Waukesha High School - Megaphone Yearbook (Waukesha, WI)

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Mrs. Grove Harkness and her friend Dr. XVm. A. Petzoldt. Baptist Mis- 6X sionarv, on the Crow In- dian Reservation going up the Big Horn Mountains on Xlrs. Harkncss's honey- moon. in 1016. Dr. Harkness is out of the picture because he holds the camera. Mrs. Hark- ness is chairman of the English Department, and xvell-known in Southern Nkisconsin for her work in English. imal, such as the deer or buffalo. It Wasn't enough though that an Indian would come back from his ordeal and say that he had found a divine spirit who had granted him success. I-Ie had to establish the potency of his vision by success- fully engaging in some dangerous enterprise such as stealing the horses of a neigh- boring tribe or administering the coup-de-grace to an enemy in battle. Several Indian religious practices suggest Christian practices. Whenever Christians want something very much, they appeal for aid by means of offertories and vows. These vows usually involve fasting, abstention from pleasure, and other forms of self-denial. In a similar manner, the Indian makes a vow only when in danger of death. Then he promises the Sun God to do the Sun Dance if the Sun God will avert destruction. If the Indian escapes he fulfills his vow by doing the Sun Dance the next summer. To show that he personally did not fear death but only asked for life for the sake of his loved one, he inilicts severe torture upon his body. He does this by passing tongs, hanging from a high pole, through slits cut in his chest and back and tying these in such a manner that he can get loose only by breaking the flesh. Then he dances around the pole for a day or two until he faints from exhaustion or manages to tear himself free from the tongs. The In- dian forgets to consider it as a dance of thanksgiving and uses it more as an op- portunity to display his fortitude before the assembled tribesmen. Page One Hundred Eighteen

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the places of their resort and the mountains and valleys alike their abode. To them the wind was the breath of some great person and the lightning the wink- ing of his eye. There is an amusing story told concerning this belief in the in- visible spirits. ln California a trader sent an lndian with four loaves of bread and a note to a nearby white man. On the way the lndian ate two loaves of the bread. He was promptly whipped by the white man when he only received two loaves of bread. Later this same lndian was again sent on the same errand with four loaves of bread and a note. But this time the lndian was wise. Before he ate the bread he hid the note behind a rock where the tattling spirit of the note couldn't watch him eat the bread. Theologians have a name for that type of religion which gives every object an individual spirit. They call it animism. To the American lndian religion was neither sublime nor exalted. lt was rather a pragmatic arrangement by means of which he could, if he used the proper methods, obtain success and long life for himself. One method of insuring spiritual aid was to find and adopt a personal supernatural helper. At the age of adolescence each youth had to seek his indi- vidual spirit. Before going into communion with all the spirits he purged his body of all uncleanliness by means of the vapor-bath Qcalled eneepee and cathar- ticsj. Then stripped to a beech-clout he went to some secluded spot in the wilder- ness. Here he fasted and prayed about three days until weakened by hunger and exposure he was in a fit condition to receive those hallucinations which he con- sidered the real and visible appearance of his guardian spirit. lf he dreamed of a turtle then he believed the spirit of the turtle was his divine protector and, be- cause as he reasoned, like affects like, this spirit would also aid and favor him. Usually the youth was given certain privileges and obligations. The favorite privilege was immunity from the arrows of the enemy in war. The obligations varied from such simple tasks as repeating certain orisons at each meal to the severe impost of completely abstaining from the flesh of some important food an- is fs .ig jig e, - , , , Chief Goes- 'fv ' ' H Ahead and his 1 3 27' N' ,il .-'Y' i ,f 55 Squaw sitting in with their tepee l 5 3 111- F home. Hanging P ' ' ' 14 above his head A 5 ' are his medicine- ' bag and War bonnet. Chief Y Goes-Ahead re- Nx C gig fused to let any- -LE'-! one examine S I such a personal Q thing as his BB X rl V medicine - b a g, fi ,. , fn ' . s nhiin' but it probably , .f . A -' ' V .. contains bits of wilt i' 1'..'nS-V hair and bone Q Zlf.-fegggtgfq I symbolizing his .aug K ma . guardian spirit. Page One Hundred Seventeen

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CHAPTER FIVE FACULTY CHIEF BLACK HAWK High on the bluffs overlooking the Rock River near Oregon, Illinois, is the colossal statue of Black Hawk. The sculptor is Lorado Taft of Chicago. whose March of Time in Jackson Park, Chicago, is world famous. Page One Hundred Nineteen