The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1899-11-24

Kew se-aua-Tah Thought Out the
Only Indian Language That
II written.


". 7. Whitaker, president Of the or
phan home at Pryor Greek, L T., gives
some interesting facts regarding the
discovery and discoverer OF the Chero-
kee alphabet, which has enabled this
tribe Of Indians to become by far the
wealthiest and most intelligent Of sll
the civilized tribes OF 756 different !
languages or dialects spoken by as
many nations OF Indians from the time i
when there was not g white man on the /
American continent until the present, |
only one nation-that Of the CherOkees /
has a written or printed language. 1t |
requires % letters or characters TO |
write or express the English language, ]
while that Of the Cherokees runs to 81,
many Of them being formed exactly like |
ours.
Mr.. Whitaker, who is a Cherokee him
self, says that when his people occupied
a large part Of North Carolina, Georgia
and Tennessee, there was in the tribe
one buck who was regarded as especial
II dull and lazy. His name was Se-qua-
yah, and he took no pleasure in the
chase for game, seldom had his bow
and arrow, the war whoOp had no fas-
cination for him, and he refused to take
part in the dances which thrilled the
hearts Of the braves. Se-qua-yah was
Rood-natured and kind, but always
wore the look Of one burdened with
some deep and hidden sOrrow, prefer
ring at all times TO be alone in the
woods when not assisting his squaw
around the wigwsm, something In
dams are not often found doing. The
peculiar actions Of the Indian could not
| Be understood by his fellows, and final
| " he came to be regarded as mentally
| on balance-as an Indian would say;
Head heap 60 round"
Bv-and-bT there came to Se-qUa-yah's
wild home a little girl babe, and there
/ shone q new light in the queer Indians
| eyes upon her advent. The little one
was named OO-he-chae, which means
/ 'shas arrived, or been given" As the
! child grew the father became more and
more devoted and would spend hours
| with her in the woods, returning to the
| wiRwam only when the face Of the
] Great Spirit, as they called the sun, had
| gone down behind the mountains now
| called the Blue Ridge, perhaps the most
| beautifully picturesque mountain
range in the southern states. Se-qua-
/ yah was not idle while spending his
K DAYS in the woods. While listening to
/ the prattLe Of his child, the notes Of the
feathered songsters and the barking OF
/ the SQUIRRELS as they scurried from limb
to limb and tree to tree, the mind OF the
/ Indian was solving a problem which
none Of his people had ever been able
/ to solve, and which was to lift them
from ignorance to intelligence and
Christianity.
Years rolled by and still Se-qua-yah
was in the woods cutting queeT-looking
/ characters on pieces Of bark stripped
from poplar trees. AS each character
was finished he would sit down and
teach Oo-he-chae, who had grown to an
| Indian maiden OF perhaps IA years, how
| 70 pronounce IT. She was an apt pupil
| and took great pleasure in the work her
father was prosecuting. When 81 char
acters had been cut on as many differ
ent pieces Of bark Se-qua-yah declared
his work finished, and told Oo-hs-chas
/ that they would talk with mouth
open" It was not long before the two
could put words and sentences together
| by cutting the characters on large
/ pieces Of bark, and then Se-qua-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, a doubling Indian
would carry messages cut on a piece OF
bark, which she would read, and, nav
ing been taught to make the characters,
she would send one IN reply. For many
! moons hundreds of Indians gathered
l u Ell I'D q a
i Their and daughter were at first regard
ed as evil spirits who had been sent 70
break up the peace and happiness OF
the red man.
This idea, OF belief, however, finally
died out, and other Indians were taught
TO read and write" When it became
common Se-qua-yah conceived the idea
OF publishing a newspaper, which he
/ eventually did, calling 1t the OO-lah-hee
| Sah-Nah-hee, meaning in English the
/ Cherokee Phoenix-reviving or taking
a new start. Like a majority Of news
/ paper enterprises this one proved
/ failure and publication was suspended,
/ probably from a lack Of advertising
/ patronage and subscriptions non-pay-
ment- However, after the Cherokees
were tremped over the dirt road to their
| present nation the paper was revived IN
/ der the name Of the Cherokee Advocate,
a seven-cOlumn fOur-page paper, which
was at first printed al Cherokee, but
which now comes out half English. Mr..
/ Whitaker says the paper has a splendid
| circulation, and is often called Se-qua-
I yah's paper.
'aThese facts cannot be disputed"
/ said Mr.. Whitaker, sand there are hun
dreds Of Cherokees living to-day who
remember old man Se-qua-yah, whose
/ Fn0I{sb name was Guess This was his