By ELMO SCOTT WATSON HEN the legislature of the state of Illinois in 1019 designated the fourth Friday in September as American Indian day and the gov- ernor of Illinois on July 28 of that year approved the measure, establishing the day as a state holiday, it was the first official step taken toward paying a just tribute to a race which has great. ly enriched our national heritage. 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 gen- eral observance throughout the country, It Is sufficiently well known to remind Americans of the present day of honor due to the “original Americans” and, on American Indian day, there may pass before us a pageant of those Indi viduals who played a part in making the history of this nation and who elton deserve to be 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 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 potatoes, chocolate, cocoa, mush, green corn, sue cotash, hominy and the festive turkey Is a trib. ute to the ree bacco or Indian wel we smoke Is incense to their memory. wan, while the fragrance of the to “Os one occasion, according to Aesop, a man and a lion got into a t as to which of the two was the stronger, and, thus contending, they walked toge they came to a statue representing a man choking and subduing a lion. *There,” exclaimed the man, ‘that proves my point, and demonstrates th a man Is stronger than a lion. To whith the king of beasts replied, ‘When the lions get to be sculp- tors, they will have the lion choking and over coming the man.’ “The Indians are neither sculptors, painters nor historians. The only record we have of many of thelr 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 magnifi- cent record he can set down! In it will be the story of such patriots as King Philip of the Wam- 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 Logan of the Cayugas, Red 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 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 sald, ‘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 eold blood and unprovoked, murdered all the 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 ealled 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: but 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!” * * . Although Sitting Bull of the Sloux 1s better known ds 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 sald: “Behold, my friends, the spring 1s come: the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sther until -— wid a 20 Seve. 1—S8itting Bull, the great Indian patriot and medicine man of the Sioux, who is the subject of one of the Important biographies of the year. 2A modern miss gets instruction in an 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 prac. tice their ancient customs for other than com. mercial purposes. The Blackfoot Indians, 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). # » 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 soll, and the love of posses gion 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 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 te them: ‘First kill me, before youn can take possession of my fatherland!™ *® » . A similar patriotic: declaration, made under even more dramatic circumstances, should pre serve the name of Chief Dull Knife of the Cheyennes imperishably In our history. After the surrender of Dull Knife and his people dur- ing the Sioux and Cheyenne war of 1870.77, 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 sick- ened and died until two-thirds of their number had perished. Again and again Dull Knife ap- pealed to the government for permission to return to their old home in the north, but his appeal was all In vain, Wolf, the junior war chief, started north and although six lines of military their way through captured in Nebraska. They were taken to Fort Robinson, disarmed and imprisoned in an old barracks, 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, race—leggings of golden yellow buckskin, heav- {ly 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. He said: “*All we ask is to be allowed to live, and to 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 Great 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 18 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 TELL HIM IF HE TRIES TO SEND US BACK WE WILL BUTCHER EACH OTHER WITH OUR OWN KNIVES, I HAVE SPOKEN" Die fighting some of them did a few days later. But others escaped to their friends the Sloux, 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 Joved so well and fought sc hard to regain and there he spent the end of his days, © by Western Newspaper Union, John Smith By JANE OSBORN © by McClure Newspaper Syndicates, {WNU Bervice) T THE informal little dance in the club house that night Madge Upton was fully aware that a certain rather nice looking young man, ap- parently a stranger, was trying to get up enough courage io ask her for a dance. Madge was rather pleased to notice that he did not dance, though it would have been easy enough for him to Introduce himself to some of dance with, Madge watched him as she danced with the other men, And she sald to the very young whom she was dancing: ute. There goes Mr, Smith, to speak to him before he goes” The very young man released his timorous hold of Madge's tween swaying couples to the young man in question. “Oh, Mr. Smith, to you. You are Mr. you?” Much to her surprise the young man sald he was, She had Intended to say that an aunt by marriage, she didn’t want to make the connection tain young man named John Smith was going to stop at the hotel and would go over to the club house and had asked her to look for him. She had expected the young man would would say she was so sorry she had made the mistake—and he would say he was glad she had, and then she would smile and he would ask her to dance—and after that they would be as well scquainted as if he really were named Smith and her “l have been wondering {f you gald Mr. Smith, “You sunt speak of you and that you were aunt said she would speak to you about me, My name Is “And m “May 1 1 : ie Is i r 1 have eft of Madge was sj not far fron gether in the surf, alternoons in Madge's cathoat on the ba evenings dancing together at the club house Madge introduced John Smith to some of the other gi but rl 8, always with a “keep your hands off nd his trip by motor to a spot some two weeks of vacation. After he had dined when the clerk at the hotel had told him that guests there had the privil- he loved her. He was somewhat trou- bled as he faced the ordeal. They were sitting on the beach un- der the protection of Madge's enorm- tant declaration. Reversing the order of procedure that he had planned John Smith first told Madge that he loved her—and asked her to marry him, He was then ready for his confession—but Madge got ahead of him with hers *1 did a perfectly dreadful thing" she said. “I wanted te know you so much that I made up about my aunt I've never mentioned her since for fear you would find out I had de ceived you. It just happened that I hit the right name-—but then Smith is not unusual” “&till it is not my real name,” sald her companion. “As a matter of fact my name is Archibald Pepperell] said 1 was John Smith for fear—" but the erstwhile John did not finish, “Not Archibald Pennerell. You don't mean that you are the nephew of Mrs, Gordon Burke—" “The same Archibald,” he sald, “And Mrs. Burke is my aunt's very pest friend—I've heard a lot about you ~ganid all the time we have been both bluffing we might have been properly introduced.” “Then maybe you'll forgive me” suggested Archibald, “Maybe you'll marry me after all” “Well, of course,” sald Madge, "1 was rather counting on being Mra John Smith for life—not so easy to say Mrs. Archibald Pepperell, I'd al ways have to spell it out when 1 have things sent, still-" But Madge got no further with her objections, A 'Dorothy’s Mother Proves Claim Children don't or- dinarily take to med- ieines but here's one that all of them love, Perhaps it shouldn't be called a medicine at all It's more like a rich, ; : Jeoncentrated food It's pure, wholesome, sweet to the taste and sweet in your child's little stomach. It bullds up and strength- ens weak, puny, underweight chil dren, makes them eat heartily, brings the roses back to their cheeks, makes them playful, energetic, full of life. And no billous, headachy, constipated, feverish, fretful baby or gentle influence of California ¥ig Syrup on thelr little bowels, It starts «Milllons of mothers know about ence. A Western mother, Mrs, J. G. Moore, 119 CUff Ave. San Antonle, Texas, says: “California Fig Syrup is certainly all that's claimed for it. Dorothy. She was a bottle baby and very delicate, Her bowels were weak. I started her on Fig Syrup when she was a few months old and it regulated her, quick. I have used it with her ever since for colds and every little set-back and her wonder- ful condition tells better than words Don't be imposed on. See that the Fig Syrup you buy bears the name, “California” so you'll get the genn- ine, famous for 50 years, Ro Beet Sugar The firs manufac ture of suiar from beets was erect- ed by Edward Lee Church at Northampton, Mass, in 838, and the following year it produced 1300 pounds of sugar. A few other fac tories followed, but all were fail ures. In 1870, E. H. Dyer erect ed at Alvarado, Calif, a factory which became successful in 1870 and marked the beginning of the mod- ern sugar-making from sugar beets Odd Postage Stamps In the main hall of the Rensington museum, London, is te be seen one of the most remarkable collections of postage sjamps in the South world, Every one of the hundreds of specimens displayed WIrays some member of dom in its nativ post part they are tt) countries from whence the) Ralph Waldo Emerson's View ph Waldo, Emerson, “the wis of Americans” mentions the Ti of Shakespeare twice as fre quently in his writings as he does that of his next favori He is reported to have said, “1 am always happy to meet persons who perceive the ranscendent super ority of Shakespeare over all other writers.” Goethe Hamlet's Sanity Whether or not Hamiet was in sane is a question which has dis turbed critics for 300 years. It is interesting to know that most of the profound thinkers who have given the question deep consideration re gard Hamlet as sane. It would seem that If Hamlet was insane there is ne point in the drama. — Washington Star. Bird Sheep Herder The _akamik, a species of crane, is used by the natives of Vene zuela, South America, in the place of shepherd dogs, for guarding and herding flocks of sheep. However far the yakamik may wander with the flocks, it never fails to find its way home at night, driving before it all the creatures entrusted to its care. Best Things Are Nearest The best things are nearest: breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your and, the path of God just be fore you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and dally bread are the sweetest things of life.—R. L. Ste venson, Man's Supremacy Scientists tell us that what has lifted man above the brute crea- tion with which he has so much in common Is the fact that he can touch each of his fingers with his thumb! No other living thing can do that, Try experiments with your own hand, and see what a dif. ference It would make if yon could not do this simple-sreming act, Glaciers Disappear The evidence indicates that hun dreds of small glaciers have dis appeared altogether from the Yo semite National park during the last half century. The first “living gia cler” discovered by John Muir in 1871 in the Sierra Nevadas now has ceased to exist, it is reported. British Pun “A now hat is like wine to =a woman,” sald a magnate the other day. It goes to her head very quickly. —London Humorist,
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers