The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-10-09

the sacs and Foxes pay not the slight
 est attention. -t For thirty years they have made
 their home in the Iowa valley, the long.
 est rest they have had. Before the white man came Dubuque was their
 home. Then the Sioux lured them to
 Prairie du Chien. Wis, on pretext of
 general treaty. and there thirty of
 the flower of the tribe was massacred They retaiiated with an attempt at a general massacre, and then to escape the Sioux emigrated to Iowa and built their shacks near Davenport and Rock Island. Finally the Sacs and Foxes re- | linquished what claims they may have had to Eastern and Southeastern Iowa and were given lands in Kansas, where
 they lived for q few years. finally ex-
 changing them for Indian Territory lands.
 Thirty years ago they came back to
 the scene of the battle of their fathers.
 From annuities they had saved sum-
 cient money to buy forty acres of land,
 and through the prosperity of the Wtn- nebagoes and the few wants of the In-
 dian they have been enabled to in- crease their landed possessions to 5000 acres. Tama is not an Indian reserva- | tion. For twenty-five years has the Gov- ernment been trying to maintain
 school for the Sacs and Foxes. The
 school was maintained. but no Indian
 would attend. The few boys and girls
 who did dare to learn the ways of civ- ilization were ostracised by the re- maining tribesmen. The Presbyterian l Board of Missions has erected a mis- | sion on the Indian lands. No one at- tends the meetings. A. few of the wo-
 men condescend to learn to sew, but they never make use of the sanitary
 instruction they have received.
 A few years ago also Congress ap-
 propriated s35,00O for an industrial
 school The buildings were erected on the most modern plans and the School
 was fully equipped. For two years 1t has been in operation. No boy will at- | tend. He does not want to learn to | work. Education to the Iowa Indian | is sin. He does not want to learn. The Sacs have a religion. Not strict | ly orthodox, but broad and comprehen-
 sive. the Indians have an unswerving
 belief in the goodness. mercy and jus
 tice of God. They believe In the inn
 mortality of the soul and a future re-
 ward or punishment for virtue or vice. | All the traditions of the race demon
 strate their belief in God. whether the | Christian God or one of t1eir own they | say not. Probably the early Jesuits | who worked near the St. Lawrence | River are responsible. Their funerals are impressive and breathe the spirit | of immortality. A few weeks after the | death when they think the spirit has | gained strength for final departure, they make preparations for its exit. X ! horse Is saddled and bridled and with
 blankets, corn and tobacco he Is led l from the grave across river and
 prairie, starting the spirit on the road
 to the happy hunting ground.
 The morals of the Indians are above
 ing for two vices-gambling and
 drinking. The strict Iowa mulct law t and the rigid precautions of the United | States government have no terror for 1 the Sac and Fox. Formerly they
 bought large quantities of lemon ex- | tract, which, mixed with hard cider. | made what they regarded as a good | liquor.
 They are expert card players and
 after pay day they keep up the game | of poker until money, blankets and
 even horses have gone the rounds of | the card circle. The Sacs and Foxes
 do not swear. They have no words of | profanity in their language, and when l a drunken Indian goes on a rampage 1 he must borrow from the vocabulary of | his white brother.
 | No record is kept of births or deaths They are simply dying off, but a few
 hundred surviving. Another decade | will see the once powerful Sacs and
 Foxes almost forgotten and possibly an | extinct race