Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1910-02-26

Maggie. just as their Fifth avenue
sisters turn to look at the newest and
most daring cut of princess gown
Some of the women giggled and said
things to each other in the Dakota
language which / would have given
worlds to understand.
On the Cherokee reservation, as on
the Sioux, there has been much inter
marrying of white men and Indian
women, and this, too, for a mixture OF
romantic and interested reasons. Some
times a plainsman has behaved no
better than European nobleman who
ignobly woos an American girls dol
lars and not herself For in Okla
homa there are many "savages" OF
substance, and not a few of wealth.
Out on the Pacific coast in early
days, when white women were so rare
that a man would travel 80 miles to
look at one, the gold seekers some
/ times married Piute and Modoc girls,
though of late years such a marriage
/ is a rarity. In Humboldt county, Cali
! fornia. lives a miner named Harvey
| Camp, who is married to a klamath
Indian woman and has several chill
cation. Camp is rich. but he loves to
] live in the wilds. Speaking OF his
marriage he said:
81 knew this lonely valley was no
/ place for white woman. She would
always be wanting to get back TO civili-
cation, while | didn't like anything
better than the life here. So / took
my choice of the prettiest Indian girls
| in the neighborhood and married her.
/ send my children to San Francisco
to school. Ny wife doesn't banker for
matinees and pink teas, and she
doesn't belong to any woman's clubs,
so l know where she is every after
noon. And so I think I'm about as
happy as if l had married a white
woman"
In Alaska, white women are still
rare-though not quite so rare as for
merly-and alliances between white
men and sQuaws are correspondingly
numerous. l should say that the mar
riages of Indian women with white
men in that part of the country are.
as rule. not marriages as all and
that there probably exists a looser
system of sex relationship in Alaska
than anywhere else in America 4 is
here that the squaw man of my earlier
impression is to be found
One night in June ! was tramping
from Dawson to Grand Forks, along
Bonanza creek. in the Klondike, when
saw ahead of me in the trail white
man and a Siwash woman walking
back from town to camp. Although
- IA,
sun of the Arctic was still shining.
and l could see them plainly. The
buXom young squaw was trudging
along behind the man. She had a
plaid shawl over Der shoulders. wore
a shapeless skirt. and her feet were
covered with moccasins. On her back
she bore a big. heavy pack. but under
this load she stood fairly erect. The
man carried no burden whatever.
AS the quick Indian ears caught the
sound of my footsteps, the woman
turned, and I saw her black eyes blaze
out curiously from under a rather
pretty bang. She spoke in low tone
to her companion. and he turned and
said Good evening"" in a pleasant
voice that had the note of breeding.
AS l came UP with him. we began to
talk in the free northern way. He
told me that he was from New York
and that he was only two years out
of college. He had Joined in the great
Klondike stampede and had a bench
claim on Bonanza creek, where he was
doing as well as the next man, which
meant that he was taking out for
tune
And who is this woman" 1 asked
THAT lady he replied with Q quiet
smile. ''is my wife. There were no
white women along the Bonanza when
came here, and l was lonely. so
married her-tribal wedding you know
and now l am no longer lonely. and
have some one to run the shack
Now | knew that tribal rites are
not binding upon a white man, save
in a moral sense, and that there was
nothing very moral about the average
Alaskan squaw man. So stood aghast
for a moment: and he must have seen
the look of surprise and disapproval
in my eyes. for he Immediately said
in an irritated tone:
Don't look at me that way. know |
don't think this sort of thing is very
nice; but for Gods sake consider the /
wretchedness of a man up here with /
out any SORT of woman's society. It's |
simply hell. / wouldn't live here /
month without Mary. She is a good /
girl, faithful, kind and companionable |
as good a wife as one could wish /
up here in this awful country I've .
taught her English. and she's begin
ming to read little. She can make
good bread and cook a steak without
burning it. which is a lot more than
many a white girl can do. and she's f.
hardly any expense to me. Oh, l +
think a heap of Mary"
But If you think so much of her"
said l pointedly. why do you let her
carry that great heavy burden?"
That pack? Why. that only weighs
SO pounds It's nothing to her She
let me carry # if l wanted to.
xNF