The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-02-27
INDIAN BRAVE.
Some of His Peculiarities, Including
Laziness.

LAIN eSS.
Many years ago in a little town of
northwestern Nebraska I saw an old
Indian drive his two-horse wagon up
before a dry goods store He asked the
storekeeper if he might have an empty
box that was out in front. He was told
Yes" He turned to his squaw. who
sat beside him on the wagon and said
few words. She got down and start
ed to put the box in the wagon.
Hold up there. you lazy old devil"
said the storekeeper. IF you can't get
I've given it to you. you can't have it.
You get back uD on the wagon" said
the merchant to the souaw.
The Indian drove away and left the
box
This was like the Indian. The man
the bucks proud. He makes the
squaw do the drudge work. The buck
feels that his sole occupation is the
warpath. Between this and hunting,
the Indian spends his time. The squaW
may make his moccasins, but the brave
is his own tailor and the maker of his
ornaments. He used to put in much of
his time chipping out flint arroWheads
and stone tomahawks or in making his
bows, but even in the days of the flint
lock gun he quit all of this in the east.
In the west though the Indian laid
aside the bow and arrow for the long
shoot only fifty years ago. Now no.
In some places he farms little and
raises stock. There are no more bat
ties for him to fight His hunting
grounds are cut by the white mans
pillow. About all that is left for him to
do is to make his war bonnet and once
in a While paint himself for a mock
powwow.
Every brave in the old days tried to
do deeds that would some day make
him chief. For the most part the chief
taincy went from father to son, but
some times all of the heirs to the
throne were killed off in one battle, and
the tribe had to find a leader in some
other family. The reason, perhaps, that
every brave wants to be chief is be-
cause that office gives him power. The
word of the chief must be obeyed. If
he says, Kill that man." that man
must die.
man in every tribe. 1 asked one old
medicine man once how he cured his
patients.
mo bottle, JUS hand" he said. 81
say: You die you die: say: You get
we'll, you get well. I no make man
we'll, he no give me money!
mo cure, no pay, is it?" said I.
Yes, that right. 1 no cure him, he
no pay"
The Indian medicine man, like the old
negro ''yarb'' doctors down south, are
thought by many whites to have great
power to cure. I asked my medicine
man friend if he ever treated any
whites. He said to me:
81 doctor some white man Weston
close. He be sick one year. One year
poor, no meat-all same bone. White
doctor no cure him. 1 doctor him one
hour, one day-whole week. Now he
sees me, he shake my hand"
Since the days of the priest and the
missionary among the Indians the
medicine man has lost some of his
grasp. The Indians now nearly all pro-
| fess the Christian religion and there
are many native preachers among
| them who are looked up to quite as
| much as the medicine men.
Scouting too, is what the Indian likes.
War with him is simply hunting big
game He is built just right for this
| business. His eye is keen and his foot
is swift. He will dare the devil.
But even to be an ordinary Indian is
| thought a great blessing by the brave.
When it is in the blood it is hard to get
leave the Indian colleges when they get
back to their western homes take to
their old habits again. There is some
thing comfortable about the blanket
and there is a freedom in the tepee.
| Contentment is in the life of the Indian
| One o'clock with him is o'clock. He
will never do anything today, but is al
| ways ready for tomorrow.
The Indian humps over no desk and
breatheS no foul air. His figure is
straight; his lungs large. Some tribes
it is true are dying off, but this is be-
cause their lives have become cramped
and because they have caught diseases
from the whites. Few Indians carry
surplus stomachs around with them. ]
know 1000 Indians who live on one
reservation Among them all only one
is really fat. His name is Black Thun-
der, but because he has been such g
glutton his tribesmen have nicknamed
him Lazy Dog.
The eye of the Indian is not early
dimmed. Even the oldest ones wear no
spectacles. They are trained to see far.
Necessity has forced them to look
sharp, either to take note of a far-away
enemy or to find an animal lurking in
the woods. His teeth are large and
even. They do not decay, and it takes
a derrick almost to pull one out. Long
black hair is the pride of the buck quite
as much as the squaw. This he usual
ly reaches back and plaits into two
autSes. Round these when he dresses
up, he wraps strips from the skin OF
some rare animal. An Indian agent
out west once thought that the mean
ness of the Indian, like the strength OF
Samson, lay in his hair. He cut of
the pigtails of several warriors. They
sz1ad the government and got large