Iditarod pioneer., 1916-01-08
STROLLER WHITE GIVES
 ANOTHER INDIAN STORY
(Stroller White in Whitehorse Star

Whlle from the standpoint Ot SanltatlOn, the Stroller favored the moving of the In dans from their village above town, 1t works hardship on him every time he has occasion to interview his old friend Row akadada n his efforts to secure reliable in formation for his readers concerning what Nook place ill this country in the far away, dim and distant past. For example, in order that he might intelligently answer num- Der of communications lnqulrng about what to expect in the line of deather during the winter on the threshold of which we are now standing 1t became necessary few days ago for the Stroller to visit the new Indian village north of town, and he is glad he went before 1t acquired that odor which has characterized Indian villages ever $
 the march of progress led by the white man has crowded Indian villages back and still back from the Atlantic to the clam -strewn shores of the Pacific Just here the Stroller desires to incidentally inject the remark that in his belief the story about Pocahontas say ing the life of Captain John Smith in Vir- gina away back in 1907 by concealing hi, beneath her skirts is all buncombe. There is glarng possibility that the story is true, but, knowing Indians as the Stroller does, asphyxiation would have been liable to fol low the spectacular rescue of Captain Smith by the dusky Pocahontas)
 On his arrival at the new village On the occasion of his first visit, the Stroller ex perienced no difficulty in locating the wig wam of his time-seared friend whose thrifty squaw, the Sore Eyed Sage Hen, was busily engaged in front of the tent jerking reb- bits (To Jerk" rabbit is to remove its works
 "k ac hu la gic ko tic go ux tuk'' (You will not enter the presence of my liege lord until you are searched as the last time you visited him you left him soaked to the neck), was the greeting of the Hen, so there was nothing for the Stroller to do but with which he had hoped to bribe the old man to come across with the desired in form ation.
 The Stroller found the ell msn more chip per than he had seen him for q long time. He was deeply engaged in the study Of en- tomcloey, but abandoned the search im92e- diately the former entered the tent. Di- vning the intent of the visit and having witnessed through a hole in the tent the confscation by the Sore-Eyed Sage Hen of the oil of joy he said something about finding her cache later and at once tapped his fountain of wisdom and weather lore from which flowed the following:
 "The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty and nine. In that stretch of time 1t has been mine to see much of the perversity of man, the wl!ness of woman and the unstableness of weather. Man has talked to me with tears in his eyes about a blessed immortality beyond the grave, and he has sold me fire water that ate hclps in my innards and put me in bad at home. Woman has kept me guessing a good part of my life and again she has put mustard plasters Cn my tum tum when thought the jig was up. Without her would have died and with her have wanted to die but couldn't The weather is the only thing 1 have been able to understand, and that I can foreteli with unfail;ng accuracy. For example:
 You may think you have seen snow, but you have never seen anything like what the present winter will bring, compared with which previous winters of your knowledge will be remembered as bare ground. In all s1y one hundred and thrty-nlne years have seen but two real snoWs but the third is in the otling and will be here before the robins nest again. This is certain, as the indications now are the same as on both for mer occasions.
 Tn the year l797 and when l was but 2l years of age there was snow that was snow-seventeen feet deep on the level. All that fall Hip-Shot Elizabeth had been in quanLary whether to tie up with Woodtick John. Whosoever Will or myself. In the meantime she occupied wigwam by her self When the big snow came she was showed in and we three realized that the first one to dig tunnel from his home to hers would be accepted. Talk about digging believe me, I have been tired ever since. But I won out beating Woodtck John by only four feet and Whosoever Will by less than six When they completed their tun- nes Liz was in my tent revlvng on moose steak. Big fool me. The following April Liz was caught in snowslide and I minated to Woodtick and WhoSoever Will, who had been sulkng around since their defeat, that if they could put it across me again in digging, the winner could have her That was when l 'soldered' and Wood tick won over Whosoever by two feet In less than month Woodtick's face was trimmed in scowls, and that spring he killed my best dog. He knew then why 1 sol diered' in my tunnel
 "The next snow came during the winter of 1911, fourteen years after the first By that time Bhthesome Jane and myself had been intermttently cooing and quarreling for dozen years and, incidentally, our wig wam was becoming crowded with olive branches. When the snow topped our tent by fully fifteen feet I refused to dig, with the result that Jane and the flock went at
 it while I cuddled in the hay. That was