Show I 1 tI 1 I t L r v 4 4 I Will Tomkins After Forty o Years Study u 0 s r Curious Word Gestures of the theMan w t 1 o e I t i Man Reveals For or Us s 1 Fa iz Fay y AYO i r Their Meaning and an anI I 4 I Poetically Beautiful l w F et Symbolism 0 I I A 1 9 r Y s 1 V 0 J q f Indian re resorting c cs S i t r ti f. f s sorting to the an ancient 9 gestures of s the Red Man in explaining the beauties of Zion National Park Utah to three fair motorists Above Indian chieftain carry carrying ing on a sign lan language guage conversa conversation 1 Silver tion with one of Star a J y a 4 e e a t his braves and t tua princess of v his squaw the tribe greeting friends at the Pendleton Oregon roundup in inthe the silent language I ua a of her people p eo le 9 g a a N HEN Will Tomkins was a cow cowhand cowhand cowhand WHEN W hand on his fathers father's ranch and Little Raven was the respected head man of the Southern the Indian chieftain n said to the boy bo The sign language of my people is the simplest and most beautiful language in all the world Crows Snakes and all other Indians understand it At least the old ones do It was the first universal lan Ian language language 4 guage in America It is of great an an- t Some day a white scholar will write a book about it explain it for your our people And he will do much good thereby there b and acquire great honor That was nearly forty years ears ago and it is of contemporary interest because Will Tomkins William now and a man manof manof manof of solid learning has has' has just published a little book called Universal Indian Sign Language And he is getting great honor for it as Little Raven predicted not not only from university sages but from enthusiastic Boy Scouts amateur collectors of Americana lovers of beauty everywhere Mr Tomkins' Tomkins book is a cross between a pamphlet a poem and a dictionary It contains Indian sign words and their meanings It is the only Indian dic dic- dictionary dictionary dictionary of its sort and an intelligent reader can master the entire vocabulary in a month of leisurely study In addi addi- addition addition addition tion to containing exact definitions of hundreds of sign language gestures the book sets forth the beauty and the im im- imagery imagery im- im imagery agery of the Indian tongue Mr Tomkins tells of an old Indian who at parting said to him in the sign language May 1 the Great Mystery make sunrise in your heart And he hec cites c tes other beautiful poetic expressions of the silent language nearly as eloquent and sustained Every time strange tribes of Indians gather the leaders converse almost al altogether al- al altogether altogether together in the universal language of signs even today Mr Tomkins recalls that the summer President Lincoln was killed there was a great gathering of all the tribes to the cast east and south of the country of Little Raven Twenty five tribes were represented Some had never seen men of the Ute other Indian na na- na- na Yet Vet Little Raven told Tomkins that when they met near old Fort Ab- Ab Abercrombie Abercrombie on the River they all talked readily and to good pur pur- purpose purpose purpose pose by means of signs The Indian sign language Tomkins says is the foremost gesture language the world has produced It was probably probably ably abl the first American language and certainly has remained the only language comprehended by all the tribes It may be he surmises that it was the first universal language of any group of nations It is older than the pyramids Starting to study the language of gestures gestures gestures tures when hen a boy living on the banks of the Okoboji Creek in South Dakota Tomkins has devoted the last forty years to his subject and today is a greater authority than the Indians themselves ca 01 their language of signs I a I There are sixty five stocks or families of Indians within the ter ter- territory territory territory of the United States he explains a aThey They differ as radical radical- radically ly J as the races of Europe Eu Eu- Europe Europe rope or Asia differ one from another In each N linguistic family famil there is likely likel to be a num num- number number ber of dialects Obviously the old- old a time Indians had to converse conver in signs or not at all when they met men of strange tribes The old of the tribes still use signs when they the meet stran stran- gers Nichelle once chief of the Pen dOri Will dies said his grandfather Tom- Tom Tomkins ther told him that at kins great reat conferences of translator the nations the sign ol ot sign lan Ian language language was always guage and anda used And all the a n Sioux chief tribes used the same signs the Crows s Flatheads s 's and others who otherwise could not have talked to toone toone toone one another at all Children employ intelligent gestures long before they can deliver articulate speech although parents begin early to instruct them in speaking but do not instruct them in the art of making signs Children learn language l only through the medium of signs and long after they understand verbal translation of the words When a white man has first contact with Indians who use signs the white has little difficulty catching their meaning If he is in close con con- contact contact contact tact with them for any length of time he will instinctively start making signs himself The way in which the Indian ex ex- expresses expresses expresses presses thought shows the difference between the mentality of the Red fled Man and the mentality of the white The Indian conceives of thought as of the heart from the heart When he wants wanta to express the idea of thought he makes the sign drawn from the heart His sign for good is the flat fiat hand swept out out- outward outward outward ward and level with the heart When an Indian wants to express anger he places the right hand against the fore fore- forehead forehead forehead head and twists it around to indicate the twisted brain Mr Tomkins says sa s 's that Indian signs have not only beauty and feeling and directness but they th express a great variety of meanings of many man shades An Indian knowing signs Tomkins Tomkins' book has can be a really fluent talker and say about all the important things t ings that seem to need to be said in inan Inan an ordinary lifetime Five Fie hundred 4 w 0 01 1 i r iW j 1 Ig Three sign sign lan