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Show 4X5X5XSX3XX&&SXI INDIAN VIEWS By Ihe Old Timer You know, one of the advantages advan-tages of being on the sunny downslope of this here so called veil of tears is that it allows plenty of time for meditating and ruminating. When you was a younker, you are just to blamed full of vinegar to sit down and think just for the thinking. When you get a family, you're loaded to the freer board with cares and responsibilities that seems like they never leave you. But when your kids is raised and you got a little saved up to see you through and you got time to sit in the sun and whittle, and smoke and mebbe gossip in a mild sort of way and you got time to sorta mull over what you learned in life and what this, that and the other thing meant, why I guess age sorta has its compensations compen-sations of sorts, too. Well, I got to thinking the other day about the stories our teachers used to tell us about them old foreign countries and one of them was called the Roman Rom-an Empire. Well, it seems like this country was pretty big potatoes po-tatoes in them days and sorta spread itself around over plenty of counties as you might say. And it was a great country. But they wasn't content with what they had and the way they had to live pretty tight around the belt, so they sorta let loose and blew their top in no mild way. And they all got the idea that the country owed them a living and the politicians, since they was elected by the will of the people, they give them anything they wanted in the way of made work, free money or lots of rich spectacles. They got so that they had lots of people living off the nation and they all was willing to let someone else do the work. Seems like we should learn the lesson in that fall of the Roman Empire and be mighty careful how we expect someone else to do our work for us or how we expect an honest day's pay for a dishonest day's work. This is all tied up with a mighty lot of problems and I thing we can all be the better for study of the past. I remember they was hardly a man, white or Indian in my younger days that expected anyone to give him anything any-thing for nothing. Them days they worked a good day's work for what seems like a mighty small pay day nowaways. Seems like our problems would be mighty small if we only all tried to work to the limit of our ability to work for a good day's pay. Remember when? They 'had that big Alfalfa Palace built of baled hay at what they called the Uintah Basin Fair (later the U. B. I. C. of fond memories) seems like it was in 1912 or 13 and the Indian farmers was G. A. Dennis, George Elliott. J. Martin, L. M. Mitchell, John Ferrill and Hugh Owens? And those fine, big stallions and how they used to shine and prance in the sun when they was brought out to judge them? And how the Indians and Whites used to come for miles in their wagons and buckboards and camp for the Fair? I did most of my sparking of the Missus at those fairs and it was under the porch on the old office building on a clear warm night with the moon as big as a golden field pumpkin that I popped the question. Can you remember how them parades with the chiefs in full dress, with their feathers and beads and buckskins and their ponies dressed dress-ed and combed and cleaned and a-prancing and a-bucking used to eive you a thrill Let's see, there was Accawinna, Yesto. Parriette, Billy ChaDoose, Sam Alhandra, Charley Travis, Tah-eahpoots, Tah-eahpoots, Modoc, Pekapowits, John Archoop, William Wash, John Duncan, Willie Duncan, Poochekant, Jirop, Wapsoo, Captain Cap-tain Wyasket, Arrappo. Square John and lots more of them used to be in there helping make them days a success. Many have ridden over the Great Divide, and the rest of us is getting ready for the Trail, but we sure enjoyed life in them days. |