The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-09-05


children have their births recorded"
: I turned to my father. The desolation
Of being cut off and left with nothing but
the guess Of strangers overcome me.
I sobbed SO the hoarse choke echoed in
the cabin. Skenedonk opened his arms,
and my father and mother let me lean
on the Oneida's shoulder.
have thought since that they resented
with stoical pain his taking their white
son from them. They both stood severely
reserved, passively loosening the filial
bond.
All the business Of life was suspended
as when there is death In the lodge
Skenedonk and 7 sat down together on a
bunk.
"Lazarre." my father spoke, do you
want to be educated?' Il
The things we pine for in this world
are often thrust upon us In a way to choke
US. I had tramped miles, storming for
the privileges that had made George Crog-
han what he was. Fate instantly picked
me up from the uncomfortable conditions
to set me down where I could grow, and
squirmed with recoil from the shock.
I felt crowded over the edge of a cliff
and about to drop into valley of rain
bows.
DO you want to live in De Chaumont's
house and learn his ways?"
My father and mother had been silent
when I questioned them. 1t was my turn
to be silent.
"Or would you rather stay as you are?"'
mo, father" answered, II want to
CO.,
The camp had never been dearer.
walked among the Indian children when
the evening fires were lighted, and the
children looked at me curiously as at an
allen. Already my people had cut me off
from them.
What learn will come back and
teach you," I told the young men and
women of my own age. They laughed
You are fool, Lazarre. There Is
good home for you at st. Regis. If you
fall sick in De Chaumont's house who will
carer"
"skenedonk is my friend" I answered.
"Skenedonk would not stay where he Is
tying you. When the lake freezes you
will be mad for snowshoes and a sight Of
the st. Lawrence"
Perhaps SO. But we are not made
alike. Do not forget me-"
They gave me belts and garters and I
distributed among them all my Indian
property. Then, as If to work charm
which should keep me from breaking
through the circle, they Joined hands and
danced around me. I went to every cabin,
half ashamed of my desertion, yet un-
speakably craving a blessing. The old
people variously commented on the meas
ure, their wise eyes seeing the change in
young man among them.
If the wrench from the village was hard,
the induction into the manor was harder.
Skenedonk took me in his boat, skirting
the long strip Of mountainous shore which
| separated us from De Chaumont.
He told me De Chaumont would permit
my father to pay no more than my exact
| reckoning.
do you know who sends the money!"
I inquired.
The Oneida did not know. 1t came
through an agent in New York.
| You are ten years older than I am.
You must remember very we'll when.
was born"
| How can that be?" answered skene-
donk. Nobody in the tribe knows when
you were born
| Are children not like the young of other
creatures? Where did come from?'
You came to the tribe with a man, and
! Chief Williams adopted YOU
| Did you see the man."
mo. I was on the other side Of the
ocean, in France"
| who saw him."
None of our people But it is very
we'll known. If you had noticed anything
you would have heard the story long ago."
| What Skenedonk said was true. I asked
him, bewildered-"Why did I never notice
anything"
| The Oneida tapped his bald head.
when I saw you first you were not the
big fellow with speaking eyes that you are
to-day. You would sit from sunrise to
sunset looking straight ahead of you and
never moving except when food was put
in your hand. AS you grew older the chill
dren dragged you among them to play
You learned to fish, and hunt, and swim
and knew us, and began to talk our Ian
guage. Now at last you are fully aroused
and are going to learn the knowledge
there is in books
} I asked Skenedonk how he himself had
liked books, and he shook his head, smil-
ing. They we're good for white men, very
good. An Indian had little use for them
He could read and write and cast &C.
counts. When he made his great juorney
to the far country, what interested him
most was the behavior of the people.
} (To be continued Tomorrow