The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-12-30
ARE GREAT J0KERS.
Aborlglnes Are Not sulIen and Sol
enn as NoveIists Have Depicted.
Kansas Civ Jon

for hours without moving a muscle and
who never, never laughs.
Rubbish And like so much of the
rubbish that is current about the In
dian, Fenimore Cooper is responsible
for it all.
Whether the noble red man has
changed in temperament during the last
fifty or sixty years / do not pretend TO
know, but the fact remains that the
present day Indian in Montana is a
good deal of a wag, loving to josh and
cracking his jokes with an enjoyment
that leaves TO doubt as to his sense of
humor.
"A few years ago L was engaged TO
teach school in a tiny village in south
ern Montana. The scfoolhouse, a ut
tie oHe-storied log shack with a mud
roof out of which grew weeds and
grass, stood on the edge of the prairie.
about half a mile from what we called
the town, and something less than five
miles from a. large Indian reservation.
1T was lonely at best. even when the
children-I had only twenty in the win
ter-were playing IT. the schoolyard.
One day what was my surprise to see a
young Indian, clad in bright red blan-
ket, with eagle feathers on his head
and a string of buffalo teeth. standing
outside one of the little square win
dows. staring at me with all his eyes.
COuiQ ltOt nave OtCii ONCI ClSD-
teen. / was old enough to be his
| mother.
II was sharpening lead pencils at the
moment. After he had watched me for
a couple of minutes. an amused ex-
preston on his bronzed face. he turned
to a youngster who was playing near.
How many pony?" he asked, with a
| grin, motioning toward me.
The lad doubled up with mirth at
| ba sdaa Of sailing teacher for ar
| dian squaw, but manager to straighten
| his face long enough to reply:
Seven
"'AII right responded the Indian,
winking- L go fetch EN-
"And he jumped on his pony and can
tered off, apparently post haste for the
seven ponies.
| "Of course. he never came back.
Teacher remained an unclaimed bar
| gain on the hands of her pupils till d
| call came to go to the North Yakima
| reservation. But TIE Indian had his
| little joke all the same
| AT that time the North Yakima res
| ervation was policed by Indians. One
| day a couple of Indian policemen ar
rested two Irish tramps, 1t being
| criminal offense in those days for an
outsider to enter the reservation except
| on business.
1.-THE Irishmen were terribly scared.
Visions of scalpings and slow roastings
over beds of redhot Goals jostled one
another in their Mortified brains and
their trepidation increased when they
were brought by their captors into the
presence of a cruel looking old chief
who sat rugged out in all his bravery
before a blazing fire I'm his tepee.
"They expected nothing less than to
be scalped and eaten then and there
| when the old Indian, fixing them with
his glittering eyes. grunted out:
Huh, Make good Irish stew,'
And that was the first punishment
that befell the guilty pair.
"a year ago / happened to be at
| Knowlton, Mont, on my way to Eka-
leka, about 500 miles to the south, when
1 learned that there was a pilgrim, as
| they call all strangers from the east,
| who wanted to go to Ekalaka, too. That
was before the stage line was started.
HE was afoot, and having trudged all
the way from Miles City, a distance of
thirty or forty miles, was weary and
lame. But the poor fellow did not
know the way to Ekalaka, and I did;
so after the friendly western fashion,
| which will not leave a white man in
distress, told him we would go along
together.
81 knew the ranches all along the
way, and I planned to stay the first
night with some friends who lived about
/ twenty-five miles out of KnowltOn.
My companion, who said his name was
Rafferty,, could find accommodations in
their clubhouse, 1 was sure.
"WeIl, three hours out of KnowltOn
| 1t came on pelting rain. Going at
footpace, as we were, Mr.. Rafferty,
| riding my broncho sometimes while
walked. and I riding sometimes while
he walked, we were soon drenched to
| the skin. The gumbo, too, was begin
ming to make travelling a very sticky
and slippery business, when UneXpect-
eddy we came upon an Indian tepee
with a buck, squaw and three or four
| children crowded over a handful of
smoking embers inside.
Il .old my companion I was going to
stay there for the night. He objected
strenuously. 1 think he was afraid for
| his scalp, but I told him 1 should not
stir another step, and at last, with an
| ill grace. he entered the tepee.
'The buck eyed us gravely as I ex-
planned in Indian how we had been
| caught in the deluge. Then Rafferty,
plucking up his courage, remarked to
the Indian, with All affectation of care
less ease:
| Very wet, John.
livery wet, John returned the In
dian. without stirring an eyelash.
|
slept soundly all night, wrapped I'D dn
| a blanket in the Indians little smoke
| tepee, In company with my host and
hostess. their four children and two
] dogs and my pilgrim. I was standing
beside my broncflc, refolding my saddle
blanket. when up comes Mr.. Indian
''Motioning with his thumb over his
shoulder toward Rafferty,. who was
scraping the gurbo off his cowhides,
he asked, in stage whisper, winling
with a delightfully."- funny air:
| Where you pick up that Very
Wet?'
81 have found the Indian sociable
when in congenial company, and quick
not only to catch the point in others
jokes, but to make jokes himself. If
he seems slow and stupid it is the white
mans fault
/ THE lNCURABIE Is CuREO