davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1925-12-13

ther into the interior. l became bet
ter acquainted with my host through
my ingratiating Juanga. AS a mark
of his friendship. he took me into
his Holy of Holes: the room where
he kept his collection Of heads. Here.
for the first time, l handled the
trophies of war.
There were II of them, their cheeks
tinted with red, their long, coarse
hair flowing free. The Indian word
for them is tsantsaS. When / touched
lips were sewn up with red cord, IN
order, my host explained. ito keep
the spirits submissive"
Afterward, when | myself was the
owner of several heads. bought from
the Indians, l had "A chance to prove
how durable the tsantsaS are. l threw
one against a wall, stood on it and
even pounded 1t with n rock. with
out breaking 1t or marrlng 1t in any
way.
My Shuara host explained that he
had acquired these trophies by wiping
out the males of an entire family
his enemies by blood-feud. He laid
Il finger OH one of his tiny human
remnants, his eyes cleaning. This
one" he said, was once on the shout
ders of a mighty man, who had the
wtckedness to steal one of my wives.
He and his brothers and his sons.
we made their heads small"
Which is what the Shuara warrior
gets when he fiirts too much with
other head hunters wives. This set
tied me once and for all. During the
remainder of the trip. l never so much
as glanced at an Indian maiden with
but one exception-which comes later.
| now began a trip which took me
from one group of families to an
other, always working further into
the interior. / found, to my surprise,
that the deeper into the jungle l went,
the better grew the conditions OF the
Evening star., 1925-12-13

us will accomplish in long and varied
lives. He was born in Joplin, Mo-,
February l, 1902: was taken from
there when about year old by his
parents, living subsequently in Kan
sas, Colorado, Illinois and Ohio. His
high school work was in Cleveland,
Ohio, where he graduated in 1920, not
only as editor of his class magazine,
but also class poet, and this, too, in
q school of mixed races. Glass poetry
was the first verse he ever attempted
Finishing high schbol, Langston
Hughes for a year and a half taught
English at Toluca, in the south OF
Mexico. Then on to New York, where
he worked for a year on a farm. Then
to sea, making one long trip to Africa,
visiting up and down the west coast.
Then Europe, with seven months in
Paris as waiter in a Montmartre
cafe. Italy. Back to America, work
ing his way home as a sailor, and
now employed at Wardman Park as
bus boy In an effort to obtain money
to start himself in college.
In appearance Hughes is little diff
ferent from any other youth of his
color and age. His manners and Eng.
lish are good, he is quiet, earnest,
rather gentle and difildent. Nor is he
fooled with regard to the years Of
pr PREPARATION and study ahead Of him.
He acknowledges that he has no work
ing idea Of verse-building, and says
that the poetry just comes along a.
fast as can write It down"
Evening star., 1925-12-13