Ian language Vt I m II t f S WP w v. v Y i guage C words words- t i t i t 4 N I above boat i j J t I at the left it s. s i horse h orse an and d t o. o r l L I below tepee to ee eeL 7 L f Jt 4 l y W ff-f. ff L. L t 94 h K kI kIa 1 a P. P 1 S 4 m mL L x L. L y s. s I IA A drawing showing Northwest Coast Indians using the sign language in one of their weird ceremonial dances signs or word symbols really constitute an exceptional vocabulary To express the thought done or finished an Indian brushes his hands to to- to gether lIe He beckons with his finger when he wants you ou to approach nearer When he wants to give word of an es es- escape escape es- es escape cape he crosses the wrists hands closed then moves them apart To Io indicate mourning he places his fingers at the back of his head as though shearing shearing the hair then indicates with his forefingers imaginary tears running down his checks cheeks To say dance he raises both hands and wriggles riggles them up and down To convey cOIl e the idea of corn he goes through the motion mot n of shelling it The Indians Indian's lively imagination love of nature and gift for conjuring up a picture come to the fore in making the sign for autumn The right hand it is extended upward with the fingers lingers spread The left hand indicating leaves drops with a waving motion Autumn is fall fall- fallIng failIng falling Ing leaf time There is no better way of arriving at a sympathetic understanding of the Indian than by studying his lan lan- language language language guage in which every gesture is full of poetry and significance For time of day an Indian makes a sign for sun holding his hand toward the point in the heavens where the sun is at atthe atthe atthe the time indicated To specify a certain fraction of a day he makes a half sweep Copyright 1927 by Johnson Features Inc loe oil F. F with his hand indicating the ya an angle g le of the sun in the sky Time is reck reck- reckoned reckoned reckoned by In In- Indians Indians as fol fol- follows folS t S lows Jows days by byn b Y nights n i g h t s or sl sleep months by 41 moons and years mJ by winters One is always so many a. a r winters old except when one is so very young as to have seen no winters Indians have simplified their sign language to the last degree according to the sign expert They never use the articles the a or an nor the words why or when in beginning a question The questioner makes the question sign indicates the person being questioned gives the want sign Question you want you want 1 That is simple When first I began to study the Indian sign ign language says Tom- Tom Tomkins Tomkins Tomkins kins I I had great difficulty in obtaining ob ob- obtaining obtaining any information from the Indians regarding the language and had to be content with learning a word at a time often orten with days das between Gradually 1 I proved my sincere friendship for the Dakotas I learned some of their spoken lan lan- language language language guage and henceforth made great great- greater er progress in the silent language that had so aroused my interest During the times of trouble between the tho whites and Indians I have often gone among strange tribes and be be- because because because cause of my knowledge of sign talk have always alws's found friends among them On many occasions I have been able to help them in difficulties arising through misunderstand misunderstand- ing Gestures were mans man's earliest method of communication Like tone of voice oice they indicate clearly and distinctly not only literal meanings but also various moods and finer shades of meaning im im- impossible impossible im- im impossible possible for words or mechanical gestures gestures gestures tures alone to suggest Of course Indians in their gestured sign language may present either a spiritless succession of set signs or a fully expressive pantomime of eloquent gestures depending upon the amount of grace g ace and feeling used Like actors those who feel what they seek seck to relate express fuller meanings Many old plainsmen have said sait that to see great bodies of Indians skilled in the language of signs was a beautiful sight not soon to be forgotten Mr Tomkins says sa s 's that even if the Indians were actually extinct there would be profit for white men and boys and girls in a study of their silent lan Jan guage Unhappily and in spite of giddy optimists the Indians in all their racial purity are passing away or at least they are changing their ways and becoming Imitation white men A half century I ago there Utere were accomplished r sign talkers among them Compulsory education and the general speaking of English has brought about a change To To- Today Today Today day many Indians understand French German Latin or Greek better than they comprehend the sign talk of their an an- Mr Tomkins' Tomkins argument L a that con con- conveying conveying ideas by sign is as instinctive as expressing feeling by speech Man Ian when in possession of all his faculties does docs not choose between yoke voice and gesture gesture ture he declares Both are tive Never has one been used to the exclusion of the other So civilized a arace arace arace race as the French are arc famous for th tha eloquence the subtlety and ant the variety of their gestures which add so much to the spoken word But nowhere have men invented a simpler a richer or a amore amore amore more beautiful speech of silence than our own Americans Ameri ns who once used it from Massachusetts l to the Dakotas and from the swamps of Florida to 10 the big bigwoods bigwoods I woods woots of Maine l Mr Tomkins has been signally hon hon- honored honored ored by California He has a certificate authorizing him to teach the original and universal sign language in the high t schools and universities of the State In clinching his argument in laor avor of it he never forgets to remind the Ameri Ameri- Americans Americans Americans cans of these busy modern days that it itcan itcan can be learned in one twenty fifth part of the time needed to master any other oilier I tongue fhe The sign language used by Indians differs from that of deaf and dumb per per- persons persons persons sons in two respects Deaf mutes set their against their foreheads to indicate thought Indians set their fin fin- fingers fingers I gers against the heart as has been ex ex- II I I |