Waukesha High School - Megaphone Yearbook (Waukesha, WI)

Page 24 text:

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Art Institute. Chicago: Newark Museum. Newark. N. J.: Dr. Grove Harkness: Dr, Alfred Gregory: Mr. M. S. Dudgeon. Milwaukee Public Librarv: Waukesha Public Library: State Historical Library. Madison: Grey Earth of the Y. M. C. A.: Macmillan Co.. New York: Department of the Interior. Office of Indian Affairs. Washington. D. G.

Page 23 text:

boys were given an opportunity to Count Coup. Symbols represented each time this was done: sometimes they were sticks or feathers. Among the older members of the tribe this custom was very sacred and requirements were much harder. Mimic battles were fought with snowballs in the winter and mud in the sum- mer. These sham battles usually followed the departure of a war party and were fought between two parties of boys with chosen leaders. The leaders of these parties usually became chiefs in a later day. In all these sports in which they engaged one may clearly see predominating them all a great fore-thought. Every sport was a training for the future in both a mental and a physical way-unlike most of our modern sports, the Indians played in practical ways and took a great pride in excelling in them. There was a seriousness in each boy's mind as he followed his instructors. The keynote of their sportsmanship code was merely that Nothing in sports was overlooked that might lead them to courage and self-reliance in the face of sudden danger. We twentieth century Americans with our boastful athletic record might well notice these Indians of the rugged past. V-VV The Virtues of the Indians OLIVE MCGEEN An Indian woman had been gathering corn one autumn day. and as she made ready to start for home she heard a wee voice call, Don't leave mei Ohf Don't leave me! Startled she went back, but she could see no one. Once more she made ready to leave and the voice again called her back. This time she looked under all the corn stalks and leaves and found one little ear of corn that had been crying, fearing to be left alone to die. So the woman took it home with the rest of the corn, for it would be a sacrilege to waste or treat lightly any of the gifts of the Cureat Spirit. This little legend shows something of the Indians' regard for nature and their reverence. They attribute human qualities to all nature, and they love and reverence it. They do not feel that they own their homeland and coun- try. Quite the contrary-they feel themselves to be possessed by it, and that it is their duty to honor, reverence. and serve it. The Indians were not the treacherous beings we are often led to believe them. The History of Wz'llz'am Penn and his Followers and of the Hudson Bay Company, which traded all over Canada for more than a century, shows they had never a serious break with any tribe, which proves the Indians were not treacherous when treated fairly. Among themselves the Indians had no rules for punishment of theft because it was so infrequent. An Indian always kept his promise, too, no matter what the consequences to himself. You can easily see why white men us- ually inspired distrust in the Indian. Page One Hundred Fifteen

Page 25 text:

Generosity was a much esteemed virtue. There is a legend to illustrate this. In the Omaha tribe the highest military honor was awarded for getting near enough to the enemy to touch an enemy body with any object in hand. At this time the Omahas were at war with another tribe, and two valorous young men were about to obtain their honors by striking the body of a slain enemy with their lances. when one beheld a feeble old warrior of their tribe who had won many honors in his time. but was now too feeble to fight. The young man who saw the old warrior. Yellow-wood Bow, held back and said to his comrade, I-Iold! Yellow-wood Bow is coming! So the young men gave their opportunity of winning honors to this old man. that he might have one more chance to gain an honor. The generosity of these two young men is praised in the song, I-Iold! Yellow-wood Bow is Coming! To conceal his emotions. endure torture unflinchingly, and hold himself bravely upon all occasions were virtues the Indian was taught from childhood. Gambling was considered an excellent pastime because it gave him an oppor- tunity to display his fortitude. especially if he lost everything he possessed. In all. the Indian was a strong person. in body and in character, for he kept close to nature, and was naturally influenced by her wholesome, unspoiled charm and beauty. The basis of his virtue seemed to be his reverence and regard for nature. This Winnebago saying seems to sum it up very well: Reverence the Unseen Forces that are always near you and always trying to lead you right. VVV Indian Religion CLARENCE MOYLAN Only as much as a race has need for the consolation of hope, because of ad- verse circumstances, will it burden itself with an elaborate system of worship. For when the meek do not inherit the earth they can easily find comfort in the soothing illusion of poetry or the sustaining faith of religion, Typical examples of this are the imaginative Celts and poetic Jews. The American Indian. who was practical enough and sufliciently indepen- dent to be moderately successful and comfortable as a race had no great need for religion. I-Iis religion therefore was simple and not very strict. Unlike the Christians, he had no conception of an omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent God, Creator of all things. In other words, the Great Spirit of the Indian, which has become familiar to all of us, is nothing but a false creation of some white man. The Indian never thought of a Great Spirit until the white man gave him one: instead he believed that everything in the world from the fish in the stream to the tree on the mountainside has an invisible spirit of its own. To quote the words of one writer, A'The skies were filled with the dieties they worshipped and the whole forest awakened with their whispers. The lakes and streams were Page One Hundred Sixteen