called Land of the Head Hunters, -
Land of the Phantom Hunters" and
Land of Women Man-Hunters." The
region includes part of Ecuador and
part of Peru.
x j; i
WITH a cavalcade of guides and
w muleteers. l travelled for two
weeks. pushing up into the Andean
heights and then dipping down into
the almost impenetrable jungles of the
Shuara Indians, finally reaching the
first real Shuara village, called Are
picos. This included a nonedescrip.
collection of about Is or 20 dwellings
with dome shaped roofs, matched with
leaves
Long before making the plunge into
this district I'd picked up every scrap
OF information l could get as To the
superStitionS of the Indians, and knew
that my best chance of returning alive
was to pose as Il white Capitu, or
witch-doctor. So I'd brought along
simple remedies--iodtne, calomel, mer-
curry ointment and quinine, together
with complete first aid kit.
Most important of all. for this witch
business, I'd let my beard grow. The
ShuaraS are beardless, and I'd heard
that any man who would go to them
veneration.
Besides my medicine and my beard
Ia brought along bundles full of
things to give away: beads, brightly
colored cotton cloth, hatchets, mirrors,
gunpowder and needles. | had rifles,
too. but not for use on those Indians.
If | could possibly help it. | realized
that once l had killed a Shuara my
life would not be worth much In a
land Of poisoned spears and silent
poisoned darts where revenge is a
cult. l planned TO coax, not to shoot,
my way through
AS we drew near Arepicos, the
leading citizens" came out to look us
over, and TO give us the Indian close
up. Solemnly [ presented each with
q little gunpowder and a yard or
two of cloth, paid off the guides who
had brought me across the mountains
and arranged for carriers and new
guides familiar with the Jungle
Then l learned, through my IN
terpreter, that l had been invited to
spend few days in one of the houses.
This interpreter-Juanga by name
whom got that message, was
to be my mainstay on that trip.
That evening my host made place
for me beside the family fire, on the
clay floor, by shooing away some Of
the dogs and chickens, tame monkeys
and tame parrots. There we spent
several hours in telling stories and
in drinking the potent chicha. served
by his prettiest wife.
Before l went to bed that night,
Juanga-ever present with sugges-
tions-drew me aside. "The senior will
have take notice" he said, that to
this house are two wings. One of
these contain the men. and the other
contain the harems. Between these
two quarters there is a dividing line
Evening star., 1925-12-13
DRY Ice. F."

SCIENCE has perfected a new way
original state for hours at a time
without the use OF ice, according 70
Popular Science Monthly. 1t Is nov.
possible 10 send a pint of ice cream
from New York City to Chicago by
air mail, and when the package is
opened the ice cream will be found
frozen hard. just as it came from
the freezer many hours before,
The wonderful material that makes
this remarkable feat possible is called
dry ice" 1t cannot melt. 1t Is per
fectly dry to the touch, and yet It Is
so cold that it will make a thernome-
ter go down to l10 degrees below
zero.
You have noticed the small bubbles
that form and rise to the surface in a
soda pop bottle when you pry-off the
cap. This new ice Is made out Of the
same gas that forms those bubbles. In
other words, it is carbon dioxide gas
cooled down and compressed until It
finally forms a solid, frozen mass
Solidified carbon dioxide has been
produced on a laboratory scale several
times. but this is the first application
of this queer freezing agent to the
preservation of ice cream. Its use is
the result of Il long search by New
York Ice cream manufacturer for
method of packing his product in
small packages so that customers can
take it home and keep it in perfect
condition for hours afterward.
Although the temperature of dry ice
is colder than the North Pole in Win
ter time, it may be handled with the
bare hands, provided the skin of the
fingers Is not allowed to touch the
solid Jumps for more than a second o.
two at time. In the ice cream plant.
Jumps of dry ice are sent to the pack
ing room, where a workman places a
cylindrical piece in a large carton.
which also holds IL smaller container
filled with ice cream.
The outside container, as well as the
one that holds the ice cream, is made
of paraffined cardboard and is itself d
fair heat insulator, so that the
warmth from the outside air pene
trates slowly. Instead of heating and
melting the ice cream, the air warns
the surface of the block of frozen car
bon dioxide and gradually converts
the latter back into g. gas again.
The gas then passes away through
a small hole in the outer container.
and when it is all eva aporated no trace
remains to show that there ever was
anything in the larger container ex-
cept the package of ice cream.
Evening star., 1925-12-13
BY CARL LESTER I.lDDIE.

