UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 DAVIS 
 

 J.-if.^: 
 
By the Same Author. 
 
 THE FUTURE INDIA1N 
 
 A BRIEF TREATISE ON THE 
 INDIAN .QUESTION^- . ' '* 
 
 * ^ *. r 
 
 "Right to the pd[uf."Ji taint 
 Goodale. 
 
 "The author writes discrimina- 
 tingly.'' Indianapolis News. 
 
 " Accept my thanks for your little 
 book on the Indians. It is one of 
 the most sensible articles I have 
 seen on the subject, and well calcu- 
 lated to do good." Rev. John P. 
 Williamson, twenty-six years a 
 missionary worker among the 
 Sioux Indians. 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OF A 
 
 WESTERN CLAIM: 
 
 A TALE OF HOW TWO BOYS SOLVED 
 THE INDIAN QUESTION. 
 
 BY 
 
 S. C. OILMAN. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 
 PRINTED BY J. B. LIPPINCOTT COMPANY. 
 1893. 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
Copyright, 1893, by S. C. OILMAN. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 A PECULIAR LAND CASE 5 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE POETRY AND PROSE OF THINGS 12 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 SOWING THE SEED 26 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 A NEW PHILOSOPHER COMES TO LIGHT 40 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 STRANGE VISITORS 50 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 SMILES AND TEARS 69 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 NEW LIFE AND NEW HOPE 79 
 
4 Contents. 
 
 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 BRIGHT DAYS AND DARK ONES 86 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 LIGHT IN DARK PLACES . 93 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 REAPING THE HARVEST 98 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 THE INDIAN BOY'S MANUSCRIPTS 105 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 AN OLD QUESTION AGAIN CONSIDERED 128 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 CONCLUSION 158 
 
 APPENDIX 175 
 
THE STORY 
 
 OF A 
 
 WESTERN CLAIM. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 A PECULIAR LAND CASE! 
 
 " I'LL tell ye, I don't believe the Lord ever 
 intended any one fer to live in such a country 
 as this. It ain't fit fer anything but coyotes 
 to snarl 'round and hate theirselves in, an' 
 I'm a-gettin' out of it as fast as I kin. Ye 
 see, there's so much sand out here ye can't 
 raise much of anything, an' what ye do raise 
 ye can't sell, as there ain't any place fer to 
 sell it. Ye simply break yer back all sum- 
 mer a-tryin' to make corn grow out'n the 
 sand-heaps, an' then burn it all up durin' 
 winter a-keepin' from freezin' to death. I 
 
6 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 heerd a feller say once that the Lord made 
 all the rest of the earth first, an' then dumped 
 the sand an' other leavin's down in here an' 
 called it Nebrasky, and I guess he's about 
 right. There's so much sand out here that 
 the curiosest things have happened ye ever 
 heerd of. Now, when Si Hopkins came into 
 these parts he homesteaded a claim up near 
 them jutes, 'longside Holt Creek. The soil 
 is purty sandy there in some places, but Si 
 got hold a claim that was all right, 'ceptin' 
 forty acres off in one corner that had a sand- 
 hill on it bigger'n a meetin'-house. Si, like 
 a lot of other fellers what think they're goin' 
 to come out here an' pick guv'ment bills 
 off'n the plum-bush, soon soured on the 
 country, and cleared out one day, a-sayin' 
 he'd got enough of holdin' down a claim. 
 Like a good many others, though, he came 
 joggin' back afore the year was out, but he 
 found a feller named Jim Blair had jumped 
 his claim and took pre-emption papers on it. 
 Si said he 'lowed he'd get the claim back 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 7 
 
 some way, an' so, a-takin' up a claim next to 
 the old one, that was all sand, he bided his 
 time, as ttfe poet says. Well, Jim went over 
 to the county-seat one day durin' the winter, 
 an' while he was there a blizzard came up, an' 
 he couldn't get back ag'in fer three weeks 
 because of the snow-drifts. When he did he 
 found Si had taken possession of the claim, 
 a-sayin' that a man didn't have no right fer 
 to leave a pre-emption that long, an' he 
 guess'd that he'd hold the claim down for a 
 while now. Jim somewhat philosofically 
 moved over to the sandy claim an' didn't 
 make no kick to any one. In the course of 
 time, Si went on to the reservation fer to 
 steal cotton-wood logs, an' the first thing he 
 knowed some Injuns rounded him up an' 
 took him off to the agency ; an' by the time 
 he'd got things fixed up with the guv'ment, 
 an' paid a fine fer trespassin', an' got 'round 
 home, Jim was takin' life easy on the claim 
 ag'in. Si had his ire up by this time, 
 though, an' a-sayin' this fool business had 
 
8 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 got to end, he put a sod-shanty up on one 
 edge of the land, an' there was two men 
 a-holdin' down the same claim, an' both 
 declarin' their right to it, the greatest case 
 on record. The settlers got interested in 
 the thing, an' the most of us rather in- 
 clined to'rds Si, as he'd got the claim in 
 the first place. So Jim was made the vic- 
 tim of a surprise-party, which are very 
 pop'lar in these parts, who took him out an' 
 put a rope 'round his neck, an' run him up 
 an' down underneath the limb of a cotton- 
 wood-tree several times, an' then he was let 
 loose an' told he'd have to make tracks out 
 of the neighborhood. But Jim only went 
 back to his shanty, an' took down his shot- 
 gun, an' remarked he 'lowed he'd stay there 
 for a while yet, an' he'd put air-holes through 
 the first individual that middled in his busi- 
 ness ag'in. People rather liked this kind of 
 gameness, it's very pop'lar in these parts, 
 an' so he wasn't bothered no more. Harvest 
 came, an' Jim picked about forty bushels of 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 9 
 
 corn, an' took it over to Mead's Ranch an' 
 sold it fer fifty cents a bushel, big thing in 
 these parts, where corn usually sells fer a 
 dollar a wagon-load, in exchange fer gro- 
 ceries, an' then Si had him arrested fer 
 sellin* stuff what was raised on his claim. 
 Then Jim brought a suit fer damages ag'in 
 Si fer alowin' cattle to run on his premises ; 
 an' this got the business into the courts 
 finally, as to who owned that claim, anyhow, 
 Si Hopkins or Jim Blair, an' I was on the 
 jury that tried the case. That is, we tried to 
 try it, an' when it come to a decision the jury 
 split; six was for Si an' six was fer Jim, an' 
 we hung out fer six days an' fer six nights, 
 an' we couldn't git at no conclusion. At the 
 end of the sixth night the jury had got purty 
 well tuckered out, an' we'd all gone off to 
 sleep, when a cyclone come along an' roused 
 us all up, an' give us a fresh start. We had 
 to 'journ to a house three miles away, though, 
 as the court-house an' the county-seat wasn't 
 no more. But the cyclone had blowed a 
 
io The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 little sense into us at the same time, an' we 
 discovered the next day that we didn't have 
 no business to be a-tryin' the case ; it oughter 
 have went to the land department at Valen- 
 tine fer to be settled. 
 
 "But Jim, who had been down an' slept 
 over-night on the claim (he wasn't a-goin' to 
 let Si get any more p'ints agin' him), hunted 
 up Si, an', takin' him off to one side, said, 
 ' Now, the guv'ment's got to settle it, an' 
 Lord knows when that'll be done. This 
 thing's hung fire long enuff, an' I guess we'd 
 better settle it ourselves. That claim is 
 either your'n or mine. We can't both own 
 it, an' we might as well fix the business up 
 an' be done with it. I've made a few im- 
 provements on the claim ; but you were 
 there first, an' I calculate it wouldn't be 
 no mor'n square fer me to pull up stakes 
 an' get out, if ye'll only give me enough 
 fer what's there to get away on.' So they 
 dickered 'round fer awhile, and Jim finally 
 agreed to take a hundred dollars, an' give up 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. n 
 
 all rights to the claim. Si rustled up a hun- 
 dred, and 'lowed he'd got a purty good bar- 
 gain at that figure. The next day he drove 
 over to the claim, an' say ! there was the worst 
 sight there you ever seen. The aforesaid 
 cyclone had struck that sand-hill, the top of 
 which had been ploughed over durin' the 
 summer by Jim, an' flattened it out flatter'n a 
 corn-cake ; an' there was sand all over that 
 claim two foot thick, an' there wasn't even 
 room enough left fer to plant a melon-patch. 
 Well, Si just stood there fer a minute or two, 
 an' then he jumped astride his horse, an' took 
 back to the county-seat like a wild man ; but 
 when he got there Jim Blair had vanished 
 out of these parts, an' nobody has ever seen 
 him since. But Si never got no sympathizin' 
 words from me. After he'd got out of the 
 country he'd oughter had better sense than 
 to ever come back ag'in." 
 
12 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE POETRY AND PROSE OF THINGS. 
 
 PRAIRIETON was one of the first things 
 primitive civilization created as it swept with 
 a rush one day into a piece of unoccupied 
 government territory that had been thrown 
 open for settlement in a northern portion of 
 Nebraska, and commenced the work of trans- 
 forming a land of desolation into one of 
 life and impulse. Albeit it was picturesque 
 enough, with its little freshly-painted build- 
 ings, ornamented at intervals with sign-boards, 
 bearing such unique inscriptions as " The Stag : 
 Ale and Beer on Draught;" " Sam Kee, Cali- 
 fornia Chinese Laundry ;" and " Land and 
 Loan Office;" yet one could hardly have 
 desired it as a permanent residing-place. At 
 least so thought George Eldredge and Paul 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 3 
 
 Morton, two young men from the East, as they 
 walked up its one little street for the first time. 
 Forty-eight hours before they had met each 
 other in the passenger-station of a large West- 
 ern railway in the city of Chicago, dropped 
 into a conversation as travellers are apt to do, 
 began to grow confidential as young travel- 
 lers are more apt to do, discovered that both 
 were out on the same mission ; that both were 
 going West to achieve greatness, fame, and for- 
 tune ; that both had selected the same place 
 wherein this was to occur ; that both had 
 tickets in their pockets for the same town ; 
 that both were waiting for the same train ; and 
 it is therefore unnecessary to state that a bond 
 of friendship at once drew both together that 
 years of acquaintance could not have made 
 firmer or more perfect. 
 
 One does not generally get a favorable im- 
 pression of a new frontier country, and it was 
 so in the present case. Somehow, every- 
 thing around looked uninviting, so bleak 
 and barren, and apparently so devoid of life, 
 
14 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 and offering no promise of any right away ; 
 so different from what the boys had pictured 
 in their minds, that it would have taken very 
 little to have induced them to board the next 
 train going East. 
 
 As everybody wore wide-brimmed hats, and 
 were clad in garments that spoke not of East- 
 ern culture or Eastern styles, they felt painfully 
 awkward and out of place with their black 
 stiff hats, their white collars and neat cravats, 
 and wandered away from the settlement for a 
 little while. 
 
 Out on the prairie, a few rods to the north, 
 was a " prairie schooner," that is to say, a 
 canvas-covered wagon ; and near it were some 
 horses picketed. They went up to the outfit 
 and found a hardy-looking man with his whole 
 family, who had just abandoned a claim of 
 government land north of the Niobrara River, 
 and was starting back to the land of the rising 
 sun to begin life over again. 
 
 " Left the East two years ago," he said to 
 the boys. " Was a long time gettin' here, an* 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 5 
 
 a long time gettin' out; but I'm started at 
 last, ye see." 
 
 " Yes," said a second person, and a tired- 
 faced but indignant-looking woman put her 
 head out of the wagon, " and we sold one of 
 the purtiest farms back Eastferto git here, an' 
 I always did say it was the durndest country 
 I ever got in, an' I always did say it was your 
 fault that we ever come out from the very 
 beginning. John, you are an ole fool." 
 
 The man made no reply for a moment. 
 Then he turned to the boys with an expression 
 that spoke of both pain and resigned philo- 
 sophical humor, and in a droll sort of way com- 
 menced to relate the remarkable story which 
 graces the opening chapter of this narrative. 
 
 The boys were coming back into town to- 
 wards noon when a small building, with the 
 words " Weekly Herald Office" over the door 
 met George's eyes. " I used to work in a 
 printing-office back East," said George; "per- 
 haps I might strike a job here." 
 
 Inside they found an old gentleman bent 
 
1 6 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 over a case of type setting items for the next 
 issue of the paper. 
 
 " He didn't want to hire anybody just then," 
 he said, in response to George's inquiry ; " but 
 he intended to go East in the fall to remain 
 all winter, and he should want somebody to 
 run the office while he was away. 7 ' 
 
 The boys started back to their hotel, and 
 had nearly reached it when a stoutly-built, 
 sharp-featured individual, with a smooth face 
 and a sharp voice, came up and said, 
 
 " Beg your pardon, young gentlemen ; but 
 I'm a land-agent. I'm doing a land and loan 
 business out here. I'm posted on what land 
 has been taken up and what has not. Now, 
 I take it that you are looking for a claim. I 
 locate people on claims. That's part of my 
 business, and if you want a good A No. I 
 claim that'll double in value in less than a 
 year, I'm the fellow that'll put you on to one." 
 
 " Really," replied Paul, " we hardly know 
 yet what we shall do. We had not thought 
 over the matter of taking up a claim at all. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 17 
 
 Perhaps we will find something to do in the 
 town. We would prefer that to living on a 
 claim." 
 
 " Pshaw," said the land-agent, " no matter 
 what your business is, if you stay in this 
 country you'll want a claim. Everybody out 
 here holds down a claim. Every clerk in the 
 town has one. The village attorney and the 
 county judge both sleep on a claim at night. 
 Now, I'll tell you what I'll do. Land's all 
 taken up between here and the Niobrary ; but 
 there's some fine territory on the other side, 
 and if you'd like to go I'll take you over there 
 to-morrow, and show you some good claims." 
 
 The boys promised to see the agent in the 
 afternoon, and, arriving at the hotel, they sat 
 down and talked the matter over. 
 
 " Why not take up a claim," said George, 
 "and stay on it altogether? I guess this 
 country is not quite so sandy and bad as that 
 settler would have us believe. It will only be 
 a little while when it will all be built up, no 
 doubt, and a claim of one hundred and sixty 
 
1 8 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 acres of government land that can now be had 
 for almost nothing will be worth a small for- 
 tune. There will, probably, be some rough 
 knocks, a great deal of hardship and pri- 
 vation ; but we are young and strong, and 
 the reward that will come in the long run 
 will be worth all our trouble. Suppose we 
 do it." 
 
 As a result of this conversation, the two 
 young men and the land agent left Prairieton 
 the next morning, behind a couple of spirited 
 Indian ponies belonging to the latter, and 
 were soon speeding over the prairie, a vast 
 expanse of land stretching away on either side 
 like a troubled sea that had suddenly become 
 motionless ; for it was rolling prairie that 
 looked level in many places, but really cut 
 up into little swells and canyons that revealed 
 themselves to the party as it went along. 
 
 Twenty-five miles north of Prairieton the 
 party came to a great wide valley, at the bot- 
 tom of which lay the Niobrara river. De- 
 ^cending into the valley, they crossed the 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 19 
 
 stream over a wooden bridge that had just 
 been completed. 
 
 " There's a quicksand bottom in that river 
 in many places," said the agent. " Last spring 
 one of them smart fellows from the East that 
 can't be told anything attempted to drive 
 through down by that willow-brush there. 
 Him and the horses floundered for a minute 
 as the treacherous bottom began to pull them 
 down, and then it was all over with." 
 
 " Niobrara is its Indian term, is it not ?" 
 asked George. 
 
 " Yes," replied the agent ; " or swiftly-flow- 
 ing water; see how rapid the current is." 
 
 The whole neighborhood through which 
 the party now began to pass was wild and 
 desolate. All around them were dreary-look- 
 ing little canyons, up whose sides stunted 
 pine-trees were here and there growing. But 
 occasionally they came to a better-timbered 
 section, where huge cotton-wood-trees reared 
 themselves to a height of fifty and sixty feet. 
 Following the river for some distance, they 
 
2O The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 turned into a canyon to the left, and then 
 came a siege of climbing up-hill; not like 
 going suddenly up a mountain-side, but a 
 gradual ascent, with a good deal of winding 
 around and twisting and turning, until sud- 
 denly the party found themselves on the edge 
 of level land again, and looking back beheld 
 the valley whose bottom-lands they had traced 
 two hours before, apparently lying at their 
 very feet. 
 
 As they went farther north the country 
 became more desolate-looking than ever. 
 There was nothing but land, land, every- 
 where, a wilderness of land, with not a tree, 
 not a shrub of any kind, growing upon it ; 
 simply land that stretched away to where 
 a long range of hills reared themselves in 
 curious shapes against a background of blue 
 sky. No signs of life, either, unless it was 
 when some timid, scared-looking rabbit re- 
 vealed himself on a sand-knoll for a moment, 
 and then flashed away over the prairie like 
 mad ; or when a flock of grouse arose right 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 21 
 
 in front of the ponies, and with a loud whir-r-r 
 soared into the sky. 
 
 As the ponies clattered along, the agent, 
 for reasons best known to himself, kept up a 
 stream of humor all the way, telling jokes 
 and stories, and launching out into a song 
 now and then not borrowed from the masters. 
 
 " See that streak of white over there," he 
 said, finally, pointing to where a column of 
 smoke was curling towards the sky; "that's 
 where John Maynard, an old friend of mine, 
 lives. He's a pretty good fellow, only he's 
 got one bad fault, he's always talking relig- 
 ion, and accounting for everything just like 
 these Christians always do. Used to be a 
 Methodist preacher back East, he told me 
 once, but as he was getting pretty old, and 
 didn't like the idea of being chucked off on 
 to the superannuated list, he came out here 
 several years ago, thinking he might get 
 into something for himself. He brought a 
 whole colony along with him, and built a 
 town, and the first thing he put into it was a 
 
22 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 church, with revival meetings and all that sort 
 of thing. He got himself appointed post- 
 master, and opened a grocery-store, and then 
 he started a newspaper, and was booming 
 things in great shape, when the news came 
 that gold had been discovered in huge quan- 
 tities somewhere up in the Black Hills, and 
 everybody made a grand rush for that point, 
 and the town was deserted in less than a week. 
 Maynard went with them, too, for he'd mixed 
 with the worldly enough by that time to have 
 a little hankering after old Mammon himself. 
 In two months the gold excitement played out, 
 and so did the gold, and Maynard returned, 
 but the colonists drifted away to other fields, 
 and the town never became of any account 
 again. One day he packed up his traps, and 
 came over in here, took up a claim, built a sod- 
 house on it, and has remained ever since." 
 
 Just as dusk was coming on, the party drove 
 up to the cabin where Maynard lived. 
 
 As they did so the door opened and an old 
 man came out. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 23 
 
 " Hello, Maynard," cried the land-agent, 
 familiarly. " Over once more. Brought some 
 young friends this time looking for land. 
 Have to stay overnight, and show them the 
 claims in the morning. 
 
 " Take the boys in," continued the land- 
 agent, as the party got out of the wagon, 
 " and I'll 'tend to- the ponies." 
 
 " Well, boys," said Maynard, as he com- 
 menced preparing supper for the party, and 
 after he had talked with the boys about their 
 mission into that out-of-the-way region, " per- 
 haps you'll succeed ; but there's a good many 
 trials and discouragements in a country like 
 this. If you settle over here, though, I'll do 
 all I can to help you." 
 
 The land-agent came in just as supper was 
 ready, and though a plain, simple meal, it was 
 relished by the travellers, whose appetites had 
 been sharpened by the long day's journey. 
 
 The next morning the party, accompanied 
 by Maynard, drove down along the bottom- 
 lands of a stream separating the government 
 
24 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 land from the Sioux Reservation, lying to the 
 north, and then coming up a slight elevation, 
 the boys looked out upon a beautiful stretch 
 of rolling prairie-land. 
 
 " Now, there," said the agent, with a sweep 
 of his hand, " is one of the finest locations 
 around these parts. It may seem pretty well 
 out of the way now, but mind what I'm say- 
 ing, this territory is all going to be settled up 
 this summer. There's going to be another 
 rush out here ; it's started already, and you'll 
 have plenty of company before fall." 
 
 The boys were well pleased with the land. 
 They returned to Prairieton that day ; appli- 
 cations were made for two filings, one a pre- 
 emption in George's name, and the other a 
 tree claim* in Paul's; the agent, of course, 
 was paid for his services, and a week later the 
 boys drove up to Maynard's door, ready to 
 begin the life of claim-holders. 
 
 They were none too soon, for a few days 
 
 * The tree-claim law is now repealed. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 25 
 
 afterwards they awoke to find a large tent on 
 the level lands by the creek. A colony of 
 land-seekers from the East had come over 
 from Prairieton, and homesteading went on 
 rapidly enough after that. 
 
26 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOWING THE SEED. 
 
 IN John Maynard the young claim-holders 
 indeed found a valuable friend. In two weeks 
 time, with his help, their prairie home was 
 completed near the section-line dividing the 
 pre-emption from the tree claim. The walls 
 were made of prairie-sod cut into long strips 
 two feet wide, and piled on each other to a 
 height of eight or ten feet. Heavy cotton- 
 wood posts at each corner formed a good 
 support for the roof, made of long poles 
 placed against each other and covered with 
 sod and a mass of dirt. With the clay, found 
 in abundance along the bank of the creek, the 
 walls were plastered over thoroughly inside, 
 this giving the whole a neat appearance. 
 
 " The one great thing lacking," observed 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 27 
 
 Paul, "are board-floors in houses of this kind, 
 but as there isn't a board or a saw-mill within 
 eighty miles of here, I guess we'll have to 
 make Mother Earth answer in our rough 
 horrife for a while." 
 
 Yes, it was a rough home that few would 
 have cared to live in, but, like many a rough 
 thing in the world, it was the best home 
 they ever had. For it was there the best 
 lessons of their life were learned, where a 
 rich experience was passed through that left 
 them the possessors of a rich and noble man- 
 hood. 
 
