The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-03-29
INDIAN CHILD LIFE.

on the Reservations.
 Compared with the. lives led by the
 ull-blooded Indian children of the northwestern reservations the miserable
 urchins who play in a city's gutters
 dwell in a paradise of joy. The gutter
 snipe is certain to have some marbles
 or a top in his clothes; he can earn a
 few pennies for himself upon occasion; 1 he is quick witted and brimming with
 nervous energy; of mirth provoking ex-
 pedients he is as full as an egg is of
 meat and at repartee he has no equal
 Indian children. on the other hand,
 are born brave and solemn and stolid, 1 The art of selfrepression practised for | centuries by their ancestors has become
 a second nature to them-is inherited
 with the result of transforming what ] should be their golden age into mere 1 existence, ioyless and apathetic. ! In babyhood their training compels I them to endure without whlmpering
 discomforts and hardships which would
 destroy children of the white race. 1 Strapped tightly to the back of a squaw or left to themselves so tied in a blan- ket that use of their limbs is denied them, they are mere silent bundles, voiqeless, without will or power. There is no dandling, no coddling. no one to teach them to smile, no effort to devel- op the softer sides of their natures The squaw is too busy heWing wood or car
 rying water or preparing food for her
 buck and brood or in making beaded
 wares to sell to the trader for that. And when they are old enough to be trusted upon their legs alone and un-
 fettered they are left to themselves, with less care than a litter of pigs re- ceiVes from it's SOW mother-until such time as the squaw perceives that she may tighten her own labors by com polling the papooses to share in them
 There is no running "to meet papa" no clinging to his legs as he walks no riding "cockhorse" on his feet, Until they have shown character in some un- expected way or performed some unex- pected deed the buck father will bestow upon them less attention than he gives his pony or his herd of ponies, if he is rich
 Gene, the eight-year-o son of Standing Elk. on this (the Cheyenne)) reservation, crawled out of his blan- kets one dark night, and. guided by the beating of tomtoms and the ki-yi-ing that usually accompanies such an af- fair, made his way alone to the Rose bud, where White Bulls bucks were having a ghost dance" He did not dare to minge with the dancers, 50 he hid in the bunch grass near by and watched the bucks as they stamped and chanted around the fire
 Gene had unsuspected powers of mimicry. The dancing made a strong impression in him. Next morning, when Standing Elk darted out of his wickiup to chastise the noisy voungs ter, he was astonished at what he saw and heard. There was Gene stamping about with the grace and vigor of a practised dancer, to no other accom- paniment than his own ki-yi-ing. He twisted and contorted and stamped like an old-tlmer, and he had the steps down so pat that his genius for that sort of thing was borne in on Standing Elk in a flash
 Calling to his squaw Standing Elk bade her find bells and headdress and fallals of the conventional sort for the bPS, anu NHeH lHe ypulSSlef was thus logged out his father bade him dance before the chiefs of the tribe. Gene ac quilted himself so we'll that he won the approval of the chiefs, and is now the most envied boy on the reservation. Little Indian maidens would walk miles just to have him say How" to them.
 Sometimes this recognition is won for the Indian boy by skill in the chase, or In breaking ponies, or in doing what eastern children would call stunts" on horseback But until it is won the h. 1 dian boy is nonentity, and few obtain it so early in life as did Standing E,lk's | papoose.
 It IS in that period when the white boy of the same age Is suffering the bangs of puppy love that the young buck Indian begins to get something out of life, He grows vain after recog- | 1ition and becomes ambitious to do | more and better, after the Indian fash | ion, than the others who may have | found favor. He engages with these others in pony races, and strives to out | 10 them in skill and in mischief This l s the danger period for whites living near the reservations, for the theft of 2attle, the intimidation of women, and unproVoked murder all | make for the reputation and glory of he young buck who can do these .hings and avoid detection or punish nent.-Chicago Tribune.