THE first time | saw Il shrunker
- head-the kind Ecuador Indians
furn out could hardly believe IL
was human. 1t was In the window oi
"a big New York store, and there was
9 crowd gaping at it. 1t was about
fhe size Of an orange. black and shiny
with strongly marked perfect little
features and long. coarse, black hair.
The look of the thing was repug
pant TO me. and yet l was fascinated
by It. The placard underneath eX-
planned that it was the work of the
Shuara Indians in Ecuador, but that
did not satisfy me. | wanted TO
know by what amazing process 1t
was made. and how il was preserved.
Seeing that grisly thing lit n fuse
In my mind. And. along with strange
stories about divine nectar drugs,
dream beds, crystal charms of In
dian witch-doctors, | was lured on
ward. These were the direct causes
Of my finding myself, months later,
IN Ambato, Ecuador.
l was there as an explorer about
TO make the jump into the jungles
Of the upper Amazon. l had de
tsrmined TO get TO the bottom of
shis headhunting and head reducing
and mysterious fortune-telling bust
ness which the 10000 Indians of that
dark region practice.
The day before I was to leave Am
bsto a veteran American traveller
an old friend of mine-insisted on my
going for long walk with him. When
we were outside the town, swinging
along a narrow road, he let loose.
fool was the mildest of the names
he called me.
"Do you realize" he said, that
you'll he the first white man most of
those Indians have ever laid eyes on
one of the few whites that have
ever been donkey enough to risk it?
Brown heads with long black hair are
familiar to those devils. But think
what they'd do TO get hold of a white
head You'll be a curiosity for once
in your life.
IF you 60 in. some Indian will come
TO me q year or SO from now to get
y thousand dollars out of me for q
rare white head-nothing like it been
seen before. And. my friend. that
head will be your head. Don't go into
the Oriente of Ecuador. It's sheer
CrazineSs."
IN spite of the we'll meant advice,
started off the next morning for
ihiS very same Oriente, variouSly
Evening star., 1925-12-13

for visitors. invisible but sacred. The
ad-hunters are very jealous. My
last client, he had his head chopped
off. He step over the invisible line"
! thanked him warmly and told him
that, since the line was invisible. I'd
better not get out of bed at all. He
agreed with me.
When | first got settled in my new
sleeping quarters | Smelled smoke
and thought the place was on fire.
There was a small fire, but it proved
to be the last thing in Indian luxury.
10, and behold, a foot-warmer, The
bed itself was four feet long and
three feet wide made of ba mboo poles,
while at its foot was a horizontal bar
serving as a foot support. In every
we'll appointed native house the foot
warmer is kept burning every night,
underneath the horizontal foot rest.
These fire feet bakers are supposed to
take the edge off the night chill and
TO be an essential part of my bed
K x
MOT wishing to be unappreciative,
L stretched my self out on the bam-
boo and put my feet over the slow
fire. | soon discovered that the fire,
though doubtless kept low enough not
to burn the tough feet OF an Indian.
was hot enough to broil a pair Of
white feet. After 10 minutes l gave
1t up and was just climbing out of
bed" to look for more restful sleep
ing quarters, when, thank heavens,
l remembered the invisible line"
l jumped Immediately back to bed
and gazed at the sleeping warriors
and the dimly lighted distant harems
and just about where the invisible
line" was drawn. I was not going
to risk a poisoned lance in my ribs,
so | rolled into a ball on the frail
structure and made the best Of bad
night for the rest of the torture.
l stayed three days at ArepiCos,
making preparations for my trip fur
Evening star., 1925-12-13

handled, the deadly character of these
latter-day explosives and the very
great speed of modern big-gun firing
in battle practice, particularly when
the whole broadsides are being fired
at one time, with a consequent rush
and hurry in all the ships magazines
and powder handling rooms, make for
danger, and except for the most ex-
perienCed and skillful management
accidents during target practice would
be frequent and terrible
Granting all these difficulties, allow
ing for errors due to the personal
equation, giving due weight 10 the
natural hazards OF the treacherous
ocean, when this list of accidents in
the Navy since the World War is
scanned does 1t seem unreasonable
10 mix a little superstition with our
thoughts and search around for the
jinN or Jonah or whatever it is that
sailors cali plain hard luck?
tCopyright 1925
Evening star., 1925-12-13

