Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1915-12-10
&N33
Indian Children at


his DrOInerS peepeu from I'M
der their red blankets long be-
fore daybreak on Christmas
morning. They cast an eye about the
tepee. but not for stockings filed with
presents, for Jimmy and his brothers
learned many years ago that Santa
Clauses never came to tepees. In the
first place, there is no chimney In the
+epee,' and, secondly, there is no fire.
Mace. The teacher was responsible
for this, of course, this tale which
buzzed in their little brown ears and
made them sad. But the Red Eagle
bows and girls were not discouraged
because Santa had not come to their
tepee and forthwith made arrange
ments to go to him.
On the Indian reservations of the
southwest Santa comes to the little red
~schoolhouses dotted here and there
along the trail. The teachers have ar
ranged for his visit there every Christ
mas, and that day is spent under the
roof of plenty distributing the pres
ents that have been left there by I'M
seen persons. 1t is a day of good cheer
for those little brown people, who do
not know much pleasure anyway. The
bows forget their bashfulness and min
gle with the girls in their anxiety to
show their presents. At noon the
teachers set out a dainty lunch, such
as is not known in tepee life, and the
little fellows and their sisters gorge
themselves. The afternoon is spent in
entertainment, partly by the little fell
lows and partly by the teachers and
the older girls. A neat program is ar
ranged, and songs, Rotations and
charades follow. At eventide the little
ones are carted home in buggies and
there 60 to sleep and dream of great
things that are to come into their lives.
The holidays are a continuous round
of pleasure to the reservation Indian
children of the southwest. They play
their rough games and cat the candy
and chew the gum. Their principal
play is going on the warpath. That Is
for the boys, while the girls play at
jumping the rope, making mud pies
and cooking. Indian girls of late years
have been elevated above their former
position, of waiting on bucks, to lace
making, painting and studying and
teaching music, until some of them are
quite proficient in this line. The little
girls are not allowed to play with the
boys on the same playground, although
the teachers advocate their association
In the classes and schoolroom.
It has not been until within recent
years that Kiowa, Comanche, Apache,
Arapahoe, Cheyenne, Wichita, Tonka-
wa, Ponca or Usage children knew the
slightest thing of a holiday, the birth
of Christ, or even that there was such
a person as Christ. But when the res
eryation schools opened all of these
things were taught, much against the
desire of the old Indians, who did not
care to have their offspring reared in
the path of the paleface, whom they
so despised. The mothers used to move
their tepees close to the reservation
schools, and every night they would try
to worm out of the child everything
the teacher had taught her during the
day. Progress with the red children
was thus delayed until an order against
the women coming near their children
during the school season was issued
and enforced. The little girls are quick
to learn, and the boys are apt and
witty.