VOL. XII. FRIDAY, July 9, 1897 NUMBER 39
Miss Gertrude Simmons is the latest addition to our force of workers. Miss Simmons is a Sioux, seven years a student of White's Institute, Indiana, and of Earlham College two years, is temporarily assisting with the clerical work in Miss Ely's office.
VOL. XII. FRIDAY, July 16, 1897 NUMBER 40
Miss Simmons is pianist for chapel services.
VOL. XII. FRIDAY, August 6, 1897 NUMBER 43
Misses Mary Bailey, Gertrude Simmons and Nellie Robertson departed for the West on Tuesday and Wednesday. Miss Bailey goes to Laguna, New Mexico, Miss Simmons to Yankton, Dakota, and Miss Robertson, to Pine Ridge Agency, South Dakota.
VOL. XII. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1897 NUMBER 50
On Monday, at the opening exercises of school, Miss Senseny, Vocal Instructress, sang in most excellent voice and with pleasing effect Lynes' "He was a Prince," and Belmont Smight's "Creole Love Song." On Tuesday, Miss Simmons talked upon "The Achievements of the White and Red Races Compared." This from a young Indian maiden was a most thrilling and earnest appeal to the youth of her race to show to the world by their earnestness of purpose that the history of the Indian has been wrongly written, and that their motives as a people have been misunderstood. From this on, the Indian will be judged by the growing generation, who should be industrious and worthy. Every student who heard her remarks should be quickened into a deeper intensity. On Wednesday, Miss Barclay talked on "Li Hung Chang's visit to the United States." This, also, was very interesting and instructive, entering into the details of his daily life.
VOL. XII. FRIDAY, October 1, 1897 NUMBER 51
The King's Daughters have been organized for the year with the following named leaders: Wayside Gleaners-The Binders, Miss Nana Pratt; the Reapers, Miss Cummins; Sunshine Scatters, Miss Barclay; Lend-a-Hand Circle, Miss Luckenbach; What-so-evers, 1st section, Miss Shaffner; 2nd section, Miss Miles; Willing Workers, Miss Simmons and Miss Bailey; The Little Learners, Miss Ericson. Their lessons in Bible Study will be upon the life of Christ as found in the four Gospels. On last Thursday, at the opening exercises of school, Antonio Apache gave an account of his trip through the British Colonies. On Friday, "Seth Lowe and the Greater New York," occupied the time, Professor Bakeless the speaker. On Monday he again spoke upon Nicola Tesla and his Electrical Researches, showing how little things change the world. On Tuesday, James Wheelock, played a clarinet solo, accompanied on piano by Miss Simmons. It was one of Hartmann's compositions and was beautifully rendered and well received. On Wednesday, Miss Lida Standing gave an excellent talk on "Lord Nelson and his Service in the British Navy.' The talks at the opening exercises this year have all been spirited and much enjoyed.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, October 15, 1897 NUMBER 1
On Tuesday, at the opening exercises of school, Miss Simmons sang in excellent voice "The Dove" by Arciti, and was accompanied on the piano by Mrs. Sawyer and by James Wheelock, on his clarinet.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, October 29, 1897 NUMBER 3
The Minnehaha Glee Club is the name the singers, who have chosen Miss Simmons for leader, have given themselves.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, November 12, 1897 NUMBER 5
Capt. Pratt, Mrs. Pratt, Miss Burgess, Miss Senseney, Miss Barclay, Miss Seonia, Miss Simmons, Mr. Snyder, Mr. St. Cyr, and the Wheelock Bros. took in the game Saturday.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, December 24, 1897 NUMBER 11
The school entertainment on last Monday evening was a sort of Christmas event. The stage trimmings, with quaint fire-place in which was a glowing fire and hanging kettle added to the picturesqueness of the scene. The programs, with "A Merry Christmas," printed in brilliant red, was the first reminder of what was coming. On the outside page was a stanza from Milton's Hymn to the Nativity. The singing by the entire school received more than usual applause from the faculty. Spring Time waltz, accompanied by clarinet, violin and piano was sung with very pleasing effect. Didn't little Agnes White speak well and loud? Frank Cayou's solo pleased everybody and he was obliged to respond with an encore. Miss Cochran's pupils did themselves proud in the scene from Dickens' "Christmas Carol." Oscar Davis spoke remarkably well. "Somebody's Mother,' stood vividly out to view when he was through. The sparkling little piano solo "Spring Carol," by Edythe Pierce enlivened all, and the double quartette, deserves special mention. Miss Simmons', James Flannery's and J. Wheelock's voices being specially conspicuous, while all blended beautifully. "The Poet's Calendar," by pupils from 5, 6, and 7 in costume representing the months of the year was well done. Theodora Davis quite captured the audience in her very natural message to Santa Claus through the Telephone. "Primitive Life in New York," adapted from Irving's Knickerbocker History of New York was good, but perhaps the best thing of the evening was Fannie Harris as Mrs. Ruggles preparing her nine "young'uns" for the Christmas Dinner, taken from Kate Douglas Wiggins' "Bird's Christmas Carol." The evening was delightful throughout. The band did its part and was enjoyed as it always is. The pupils from the lower grades, Maude Murphy, No. 1, and Julio Romero, No. 3 deserve mention for the efforts made.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, January 21, 1898 NUMBER 14
One of the most interesting hours the Man-on-the-band-stand has spent for many a day was in No. 6, last Thursday evening when Miss Simmons in the chair, conducted a debate between her morning and afternoon schools upon the subject of whether or not the treatment of the Indians by the early settlers caused King Philip to make war. There was a degree of life manifested on the part of the speakers in gaining the floor, that was refreshing, and arguments pro and con that would have done credit to the higher grades. Mr. Dennison Wheelock, Miss Wilson and Miss Burgess were appointed judges and decided that the best argument was on the negative side. Those who had the most to say were Lewis Curtis, John Morris, and Arthur Degray, on the affirmative, and Frank Bender, Tommy Griffin, John Jessan, Minnie Reed and Evaline Hammer, on the negative.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, February 4, 1898 NUMBER 16
It was a pleasant change to peep in for a moment at the art work, going on in No. 5--Miss Carter's room. Art teacher, Miss Forster, was directing, individually, the drawing and painting of some pretty initial letters, while a part of the class was a reproducing a squash placed before them for a model. We arrived at No. 6 door just as Miss Simmons' pupils were passing out to Assembly Hall to take a lesson in singing. When asked to sum up the difficulties of her room in one word, she said "Language."
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, February 25, 1898 NUMBER 19
A surprise was tendered Miss Simmons last Tuesday evening in the Teachers' parlor. She celebrates the 22nd, as the anniversary of her birth, and Miss Seonia had quietly invited to the parlor a host of Miss Simmons friends, who joined in laughter, song, games and other merriment. Soon after the delicious cream and cake were served and a few more pleasantries enjoyed the company dispersed, each feeling that it was good to have been there.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, April 1, 1898 NUMBER 24
Miss Simmons and her class of girls made a tour through the shops on Wednesday.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, June 3, 1898 NUMBER 33
Miss Simmons gave a very select reading, entitled, "The Blue and the Gray."
