Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-07-11

the end of 1t had ught in a twig as ne
walked to his tepee in the early morning
he was followed and his theft found out
The Indians were given many kinds OF
food, which they at once proceeded to
gorge. The traders sold the Indians Sc
cretly liquor and soon the Indians became
violent. They pretended that they were
cheated in the payment and made many
threats, firing Oft guns and hoWling ana
alarming the visitors greatly Then
council was held and fierce speeches. were
made by the Indians, but after awhile they
were all Gained down. The visitors gave
the Indians a concert, which they mucn
enjoyed Hole the-Day. the Indian
chief who married an Irish servant girl
from the National Hotel in this city. was
chief of the whole band, and he offered to
adopt my father .rcs'.fis son, and named
him "Skeesiccs, because this in their IAN
guage means four eyes or spectacles. Whfcn
my fat..er wore.
The Indians gambled for two days and
two nights in a large tepee. Sides were
taken in the moccasin game by the IN
dams, who staked on it nearly all they
had. Two drummers excited the players
all the time during the play. The leaders
on each side in their turn would pretend
to point out with a stick where the leaden
balls which they used In the play were hid
den before they finally fixed upon the place
of concealment, and would watch the Op-
posite players faces for any signs of the
success of their guesses; but the Indians
trained their features SO as not to betray
themselves. My father thinks much of
their keeping unchanged faces when with
white people is due to this training. But
he says the Indians at home are full of fun
and very jolly at times. He saw Indians car
rying heated stones into small tepee.
which they closed After wrapping blan-
kets about themselves they poured water
over the stones. the escaping steam from
which caused the Indians to break out into
a heavy sweat. After this they Owed into
hap of G n
dams ways of curing disease.
My father noticed that many of the In
dian children had bad colds and other trou-
bles. The boys had about as much fun
rows and other amusements as we boys
have, while the girls enjoy themselves
with dolls, singing and canes just as much
as their white sisters do. But schools
were sadly wanting among them, and very
few could count read or write. The In
dian children wore fur clothing and some
times went hungry for several days because
the hunting was poor They were very
dirty and badly brought up, so many Of
them being crowded into a tepee, where
they heard and saw many evil things. We
like to play Indians here, but my father
says that the wild ones are certainly very
poorly off when compared with the boys
and girls in Washington But l must stop
now Some day l may tell about the In
dian medicine men. or magicians, and their
tricks. ALBERT B1RNIIY SE1P.
A BIRD STORY.
l once heard that lady found a little
sparrow that had fallen from the nest and
she tried to put it back in the tree. but
found she could not, SO went and asked a
policeman to drown the bird. He would
not do it, so, starting down to her hus-
bands office, happened to see colored man
washing windows. She then asked him to
drown the bird for her. and he. thinking
she was "hoodooing'' him, turned three
times around. muttered something then
said he would not do it.
Speaking of birds, let me tell you about a
sparrow grandma found in our area. We
all looked at 1t and l held 1t in my hand
for awhile, then gave 1t back to grandma
who was going to take it up to the attic
window, so it would be near the trees and
bird had a string hanging from it's foot.
and was surprised when grandma told me
that the poor little bird had lots of string
wound tight around its leg, together with
straw and some bits of cotton making
quite a large bunch. which prevented 1t
from flying. My auntie cut all the string
off. 1t took her long time to do 50. as
she had to be very careful for fear of cut
ting it's claws off. She said the little bird
was verv patient and only tried once or
twice to get out of her hand seeming to
all off Auntie took it up to the attic
putting it on the window sill. 1t gave a
flutter or two with its wings. and, finding
itself once more free, flew to one of the
trees. l guess il was IS home for we
heard a great chirpinE. as if it was the
little bird telling its mamma all about it.
ELEANOR F. F.