The Red Cloud chief., 1919-10-30

along the Ilackensack river. Having satisfied
their nppetes the scouts turned In for the night.
Scout Coyte on awakening saw opposite his face
IA small thick bundle, coil. Very quickly he
realized that II n venomous snake Of the
cOpperhead variety. and instinctively he thrust
his arm upward to protect his head and neck. He
had not done too quickly. however, for the
reptile had sprung forward, burying its fangs
deep into the protecting arm, Withdrawing as
quickly and wriggng off into the shrubbery along
the river bank
Young Coyte awakened his companion and they
improvsed a tournquet from his handkerchief and
II small stick. Realizing that the wound was not
flowing freely enough he cut into and around the
bite until II bed prOfusely. Emptyng the contents
Of Il cartridge into the break in his flesh, he ap-
piled flame to the powder and withstOOd the tenn
porary pain. 1t was later determined that he had
successfully offset the possibility Of fatal result
through his commendable presence Of mind. He
had burnt all trace of poison completely from his
arm and In few days again bac, at his Job.
none the for his experience
1t Is u principle of the boy scout movement to
avoid secret ceremonies and limitations. High
tensoned limitations dangerous to boys in the
adOlescent stage. The virtues of the ceremony
carried out, however, by the scout council for
Delaware and Montgomery countless Pennsylvania,
are so obvious, its thrills real md yet reason.
nble that II can readily be used
Their camp site occupied many years
ago by the Unami tribe Of Indians. This tribe
had an initiation ceremony for Its young men
which has been preserved up to the present day
Scouts who have taken camp honors by doing
specified amount of work In scoutcraft are given
this initiation under the direction of X. Harrlng
ton and Alonson Skinner Of the Institute of Amer.
lean Indians of New York. The ceremonies are
performed by Amos Overoad n Sioux Indian con-
nected with the institute. They are described as
follows:
Ceremonies Of Initiation.
The ceremonies should begin before dusk and
with the fasting etc, should last about 26 hours
The first thing before beginning the ceremony is
TO make an Indian "sweat house for publication
then TO build large fire some distance east of its
entrance and to heat 12 stones varying from the
size Of coconut TO that of mans skull. Two
forked green sticks should be provided to roll the
hot stones into the sweat house; also two large
earthen jars of water should he placed at the
back of the sweat house opposite the door, to-
gether with about peck of cedar twigs about
six inches long. when all Is ready the chief.
wearing only n breechSoth, stands at the door Of
the sweat house and addresses the candidates
lined up stark naked before him. He makes
speech TO them, something like this:
My sons, we nre about to take you a little way
along the Unami trail to show you the ways of
the Lenape grandfathers. But first we must
purify ourselves outwardly by the sweat bath,
inwardly by the black drink (made Of herbs), for
such is the custom that has been handed down to
us When one has been purified In these ways the
powers OF nature will look upon him with favor,
and the winds will whisper sweet words In his
ears---ali will help him to endure the trials that
must be his tomorrow"
He then goes into the sweat house and seats
himself In the back. opposite the door; the candi-
dates follow and seat themselves around the
sides The Oshkosh roll the 12 hot stones into Q