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, June 17, 1898 NUMBER 35
Miss Simmons has taken Miss Peter's place in school, this month and Miss Paull is in the Normal Room, while Miss Bowersox is doing library work.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, July 1, 1898 NUMBER 37
Miss Simmons intends remaining most of the summer at Carlisle, and will take violin lessons under Prof. Taube of Harrisburg. He is a Leipsic graduate.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, August 12, 1898 NUMBER 43
Miss Simmons is spending a part of her vacation in New York City a guest of the artist Mrs. Kasebier.
VOL. XIII. FRIDAY, September 2, 1898 NUMBER 46
Misses Carter, Bowersox, Robertson, Peter, and Simmons came on Monday.
VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, October 21, 1898 NUMBER 1
Mr. F.W. Kasebier, 201st Regiment N.Y. was Miss Simmon's guest on Thursday evening. Mr. Kasebier's mother is the artist at whose lovely home in New York City, Miss Simmons was a guest for a few weeks this summer.
VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, January 6, 1899 NUMBER 11
Miss Newcomer, of Kansas, is the late Civil Service appointee. Miss Paull has taken Miss Simmons' school and Miss Newcomer has No. 2. Miss Simmons has gone to Boston to take special musical training. In her life as a teacher with us she has made a host of friends who wish her the greatest success in her new field. Miss Simmons has musical talent, and no doubt will make her mark in the world as a violinist. It will be remembered that Miss Simmons is a Sioux Indian maiden who has worked her way through school and partly through college, having attained prominence in her college life at Earlham College, Indiana.
VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, January 20, 1899 NUMBER 13
Mr. Sowerby and Mr. J. Wheelock will attend the Invincibles this evening. Mr. Blackbear and some one in Miss Simmons' place the Standards, and Mr. Snyder and Mr. St. Cyr the Susans.
Mr. Sowerby and Mr. J. Wheelock will attend the Invincibles this evening. Mr. Blackbear and some one in Miss Simmons' place the Standards, and Mr. Snyder and Mr. St. Cyr the Susans.
VOL. XV. No.4. / JANUARY 1899 RED MAN AND HELPER
Miss Gertrude Simmons, a Sioux maiden, who has received a partial college education and for the past two years has been a teacher with us, left at the beginning of this year for Boston, where she will take a special course in the Conservatory of Music, her special line of study being the violin.
VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, April 28, 1899 NUMBER 27
Thomas Marshall. One of the saddest duties that has come to us as a recorder of the historical events at the school is that of telling our readers of the sad death of student Thomas P. Marshall. Thomas was a Sioux from Pine Ridge agency, S. Dakota, where a mother, brothers and sisters, and a step-father, a deacon in the Episcopal Church, reside. Four years ago, last Fall, Thomas came to us from the Friends' White's Institute, Indian, which had been engaged successfully many years in educating young Indians. He at once entered Dickinson College Preparatory Department, and had advanced to the Junior class in the college proper. It would be impossible to overstate the excellence of Thomas Marshall's character and influence as shown both in Dickinson College and in the Indian School. Tributes and testimonials from his Professor in the college and the President, of his superior character, are unstinted. A memorial service presided over by President Reed and attended by the Professors and students of the College, addressed by President Reed, Rev. McMillan and others was held in Bosler Memorial hall at the college on Wednesday morning. Later there will be a service of the same kind, here at the school. Every year since coming to Carlisle, Thomas was elected by the Young Men's Christian Association to take charge of the delegation to Mr. Moody's Northfield Conference. As the Assistant of Mrs. Given in charge of the small boys, and as a leader in every good movement in the societies and general work of the school, Thomas was without a peer among our students. He never failed in any duty and always happily led when occasion offered. He received letters from home, telling of the sickness and death of a brother and sister of "Malignant Measles." Nothing of the kind had appeared anywhere in this vicinity. He was taken ill, and in view of what had occurred at his home he was at once isolated in the hospital. The disease baffled the greatest skill of the physician and the tenderest care of the skillful nurse, and relentlessly centered in his face, and the brain, and finally on his lungs. He was unconscious for about twenty hours before he died, which was at midnight on Sunday last. The life of one most promising and unselfish as well as most dear to a loving family and to a wide circle of friends is thus inscrutably taken.
A large and beautiful wreath of white roses from Miss Gertrude Simmons [Zitkala Sa] of Boston, to whom Thomas Marshall was engaged to be married, was received by Mrs. Cook, to be placed on his grave. Miss Simmons has the sympathy of her friends at Carlisle, in this her great bereavement.
Owing to the death of Thomas Marshall, Major Pratt issued orders strictly quarantining all the pupils and employees within the limits of the school reservation. At this writing no other malignant cases have appeared.
Thomas Marshall's case was sporadic and there seems no danger of the disease spreading so great is the vigilance and so strict the quarantine order. Everything that was in his room was burned and the room thoroughly fumigated. It was a room that Miss Barr had held as a spare room, in the closet of which she had her best clothing. Everything in the closet was burned even to her silk dress and a new and stylish garment she had recently purchased.
VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, May 5, 1899 NUMBER 28
TO THE INDIAN HELPER: In her deep sorrow, Miss Gertrude Simmons wishes to express gratitude for the sympathy extended to her through the HELPER and also through personal letters. There is no reconciliation for the loss of so pure and noble a life-force, only in the thought that Mr. Marshall has gained "that purest heaven." -May 2nd, Boston.
VOL. XV. Feb 1900, THE RED MAN. NUMBER 11, p. 8
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, February 2, 1900 NUMBER 14
The people's eyes whom Zitkala Sa alludes to in her Atlantic Monthly article might be called a pair of stares.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, March 9, 1900 NUMBER 19
The lecture on Lincoln before the Literary Societies, Tuesday evening, March 13th, is to be delivered by Rev. Dr. Melancthohn Woolsey Stryker, President of Hamilton College. Dr. Stryker was specially selected by the War Department to deliver the memorial eulogy at General Lawton's funeral before the President, Cabinet and many of the most distinguished officials and citizens of this and other countries. Dr. Stryker's oratorical powers are of the highest order, and this lecture promises to be one of the finest ever delivered in Carlisle. The lecture will begin at 8 o'clock, but to make the evening still more interesting the exercises will begin at 7:30 o'clock, the half hour preceding the lecture being filled with music by the School Band, Glee Club and by a violin solo from Miss Zitkala Sa. The price of admission will be 25 cents. The people of the town, by buying tickets at either Mr. Means' or Mr. Piper's Bookstores and paying 30 cents therefore, will get trolley tickets to and from the School. No reserved seats.
Miss Gertrude Simmons widely known by her Dakota name - Zitkala Sa, is with us, and will remain until the Band starts on its tour, when she will go along as violin soloist. She is looking well and says that the people of Boston have treated her well.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, March 23, 1900 NUMBER 21
Zitkala Sa's rendition of "The Famine" from Hiawatha, at the Memorial Association in Washington, last Friday took the audience by storm. "The recitation was a magnificent effort, and the young girl was most enthusiastically applauded," says the Star. The Post says "she recited in a very capable manner. She was enthusiastically applauded and was compelled to return to the stage to bow her acknowledgements. At the conclusion of the program she was taken among the audience and introduced to Miss Longfellow, the poet's daughter."
Mrs. Cook goes with the Band as a chaperon for Zitkala Sa.
On Saturday last, the Band boys were the invited guests of the President of the United States to play at the White House, Mrs. McKinley selecting the numbers rendered. The latter was delighted with the music, and spoke in high praise of the performers. At the same time Miss Zitkala Sa, recited for Mrs. McKinley, and received from her hands a large bunch of beautiful English violets, which she prizes very highly.
On Wednesday evening, the usual "class meeting" as Major Pratt calls them was held. Most of the inspiring speeches by distinguished visitors made at this meeting are quite fully reported for the Red Man. There was a large crowd present and the occasion was one long to be remembered. It was at this meeting that Zitkala Sa recited the famine scene in Hiawatha, surprising her audience with an artistic rendition that was delightful to hear. A Dakota girl, in Dakota costume of beaded and fringed buckskin, with her long black locks combed very smoothly over the ears and braided in 2 braids, she was decidedly picturesque and typical in style, and the recital from start to finish would have satisfied Longfellow's highest ideal of native grace and eloquence.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, March 30, 1900 NUMBER 22
OUR BAND ON THE ROAD.
One who is travelling with the band has promised to keep the readers of the HELPER informed of some of their doings on the road.
Fifty-three members of the Band with Dr. Montezuma, of Chicago, as care-taker and health-keeper of the crowd, and Mrs. Cook at chaperon for Zitkala Sa, and J. Quincy Eaton as treasurer, left last Friday morning, giving their first concert in Philadelphia. One whose nom-de-plume will be known as Xena, writes thus:
DEAR MAN-ON-THE-BAND-STAND:
Now that we are so far away that even your eagle eye can not rest on the Band-standers we begin to realize our distance and hasten to send you our loyal greetings, for no matter how far we may go or what fortunes are ours we started from THE Band Stand!
Less than a week has passed since we last saw you, but already we feel at home on "the road" and only wish you might sometime join us, if only to see how we take the fun that comes to us and how bravely we meet any adverse conditions.
Philadelphia showed us its "brotherly love" in the enthusiasm of the audience.
Our arrival in Trenton was a bit disturbed by the mistaken notions of our advanced guard in conjunction with our would-be "mine-host." Cots galore were found sardined into 9x10 rooms, and when one of them boasted a sheet it proved a strip of unbleached muslin without the grace of a hem.
Our capable manager soon set matters straight, gave the command "Right-about face!" and found comfortable quarters elsewhere. We think he was most strongly moved thereto by Dickie who sat on his cot in a hallway and declaimed "Behold Me! I have no room today!"
A good audience greeted our matinee, and tickets are selling well for Tuesday night.
The evening proved the old saying false, for our prophets found honor in their own country, and all Bucks County turned out for the Bristol concert to show their regard for the boys from Carlisle.
They entered into the concert, heart and soul, and we played our best for them.
The local agent strongly urges us to come again and he will give us a packed house.
We are proud of ourselves for your sake. We are proud of our Minnehaha who takes each audience by storm and holds it breathless till she chooses to release it. Her rendering of the pathos and beauty and truth of Longfellow's lines is a revelation to her hearers, while her violin wins all hearts.
We are proud of our Calm Director who is not even thrown off his base when his remarkable versatility as the ex-captain of the football team is remarked upon.
Some day we may tell you of the Ancient Israelite, who "Stood on the STAIRS at midnight;" of the Somnambulist who nearly gave his bed fellows each a black eye and of the Lucky Sioux, the universal favorite.
These are a few of your devoted Band Standers who send faithful remembrance by the hand of XENA.
What the Papers Say.
The Band does not come as Indians might be expected and permitted to do, with a repertoire of little easy waltzes and marches that any children might learn to play in time, but they come with "Semiramide" and with "Bohemian Girl," "Il Trovatore" and "Lohengrin."
It was not alone in ensemble that the Band made a good impression but there were soloists that ranked high as musicians of soul and execution.
-[Trenton Daily Gazette.
The Trenton Times says: It may be strictly in order to say that all of these young men are Americans - there can be no doubt about that, and there can be no more remarkable entertainment than that given yesterday afternoon at Association Hall by the Carlisle Indian School Band. Other bands have played in this city but none ever made such an impression on those who heard it as did this band of young Indians. It would have been a grand musical feast aside from any special features but with those features it stands alone as an extraordinary and unique entertainment. The wonder of the whole thing is how all of these young men - and some of them are but boys - have been taught to play such music.
Perfect harmony, precision of movement and delicacy of expression prevailed throughout, and one could scarcely believe that it was the performance of descendants of the aborigines that one was hearing. -[Trenton True American.
Any criticism of the concert that failed to take note of the wonderful performance by Zitkala Sa, a charming young Indian woman who must have surprised everybody with the power of her declamatory force would be incomplete. Her recitation was "The Famine" from Hiawatha. Her beginning scarce kept the attention. She warmed and as the lines called for the exposition of the passions the young girl's dramatic power grew till it became marvelous. She held every ear and the recourse frequently to handkerchiefs told how great an effect she was exerting over her audience. She was applauded to the echo.
-[Trenton Daily Gazette.
Their tone is especially mellow and pleasing and even in the crescendo passages developed none of the brassy harshness often heard in bands of the kind. Zitkala Sa recited with much feeling and decided elocutionary ability the "Famine," from Hiawatha.
-[Phila. Evening Bulletin.
The admirable execution of these young artists, the precision of their work which, is at all times marked by enthusiasms and spirit, caused every one of the dozen or more numbers on the well-chosen program to be encored, and the high character of the Band's work is indicated by their high grade selections.
-[Phila Times.
The performance was a very praiseworthy one, the organization showing the beneficial effects of careful preparation and drill, while individually considerable skill and musical ability was displayed.
-[Phila. Record.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, June 15, 1900 NUMBER 33
Zitkala Sa is spending the summer with her mother in South Dakota. An editorial on her Atlantic Monthly articles which appeared in the Word Carrier will be reprinted in the June Red Man.
VOL. VI. No. 3. / JUNE 1900 RED MAN
ZITKALA SA IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
Andrew Lang concludes from his study of their legends that our Indians have little original imagination. We would like to know his opinion after reading Zitkala Sa's articles in the Atlantic Monthly. They certainly show considerable power of imagination. They are exceedingly well written and highly praiseworthy as realistic word paintings. Some may have eagerly hoped that in these experiences of an Indian girl we would now have the material for a new psychological study. But many of the incidents are purely fictitious and often the situaion is dramatically arranged to produce the desired effect. There is the conventional berating of "the paleface who has stolen our lands and driven us hither." And our hearts swell with indignation as we see these unfortunates driven like a herd of buffalo many days and nights, while with every step the sick sister shrieks with the painful jar, until at last, when they reach the far western country, on the first weary night she dies. It will relieve the sympathetic tension to remember that this is simply dramatic fiction.