glasses. Whereupon Juanga was
quick to explain that they brought
luck only to their rightful owner. Then
they were given back TO me in a
hurry.
PREPARATIONS for a great vic
tory feast, or head-reducing fiesta
are so thorough that they take six
months, IA year or two years. Guests
come by hundreds and spend a week.
About 10 days later. | heard Of
such a feast and turned up at the
fiesta house, unlimited. Warriors, old
and young, sat about the fires, mag
nificent in bright feathers and paint
Their wives. dressed with beads and
cleaning seeds, served quantities OF
roast monkey meat and boiled yucca
The fiesta drums beat their fanta site
rhythm.
on entering the house of this head
reducing fiesta | was surprised to
see facing me a painted and tattoed
Indian, lance poised above his head
gruntins like an infuriated wild dog
at the same time jumping forwards
and then backwards as II on the
climax OF severe Convulsion. Glanc-
Ing around for any possible avenues
OF escape, my eyes fell upon a long
chonta lance, thrust into the ground
at the immediate left to the entrance
of the doorway.
My heart sank. Hanging near the
middle OF the lance dangled a dried
shrunken Indian head with long black
hair. l took all this in at a glance.
like drowning man who reviews the
incidents OF a lifetime on his last
trip down.
Then | waited, too surprised to
move, and with not enough control OF
the Shuara language even TO talk.
l waited-years it seemed-for my
lance man to throw his weapon
through me. But he kept on dancing,
grunting, running forwards and back
wards, until l felt that whatever he
was UP to, he surely was taking his
own savage time to do, 1t.
In the meantime my Shuara guide
arrived with my pack carriers He
showed me aside, then he started at
Evening star., 1925-12-13
And I wish that T had died ("

And I wish that had died"
And far into the night he crooned that tune
The stars went ont and so did the moon.
The singer stopped playing and went to he'd
While the Weary Blues echoed through his
head
He slept like u rock or a man that's dead
Blues, sweet blues-coming from
a black mans soul" Poetry? Mr..
Lindsay says it is. Carl Van Vechten.
musical. dramatic and poetry critic,
agrees with Lindsay. With his ebony
hands on the ivory keys''-yes. that's
poetry, real poetry, declare John
Farrar, Witter Bynner. James Wei
don Johnson and Clement Wood, the
judges who selected Weary Blues"
as the prize winning poem.
In a published article last Septem.
Der, Van Vechten devotes @ column
of space to three of Langston Hughes
poems. The first Is Cabaret" taken
from Crisis. a negro magazine. You
who have whirled the red night into
spectral gray morning, dancing to
Jazz strains played by coiored jazz
men, perhaps can answer, Does a
jazz band ever sob?" The six, sax,
sex lines follow:
Joes Jazz band ever sob.
They say jazZ bands gay:
Yet. as the vulgar dancers whirled.
And the night wore away,
One said she heard the Jazz band sob
When the little dawn was gray.
Langston Hughes Is % years old. but
into that short period has crowded
moro adventure, travel, color, excite
ment and observation than most Of
Evening star., 1925-12-13
Y JOSEPHINE TIGHE WILLIAMS.

