Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1921-09-28
Miss Florence Minis Paints a
Striking Indian Picture
from Tonkawa.

Striking Indian Picture
from Tonkawa.
Dear Advertiser:
What would you do if on walking
down the street you suddenly came
upon ten Indians sitting in row?
Not modernized Indians with starch
ed collars and straw hats, but peace
full citizens with warrior faces, with
hair in long braids twisted with bril-
liant green cloth and wearing large
sblack hats. savoring of sombreros;
and yet belying their dress by read
ing and understanding newspa-
per
The women in the group were
clothed, some of them, in crimson,
and all wearing shawls with deep
fringe. They looked barbarity, and
yet at their backs were modern shop
windows.
Then, there were little children,
TOO, who probably look upon the
Iworld wide-eyed, wondering wheth-
fer the civilization of the pale faces
Us the better for them to learn, or the
arts Of their chief, Hawk-Eye or
white Feather
And would you suppose for min
ute that they looked at me with any
wonder. and: silent admiration with
which I looked at them? Not at all.
H they noticed me, it was perhaps
with quiet scorn.
Why should they consider me? My
ancestors landed but short .yester-
day ago, with no letter IF introduce
tion to these aristocrats of America.
They have never taken US into their
magic ring of camaraderie, and new
srswill. We are the "new rich" They
Gre the "first families" Of America.
\ Perhaps those who basked in the
sun this morning are the family of
a chief. I do not know.
1t is all in the state of mind, their
;attitude toward themselves that keeps
Them proud and defiant, for their
chief has no power. And yet, I sup
pose he feels the sceptre in his hands,
and Wields it with all the glory of
frad dition, denying the fact that their
going aoglay thss long foad @ to
disruption.
If / had obeyed my first impulse,
I should have stood in the middle of
the street and stared at them, obliv-
ious Of good form, of the passing peo-
pie, of all but these picturesque crea-
lures, proud like the peacock of
bright feathers. I would have stood
and looked and dreamed, lived my
life over again from the time when l
was child and heard stories of In
dian massacres and romances, some
times then in my ignorance fearing
that they might come again and fight
u.s..
But, could not stand and look. l
could not even pause, but summon
ing all my will power, 1 passed them
when l wanted SO much to stay. As
I looked at them, I saw nothing but
the Indians. All the other passing
folk and the town itself, made but a
frame within which these figures
stood out.
The nearest Indians to Tonkawa
are the Tonkawas, an almost extinct
tribe. Perhaps these were some of
them. 1t made little difference to me,
just SO they were red men.
They doubtless have as strong a
pride of tribe and nation as we have
of state. As I would recite some of
the exploits of the Marion and Sum-
ter, SO they would tell with an equal
pride of their tribal braves.
To Oklahoma, they are only In
dians, one of the five divisions of the
human race, commonly termed the
Red Man. To me they were inspira-
ton, picturesque, adventure-living
romance.
The most imposing home in and
around Tonkawa it that owned by an
Indian. 1t has been recently built,
the interior furnishings costing an
extravagant sum of money. AS one
passes. the place, few miles out of
town, he is told that !; "this is the
home of the wealthy Indian"
To the red man, before the settling
of America by the pale face, there
could be no distinction as regarded
homes and money. The Indian was