The same is undoubtedly true of the climactic scene when her mother discovers a new fire in the bluffs across the river where white settlers have made homes. When she exclaims, "Well, my daughter, there is the light of another white rascal, springs to her feet beside her wigwam and raising her right arm forcibly into line with her eye shoots out her doubled fist vehemently at the strangers with a curse upon them.
We may however expect to gain some information regarding the true inwardness of Indian schools and the character of those who teach them. But here too her portraits are either so exaggerated as to be untrue or are pure inventions. From the broad brimmed Quaker "missionaries" and the pale-face woman teacher with the cold gray eyes and gnawed pencil to the leather tanned stage driver with blurred and blood-shot blue eyes, she finds no one for whom she has any other sentiments than contempt and disgust.
There is one remaining field of study for which we have enough material and of a genuine character, that is Zitkala Sa herself. By her own showing she is a person of infinite conceit. She is insulted because a pale-face woman catches her up in her arms and tosses her in the air; she is outraged because a loud breakfast bell sends its metallic voice crashing into her sensitive ears. Nothing is good enough for her. Her small carpeted room, with neat white bed she calls a ghastly white walled prison. She is passionate and ill-tempered from a child, when she chases her own shadow with set teeth and clenched fists; or when a little older she is dragged out from under a bed kicking and scratching wildly. She carries the same temper into mature age when her enraged spirit feels like burning the Bible her mother has brought for her comfort. She is utterly unthankful for all that has been done for her by the pale faces, which in her case is considerable.
It would be doing injustice to the Indian race whose blood she partly shares to accept the picture she has drawn of herself as the true picture of all Indian girls. They average far better.
-[Word Carrier.
VOL. XVI. No. 13./ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1900 / CONSOLIDATED VOL. 1, NO. 10
HUNT FOR THE SOUTH SIDE!
There are people like Zitkala Sa, in her Atlantic Monthly articles a few months ago, who always insist upon sitting on the cold side of a hill. They have all sorts of experiences in life, happy as well as dull, but the remembrance of gloomy scenes and the dark pictures in life is alone retained.
Those who make light of small trials and push them aside that sunshine and cheer may enter are the people who make the world worth living in.
There is enough gloom in life as we go along from day to day, without treasuring up disagreeable experiences of the past.
The following from Forward has a lesson in it for us all:
"May I come in, dear?" called the girl's bright voice.
"Pull the bobbin and the latch will fly up," was the merry answer.
The girl pushed open the door and ran across the room to the bed.
Nobody could have guessed the pain and the wearisome plaster cast from the cheery voice; still less could one have guessed that the need to earn made the weeks of pain still harder to bear.
These things the woman lying there told to her God, never to her guests.
"The very last," she declared. "I hunted and hunted!"
"Are you sure?" her friend asked quickly. "I've always found them later than this every year. Did you go over to the south side of the hill?"
"No," the girl confessed laughingly, "I believe that I looked on every side but that. I'll go straight back and hunt again."
Twenty minutes later she returned laden with autumn bloom.
"You were right," she said. "I had no idea that the south side made such a difference. The slope was half covered with the most beautiful blossoms, so big and deep colored. I'm going to put them in the pitcher beside you, so that you can reach your hands down deep into autumn and pretend you're picking them yourself."
"Then," her friend returned, "I should have to give up the memory of somebody who picked them for me."
The girl stopped her pretty work.
"Now I understand the difference," she said slowly. "You insist that you are living on the south side of life, and that you are getting every bit of sunshine there is, while most of us deliberately go and sit on the north side, and grumble because it is cold. Never mind, I've caught your secret now, and I'm going to sit in the sun. Then maybe I'll blossom."
The white face in the bed smiled.
"And the best of it all is that there always is a south side," she answered," the sun's side, and God's."
VOL../ FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1902
A FORMER HASKELL BOY.
Raymond T. Bonnin and Miss Gertrude Simmons, both of Yankton Agency, were married at the home of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Benedict in this city on Saturday afternoon, May 10, 1902. The Tribune is pleased to make a few comments upon this marriage from the fact that the bride is a full blooded Sioux whose Indian name is ”Zitkala-Sa,“ which means Red Bird. After receiving a common school education at Yankton Agency she was sent to Carlisle College, where she remained two years and where she developed great musical and literary talents to such an extent that she was sent to the Boston Conservatory of Music and was selected to accompany a musical troupe to the Paris exposition in 1900. The rare talent show both on the violin and piano brought forth many flattering comments from the leading magazines and newspapers, both at home and abroad. Upon her return she made a tour of the principle cities of the East, not only as an accomplished musician but as an author of esteemed merit. One of her productions entitled “Indian Legends” has commended itself to the reading public to the extent that the publishers are having a great demand for her works. She is also a contributor to some of the leading magazines at the present time. The groom is the grandson of the old French trader, Picotte, one of the first traders to come up the Missouri River to Yankton Agency and points above and into who married one of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. His family were all educated at the Standing Rock Reservation, South of St. Louis and they and their children are among the foremost of the Yankton tribe in civilized attainments. This is considered a marriage in high life among their people, as both of the contracting parties are proud of their aboriginal blood, and especially of their rapid acquirement of the educational skill of the Caucasian race so rapidly adopted by them. Her Indian friends may well feel proud, without being egotistical, at the marvelous advancement made of a full-blood of their race who left her native home encumbered with that legacy of native habits and who within a few short years mastered the English language to the extent that she rivals in literature some of the leading authors of America, and whose quaint productions are equal to those of Kipling. -[Tyndall (S. D.) Tribune.]
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Bonnin, G.S. "Iya, the Camp-Eater, from "Old Indian Legends"." Twin Territories 4 (1902): 274-276.
Bonnin, G.S. "Why I am a Pagan." Atlantic 90 (1902): 801-803.
Bonnin, G.S. "[The Indian Dance]." Red Man and Helper (1902).
Bonnin, G.S. "Warrior's Daughter." Everybody's 6 (1902): 346.
Bonnin, G.S. "Soft-Hearted Sioux." Harper's 102 (1901): 505-508.
Bonnin, G.S. "Trial Path: An Indian Romance." Harper's 103 (1901): 741-744.
Bonnin, G.S. Old Indian Legends, Retold by Zitkala-Sa; With Illustrations by Angel de Cora (Hinook-Mahiwi-Kilinaka)(Boston: Ginn & Company, 1901).
Bonnin, G.S. "Impressions of an Indian Childhood." Atlantic 85 (1900): 37-47.
Bonnin, G.S. "School Days of an Indian Girl." Atlantic 85 (1900): 185-194.
Bonnin, G.S. "An Indian Teacher Among Indians." Atlantic 85 (1900): 381-386.
Miss Gertrude Simmons, a Sioux maiden, who has received a partial college education and for the past two years has been a teacher with us, left at the beginning of this year for Boston, where she will take a special course in the Conservatory of Music, her special line of study being the violin.
VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, April 28, 1899 NUMBER 27
Thomas Marshall. One of the saddest duties that has come to us as a recorder of the historical events at the school is that of telling our readers of the sad death of student Thomas P. Marshall. Thomas was a Sioux from Pine Ridge agency, S. Dakota, where a mother, brothers and sisters, and a step-father, a deacon in the Episcopal Church, reside. Four years ago, last Fall, Thomas came to us from the Friends' White's Institute, Indian, which had been engaged successfully many years in educating young Indians. He at once entered Dickinson College Preparatory Department, and had advanced to the Junior class in the college proper. It would be impossible to overstate the excellence of Thomas Marshall's character and influence as shown both in Dickinson College and in the Indian School. Tributes and testimonials from his Professor in the college and the President, of his superior character, are unstinted. A memorial service presided over by President Reed and attended by the Professors and students of the College, addressed by President Reed, Rev. McMillan and others was held in Bosler Memorial hall at the college on Wednesday morning. Later there will be a service of the same kind, here at the school. Every year since coming to Carlisle, Thomas was elected by the Young Men's Christian Association to take charge of the delegation to Mr. Moody's Northfield Conference. As the Assistant of Mrs. Given in charge of the small boys, and as a leader in every good movement in the societies and general work of the school, Thomas was without a peer among our students. He never failed in any duty and always happily led when occasion offered. He received letters from home, telling of the sickness and death of a brother and sister of "Malignant Measles." Nothing of the kind had appeared anywhere in this vicinity. He was taken ill, and in view of what had occurred at his home he was at once isolated in the hospital. The disease baffled the greatest skill of the physician and the tenderest care of the skillful nurse, and relentlessly centered in his face, and the brain, and finally on his lungs. He was unconscious for about twenty hours before he died, which was at midnight on Sunday last. The life of one most promising and unselfish as well as most dear to a loving family and to a wide circle of friends is thus inscrutably taken.
A large and beautiful wreath of white roses from Miss Gertrude Simmons [Zitkala Sa] of Boston, to whom Thomas Marshall was engaged to be married, was received by Mrs. Cook, to be placed on his grave. Miss Simmons has the sympathy of her friends at Carlisle, in this her great bereavement.
Owing to the death of Thomas Marshall, Major Pratt issued orders strictly quarantining all the pupils and employees within the limits of the school reservation. At this writing no other malignant cases have appeared.
Thomas Marshall's case was sporadic and there seems no danger of the disease spreading so great is the vigilance and so strict the quarantine order. Everything that was in his room was burned and the room thoroughly fumigated. It was a room that Miss Barr had held as a spare room, in the closet of which she had her best clothing. Everything in the closet was burned even to her silk dress and a new and stylish garment she had recently purchased.
VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, May 5, 1899 NUMBER 28
TO THE INDIAN HELPER: In her deep sorrow, Miss Gertrude Simmons wishes to express gratitude for the sympathy extended to her through the HELPER and also through personal letters. There is no reconciliation for the loss of so pure and noble a life-force, only in the thought that Mr. Marshall has gained "that purest heaven." -May 2nd, Boston.
School Days of An Indian Girl.
In the January number of the Atlantic Monthly, Zitkala Sa, (Miss Gertrude Simmons), dwelt with much simplicity upon the picturesque "Memories of an Indian Childhood." In the magazine for February, she relates the impressions made by her school life.
Miss Simmons' work has literary quality. She has a striking gift of characterization. Her satire is keen. She excels in giving what seem to be the genuine records of the mind of a child, uncolored by later knowledge and experience. We regret that she did not once call to mind the happier side of those long school days, or even hint at the friends who did so much to break down for her the barriers of language and custom, and to lead her from poverty and insignificance into the comparatively full and rich existence that she enjoys today.
We do not for a moment believe that "Zitkala Sa" desires to injure the cause of her own people, whose title to the blessings of enlightenment and civilization has so lately found general recognition, but we do feel that the home-sick pathos --nay, more, the underlying bitterness of her story will cause readers unfamiliar with Indian schools to form entirely wrong conclusions. Her pictures are not, perhaps, untrue in themselves, but, taken by themselves, they are sadly misleading. The following chapters will serve as examples.
The Cutting of my Long Hair
The first day in the land of apples was a bitter-cold one; for the snow still covered the ground, and the trees were bare. A large bell rang for breakfast, its loud metallic voice crashing through the belfry overhead and into our sensitive ears. The annoying clatter of shoes on bare floors gave us no peace. The constant clash of harsh noises, with an undercurrent of many voices murmuring an unknown tongue, made a bedlam within which I was securely tied. And though my spirit tore itself in struggling for its lost freedom, all was useless.
A paleface woman, with white hair, came up after us. We were placed in a line of girls who were marching into the dining room. These were Indian girls, in stiff shoes and closely clinging dresses. The small girls wore sleeved aprons and shingled hair. As I walked noiselessly in my soft moccasins, I felt like sinking to the floor, for my blanket had been stripped from my shoulders. I looked hard at the Indian girls, who seemed not to care that they were even more immodestly dressed than I, in their tightly fitting clothes. While we marched in, the boys entered at an opposite door. I watched for the three young braves who came in our party. I spied them in the rear ranks, looking as uncomfortable as I felt. A small bell was tapped, and each of the pupils drew a chair from under the table. Supposing this act meant they were to be seated, I pulled out mine and at once slipped into it from one side. But when I turned my head, I saw that I was the only one seated, and all the rest at our table remained standing. Just as I began to rise, looking shyly around to see how chairs were to be used, a second bell was sounded. All were seated at last, and I had to crawl back into my chair again. I heard a man's voice at one end of the hall, and I looked around to see him. But all the others hung their heads over their plates. As I glanced at the long chain of tables, I caught the eyes of a paleface woman upon me. Immediately I dropped my eyes, wondering why I was so keenly watched by the strange woman. The man ceased his mutterings, and then a third bell was tapped. Every one picked up his knife and fork and began eating. I began crying instead, for by this time I was afraid to venture anything more.
But this eating by formula was not the hardest trial in that first day. Late in the morning, my friend Judewin gave me a terrible warning. Judewin knew a few words of English; and she had overheard the paleface woman talk about cutting our long, heavy hair. Our mothers had taught us that only unskilled warriors who were captured had their hair shingled by the enemy. Among our people, short hair was worn by mourners, and shingled hair by cowards!
We discussed our fate some moments, and when Judewin said, "We have to submit, because they are strong," I rebelled.
"No, I will not submit! I will struggle first!" I answered.
I watched my chance, and when no one noticed, I disappeared. I crept up the stairs as quietly as I could in my squeaking shoes,--my moccasins had been exchanged for shoes. Along the hall I passed, without knowing whither I was going. Turning aside to an open door, I found a large room with three white beds in it. The windows were covered with dark green curtains, which made the room very dim. Thankful that no one was there, I directed my steps toward the corner farthest from the door. On my hands and knees I crawled under the bed, and cuddled myself in the dark corner.
