Evening star., 1935-09-27
BY THOMAS r. HENRY

.. BY THOMAS r. HENRY
Gov. Joseph Nichols-five brown
skinned children clinging to the legs
of his denim trousers-stands with
shoulders thrown back amid the tall
grass that covers the little Revolution
ary cemetery where his ancestors are
buried.
It Is on a little knoll above the
blue st. Croix River. Down on the
water, Sopil Socoby. worlds champion
canoe racer, is practicing acrobatic
stunts for the Autumn fairs. The
cemetery is surrounded on three sides
by old, dilapidated, shingle-covered
houses. In the open doorways sit
silent brown women weaving into
baskets the sweet grass of the St.
Croix meadows.
This is the reservation village of
the Passamaquoddy Indians, perhaps
the most patriotic town in the United
States. Nichols, former Carlisle foot
ball player, is the governor of the
little settlement, probably the oldest
continuously inhabited spot in the
Eastern United States. That old
cemetery means a great deal to the
Governor and it means much more
to the United States. If it were not
for the men buried there the bound
ary line of the Nation would be
$50 miles farther East. The Ken
nebec and not the ST. Croix would
mark the limit of American territory
It was a band of 100 PaSSamaquod-
dies who held the Eastern line during
the Revolution, who fought the battle
Of MachiaS, and who contributed
notably to American independence.
The D. A. r. set up the granite
monument to their memory and it is
sacred shrine for the troops of
sturdy children who play over the
reservation.
Won Fame i'm Every War.
The village lives in the glory
of their exploits. 1t has won fame
in every American war. 1t gave its
full contingents to the Civil War
and the Spanish War When it came
to the World War 26 out of voting
population of 80 went to France.
There are no pacifists among Joe
Nichols people. They are, he explains
proudly, the most loyal as well as the
oldest subjects of the Stars and
Stripes.
His t-great-grandfathe got a
letter of thanks from George Wash
ington and there is a good deal of
mystery about it. Some say it con-
tains promises which, if fulfilled,
would put the whole tribe in easy cir
cumstances. The scrap of yellow
paper is in the possession of one of
the tribesmen, who has inherited it
through four generations. He keeps
it hidden as something holy and re-
fuses to let anybody else see it. Only
once did he relent and allowed the
Irish priest who ministers to the
reservation brief glimpse of it. 1t
was hard to read and the clergyman
didn't get much out of it, SO the gov
ernor says. He himself has not seen
it. All he knows is that Washington
said something about the Passama-
quoddies wanting nothing so long as
the sun shall rise in the east" Others
hint mysteriously that Washington S
promises were practical as well as
rhetorical.
But whether there were broken
promises or not, the "Quoddies" burn
with patriotic fervor and regard other
Americans as emigrants compared to
them. They have proved their right
to the flag which floats over the res
ervation. For some years they have
had hard time. The depression
hurt their handicraft trade. The men
couldn't get jobs of any kind. There
was simply no money to be had ex-
cept their slender allowance from The
State of Maine. Unlike most other
tribes, they have no claim on
the Federal Government. Until the
Quoddy dam project got under way
few weeks ago 95 per cent of them,
according to the State Indian agent,
were on relief and not much better
OF than their white neighbors, who
have no such distinguished ancestry.
Now practically every able bodied man
on the reservation is hard at work for
the Government.
Indignant Over Injustice.
Standing with his elbow on the D.
A R. monument, the governor be
comes indignant over the outstanding
injustice to which his people are SUBJ
Jected. 1t is illegal to sell them a
glass of beer. This, after the CEN
turies, is the reward of the people
whose blood drenched the river banks
that Eastern Maine might be free of
Great Britain. The governor takes
philosophical attitude about it. He
himself Is a teetotaler. He hates the
taste OF beer. He has seen too many
flne Indian athletes go to ruin on
hard liquor to object very much to
any discrimination along that line.
But to deny his people the right to buy
beer. he believes, can be considered
only as deliberate racial prejudice and
insult
They are remarkable band-the
people OF this little village of Amer
lean aboriginals who have maintained
themselves for three centuries on the
edge OF the Atlantic, far away from
any others of their blood, surrounded
and encroached upon constantly bv
white influences, taking part in the
ordinary daily activities of the COM
munlties around them. But in spite
OF 1t they have preserved, better than
any other Eastern Indians, their Ian
guage and their customs One who
would know how the Indians spoke in
greeting the Pilgrims must go to the
Passamaquoddies to find out. There
has been great deal of intermar-
rage. There is obviously a strain
OF white blood in the people. But
the Indian has absorbed the white
not the white the Indian. Their pride
as Indians is supported largely by
their pride as Americans.
Until the past few years this has
been largely subconscious The old
has persisted in the midst of the
new without any very concrete philo-
sophical background. But with Gov.
Nichols it is different. He has set
about consciously to guard the purity