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Show , AMEKSCAR INDIAN "V D AY ' By ELMO SCOTT VATSON JSS 1? UEN llle lp''sllltlire of the state p i , a H tl ft o( Illinois in 1010 design ted the v. ' ?y!, ttJs 57 fourth Friday in September as V V- ' a'VW V " TKS pi'S."" American rndlau day and the gov- i i 3WV "f- ff5'' " v Vf Fl KYiS- ot Illlm"s r,JU,y 28 of , cfv uJ "H.' toc LtPvS that year approved tlie measure, S , V f w , tJ''W 1 n ifvJ IJ-..,Hf te$8P?& establlshins the day as a state 1' V4 - ' f VV V-T ! t I 4 Mll, hoitday, It' wS the first official J AlL',k f i 1 4 9,4 ' I step take., toward paying a just V, t V , Vf ? A-V' L tr""lte 10 " r,,ce whlch lms Kreat- Hd- r,i'jy MKW 'fwi v5,?55 ly enriched our national heritage. "- Y VX - - - i H flf- 1 TLaAvA Since ihat time the event has f f i IT SiQ been observed annually In Illinois II v ,4 , u9W and the Idea of American Indian day has spread ' ff ff " 'f V? ' ' fer ' ' M If to other states. Although It has not yet become . H Z tJ I established either as a holiday or a day for gen- jifeW; W eral observance throughout the country. It is lip ? """'oWV Aj" sufficiently well known to remind Americans of B Vo1 ' 00 "51 the present day of honor clue to the "original i "" f o ?r' V" A Americans" and, on American Indian day, there may pass before us a pageant of those indi- 9 v 0t Jit'-i viduals who played a part in making the history v f& - ' TVs vVW""4f ZlSk of this nation and who richly deserve to he yIWw s r- 't NNWdf 'iff remembered for what they were or what they did. J Jtwf tf' " "y"?-, ' ixXWT "The mark of our contact with the Indian is 7lV7 M vR upon us Indelibly and forever," writes Norman I f x A J 1 tf" " " 1 s ' Au B B. Wood in his "Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs." W ' fi 4 1' ' 8 He has not only Impressed himself upon our ' w ' K- V' ' i WW J geography, but on our character, language and vV'T r 4 "P 1 5 S&ffe ,u literature. Bancroft, our greatest historian, is f VJ ' H iU i IfA" 1. 11 Hi) not quite right when he says, 'The memorials of W CIA - il?' I ' ij their former existence are found only in the I ! , h i ;! Xgj i t ?4$e z ' 1 names of rivers and mountains.' These memori- jl x ' ""Of I i 1""' I als have not only permeated our poetry and I U J'5 yj I l f"H ,v", K 'jtiT I other literature, but they are perpetuated in j ! - y 'Jf I V ! t ' 'xX ) Q!t II much of the food we eat, and every mention of II 'M ? , I'iA'A iVF 1 1 potatoes, chocolate, cocoa, mush, green corn, sue- II W T ' f isf cotash, hominy and the festive turkey Is a trib- j "5:v i yVv4 Xi' ' A ute to the redman, while the fragrance of the to- N f J t ' x 'Jf bacco or Indian weed we smoke is incense to y ' ST (J , Vk i'S- s"Vl thelrmemory- f-' ,iP4 "Ob one occasion, according to Aesop, a man I , "1' J xK.i t A I and a lion got Into an argument as to which of ( i i f Jp I 'VlsV I V " 14 the two was the stronger, and, thus contending, t'n' A t -, "' l$ J A' they walked together until they came to a statue . J '."S1 ,' vS'' ! ' A A 'V4t ll representing a man choking and subduing a i -? - ( P A t xlv' ' 1 lion. 'There,' exclaimed the man, 'that proves (," Vi T V my point, and demonstrates that a man is v , ' ' TTi, v s s 5 V I stronger than a lion.' To which the king of x V - , " ,.v . beasts replied, 'When the lions get to be sculp- V . A 4 ' sf'Clv" V v "xS-; ' tors, thev will have the lion choking and over- ' , Y A' v. , . Jl. bOOW coming the man.' . s . v " M "The Indians are neither sculptors, painters jffN N v i1 xi, 7 nor historians. The only record we have of Uof!M jUeoVO i f " t' ' n;nn ROBt many of .their noblest chiefs, greatest deeds, """ V PPCOTr'D'fr ' Tiafl'i7 1)1 ttm hardest-fought battles, or sublimest flights of By ELMO SCOTT VATSON ' C UEN llle lpf?'slature of the state M R of Illinois In 1010 designated the MOPA P fo"1-"' Friday in September as ypii American Indian day and the gov- feVi'-a cruor of Illinois on July 28 of I iv5r t'"'t yenr approved the measure, establishing the day as a state ffaf& holiday, It was the lirst official lffiJf St'' t"'ie" lowiirl paying a just jgJf-i-j;Jj;A tribute to a race which has great-ifr'?? great-ifr'?? ly enriched our national heritage, fcgjtlsfci Since that time the event has been observed annually In Illinois and the Idea of American Indian day has spread to other states. Although it has not yet become established either as a holiday or a day for general gen-eral observance throughout the country. It is sufficiently well known to remind Americans of the present day of honor clue to the "original Americans" and, on American Indian day, there may pass before us a pageant of those individuals indi-viduals who played a part in making the history of