Hopkinsville Kentuckian., 1906-04-12
LIKE To oAMsLE.
indians Are Great Gamblers; Their
Relation to Horses and Dogs
Is Still unexplained.

Iefdle gambler. NOT only are JnerC
the professionals who live entire
lly by the practice, but even the
small boys are gamesters and
adapt the pictorial Sunday school
cards to gaming purposes. Their
blankets illustrate gambling and
even their account Of the creation
must have woven into it the story
Of game. Thus a serious and ap-
parently native vice of formidable
proportions at once cOnfronts the
teacher and the missionary. The
question of the best way to over
come it is still an open one. The
prohibition of its practice does not
go to the root of the matter and all
our logic fails to convince the In
dian that he has not as great
right to play for stakes as he has
to breathe.
A curious trait of the Navajo,
ccmmon, no doubt, to all Indians,
in his relation to his horses and
dogs. To our mind it is ine0mpre-
hensible. Every man maintains
many dogs and for what reason it
S difficult to discover. They are
ill-kept, starving, cowardly ca
mines which bear as little resem-
blance to our own intelligent, de-
voted dogs as can be imagined.
They are not for use, certainlynOt
for beauty, and apparently they
are no protection. / have never
heard any reasonable explanation
of the Indians having so many;
perhaps he considers that the
more he can maintain the more i'm
portant he is, relates a writer.
Toward his horses his attitude
seems even more singular. They
are, of course, part of his wealth,
but from our point of view he
should have a favorite one among
them all, to which he should give
more care and devotion. From
small boyhoOd he draws horses in
the sands or on the rocks and as
early learns to ride and rope the
real animal. He spends most of
his time on horseback till he dies.
He celebrates his horse in his blan-
kets and learns also the most diff
ficult horsemanship, of which he is
very proud.
But apparently one animal is
the same as another to him. He
will ride one to death and select
it's successor from the herd, to
break it by the most cruel method
or to starve it and beat it. Fear
seems the only element developed
in the beast. The bits used make
one shudder to look upon and in
buying a Navajo horse it is said
that one must expect to find scars
on the animal, indicating that it.
has been so severely handled in
the breaking that its spirit has
. been broken.
/ have seen horses whipped till
the blood ran. This was done with
out anger, apparently, but indif-
ferently, as if there wereno other
way. Our own little Navajo ami
NAL, which had been gentled by
careful treatment, was finally re-
sold to its original owner. The
man was an intelligent person,
who could speak English and who
had considerable intercourse with
the white man, but when / asked
him earnestly to be good to the
horse he had no more cOmprehen-
; sion than if l were talking San
scrit.
As / stood on the last mesa look
ing back upon the hot, silent, beau
tiful but Improbable stretches or
the Navajo land and down upon
the gorgeous, painted desert.
which seemed his rightful artistic
background, / pondered earnestly
upon the future of my Navajo
friends. No race or family in this
age can live always to itself, and
some day to these people will
come the inevitable collision with
the forces of the outside world,
and we have to do with the great
question of preparing them for the
impact.
Vegetable Ivory.
EOv. ouarv ron Of ooauuiYoa fvOpu