The Guthrie daily leader. [volume] (Guthrie, Okla.) 1893-1996, 1909-09-21

ra Ht NlHN ever uNAl ANHttA AAAA AA
hes made ef il sipperyelm. so he
skin easy. Then he's shoot lniun
fun Of religion with Hen Gun. Well
po1ty soon an gone land-all gone
lnjun TOO. Can't no m0Ie git
miher." Hos an white mans now.
"As monumental bronze unchanged
his looks.
a soul thst pity touched, but never
shook.
Trained, from his tree-rocked cradle
to his bier.
The fierce extremes of good and III
90 brook
Impassive-fcaring but the shame Of
fear
A stole OF the woods-a man without
a tear"
With this quotation from Campbell,
we pass from the indian of yesterday
10 the Oklahoma Indian of today.
You do me great honor by this pre-
sentalon Whether / deserve II is
not f0f me To say accept Il in the
spirit in which il is given.
A pair of spurs made OF gold, You
have said that | nave won them
we'll The man the occasion, those
present under the guidance Of the
Great Spirit. perhaps, furnished the
psychological moment the inspiration
to plead my cause in such away to
catch and hoid the sympathy Of the
people.
There was an old order of the Pa
pal Court known as the Order of the
Golden Spurs. of which the badge
was a Maltese Cross with rays be
tween the arms and having a small
spur hanging from II. From this
order we have transmitted to rs the
expression, TO win ones spurs.
which meant to gain a title to
knighthood Spurs We're given as a
reward for gallant or valiant action,
hence, t. establish title to honorable
recognition The word spur has come
to mean an}thing which imp lis or
urges to action. BY your splendid
gift today you draw from the old Pa.
Dal custom, and confer upon me an
honor that is more than Knighthocd
You say by your action that | have
been instrumental in giving to the
people OF our nation clearer in
| sight into the character and habits
of the Oklahoma Indians, The cur
rent opinion Of the Indian character
Is TOO apt TO be formed from the
miserable beings who are herded on
nv reservations throughout me
United States where daily supplies
are doled out to them and whe g
they spend their time in idleness ana
vice. That proud independence
which forms the main pillar OF Indian
virtue has been subdued BY reserva-
tlon life and the whole fabric lies IN
ruins like a deserted castle on some
nroritless mooreland waste, the sole
relic of border heritage. In the
chamber of which, perhaps, James
" hns Toasted. o. Nhry stewart
rested which had been there when
the bold border chieftains rode out
10 ioln the marching Of the clans
their glories vanished like the glorleS
of Alnaschar's dream In the Nrahlah
KNIGHTS Entertainment their heritage
but the funeral pile Of a dead race
The colunists and border settlers
as civilization pushed It's empire
westward. often treated the Indian
as a wild beast, and found II more
convenient 20 try to eXterminate MIN
than to ciyilze him, and authors ana
newspaper writer's after having spent
almost an entire week In the indian
country, have tried to justify these
outrages, and seem TO find 1t easier
or more profitable to write under
flaming headlines some story
abounding more In vlllllcation than
in truthfulness
We are told that when thc Gauls
cautu.ed and laid waste the city OF
Rome they found tae Senators clon-
cd I'm their robes and sitting iran
gully In their chairs. History has
ever since applauded them as noble
ana maWprlmOus I'm tho Indian
such conduct is reylled as sullen and
obstinate. In the history OF one Of
the Piquods In New England the mar
rator says The rest were left 10
the conquerors, of which many were
killed IN the swamps like sulpn dogs,
who would rather, in their self Wild
ness and madness sit still and be
shot or cut to pieces No Greek or
Roman hero Of ancicnt times ever
surpassed the American Indian in
contempt of death. and the fortItude
with which he endured The severest
torture
Though malgned and robbed, as the
Indian has been, through legal pr.
gress and departmental rulings. like
the old Spauans We can laugh while
the Wolf gnaNs our vWals
We know tae hand Of destiny is
against us and that Il Is decreel that
ear Indian government shall give
way to the Saxon government
NltiCus principalitivs and repuh-
lies have risen and flomished, reach
"a thc zenith OF glory and power ana
have gone down The shores OF time
are lined with the debris of ship
| wrecked nations and for thousands
Of Yeas they have been steadily In.
, ereaslng
hannibal crossed the Alps: Caesar
crossed tine Rubicon Alexander went
because there We're no more worlds
to conquer. Joan Of Arc raised the
seigo of Orleans that enabled Charles
VII to receive The oonsecrated oil
OF Rhoims' the wayea NJ the Aegean
sen broke against .ho pIoWg OF MI.
tiades galevs and were crowded by
The fleets Of Salamis and We seem
10 catch the melody Of he splondors
vhifh fill the nlmcs Of Gracchan
Pcnc a0d Sscr-tic Athens, these
tcl ms of nations that were powerful
and rich and perhaps cultured but