| Show p wp h 4 statements ACCEPTED CM IMPLICIT FAITH aud ana UM wa www waver bjes XA possibly swam ve ba ac 8 not yet T ft b to SO the of abo ary ry A unique ledgen special letter keeping a ledger is altogether beyond an ordinary indians power an In indian diall buys one dollars worth or two dollart dollars worth or five dollars worth he does not bother with the odd cents if he wants 25 cents worth of chewing tobacco he buys tour four pack packages ageal tor for a dollar rather than puzzle pule out oat the change which simplifies matters both tor for customer ct omer and storekeeper but there are a few indian storekeepers on the crow reservation new near pryor MOUL mont there is one some 70 miles from the agency a store is kept by plenty coups principal chief of the crows now plenty coups can print and cipher about as well as a 7 year old boy the three Rs are unfamiliar ground to him as to the majority of ads customers some of them pay cash they take their purchase plenty coups drops the money into his box and both parties are satisfied aitho without t any written record of the transaction for the accorto accommodation dation of people who do not pay jay cash he keeps account in the most primitive way on a sheet of common brown wrapping paper he draws a picture of the customer or rather of the customers name there is no misreading the rude sketch which stands tor for walking bear or crazy crane while the amount of the gent lemans debt is plainly marked over his effigy and hitched to it by a wriggly pencil line suppose mr elk or mrs plenty shells tor for as in most civilized communities women do a larie large part of the shopping having spent 5 at the store spends three more MOM or pays two on account plenty coups coubs rubs the original figure out and writes a new one at the end of the year all accounts are squared and all ledgers brown papers burned there is nothing in the world to prevent the storekeeper from tampering with his balance sheet he can erase figures at will and alter them to his own advantage the whole crow nation however much they might suspect him could prove nothing the simple tact fact is that he does not betray his trust and they know he does not his store is not a government agency but a private enterprise plenty coups bought his own stock and fixtures such as they are he his squaw and one other indian deal PLENTY COUPS from a portrait painted by mr E A burbank out the supplies and pocket the profits or losses with true indian stolidity his EUs squaw by the way is his second wife and might be called the third he had two when he came to the reservation was honestly attached to both and when obliged to give up one went through a long period of painful indecision after a month of hesitation tion he finally conformed with the white mans cr kept the one who was consumptive and reluctantly let the other go for five years he supported the discarded wife and she took no other husband by and by mrs plenty coupes coapes fell ill then did the castoff cast off squaw return to tend her sick rival and faithfully wait upon her former lord the sick alck woman died one would now expect the long separated pair to come together azain again strange to say plenty coups took unto himself a new wife and the old one stall a lives by herself here is a whole end ot of the century indian romance |