From my hiding place I peered out, shuddering with fear whenever I heard footsteps near by. Though in the hall loud voices were calling my name, and I knew that even Judewin was searching for me, I did not open my mouth to answer. Then the steps were quickened and the voices became excited. The sounds came nearer and nearer. Women and girls entered the room. I held my breath and watched them open closet doors and peep behind large trunks. Some one threw up the curtains, and the room was filled with sudden light. What caused them to stoop and look under the bed I do not know. I remember being dragged out, though I resisted by kicking and scratching wildly. In spite of myself, I was carried downstairs and tied fast in a chair.
I cried aloud, shaking my head all the while until I felt the cold blades of the scissors against my neck, and heard them gnaw off one of my thick braids. Then I lost my spirit. Since the day I was taken from my mother I had suffered extreme indignities. People had stared at me. I had been tossed about in the air like a wooden puppet. And now my long hair was shingled like a coward's! In my anguish I moaned for my mother, but no one came to comfort me. Not a soul reasoned quietly with me, as my own mother used to do; for now I was only one of many little animals driven by a herder.
Iron Routine
A loud-clamoring bell awakened us at half-past six in the cold winter mornings. From happy dreams of Western rolling lands and unlassoed freedom we tumbled out upon chilly bare floors back again into a paleface day. We had short time to jump into our shoes and clothes, and wet our eyes with icy water, before a small hand bell was vigorously rung for roll call.
There were too many drowsy children and too numerous orders for the day to waste a moment in any apology to nature for giving her children such a shock in the early morning. We rushed downstairs, bounding over two high steps at a time, to land in the assembly room.
A paleface woman, with a yellow-covered roll book open on her arm and a gnawed pencil in her hand, appeared at the door. Her small, tired face was coldly lighted with a pair of large gray eyes.
She stood still in a halo of authority, while over the rim of her spectacles her eyes pried nervously about the room. Having glanced at her long list of names and called out the first one, she tossed up her chin and peered through the crystals of her spectacles to make sure of the answer “Here.”
Relentlessly her pencil black-marked our daily records if we were not present to respond to our names, and no chum of ours had done it successfully for us. No matter if a dull headache or the painful cough of slow consumption had delayed the absentee, there was only time enough to mark the tardiness. It was next to impossible to leave the iron routine after the civilizing machine had once begun its day’s buzzing; and as it was inbred in me to suffer in silence rather than to appeal to the ears of one whose open eyes could not see my pain, I have many times trudged in the day’s harness heavy-footed, like a dumb sick brute.
Once I lost a dear classmate. I remember well how she used to mope along at my side, until one morning she could not raise her head from her pillow. At her deathbed I stood weeping, as the paleface woman sat near her moistening the dry lips. Among the folds of the bedclothes I saw the open pages of the white man’s Bible. The dying Indian girl talked disconnectedly of Jesus the Christ and the paleface who was cooling her swollen hands and feet.
I grew bitter, and censured the woman for cruel neglect of our physical ills. I despised the pencils that moved automatically, and the one teaspoon which dealt out, from a large bottle, healing to a row of variously ailing Indian children. I blamed the hard-working, well-meaning, ignorant woman who was inculcating in our hearts her superstitious ideas. Though I was sullen in all my little troubles, as soon as I felt better I was ready again to smile upon the cruel woman. Within a week I was again actively testing the chains which tightly bound my individuality like a mummy for burial.
The melancholy of those black days has left so long a shadow that it darkens the path of years that have since gone by. These sad memories rise above those of smoothly grinding school days. Perhaps my Indian nature is the moaning wind which stirs them now for their present record. But, however tempestuous this is within me, it comes out as the low voice of a curiously colored seashell, which is only for those ears that are bent with compassion to hear it.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, February 2, 1900 NUMBER 14
The people's eyes whom Zitkala Sa alludes to in her Atlantic Monthly article might be called a pair of stares.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, March 9, 1900 NUMBER 19
The lecture on Lincoln before the Literary Societies, Tuesday evening, March 13th, is to be delivered by Rev. Dr. Melancthohn Woolsey Stryker, President of Hamilton College. Dr. Stryker was specially selected by the War Department to deliver the memorial eulogy at General Lawton's funeral before the President, Cabinet and many of the most distinguished officials and citizens of this and other countries. Dr. Stryker's oratorical powers are of the highest order, and this lecture promises to be one of the finest ever delivered in Carlisle. The lecture will begin at 8 o'clock, but to make the evening still more interesting the exercises will begin at 7:30 o'clock, the half hour preceding the lecture being filled with music by the School Band, Glee Club and by a violin solo from Miss Zitkala Sa. The price of admission will be 25 cents. The people of the town, by buying tickets at either Mr. Means' or Mr. Piper's Bookstores and paying 30 cents therefore, will get trolley tickets to and from the School. No reserved seats.
Miss Gertrude Simmons widely known by her Dakota name - Zitkala Sa, is with us, and will remain until the Band starts on its tour, when she will go along as violin soloist. She is looking well and says that the people of Boston have treated her well.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, March 23, 1900 NUMBER 21
Zitkala Sa's rendition of "The Famine" from Hiawatha, at the Memorial Association in Washington, last Friday took the audience by storm. "The recitation was a magnificent effort, and the young girl was most enthusiastically applauded," says the Star. The Post says "she recited in a very capable manner. She was enthusiastically applauded and was compelled to return to the stage to bow her acknowledgements. At the conclusion of the program she was taken among the audience and introduced to Miss Longfellow, the poet's daughter."
Mrs. Cook goes with the Band as a chaperon for Zitkala Sa.
On Saturday last, the Band boys were the invited guests of the President of the United States to play at the White House, Mrs. McKinley selecting the numbers rendered. The latter was delighted with the music, and spoke in high praise of the performers. At the same time Miss Zitkala Sa, recited for Mrs. McKinley, and received from her hands a large bunch of beautiful English violets, which she prizes very highly.
On Wednesday evening, the usual "class meeting" as Major Pratt calls them was held. Most of the inspiring speeches by distinguished visitors made at this meeting are quite fully reported for the Red Man. There was a large crowd present and the occasion was one long to be remembered. It was at this meeting that Zitkala Sa recited the famine scene in Hiawatha, surprising her audience with an artistic rendition that was delightful to hear. A Dakota girl, in Dakota costume of beaded and fringed buckskin, with her long black locks combed very smoothly over the ears and braided in 2 braids, she was decidedly picturesque and typical in style, and the recital from start to finish would have satisfied Longfellow's highest ideal of native grace and eloquence.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, March 30, 1900 NUMBER 22
OUR BAND ON THE ROAD.
One who is travelling with the band has promised to keep the readers of the HELPER informed of some of their doings on the road.