 Another trip was made to Prairieton, where 
 provisions and the household articles neces- 
 sary for carrying on a " shantying" life were 
 secured. A team and plough were next ob- 
 tained from a farmer living south of the Nio- 
 brara, and the boys then entered into the work 
 about their claims with great zeal. Sometimes 
 they had many a hearty laugh at each other's 
 expense, because of some woful blunder that 
 Maynard would show them they had commit- 
 
28 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 ted, but the work was done after a rude fashion, 
 and by the first of May all the ground they 
 intended to cultivate was ploughed and put to 
 seed, two large fields, one planted to corn 
 and the other sown to wheat, and a smaller 
 one planted with potatoes. Close to the cabin 
 a " garden patch" was started, " from which," 
 exclaimed Paul, one day, " we'll get enough 
 onions and cucumbers and lettuce and rad- 
 ishes to feed a regiment of soldiers, let alone 
 two young exiles far from the madding crowd 
 of the East." 
 
 The most important part of their work 
 being over, a fishing-expedition was decided 
 upon. Just across the river, not a mile to the 
 north, lay the Sioux Reservation, and back of 
 the hills paralleling the river flowed a stream, 
 Maynard said, that swarmed with the finny 
 tribe. Supplied with lines and bait, the boys, 
 accompanied by the old settler, left at an early 
 hour one morning, and wading the river where 
 it lay shallow on a bed of gravel, they climbed 
 over the sandy hills, picking up, as they went 
 
The' Story of a Western Claim. 29 
 
 along, pieces of petrified wood and curiously- 
 shaped stones. 
 
 At the top of a high peak, which the party 
 ascended, they looked towards the north, and 
 beheld a vast rolling plain stretched out be- 
 fore them like a deserted wprld. 
 
 " What a contrast," exclaimed George, " be- 
 tween this place and Chicago ! and yet how 
 short the time may be when this will be 
 changed; and even now, perhaps, we are look- 
 ing upon a spot where a great city will some 
 day be built, and these plains around it teem 
 with life and industry. And who knows what 
 wealth may lie beneath our very feet, gold, 
 it may be, stored away and only waiting for 
 man to come and search it out." As he spoke, 
 Maynard gave a quick start, which was unob- 
 served, and the boy continued, " But why 
 wait for the white race alone to come and do 
 all this ? This is not our land ; this land be- 
 longs to the Indians. In one sense we might 
 say that it does not, but in another that it 
 does. If the Indians show no disposition to 
 
30 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 develop it, and let it remain an unbroken 
 wilderness, let us assume that it ought to pass 
 into the ownership of another race that will. 
 For one race of people to lay claim to vast 
 tracts of land, upon which man may dwell, 
 and the genius which God has given him may 
 find expression ; for a small race to set up an 
 ownership to such estates, and then simply 
 occupy the same as little wandering nomadic 
 tribes, it seems, indeed, the worst kind of 
 folly ; but if God made it possible for the In- 
 dians to become civilized and intelligent like 
 ourselves, does it not follow that He placed 
 them upon this land upon which they might 
 so live and thrive ? And if, perchance, they 
 have wandered away from the manhood in 
 which they were first created, and have become 
 as we now find them, and if we presume to 
 be the means, as children yet dwelling in the 
 light and grace of God, by which these In- 
 dians maybe brought back again, must we not 
 concede that the land is theirs ; and teaching 
 them to become like ourselves, like the God 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 3 1 
 
 in whose image all men were first created, 
 leave to them the portion God intended should' 
 be theirs ?" 
 
 " But again," said Paul, " may it not be that 
 the Indian's faith and manner of worship are 
 acceptable to God, for are they not sincerely 
 rendered? And may it not be that God 
 created him to be a child of nature, happy 
 in his own way of living ?" 
 
 "Nay," interposed Maynard. "I cannot 
 look at it in that light. All men were in- 
 tended to reach the highest plane of man- 
 hood, and to have but one true faith, the 
 faith of light and reason. Jesus, the Son of 
 God, represented both of these. In Him were 
 personified the highest and best qualities of 
 manhood, and He it is whom all men should 
 look up to and imitate. Out of a belief in 
 God and the Saviour there has come into the 
 world our Christian civilization, embodying 
 the best form of sociejty that has yet existed 
 among men. To all who enjoy its blessings 
 there comes the obligation of carrying the 
 3 
 
32 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 same to all who are without it ; and this we 
 should not fail to do, as George has said, in 
 the case of the Indians." 
 
 " It often depends upon the point from which 
 you view things," replied Paul. " Now, sup- 
 pose an Indian would come and hold up the 
 
 mirror before us, wherein we would behold 
 
 * 
 
 our own civilization as others see it, men 
 divided into classes and as far from each 
 other socially as the East is from the West. 
 Men arrayed against each other in the busi- 
 ness and industrial life, the capitalist and 
 laborer formed into societies to protect them- 
 selves against each other. Men with every- 
 thing at their command, with untold wealth, 
 and everything the heart may desire, and by 
 their very side men struggling in want and 
 no one to offer the hand of sympathy and aid. 
 In the slums of our great cities, creatures of 
 civilization, men sunk to the lowest depths 
 of degradation, who debauch themselves and 
 prey upon their fellow-men, and who are 
 several degrees lower than the meanest Indian 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 33 
 
 that ever lived. And amidst it all the 
 Church, the heart of civilized life, doing so 
 little to counteract the evils around it? 
 What would you say to .all this?" 
 
 " Your last sentence/' said Maynard, with 
 a smile, " would imply that the Church was 
 not responsible for these evils, and, if she only 
 did more than she does, these evils might be 
 done away with. The fact is, Paul, society is 
 what its individuals are. The individual is 
 what the heart is. These evils that afflict 
 society grow out of the heart and nature of 
 the individual man, and society then will be 
 purified and made more perfect, these evils 
 diminished, and the Church more firmly estab- 
 lished just as men's hearts become touched, 
 and men are convinced of what constitutes 
 Right in the world ; and so I would ask Mr. 
 Indian to hold the mirror up again, and I 
 would show him all that is pure and good and 
 highest in civilization, the Christian part of 
 it, and then I would ask him why he should 
 reject the one because the other existed. And 
 
34 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 while it is a sad thought that much of this 
 evil might not now exist, had the Church been 
 more active, is that any reason why Christian- 
 ity and the Church should be deserted, and 
 the life she offers should not be accepted ? If 
 you were one of a crew, manning a life-boat 
 on a storm-tossed sea, Paul, and all around 
 you were human beings struggling in the 
 waves, but the crew were lying back on their 
 oars and doing nothing to rescue them, would 
 you forsake the boat, and leap out into the 
 waves to perish with those already going 
 down, or, still retaining faith in your mission, 
 would attempt to continue the work, single- 
 handed and alone ? Would it not be better 
 to remain on board, rouse the whole crew to 
 a sense of their duty, and save all whom you 
 could ?" 
 
 Threading their way down into a little can- 
 yon, the party came out on the banks of a 
 stream that sparkled beneath the sun like a 
 band of silver. 
 
 " Here's where we get fish that is fish," 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 35 
 
 said Maynard, pausing beneath a great cot- 
 tonwood that shaded part of the stream, and 
 baiting his hook, cast it over towards the 
 water. The hook had barely touched the 
 surface, when it made a dive underneath, and 
 a second later a big bass lay flopping on the 
 bank. 
 
 " My ! That was done quick," exclaimed 
 George, whose line was hardly in shape yet. 
 
 " Oh, these Western fish are no tenderfeet," 
 chuckled the old sportsman, as he baited the 
 hook, threw it over again, and then, to the 
 boys' amazement, hauled in another bass larger 
 than the first ; " they don't nibble around an 
 hour or two, and then go shooting ofif up- 
 stream as though they had just thought of 
 something there they wanted. They bite on 
 the go-in, and they're pretty hungry just now." 
 
 The boys were not as successful as May- 
 nard, but once in a while they both pulled out 
 a young flopper from his watery retreat. The 
 party moved along the banks of the stream for 
 some distance, and at noon, coming to a little 
 
36 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 grove of cottonwoods, they built a fire in its 
 shade, eating roasted fish with the lunch they 
 had brought along. They then resumed their 
 tramp through the brush along the creek, and 
 the day wore away before they knew it. 
 
 Suddenly a low, deep rumble broke the 
 stillness, causing them to start and look 
 around. 
 
 " Was there ever a fishing-trip without a 
 rain-storm ?" cried Paul. 
 
 " Not when you go poaching on the res- 
 ervation, land that belongs to the Indians," 
 shouted Maynard. 
 
 " Never thought about that," exclaimed 
 George ; " serves us right, I say." 
 
 Over in the northwest the sky was growing 
 densely black, thick clouds rolling up from 
 the horizon, and flashing out sheets of fire 
 every second or two. 
 
 " As to the rights or wrongs of this expe- 
 dition," cried Maynard, " that's a subject for 
 future discussion. The thing now to do is to 
 git. Follow me." 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 37 
 
 Away they dashed, with Maynard in the 
 lead, until they reached a point where the 
 bank shelved directly down to the edge of 
 the creek, a mass of spreading willows grow- 
 ing at the top, forming a natural covering 
 to the ground below. 
 
 "We'll huddle up here," said Maynard, 
 " and I guess we can keep out of the worst 
 part of the storm." 
 
 Just as he spoke, there was a crash, fol- 
 lowed by a series of crashes, as though the 
 heavens had suddenly become filled with artil- 
 lery-guns, and all commenced going off at 
 once. There is something new and refreshing 
 about a thunder-storm on the prairie. The 
 thunder starts up a regular continuous roar, 
 and peals follow one right after another, the 
 lightning spitting sharply and spitefully, and 
 the noise and racket and fire seem to get 
 down on to the earth in a heap. 
 
 That was the kind of a storm George and 
 Paul encountered for the first time, and it is 
 hardly necessary to say they did not like it. 
 
38 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 When the party ventured from their retreat 
 the ground was soaked and the prairie grass 
 dripping with water. 
 
 When they reached home Maynard con- 
 cluded not to stay with the boys overnight, 
 and after supper started away in the dark- 
 ness. As he walked along he commenced 
 talking to himself, as people are very apt to 
 do when anything of great importance weighs 
 down upon the mind. 
 
 " It's been some time," he said, " since I left 
 the Hills, and settled down here to find free- 
 dom from the madness that such a life brings. 
 I thought it was all through with, but that 
 remark of George's has brought the old fever 
 back again. There's gold in those hills across 
 the river. I've often thought it, and now I 
 know it. Old Maynard, you are not of much 
 account, and it's pretty late in life, that's sure, 
 for an old stick like yourself to begin ham- 
 mering in the earth again for wealth; but 
 there's the boys, they've come, and they'll 
 need it, and if I can only help somebody, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 39 
 
 and especially two such lads as they, it will 
 be all that I shall ask." 
 
 Then he paused and reflected a moment, 
 and then continued, 
 
 " Maybe it's madness to think so ; the wild 
 dream of an old man. Perhaps it is the un- 
 conquerable impulse that is forever coming 
 upon one to dig dig dig, who once gets 
 this gold-mining fever into his system. But 
 something has always seemed to tell me there 
 is gold in those hills, and if there is I'll find 
 it. Why should I tell the boys of my pur- 
 pose? If I fail, they will have been saved 
 the disappointment that would follow, and, 
 besides, it were better they should go ahead 
 with the work they have undertaken." 
 
40 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 A NEW PHILOSOPHER COMES TO LIGHT. 
 
 * 
 
 IN the morning, when the boys awoke, they 
 found the rain coming down in torrents. The 
 weather due the month before was now at 
 hand, and although it meant enforced con- 
 finement for the boys for a few days, they did 
 not murmur, but, like wise old farmers, re- 
 joiced over the prospect of a good start for 
 the crops. In the forenoon George opened 
 an iron-bound trunk that he had brought from 
 the East, and down in the bottom, packed 
 snugly away, was a collection of books, papers, 
 and magazines, a regular mine of literature 
 that set Paul's eyes to sparkling. As George 
 was about to take a book out and hand it to 
 Paul, the latter, who was stooping over his 
 shoulder, exclaimed, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 41 
 
 " What's that roll of manuscripts there with 
 a string around it ?" 
 
 A flush spread over George's face. He 
 looked quite surprised for a moment, and then 
 said, with a weak attempt at a smile, " Oh, 
 that's some scribbling of my own. I once 
 thought I was an author. Behold the result." 
 
 And as he spoke he held up the roll by the 
 string before Paul, who, instead of bursting 
 into a laugh, said, seriously enough,- 
 
 " Well, what are you looking so queer 
 about ? There is nothing in the calling of an 
 author to be ashamed of, is there ?" 
 
 " No," replied George, brightening up, " but 
 there's nothing worse than a man who thinks 
 he is an author and isn't, who tries to be an 
 author and fails." 
 
 " What's your line ?" said Paul, running his 
 hands down into his pockets and looking very 
 grave, " poetry or prose ?" 
 
 " Mostly prose," answered George ; " but I 
 have dashed off a few poetical lines, too ; 
 would you like to hear some of them ?" 
 
42 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 " By all means," was the reply. 
 
 Untying his manuscripts, George ran his 
 fingers through the leaves, until he came to a 
 page, where he stopped. 
 
 " Now, here's a simple little piece," he said, 
 " that endeavors to show what constitutes true 
 greatness in this world. 
 
 "TRUE GREATNESS. 
 
 " In the ancient days of ballad rhyme, 
 
 When lords and barons held fulfrsway, 
 And nightly held their revels, and quaffed their ruddy 
 
 wine, 
 
 The world lived for conquest and for fray. 
 And the grandest man of all, 
 The greatest one was he, 
 The knight who marched into the banquet hall, 
 All laden down with war trophy. 
 
 " But now, when Light and Truth shine brighter than the sun, 
 
 Instead of vulture dark, 
 The gentle dove of peace has come 
 
 And nestles in man's heart ; 
 And the greatest one that I can find, 
 
 The grandest I can know, 
 Is he whose love goes out to all mankind, 
 
 Who does not want a foe." 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 43 
 
 " Great !" exclaimed Paul. " Give us an- 
 other." 
 
 It is pleasant to record that a friendly eye 
 never sees the faults or weak points in a thing 
 of one's construction, however glaring they 
 may appear to others. 
 
 " In the struggle of life," said George, " where 
 ' man's inhumanity to man makes countless 
 thousands mourn,' there is many a soul who 
 may be cheered by such lines as these : 
 
 
 
 "TO THE DISCOURAGED FRIEND. 
 
 " Oh, tired friend, dear tired friend, 
 Half wishing all were at an end, 
 Tired of the bitter, ceaseless strife, 
 Of blighted hopes and a saddened life, 
 
 Do not despair, but toil along 
 
 * 
 And lighten thy burden with a song; 
 
 For trial is often but the test 
 That wins for one the sweetest rest. 
 When mortal man has turned to clay ; 
 When proud and meek have gone their way; 
 When weak and strong, and bond and free 
 Are gathered down at death's dark sea, 
 Then he whose faith's been greatest tried 
 Shall gain the best and brightest side." 
 
44 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 " In human life," said George, laying the 
 papers down, " men plan and build as though 
 it were eternal, forgetting that death is in the 
 world, and even as we build the silent reaper 
 comes along and takes us away, and all that 
 we have constructed soon passes into decay. 
 How much better it is, then, to look beyond 
 this life, and build for that eternity which 
 awaits us beyond the grave! Human life has 
 its purposes, and the chief end of man is to 
 glorify God. In doing this, then, and in prac- 
 tising the heavenly virtues in mortal life, we 
 shall be called to have a part in that higher 
 immortal existence which knows no ending, 
 where death and decay never come. The 
 Good Book tells us," he continued, " that the 
 ' trying of your faith worketh patience/ and 
 in patience lies the key to true happiness in 
 human life. And so, as this little poem also 
 implies, while justice should exist in the 
 world, and all deserving men should have 
 ..equal privileges, yet if justice is not granted 
 a man, and all that he has be taken from him, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 45 
 
 if he has the faith to believe that should it not 
 be so in this life, yet all wrongs shall be 
 righted, he will obtain first of all the sweetest 
 of virtues, patience, and with faith as his 
 strength and with patience as his weapon he 
 will gain the victory over the whole world, 
 no matter how much of trial may be poured 
 into his life. All this applies equally as well 
 to the ambitious ones. Ambition has its 
 place in the world when it seeks to better the 
 world and human kind; but if the most de- 
 serving one, with nothing but the highest of 
 ideals and the best of purposes, goes forth 
 into life with bright expectations, and finds 
 instead failure, and never receives the recog- 
 nition which should be his, even becoming 
 doomed to a condition where he must bear 
 
 ' the whips and scorns of time, 
 
 The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
 * * * * * * 
 
 The insolence of office, and the spurns 
 That patient merit of the unworthy takes,' 
 
 "he may show himself the greatest of 
 heroes by meeting it all with unbroken pa- 
 
4.6 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 tience and unfaltering faith in the belief that 
 things will yet turn out for the best. 
 
 " Why this brief philosophical dissertation 
 on human life?" continued George, with a 
 smile. " Well, you see, I grew up in a large 
 community in the East, and was ambitious. 
 When a boy I fixed certain ideals deep in my 
 mind, to which I proposed to attain when I 
 should reach manhood. After the school-days 
 I went to work in a large publishing-house in 
 the city where I lived, taking an inferior po- 
 sition at first, hoping to rise to an important 
 place in the house, to be among the literary 
 force, and to be able to bring my writings be- 
 fore the public. But the prospect of promo- 
 tion was poor, indeed. I never had the pluck 
 to submit any of my manuscript for publica- 
 tion, or even tell any one about the same, 
 fearing they would be rejected and of the 
 ridicule that would then surely follow from 
 my associates in the office. To make matters 
 worse, there were frequent ' lay-offs/ owing to 
 the dull seasons in our business, times when 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 47 
 
 there is nothing to do and weeks of en- 
 forced idleness come along. So, what with 
 'dull seasons' and * crushed ambition/ I be- 
 came completely discouraged, and instead of 
 patiently 
 
 ' toiling along, 
 Lightening my burden with a song,' 
 
 I cleared out one day, telling my folks they 
 would never see me again until I could come 
 back my own master and my dreams realized ; 
 all of which," concluded the speaker, with 
 a grim smile, " suggests the thought that if 
 my poem, accompanied by these extended re- 
 marks, should go out to the world, I would, 
 no doubt, be accused of insincerity by the 
 critical reader, of not setting the exemplary 
 example of practising what I preach." 
 
 " I think," said Paul, as George finished 
 speaking, " that the world is pretty much the 
 same wherever one goes. And from the gen- 
 eral indication of things" (casting his eyes sig- 
 nificantly around at their rough surroundings), 
 " before we get through with our life out here 
 4 
 
48 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 we shall have a chance to live up to the spirit 
 of your poem, and you will have a splendid 
 opportunity of showing yourself neither insin- 
 cere nor a hypocrite." 
 
 So the days, damp and cheerless enough on 
 the outside, were made profitable within by 
 much of reading and rough philosophizing, 
 until one morning Paul was awakened by a 
 vigorous shaking,* and George's voice ringing 
 in his ears, 
 
 " Hurrah, Paul, our old friend's come back 
 once more ! get up and give him a welcome." 
 
 "Who's here? What old friend?" ex- 
 claimed Paul, as he raised up in bed. 
 
 " Why, the sun, of course ; we are going to 
 have some decent weather for a change." 
 
 It had cleared up in the early part of the 
 night, and, looking to the east, the boys be- 
 held through their little window the sun just 
 above the horizon, away to the end of miles 
 of prairie land, swinging slowly upward in a 
 flood of crimson. 
 
 After one has been shut up six days in a 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 49 
 
 sod-shanty, one feels like going into ecstasies 
 at a sight like this. 
 
 A walk about the claim that morning 
 showed the corn and wheat just peeping 
 above the ground in little green blades, and 
 as the boys went back to their cabin Paul 
 commenced whistling back at a lot of meadow- 
 larks that had settled down all around, and 
 commenced pouring out a chorus of mellow 
 pipings. Then he stopped and exclaimed, 
 
 " I say, George, things are looking bright 
 now." 
 
 " That's what they are," was the reply. 
 
50 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 STRANGE VISITORS. 
 
 ONE early morning, when George stepped 
 from the door of the cabin, an exclamation of 
 surprise burst from his lips. An Indian village 
 had sprung up during the night as if by magic, 
 and all around were Indian " teepees," twenty- 
 five or thirty in number. The tents or "tee- 
 pees" were closed tightly at the entrance, and 
 not a sound of any kind could be heard from 
 within to indicate the presence of life. 
 
 The boys at once became alarmed over the 
 presence of their strange visitors, and George, 
 who had found it possible to plead in behalf 
 of the Indian, now found it another matter to 
 meet him face to face. Perhaps all that he 
 needed was a little more moral courage. 
 
 A hasty departure for Maynard's place was 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 5 1 
 
 being discussed when that individual himself 
 came in, laughed at the boys' fears, and said, 
 
 " Haven't become acquainted with those 
 people yet, have you ? Was a time when a 
 person'd felt like having business elsewhere 
 if he'd woke up some morning and found a 
 swarm out there like that But there's no 
 danger nowadays. The Indians are all 
 * good Indians/ just now, anyhow, and 
 they're about the only neighbors a person 
 has in these quarters." 
 
 The boys thereupon commenced getting 
 breakfast, and Maynard showed them how 
 to cook a mess of meal-cakes, which were 
 nothing else than old-fashioned New England 
 "johnny-cakes," baked, however, no larger 
 than ordinary biscuits. These were placed in 
 a pan on the centre of the table, making a 
 great steaming heap, and with a few slices of 
 bacon, some cold cooked corn, and a mug of 
 sparkling water, made up the morning meal. 
 
 The settlers had just taken their seats at the 
 table when a deep guttural " Ugh !" caused 
 
5 2 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 them to start and look towards the door. A 
 Sioux Indian stood in the door-way. The 
 form from the shoulders down was shrouded 
 in a dirty canvas blanket, from the bottom 
 folds of which the feet, encased in moccasons, 
 protruded ; while an old straw hat, resting 
 squarely and well down on a head of thick, 
 mane-like hair, completed the make-up. His 
 countenance, dark, copper-colored, wore a 
 stolid expression, and round, bead-like eyes 
 met the settlers' gaze, as they looked upon 
 the strange-looking new-comer. 
 
 His whole appearance was anything but 
 prepossessing, but, coming forward, he said, 
 
 " How do ? Me Red Wing. Me big chief. 
 Me no bad Indian. White man got good big 
 teepee. When you come ? Ugh !" 
 
 " Hello ! old fellow," replied Maynard, as he 
 stepped 'to the Indian and slapped him vigor- 
 ously on the back. " How are you, anyhow ?" 
 