WELL known latter-day poet
" is lunching admirably, whole
Il somely, in the big cheerful
4 a dining room at Wardman
Park Hotel. He looks literary
lonesome. aloof. as he alternately nib
bles daintily at his food, then reads
a bit from the volume near his plate.
A uniformed negro bus boy, stag
Rering under a piled high service
waiter, timidly but purposely joggles
tho poetical ones arm. The Creative
Genius looks up, slightly annoyed, to
see the bus boy place several sheetS
of typed paper beside the volume.
The negro bus boy. with word OF
Iuuttered apology, and evidently bad
ly frightened. disappears into what
eve: Cubbyhole or butlery bus boys
frequent.
The poetical looking man, who is
no other than Nicholas Eachel Lind
say, author Of Gen. Booth Enters
Heaven" and other, many other,
poems, begins skeptically, hurriedly
to scan the typed pages. Then he
rereads them, slowly, meticulously,
metriCally, and, If truth must be told,
in hcwilderment
lie calls the head waiter and re-
quests instant production of the bus
boy, who, when he as promptly ar
rves, looks at the poet as a cat might
lcok at a king.
The king demands, who wrote this
verse;"
Tho dining rooms uniformed helper
replies, in very evident embarrass-
rnent and terror. II did, sir!'
Then the poet looks at the negro
bus boy. Very little conversation
passes, but the poet does. from the
dining room, carrying with him
the typewriter manuscript. That
night, at his recital at Wardman
Park. before an Intelligent, admirtng
and smart audience. Nachel Lindsay
included in his reading three of the
poems written and handed him by
Langston Hughes, 23-year-old near.
waiter at Wardman Park Hotel.
II you've ever heard or seen Vachel
Lindsay read his own stuff, with
wealth of gesture, much tramping UP
and down, voice dropped to pianissimo
here, blared to fortisslmo there, you'll
know how he read and what he did
with Langston Hughes Weary
Blues"--a poem, by the way, recently
awarded first prize OF $50 In poetry
contest instituted for negro poets:
How does it begin? Those two first
lines. "Droning a drowsy syncopated
tune, rocking back and forth TO
mellow croon--'' But as the intro
ductions TO d serial story command,
"Now so on with the story:
THE WEARY BLUES
DreninS a drowsy syncopate6 tune.
Rocking back aud forth to u mellow Groom.
Searu q negro play.
Down on Lenox avenue the other night
Bv the pale dull palior OF an old gas light
He did a lazy sway.
He did lazy sway -
DO the tune o those Weary Blues
With his ebony hands on each ivory key
He made that poor piano moan with melody.
swaying to and fro on his rickety stool
He played that sad rasgy tune like q musical
Coming from a black mans soul.
In a deep song voice with mslancholy
I heard that Negro sing. that old piano
Amt got nobody in all this world.
Amt got nobody but ma self.
rs gWine to quit ma frownn "
And mt ma troubles on the shelf.
Thump thump went his foot on the moor.
He played q few chords then sang some
II got the Weary Blues
And can't DO satisnso.
DOT the Weary Blues
And can't be satlsneo-
amt happy no MO
Evening star., 1925-12-13

The writer of this article spent
more than year among the
saVage tribes of the Ecuador
Jungle. Upon his return to New
York City, he donated a collec-
tion of various objects gathered
during his stay to the American
Museum of Natural History.
This collection included the fan
1astic bark dresses OF the In
dians of the jungle. their war
lances, bloWguns. poison darts,
and witch.doCtor charms.
Evening star., 1925-12-13
Explorer Is Sought by Head Hunters in Wids of Eastern

Finds Thrilling Adventures Among
Shuara Indians In the Land OF Tropical
Brainstorms, Where Murder at Dawn
Means Luck "A Direful Prediction
Amid Scenes Where Poisoned Spears
and Darts Are Common Weapons.
Evidence of the Warlike Attitude of
Natives Enlivens Journey Of Investiga-
ton
Evening star., 1925-12-13
Discovery Of New Writer of Poetry
Among Workers at Washington Hotel