Fifty-three members of the Band with Dr. Montezuma, of Chicago, as care-taker and health-keeper of the crowd, and Mrs. Cook at chaperon for Zitkala Sa, and J. Quincy Eaton as treasurer, left last Friday morning, giving their first concert in Philadelphia. One whose nom-de-plume will be known as Xena, writes thus:
DEAR MAN-ON-THE-BAND-STAND:
Now that we are so far away that even your eagle eye can not rest on the Band-standers we begin to realize our distance and hasten to send you our loyal greetings, for no matter how far we may go or what fortunes are ours we started from THE Band Stand!
Less than a week has passed since we last saw you, but already we feel at home on "the road" and only wish you might sometime join us, if only to see how we take the fun that comes to us and how bravely we meet any adverse conditions.
Philadelphia showed us its "brotherly love" in the enthusiasm of the audience.
Our arrival in Trenton was a bit disturbed by the mistaken notions of our advanced guard in conjunction with our would-be "mine-host." Cots galore were found sardined into 9x10 rooms, and when one of them boasted a sheet it proved a strip of unbleached muslin without the grace of a hem.
Our capable manager soon set matters straight, gave the command "Right-about face!" and found comfortable quarters elsewhere. We think he was most strongly moved thereto by Dickie who sat on his cot in a hallway and declaimed "Behold Me! I have no room today!"
A good audience greeted our matinee, and tickets are selling well for Tuesday night.
The evening proved the old saying false, for our prophets found honor in their own country, and all Bucks County turned out for the Bristol concert to show their regard for the boys from Carlisle.
They entered into the concert, heart and soul, and we played our best for them.
The local agent strongly urges us to come again and he will give us a packed house.
We are proud of ourselves for your sake. We are proud of our Minnehaha who takes each audience by storm and holds it breathless till she chooses to release it. Her rendering of the pathos and beauty and truth of Longfellow's lines is a revelation to her hearers, while her violin wins all hearts.
We are proud of our Calm Director who is not even thrown off his base when his remarkable versatility as the ex-captain of the football team is remarked upon.
Some day we may tell you of the Ancient Israelite, who "Stood on the STAIRS at midnight;" of the Somnambulist who nearly gave his bed fellows each a black eye and of the Lucky Sioux, the universal favorite.
These are a few of your devoted Band Standers who send faithful remembrance by the hand of XENA.
The Band does not come as Indians might be expected and permitted to do, with a repertoire of little easy waltzes and marches that any children might learn to play in time, but they come with "Semiramide" and with "Bohemian Girl," "Il Trovatore" and "Lohengrin."
It was not alone in ensemble that the Band made a good impression but there were soloists that ranked high as musicians of soul and execution.
-[Trenton Daily Gazette.
The Trenton Times says: It may be strictly in order to say that all of these young men are Americans - there can be no doubt about that, and there can be no more remarkable entertainment than that given yesterday afternoon at Association Hall by the Carlisle Indian School Band. Other bands have played in this city but none ever made such an impression on those who heard it as did this band of young Indians. It would have been a grand musical feast aside from any special features but with those features it stands alone as an extraordinary and unique entertainment. The wonder of the whole thing is how all of these young men - and some of them are but boys - have been taught to play such music.
Perfect harmony, precision of movement and delicacy of expression prevailed throughout, and one could scarcely believe that it was the performance of descendants of the aborigines that one was hearing. -[Trenton True American.
Any criticism of the concert that failed to take note of the wonderful performance by Zitkala Sa, a charming young Indian woman who must have surprised everybody with the power of her declamatory force would be incomplete. Her recitation was "The Famine" from Hiawatha. Her beginning scarce kept the attention. She warmed and as the lines called for the exposition of the passions the young girl's dramatic power grew till it became marvelous. She held every ear and the recourse frequently to handkerchiefs told how great an effect she was exerting over her audience. She was applauded to the echo.
-[Trenton Daily Gazette.
Their tone is especially mellow and pleasing and even in the crescendo passages developed none of the brassy harshness often heard in bands of the kind. Zitkala Sa recited with much feeling and decided elocutionary ability the "Famine," from Hiawatha.
-[Phila. Evening Bulletin.
The admirable execution of these young artists, the precision of their work which, is at all times marked by enthusiasms and spirit, caused every one of the dozen or more numbers on the well-chosen program to be encored, and the high character of the Band's work is indicated by their high grade selections.
-[Phila Times.
The performance was a very praiseworthy one, the organization showing the beneficial effects of careful preparation and drill, while individually considerable skill and musical ability was displayed.
-[Phila. Record.
VOL. XV. FRIDAY, June 15, 1900 NUMBER 33
Zitkala Sa is spending the summer with her mother in South Dakota. An editorial on her Atlantic Monthly articles which appeared in the Word Carrier will be reprinted in the June Red Man.
VOL. VI. No. 3. / JUNE 1900 RED MAN
ZITKALA SA IN THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY.
Andrew Lang concludes from his study of their legends that our Indians have little original imagination. We would like to know his opinion after reading Zitkala Sa's articles in the Atlantic Monthly. They certainly show considerable power of imagination. They are exceedingly well written and highly praiseworthy as realistic word paintings. Some may have eagerly hoped that in these experiences of an Indian girl we would now have the material for a new psychological study. But many of the incidents are purely fictitious and often the situaion is dramatically arranged to produce the desired effect. There is the conventional berating of "the paleface who has stolen our lands and driven us hither." And our hearts swell with indignation as we see these unfortunates driven like a herd of buffalo many days and nights, while with every step the sick sister shrieks with the painful jar, until at last, when they reach the far western country, on the first weary night she dies. It will relieve the sympathetic tension to remember that this is simply dramatic fiction.
The same is undoubtedly true of the climactic scene when her mother discovers a new fire in the bluffs across the river where white settlers have made homes. When she exclaims, "Well, my daughter, there is the light of another white rascal, springs to her feet beside her wigwam and raising her right arm forcibly into line with her eye shoots out her doubled fist vehemently at the strangers with a curse upon them.
We may however expect to gain some information regarding the true inwardness of Indian schools and the character of those who teach them. But here too her portraits are either so exaggerated as to be untrue or are pure inventions. From the broad brimmed Quaker "missionaries" and the pale-face woman teacher with the cold gray eyes and gnawed pencil to the leather tanned stage driver with blurred and blood-shot blue eyes, she finds no one for whom she has any other sentiments than contempt and disgust.
There is one remaining field of study for which we have enough material and of a genuine character, that is Zitkala Sa herself. By her own showing she is a person of infinite conceit. She is insulted because a pale-face woman catches her up in her arms and tosses her in the air; she is outraged because a loud breakfast bell sends its metallic voice crashing into her sensitive ears. Nothing is good enough for her. Her small carpeted room, with neat white bed she calls a ghastly white walled prison. She is passionate and ill-tempered from a child, when she chases her own shadow with set teeth and clenched fists; or when a little older she is dragged out from under a bed kicking and scratching wildly. She carries the same temper into mature age when her enraged spirit feels like burning the Bible her mother has brought for her comfort. She is utterly unthankful for all that has been done for her by the pale faces, which in her case is considerable.
It would be doing injustice to the Indian race whose blood she partly shares to accept the picture she has drawn of herself as the true picture of all Indian girls. They average far better.