 A smile spread over the broad, dark face. 
 
 " Ugh ! Me know you. You old Dog 
 Face. Ugh ! How do ?" 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 5 3 
 
 A burst of laughter greeted this sally, and 
 Red Wing extended his hand from the folds 
 of his blanket, which the three shook heartily. 
 
 When the Indian was about to leave the 
 room, George handed him a couple of hot 
 buttered cakes, and the poor fellow devoured 
 them greedily as he went away from the cabin. 
 
 " Now you have done it," said Maynard. 
 
 " What do you mean ?" asked George. 
 
 " Just wait a minute and you'll see," was 
 the reply. 
 
 The settlers had hardly finished their 
 breakfast, when a babel of voices outside of 
 the cabin led George to the door, where he 
 was greeted by an assemblage of squaws, 
 with their "pappooses" slung across their 
 backs in a shawl, all of whom commenced 
 imploring in one voice for the cakes, and, as 
 there was no other alternative, the pan was 
 brought out and soon deprived of its con- 
 tents. 
 
 By ten o'clock the whole Indian village 
 was astir. Squaws flitted here and there, 
 
54 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 some bringing water, others building fires in 
 front of the "teSpees," while the aborigi- 
 nal lords sat around in various attitudes, 
 or wandered out over the prairie with their 
 ponies. 
 
 " These * teepees,' " said Maynard to the 
 boys, as the three examined the odd-looking 
 structures, " are not made like the ones they 
 used to have. Buffalo-skins were once used 
 for coverings The skins were sewed to- 
 gether with sinews, and stretched on long 
 poles, but the buffalo are all gone now, and 
 the Indians have to use this canvas, which is 
 furnished by the government." 
 
 In front of each structure large stakes were 
 driven into the ground, in such manner as to 
 form a support for a large iron pot or kettle, 
 under which a hot fire was kindled. 
 
 The settlers learned that the Indians were 
 from one of the agencies in Dakota, and were 
 on their way to a neighboring reservation, 
 where some Indian sports were to be held. 
 
 Some of the male Indians were communi- 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 5 5 
 
 cative, but the majority appeared sullen and 
 disposed to hold aloof from the settlers. 
 
 Indians are great traders, however, and 
 one, attracted by a bright chain which 
 adorned Paul's vest, offered to exchange a 
 pair of beaded moccasons for the same. The 
 chain was a gift from a friend in the East, 
 and Paul could only refuse to part with it. 
 The Indian was so determined to make a 
 trade, that finally Paul produced a couple of 
 brass rings from his pocket, which caught 
 the Indian's eye at once, and for which he 
 parted with the moccasons, highly elated over 
 the bargain. 
 
 The Indians remained several days, and the 
 young settlers learned much of their life and 
 customs. On the day before their departure 
 it was announced that an Omaha dance 
 would be given in the evening, and settlers 
 came in from all over the region to witness 
 the curious affair. Some anonymous writer 
 has thus described this dance : 
 
 " The Sioux have many dances, but the 
 
ft 
 56 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 Omaha dance is the most popular of all. It 
 carries the old man back to his days of 
 murder, horse-stealing, and hair-breadth es- 
 capes, and keeps the young buck* an Indian 
 in the truest sense of the name. The great 
 drum is always with the Omaha. Its time 
 is the monotonous torn, torn, torn, torn, with 
 an occasional ' hi-a, hi-a, hi, hi, hi,' ending 
 with a great bang and a chorus of yells. 
 The dancers, all men and boys, are rigged 
 up for the occasion in most gorgeous array 
 and grotesque style. Some wear war-bon- 
 nets made of eagle-feathers that reach from 
 their heads to their heels. Others wear 
 horses' tails instead of bustles. The head- 
 gearing is from a buffalo-head down to a 
 bird's head. Many wear simply a head- 
 cloth, while their bodies are painted in all 
 imaginable shapes and of all shades. Their 
 faces are always painted with either vermil- 
 
 * An Indian is invariably referred to as a " buck" by 
 the people of the frontier. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 57 
 
 ion, chrome-yellow, green, or ultra-marine 
 blue, alone or in combination with an occa- 
 sional use of lamp-black. Sleigh-bells and 
 jingling ornaments, the pipe and the eagle 
 feather, complete the arrangements of the 
 company, which circles into a great ring. 
 The proceedings begin. If on a cold day or 
 night, a fire is built in the centre, adding 
 cheerfulness to the occasion. The drum, 
 presided over by half a dozen Indians, is 
 beating the torn, torn, torn in about common 
 time ; a few rise up and begin to go through 
 the dance, followed by the others, until the 
 whole circle stamp the ground in a very 
 vigorous manner. A rest comes. Suddenly 
 a dancer comes from the circle with a bow 
 or gun in hand. He stalks about, dodging 
 here and there. In a moment another In- 
 dian, representing another tribe, comes simi- 
 larly prepared. Each goes through a motion 
 of some kind, either creeping or running, 
 advancing or retreating. The combat finally 
 occurs and the Sioux has killed his enemy. 
 
58 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 Then the successful actor makes a speech to 
 the assembled dancers, reviewing his brave 
 acts in detail. Sometimes a horseman goes 
 through an exploit, falling gracefully from 
 his horse, as if dead, when some friendly 
 Indian passes by and nourishes him to life. 
 But the most prevalent scene is that of 
 horror and treachery, and they glory in them 
 and are glorified by such traits. Then more 
 dancing is indulged in, and between each 
 rest some scene is acted, or speech made 
 reciting deeds of the past. A feast of tender 
 dog is always in order. The dance ' teepees' 
 or lodges afford considerable room, but 
 where the Indians are permanently located 
 more commodious quarters are provided." 
 
 Such were the scenes enacted before a large 
 assemblage of settlers on this occasion. The 
 dance was not produced on as grand a scale 
 as it would have been at an agency, or by a 
 larger band of Indians. Several Indians sur- 
 rounded a drum, and kept up a steady, dull 
 thumping, keeping time with their voices, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 59 
 
 while from the small circle of participants a 
 half-naked figure would leap out into the cen- 
 tre every few moments and go through the 
 most grotesque movements imaginable. 
 
 As the dance reached its height, George 
 turned to a settler standing beside him, and 
 said, 
 
 " Well, is it any wonder that the Indians do 
 not make much progress in the Christian civil- 
 ization when they are allowed to revel in the 
 very things that are directly opposed to it ? 
 Living in teepees, wandering from one nook 
 to another, indulging in feasts, dances, and 
 orgies, this is hardly conducive to Christi- 
 anity. We had better have had nothing to do 
 with the Indians at all, if we simply furnish 
 them the means to continue the existence in 
 which we find them, and make no effort to 
 lift them up to anything higher. But, surely, 
 there is a better class than the one represented 
 here. I suppose now at the agencies we would 
 find a more advanced element, the ones who 
 have been brought under the influence of mis- 
 
60 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 sions and the schools which the government 
 has established." 
 
 " Oh, they talk about a better element, 
 progressive Indians they call them," was the 
 reply, " but I tell you they are few and far 
 between. Fact of the matter is, there ain't 
 any. There ain't any good Indians, but a 
 dead " 
 
 " But," interrupted George, " what of the 
 educated ones, the young Indians who are 
 placed in the schools I have mentioned ?" 
 
 " Worst ones in the whole lot," was the an- 
 swer. " If you want to put the finishing touches 
 on the treacherous nature which an Indian 
 possesses, just endow him with a little intelli- 
 gence, and give him a knowledge of the white 
 man and his ways, and then he can think and 
 lay his devilish plans better than he could 
 before, and is more dangerous than ever." 
 
 " But, surely," George remonstrated, " they 
 are not all treacherous. Have you never seen 
 any good instance among them ?" 
 
 "No," answered the settler. "Been forty 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 61 
 
 years on the frontier, and never seen but one 
 kind of Indian. An Indian is an Indian, and 
 you can't make* anything else out of him. 
 He's too lazy to be otherwise. Why, I've seen 
 young fellows come back from the schools in 
 the East, where they had probably been for 
 six or eight years, coming back and looking 
 as spruce as could be, but in less than three 
 months they would have their blankets on 
 again ; long-haired, dirty, and lazy-looking as 
 ever, and you couldn't any more get a word of 
 English out of them than you could that post 
 yonder. As I was remarking before, the only 
 good Indian is a dead " 
 
 " There are always two sides to every ques- 
 tion," said George; "perhaps we could find 
 an explanation for this should we care to look 
 for it." 
 
 "There may be two sides to the Indian 
 question," remarked another settler, who had 
 been listening to the conversation, "but I 
 never could see but one. I have about as 
 much love for an Indian as I have for a coy- 
 
62 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 ote. Wait until you have one of them get 
 after your scalp, young fellow, and you'll 
 think the same way. My solution of the 
 question would be to gather all the red devils 
 into a bunch and then put a can of dynamite 
 underneath them, and blow the whole busi- 
 ness into the kingdom come, and you can 
 depend upon it the question would be effectu- 
 ally solved then." 
 
 " I'll tell you how it is," said a third Solon. 
 " An Indian is just like a buffalo. He wants 
 room. When you close in on him he disap- 
 pears, just like the buffalo. Fifty years from 
 now there won't be an Indian ; he'll be as 
 completely exterminated as the wild bison 
 that used to roam these prairies." 
 
 " Let's see," said George. " I understand 
 there are about two hundred and fifty thou- 
 sand Indians still living. Of these twenty- 
 five thousand are Sioux. I cannot see how 
 our own neighbors are going to all dis- 
 appear in so short a time, let alone the rest, 
 unless we adopt the humane policy that 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 63 
 
 has been suggested, and apply the use of 
 dynamite." 
 
 " Well, I'll tell you, gentlemen," said an in- 
 telligent-looking man who had been standing 
 quietly by. " The best way to settle this In- 
 dian problem is to adapt the Indian to that 
 which is best suited to his nature, that which 
 he most prefers. The leopard cannot change 
 its spots. The lion cannot become a lamb. 
 The Indian can never become a civilian and 
 a man of peace. He cannot and never has 
 been able to endure the restraints of civiliza- 
 tion, any more than the eagle has been able 
 to survive the confinement of the tamer's cell. 
 He loves the wild, free part of human exist- 
 ence, and to him the highest type of manhood 
 is that which shines out in the warrior. With 
 this warlike disposition, with all the elements 
 in his nature that make the true soldier, it 
 seems to me the government could do no 
 better than to enlist him in the service of the 
 army. Wherever this has been done, when- 
 ever he has been employed as a scout, he 
 5 
 
64 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 has proven of incalculable value, especially 
 on account of his knowledge of the country, 
 and his powers of endurance which such a 
 life calls for. Whenever engaged to perform 
 police duties among his own people, the 
 government has never found a more faith- 
 ful servant, and one more loyal in time of 
 serious trouble. And, best of all, if the In- 
 dians were all enlisted in the regular service, 
 they would at last be given something to do ; 
 they would at last learn to become more self- 
 sustaining, and cease to be the helpless de- 
 pendents upon the government they have 
 always been." * 
 
 The Omaha dance was over. The settlers 
 had gone away. The Indians had retired to 
 their lodges, and all outside was hushed and 
 quiet. For some reason George could not 
 sleep, and turned restless about in bed. 
 Presently he arose and dressed, and went 
 
 * See " Indians as Soldiers," Appendix. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 65 
 
 out in front of his cabin. It was a brilliant 
 moonlight night. The sky above, never ap- 
 pearing more vast and expansive than in a 
 level prairie region, was now a perfect mass 
 of stars, thousands upon thousands, spark- 
 ling and glittering, looking like a huge 
 canopy beset with massive diamonds. As 
 George looked up at the magnificent spec- 
 tacle, and out over the prairie now bathed in 
 a flood of golden light, he exclaimed, 
 
 " It must be on such a night as this that 
 departed spirits like to visit the earth, if they 
 ever come back at all. When I die, if my soul 
 is permitted to return to earth, I shall select 
 such a night for my ghostly perambulations." 
 
 " Do you think you would really care 
 about coming back ?" said a voice, so sud- 
 denly and unexpectedly that it startled George 
 half out of his senses, and for an instant he 
 thought some ghostly visitor had indeed 
 come upon him. 
 
 Turning, he beheld a Sioux, a young man 
 not much older than himself. 
 
66 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 " I beg your pardon," said the Indian, " for 
 taking you so unawares, but the question 
 seemed so timely, I could not help asking it." 
 
 An Indian, standing before him in the garb 
 of the half-civilized members of his race, 
 nearly as wild-looking and uncouth as the 
 ones who had been dancing the weird Omaha 
 dance, yet addressing him in English as po- 
 litely as he had ever heard it spoken. 
 
 George simply stared at the boy in amaze- 
 ment and made no reply. " Well," he thought, 
 "the settlers are right, for here is a living 
 illustration of what they have said." 
 
 "You are surprised," continued the speaker, 
 " but you will not be, perhaps, after you have 
 heard my story. Ever since we have been in 
 camp here I have felt that I must come to you 
 and speak of my life, so strange, so different 
 than your own, a life for which the world 
 seems to care very little, and yet a human 
 life that once possessed all the heart-longings 
 and ambition that come to the enlightened 
 human soul. But as to the things of which 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 67 
 
 I would speak, I cannot talk to-night. They 
 who wait for me in my lodge do not know 
 what I have done, and I must hasten back to 
 them. Perhaps I will come again, but if I do 
 not, you will find written down here all that I 
 would say to you, all that I would have you 
 hear." 
 
 Pausing, the Indian drew from beneath the 
 breast of his shirt a roll of manuscripts, and 
 handing them to George, darted away and 
 became lost in the shadows that hung about 
 the group of lodges a short distance away. 
 
 " Was it not a dream ?" said George the 
 next morning, when he arose. 
 
 No; there was the roll of manuscripts 
 the Indian boy had given him, lying upon the 
 table. 
 
 He picked the papers up and turned them 
 over in his hands for a moment. 
 
 " It contains the story of his life, which I 
 am to read. But he said he might return to 
 me again. Why not wait until then? 1 
 should prefer to talk with him, to hear the 
 
68 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 story from his own lips. He's a deserving 
 fellow, I am quite sure, and there is some- 
 thing in him. Let me see. I will put the 
 papers in the trunk with my own manuscripts, 
 though, where I can find them again." 
 
 "Pshaw!" he exclaimed, a little later, 
 " what in the world is the use of that boy 
 wasting his young life among these people ? 
 I will hunt him out to-day and persuade him 
 to leave them, to remain here with me, and 
 whatever his story may be, or whatever else 
 he would have me to know, here I will 
 learn all, and here he and I may learn to 
 understand each other, and learn to work 
 together." 
 
 He went to the door and looked out. 
 
 The lodges were gone. 
 
 The Indians had stolen away early in the 
 morning while he was still soundly sleeping. 
 
7 he Story of a Western Claim. 69 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SMILES AND TEARS. 
 
 THREE months had wrought a great change 
 in the country, at first a prairie wilderness. A 
 day seldom passed that did not bring a new 
 party of land-seekers, and there was scarcely 
 a claim in the whole region not settled upon 
 now. Some of the settlers had relinquished 
 their claims for a fair consideration and gone 
 farther West, and once or twice Paul and 
 George had offers made to them of a like 
 character. 
 
 The boys were eating dinner, one day, when 
 a stranger drove up to the door and dis- 
 mounted. He had just come from Iowa, he 
 said, and was looking for a piece of land. 
 He wanted some improved territory, and had 
 been looking the boys' claims over a day or 
 
7O The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 two before. He was pleased with their ap- 
 pearance, and complimented the boys as suc- 
 cessful young farmers. Then he said, 
 
 "To come to the point, and without any 
 unnecessary parleying, I will give you eight 
 hundred dollars for the two relinquishments, 
 which will be four hundred dollars apiece. 
 I am satisfied the land is worth that much, 
 and I want to do what should be my part in 
 an honorable business transaction." 
 
 Eight hundred dollars, four hundred 
 apiece ! Why, they hadn't seen a dollar 
 for a month. The stranger's proposition 
 almost took their breath away. 
 
 Would they sell ? George was almost in 
 the act of jumping to his feet and telling 
 the stranger to take the land, house, old 
 clothes, and everything about the place ; and 
 even Paul pinched himself to see if he had 
 fallen off to sleep, and the whole thing was 
 a dream. But, dreaming or not, he was 
 awake to second thought in another moment. 
 Eight hundred dollars was a good sum of 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 71 
 
 money for two boys who had never owned a 
 hundred. But what did it represent in this 
 case? The value of their claims, three 
 hundred and twenty acres of land, a little 
 over two dollars an acre. Two dollars and 
 a half for a whole acre of rich, productive 
 land, that in another year might be worth 
 twenty at least. No, it would never do. 
 George, too, was beginning to show signs of 
 reflection, and when Paul spoke it was to 
 express the sentiment of both. 
 
 " Well, your offer maybe a good one ; but, 
 after all, it seems a small amount for so much 
 land. Our claims are among the best around 
 here, and a great deal has been sacrificed by 
 us, an awful amount of labor done here this 
 summer. We'd like to sell, if we could get 
 a fair offer; but if we cannot, we will wait 
 until land is worth something around, and we 
 can get enough for all our trouble. We ought 
 to have at least twelve hundred dollars. A 
 great many settlers value one claim alone at 
 that amount." 
 
72 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 The stranger thought the price too high ; 
 couldn't think of paying so much. He had 
 already had several chances to buy land at 
 less terms than those he offered the boys ; but 
 he liked their location, and was willing to pay 
 a little more. However, he would give them 
 nine hundred dollars if they would close the 
 bargain at once. 
 
 The boys were silent for a few moments. 
 Nine hundred dollars ; that was small enough, 
 and yet with it a great deal could be done. 
 Something more congenial to their taste than 
 that of farming could be gone into, and the 
 vision of a newspaper-office, with himself 
 buried in a mass of manuscripts and news- 
 papers, came before George, the realization 
 of a dream he had had in his mind since 
 coming West. But, then, this was all too 
 sudden, anyhow. There were many things to 
 be settled, and they ought by all means to be 
 given a little more time for a decision. 
 
 Finally, the stranger agreed to wait a couple 
 of days, and then departed. He had hardly 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 73 
 
 disappeared beyond the swell of land that lay 
 a few miles away, when the boys began to 
 regret they had not accepted his offer. Their 
 lonely life, fraught with toil and privation, had 
 often put their pluck to the test ; and now, just 
 at a time when they were almost penniless, 
 and passing through a siege anything but 
 pleasant, a chance to escape from it all had 
 come, and they had thrown it away, perhaps. 
 Another day passed, and still another, and 
 when finally a whole week went by and the 
 stranger failed to appear, the boys concluded 
 that he had bought land elsewhere, and gave 
 up looking for him. 
 
 A long dry spell had come. The u drought," 
 something that always breaks in upon a new 
 agricultural region just at the most inoppor- 
 tune time, had arrived. " Heat-winds" were 
 blowing over the prairie. The crops were 
 burning up. Everything seemed going to 
 destruction. It was hot, hot, insufferably 
 hot. The young claim-holders had never seen 
 
74 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 anything like it before, and, worst of all, there 
 was no getting away from it, no grove, no 
 trees, beneath the shade of which relief might 
 be found. Cabins afforded but little protec- 
 tion. Inside, they were like sweat-boxes. 
 Outside, one could sprawl out close to the 
 wall, which threw a dark line over the ground, 
 changing one's position as the sun mounted 
 higher, and the shadow grew smaller until it 
 disappeared, and then appeared again on the 
 other side of the house. 
 
 " We shall have a storm sure to-night," the 
 boys had said at first, when night after night 
 the sky would be lit up with great flashes of 
 lightning, soon learning that that was no indi- 
 cation ; it was merely " heat-lightning," that 
 plays around the horizon every evening nearly 
 in the prairie country in Summer-time. 
 
 But late one afternoon, when the claim- 
 holders were longing for the sun to go down, 
 a breath of cool air swept in from the north- 
 west; then a few clouds appeared, very soon 
 the distant rumbling of thunder was heard, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 75 
 
 and in a few moments more the whole west- 
 ern sky was dark with heavy clouds. 
 
 "Hurrah!" cried Paul, "we're going to 
 have rain at last." 
 
 But wait a moment, Paul. A storm is 
 coming, yet not of the kind suited to your 
 desire. 
 
 The sky is now filled with rolling, angry 
 clouds, the wind is blowing a perfect gale, 
 and, as the boys look towards the west, 
 suddenly they behold a funnel-like cloud, 
 whirling around and around, coming towards 
 them and striking the earth apparently in 
 long leaps. 
 
 In another instant they knew what it all 
 meant, a cyclone was sweeping down upon 
 them. Early in the spring, following May- 
 nard's advice, they had made a large cave- 
 cellar near the cabin in case of a destructive 
 storm ; ever since it had been the butt for 
 constant jokes, but now a cyclone had really 
 come, and it was to be a refuge for their lives. 
 
 Running to the cave, they entered it and 
 
76 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 closed the opening just as the curious-look- 
 ing cloud swept over the spot. Intrenched 
 as they were in their snug retreat, they 
 could not tell what destruction was being 
 done outside; they only heard the noise of 
 the storm which came to them in muffled 
 sounds, and when these ceased they ven- 
 tured out. But what a scene met their eyes ! 
 
 Their sod-house was gone. Their little 
 prairie home had been completely swept 
 away, and all around it seemed as though 
 nothing but blank ruin existed. A shower 
 of great hailstones had beat furiously down 
 during the progress of the storm, and all 
 over the fields corn and wheat lay flattened 
 on the ground, in some places completely 
 broken from the stalk. 
 
 The most of us can laugh down the fail- 
 ures and misfortunes of life ; such experiences 
 often give us new zeal and a firmer determi- 
 nation to yet live and conquer, but when they 
 first come the bravest heart will give way for 
 a moment. As the two boys beheld all this 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 77 
 
 destruction, the ending that had come to 
 weeks of toil and hardship, it was too much. 
 They simply stood there for a while, and 
 who would not have done the same ? tears 
 are by no means an indication of weakness. 
 