this nation and who richly deserve to he remembered for what they were or what they did. "The mark of our contact with the Indian is upon us Indelibly and forever," writes Norman B. Wood in his "Lives of Famous Indian Chiefs." He has not only impressed himself upon our geography, but on our character, language and literature. Bancroft, our greatest historian, is not quite right when he says, 'The memorials of their former existence are found only in the names of rivers and mountains.' These memorials memori-als have not only permeated our poetry and other literature, but they are perpetuated in much of the food we eat, and every mention of potntoes, chocolate, cocoa, mush, green corn, succotash, suc-cotash, hominy and the festive turkey is a tribute trib-ute to the redman, while the fragrance of the tobacco to-bacco or Indian weed we smoke is incense to their memory. "Ob one occasion, according to Aesop, a man and a lion got into an argument as to which of the two was the stronger, and, thus contending, they walked together until they came to a statue representing a man choking and subduing a lion. 'There,' exclaimed the man, 'that proves my point, and demonstrates that a man is stronger than a lion.' To which the king of beasts replied, 'When the lions get to be sculptors, sculp-tors, they will have the lion choking and overcoming over-coming the man.' "The Indians are neither sculptors, painters nor historians. The only record we have of many of .their noblest chiefs, greatest deeds, hardest-fought battles, or sublimest flights of eloquence, are the poor, fragmentary accounts recorded and handed down by their Implacable enemies, the all-conquering whites." If ever an Indian painter, sculptor or historian rises to tell the full story of the achievements of men and women of his race through the medium of expression which he chooses, what a magnificent magnifi-cent record he can set down ! In it will be the Btory of such patriots as King Philip of the Warn-panoags, Warn-panoags, Pontiac of the Ottawas, Tecumseh of the Shawnees, Black Hawk of the Sauk and Foxes, Osceola of the Seminoles, Sitting Bull of the Sioux, Captain Jack of the Modocs and Standing Bear of the Poncas. In it will be the story of such great captains as Cornstalk of the Shawnees, Little Turtle of the Miamis, Red Cloud, Crazy Horse and Gall of the Sioux, Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces, and Dull Knife and Little Wolf of the Cheyennes. As for orators, he can set forth the names of I-ogan of the Cayugas, Ked Jacket of the Senecas, Satanta of the Kiowas, and Running Antelope of the Sioux and be sure that they will compare favorably with those of any other race of men. The speech of one of them has become Immortal. Immor-tal. For It was Logan who sent this message to Lord Dunmore of Virginia : "I appeal to any white man to say if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained Idle In his camp, an advocate of peace. Such was my love for the whites that my countrymen pointed as I passed and said, 'Logan is the friend of the white man.' I had even thought to have lived with you, but for the Injuries of one man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, In cold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the relations rela-tions of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood In the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought It. I have killed many. I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country I rejoice at the beams of peace; bnt do not harbor a thought that mine Is the Joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who Is there to mourn for Logan? Not one!4' Although Sitting Bull of the Sioux Is better known as a warrior and medicine man than as an orator, on one occasion he made a speech to his people In which he voiced a protest against oppression and a plea for human rights that deserves to be placed beside Patrick Henry's immortal "Give me liberty or give me death!" It was before a council of the Sioux held on the Powder river that Sitting Bull stood before his people and said : "Behold, my friends, the spring Is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces pt the 1. Sitting Bull, the great Indian patriot and medicine man of the Sioux, who is the subject of one of the important biographies of the year. 2. A modern miss gets instruction In an ancient an-cient art. No Water and Young Skunk, two old Sioux warriors, show Miss Ellen Gunderson the correct way to use a bow and arrow. 3. A procession to the medicine lodge on the Blackfeet reservation, Glacier National park In Montana. Few of the present-day Indians practice prac-tice their ancient customs for other than commercial com-mercial purposes. The Blackfoot Indians, however, how-ever, still cling to many of their old customs, among them the ceremonies of the medicine lodge. 