cutting queer-looking
characters on pieces of bark stripped
from poplar trees. AS each character
teach Oo-he-chae, who had grown to an
Indian maiden of perhaps IA years,
how to pronounce it. She was an apt
pupil and took great pleasure in the
work her father was prosecuting.
When eighty-seven characters had
| been cut on as many different pieces of
bark Se-qus-yah declared his work
finished, and told o. he-chae that they
would talk with mouth open.' 1t was
not long before the two could put words
and sentences together by cutting the
characters on large pieces of bark,
aud then Se-gra-yah told the
braves what he could do. This they
doubted, and when Se-qua-yah would
sit on a large rock many miles away
from Oo-he-chae doubling Indian
would carry messages cut on a piece OF
bark, which she would read, and hav-
ing been taught to make the charac-
| ters, she would send q reply. For
many moons hundreds of Indians
gathered to see the wonderful work,
and the father and daughter were at
first regarded as evil spirits who had
been sent to break up the peace and
happiness of the red man. This
died out. and other Indians
were taught to read and write.
THE FIRST NEWSPAPER.
"When it became common Se-qua-yah
conceived the idea of publishing a
newspaper, which he eventually did,
calling it the Oo-lah-hee Ssh-nah-hee,
meaning in English the Cherokee
Phoenix-reviving or taking a new
start Like maj ority of newspaper
enterprises this one proved a failure
and publication was suspended, prObab-
ly from a lack of advertising patronage
and asu descriptions non-payment. How
ever. after the CberokeeS were tramp
ed over the dirt road to their present
nation the paper was revived under
the name Of the Cherokee Advocate, a
seven-column. four-page paper,
which was at first printed
all Cherokee, but which now
comes out half English.'' Mr.. Whitak-
err says the paper has splendid circu-
lation, and is often called Se.qua-yah s
paper. "These facts cannot be disput-
ed" says Mr.. Whitaker, land there
are hundreds of Cherokees living to-
day who remember old man Se-qua-
yah. whose English name was Guess.
This was his given name, for an Indian
full-blood has no surname. When Sc
oua-ysh settled in the present Chero-
kee nation he built him a log hut in q
district which is called Se.qus-yah in
his honor. This same rude log cabin
stands today eight miles from Mulroe,
and the Indians point it out as a
place of historical interest and at one
time the home of perhaps the greatest
man of their nation. The inventor of
the Cherokee alphabet received a
liberal annual pension until he died.
which occurred while he wss on q visit
to Mexico, and the widow received the
pension until her DEATH
More than you ever thought about
our Indian brethren.