 " Well," said Maynard, who had hurried 
 over to the boys' claims, " there's no use 
 crying over spilt milk, and I can't see as 
 there's any use mourning over a spilt claim. 
 Happily, my place was out of that cyclone's 
 path. Now you boys come and stay with 
 me. We'll commence all over again. Per- 
 haps the crops are not so badly ruined after 
 all. Maybe we can get a good deal from 
 them yet. So don't get discouraged. Let's 
 find just how things stand. Remember, boys, 
 you have your claims yet, and they'll be 
 worth something some day." 
 
 " Yes," replied George, " the title is about 
 the only thing the cyclone left, and I don't 
 know as we can find the papers to that," he 
 added, as he surveyed the mounds of dirt 
 where the cabin had stood. 
 
78 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 And the little trunk, with all his books and 
 writings, would he find them again ? he said. 
 
 Then, like a flash, there came to his mind 
 the meeting that night between the Indian 
 boy and himself. Nearly a month had 
 elapsed since then. Why had he never 
 opened the Indian boy's papers, and found 
 out what it was he was so anxious for him 
 to hear ? His conscience seemed to reprove 
 him for neglecting some duty that had come 
 to him and he had failed to perform. 
 
 "Oh, well," he thought, "it was lucky I 
 placed them where I did. My trunk has 
 probably landed in some neighbor's corn- 
 field, and we'll find it all right." 
 
 But cyclones have a way of blowing things 
 into mysterious places, and days and weeks 
 and months went by before any trace was 
 found of the treasured books and papers. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 79 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 NEW LIFE AND NEW HOPE. 
 
 THE boys went to work with a will, living 
 with Maynard until they could get things in 
 shape again, and by the time a month had 
 passed their claims were restored to their 
 former appearance. The crops had survived 
 to some extent, and when the harvest came 
 about one-third of what would have been 
 secured was the fruit of their first summer's 
 farming. 
 
 Autumn came at last. The rich, green 
 tint of the prairie grass had a month before 
 faded away, leaving a lonesome-looking land- 
 scape, wide, vast, and desolate. Overhead 
 great flocks of wild geese went coursing to 
 the south, uttering their long, wild cry. 
 Flocks of prairie chicken haunted the de- 
 serted cornfields, the boys setting traps in 
 
8o The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 several places to which the wild fowl often 
 fell victims. 
 
 November arrived, and with it the first 
 blasts of approaching winter. A stiff " nor'- 
 wester" set in one day, and the boys looked 
 out with apprehension upon the snow coming 
 down like a great white wall on the earth. 
 They had made a trip to Prairieton and came 
 home with provisions and clothing secured in 
 exchange for some of the products of their 
 claims, and were comfortably provided for; 
 but they knew full well the perils of a winter 
 on the frontier and looked forward to the 
 coming months with anxiety. 
 
 The impulse to abandon their claims alto- 
 gether, which came upon them at times, was 
 never greater than just then, and a whole day 
 was spent discussing some plan that would 
 release them from their lonely surroundings. 
 
 " It's an easy matter to get into a trap," 
 said Paul, " but another thing to get out. I 
 don't know how we can get away from here 
 now unless we walk." 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 81 
 
 " And it's three hundred miles to Omaha," 
 observed George. 
 
 " And the walking isn't very good, either," 
 added Paul. "Say!" he continued, casting 
 his eyes over his patched and rough-looking 
 clothes, " I wonder what people would think 
 if we dropped into a place once more where 
 civilization exists, looking as we do now ?" 
 
 " Oh, they'd think the proverbial wild men 
 of Borneo were loose again," replied George, 
 "and probably run us out on general appear- 
 ances." 
 
 " We might get an engagement with Buf- 
 falo Bill's Wild West Show as the long- 
 haired boys from the far West," said Paul, 
 laughing. 
 
 "That suggests something," said George. 
 "Suppose we remove this thick and tangled 
 brush from our heads for a change." 
 
 And so saying he hiihted up an old pair of 
 shears, once the property of Maynard, and 
 began sharpening them on a whetstone. 
 Paul was the first to submit to the shearing 
 
82 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 process, and seated himself on a stool with 
 an old blanket around his neck. 
 
 " How do you want *this job done, by 
 the acre ?" asked George, as he ran his fin- 
 gers through the heavy mass of hair on 
 Paul's head. 
 
 " Oh, by the acre or by the week," replied 
 Paul. 
 
 George had just begun his work, and the 
 boys were in the midst of a lively conversa- 
 tion when they were startled by a rap on the 
 door. 
 
 " Heaven !" exclaimed Paul, " this is a nice 
 predicament to catch a fellow in," at the same 
 moment throwing aside the blanket and has- 
 tily reaching for his hat, which he placed on 
 his head so as to cover his partly-cut hair. 
 
 He was greatly relieved, though, when the 
 door was opened and a lad belonging to a 
 neighboring family entered. 
 
 " Father was over to Prairieton yesterday," 
 he said, " and he brought this letter to you," 
 handing a missive to George. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 83 
 
 " A letter for me !" exclaimed George. 
 " Now, I wonder who would write to me." 
 
 Hastily opening the envelope, he ran his 
 eyes over the letter. As he did so a bright 
 look spread over his face and in another in- 
 stant he was all excitement. 
 
 " Hurrah !" he exclaimed, fairly dancing in 
 the air, " the tide has turned at last. Good 
 luck once more looks us in the face. No 
 more " 
 
 " What is it ?" interrupted Paul, impatient 
 to hear the good tidings. 
 
 " The best piece of news I ve had for a long 
 day. Read that," he said, handing Paul the 
 letter, which the latter took and read aloud. 
 
 " PRAIRIETON, NEBRASKA, November, 188 . 
 
 " MR. GEORGE ELDREDGE : 
 
 " DEAR SIR, I have decided to return East and remain 
 during the winter, and wish to secure a reliable person to 
 take charge of my paper while I am away. I want to 
 leave as soon as I can get matters settled, and would like to 
 see you this week if you can arrange to come over. Come 
 at once, if possible. 
 
 " Yours respectfully, 
 
 "J H ." 
 
84 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 " Don't you remember," said George, " that 
 is the old fellow we saw setting type in the 
 ' Herald' office, on our first day in Prairieton?" 
 
 Paul gave the letter back to George, but 
 was silent for a moment, and then said, rather 
 sadly, 
 
 " That's good news for you, George, but 
 but what am I going to do ?" 
 
 All George's merriment vanished. 
 
 " Oh, Paul," he said, " I had forgotten you. 
 Forgive me for my selfishness " 
 
 " Stop," Paul interposed, -' I am the selfish 
 one, not you. Here's a chance come for you 
 to lift yourself a little out of adversity, and I 
 must spoil it all because I am not as fortu- 
 nate." 
 
 " Not a bit of it, old fellow," replied George ; 
 (< but we'll not discuss that matter now. I'll 
 go over to Prairieton to-morrow, and see what 
 can be done, and then we will decide on what 
 will be the best for us both." 
 
 The boys resumed their hair-cutting, Paul 
 putting some finishing touches to George's 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 85 
 
 head so that he would possess a presentable 
 appearance, he said, when he stood in the 
 presence of the august being who presided 
 ^over the editorial columns of Prairieton's 
 weekly newspaper. 
 
 Early the next morning, after a long rest- 
 less night, that brought little sleep to his 
 excited brain, George set out over the deso- 
 late prairie. 
 
86 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 BRIGHT DAYS AND DARK ONES. 
 
 GEORGE had expected to return to his 
 claim within a day or two, but when he 
 reached Prairieton he found the proprietor 
 of the printing-office anxious for him to 
 assume the duties at once, so that he would 
 be fully posted on the affairs of the paper 
 when left alone with its charge. And so a 
 bargain was made by which George was to 
 receive ten dollars a week, and entered 
 upon his work the day after his arrival. 
 Before the week was over he wrote to Paul, 
 giving him a full account of his first ex- 
 periences on a frontier newspaper, and tell- 
 ing him that he would come over to the 
 claim the first day possible. Two weeks 
 later the proprietor of the paper went East, 
 
The Story 'of a Western Claim. 87 
 
 and left George duly installed as manager, 
 editor, and composing force of the same. 
 
 As delays are dangerous, and he wished 
 to hold his claim, George had his pre-emp- 
 tion papers changed to a homestead filing, 
 this arrangement giving him six months' 
 time before again taking up his residence 
 on it. 
 
 A spell of warm weather, remarkable for 
 that time of the year, setting in, he drove 
 over to the claim one day. Finding every- 
 thing deserted, and rightly conjecturing that 
 Paul was over to Maynard's, he kept on to 
 the latter's cabin. What a royal welcome he 
 received ! To the two boys it seemed as 
 though their separation had been for months 
 instead of four short weeks. 
 
 " I've had a stroke of luck, too," said Paul, 
 at the supper-table. " Yesterday Plimpton 
 was over to see me about going to work 
 on his ranch, and, although there will be 
 some hard rustling, I jumped at the chance, 
 and will start in to-morrow. It isn't very 
 
88 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 far from here, you know, and I can see to 
 our claims right along, and keep things in 
 order." 
 
 " I thought you boys had had enough of 
 the claim business/' chuckled Maynard. 
 
 " Well, it does get a little monotonous 
 sometimes," said Paul. " Especially when a 
 cyclone comes along and scoops everything 
 off, and even takes part of the earth's sur- 
 face. But, then," he added, "we will prob- 
 ably have better success next year. Another 
 year is going to make a great change in this 
 country." 
 
 In which prediction there was more than 
 he imagined. 
 
 In the conducting of a little frontier paper 
 our young editor found little out of the com- 
 monplace, but his vocation gave him an 
 opportunity to cultivate what talent he pos- 
 sessed for writing. He was a close reader, 
 too, and the evenings, dreary enough on the 
 outside, were passed away in his humble 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 89 
 
 office till a late hour over some book full 
 of value to his mind. But when the strong, 
 swift gusts of wind swept in from the prairies 
 and rattled every building in the settlement, 
 he often thought of Paul out on the ranch, 
 and of the exposure he must at times be 
 undergoing while guarding the cattle under 
 his care. Then he would long for the time 
 when spring would come, and when they 
 could be together once more, and begin 
 anew their work on the claims. 
 
 Spring came, and with it many of the set- 
 tlers who had gone East the fall before, 
 eager to once more take up their pioneer 
 life. Among the first to appear was the 
 proprietor of the paper, whose first move 
 was to induce George to remain with him, 
 as he found the latter's connection with the 
 paper had brought it to a standing it never 
 possessed before. 
 
 But George had made up his mind to return 
 to his claim, as we know, and, settling up his 
 
90 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 affairs at the office, started at once for his 
 former home. 
 
 He was joined a week later by Paul, arid 
 the spring work of the farmers' life com- 
 menced. 
 
 By the middle of May everything was in 
 fine condition. The money earned during the 
 winter had been invested in a team of Indian 
 ponies, a plough, and some other farming im- 
 plements. A few head of stock had been se- 
 cured from Plimpton, a neat sod-barn erected 
 a short distance from the cabin, and, though 
 there was now but little money left, the boys 
 considered themselves kings as compared with 
 their condition the summer before. 
 
 But now an unforeseen event suddenly 
 came into, and threw a cloud over, the lives 
 of the young claim-holders. 
 
 Ever since his return from the ranch, Paul 
 had not displayed the same robust constitution 
 that had distinguished him the year before. 
 Life in the saddle in the dead of winter, guard- 
 ing a herd of cattle or in search of some heads 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 91 
 
 that had strayed away before a " nor'wester," 
 is enough to break down an iron constitution, 
 and when the winter had worn away it was 
 found that the strain had been too great for 
 the young herdsman. Yet he bore up at first, 
 hoping that the spring-time and warm weather 
 would bring back his health and strength. 
 
 " Look here, old fellow," George would 
 sometimes say, " I believe you are working 
 too hard out here ;" and then he would help 
 Paul along with some task he had under- 
 taken. 
 
 Paul would only laugh, and reply, " Oh, I'm 
 all right; just a little indisposition that comes 
 on occasionally." 
 
 The two boys were sitting by the cabin door, 
 one evening, and George's thoughts had taken 
 him back to the East. 
 
 Suddenly he roused from his reverie and, 
 looking about him, said, 
 
 " What a beautiful night it is, Paul !" 
 
 There was no answer. 
 
 " I say, Paul, what are you thinking about ?" 
 
92 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 Still no response. 
 
 Startled, he went over to where Paul was 
 sitting, or had fallen rather in a half-reclining 
 position against the wall. The moonlight 
 poured full in his white, upturned face. 
 
 "Why, Paul, what's the matter?" cried 
 George, taking the limp hands in his trem- 
 bling grasp. 
 
 Another moment he was bathing the pallid 
 face. Suddenly the eyes opened rather dazed- 
 like, and then Paul rose to his feet. 
 
 "Why, George," he said, " what what 
 has happened? Why, I I oh, I remem- 
 ber now. Oh ! there is such a pain here," he 
 continued, as he placed his hands to his head. 
 
 " There, dear old fellow," said George, tears 
 filling his eyes ; " you're all played out. That's 
 what's the matter with you. I knew it all 
 along. Come in and lie down. Perhaps you 
 will feel better after a while." 
 
 Leaning upon George, Paul passed into the 
 house, saying, as he did so, " I'll be all right 
 in the morning." 
 
The Story of^ a Western Claim. 93 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 JJGHT IN DARK PLACES. 
 
 THE morning came, but found the sick boy 
 no better. Going over to Maynard's, George 
 informed him of Paul's illness and of his in- 
 tention of going to Prairieton for a doctor. 
 He waited until the next day, hoping the case 
 was not so serious and there would be an 
 improvement; but as none came he started 
 for the settlement, leaving Paul under May- 
 nard's care. 
 
 The result was, Paul was pronounced to be 
 suffering from a fever likely to become very 
 serious, and the doctor expressed his regret 
 at the great distance from the boys' claims to 
 the town. 
 
 " He will need all the care that can be given 
 him, and I shall come over again before the 
 week is out," he said, when starting away. 
 
94 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 In the course of a few days Paul's con- 
 dition had become alarming. Failing to 
 recognize either George or Maynard, he 
 tossed about in delirium, calling some 
 names now and tlien unknown to the two, 
 of friends or relatives, perhaps, *in his far 
 Eastern home. 
 
 We will not linger over the sick-bed scenes 
 that followed. For days the young sufferer's 
 life hung very close to death. Painful days 
 they were to George, but he kept up a brave 
 heart, tenderly watching over the young life 
 that he could not believe would be taken 
 away. 
 
 As George sat by Paul's bedside, one day, 
 trying to fight away the feeling of despair and 
 of discouragement that at times now came 
 upon him, suddenly it seemed as though he 
 heard his own voice saying, 
 
 " Oh, tired friend, dear tired friend, 
 Half- wishing all were at an end ; 
 Tired of the ceaseless, bitter strife ; 
 Of blighted hopes and a saddened life; 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 95 
 
 Do not despair, but toil along, 
 
 And lighten thy burden with a song ; 
 
 
 For trial is often but the test 
 
 That wins for one the sweetest rest." 
 
 And then he thought he heard Paul saying 
 again, 
 
 " I think before we get through with our 
 life out here we shall have full chance to live 
 up to the spirit of your poem." 
 
 In another instant he had knelt down upon 
 the earth floor of his little cabin. 
 
 " O God !" he said, " we leave this whole 
 matter and this young life in Thy hands. 
 Do as Thou seest best." 
 
 He arose, and went over to the table in 
 one corner of the room. Some blank paper 
 and a pencil were lying there. He sat down, 
 wrote out the lines of the poem he had been 
 repeating a few moments before, took another 
 sheet and addressed it to a large publishing 
 firm in a certain Eastern city. Folding the 
 sheets carefully together, he said, " I wonder 
 what they will think when they hear from 
 7 
 
96 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 me away out in this part of the world and 
 under these circumstances." 
 
 Towards evening he went down on the flat 
 lands bordering the creek to gather wood for 
 a fire. As he searched along for this indis- 
 pensable but rather scarce article in a country 
 where trees do not grow except in little 
 patches along the margin of some stream, he 
 came upon a thick cluster of willow bushes 
 growing so closely together that they almost 
 defied invasion, but, making his way into the 
 mass, he said, 
 
 " I ought to find something in here. If 
 there's nothing else, I'll cut down some of 
 the largest willows and they'll burn for a 
 while. 
 
 "Halloo! what's this?" he exclaimed in 
 another moment, as he ran plump against a 
 huge cottonwood log that stood in a half 
 upright position, supported by the branches 
 of its young neighbors all around it. " Here's 
 a lucky find ; but how in the world did it ever 
 get in this spot ? Looks as though the wind 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 97 
 
 had crashed it down here some time or other, 
 from the half-broken brush surrounding it." 
 
 He commenced hewing away, and for the 
 time-being forgot the sick boy at home, 
 forgot his own lonely surroundings, and as 
 the strokes of his axe broke the stillness 
 all around there also arose the notes of a 
 whistler keeping time with the rhythmic 
 sound. But suddenly the noise ceased, and 
 if some one had happened along in that 
 secluded spot just at that moment, the follow- 
 ing words would have been heard, uttered in 
 a high key, 
 
 "Well well hip, hurrah! Here I've 
 been slashing in this cottonwood and never 
 noticed my little old trunk lying by the side 
 of it, both blown over here, of course, on the 
 day of that cyclone. It's lucky it was bound 
 with iron clasps, or it never would have stood 
 such a tumble as this. Here's my books, 
 here's my writings, yes, and, best of all, 
 here's the roll of papers the Indian boy gave 
 
98 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 REAPING THE HARVEST. 
 
 PAUL was better. He had awakened to 
 consciousness one day and recognized his 
 two friends, George and Maynard, who were 
 standing by the bed. From that day he con- 
 tinued to improve, and in a short time was able 
 to sit up about the room. Then he ventured 
 out one morning while George was away, and 
 when the latter returned he asked, with a 
 troubled look, 
 
 " I say, George, what's become of the 
 ponies? Must have loaned them to some of 
 the neighbors." 
 
 " There, now," replied George, " you've 
 been around investigating things early. 
 Never mind about the ponies, Paul. We had 
 to have a little money, and it was our only 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 99 
 
 way to get it. It was a case of either losing 
 you or the ponies, and so I chose the latter." 
 
 " Well," answered Paul, " we'll not mourn 
 over the loss ; but I don't know whether your 
 choice was for the best or not". 
 
 " Paul," replied George, " we have just now 
 been passing through a disheartening period, 
 but let us hope there are better days in store 
 for us. Life in this country has been too 
 much for us. We ought to go now where 
 there will be more rest and comfort than one 
 can hope to find very soon in this land of 
 hardship. Suppose we go to Prairieton, 
 where I can probably secure my old position 
 in the printing-office, and very likely you will 
 find a clerkship in one of the stores. Then, 
 after we have earned money enough, we 
 might go out to some growing city in the 
 northwest where there would be better op- 
 portunities. I know it seems hard to have 
 to go from here after all that has been done. 
 But look at the situation, besides, around us. 
 Many of the settlers who came in here last 
 
loo The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 summer had very little money, and were not 
 as fortunate as ourselves in finding a way to 
 tide over the winter. Spring found them 
 almost destitute. How in the world they get 
 along at all now is more than I can tell. 
 Until they obtain relief, and the means are 
 furnished them with which to improve their 
 claims and carry on their work, and, above all, 
 until a market exists for their products, there 
 can be no advancement for the region. This 
 can only be done through the help of capital. 
 We want a railroad that will take our prod- 
 ucts to the markets in the State, and then we 
 want men with money who will settle here, 
 engage in business, build up the region, and 
 thus create home markets, too. All this will 
 occur as soon as the country attracts atten- 
 tion, and so, I say, it is hard to have to leave 
 the place. But when will this be? And 
 then there is another important matter that 
 should keep us here." 
 
 Just then the door flew open with a bang, 
 and Maynard, as the boys had never seen 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. IOI 
 
 him before, hatless, his long white hair stream- 
 ing in every direction, his clothing besmeared 
 with clay and mud, dashed into the room, 
 and, seizing first George and then Paul by 
 the hands, he shouted, 
 
 " Boys, there is gold in those hills across 
 the river, and I've struck it at last. I've 
 struck it rich ; I've found enough to make 
 us millionaires the rest of our days." 
 
 Yes, it was true. After days of patient 
 searching, days of weary toil and striving 
 that would have long before ended, had not 
 the man been kept up by the one purpose, 
 that of helping the boys, he had at last 
 been rewarded, and now the help had come. 
 
 "This accounts for it all," said George, 
 after the party had recovered from the flurry 
 of excitement into which they had been 
 thrown. " Many a time have I gone over 
 to your claim, to find everything locked up 
 and no signs of life. Why did you never tell 
 us what you were doing, what you were 
 about ?" 
 
IO2 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 " Boys," replied Maynard, " I don't usually 
 believe in secrets, but this I considered a 
 j ustifiable one." 
 
 "But, say!" exclaimed Paul, suddenly, 
 " what are we all thinking about, anyhow ? 
 Those hills across the river where this gold 
 has been found is on the reservation and 
 belongs to the. Indians. We have no right 
 over there, and it would do us no good if 
 the ground was strewn with diamonds." 
 
 " You're wrong there," answered Maynard, 
 with a laugh ; " you see, you fellows hav'n't 
 kept posted on the news during Paul's sick- 
 ness. Congress recently passed a bill pur- 
 chasing the whole strip of land lying north 
 of the river. The commission sent out to 
 negotiate with the Indians have effected an 
 agreement, and it now remains for the coun- 
 try to be thrown open to the white people. 
 When this is done we can go over there and 
 mine the region for all it's worth. But, 
 George, what are you looking so glum 
 about?" 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 103 
 
 While Maynard was speaking, George had 
 gone to the window facing to the north, and 
 stood looking earnestly at the long range of 
 hills that now possessed such new and im- 
 portant interest to them. 
 
 Turning about, he said, 
 
 " Over a year ago, when we stood upon 
 that hill yonder for the first time, I spoke 
 of the possibility of gold being there. I, as 
 well as yourself, also alluded to the attitude 
 we should bear, as Christian people, towards 
 the Indians, of the recognition we should 
 show them when settling upon the land and 
 developing its resources. The first has 
 proven true. Shall not the second? You 
 have not forgotten the band of Indians that 
 strolled along here about a year ago. 
 Among them was one a young man who 
 had been taken to a training-school when a 
 boy, educated and sent back to his people, 
 but who had fallen back into their wild life 
 and habits. The night before they went 
 away from here he came to me and left a 
 
IO4 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 little roll of manuscripts. The papers be- 
 came lost, and it was not until a few days ago 
 that I found them. Now, suppose we read 
 them." 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 105 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 THE INDIAN BOY'S MANUSCRIPTS. 
 HOW THE MESSIAH CAME TO THE INDIANS. 
 
