The record-union., 1899-09-24
RICH INDIAN GIRLS.
Many Of Them Are Pretty and a
Farm Goes With Each.

The probability that more land in
Indian Territory will be thrown open
to white settlement has caused a flood
of inquiries as to the personnel of the
Indians who live in the Territory, says
the Wichita correspondent Of the Chi
cago Chronicle Most people are un-
der the impression that they wear
blankets and live in itepees. The In
dians are as thoroughly civilized and
most of them as well educated as the
upper class Of citizens of the larger
Eastern cities. There are five nations
Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee, Creek,
and Seminole About 10 per cent. of
the five tribes are full bIoods, while the
remainder are quarter, sixteenth and
thirty second blood. The young men
are most all highly educated, as we'll
as the girls. Each nation has school
where these young people are educated
and boarded free. The school is main
tanned by the United States and all the
higher branches are taught The In
dams are compelled to send their chill
dren to these schools. Perhaps the
most interesting characters Of the In
dian nation to-day are the girls and
young women.
A too general impression regarding
the Indian girl of to-day is that she is
an unkempt, coarse-appearing creature
with none of the refining characters
ties of the white woman and a general
tendency toward degradation. 1t has
seemed to be almost impossible to di-
vorce the Indian girl from the idea OBJ
tanned through the story book squaws
of other days or the impression given
by the besotted Indian woman one sees
lounging about the stations of Arizona
and New Mexico. 1t is true that ma
jority Of the Indians have black hair
and eyes, but it is equally correct to
say that there are many perfect
blondes among them with rose leaf
complexions that many city-bred wom-
en- would envy. Again the complex
ion of the Indian brunette is not mud
dy, but as clear and delicate as one
would expect in a woman who has led
the ordinary life of civilization.
AS a matter of fact, these Indian
girls of the five tribes would be at
home in any drawing room. They have
been educated into it by the college
/ teachers among them. 1t is very diff
cult TO distinguish the Indian girls of
among them.
During the last quarter of century
/ the number of white men who have
married girls belonging to the five civ
ilized tribes has been astonishing. The
advantages of marrying these girls are
many. The man who marries one is
at once adopted into the tribe and is
! given a large tract of fine land and his
share of the annuity funds, which in
some of these tribes amounts to 500 a
/ month The white adopted citizens
| have become q. power among the In
dians of the Territory and it is largely
due to them, at least the more honest
| ones. that the Territory is being opened
! to settlement Not long ago one OF
| these attractive Indian girls, for a
joke inserted an ad. in matrimonial
paper and it was a good paper, or else
| the ad. was a very attractive one, be-
cause she received $50 proposals of
| marriage.
The Indian girls have been trapped
by fortune hunters so many times that
they are very suspicious of proposals
of marriage from white men whom they
have not known any length Of time. To
protect these girls from the clutches of
unprincipled men the Interior Depart
ment has recently made a ruling that
before a white man could marry into
any of the FIVE civilized tribes he must
present a certificate of good character
from the Judge Of the county where he
last resided. They want no more Grim
inals IN the Indian race.