The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1904-07-01

the Messiah was coming 10 make q
temporal kingdom, so they destroyed
all their totems and became a goddess
nation. Some burned up their totemS.
Others, more prudent, bids theirs in
the ground. thinking that If the Mes
siah did not come. they might prove
useful again. Poor Wolf hid his totem
in a haystack out in field. and the
lightning struck the haystack and
burned up the totem.
but the Messiah did not come, nor
the buffalo. nor the ghost shirts. In
stead, the government interviewed.
My point, however, is that the Sioux
were left literally goddess people,
and that in consequence they came
crowding into the schools to learn the
shining Jesus way
The Aristocrats.
81 was in Oklahoma at one of the
distributions of the government semi
annual dividend. For acres the land
was dotted with Indian tepees, but be-
tween the tepees of the Cheyennes
and the Arapahoes there was a broad
avenue, for the Cheyenne is the arts
tocrat of the Indians. Any Arapahoe
would feel himself flattered to be
asked. Are you a Cheyenne? and
every Cheyenne would feel himself in
suited to be asked, Are you an Arapa-
hoe?' Over the plain a thousand In
dams came driving. each with two or
four of their ponies. their blankets
flying, and followed by packs of In
dian dogs. half dog and half coyote.
Here was Black Wolf. with 10
gashes received in the willow dance
and the ghost dance and there was
old Left Hand, whose wife was doctor
ing his rheumatism.
Il visited the teDee of Lowing Buff
falo who is 1913 years old, If son, who
is Christian. is to be believed. On
the other side of the fire was his aged
wife, paralyzed from the waist down
and nearly blind. Opposite sat Eagle
Feather, their daughter, very sorrow
full because her husband, Swallow, had
left her The poor thing was sitting,
her hands clasped over her heart and
all she would say was Heap sick
about Swallow / got out my Tesla
ment and read part of the eleventh
chapter of Matthew. Come unto me,
all We that labor and are heavy laden,
and l will give you rest l saw her
face begin to soften Then we sang.
Rock of Ages ard Safe in the Arms
Of Jesus and the missionary who was
with me offered prayer.
"One day, years before, that same
missionary came upon little pile OF
gray ashes in the grass. That is
where | burned my mother day be-
fore yesterday, a young brave told
him.
What was the disease?
"'She had none. but she was old
she could no longer spear salmon or
snare rabbits
THAT day he showed me church
which had been built where the old
Indian woman had been burned to.
death, and as | looked at it three
young Indian men came slowly up the
path. Two of them had their arms in
terlaced to form an armchair, in which
they carried their old mother. while
the third followed, carrying a blanket
to put around her. There were no
backs to the seats, so one of the boys
sat beside his mother. and she leaned
against him and rested her head on
his shoulder, as they all listened to the
Gospel So much had Christianity ac-
complished in three years!
'And then there was the time when
Beautiful Blossom died. They laid her
in a little white coffin. but. as there
were no flowers at that season, they
took some yellow tissue paper they
found in missionary box. and twist
ing it into cross and some little flow
ers, placed them in the coffin. All the
old chiefs-warriors who had slain
their men and knew what it was to
dabble in human blood--came to the
funeral.