 A STORY. 
 
 NIGHT had settled down upon an Indian 
 village. Near the entrance to one of its 
 smoke-stained lodges, two quaint-looking 
 little children an Indian boy and girl sat 
 upon the ground, looking with an expression 
 of awe upon their dark faces at the moon, 
 now big and full, so close to the earth, it 
 seemed, one could almost touch it if stand- 
 ing upon the ridge that stretched along the 
 eastern horizon. 
 
 "Where does the moon come from, any- 
 how ?" asked the girl, suddenly. 
 
 " Why," replied the boy, " have you never 
 heard ? The Great Spirit made the moon to 
 
io6 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 light the earth at night, and frighten away the 
 evil spirits who go about doing bad when it 
 is dark." 
 
 " But sometimes," said the little questioner, 
 "it is only just so big" (indicating with her 
 hands), " and is only a piece of a moon, every 
 night getting larger until big and round like 
 it is now, and then it begins to grow little 
 again until it goes away altogether, and 
 when it come back it is just like it was in 
 the first place." 
 
 " Well, you see," the boy answered, " the 
 Great Spirit works every night on the moon, 
 adding a little until it is finished, and then 
 goes to sleep. And while he is asleep the 
 evil spirits come and eat a piece of it every 
 night until it is all gone. And when the 
 Great Spirit awakes and finds the moon gone, 
 he has to begin over and make a new one 
 again." 
 
 There was a moment or two of silence, and 
 then the girl said, quite soberly, 
 
 "Well, I should think the Great Spirit 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 107 
 
 would get tired of feeding the evil spirits on 
 moons. Why don't he have a big brother or 
 somebody to watch over the moon while he 
 is asleep? It would be a great deal more 
 sensible." 
 
 At this the boy became very angry, and, 
 jumping up from the side of the girl, he 
 stamped the ground and exclaimed, 
 
 " Do you not know that it is wrong 
 wrong to speak lightly of what the Great 
 Spirit does ? He will surely punish you for 
 this." 
 
 He started away as if to leave her, but, 
 looking back and seeing the girl had covered 
 her face in dismay, as though something 
 dreadful was about to happen, he paused, and 
 as he did so the little one gazed up at him 
 and said, with tears in her eyes, 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! don't go away ; I did not know 
 I had said anything so terrible as that!" 
 
 The boy came back, sat down, and put his 
 arms around the tiny form. 
 
 " Little sister," he said, "don't cry, No 
 
io8 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 one shall hurt you. The Great Spirit will 
 not harm those who love and fear him. 
 Only we must not speak lightly of what he 
 does. It is enough for us to know that, 
 whatever he does, he does for the best, and 
 we must never question his works, how- 
 ever strange or mysterious they may appear 
 sometimes to us." 
 
 In a little while her sdbs had ceased, and, 
 her composure again returning, the girl said, 
 
 "Where did the first people come from?" 
 
 " The Great Spirit made them, of course," 
 was the reply ; " the Great Spirit made every- 
 thing. He made the moon, and the sun, and 
 the stars; and he made the earth and the 
 people, and every living creature upon it, 
 the buffalo, and the deer, and the birds that 
 fly in the air." 
 
 "But how " How, where and when, and 
 
 under what conditions was the world created, 
 she was going to ask, but remembering what 
 the boy had said the moment before, she 
 covered her mouth with her hand, and said, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 109 
 
 presently, instead, " I mean where did the 
 first people live ?" 
 
 " Well," the boy answered, " the first people 
 lived in the earth, but coming to a great 
 opening one time that led outside, they came 
 out and liked the new life with its light and 
 sunshine much better than the old, and have 
 ever since remained." 
 
 . " Where do the people go to when they 
 die?" 
 
 "To the happy hunting-grounds, where 
 they live forever and ever, and where there 
 is no pain or sorrow, like it is in this life, 
 but where everybody is happy, and everybody 
 loves each other all the time." 
 
 The girl was silent for some time. Then 
 she said, 
 
 " Well, I can't see why there should be any 
 pain or sorrow in this life, if everybody would 
 just be happy and love each other all the 
 time, instead of waiting until we get into the 
 next one. It would be much more sensible, 
 and, besides, there wouldn't be anything 
 
1 10 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 embarrassing or unnatural after we got into the 
 next life. I believe that's the way the Great 
 Spirit wants us to do. // is better to love than 
 to kill." 
 
 For once the 'boy's gravity was disturbed 
 and he burst into a laugh. Kissing the up- 
 turned face, he said, 
 
 " Truly, a child's reasoning is, after all, the 
 only real philosophy." 
 
 Which was a remarkable expression for a 
 young man over whose head ten summers had 
 hardly passed ; but he spoiled it all by add- 
 ing* " y et it is so impracticable among grown- 
 up folks." 
 
 And it was so like the older world in 
 which he lived. 
 
 So, a moment later, when the eyes which 
 had been so big and round from questioning, 
 but now began to grow heavy looked up at 
 the boy again, and the little girl murmured, 
 " Sing me something, brother," the boy took 
 the child in his arms, and, as she nestled 
 closely to him, there broke the stillness that 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 1 1 
 
 brooded all around, the voice of one singing 
 a warrior's song, the voice of one to whom 
 there had just come from childish lips the 
 gospel of love, of peace, and not war. Over 
 and over the voice sang these words : 
 
 . " We devote our bodies to the fight, 
 And charge with the speed of eagles; 
 We are willing to lie with the slain, 
 For then our name will be praised" * 
 
 Presently, seeing that the child had gone 
 fast asleep, he entered the lodge, and laying 
 the little form down on a blanket, covered it 
 over snugly. Then he went outside and 
 looked down the street of the village. A 
 short distance from where he stood a group 
 
 * For the picture of wild Indian life here presented, the 
 Indian's theory as to the origin of the moon, the belief 
 that the people once inhabited the interior of the earth, 
 and this song which the Indian boy sings, I am indebted 
 to a volume published over twenty years ago by George 
 P. Belden, who had spent twelve years among the Sioux, 
 and General James S. Brisbin, of the United States Army. 
 8 
 
1 1 2 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 of Indians were gathered about a camp-fire, 
 listening to an aged warrior who stood in 
 their midst and was telling them, as he had 
 over and over before, of the glory of the once 
 powerful Dakotas, how, at one time, they 
 composed a mighty nation, rich in their pos- 
 sessions of lands and ponies, but how they had 
 become divided ; how the tribes had wandered 
 from each other ; how the nation had fallen 
 into decay, and how at last they were all fast 
 disappearing before the approach of a won- 
 derful race of white people from the East. 
 " Once," he said, " we were free to do as we 
 pleased. The Great Spirit gave us these lands 
 to live upon and stocked it with games of all 
 kind, with the buffalo, the antelope, and the 
 deer. But the white man has taken our lands, 
 the game is fast going away, and soon there 
 will be nothing left but death for the Great 
 Spirit's children. Has the Great Spirit for- 
 saken his own ? Is he less mighty than the 
 white man, and can he not avenge the wrongs 
 done his children ? Listen, my warriors ; the 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 113 
 
 Great Spirit has not forsaken us. He has 
 turned from us but a little while, because we 
 have warred against each other, because we 
 have done wrong in his sight. Soon he will 
 come back again. Soon there will rise up 
 amongst us a mighty chief, who will be a 
 Messiah to his people. He will be the Great 
 Spirit himself in the form of man. And he 
 will destroy the white people and give back 
 to his children their lands, and then the buf- 
 falo and other game will come back in vast 
 numbers, and, mor wonderful still, all who 
 have died will be restored to life, and the 
 Dakotas will be no more weak and despised, 
 but strong and mighty while they remain 
 undivided and at peace with each other." 
 
 When the old man had ceased speaking, 
 and when the members of the circle had 
 gradually withdrawn and left the aged prophet 
 huddled before the smoking embers of the 
 dying camp-fire, the boy crept to his side 
 and said, 
 
 " Father, when will this Messiah come ? 
 
H4 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 Why does he stay away from his children 
 now, at all, when we need him so much?" 
 
 As he was speaking, a cold, hard glitter, 
 that spoke of fanaticism, came into the old 
 man's eyes. 
 
 " Listen, my child," he replied ; " the JMes- 
 siah has come. He is already here. But he 
 is now only a boy. The prophets have fore- 
 told that in this day a child would be born 
 among the Dakotas. And when he should 
 hear of the coming of the Messiah he would 
 at once go far to the West, to a spot in the 
 mountains where no man has yet been, and 
 there he should remain, and in due time the 
 Great Spirit will reveal himself to the boy, 
 and the boy will return to his people a full- 
 grown man, with all the strength and power 
 of the Great Spirit within him, and he will do 
 all the things I have spoken of. Does the 
 young brave understand ? Do not ask me 
 more, but go to your lodge and consider what 
 I have said." 
 
 Slowly the boy walked away, overcome by 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 1 5 
 
 conflicting emotions. "The prophets have 
 foretold that in this day a child would be 
 born among the Dakotas," and this child was 
 to be a saviour to his people. Who was that 
 child? Why had the aged father said so 
 meaningly, " Does the young brave under- 
 stand ? Do not ask me more, but go to your 
 lodge and consider what I have said ?" Was 
 he that child ? The very thought made him 
 afraid at first. Then, he thought, how could 
 he go away and leave his people, his little 
 sister, whom he loved so dearly? "But in 
 due time the boy will return to his people a 
 full-grown man, with all the strength and 
 power of the Great Spirit within him." Some- 
 how, although he had often wished that he 
 were a man, the transition from boyhood into 
 manhood in this case seemed altogether too 
 sudden and under rather unnatural conditions, 
 and the promise brought very little satisfaction 
 to his mind. But if all that the father had said 
 were true, and if, indeed, he were the child, 
 how could he again look the old man in the 
 
n6 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 face, who had so often patted him on the head 
 and called him a mighty chief, destined to be 
 some day a great man among his people ? 
 And, finally, when he thought of the condition 
 into which his race had fallen, fast drifting 
 into utter helplessness and hopelessness, as 
 it seemed to him, he crushed down all his 
 doubts and fears, and, looking up at the stars, 
 exclaimed, 
 
 " O Great Spirit, if I may serve Thee and 
 my people, do with me as Thou will. I will 
 do anything to help save them from the fate 
 that Thou alone can avert." 
 
 An hour later, had the aged prophet of the 
 tribe stepped out from his lodge, he might 
 have seen a little figure mounted upon a pony 
 fast flying across the prairie towards the West. 
 
 On the afternoon of a burning, stifling day, 
 a wretched-looking white man came out on a 
 high ridge stretching along the southern edge 
 of a vast plain in the Sioux territory, and 
 looked down upon a sparkling stream rippling 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 1 7 
 
 musically along over its pebbly bottom. He 
 had strayed away from a party of emigrants, 
 and for days had wandered over great stretches 
 of desert land, coming to long ranges of sand- 
 hills, beyond which some cruel mockery would 
 always say that help would be found, that life 
 surely existed, perhaps a pioneer's cabin or 
 a stockman's ranch, or a settlement that pio- 
 neers had made, only to reach the summit 
 and look ahead, and see nothing but a great 
 desolate expanse like that he had just left 
 behind. He had thus wandered along until, 
 starving and completely exhausted, he was 
 ready to sink down for the last time. But the 
 sight of water gave him new life, and, rushing 
 down the steep declivity, he flung himself by 
 the side of the current, burying his hot face 
 in the stream and drinking great draughts of 
 the sweet cool water, only to soon find that 
 the relief was temporary, that a dying, burn- 
 ing thirst had come upon him which could 
 not be quenched. Then he lay quietly on the 
 bank a moment, and looked up at the blue sky 
 
1 1 8 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 overhead; but the sun burned his haggard 
 face blacker, and, turning towards the stream, 
 he lay for a while and listened to the water 
 as it swished along beside him. Suddenly he 
 started up with a wild cry as a strange feeling 
 he could not tell what it was, only that it 
 seemed to speak of terror came over him, 
 and he dashed towards the top of the hill ; 
 then everything about him seemed whirling 
 around and around, and then all became dark- 
 ness. 
 
 When he looked up again the sun had gone 
 down, and it was twilight. 
 
 " I have been asleep," murmured the man. 
 " Such a bad dream I have had ! Oh, no ; it 
 was not a dream. I remember now ; I have 
 been lost-*-so long so long. How strange 
 everything seems about me. I think I think 
 I wonder if I am not going to die ? O God, 
 dear God, do not let me die here alone, 
 so far away from everybody, from every- 
 thing." 
 
 He raised up a littfe and rested on his elbow. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 119 
 
 As he did so, he uttered a faint cry, half of 
 fear, half of thankfulness. 
 
 But a short distance away, looking straight 
 down upon the helpless man, stood an Indian 
 boy of ten or twelve years. 
 
 The man beheld an exultant expression 
 upon the boy's face at first, but in another 
 instant it had changed to one of pity. His 
 wretched appearance, he thought, must have 
 touched the boy's heart ; but he did not know 
 that just as the boy was about to slay the 
 hated being of another race, the voice of a 
 little sister came ringing in his ears, "It is 
 better to love than to kill!" 
 
 Coming forward and bending over the half 
 prostrate man, the Indian boy said, 
 
 " I speak English. The aged father, the 
 prophet of our tribe, he speaks English. He 
 teach me how. I will help you." 
 
 " God bless you, little man," replied the 
 man, in a weak voice, " but I I do not want 
 help now. It is too late." 
 
 "Ah, you are weak. You want food. I 
 
I2O The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 will bring you some. Off there" indicating 
 with his hand " are my people. If they find 
 you, they kill kill." 
 
 " My little friend," said the man, " it is of 
 no use now, I am going fast away. But do 
 not do not leave me here to die alone. 
 Stay but a little while ; it will not be long." 
 
 The dying man stretched out a thin white 
 hand in the darkness that had now settled 
 down on the spot, and presently it rested on 
 the little object crouching at his side. 
 
 " My little friend," he continued, " we are 
 very foolish to fight and kill each other. Are 
 we not brothers ? Are we not alike ? When 
 all is sorrowful around the white man, does 
 not his heart become heavy? When grief 
 comes into the Indian's presence, does his soul 
 not cry out in anguish ? Are not our emo- 
 tions, our feelings, then, alike ? Yes ; we are 
 all as one. Long ago we wandered away 
 from each other, from the one Great Father 
 who placed us here. Now we have forgotten 
 each other. We do not understand each other 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 121 
 
 now. Hatred has come into our hearts, and 
 we shed each other's blood. Listen, my little 
 brother. The Great Father weeps at all this ; 
 his heart bleeds for his children who have 
 gone so far away from each other and from 
 him. Once he sent a Saviour into the world 
 to bring them all back to him again. When 
 this Saviour was born the angels came down 
 from heaven and filled the sky with radiant 
 light, and sang, ' Peace on earth, good-will to 
 men.' This Saviour, my little brother, came 
 into the world to take the hatred out of our 
 hearts and replace it with love. While yet a 
 boy, no older than yourself, he astonished 
 everybody with his wisdom and sweet dispo- 
 sition. When he became a man he went about 
 and made sad hearts happy, and men who 
 had hated each other before began to love 
 one another when he came among them. 
 And though he went away, his Holy Spirit 
 still remains, shedding abroad in men's hearts 
 the love of the Heavenly Father. Some day 
 white men will come to you and tell you of 
 
122 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 this Saviour, and if you are wise you will be- 
 lieve all they say to you. No, no, we must 
 not kill each other. It is very wrong ; it is 
 very wicked. // is better to love than to kill. 
 We must not hate each other. It should be 
 love, and not hate. ' Love one another,' was 
 what the Saviour said." 
 
 All became quiet. The Indian boy bent 
 closer down by the speaker and waited 
 eagerly for him to continue. But the man 
 never spoke in this world again. The 
 angel of death had come and taken his soul 
 away. 
 
 For hours the Indian boy sat by the dead 
 man's side. Into his heart there had crept a 
 deep longing for the Saviour he had just heard 
 about, and he wanted to learn more of him. 
 Again and again he repeated the man's words, 
 " While yet a boy, no older than yourself, he 
 astonished every body with his wisdom and 
 sweet disposition. When he became a man 
 he went about and made sad hearts happy, 
 and men who had hated each other before 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 123 
 
 began to love one another when he came 
 among them." 
 
 Then, of a sudden, he jumped up and clap- 
 ped his hands, and exclaimed, 
 
 " Why, the aged father the prophet of our 
 tribe has made a mistake. I must hasten 
 back to him and to my people, and tell them 
 of this, the real Messiah, who has already 
 come." 
 
 So this was how the Messiah came to the 
 Indians. 
 
 Among the people whose lodges are thrown 
 up around you, to-night, an Indian boy was 
 born. Among them his young life was spent. 
 In his childhood he was as other Indian boys. 
 He knew of no world other than his own, 
 save a mysterious land peopled with gods and 
 the spirits of those who had lived and died 
 on earth, an unknown region the story-tellers 
 were wont to speak to him about. He was 
 told of other races, strong and mighty, before 
 whose approach his people were disappearing 
 
1 24 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 like darkness before the light of day. A 
 chivalrous death, deeds of valor and of ven- 
 geance, these were held up to him to be 
 emulated, the things that made true great- 
 ness, and upon all races which did not so 
 believe he was taught to look with contempt. 
 
 That boy was myself. 
 
 One day some white men, who were not 
 like any we had ever seen before, came and 
 dwelt among us for a while, and when they 
 went away they took many of the boys and 
 myself with them. We were taken far to the 
 east to a great city, and there we were placed 
 in a large building, where we were told that a 
 new life was to be shown us, where we were 
 to be taught to become like the white people. 
 
 No sooner had I been so lifted up and 
 the training-school had wrought a complete 
 change in my being, than I became rilled 
 with ambition for noble attainment and to 
 plan and dream over what my life would be. 
 I said at first I would be a great man and win 
 a name for myself, as had many I constantly , 
 
T/te Story of a Western Claim. 125 
 
 read of in the white men's books. Then I 
 said I would be a poet (for it seemed as 
 though the power of a poet burned within me 
 when I remembered my race), one who would 
 cheer the hearts of his weary people with 
 song. When the school-course had been com- 
 pleted, and my mind had been strengthened 
 by the touch of Christian influence as well, I 
 realized the responsibility attached to me, 
 plainly I saw what my duty was. I returned 
 to my people. For a long time I tried to tell 
 them what I had learned in the schools, tried 
 to teach them to become like myself. Some 
 listened and respected me. A few followed 
 my example, but the majority laughed and 
 taunted. Were they to be blamed so much, 
 after all, when we remember that so many 
 had been injured and degraded by the baser 
 elements of civilization, and therefore unable, 
 or, it may be, unwilling, to discriminate be- 
 tween the false and the true, they spurned the 
 religion and the help of those who would be 
 their true friends ? I do not care to blame any 
 
1 26 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 one for what next followed ; but, thrown 
 among my old associates, trying to do a fruit- 
 less work, I grew doubtful and discouraged, 
 and gradually the old spirit came upon me. 
 Slowly I slipped back into the former life, 
 until at last I forgot God, lost hope, ambition, 
 plans and all, and have become as you see me 
 now. To-night there has come back to me all 
 the old longings, the strength, the purpose 
 that once was mine, and there also comes 
 this thought: already your race has found 
 its way to the border of our lands, and how 
 soon it will be when it shall have swept over 
 and around our very homes ! Now, the Indian 
 has a human heart. He loves his people, his 
 brothers, his little sisters. Home-life is sweet 
 and dear to him, peculiar and imperfect 
 though it may now be. As your race comes 
 to us, then, why may it not yet bring to him 
 its civilization and life? Why may not his 
 home be made sweeter still, purified and 
 more perfect? There is a simple way by 
 which this can be done, through the power 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 127 
 
 of love, that kind of love the Saviour brought 
 into the world, Divine love, which is not 
 checked by race or color, but draws all men 
 into one common fellowship, and where men 
 minister to each other's wants. My purpose 
 is to do what I can among my people to make 
 this possible, and why, in turn, may you not 
 do the same with yours ? This is my thought, 
 and this is my reason for coming to you 
 to-night. Shall we not meet as brothers, no 
 longer as foes ? 
 
128 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 AN OLD QUESTION AGAIN CONSIDERED. 
 
 THE act of Congress under which that 
 part of the Sioux reservation lying north of 
 the young claim-holders was opened to set- 
 tlement, and which allotted to the Indians 
 the remaining land in severalty, also giving 
 them the rights of citizenship, made the car- 
 rying out of a splendid project possible. 
 
 The first step to be taken was a trip to the 
 Indian agency, and all arrangements were 
 being made for a departure for that place in 
 the morning. Paul had gone over to the 
 frontier post-office for any mail that might 
 have come during the week, and Maynard 
 and George were out in the barn brushing 
 down one of the horses they had secured 
 from a neighbor that forenoon. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 29 
 
 "After all," said George, as he paused in 
 the work, " perhaps we are a little too enthu- 
 siastic over this matter, forgetting that many 
 have devoted long years towards solving the 
 Indian question, as it is called, and have 
 accomplished very little real apparent good. 
 So many obstacles are encountered when one 
 starts out to make true men out of any race 
 of uncivilized people." 
 
