The news & observer., 1905-12-15

singular good luck | got. this land
| within ten miles of New York City.
! The whole thing was $50 acres /
| put a big fence al around it and there
| was one big gate. l kept the key.
! The nei3hbors are . degraded lot of
| factory people. living upon small pay,
and they are going down. They re-
sented my cunning. / had enclosed
my nut trees and the fire wood they
had been stealing. They tore down
my fences and gate, but all the year
| long | kept repairing. One day l
came across 2 GROVE of the bcvS and
said: Look hero bovs: don't 90 this,
/ have to keep rebuilding and repaint-
ing. They looked sheep:sh and went
on, but next day the fence was covered
with such pictures that = New York
paper would not print. Well de-
cided to hyDnotise them. ] went down
to the school and said: VIII you let
me talk TO your boys ten minutes
She said Yes, and / asked all the
boys between 10 and Is to go with me
to my Indian villa~e on a lake on my
place. and there was nothing but
silence. / was fioored for there
seemed no intelligence on their coun-
tenances. There was a sullen- faced
boy by me and | asked him if he did
not want 70 go with me-. and he
nodded his head in the affirmative, and
so did the Others So ! told them not
to bring matches, guns or whiskey,
and l went away l prepared for
about twelve or fifteen at the most
The hour came and no boys came. But
in about half an hour came d racket
and instead o. the 15 boys there were
As, and they cleared uo all the grub
there was. 1t was the bcst, time they
ever had. Say. mister Kin | holler,
they said Go it, | replied. Say,
kin / take my clothes Off said an
other Every rag. ] replied. The lit
tie chaDs yelled like warriors. gorged
themselves for an hour. and now they
were limp, with heavy eating, lying
around IN various states Of helpless
ness
"fhen came tho hour of the camp
| fire, bringing us al, down TO a primi-
| i've level. l obtained a gracious and
| polite permission to tell story. and /
| told thom about the western life and
ended uD with hair-lifting Indian
story. The hour grew late. and | saw
| all the young fellows were not asleep.
| said. Fellows. how shall We end this
camp fire: in the regular Indian Way?'
| Bet your life, said they. We'll, |
said, al the Indian tribes are repub-
| les, and YOU must elect YOUR chief.
| They wanted TO elect me. but / would
| not let them; ! told them | was the
medicine man. l told them the boy
| who could lick tho reSt was to be the
| chief and there We're - applicants.
| They soon found out which that was;
he was +" perfect little devil, in TWO
| JUMPS of the penitentiary. / knew he
| was the one who had painted the gate
| and torn my fence. They elected. this
! boy. l took the boy aside and had Il
| 'alk with him. | tod him not to lead
his fellows ;nto harm, or DO anything
| he would be ashamed OF afterwards.
! He was not a bad boy al heart. He
was a magnificent animal. a born
| leader The next boy elected was tho
| second war chief. / saw one boy
| holding up both hands. and ! told him
, he had spoiled the ballot. ruined the
! whole election. Ny candidate caught
| the mugwumps, but | thought the
| boy 7 did not want was the fastest of
the two candidates. The camp voted
! against me- and / fourd that they had
really elected the( boy | wanted: the
slim boy. There were several candi-
| dates
! First they must obey the council; do
/ what they saw or get OUT protect the
| song birds: keep the game laws; don t
steal wood; don't drink: don't carry
guns for we GOn't W.lt io~ led guns;
and last. the word of honor is sacred.
| Nothing more is asked of any man.
| That is brief., our constitution. We
took as our motto, 1.-THE best things
of the best Indians" Along these
lines we PLAYED Indians three days.
| did not anticipate the depth of the
change. The bows We're madc to rule
+! themselves. Mothers came to me and
said, You have saved my bows
Il tried this first in 1888. and it
was an utter failure. I tried it again
in 1898. and / talked it over with Kip
| ling, and he said, You owe it to the
| pepole' Kipling said Keep on l
tried aoain in 1902. and the success
exceeded my widest dreams. The
reason l failed in the first two instan-
oes was that / took good, agreeable
| boys. and they did not represent the
| people Last summer the Boston
people sent down q delegation to see
my camp. If ever thnre was IN en-
| thusiastic Bostonian this delegate said:
You have begun the greatest work at
| tempted in TWENTY-FIVE years. 1t will
| throughout Europe. II is to sac the
boys and if YOU save them YOU will
| not thinF of an thin" Csc. A delega-
ton from New York came. and the
sagacitv and wisdom and humanity of
these bows surprised them. They said
| this movement will go al over the
world and be powerful agency for
| cl'1llZdllOn. lie DOS H'e dDSOlulcly
merciless i'm their judgments, and al
wavs give the maximum penalty.
| Tho instit''tion. this camp. is
growing yet. Twenty years ago l was
an ardent worshioer Of athletics. /
| thought the phvsicue Of he nation
mrst bo preserved. Since then I
have seen tho growth of college ath-
| letics. but there IS something radically
wrong with them. PERHAPS thev are
worse in New England. Here is where
! good can be done and man. evils cut
out. Nature study, camping, heroics.
and this was the means We employed
! to keep out of destructive athletics.
| The boys wanted 10 wear feathers,
and ! said all right. take anything that
| is GOOD from the Indians but remcm-
ber feathers are conferred b. the
! tribe. So 7 gave them feats in wood
craft and the foremost We're entitled
TO the decoration of feathers. / thus
| developed them into swimmers hunt
ers, and runners. College athletics
| gone mad have their remedy in these
amusements. In modern athletics the
! idea IS to develop the champion at any
price and thus the ones needing de-
yelopment are not developed 1t
spread TO more than 1000 camps last
wear and my secretary this wear is
| kept busy all the time organizing new