Show STUDENT LIFE Some Indians in Alaska who have not vet become civilized still maintain their “totem poles” in front of their family residences and keep them painted in brilliant reds Others let greens and yellows their familv monuments fall out of a perpendicular plane and permit them to become weather-beate- n and aged They are jealously guarded however and evfcn though their owners become well Americanized they refuse to let the white man take their “totem poles” away to be placed elsewhere a place wherein the sacred emblem would become the subject of great ridicule and humor The court of a Ketchikan man- sion ( ?) is graced by a “totem pole” that casts a majestic shadow with- out a peer a “hi-muck-a-mu- ck” It is the monument of whose ances- tral origin is symbolized at the base of the “wooden history” in the form of mother and child On top of this figure is a nestled raven emblematical perhaps of the life given the child Next we find the child grown clothed in gorgeous colors and seated on a sort of pedestal — likely a throne On this potentate’s head is another raven but apparently crushed Standing erect on this particular emblem is a bear in whose deadly embrace is again our monarch — the end of him perhaps The next Mogul chief represented was no doubt the former prince This sort of caricature goes on the entire length of the log until it reaches three men wearing hats and standing on the rim of a raven’s 5 nest on which sits the bird the emblem of life These three individuals perhaps represent the coming of the whites the crowning event of the “totem pole” and of the dusky native’s history Often there are whole volumes of legends and funny stories (funny to the Indian mind) depicted in the “totem poles” A certain “totem” was tipped by a huge raven with an ax in its claws This figure is supposed to call to mind the hilariously funny story of how a certain chief while engaged in hollowing out a canoe with a jade ax fell the victim of a raven Now jade axes in the davs of this chief were valu-abl- e instruments and one’s life was considered to hold no further sunshine after his ax was broken The raven alighted on a tree and commenced to make sport of the chief toiling awav at his boat with his primitive orocess Finally the chief could endure the taunting no longer Throwing down the ax he said to the raven : “Well suppose you show me how to build a canoe if you know so much about it” “Why certainly” said the raven The jade ax was flying down seized and a rain of blows commenced on the log With the ring of a stone the valuable ax was broken Laughing the raven flew back to the tree “Ha ha” said he “Your ax was no good anyhow” This the place to laugh is the end The Indians of of the legend Alaska turning back the book of memory call to mind the fable of -- |