 " Lord Macaulay once wrote," replied May- 
 nard, " ' it is the nature of man to overrate 
 present evil and to underrate present good, 
 to long for what he has not, and to be dis- 
 satisfied with what he has. This propensity, 
 as it appears in individuals, has often been 
 noticed both by laughing and by weeping phi- 
 losophers. It was a favorite theme of Hor- 
 ace and of Pascal, of Voltaire and of Johnson. 
 We read in the most ancient of books that 
 a people bowed to the dust under a cruel 
 yoke, scourged to toil by hard taskmasters, 
 not supplied with straw, yet compelled to 
 furnish the daily tale of bricks, became sick 
 
1 30 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 of life, and raised such a cry of misery as 
 pierced the heavens. The slaves were won- 
 derfully set free. At the moment of their 
 liberation they raised a song of gratitude and 
 triumph ; but in a few hours they began to 
 regret their slavery, and to reproach the 
 leader who had decoyed them away from the 
 savory fare of the house of bondage to the 
 dreary waste which still separated them from 
 the land flowing with milk and honey.' It is 
 also the nature of man to look on the bright 
 side of things, instead of the dark; to learn 
 to be satisfied and patient, whatever his con- 
 dition, which the ' most ancient of books' 
 teaches, if it teaches anything. But let us not 
 forget to make allowance for this element of 
 discontent in human nature Macaulay has so 
 happily touched upon, that will surely exist, 
 no matter what remedies *we may apply for 
 the solution of the Indian question. Now, 
 let us consider the case of the Indians, be- 
 ginning first with a simple little illustration. 
 You remember that last spring we set out 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 3 1 
 
 two hundred young trees on Paul's tree 
 claim, and we expect to have quite a piece 
 of timbered land there some day. But we 
 did not make one of the trees, did we ? We 
 could only make the conditions favorable for 
 the tree's existence, setting it out properly 
 and giving it all the care needed until its 
 roots should take firm hold into the soil. 
 Now the rain feeds it, the sun warms it, and, 
 nurtured by all the forces of nature around 
 it, it is growing into a thing of natural life 
 itself. Transplanting men from barbarism to 
 civilization is a great deal like transplanting 
 trees from one soil to another. The best 
 results, of course, are to be with the child, 
 the young sprout, rather than the man, the 
 full-grown tree; but in either case we can- 
 not make the man himself any more than 
 we can make a tree. We can only make 
 the conditions favorable for the man's exist- 
 ence. So in the doing of this in the solving 
 of the Indian question there are two funda- 
 mental rules to be observed: i. We must 
 
132 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 aid him to become prepared to enter civ- 
 ilized life, by the establishing of training- 
 schools and proper systems of government. 
 2. We must give him the rights of citizen- 
 ship, and admit him to our society after such 
 preparation has been completed. We have 
 recognized the first rule in many instances, 
 but, alas, for the second ! Assuming just now, 
 however, that we have done our part, the 
 Indian must now do his. God has placed 
 within every human being the power to be- 
 come a man ; he has put upon him certain 
 obligations and responsibilities which must 
 be recognized if he would become a man. 
 He has endowed different men with different 
 elements of genius, the development of which 
 lies only with the possessor, and those things 
 which make the real man, whatever his 
 capabilities may be, such as character and 
 manhood, why these can only be fashioned 
 by the individual himself. So, then, there 
 must be first a desire on the part of the 
 Indian for civilization, a willingness to adapt 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 133 
 
 himself to the new conditions that become 
 thrown around him, and then a realization of 
 the principles we have just stated, and last, 
 but best of all, a determination to rely upon 
 his own strength and not too much upon 
 the strength of others.* But while man pos- 
 
 * I was talking with Rev. John P. Williamson, a 
 Presbyterian missionary among the Sioux, in regard to 
 a well-known young man of ihe Indian race, who was at 
 the time of our conversation employed as a government 
 physician among the Indians. " He is of the Santee 
 tribe," said Mr. Williamson, in substance, "who formerly 
 lived in Minnesota, where Redwood now is. When the 
 Minnesota massacre occurred, the Indians became scat- 
 tered, and he was taken up to Manitoba, being then about 
 six years old. When about twelve or thirteen, his father 
 brought him back to the Yankton Agency, where the 
 Santees are now living. Here he was placed in the 
 Presbyterian boarding-school, which was in my charge, 
 and it was then that he first came under my observation. 
 A marked difference was at once to be seen between 
 him and the other boys in the school. Life up in Mani- 
 toba, where the Indians are thrown on their own re- 
 sources, had developed within him a more independent, 
 self-reliant spirit, which, together with other natural 
 
134 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 sesses these elements of independence, and 
 is an individual by himself, just as the tree 
 is a separate, distinct thing in the physical 
 world, he needs the lives of other men, he 
 must come in contact with other men and 
 possess their society and fellowship, just as 
 the life and growth of the tree is dependent 
 upon the other forces of nature, air, rain, 
 and sunshine. On this principle of associa- 
 tion the weak become strong in the presence 
 of the strong, and the human mind becomes 
 developed and more comprehensive. This 
 brings us, then, again to the second rule I 
 have spoken of; and so let me ask how can 
 we ever expect the Indians, whom we look 
 upon as an inferior race of people, to make 
 much progress, if we do not observe it and 
 admit them to our society and companion- 
 ship. And so, too, by the way, we ought to 
 
 ability, made him superior to the other boys, and 
 without which no matter what other good qualities one 
 may possess one cannot overcome and attain to what 
 he has." 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 135 
 
 see the folly of placing the Indians upon 
 reservations, where whatever the other evils 
 may be as a result, and about which we hear 
 so much* contact with the civilized races 
 becomes impossible, and personal responsi- 
 bility and independent manhood must per- 
 force become eliminated from their nature. 
 The reservation system of government may 
 have its place when it seeks to carry out the 
 first rule stated.; when it makes employment 
 in the service possible for the Indians, f and 
 
 * While on a visit to the Pine Ridge Agency, last fall, I 
 was informed that Captain Brown, acting Indian agent, had 
 completely revolutionized the condition of things existing 
 previous to the late troubles at that point, and was carrying 
 out a policy of management that was meeting the approval 
 of both the Indians and the white people. So the thought 
 occurred to me that, after all, a great step towards solving 
 the Indian question lay in the simple, old-fashioned remedy 
 of having the '* right man in the right place," and if civil 
 service could be made of any avail, of keeping him there, 
 after he had been secured. 
 
 f Much of the work about the agencies and on the 
 reservation could be done by the Indians, instead of white 
 
1 36 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 leaves opportunity for a proper degree of 
 self-government ; * and when it endeavors to 
 instil into every mind the true spirit of civil- 
 ization ; but after the work has been accom- 
 plished the first rule must give way to the 
 second, which offers them the civilization for 
 which they have been prepared. If not, it 
 would be just as reasonable to keep a lot of 
 pupils in a school after their courses had been 
 completed, keeping them prisoners for life, 
 and never allowing them to crawl over the 
 school-yard walls into the busy world out- 
 side. But we frequently hear the argument 
 that the Indians can never be fully civilized, 
 that they are incapable of imbibing the in- 
 spiration that characterizes other races, and 
 we are pointed to various tribes in the East, 
 such as the Seneca nation, whose reservation 
 
 persons; and especially could the educated Indians be 
 employed as teachers and helpers in the boarding- and 
 day-schools. Indeed, while at Pine Ridge I was told that 
 the government was beginning to adopt this policy. 
 * See " Indians as Citizens," Appendix. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 137 
 
 lies in western New York, and on whose 
 lands the city of Salamanca, a community of 
 white people, exists, and yet the Indians them- 
 selves, who have apparently had the benefit of 
 civilization for years, have never, with the 
 exception of a few individuals, made much 
 comparative progress. If we look very 
 closely into this particular case, however, we 
 shall find that the Indians and the white 
 people do not enter into each other's society. 
 The Indians dwell in little huts along the 
 banks of the Alleghany River, coming into 
 town occasionally to sell their farm products 
 and bead-work, being looked upon with curi- 
 osity while there; and whenever an Indian 
 and a white person pass each other on the 
 highway, the first invariably casts his eyes 
 to the ground, or turns his face away and 
 marches stoically by. How different the 
 condition of these people might be, had there 
 been a warm friendship and more affiliation 
 between the two races in the past ! Nay, let 
 us not think that the Indians are an incapa- 
 
138 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 ble, inferior people. Within many a rough 
 shell a beautiful and priceless pearl is often 
 found. Among these children of the prairie 
 who can tell what pure and lofty sentiment 
 exists, what mind may dwell that only needs 
 to feel the touch of human sympathy and 
 love to shine forth in all its power and 
 become a blessing to mankind? Now, the 
 greatest trouble has always been, as we find 
 evidenced here on the frontier, that when we 
 first come in contact with the Indians, forget- 
 ting that centuries of animal life have made 
 him what he is, his whole appearance causes 
 us to turn from him in disgust. The set- 
 tlers, with but few exceptions, look upon 
 him with suspicion and contempt, and 
 hatred that becomes all the more intensified 
 when fired by the feeling that he is being 
 wronged, his spirit becomes aroused, and 
 he takes up his work of inhuman atrocity. 
 Again, we always judge the Indian race by 
 its worst element, forgetting that upon the 
 same principle we should have to call our- 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 1 39 
 
 selves outlaws because of the horse-thieves 
 and border ruffians that dwell among us, or 
 that back East the people must all be ir- 
 reclaimable because of the hardened criminals 
 that fill our prison-houses. Somehow or 
 other the ' advance guards of civilization' are 
 its worst elements, as a certain writer has 
 observed, the outlaw and the whiskey-bottle, 
 and by the time the missionary gets along 
 with his Bible the work has been done, the 
 seeds of bitter prejudice have been sown, 
 and reformation becomes almost impossible. 
 Hence it is, as the Indian boy has implied, 
 that, lied to, mistreated, and corrupted by un- 
 scrupulous white men, the Indians have often 
 spurned the white man's religion and civiliza- 
 tion. Having never as a race fully embraced 
 the Christian faith and enjoyed the happiness 
 that lies in a pure and perfect civilized life, 
 they prefer the wild, free condition that has 
 been theirs, where the Great Spirit is the 
 ruler over all, and where a deep and intense 
 love for the superstitious forms the faith and 
 
140 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 poetry of their lives. But, back of all these 
 prejudices, back of all these questions of 
 systems of government, of manhood, personal 
 responsibility and independence, back of all 
 I have mentioned, there lies another force 
 upon which all these principles rest, that of 
 Divine love in human hearts. What is Divine 
 love? Divine love is man's love for God. He 
 who loves God loves all that he has created. 
 The most insignificant, degraded being, still 
 retaining the breath of God within it, appeals 
 to his sympathy and love. So when this 
 Divine love comes into our hearts, we, who 
 had despised the Indian because of the un- 
 civilized life that had made him repulsive to 
 us, now come to love him, and we become 
 filled with a desire to lift him up and place 
 him upon an equal standing with ourselves. 
 And so, too, when there comes into the 
 Indian's soul the knowledge and love of the 
 only one true God, his heart becomes trans- 
 formed, and he no longer sees in the white 
 people deadly foes, but friends and brothers. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 141 
 
 And thus, you see, Divine love must come 
 into our hearts first, and sweep away all these 
 race prejudices and all the barriers that stand 
 in the way, and the matter of solving the 
 Indian question by the observing of the two 
 rules I have mentioned will then become 
 simple and easy enough." 
 
 " But the trouble is," said George, some- 
 what dryly, " Divine love is not common 
 enough in the hearts of men, especially out 
 here on the frontier ; and now, too, that this 
 wealth has come, will not its possession, as it 
 usually does, make many cold and selfish, and 
 make impossible the coming together of the 
 races in the manner we have been talking 
 about?" 
 
 " ' The love of money is the root of all 
 evil,' " replied Maynard ; " but the possession 
 of money is not of itself an &vil. The evil 
 depends upon the manner in which we obtain 
 it, our love for it, and the uses to which we 
 put it. Now, wealth has its legitimate place 
 in the world. It is the fruit of industry, and 
 
142 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 its purpose should be to, in turn, give life to 
 industry, just as life creates life. You have 
 probably seen by this time how necessary it 
 is that we should have capital to help us in 
 the advancement of this region. The gold 
 that is stored away in those hills across the 
 river may represent this capital, the wealth 
 in the East, that is the product of our 
 country's industry ; and if a portion of it 
 were out on its proper mission, that of crea- 
 ting enterprise and business in the West by 
 natural and legitimate investment, instead of 
 being used for selfish purposes at home, what 
 a hum of industry and a time of prosperity 
 would begin all over these out-of-the-way 
 regions. I suppose that some of the settlers, 
 having had a rough time of it, will now con- 
 sider themselves privileged to get all the per- 
 sonal enjoyment they can, regardless of other 
 people's condition ; but if we do our part in 
 this matter, I think you will see many others 
 following our example." 
 
 " Let us look directly at the young Indians, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 143 
 
 the sprouts, as you call them," said. George. 
 " It has always seemed too bad to me, that in 
 almost every instance where they go back to 
 the agencies (and they never go anywhere 
 else) from the schools, in a very short time 
 they have fallen back into their old life and 
 customs. For a long time I have been per- 
 plexed at this, and sometimes have been ready 
 to believe, with many others, that such a thing 
 as the elevation of the race is impossible. But 
 I think I can see into it a little better now. 
 The young Indian, after leaving school, finds 
 himself in a trying position, and feels that he 
 is looked upon as a peculiar personage, and 
 out of place among the white people. In a 
 world where there seems to be so much com- 
 petition, and where so many seem unable to 
 obtain a foothold, he sees then but little hope 
 of his ever getting a start of any kind. So 
 he returns to the reservation, sometimes for 
 the purpose of helping his people in some 
 way, but more often because of love for his 
 own kind and a longing for the companion- 
 
 10 
 
144 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 ship which there awaits him, and which he 
 cannot find anywhere else. Back again at the 
 agency he finds but little to do, no employ- 
 ment or opportunity for being industrious. In 
 his Christian life he receives but little en- 
 couragement from his own people. It is sel- 
 dom that he comes in contact with any Chris- 
 tian white person, aside from the missionary 
 who may be stationed among the Indians. 
 The white people who visit the agencies 
 usually come out of curiosity, to hunt out 
 some of the noted Indian characters they 
 have heard and read about ; to behold the 
 Indian in his native state ; to load themselves 
 down with his handiwork, and then to go 
 away to write a book, perhaps, or a long 
 article for their home newspaper about ' Lo ! 
 the poor Indian; how he lives/ but more 
 often on how he don't live. No thought is 
 given to the Christian young Indian, who 
 might have been helped so much by a word 
 of encouragement, or a little friendly recog- 
 nition from these same people, as well as the 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 145 
 
 settlers who live nearer to him. A man is 
 largely what his environment is. With but 
 little to elevate him, and everything tending 
 to drag him down, what wonder is it that he 
 so often falls back into the old condition ?" 
 
 " As a man needs the companionship of 
 others," answered Maynard, " so, too, is he 
 very apt to be what his society is ; yet, wher- 
 ever that society is at fault, the individual, 
 strengthened and quickened by God's Holy 
 Spirit, may be the very opposite to those 
 around him, and, instead of being influenced 
 by his surroundings, may often draw others 
 unto himself, and bring his surroundings up 
 to his own standard. Whatever may be the 
 condition of things in civilized communities, 
 it need have no bearing upon the educated 
 Indian's case. His province lies at home, 
 where, in the advancement of his race, his 
 services will be of incalculable value, in fact, 
 indispensable. * We have been observing the 
 
 * Under the instruction of one of his own race, it would 
 seem that an Indian would make better progress than 
 
146 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 first rule that I mentioned by the establishing 
 of training-schools for a good many years, 
 until now there is no telling how many of 
 these educated Indians there are upon the 
 different reservations. It seems as though 
 the time had come, at least where in close 
 neighborhood to the white communities, that 
 the second rule should now be carried out, 
 and that the Indian should enter citizenship 
 and become a part of our society. The law 
 that Congress has just passed makes this 
 
 possible " 
 
 " Pardon me for interrupting," said George, 
 " but I understand that this law does not 
 give the Indian a clear title to his land until 
 twenty-five years have elapsed, the best part 
 
 beneath a white person. The first would certainly better 
 understand the nature, and know just the needs of, and take 
 a deeper interest in lifting up one of his own people, and 
 inspire in them a greater disposition to advance ; while 
 both would be more apt to possess each other's confidence 
 and friendship, a very necessary relationship that should 
 exist between two parties trying to accomplish anything, 
 and which is too often lacking under any other condition. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 147 
 
 of a life, and even then the President has 
 the power to further extend the time, and 
 that all the moneys derived from sales of his 
 surplus property are deposited in the United 
 States Treasury for the same period, the 
 principal and interest being appropriated 
 from time to time by Congress for his benefit. 
 It seems to me that this is not so much of 
 an improvement upon the old system, after 
 all. He simply continues on a ward of the 
 government, under different conditions, only 
 with the prospect of breaking the final chain 
 of bondage, if he can hold out another quar- 
 ter of a century. We are told that this 
 arrangement will throw a wall of safeguard 
 around him against unscrupulous white men, 
 and that by the time he comes into the full 
 ownership of his property, the conditions 
 shall have become changed, and he will be 
 more able to assume the responsibility of 
 owning a thing himself. There may be 
 something in this argument where it applies 
 to many of the Indians, but here is where 
 
148 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 we again fall into the common error of treat- 
 ing them all alike. When this measure was 
 
 * 
 
 being debated in Congress, the question 
 arose as to whether or not it should apply 
 to the five tribes more civilized than the 
 others, and it was the sense of nearly all 
 the members of that body that it would be 
 an outrage to include them within its pro- 
 visions. Now, the same might be said as 
 to many individuals in all the other tribes, 
 these educated ones whom we have been 
 talking about, from whom it would be quite 
 as unjust to deprive the highest privilege of 
 citizenship, that of the right of ownership 
 in land and its value." 
 
 " Rome was not built in a day," replied 
 Maynard. " Neither do complete reforms 
 come at a single bound, however much we 
 would like to have them. Whatever there 
 may be defective in this measure, it can 
 only be best learned by putting the law 
 into operation, and then remedied by further 
 acts of legislation. As the law now stands, 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 149 
 
 any individual Indian can take a fee-simple 
 to a certain quantity of land, sufficient for 
 him to make a living upon, and become a 
 citizen of the United States. Whenever a 
 majority of all the male Indians on any res- 
 ervation desire it, the reservation can be 
 
 
 abolished, and the lands allotted in severalty 
 to them ; and as soon as the allotment is 
 made the allottee becomes a citizen of the 
 United States, and the law protects him as 
 it does any other citizen. ' While he does 
 not receive a full patent to his land at first, 
 the same is made inalienable and non-taxable/ 
 as a member of Congress has expressed it, 
 'for a sufficient length of time for the new 
 citizen to become accustomed to his new 
 life ; to learn his rights as a citizen, and 
 prepare himself to cope on an equal foot- 
 ing with any white man who might attempt 
 to cheat him out of his newly-acquired 
 property.' This law, however, brings about 
 a new system that is a vast improvement 
 on the old one, as it abolishes the reserva- 
 
1 50 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 tion, and establishes a condition where per- 
 sonal responsibility and citizenship becomes 
 possible, and where, best of all, the two 
 races may be brought more in contact with 
 each other. Now, in this present case, as 
 the Indians whom we are directly inter- 
 ested in take the first step necessary, we 
 should stand ready to do our part and wel- 
 come them to our society. The purpose 
 of wealth, besides, I have said, is to create 
 industry. Upon industry depends the ex- 
 istence of mankind, and the Indian, like 
 the rest of humanity, must have something 
 to do. With the wealth that has come into 
 our possession, we, too, can help to make 
 this possible, aiding him in more ways than 
 one, and not simply look upon this as a 
 matter to be settled by the Indian and the 
 government alone." * 
 
 " But gold-mines are not to be found at 
 every turn," said George, smiling, " and I 
 
 * See " Indians as Citizens," Appendix. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 151 
 
 should not be surprised, after all, if many 
 of the Indians at this point should hesitate 
 about entering citizenship. And more so, 
 because much of the land in the reserva- 
 tion is not one flowing with milk and honey ; 
 on the contrary, it runs more to sand than 
 anything else, and it is not the best in the 
 world for farming. There is but little mar- 
 ket for anything that might be raised, any- 
 how, and as the new step would mean the 
 severing of all tribal relationship, the doing 
 away of long-established forms and customs, 
 and the giving up of many claims upon 
 the government, it is very likely that few 
 would care to exchange their present con- 
 dition for the one proposed." 
 
 " I have already spoken of the general 
 good that would come to all by our maintain- 
 ing the proper relationship that should exist 
 between man and man," replied Maynard, 
 "and if this is observed to the letter the 
 severing of tribal relationship and the doing 
 away of old forms and customs would only 
 
152 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 mean the bringing in of a new condition, 
 the one which the Indian boy is so anxious his 
 people should possess, where the Indian's 
 home-life would still be retained, purified, 
 and made more perfect. There was once a 
 time, and not very long ago, either, when 
 the greater part of this State where we now 
 are was included in the great American 
 Desert, and regarded as worthless, arid 
 wastes of l#nd ; but when immigration entered 
 upon it, although there were many sandy 
 regions, plenty of available territory was 
 found that is now covered with thrifty farms 
 and towns. So it will be with the land on 
 the reservation. But as it required long 
 days, and years, too, of hard toil and priva- 
 tion to make our best regions what they 
 are, so will there have to be, in many cases, 
 first, the same expenditure of energy, and 
 the undergoing of trial and sacrifice, in the 
 building up of all this new country. The 
 better things in this world are only obtained 
 at a cost, and the things most appreciated 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 153 
 
 are those for which there has to be a strug- 
 gle. And the best manhood is that which 
 is moulded by such experience, and has 
 within it the elements of independence, of 
 ruggedness, and of will. I think," concluded 
 Maynard, with a smile, " that two young 
 men, not a thousand miles from here, have 
 learned this lesson well during the last year, 
 and it would be a good thing if every young 
 Indian, as well as every other young man, 
 could go through the same experience." 
 
 The clatter of horses' hoofs was heard 
 coming along the bottom-lands from the di- 
 rection of the post-office, growing louder and 
 nearer until a horse dashed around the cor- 
 ner of the barn and came to a halt, and Paul, 
 once more the picture of health, and his face 
 flushed for the moment from the ride, dis- 
 mounted. 
 
 " Here's some important mail for you, 
 George," he said, coming forward and hand- 
 ing him a long envelope that bore the name 
 
154 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 of Barton Brothers, publishers, in the upper 
 left-hand corner. 
 
 Tremulously George tore away one end, 
 and drew out a letter, the reading of which 
 sent his blood to fever-heat : 
 
 "OFFICE OF BARTON BROS., PUBLISHERS. 
 BOSTON, August , 18 . 
 
 " MR. GEORGE ELDREDGE : 
 
 "DEAR SIR, We are well pleased with your work. 
 Enclosed find check for seventy-five dollars for same. Sur- 
 prised to hear from you in that part of the world. Have 
 talked the matter over with Henry Barton, and we have 
 decided to offer you the associate editorship of our monthly 
 magazine, The Literary Review. Let us hear from you as 
 
 soon as possible. 
 