4. A survivor of aboriginal days looks at a modern Invention. No Flesh (left), ninety-one-year-old Sioux warrior, holds a cigarette lighter with which he has just lighted the pipe of Eagle Thunder (right). v 9 sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love ! Every seed Is awakened, and all animal life. It is through this mysterious power that we, too, have our being, and we therefore yield to our neighbors, even to our animal neighbors, the same right as ourselves to inhabit this vast land. "Yet hear me, friends! we have now to deal with another people, small and feeble when our forefathers first met with them, but now great and overbearing. Strangely enough, they have a mind to till the soil, and the love of possession posses-sion Is a disease In them. These people have many rules that the rich may break, but the poor may not ! They have a religion In which the poor worship, but the rich will not! "This nation is like a spring freshet; it overruns over-runs Its banks and destroys all who are in Its path. We cannot dwell side by side. Only seven years ago we made a treaty by which we were assured that the buffalo country should be left to us forever. Now they threaten to take that from us also. My brothers, shall we submit or shall we say to them: 'First kill me, before you can take possession of my fatherland ! " A similar patriotic declaration, made under even more dramatic circumstances, should preserve pre-serve the name of Chief Dull Knife of the Cheyennes imperishably In our history. After the surrender of Dull Knife and his people during dur-ing the Sioux and Cheyenne war of 1S7G-77, they were sent to Indian Territory to live. The Cheyennes were mountain Indians, accustomed to the clear, pure air of the high altitudes, and In the lowlands of the south they rapidly sickened sick-ened and died until two-thirds of their number had perished. Again and again Dull Knife appealed ap-pealed to the government for permission to return to their old home in the north, but his appeal was all in vain. Finally in desperation Dull Knife and Little Wolf, the junior war chief, resolved to leave their hated reservation. In the fall of 1S7S they started north and although six lines of military barrier were thrown out to stop them, they cut their way through three of these lines before Dull Knife and a part of the Cheyennes were captured in Nebraska. They were taken to Fort Robinson, disarmed and imprisoned in an old barracks. Army officers, acting under Instructions from Washington, informed them that they must be returned to Indian Territory. Then, in the words of an eye-witness: "The old Cheyenne war chief, Dull Knife, stepped slowly to the center of the circle, a grim, lean figure. "Never when riding at the head of hundreds of his wild warriors, clad in the purple of his race leggings of golden yellow buckskin, heavily heav-ily beaded, blanket of dark blue broadcloth, war bonnet of eagles' feathers that trailed behind him on the ground, necklace of bears' claws, the spoils of many a deadly tussle never In his life did Dull Knife look more a chieftain than there In his captivity and rags. lie said: " 'All we ask is to be allowed to live, and to live in peace. I seek no war with anyone. An old man, my fighting days are done. We bowed to the will of the Great Father and went, far into the south where he told us to go. There we found a hyena cannot live. Sickness came among us that made mourning in every lodge. Then the treaty promises were broken, and our rations were short. Those not worn by disease were wasted by hunger. To stay there meant that all of us would die. Our petitions to the Great Father were unheeded. We thought It better to die fighting to regain our old homes than to perish of sickness. Then our march was begun. The rest you know. "'Tell the Groat Father Dull Knife and his people ask only to end their days here In the north where we were born. Tell him we want no more war. We cannot live in the south; there is no game. Here, when rations are short, we cannot hunt. Tell him If he lets us stay here Dull Knife's people will hurt no one. TFJ,L HIM IF ITF TRUCK TO SEND US BACK WE WILL BUTCHER EACH OTHER WITH OUR OWN KNTVES. I HAVE SPOKEN!'" Die fighting some of them did a few days later. But others escaped to their friends the Sioux, where they were allowed to remain. Among them was Chief Dull Knife and it is a pleasure to record the fact that eventually he did return to the land he loved so well and fought so hard to regain and there he spent the end of his days. by "Western Newspaper Union. |