Omaha daily bee., 1915-02-26

in marriage, and went on:
Lucinn and Me-Oom- Bah-The
Much has been written of Lucian Fon-
tenelle the father of Logan. lie had the
wandering instinct of the incessant trav-
eler While smarting under a rebube or
reprimand from an aunt which he felt
was not merited, he ran away from his
home i'm New Orleans and followed up the
Missouri river until he reached the wild
regions of fur company trappers and ad-
venturers. In his wanderings he had
gone as far north as Hudson bay and
westward across the ranges of the Rocky
mountains, and back again along the val
legs of the rivers and across the plains
to his new home at Bellevue, He became
the representative of the interests of the
American Fur company throughout this
western country. Captain Bonneville,
made illustrious by Washington Irving S
picturesque romance, who was more OF
wanderer than an explorer. met Fonte-
nellie in 1882, at the head of sixty well
mounted men, at SCOTS Bluff, and at
Fort Laramie, and at Green River on his
way to the far-off camps of the fur com
pany on the Yellowstone. Lucian, with
equal bravery with Bonneville, Travelled
through the rugged regions which were
infested by the warlke Grows and Black
feet as If he were free lance of fortune,
and fearless as Richard the Lion Hearted
Recalls His Mother.
THE historians have overlooked or for
gotten the mother of Logan. ] wish for
a moment to bring her name back to
memory. for to this superior and charm
ing Indian woman are to he traced many
of the distinguished qualities of her ccle~
brated son. She was the daughter of an
Indian chief. Her name was Me-oom-
bah-the, which in English means THE
Sun 1t is a name which stands for cheer
fulness for brightness, for warmth of
heart and sunshine She was such an
Indian maiden as a Frenchman like Lu-
clan would select for a wife. 1t might
be said of her as an English traveller said
of some Sioux maidens whom he met in
his romantic travels on the plains in 1919:
They had extremely beautiful but firmly
chiseed features, darh lustrous eyes raven
locks and pearly teeth, which they dis
closed in gracious smiles that lit up their
lovely faces with the most bcwtching
radiance Yet she had the courage and
natural instincts of her race fit squaw
! for an Indian chief, and once she killed
an Indian of the Iowas because he had
ruthlessly murdered an Omaha Indian
| boy.
Welded by Belgian Priest.
The marriage between Lucian and Me-
oom-b ah-the was performed by Father
de Smet the most distinguished Jesuit
missionary who ever came into the west
/ ern Indian country He had come 10
America in 1890 from that part of Hol-
land which Is now Belgium. A French
man for the groom-an Indian maiden for
the bride-a Belgian missionary for the
priest-the place of the marriage an In
dian tepee in the wilds of the windswept
prairies, and the time-before the white
mans civilization had dispelIed the Indian
| mystery that cast it's shadow over the
western plains. such is the romantic
| stage setting for the subsequent birth
at Old Calhoun in 1925 of the Indian chief
Logan Fontenelle."
Elected Chief of Nation.
The condition of Nebraska at the time
Fontenelle signed the great treaty wa.
wildly outlined with stories OF the visit,
/ of explorers and Adventures, "Trappers
hunters and traders Travelled over the
lands of Nebraska, but they left then
as barren of improvements and of settle.
ments as they were In the older period
before the feet OF white men had touched
the soil west of the Missouri river" Ht
then proceeded to discuss the treaty
of 1854.
I'm 1858 Logan Fontenelle by the unani
nous vote of his people was elected head
chief of the Omaha nation. He knew
that the time had come when his peopl,
stood on the threshold. midway between
the savagery and wild Indian life Of tn,
past and the oncoming rush of Anglo
Saxon people and the new civilization o.
the future. lie compared the cruditiei
and the barbarites of the one with tn,
luXuries. advantages and graces Of th'
other. He weighed in his mind the sim
pie life of the Indian who tells the tim,
of the day by the sun and the stars will
the cultivated life of the white man a.
he learned II through his French an
cestry He compared the harmonies whicl
he found I'm the great book of nature ant
its hidden mysteries with the libraries o
printed books which told of the triumph
OF the sciences and the arts. The time ha
come fer him and his people to decid
whether they would cling 10 the life o
the past, or accept the great worlds ney
civilization which had been crossing tn
| continent by leans and bounds from tn