 " Yours very truly, 
 
 " ROBERT BARTON." 
 
 The poem he had sent away while Paul 
 was sick had been accepted, and that Robert 
 Barton, junior member of the firm of Barton 
 Brothers, publishers, should make him such 
 an offer as this, he could hardly believe it. 
 
 A light burned late in the young claim- 
 holders' cabin. Paul and Maynard had long 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 155 
 
 since gone to bed, hoping to get a good 
 night's rest before the start for the agency in 
 the morning ; but why does George still sit 
 by the side of the rough table, looking pale, 
 and with an unnatural, burning brightness in 
 his eyes, and why every few moments does 
 he start up and pace the floor in a troubled 
 manner? 
 
 " After all," he is saying, " this may be a 
 delusion. This gold find may prove, as often 
 is the case, of no account. And then what ? 
 Just where we were before, without much 
 money, without help, almost without hope. 
 The check I have just received will take 
 Paul and me both East. Once there, once 
 deep in the work that has been so long dear 
 to my heart, who can tell what a bright 
 record I may make for myself? Yes, I'll " 
 
 He stopped suddenly, as though something 
 sharp had stung his conscience, just as he 
 had done several times before. 
 
 " But how can I leave him ?" he said ; " his 
 thoughts and motives were so like my own." 
 
156 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 He went over to his little trunk, and open- 
 ing it, took out the Indian boy's manuscripts. 
 
 " Yes, here are the lines," he said, presently. 
 " ' I would be a great man, I said at first, and 
 win a name for myself, as had many I con- 
 stantly read of in the white men's books. 
 Then I said I would be a poet (for it seemed 
 as though the power of a poet burned within 
 me when I remembered my race), one who 
 would cheer the hearts of his weary people 
 with song.' The poet and the writer have 
 their place in the world," he said, as he rolled 
 the papers up and put them back in the 
 trunk; "and their greatest mission is to 
 cheer the hearts of their weary people with 
 song." 
 
 He went to the door and stepped out. The 
 sky was one mass of stars. As he looked 
 up a tiny orb swept through the heavens and 
 left a long trail of fire for a moment in its 
 wake. . 
 
 " But so much for selfish fame," he added, 
 " seeking only that its name shall be praised. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 157 
 
 * 
 
 Like the shooting-star, it may trail its bright- 
 ness before the minds of men for a little 
 while, and then it dies out and is heard of no 
 more. I shall wait awhile. There is other 
 work for me to do here. The boy waits for 
 me among his people. I will go to him." 
 
 For a long time he stood, his arms folded, 
 immovable. Then suddenly he breathed out 
 these words : 
 
 " "Why, who would strive for fame or gain, 
 When so much darkness, tears, and pain 
 
 Weigh down on human souls ? 
 'Twere better far to live unknown, 
 Aye, share awhile the humblest home, 
 
 Where dwelleth struggling human souls, 
 If such are pointed to the light 
 That leadeth out of darkest night, 
 
 And guideth every human soul, 
 Who, looking into brighter skies, 
 Shall find no longer death, pain or sighs, 
 
 But life and hope for every soul." 
 
1 5 8 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 THE day for the distribution of cattle to 
 the Indians had come again. Over at the 
 corral, a mile from the agency, where the 
 government herd was quartered, everything 
 was being made ready for the issue. Govern- 
 ment officials superior gave orders here and 
 there, and government officials subordinate 
 hastened to obey them. Indians of all sizes, 
 ages, and description from the little " pap- 
 poose," who looked over his mother's shoul- 
 der, and blinked curiously out of his little 
 eyes, to the scarred old veteran of the plains, 
 the noblest Roman of them all, who, wrapped 
 in his government toga, deigned to take but 
 a passive interest in what was going on about 
 him were gathered around the entrance to 
 the enclosure in groups, chatting, and waiting 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 159 
 
 patiently for the issue to commence. The 
 ones who had been selected to receive the 
 cattle were mounted on horseback and 
 equipped with Winchester rifles, wearing belts 
 around their waists well supplied with car- 
 tridges. Brightly attired, besides, in many 
 instances, they rode to and fro, winning 
 glances of admiration from the assemblage, 
 and exciting the envy of the small-boy 
 Indian, who for some reason or other seemed 
 not to be included among those signalled out 
 as objects for reformation in the boarding- 
 school at the agency. 
 
 While the spirit of sociability and great 
 expectancy thus brooded over the spot, a 
 grave-looking old man mounted a wagon and 
 commenced to pour out a harangue in a dry, 
 monotonous tone of voice. It was the same 
 old story he had to offer, the same old 
 expression of discontent, the same old 
 charges of mismanagement and unfairness on 
 the part of the government in its dealings 
 with the Indians. In a few moments he was 
 ii 
 
160 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 surrounded by a group of auditors who 
 listened eagerly to all that he had to say. No 
 sooner had he ceased speaking than another 
 took his place. The second person, unlike 
 the first, was of the nervous, emotional 
 character, and commenced to talk rapidly and 
 ramblingly, emphasizing his words with many 
 wild gestures. It was observable, too, that he 
 made no impression upon the listeners, who 
 only shook their heads at each other with a 
 smile and gradually withdrew, until very soon 
 the poor fellow was addressing nothing but 
 space. 
 
 "That man is a little crazy," said a by- 
 stander. " He isn't just right. He's full of 
 schemes that's going to solve the Indian 
 question and take the Indians all out of their 
 troubles. But he's one of these fellows that 
 catches on to the tail end of a movement or 
 agitation of any kind after it is all over, and 
 clings to it with the ardor and enthusiasm of 
 the most earnest advocate of anything. It 
 appears now that all the rations for the 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 161 
 
 Indians upon this reservation used to be dis- 
 tributed entirely at this agency, on which 
 occasion the Indians would be gathered in 
 large numbers. This coming together always 
 meant the holding of councils, the making of 
 speeches, and the occurrence of incidents that 
 only tended to create a dissatisfied spirit 
 among the Indians. The government, in its 
 effort to get the Indians more scattered and 
 settled upon the reservation, and to dis- 
 courage this spirit as much as possible, has 
 separated the reservation into districts, with a 
 sub-agency in each, and where the Indians of 
 which now receive their rations. There was 
 considerable opposition from the Indians, of 
 course, at the time of the change, but it has 
 all died out now, and everybody appears to 
 be satisfied, excepting the old fellow we just 
 heard. It seems," concluded the speaker with 
 a laugh, " that he wants somebody to write a 
 letter to the President at Washington, and see 
 if something can't be done and the old system 
 again established." 
 
1 62 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 "Perhaps," remarked another by-stander, 
 " he may not be such a fool as one might 
 imagine. Many a fool turns out to be a 
 genius in this world. Many a leader of a 
 forlorn hope has proven a great benefactor to 
 humanity by still clinging to that hope, after 
 every one else had deserted it. However 
 short-sighted or mistaken this individual may 
 appear, he may be filling a place in the world 
 by keeping alive a sentiment that will some 
 day touch the hearts of those more able to 
 see and understand and carry out just what 
 should be to the best interests of his 
 people." 
 
 The first speaker was a settler who lived 
 in close neighborhood to the agency, and 
 the second none other than George Eldredge, 
 who, together with Paul and Maynard, had 
 driven up to the corral that morning after a 
 three days' journey from home and were now 
 on their way to the agency. 
 
 Just as he spoke there was a commotion, 
 indicating that the issue was to commence. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 163 
 
 At the entrance to the corral, the mounted 
 Indians had formed in two rows facing each 
 other, making a gauntlet through which the 
 cattle were to pass when coming out. The 
 gate was thrown open. Inside the enclosure 
 mounted horsemen commenced to halloo and 
 beat the backs of the cattle. There was a 
 sound of bellowing and the scraping of horns 
 against the sides of the corral. Then a 
 scared-looking animal appeared in the gate- 
 way, looked confused for a moment, and 
 seemed disposed to retire from whence he 
 came, but the herd was pushing behind, and 
 retreat impossible. So he plucked up cour- 
 age and dashed down between the two 
 rows of horsemen, and started for the open 
 prairie. As he did so a clerk, stationed in a 
 little booth at the entrance, called out the 
 name of an Indian. A figure darted away 
 from one of the lines, and sped after the 
 luckless animal. As he brought up by the 
 side of his victim, he levelled his gun at him ; 
 there was a sharp report, then another, and 
 
164 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 then the animal stumbled and fell.* This was 
 repeated, until in a few moments the prairie 
 was swarming with cattle running in every 
 direction, hotly pursued by the Indians. 
 
 In the course of an hour the issue was 
 completed. Some of the Indians, instead of 
 killing their cattle on the spot, urged them 
 over the hills and drove them away, but the 
 majority shot their game down and butch- 
 ered it where it fell. Cutting the meat into 
 long strips and piling it on the back of a 
 pony, an Indian would start for home, pulling 
 the animal along by a long rope tied to the 
 halter. 
 
 Over at the agency, an hour after the issue, 
 everything was animation in and around the 
 trading-stores, where the Indians were arrayed 
 in bright and some not so bright cos- 
 tumes, smoking cigarettes, and ranged along 
 the counters, inspecting everything upon the 
 
 * At the Pine Ridge Agency this method of issuing cattle 
 was discontinued several months ago. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 165 
 
 shelves which the clerks would show them, 
 and sitting around, shrouded in blankets, on 
 the sidewalks outside. I suppose there was 
 much going on to, interest the average 
 stranger, but Maynard and the young settlers 
 took no note of it. They were too eager to 
 find the object of their search, and when they 
 reached the agency they drove at once to the 
 Indian agent's head-quarters, in a long red 
 wooden building, a few rods from the trading- 
 stores. To their dismay, however, they 
 learned that the agent had gone away to one 
 of the sub-agencies, and would not be back 
 until the next day. " There are so many 
 cases of this kind," said the clerl; with whom 
 they talked, " and as the boy did not give 
 you his name, it would be better for us not 
 to attempt to find him until the agent returns, 
 who will help us and authorize us to make 
 the search." 
 
 All that day George hung about the 
 trading-stores, looking into the face of every 
 young Indian he encountered, only to meet 
 
1 66 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 with disappointment each time. " People 
 say," he once said to Paul, " that all Indians 
 look alike; but that face, those bright eyes, 
 why I will never forget how he looked that 
 night. I could pick him out from among a 
 thousand others." 
 
 Late in the afternoon he went down to the 
 little hotel, where the party had concluded to 
 stop while awaiting the agent's return. 
 
 His two friends had gone over to the board- 
 ing-school, the hotel-keeper told him, and left 
 word for him to come over there and join 
 them. 
 
 " I'm feeling a little tired out," said George, 
 as he threw mmself into a chair. " I guess 
 I'll stay here until they get back." 
 
 He picked up a paper lying upon the table, 
 but threw it down again a little later as an 
 Indian entered at the office door and came 
 rapidly towards him. George saw at once 
 that it was the erratic one of the two speakers 
 who that morning had been haranguing the 
 Indians at the government corral. Coming 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 167 
 
 forward until he stood directly before George, 
 the Indian placed his hands upon his own 
 lips, shook his head in a negative manner, 
 then he made a circle around his heart, then 
 raising his hand, he pointed directly upward. 
 " Now, what in the world does he want ?" 
 thought George. " If the hotel-keeper had 
 not stepped out he could tell all right. Oh, I 
 have it. Touching his lips and shaking his 
 head means that he cannot speak my language. 
 Making a circle round his heart, pointing up 
 to the heavens to the Great Spirit, probably 
 means friendship, and very likely he wants 
 me to write that letter to the great father at 
 Washington." He took out his pencil and 
 pointed to some paper on the table ; but the 
 Indian shook his head as if to say no. A 
 pause followed. Then the Indian again went 
 through the curious motions, and finally 
 beckoned, as if to come. " He wants me to 
 go somewhere," said George. " Well, I'll go 
 and see what he wants." Passing out from 
 the hotel, the two walked down the street of 
 
1 68 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 the agency until they came to a cluster of 
 log-houses George had noticed as the party 
 entered the agency that morning. Going up 
 to the door of one of these the Indian entered, 
 and, as George followed, a long object, lying 
 upon a bunk in one end of the room and 
 covered with a blanket, was the first thing 
 that met his eyes. The Indian made long 
 strides to the head of the bunk, and then 
 turning around and facing George, but first 
 again placing his fingers upon his lips, making 
 a circle around his heart and pointing towards 
 heaven, he drew aside the blanket, and there, 
 with a stony cast upon his face and the bright- 
 ness gone out of his eyes, lay the boy for 
 whom the young settler had looked that 
 day, dead ! gone out of this world and into 
 another, where it is good to believe that man 
 is no longer arrayed against and misunder- 
 stands his fellow-man. For a moment George 
 stood rooted to the spot. It had come so sud- 
 den. He could not move. A choking sen- 
 sation came over him, and he could not speak. 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. \ 69 
 
 Then he recovered himself, and as he bent 
 over the dead young face he could not help 
 saying, " Dear friend, was it for this we toiled 
 and hoped and waited ? Oh, what must death 
 be in the world for, anyhow ?" 
 
 As he turned away his glance fell upon an 
 open Bible lying upon a little table near the 
 head of the bed. He took the book up, and 
 upon the page these were the words he read, 
 underscored with heavy lines, 
 
 " Let not your heart be troubled ; ye believe in 
 God, believe also in me. In my Father s house 
 are many mansions ; if it were not so, I would 
 have told you. I go to prepare a place for 
 you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, 
 I will come again and receive you unto myself; 
 that where I am there ye may be also'' 
 
 The words of our Saviour spoken to his 
 disciples before he went away, what consola- 
 tion they have brought to many a troubled 
 heart ! 
 
 The tears streamed from George's eyes as 
 he read, and again turning over the leaves he 
 
170 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 came to this passage in the Book of Reve- 
 lation, also heavily underlined, 
 
 "And I saw a neiv heaven, and a new eartli ; 
 for the first heaven and the first earth were 
 passed away ; and there was no more sea. And 
 I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming 
 down from God out of heaven, prepared as a 
 bride adorned for her husband. And I heard 
 a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the 
 tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell 
 with them, and they shall be his people, and God 
 himself shall be with them, and be their God. 
 And God shall wipe away all tears from their 
 eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither 
 sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any 
 more pain ; for the former things are passed 
 away." 
 
 He was about to close, the book, but 
 something inscribed on the cover within 
 caught his glance, and there, wonders upon 
 wonders, was the very poem he had written 
 some time before, in the Indian boy's own 
 handwriting, the closing words of which 
 
The Story of a Western Claim. 171 
 
 stood out more prominent than any of the 
 others, 
 
 When mortal man has turned to clay ; 
 When proud and meek have gone their way ; 
 When weak and strong, and bond and free 
 Are gathered down at death's dark sea ; 
 Then he whose faith's been greatest tried 
 Shall gain the best and brightest side. 
 
 He laid the book down, astonished and 
 bewildered, and as he did so he heard the 
 very words uttered he had spoken on one 
 occasion to Paul, 
 
 " In human life men plan and build as 
 though it were eternal, forgetting that death 
 is in the world ; and even as we build the 
 silent reaper comes along and takes us away, 
 and all that we have constructed soon passes 
 into decay. How much better it is, then, to 
 look beyond this life and build for that eter- 
 nity which awaits us beyond the grave. 
 Human life has its purpose, and the chief end 
 of man is to glorify God. Just as we do this, 
 then, and practise the heavenly virtues in 
 
172 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 mortal life, we shall be called to have a part 
 in that higher, immortal existence, which 
 knows no ending, where death and decay 
 shall never enter." 
 
 He turned towards the Indian with whom 
 he had entered the room, for it was he who 
 had spoken, and as he looked upon him a mist 
 swam before his eyes; then everything sud- 
 denly seemed in a whirl, and then he became 
 aware that he was sitting in the office of the 
 agency hotel. As he started up and looked 
 around, the hotel-keeper entered the door, 
 saying, " Well, woke up, have you ? Went 
 out a while ago and left you asleep in your 
 chair. Hope you had a good rest. Supper 
 is all ready ; but your friends haven't got back 
 yet. Guess they must have went from the 
 school-house across the valley, to where Red 
 Cloud lives. They'll probably be here soon." 
 
 George made no reply, but went to the door. 
 The sun had sunk away and twilight was set- 
 tling down upon the spot. A feeling of utter 
 loneliness had taken possession of him, that 
 
Tlie Story of a Western Claim. 173 
 
 became all the more intensified as he looked 
 out upon the deserted street, the sombre 
 buildings, and the desolate wastes of land 
 that stretched away in every direction. Sud- 
 denly the ringing of the mission-bell broke 
 the stillness, calling the members to evening 
 worship. Led by some irresistible impulse, 
 George started in the direction from whence 
 the sound came, and in a few moments stood 
 on the threshold of the little building. Ser- 
 vice had begun as he entered, and he stepped 
 quickly to one of the rear seats just as the 
 whole assemblage bowed their heads in prayer. 
 When he looked up again he gave a great 
 start, for there, standing before the congre- 
 gation with an open Bible in his hands, stood 
 the one for whom he sought. 
 
 When the service was over that evening, 
 another occurred where only two were met 
 together in His name, that must have caused 
 the hosts of heaven to rejoice. 
 
 " I see you have commenced your part of 
 the proposition," said George, when the first 
 
1/4 The Story of a Western Claim. 
 
 greetings were over ; " I have come to begin 
 mine." 
 
 " May God bless and help us both !" was 
 the reply. 
 
 And the agreement was further sealed by 
 clasped hands. 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE following extracts are taken from a little 
 treatise, entitled "The Future Indian," pub- 
 lished by the author at the time of the Messiah 
 craze among the Indian tribes of the West, in 
 the fall and winter of 1890-91, and the attendant 
 troubles with the Sioux at Pine Ridge and Stand- 
 ing Rock Agencies : 
 
 GLIMPSES OF THE BAD INDIAN. 
 
 . . . Let us glance for a moment at the "bad 
 Indian." In the summer of 1886 I was living in 
 Gordon, Nebraska, a settlement which sprung up 
 on the Fremont, Elkhorn and Missouri Valley 
 Railroad when that line pushed into the north- 
 western part of the State and the Black Hills. 
 Owing to its close position to the Pine Ridge 
 Indian Agency, the government established an 
 Indian freight depot at that point, afterwards 
 moving it to Rushville, an adjoining town. 
 Gordon soon became a favorite lounging-place 
 
 12 175 
 
176 Appendix. 
 
 for many of the Indians, and seldom a day went 
 by when some of them were not in town with 
 their squaws and ' ' pappooses. ' ' I never saw any- 
 thing in these Indians of an inspiring nature. 
 Excepting the freight-carriers, they did not rep- 
 resent a very industrious element. In fact, they 
 were not of the progressive ones, who generally 
 stay more at home and take care of their lands 
 and ponies. They belonged to the bad Indian 
 class, the bad Indian as I saw him, for those 
 were "weak, piping times of peace," and the 
 ghost dance was not yet on to rouse the warrior 
 spirit sleeping within him. Lazy, dissolute fel- 
 lows, they would shroud themselves in a blanket 
 on a hot day, and lean against the side of a 
 building, and stand motionless as a statue for 
 hours, and then, overcome by so laborious an 
 undertaking, would amble off towards their tee- 
 pees, and lie down on the prairie, to soon drop 
 into a sweet, peaceful slumber. Meanwhile, the 
 squaws would be running around doing all the 
 work necessary. 
 
 Even the best of the Indians are disposed to 
 shift all the hard work on the squaws, and the 
 
Appendix. 177 
 
 freight-carrier especially finds her a helpmeet, 
 indeed, in his business. Once I saw a squaw 
 coming up the street, bent almost to the ground, 
 with a heavy wooden bedstead on her back, while 
 her liege lord marched on in advance with all the 
 dignity of a general whose duty it was to direct 
 but not take active part in the campaign of work. 
 
 One day a band of Indians came over from the 
 agency and gave an Omaha dance. It was a novel 
 exhibition, and the people of the town raised a 
 collection of nearly a hundred dollars for the 
 performers. The Indians departed, happy as kings 
 are supposed to be, but a week had hardly passed 
 when they again put in an appearance, ready to 
 give another performance, providing they should 
 be as liberally rewarded as on the first occasion. 
 
 There was one old fellow, who cast his fortunes 
 with the people of Gordon, named Thunder 
 Hawk, an ex-warrior. He belonged properly at 
 the Rosebud agency, where he was implicated 
 in some way with the murder of Spotted Tail, 
 and at his trial was banished from his own tribe 
 and sent to Pine Ridge. An inveterate and 
 shrewd gambler, he won from the Pine Ridge 
 
1/8 Appendix. 
 
 Indians their ponies and blankets so completely 
 that they arose in a body and drove him away 
 from the reservation. So he came to Gordon, 
 where he remained for a long time, haunting the 
 saloons and gambling-resorts, and many a time 
 fleecing some dnhnmer or travelling man who 
 mistook him for an innocent and endeavored to 
 show him how to play pool and poker. 
 
 In the obtaining of rations, the bad Indian, it 
 seems, manages to even up sometimes with the 
 Indian agent for the deception and injustice 
 which we are told that official is guilty of, and 
 when a census is taken of the Indians it is not 
 uncommon, I am informed, for many to loan 
 their children to each other, and thus have their 
 families rated much higher than they really are. 
 
 Well, perhaps the reader has been shown 
 enough of the bad traits of the Indian. I allude 
 to them here, because when we take up the In- 
 dian question we ought not to conceal anything. 
 The best act we can do the Indians is to expose 
 and condemn that which is subtle and deceptive 
 in their nature, and point out and persuade them 
 to abandon all that is lamentable, weak, and fool- 
 
Appendix. 179 
 
 ish. But in the work of reformation we should 
 not judge the whole race by the bad Indian or 
 the hopeless cases. As well might we apply the 
 same principle to ourselves, where we have only 
 to go down into the slums in our midst to find 
 men sunk lower than the brutes, men whose de- 
 pravity would put to blush the meanest Indian 
 that ever lived. We shudder at the atrocities 
 which an Indian will commit, and yet every day 
 we read in the newspapers of crimes by civilized 
 man just as fiendish and brutal. The Indian, of 
 course, should come out into the clear light of 
 Knowledge and Wisdom, into that state unclouded 
 by ignorance and superstition, into that manhood 
 possessing moral responsibility and a desire for 
 all that is high and noble ; but it will be with 
 him then, as it has always been with us, and he 
 will fall and suffer, as we have fallen- and suffered, 
 whenever he accepts the Wrong in preference to 
 the Right. 
 
