Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-11-12
leach WIS A SURPRISE
Both Indians Were Graduates
Of Carlisle.
BUT WERE INDIANS STILL
Although One Read BaIzac In the
Original and the Other Stood
Firm for Sound Money-Blood
Thicker Than Water.

/ remarked one of a party Of travelling
men seated at dinner in an uptown
hotel one evening, land when l was
coming East after one trip l had tt
stop over a couple of hours in The
Needles, California, to make connec
tions. A train was late or something
Nothing unusual out there.
"Well, | was loafng about the sta
ton, smoking and swearing at the de
lay, when l noticed a group of five OF
six Indians squatting around a blank
ct spread on the ground. l walked
over to them and saw that they were
gambling; playing some Indian game
with little colored bones.
They were a tough looking lot,
dirty and greasy, and all wrapped in
blankets which had fallen down
around their waists, except one old
fellow who looked to be about hun
bred. His apparel consisted of an
undershirt, none too long nor too clean,
a breech clout, and a leather pouch
with his money and tobacco mixed in
it. l was told later that he was old
JIM and that he was there before the
river was.
But that has nothing to do with
my story. Beside one of the noble,
red gamblers lay a book with news
paper cover, evidently to prevent its
being soiled. Surprised not only that
such a dirty specimen of humanity
should be fussy about cleanliness, but
also that he should have book Of
any kind. l touched him on the Shout
der and asked in that 'pidgin' English
which we instinctively use in speak
ing to Indians, Cinnamon and the
the like, even when we know they can
understand good English better:
Book? Me see?
HE glanced at me, nodded, grunted
and then turned his eyes on the
blanket again. l picked up the book,
opened and nearly dropped it again.
"a Balzac novel! In French!
IL was almost out, but waited I'M
til some one else was handling the
bones, and then said
"'Do you read Frenchr
He had no stake up just then,
and he turned and replied in perfectly
good English:
Eyes, sir. l am a little rusty just
now, but always prefer Balzac in the
original One loses so much in the
translations, no matter how good they
may be-
Il just looked at him. 1 couldn't
speak and he grinned and answered
my unspoken question;
ooh, Carlisle. Then, besides, 1
took a special course in French and
was abroad one year
Then his turn came to handle the
bones and he became a real Indian
again. And l got on the train and
wondered"
They're a great lot, those Indians"
said another member of the group.
Il was down in New Mexico a few
years ago and l met in Albuquerque
friend of mine from the East who
had a bug on Indian relics, Navajo
blankets and that kind of stuff. He
wanted me to stay over a day and run
out to a Pueblo Indian town called
I.aguna, on the Atlantic and Pacific
branch of the Santa Fe, to see if he
couldn't pick up some things worth
taking East. | was going East myself
and as it was Friday l told him I'd
lay over until Sunday and go with
him. You can't do much business
down there on Saturday, and besides 1
thought I'd like to see the place my
self
I'VE got to Laguna and he picked up
a lot of rubbish that he said was just
what he wanted. paying little enough
for it. Then we went back to the sta
ton to wait for a train back. 1t was
a beasty lonesome place, only the
station where the agent lived and
water tank. The Indian village was
mile and half away, up on the
mesa.
Time dragged and finally we got
into an argument over politics. 1t
was just before McKinley's first cleo
ton and l was Republican. The man
with me, being a native of Omaha,
was naturally a rabid Bryanite, and
he proceeded to pump free silver into
me for all he was worth. I couldn't
see it, however, and the argument
grew hotter and hotter until he finally
said:
"Why, confound 1t, man, it's as
plain as the nose on your face. Byran
knows what he's talking about, and
he's right. Even that dirty-looking
Indian there, if he had the sense of
a human being and could understand,
would say you were wrong; dead
wrong
Before l could answer, and his
tone riled me a bit, the 'dirty-looking
Indian who didn't have the sense of
human being rolled over lazily,
took the cigarette out of his mouth,
and remarked good-naturally:
"T don't know about that, old man.
I'm afraid I'm against you. I'm
sound money man myself
ooh, yes, we talked to him. Car
Isle man, of course. Had just gone
to the old life and its laziness, that's
all. But he was posted. Had the
New York and Chicago papers sent to
him every week and read them, and
understood what he read, too. But
the Indian was too strong in him and
that's all the good his education did
him"