-[Word Carrier.
VOL. XVI. No. 13./ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 1900 / CONSOLIDATED VOL. 1, NO. 10
HUNT FOR THE SOUTH SIDE!
There are people like Zitkala Sa, in her Atlantic Monthly articles a few months ago, who always insist upon sitting on the cold side of a hill. They have all sorts of experiences in life, happy as well as dull, but the remembrance of gloomy scenes and the dark pictures in life is alone retained.
Those who make light of small trials and push them aside that sunshine and cheer may enter are the people who make the world worth living in.
There is enough gloom in life as we go along from day to day, without treasuring up disagreeable experiences of the past.
The following from Forward has a lesson in it for us all:
"May I come in, dear?" called the girl's bright voice.
"Pull the bobbin and the latch will fly up," was the merry answer.
The girl pushed open the door and ran across the room to the bed.
Nobody could have guessed the pain and the wearisome plaster cast from the cheery voice; still less could one have guessed that the need to earn made the weeks of pain still harder to bear.
These things the woman lying there told to her God, never to her guests.
"The very last," she declared. "I hunted and hunted!"
"Are you sure?" her friend asked quickly. "I've always found them later than this every year. Did you go over to the south side of the hill?"
"No," the girl confessed laughingly, "I believe that I looked on every side but that. I'll go straight back and hunt again."
Twenty minutes later she returned laden with autumn bloom.
"You were right," she said. "I had no idea that the south side made such a difference. The slope was half covered with the most beautiful blossoms, so big and deep colored. I'm going to put them in the pitcher beside you, so that you can reach your hands down deep into autumn and pretend you're picking them yourself."
"Then," her friend returned, "I should have to give up the memory of somebody who picked them for me."
The girl stopped her pretty work.
"Now I understand the difference," she said slowly. "You insist that you are living on the south side of life, and that you are getting every bit of sunshine there is, while most of us deliberately go and sit on the north side, and grumble because it is cold. Never mind, I've caught your secret now, and I'm going to sit in the sun. Then maybe I'll blossom."
The white face in the bed smiled.
"And the best of it all is that there always is a south side," she answered," the sun's side, and God's."
VOL../ FRIDAY, JUNE 13, 1902
A FORMER HASKELL BOY.
Raymond T. Bonnin and Miss Gertrude Simmons, both of Yankton Agency, were married at the home of Mr. and Mrs. E. H. Benedict in this city on Saturday afternoon, May 10, 1902. The Tribune is pleased to make a few comments upon this marriage from the fact that the bride is a full blooded Sioux whose Indian name is ”Zitkala-Sa,“ which means Red Bird. After receiving a common school education at Yankton Agency she was sent to Carlisle College, where she remained two years and where she developed great musical and literary talents to such an extent that she was sent to the Boston Conservatory of Music and was selected to accompany a musical troupe to the Paris exposition in 1900. The rare talent show both on the violin and piano brought forth many flattering comments from the leading magazines and newspapers, both at home and abroad. Upon her return she made a tour of the principle cities of the East, not only as an accomplished musician but as an author of esteemed merit. One of her productions entitled “Indian Legends” has commended itself to the reading public to the extent that the publishers are having a great demand for her works. She is also a contributor to some of the leading magazines at the present time. The groom is the grandson of the old French trader, Picotte, one of the first traders to come up the Missouri River to Yankton Agency and points above and into who married one of the Yankton Sioux Tribe. His family were all educated at the Standing Rock Reservation, South of St. Louis and they and their children are among the foremost of the Yankton tribe in civilized attainments. This is considered a marriage in high life among their people, as both of the contracting parties are proud of their aboriginal blood, and especially of their rapid acquirement of the educational skill of the Caucasian race so rapidly adopted by them. Her Indian friends may well feel proud, without being egotistical, at the marvelous advancement made of a full-blood of their race who left her native home encumbered with that legacy of native habits and who within a few short years mastered the English language to the extent that she rivals in literature some of the leading authors of America, and whose quaint productions are equal to those of Kipling. -[Tyndall (S. D.) Tribune.]
Bonnin, G.S. Old Indian Legends, Retold by Zitkala-Sa(Boston: Ginn & Co., 1929).
Bonnin, G.S. "Heart to Heart Talk." California Indian Herald 2 (1924): 2-3.
Bonnin, G.S.F.C.H.S.M.K. Oklahoma's Poor Rich Indians, an Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribes, Legalized Robbery(Philadelphia: Office fo the Indian Rights Association, 1924).
Bonnin, G.S. "The California Indians of Today." California Indian Herald 1 (1923): 10.
Bonnin, G.S. "Lost Treaties of the California Indians." California Indian Herald 1 (1923): 7.
Bonnin, G.S. "California Indian Trails and Prayer Trees, Chapter I." California Indian Herald 1 (1923): 6.
Bonnin, G.S. "An Indian Praying on the Hilltop." American Indian Advocate 4 (1922): 1.
Bonnin, G.S. "America's Indian Problem." Edict 2 (1921): 1-2.
Bonnin, G.S. American Indian Stories(Washington, DC: Hayworth, 1921).
Bonnin, G.S. "The Coronation of Chief Powhatan Retold." American Indian Magazine 6 (1919): 179-180.
Bonnin, G.S. "America, Home of the Red Man." American Indian Magazine 6 (1919): 165-167.
Bonnin, G.S. "Indian Gifts to Civilized Man." Tomahawk (1919).
Bonnin, G.S. "Editorial Comment." American Indian Magazine 7 (1919): 5-9.
Bonnin, G.S. "Indian Gifts to Civilized Man." Indian Sentinel 1, no. 13-14 (1918).
Bonnin, G.S. "Editorial Comment." American Indian Magazine 6 (1918): 115-116.
Bonnin, G.S. "Chipeta, Widow of Chief Ouray." American Indian Magazine 5 (1917): 168-170.
Bonnin, G.S. "The Red Man's America." American Indian Magazine (1917).
Bonnin, G.S. "Mrs. Bonnin Speaks." Tomahawk (1917).
Bonnin, G.S. "A Sioux Woman's Love for Her Grandchild." American Indian Magazine 5 (1917): 230-231.
Bonnin, G.S. "The Indian's Awakening." American Indian Magazine 4 (1916): 307-310.
Bonnin, G.S. "A Year's Experience in Community Service Work Among the Ute Tribe of Indians." American Indian Magazine 4 (1916): 307-310.
Bonnin, E. "An Indian Thanksgiving." Indian Leader (1909).
Bonnin, G.S. Old Indian Legends, Retold by Zitkala-Sa(Boston: Ginn & Co., 1904).
Bonnin, G.S. "Shooting of the Red Eagle." Indian Leader (1904).
Bonnin, G.S. "A Plea for the Indian Dance." Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School 31 (1902): 2.
Bonnin, G.S. Old Indian Legends, Retold by Zitkala-Sa(Boston and London: Ginn & Co., 1902).
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1 comment:
Very Interesting Barb. Thanks for sharing
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