 * * 
 
 ANOTHER OUTBREAK. 
 
 Another "Indian outbreak," not unattended 
 with destruction to human life, has occurred in 
 
i8o Appendix. 
 
 the West, this time among the Sioux. But, 
 happily, through a wise and conservative policy, 
 the troubles were brought speedily to an end, 
 and a prolonged Indian war has been averted. 
 During these troubles, charges of mismanage- 
 ment and of injustice to the Indians came from 
 sources that must be respected. Men do not usu- 
 ally go to war without some good reason. These 
 Indians had some cause for their action, as has 
 been clearly shown during the last four months. 
 And now this question is before us : What are we 
 going to do about it? Are there simply to be 
 a series of receptions to the representatives of a 
 people whom a month ago we denounced as 
 treacherous vagabonds ? Will we work ourselves 
 into a furore, for the time being, over these dele- 
 gates from Pine Ridge, and then forget all about 
 them, after they have gone away? Are there to 
 be a few more pledges made that, if adhered to at 
 all, will be done so in a half-hearted way? 
 
 What was the lesson conveyed by this last Indian 
 trouble? 
 
 This trouble differed from the previous ones, 
 in that it possessed a religious aspect. It is sig- 
 
Appendix. 181 
 
 nificant that when despair comes to a man, when 
 he is completely lost, .and all hope and earthly 
 help is gone, he will turn to some higher and 
 immortal power to save him. So it was with the 
 Indians. They did not know that that power 
 had already come. True, missionaries had told 
 them of a Messiah that had come to save all man- 
 kind, and some had believed. But many, in their 
 simplicity, could not distinguish between the false 
 and the true, and when civilization came and 
 white men mistreated them and told them lies, 
 all lies, they spurned the religion the white man 
 brought, and wanted none of his civilization. 
 They had never been offered our best civilization. 
 The only real happiness they had ever known had 
 been in the wild, free life of the past. They saw 
 that could never be again. Their lands were 
 gone, their game was gone, and the civilization 
 they had learned to hate was every day creeping 
 in upon them. In their despair they turned to an 
 immortal power to save them. One day, one of 
 their number who had been away in the North- 
 west came back and told them of a Messiah, 
 whom he had seen and talked with, who was to 
 
1 82 Appendix. 
 
 take them all out of their troubles, who was to 
 destroy the white people^ and restore to the 
 Indians not only their lands and abundant game, 
 but their dead. No doubt there were some who 
 took advantage of the craze that followed, and 
 worked the Indians up to a frenzy that would 
 bring on a war. But the most of them did believe 
 the story and were sincere, and when actual war- 
 fare did come they faced death as only madmen 
 would, firmly believing that the sacred robes they 
 wore would shield their bodies from the soldiers' 
 bullets. We all know the story of this whole 
 affair. How the Indians inaugurated the strange 
 ghost dance. How they practised it, until the 
 white people became suspicious and alarmed. 
 How an attempt was made to stop it, which only 
 made the Indians more earnest than ever. How 
 the soldiers then came, and how the Indians did 
 not abandon the cause until their own blood had 
 been shed and they began to realize the folly of 
 it all. 
 
 The real Messiah, I have said, had come. That 
 is what we believe. That is what we love to 
 preach and sing about and read. We commemo- 
 
Appendix. 183 
 
 rate His birth in a beautiful manner every Christ- 
 mas-time. Why, then, had He not come to the 
 Indians as He had to us ? Was it left for us to 
 tell them about Him ? If so, why have we not 
 done it in a more general way ? 
 
 INDIANS AS SOLDIERS. 
 
 " The supreme test of any scheme for benefiting 
 humanity," wrote General Booth in "Darkest 
 England," "lies in the answer to the question, 
 What does it make of the individual? Does it 
 quicken his conscience, does it soften his heart, 
 does it enlighten his mind, does it, in short, make 
 more of a true man of him, because only by such 
 influences can he be enabled to lead a human 
 life?" 
 
 General Booth had in mind the reclaiming of 
 England's paupers and lost human beings when 
 he wrote the above lines, but the question applies 
 to all movements in behalf of humanity. 
 
 Several seemingly good reasons have been ad- 
 vanced for putting the Indians under military 
 control, but I imagine the majority of those who 
 
1 84 Appendix. 
 
 favor this do so because they welcome a change 
 of any kind that promises to take the Indians out 
 of their present condition, and more so because 
 a military man seems to understand the Indian's 
 nature better than any other government official. 
 But would it be the best policy ? It is claimed 
 that underneath military discipline the Indian 
 could soon be trained into a good soldier, and 
 thus become serviceable to the government, upon 
 which he is now made a dependant. Somehow, 
 it seems to me that to speak in the vulgar par- 
 lance of the street gamin " we're playin' it kind 
 o' low" on the Indian when we do this. Supposing 
 he does become a good soldier, and to some extent 
 self-sustaining, would the conditions thus throvn 
 around him tend to bring him up to the best type 
 of manhood ? I do not mean to belittle the sol- 
 dier at all. We all love the soldier, the exemplar 
 of honor and bravery, the man who will fight and 
 give up his life in the discharge of duty. There 
 are many good-hearted, clever men in the army, 
 able ones, too, who might attain prominence 
 among citizens were it not for a strange fascina- 
 tion for military life. But what does the regular 
 
Appendix. 185 
 
 service really mean ? So far as the privates are 
 concerned, there is not one among them but will 
 tell you, if he speaks out from the bottom of his 
 heart, that it is a dog's life. Few men have en- 
 tered it and not regretted the act afterwards. More 
 than one capable fellow, to whom there happened 
 to come some dark period, one of failure and 
 disappointment, and enforced idleness, likely 
 enough, has impulsively joined the regular 
 army, and after three or four years of garrison 
 and field life out West turns up at home some 
 day, a rounded-off, subdued being in blue coat 
 and brass buttons, shorn of the bright personality 
 that once distinguished him. In the army men 
 lose their individuality, too often all ambition is 
 crushed out of them, the natural and only result 
 where everything is strict discipline and duty. In 
 the army, too, men become clannish, and main- 
 tain a cold, almost cynical, attitude towards the 
 rest of the world. Out West the soldier has little 
 love for the citizen ; and as for the common 
 settler, why, he is looked upon with contempt, a 
 "land-grub," a creature vastly inferior to the 
 Indian. 
 
1 86 Appendix. 
 
 Let us find something for the Indian better 
 than the soldier's life. 
 
 What could have been more fatal to the real 
 Indian cause than the brilliant military review 
 held by General Miles, at Pine Ridge, recently? 
 I suppose the main object was to impress upon 
 the Indians the size and strength of the troops, 
 although they had just learned the soldiers' power 
 and the folly of attacking them. But imagine 
 what the feelings of those savage warriors must 
 have been when they looked down upon the 
 spectacle from the bleak eminence upon which 
 they had gathered. They saw only the outward 
 show, the dazzling display. To the most of 
 them, especially the younger element, it was a 
 glittering reality, and there could have been only 
 one lasting effect produced, a desire for such a 
 life, a mad passion to be a soldier. 
 
 A standing army in the West, while necessary 
 for the restoring of peace in time of trouble and 
 rebellion, has all along, in my opinion, retarded 
 the Indians in their industrial progress. Its ap- 
 pearance upon any little scare or trouble has dis- 
 mayed the conservative ones, while its uniform 
 
Appendix. 187 
 
 and glitter, its apparent life of ease, has aroused 
 the admiration and envy of the others, and made 
 them discontented in any other service. If we 
 place the Indians under military control for the 
 purpose of making some soldiers and some 
 farmers, let us be careful that we do not check 
 them entirely in their industrial advancement. 
 For the best of them, the young and able-bodied, 
 the bone and sinew of the nation, the very ones 
 needed to carry on the home life, would be taken 
 into the service, where, if they were dealt with 
 equitably and paid as are the other soldiers, there 
 would be no necessity for them at least to do any 
 other work. If, however, the plan applies only 
 to the bad element, the hostiles, and these are 
 the ones to be converted into loyal soldiers, then 
 the matter presents itself to me in this light : 
 The principal reason for an army out West has 
 been to keep this element in subjection. Make 
 an army out of them, and nothing would remain 
 for them to do, excepting the ordinary work 
 which a certain number of well-trained police 
 could attend to. Like the Dutch corporal in the 
 late war, the hostile would be made a guard over 
 
1 88 Appendix. 
 
 himself, made the victim of a huge joke. All 
 that he would have to do would be to "spy his 
 shadow in the sun," pose before the dusky 
 maiden, and once in a while shoot down an 
 imaginary foe. 
 
 Well, some reader here exclaims, this argument 
 is growing ridiculous. It implies that an army 
 is a needless, demoralizing thing, and the only 
 reason for stationing one on the frontier is to 
 keep peace among the Indians; any one ought 
 to know that it would be folly to leave the 
 frontier exposed and open to invasion ; a stand- 
 ing army should be there at all times. But, dear 
 reader, let me remind you that America is not 
 divided into numerous governments, like Europe, 
 aggressive, selfish, always scheming to enlarge 
 their boundaries. The United States is not sur- 
 rounded by powerful nations, ready at any time 
 to invade and seize a portion of our domain ; 
 but is one mighty Republic, occupying nearly 
 the whole inhabitable part of a great continent. 
 England and Germany may need a standing 
 army with which to conquer " Darkest Africa," 
 and to retain their other vast possessions ; Russia 
 
Appendix. 1 89 
 
 may need one in order to maintain the most 
 despotic monarchy that ever existed ; every little 
 dynasty in Europe may need a standing army to 
 keep its throne from toppling over; but peace- 
 loving America, with an unselfish, friendly policy 
 towards all nations, does not want a standing 
 army. 
 
 Should there be danger of invasion, or of 
 internal strife, we can soon meet it with a com- 
 petent army. When the Southern Rebellion 
 broke out, what a response there was to Presi- 
 dent Lincoln's call for troops? Everybody that 
 could fight enlisted, and even the small boy 
 wanted to go. All differences were forgotten. 
 Old enemies became friends, and marched away, 
 side by side, loving comrades. Down to the 
 South went the people of the North, and in the 
 war that followed they made a splendid fight. 
 So did their enemy, some their own kindred. 
 And when the war ended, with right triumphant, 
 both forces, but with broken ranks where death 
 had come, returned to their homes ready to take 
 up the thread of civil life that had been so long 
 broken. 
 
190 Appendix. 
 
 Prudence, I suppose, would dictate that a 
 United States army, such as we now have, should 
 be maintained, but there is no necessity for in- 
 creasing it in this, a time of peace, and in case 
 of war we can call into use our National Service, 
 increased and strengthened by our patriotic cit- 
 izens, ever ready "to respond to their country's 
 call." 
 
 I hope the time will come when men will no 
 longer go to war. When armies will be a thing 
 of the past. When every government will be for 
 the people, by the people. When the world will 
 be at peace. When there will be no uncivilized 
 man. Such a day is no doubt far distant ; but its 
 coming is possible, and if we would make it so, 
 surely we ought not to perpetuate among a savage 
 race of people whom we seek to uplift institu- 
 tions opposed thereto. 
 
 INDIANS AS CITIZENS. 
 
 It has been said that the land in the Sioux 
 country and the adjoining region is not fit for 
 agricultural purposes, and in proof of this some 
 
Appendix. 191 
 
 have stated that there are not as many people on 
 the government land there to-day as there were 
 ten years ago. I do not know that this is the case, 
 but I should not be surprised if it were so in some 
 sections. It was poverty, however, that drove 
 the people away, if they have corne away, and 
 not because the land could not be tilled. With 
 the exception of the sand-spotted districts, there 
 is, by the way, a desert ninety miles in length 
 between Gordon and Valentine, Nebraska, a 
 region of sand-hills, some fine land lies out there, 
 and particularly so in the Sioux reservation. Of 
 course, in its primitive condition it may not look 
 promising. Neither did the prairies of Illinois 
 or Iowa forty years ago. The country has its set- 
 backs and bad seasons. So do the best farming 
 regions in the East. Cyclones and blizzards rage 
 through the East now as well as the West. But of 
 what use is land to a man without the means to 
 till it ? The people who settle upon our Western 
 prairies do not as a general thing possess very 
 much money. The majority go West for a home 
 because they can find none in the East, and we 
 never dream of the toil and hardship they undergo 
 13 
 
192 Appendix. 
 
 in the effort to secure it. The writer spent 
 several months in an isolated region in Nebraska 
 bordering the Sioux reservation. The nearest 
 railroad point was Long Pine, forty-five miles 
 away. The settlers' houses were made of sod, 
 taken from the prairie, with earth for the floor, 
 and willow poles covered with sod and dirt and 
 straw for the roof, a covering that let in a hun- 
 dred little rivulets when a storm came along. In 
 the winter, when the wind and storms drove 
 down from the northwest, it was impossible to 
 keep the snow from beating in. All the settlers 
 had to live upon was the products of their claims. 
 In most cases tea or coffee was a luxury, and 
 wheat-bread was unknown until wheat could be 
 raised and converted into flour, not a very easy 
 thing in a country where grist-mills are miles and 
 miles away. The land was rich and fertile, and 
 the settlers raised acres and acres of corn and 
 wheat. One could stand and look across the 
 prairie and see nothing but fields of growing corn 
 stretching away for miles. But there was no 
 market for any of it that year, and the man was 
 in luck who could sell a wagon-load of corn for a 
 
Appendix. 193 
 
 dollar. The only real benefit it gave the settler 
 was when he used it for fuel that following 
 winter. I have not exaggerated here in the least, 
 but have given the reader a true picture of the 
 Western claim-holder's life. Under such cir- 
 cumstances, is it any wonder that claims become 
 abandoned, and the settling up of some regions 
 is slow? The country I refer to was new, and the 
 settlers needed money to build it up and connect 
 it with the rest of the world. They had no 
 money, and just starved along with the hope that 
 capital would come in some day and give them a 
 start. If they had had the money, they could 
 have soon created one of the finest little farming 
 districts in the West. High or low tariff, free 
 trade or protection, the law of supply and de- 
 mand, etc., etc., "had nothing to do with the 
 case," as it stood then. They were starting a 
 new enterprise, and they needed a little hard cash 
 to begin operations with. 
 
 Now, why cannot the Indians, properly en- 
 couraged by not only the government, but all 
 people as well, Christians and philanthropists, 
 do what those settlers might have done? 
 
194 Appendix. 
 
 Persuade the Indians to give up their fire-arms 
 and discontinue their wild, repulsive dances. 
 Gradually place them upon homesteads all over 
 the reservation, with comfortable cabins to live 
 in at first instead of the ragged teepee, and pro- 
 vide them with the means to cultivate the land. 
 Change the trading-posts into industrial centres. 
 When the Indian boy leaves the school let there 
 be a workshop for him to enter, instead of loiter- 
 ing in the trading-store or skylarking over the 
 reservation. Instead of buying the manufactured 
 article at a large contract price, send the raw 
 materials out and let the Indians be usefully em- 
 ployed and learn to supply their own demands. 
 There is nothing impracticable about this. You 
 have simply to put the shop and factory there, 
 manned at first with competent white people, and 
 commence with the graduates of the Indian 
 schools, bright, active young fellows that they 
 are, many no doubt eager to undertake something 
 of this kind. Or another plan suggests itself. 
 When General Miles returned from Pine Ridge 
 to Chicago, he brought with him the leaders in 
 the Sioux outbreak, and stationed them at Fort 
 
Appendix. 195 
 
 Sheridan, where an effort is now being made to 
 train them into soldiers and to make of them 
 future peace-makers among their people. It is 
 also proposed to bring two hundred more East for 
 the same purpose, as soon as possible. Now, sup- 
 pose the object of this movement had been to 
 make citizens of these Indians instead of soldiers. 
 Suppose these Indians had been put through a pre- 
 paratory training course, and then given every op- 
 portunity to become useful men.* Suppose these 
 
 * " Probably nothing has done so much to change the 
 current of public opinion as to the possibility of civilizing 
 Indians as the experiments in the education of Indian 
 youth at the Carlisle and Hampton schools. The great 
 work which these institutions have since accomplished 
 grew out of the remarkable experiment made by Captain 
 Pratt with a party of Indian prisoners who were confined 
 by the government in the old Spanish fort at St. Augustine, 
 Florida. These men, taken red-handed on the war- 
 path, and imprisoned far from the scene of their crimes, 
 as being especially dangerous outlaws ; were so changed 
 by Captain Pratt's judicious treatment, and by the efforts 
 of a few Christian women for their instruction, that many 
 of them became anxious to learn trades and to adopt habits 
 of civilized life. In order that a fair opportunity might be 
 
1 96 Appendix. 
 
 Indians could have come to learn the various 
 trades and callings, to go back some day and 
 help build up their nation. But let us take the 
 Indian school graduates, and bring them East and 
 apprentice them at the different trades, and we 
 
 given them to make this new departure, a few of their 
 number were for a while taken to the Hampton negro 
 training-school at Hampton, Virginia, and were there set 
 to work along with negro boys. As these efforts promised 
 success, the old government barracks at Carlisle, Penn- 
 sylvania, were fitted up as a training-school, and the work 
 of Indian education was there definitely begun under the 
 superintendency of Captain Pratt. The work for the 
 negro at Hampton was also supplemented by the addition 
 of two hundred Indian pupils. These two great schools, 
 at which the Indian youth of both sexes and drawn from 
 every tribe have been gathered, have been an object-lesson 
 of the highest value to the Indian cause. Doing their 
 work openly in the heart of Eastern civilization, they have 
 shown our most intelligent people what they may be par- 
 doned for not having believed before, that under favor- 
 able circumstances the Indian can be taught all that is 
 necessary to fit him for at least an humble position in 
 civilized life." HERBERT WELSH, Secretary Indian Rights 
 Association, in New England Magazine. 
 
Appendix. 197 
 
 will soon have the material for our factory at the 
 trading-centre. 
 
 What the Indians want, first of all, is more 
 self-government than they now possess. Indians 
 are not all ignorant, by any means. There are 
 many sensible ones, who know better than any 
 one else what is best for their people. The man- 
 agement of the Indians should be intrusted to a 
 Governing Board possessing some of the powers 
 of a territorial legislature composed of white 
 officials commissioned by the government and 
 Indians taken from the best and conservative 
 element. Let a body of this sort take charge of 
 the work that was sought to be done through 
 Indian bureaus, commissions, and agencies, com- 
 bining with it such a policy as is briefly outlined 
 in the preceding lines, and the coming age may 
 see the Sioux "reservation" changed to the Sioux 
 commonwealth, its people neither savage wards 
 nor savage soldiers, but citizens, free men, happy 
 and industrious. The Indians cannot be brought 
 into this state of existence? Well, I don't know 
 about that. Time works out some hard problems 
 when men soften their hearts towards each other ; 
 
198 Appendix. 
 
 and it would be a grand privilege for any of us 
 to help so lift up the Indian. 
 
 * 
 * * 
 
 The Indian's Messiah has come. Not the one 
 who was to roll back the earth upon the white 
 people, and restore to the Indians their dead, 
 their lands, and their game; but the Saviour of 
 Mankind, the one who walked upon the earth 
 long ago and taught a doctrine that was to bind 
 all people all races into a fellowship of love 
 and peace. The religion He taught Christianity 
 was to give to the world a new life, a civili- 
 zation grander than any the world had ever 
 seen before. He commanded those who heard 
 Him to go into every part of the world and 
 reveal the Truth He spoke of, and to give the 
 life He spoke of, to all who were in darkness. 
 The inspiration this man brought into the world 
 will ever remain, and to-day Christianity is the 
 life, the soul, the purity, of civilization. As 
 this Christian civilization spreads over the earth, 
 and comes in contact with those who have never 
 heard of the Christ, is it going to remember the 
 divine command ? Is it going to save ? Is it 
 
Appendix. 199 
 
 going to impart the true life? If not, then, in- 
 deed, it would become an inconsistent,, distorted 
 thing, a mocker of its own soul. Christianity 
 has done much for the Indian, but not all that it 
 might. True, we should not confound the false 
 with the real, but there has been too much indif- 
 ference, too much selfishness, on the part of a 
 professed Christian people, too much injustice on 
 the part of a Christian government. The wrongs 
 of the past, however, may be atoned for in a 
 measure by rendering justice in the future, and 
 we can best show our love for the dead Indian, 
 who has been injured, *by caring for the ones 
 who survive him. It is the Indian of the present 
 and the future Indian with whom we have to 
 deal. 
 
 The Sioux have been given more recognition 
 than any other body of Indians (in return for 
 the lands ceded by them) ; homes have been 
 built for many of the people, and schools for 
 their children, while an enormous amount of 
 money is expended annually in providing them 
 with food and clothing; but as a body of people, 
 as human beings, they are not being rightly dealt 
 
200 Appendix. 
 
 with. Treaties have been made that were not 
 kept entirely sacred, and promises have been 
 made that are not yet fulfilled ; but, worst of all, 
 a system of management has been set up which 
 makes an autocracy possible, beneath which many 
 Indians lose all personal liberty and become 
 more degraded than the Southern slaves ever 
 were, a condition entirely out. of place in a 
 country which believes that all men possess cer- 
 tain rights God has given them, chief of which 
 is happiness and manhood, and that no man 
 shall be deprived of those rights. Let us begin 
 now to deal with the Sioux in a more consistent, 
 honest manner. Tell them of the true Messiah, 
 not as we have, the Church sending out a few** 
 missionaries, and the State throwing around them 
 obstacles that would dishearten the angels them- 
 selves. Give them your whole religion. Give 
 them your civilization, with its inspiration for 
 the sublime and noble. Give them your love, 
 your sympathy, and your strength. Throw about 
 them the influences that shape out the perfect 
 human life, that make the true man. Do this, 
 and it will not be necessary to place them under 
 
Appendix. 201 
 
 "military control," or any other sort of "con- 
 trol," in order to solve the "vexatious Indian 
 problem," for the problem will then find its 
 only solution. 
 
 And what is best for the Sioux Indians is 
 applicable to all the others. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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 The story of a western 87 
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