The Chemawa American, April 01, 1916, Page 30, Image 30

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THE
CHEM AW A
AM ERICAN
plete, talked of “ T h e H arvest F ie ld .”
A business session opened th e afternoon program , follow ing w hich
Rev. G . F . H o lt, of Salem , spoke on “ T eacher T ra in in g .” Dr. C. H .
E pley, of Salem, conducted the “ R ound T a b le ,” and the questions and
answ ers aw akened considerable in terest. Rev. H . E . M arshall, E v a n ­
gelist, full of enthusiasm and pow er, gave a sh o rt serm on.
T h e singing by C hem aw a stu d e n ts— a lad ies’ double q u arte t in the
forenoon, a male double q u artet in th e afternoon, and a solo by Miss
A lm a N elso n —was greatly appreciated bv the audience. A fine violin
solo by M r. A lex M elovidov closed th e program .
A N INDIAN “FOURTH”
A S O B S E R V E D A T B R O W N IN G , M O N T A N A
S th e “ F o u rth of J u ly ” will be on hand before m any
moons we are moved to rep rin t from an ex change an
account of an In d ian observance of th is g reat n a tio n ­
al holiday, as follows:
On th e Blackfoot Indian reservation at B row ning,
M ont., the other year, th e w riter w itnessed as odd a
celebration of the F o u rth of Ju ly as, perhaps, could
be found in this co u n try . T o the In d ian s it was a double celebration,
for d u rin g the festivities they also presented th eir annual “ G rass
D an ce.”
T h e w riter, w ith a large party of friends, awoke w ith th e sun on th e
m orning of the “ F o u r th ,” to find th eir P ullm an car on the siding a t
B row ning. From ’way across the prairie came th e In d ian s, over 200
strong. T hey were w earing th eir “ war bonnets and re g a lia ,” and their
splendid, w iry little horses were decorated w ith b rillian tly colored b la n ­
kets, ribbons and native bead-w ork. W ith the sun lig h tin g up their
m ulti-colored g arm en ts and th e wind w hipping the feathers of th eir h ead ­
dress, it was indeed a gay cavalcade.
A few h u ndred yards before they reached the car th ey w hipped th eir
horses in to a wild “ ch arg e” and, literally yelling like In d ian s, they
swooped down and surrounded the car. You may be sure there was
an interested crowd of spectators at th e car windows and on the obser­
vation platform . Several of the chiefs were introduced all around and
then the to u rists were escorted to th e In d ian encam pm ent out on the
open prairie about a mile away.
T h eir ten ts, or tepees, were pitched in a huge circle, the diam eter of