Central High School - Tom Tom Yearbook (Tulsa, OK)

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XVI LL 'I RENC II Amodaie Supfr'i1zle1zdr'r1t CILV1'iL'1ll1l117 and l'f1'xw1m'l Indian Detours RAILWAY COMPANY features Indian Detoursf, I have never taken one of theirs, but I have taken an Indian detour of my own. I have read Laugloing Boy. With Oliver Laforge as guide, I have seen both the glorious southwest country and many of the spiritual aspects of a vanishing culture which the white men with vain-glorious effrontery has called sav- age. The railway shows one the southwest Indian as he is-red jetsam on a white sea-but on my Indian detour I saw him and his country both as they were and are, a brief, changing human drama in a majestic, eternal, natural setting of mountain range, plain, and canyon. I saw the Indian, calm, tranquil, and self-possessed in the great stillness of his native pla- teaus. I heard his plaintive love songs and his vibrant ceremonial music. I felt the strong pulse of his buoyant, open life. Then I saw him disinte- grate under the jangling, discordant, tin-panny tappings of the frontier of what we refer to as civilization. Through Laforge's intimate acquaintance with the cultural, artistic, and spiritual life of the southwest Indian, I have not only seen him, but I have gained a measure of understanding of him and his country. What a world of difference there is between merely seeing Indians, and understanding them! Y Pau rl 23 . 'i im

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Paar 22 NI ERLIC PRIINTY Superinlcndenl Tulm Pulxlir Sflmolr The Indian Sets Forth His Philosophy In His Literature and Life VERY HUMAN creature possesses a philosophy of life. Back of all hu- man endeavor and activity is a philosophy that prompts and directs performance in life situations. Usually people do not fully live up to their philosophy of life, but one thing is certain, they never exceed it. Indian literature, like all other literature, is an expression of the best thought and deepest emotions of its writers. The Indian's imaginative philosophy and his way of life are reflected in his literature. The primitive Indian was intimately in tune with all the great forces of nature. He lived at the mercy of the winter's snow, and rejoiced with the forests in summer. He shared the habits of the beasts, and learned their names and all their secretsng thought of them as little brothers. For him every tree, every plant, every creature, every Water was inhabited by a spirit, the heavens and every heavenly body were the abode of magic. Religion, education, government, art, music, nature, history, and legend proved fruitful themes for creative and imaginative Writing on the part of the Indian as he progressed in the enterprises of civilization. It is the opportunity of high school students to become acquainted through read- ing with the fascinating and literary expression of the Indian. Nothing is dead in the past to him who would know how the present came to be. The Indian has made and is making his recorded literary con- tributions to American civilization and to its cultural growth and ad- vancement. WMU 567

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lil PACE 24 GALEBT .TONT'lS Assistant Superintendeni In Charge of Sefondary Sdzoolr The lndian's Responsiveness to Nature As Shown in His Daily Life HE INDIAN RACES were emphatically the product of nature. Their modes of life developed an uncanny awareness of their surroundings. They knew the forest and the plains, the waters and the desert, according to their habitat. They supported themselves largely by hunting and fishing. They knew the habits of many of the birds, fishes, and animals. They could identify their game with ear and eye at unusual distances. The senses of sight and sound and feeling were developed into a sort of forest instinct which seemed almost supernatural to the first white settlers. All their pursuits made permanence of dwelling difficult and involved naturally a life of almost ceaseless wanderings. The races as a whole showed a keen interest in natural phenomena. To most of the Indians every animal, plant, and object of nature was animated by a spirit, beneficent or otherwise, according as it was propitiated or of- fended. Certain of these were regarded as especially powerful or active, as the sun, fire, and water among the elemental gods, and the buffalo, eagle, and rattlesnake among the animals. Colors had symbolic meanings. Thus with the Cherokee, the red gods of victory lived in the Sunland, or East while the blue spirits of disaster dwelt in the north. One might go on indefinitely with illustrations of the Indian's re- sponsiveness to nature as shown daily in his life. The space at hand does not permit of more than these few selected instances. I am delighted that the editors of the 1932 Tom Tom chose to stress this fundamental trait of the original Americans. 3 J ia gm..