The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1902-05-10
SCHOOL PUPILS
PLAY INDIAN
Pantomine of "Hiawatha"
Given by CarItOniteS.
BLANKETS AND FEATHERS
Make Children Look Like the
UncOnquerabIe Race.
BLANKETS AND FEATHERS

| Arrayed IN bright-coIored blankets and
decorated in paint and feathers band
Of Indians appeared on the stage Of
the Crawford theatre last night and
while the audience with difficulty re-
strained its fears of massacre. pro-
ceeded to lead them back to the days
when the white mans foot had not
touched the western continent and when
their race were children Of the rivers and
forests And as the children Of the Carl
| ton school gave a pantomine OF Long
] fellows beautiful Indian poem. 'Hia-
watha, the gray-haired men and women
! IN the audience recalled the Indian stories
they had heard in their childhood, and
the little boys and girls wondered if the
Indians really did look Ike those people
on the diraly lighted stage.
Seven scenes were given from Longfel-
lows poem. and the entire story
of the birth. courtship and marriage
of Hiawatha and the famine which took
from him his wife. Laughing Water,
was dramatically portrayed.
While J. d. Caldwell or Miss Gail SUIT
ton read the lines of the poem. the In
dams on thesstage illustrated the read
ing by gestures and actions, and the
scene was quite realistic.
The pantomine began with an Indian
drill and march as the opening lines Of
the poem We're recited. When the cur
tain was again raised. the spectators
saw an Indian wigwam in the forrest.
Old Nokoms walked forth with pa
poose on her back and hung it to the
limb of a tree and then rocked il TO
sleep
In the next scene. Hiawatha. the youth,
stepped TO the front of the stage holding
in his hands the bow and the arrows
which he could shoot so far that the
tenth would leave the bow before the
first returned to earth. Percy Powers
as 'Hiawatha" portrayed the character
well, especially in the next scene, when
he sat and pondered while the reader
repeated the lines:
AS TO the bow the cord is
So to the man is woman
Though she bends him. she obeys him
Though she leads him, yet she follows
While Hiawatha was bordering these /
questions with his head bent TO the /,
ground. Norma Wood as Nokomis, /
rushed from the teepee and touching 1
him on the shoulder urged him TO we'd
some Indian maiden who could run her
errands and prepare the meals.
Hiawatha rose to his feet and told the
woman of Minnehaha or Laughing Water
IN the land of the Dakotas, who would
be her star light. her moon light, her
sunlight and her fire light
In the next scene. Robert Pearce. as !
the arrow maker is sitting i'm front Of
his teepee and near hin. sits the modest
Ainnehaha. his daughter. who is repre- +
scented by Bessie Appegate.
He then begins his suit for her hand
and obtains the consent of both her ,
father and herself. +
The wedding feast is portrayed in I
the next scene. which is the most enter
tanning OF all. All the Indians in the /
play are seated on the ground and Z
Nokomis and Laughing Water distribute +
among them bowls, which they fiji with .
food from a gourd. After the feast the
pipe of peace is smoked and then John
Boanson as -Puk-Weewis dances. f
while ChibrabOs. who is represented by .
Willie Swentzel. beats the dunn. Pau
Puk-Keewis dances over the entire stage,
leaping high in the ali and running zap
idly in all directions After the dance is
finished Chibrab0s sings a song, which
is about as musical as the songs usually
Sung at Indian dances, and then the we'd
ding feast breaks up.
For the famine scene, Miss Gail SUIT
ton reads the lines. In the wigwam
lies Minnehaha dying from hunger and
fever Hiawatha is not 10 be seen for
he is away in the forest. During this
scene the pantomine part is taken by
twelve girls who by their gestures and
expressed in tho lines in a feeling man
ner.
Before the pantomine. was given a
musical and literary program was rem
dered in an excellent manner and ninc
little girls dressed in white. gave the
'Revels ef the Maids which was pos
ing Us statues. The program was as fol-
lows
Chorus Happy and Lisht"
Welcome Address-J0sie Tracey.
Flute solo-''Montclair Gallop'-Paul
Siclcner
Reuben and Bachel''
Carleton Orchcstra.
The Judges Song-Caivin Herman.
Recitation-"Tve Got to &c 10 school,
-Adolph Wendell
Violin Solo - OberlandeT' - Harry
Brown.
The entertainment last night was high
Is pleasing to the 800 people who Wit
messed IL and Prof Pence and Mics Carrie
Shuts. who assisted him. deserve credit
81 D,