Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-01-07


made no provision for the winter. and
"crouched over their fires" during the long
months when the snow and Ice covered the
world. and suffered, only to repeat the ex-
perience again and again, year after year.
Nor is the red man Of today any more
provident and thrifty than he was then. He
will consume his rations at a single sitting,
II possible, and go hungry until the next
issue
Many beautiful legends are told to show
the Indians noble character and his devo-
ton to lofty purposes. but as a rule these
have been deftly touched up by well mean
ing white persons who seek to enlist SYM
patty for the red man or to adorn a beau
tiful tale for the edhcation Of white folks
In his natural state the Indian is child.
with an immature conception of the graver
things Of life and as incapable of forming a
sound opinion on a serious matter a
child. Out of this has grown much of the
difficulty that has been experienced with
them in the dealings Of the government
Wrongs have undoubtedly been inflicted on
the red men by INSCRIPTIONS whites who
have taken advantage of the simplicity and
inoapacity of the reds, but these have not
attained that magnitude so generally
charged when unthinking persons come to-
gether to casually discuss the Indian ques-
ton. Poor 10 very readily petitions for
something, and frequently before his first
petition is well on its way to the Great
Father at Washington he will ask for
something different. He has signed treaties
without understanding them and has COM
planned when held to their terms He has
shown in every way that he is incapable Of
doing what is expected Of civilized citizens.
4. IL.
for themselves names of influence among
the white; many have become most excel
lent members of the general body of the re-
public, and from this it is argued that all
the rest may. This will not be disputed. 1t
will be enough to say that up to the pres
ent they have not nor have they shown a
general inclination to do so. Schools have
been established for the education of young
Indians, and hundreds have been given the
advantages of them. All the way from the
primary grades to the highest university de-
gree the Indian has made his way in school.
And hundreds OF them have gone from the
influence of the school, after a course in
the ways of the white man, back to the
reservation and the blanket, and soon be-
come sodden and squalid are those
around them who never went to school.
The little has not yet leavened the whole.
II is pOSSlDle llldl lue COiuDlitu lnluGHCt VI
the church, the school and the governments
determination not to feed idle Indians or
Indians who wear blankets and long hair
may work the reformation and solve the In
dian problem, but it is not an encouraging
prospect.
Let those who want Dorothy TO marry
Strongheart pause for momentary con-
temptation of what is likely to follow.
Picture her as the big chiefs squaw.
Blear-eyed and bent, she hovers in the
smoke that arises from the fire over which
hangs the kettle in which the meal for her
red husband is simmering. The savory
odor of stewing dog mingles with the pun
gent aroma OF buffalo chips and grease
wood and adds to the atmosphere OF home
that surrounds ner. Anon comes her lord
and master, not a figure of speech in her
new life, but a stern reality, and having
signified his readiness, she serves him and
he eats until satiated. He smokes. and she
is permitted to feed on what he has left.
In the natural order of things she should
be surrounded by several half-blood pa
pooses, who share with her the remnants
OF the meal. After the wife and babies
have been fed the dogs get the bones and
anything else. The meal over and the
chiefs pipe finished, he devotes himself
10 a contemplation Oh MS ptISOudl llupOE-
lance, the littleness of other chiefs and the
meanness OF the white man, in this in
stance represented by the agent, who has
interfered with his supply of frewater,
while his hepmeet directs her attention to
the housewifely duties that are her lot.
Maybe she goes to the timber for few
much needed tepee poles maybe she hoes
in the cornheld. and maybe she spends the
afternoon in chewing on a deershin to
make 1t soft and white. At all events she
will have plenty to occupy her time and
the monotony of her existence will be suf-
fciently varied on those occasions when
the chief comes home from visit to the
post traders store. we'll tanked up with
bootleg whisky. II she is lucky she will
make her getaway with the first wallop;
but, in the case of Strongheart, she might
not be so fortunate, for, trained athlete
as he was he could introduce some OF the
tricks he learned on the grtdiron and so
make matters all the more interesting for
her. Thus she would not miss the home
she left in New York and would also be OF
much service to her red sisters by showing
them how patiently a tenderly nurtured
white woman can bear the treatment she
receives from a cultivated Indian husband.
-
To be sure, Strongheart wasn't that kind
of an Indian. He was to be a pillar of
light for his people and TO teach them
white mans wisdom. Well, about the first
time Strongheart sprung any OF his white
mans wisdom in the council OF his tribe
and talked OF the abandonment OF tribal
customs and ways, he was called a squaw
and told to go to work with the women.
In order TO be chief and retain the regard
of his men folks. and the women also, he
had to give over those nice manners of
the New York drawing room and do just
as the Indians did. And that means he
loafed around the reservation from one end
OF the day to the other all the year. that
he smoked and drank and gambled and
beat his squaw and forgot that he had
ever even approached being a gentleman.
-
Robert Edeson gives us a good Indian on
the stage. The elemental attributes of
likeable character are shown clearly, and
without exaggeration. His straightforward
earnestness of purpose is the result OF his
single-minded simplicity; his undeveloped
nature prevents from seeing the way along
which his feet are moving. He tells the
truth. and in general acts from the print
tive impulse that leads intuitively TO dis
ANWam MwN 49, 49,