II usually go over it two of three
times" he adds. taking out extra
words here and there. When I saw
the offer Of a prize for a poem.
worked for days trying to write a
masterpiece. When finished, l didn't
like it very we'll and decided to send
my Weary Blues along with the
masterpiece AS 1t turned out,
Weary Blues. which had just spun
itself along and went almost entirely
uncorrected. won first prize.
Prom what 1 can earn" he adds,
Il want to go to college-probabl bly, to
Lincoln College, Pennsylvania, a col
lege for negroes"
Mexico. Africa! Italy! From Holland
to Harlem And with reference to
Harlem. there's Langston Hughes
scolding poem. directed at Midnight
man," a denizen Of Leroy's jazz palace
in Harlem:
TO MIDNIGHT NAN AT LERoY's
Strut and Wigsle.
Shameless gal.
Wouldn,t no good fellow
Hear dat music
Jungle night.
Hear dat music
And the moon was white.
Sing your Blues song.
You want lovin'
And you don't mean maybe.
Shameless Nan.
Wouldn't good fellow
be your manP
Hughes is one who conspicuously
ignores racial bitterness. In this par
ticular he follows the footsteps Of
Paul Laurence Dunbar. who. with
racial sob deep in soul and throat
sang sad song Of nativity, Of cruel
circumstance, perhaps, but never one
tinged with shade of antipathy, un-
congeniality or hostility.
Van Vechten, writer of sophisticated
novels, sponsor Of negro music, poetry
spirituels, declares that he work of
Langston Hughes ''is informed with a
sensitivity and nostalgia. racial In
origin, for beauty, color and warmth.
His subjects are extraordinarily d.
versif1ed. His cabaret verses dance to
the rhythm of negro jazz
Hughes morning the hurt of the
black man." is perhaps best expressed
| In his tremendously thoughtful free
verse arrangement, II am a Negro"
| which Is appended:
Black as the night is black.
r,,o black like the depths OF my irica.
Caesar told me to keep hi. loorstcps
clean.
] brushed the boots OF Washington.
I've been a worker:
Under my hand the pyramids arose.
L M ade mortar for the WoolWorth Build
- inG.
| I've been singer;
All the way from Africa to Georgia
! carried my sorrow songs.
| ;, ! made ragtime.
L We been victim:
The Belgians cut off my hands in the
| Congo.
They lynch me now in Texas.
l am q Negro:
Black as the night Is black
! Black like the depths of my Africa.
In conclusion 1t Is but fair to the
! young negro poet to show that when
he writes of toy" he feels it, pulses
| it, sings it in a way that you must
| sing II. too. What is there about the
| following eight lines, with their con-
stant repetition, that makes you bub-
BILE with laughter and keep saying,
| over and over again, Such company.
Such company"
| JOY.
| went to look for JOY
| Slim. dancing JOY.
| Gay, laughing Joy
| And found her
Evening star., 1925-12-13

WELL known latter-day poet
is lunching admirably, whole
somely, in the big cheerful
dining room at Wardman
park Hotel He looks literary
Evening star., 1925-12-13
Is There a Jinx of the Navv?

Continued from Third Page.)
Evening star., 1925-12-13

glasses. Whereupon Juanga was
quick to explain that they brought
luck only to their rightful owner. Then
they were given back to me in a
hurry.
Evening star., 1925-12-13

ICoHtlhueu from Third Page.I
pieces in the air with the loss of her
captain, Comdr. Zachary Lansdowne,
and 13 of her crew. the ship herself
being totally destroyed.
Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1925-10-31
NEGRO BLOOD
CONTINUED From Page ID

torneys that the boards only in
formation at this time was what had
been supplied by the records of the
Vital Statistics Bureau.
"These gentlemen" said Mr.. Hill,
referring to the lawyers, asked me
to call the school board together so
that they might show wherein the
board had erred. Now that we have
brought number of people here to
testify, l think that in justice to all
concerned, we should go ahead"
az am going to insist on adjour-
ment unless you go ahead" inter
jected DR.. Miller. The attorneys
signifying their willingness to pro-
coed, DIR. Miller withdrew his mo-
ton as the chairman was about to
put it to a vote.
The Vital Statistics Bureau had
supplied a chart which was exhibited
after a score of witnesses had been
heard This chart, as explained by
Miss Kelly, secretary to DR.. Picker,
was designed to show the blood rela-
tionship descending fro ma woman,
who, according to the bureau records,
was a negro, probably with Indian
blood.
Superintendent Hill, the first wit
ness called, told of his conversation
with the parents of some of the
children denied enrolment in the
Fulton School.