Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1906-01-12
INDIANS HAVE REAL
SONGS OF THEIR OWN
And Now the Government Will
Induce Them to Again Learn
and Sing Them.
ARE ALMOST FORGOTTEN
Only the Old Braves Remember the
Songs of Hospitality, of Work, of Re-
iigicn-Description of Mourn
full indian Dirges.

. Yankton, $. D., special: indian
Commissioner Leupp's recommendation
I'm his annual report to congress h a
Indian music be taught in the govern
mcnt schools for Indians is receiving
the enthusiastic approval Of the old
chiefs on the reservations, but the
younger ola know scarcely more
about Indian music than the average
white man Of the west.
No suggestion more to the liking of
the grizZled old warriors, who spend
much of their time mourning over the
departure OF happy days when they
could dance, sing and fight, has been
made by an Indian commissioner in re-
, cent years. With the revival of the
Indian music, there is certain to be an
awakening Of the indian spirit, The
heritage OF centuries of WILD life on the
plains and in the forests, n with
these there is sure to come some rosto-
ration Of the m~anliness for which the
ace was noted and for lack of which
the Indians are struggling with dis
ease and inebriety.
( Few, indeed, have any idea of the
real Indian music. The reds do not
parade their national songs or their
musical instruments. Whatever their
practice in wild life, Indian music can
not be heard now, except at long in
terVals when the tribes are engaged i'll
GoD2o impressive ceremony.
Real Indian Music.
But there is real Indian music, as
tuneful and as sweet as the American
songs which they have learned to sing
In recent years. There are joyous, fan
atiCal or waTlikc songs of the dance;
the solemn or strangely weird song of
lameutatiOn. and the Self-satisfied song
of work. The words of many of the
songs have a beauty all their own. A
mystic sort Of fervor runs through
them and some of them are fairly
thrilling. even when robbed of their
pictureSqueness by translation.
Did Indians are now looking forward
10 the day when their songs will be
commonly sung on the reservations,
and again give them an opportunity TO
pour out all the disappointed hopes Of
years, h~eartaches and inconsistencies.
They formerly begged the Great Spirit
to pity their desOiatiOn. They sang
until the mind ruled the Door starved
body, and then the old Indians could
see all for which they yearned.
Again they are to sing these songs
and they are rejoicing hat they are to
be left forever in the minds OF the
younger generation; tina they may see,
rs their fathers have seen many d
time. the home scenes of years OF
plenty; watch again the making Of the
Demmican; hear again the wind Whis-
ding through the tepee poles, while
within the fire. burned brightly and
the games went merrily on.
Song of Hospitality.
Old women on the South Dakota
reservations remember when they were
expecting visits from friendly tribes,
and when they offered the hospitality
OF their wigwams to the wayfarers,
and this was the simple song they
would sing:
I am maehing the berries
They gay travellers are coming on the
march;
Z take them up with a spoon of buffalo
horn,
AND I cary them, I carry them to the
strangers.
While the men remember times on
the hunt, when they sat on the backs
of their ponies, waiting for the return
of the me who a been sent out
to locate the buffaloes, and in their
loneliness they would sing:
He! They have come hack racing,
Why they. say there is to be a buffalo
hunt here.
Make arrows. Make arrows,
Says the father, says the father.
Stretched on the grass in front of
her wigwam, an aged squaw was asked
what she considered her favorite song.
and she explained that she always
sang about her motaer. she said she
remembered that, when a girl, she
would see visions of her dead mother,
and she would sing:
Mother. come horne: mother, cor7e home,
NY little brothers go all about crying,
My little brothers go always about crying,
Mother come home, mother. come home.
The Religious Song.
And she tells a tale more pitiful still,
how h made moccasins for the baby
feet, which had long ceased to need
them; made them OF the softeSt
leather and brightest beads and took
them to the ghost dances, thinking she
might see her Child in a beautiful Wis
on. Waiting for the mighty catastro-
yhe which would without their aid de-
stroy all the white men and make their
dreams q reality, the Indians would pa
tiently dance the ghost dance and sing
songs of their visions. Sometimes they
seemed to see the end of their hopes
and they would sing:
The spirit host Is advancing, they say:
They are coming with the buffalo they
For they are coming with the new earth
they say.
And when days passed, but the
promise came not, the Indians, ex-
hausted and with tear-stained faces,
would sing:
Father have pity on me-.
Father nave pity on me,
I am crying for thirst.
All Is gone-I have nothing 10 cat.
Such are some of the native songs.
They nav been almost forgotten by
the Oldest and brightest Indians on the
reservations of the west. and il will
be one of the problems which Prof.
Harold Loring, who has been appoint
ed superintendent of Indian music, will
Iave to solve to C complete songs
for use in the schools.
Like Christian Hymns.
OF the $4,000 Indians in South Da-
kota l5,0U0 are members of the Chris
tian church and find nothing more de-
iightful than to join in the singing of
the hymns With which the white man
praises his God. Every year the Pres
bytcrian. Episcopal and Congregation
al churches have reyivals among the
Indian members, and the different
tribes viii travel hundreds of miles to
attend these REVEALS and join in the
singing. Such songs as Rock of
Ages and Tho Tie That Binds" are
fayoritcs among the Indians. while d
SOM written b. a western man. called
Loyalty" in which there Is the line
ACROSS the western plain there comes
"a joyful s~trai.I,' Is known to almost
every Indian or the church.
Besides the religious songs OF the
indiana there are songs OF hunting,
Horgs OF war and of work. which are
Gay-r III the religious songs. The In