The Chemawa American, January 14, 1920, Page 4, Image 4

T H E C H E M A W A A M E R IC A N
PAG E 4
THE SUCCESS FA M ILY
T h e fa th e r of Success is
W ork.
T he m o th er of Success is
A m bition.
T he old est son is
C om m on Sense.
Som e of th e boys are
P ersev eran ce,
H o n esty ,
T ho ro u g h n ess,
F o re sig h t,
E n th u sia sm ,
C o-operation.
T he old est d a u g h te r is
C h aracter.
Som e of th e siste rs are
C h eerfu ln ess,
L oyalty,
C ourtesy,
Care,
E conom y,
S in cerity ,
H arm o n y .
T h e babv is
O p p o rtu n ity .
G et acquainted w ith th e “ old m a n ’’ an d you will be able to
g et alo n g p re tty well w ith all th e re st of th e fam ily.
HOW THE IN D IA N S GREW CORN
E u ro p ean s on com ing to A m erica found the In d ian s
cu ltiv a tin g and using a cereal th a t was unknow n in
all o th er p arts of the world. T h is v\ as m aize or In d ian
co rn — in th is country we call it now sim ply corn.
T h e soil and clim ate of A m erica are p articu larly
well suited to th e production of th is cereal and en o r­
m ous crops are grow n every y ear. As everyone know s,
it is one of o u r most im p o rtan t foodstuffs, a variety of
valuable p roducts being obtained from it.
By careful breeding and selection the w hite m an
has im proved th e corn grown by the In d ian s. He
has also im proved on the m ethods of cu ltiv atio n
practiced bv them . Y et it is su rp risin g th a t w ith all
of his science and experience he know s so little m ore
th a n th e In d ian did about breeding and grow ing it.
A g ricu ltu re was the p rincipal occupation of the
In d ian s before th e m eddling w hite m an cam e and u p ­
set th eir custom s and h ab its of life. C orn was th eir
m ain crop. T h ey had large fields of it, each co n sist­
in g of num erous little individual plats. T h e women
did m ost of the w ork in p rep arin g the gro u n d , p la n t­
in g and cu ltiv atin g th e crop, u sin g crude im plem ents
to break u p th e soil and work it rou g h ly . A bout th e
only tim e the men and boys took a hand was at harvest
tim e w hen they helped to g ath er the ripened ears.
T h e men regarded w ork as d eg rad in g to them and
u su ally adhered to th e principle of le ttin g th e women
do th e w ork.
T h e u n tu to red red man u n d ersto o d th e principles of
seed selection about as well as the m ost ex p ert a g ri­
c u ltu rist of m odern tim es. T hey were careful to
choose large, well-filled ears from plants possessing
th e m ost desirable qualities. In th is wav th ey d ev elo p ­
ed som e excellent varieties w hich have scarcely been
im proved by the w hites in several centuries. T hey
also knew som ething of testin g th e seed for v itality
an d g erm in atin g stre n g th . T o do this they germ inated
g rain s from seed ears by soaking them in wet moss
or in willow baskets, in a m anner som ew hat th e sam e
as th a t of th e up-to-date farm er of today. T h eir m e th ­
ods of breaking up the ground and cu ltiv atin g the
crop w ere greatly inferior to ours, but as th e soil was
rich they usually obtained am ple harvests.
T h e In d ia n s ’ operations in the corn field were tim ed
by w hat m ight be called a n atu ra l calendar. For in ­
stance, they aimed to plant th e seed at th e tim e when
blossoms appeared on the wild tu rn ip s in the woods.
T h e tim e when the ears of th e grow ing crop were in
th e m ilk state was indicated to them by the first
flow ering of the buttonw ood. T h ey considered it the
p ro p er tim e to gath er th e corn at the end of the
blossom ing season for the buttonw ood.
T h ey had a h ard, flinty variety of corn w hich they
used for m aking hom iny. Bread and o th er articles of
food w ere m ade from a softer variety of corn. S uc­
cotash, m ade of corn and beans, is a dish of th eir
in v en tio n . A num ber of our m ost toothsom e and
w holesom e dishes m ade from corn are also prepared
after recipes essentially th e sam e as those w orked
o u t and used by these original A m ericans.
S P ID E R “L IS T E N S” W ITH ITS LEG
In his book, “ T h e W onders of In s tin c t,” the late
H en ri F ab re, em inent F rench n a tu ra list and entom ol­
ogist, tells about a species of sp id er, the epeira, w hich
in geniously em ploys a delicate gossam er thread of its
ow n sp in n in g to signal the cap tu re of an insect in its
web snare. T his thread w hich is suspended from th e
ce n ter of web ex ten d s dow nw ard and is attached to a
foot of the spider w hich spends its days leisurely in a
crevice undern eath th e web.
W hen a hapless insect gets cau g h t in the web its
stru g g les to get free of course shake the web. T his
m otion is com m unicated to th e th read ru n n in g down
w ard into the retreat and th ro u g h the thread the
ow ner and proprietor feels it. T h u s apprised th a t
d in n er is aw aiting it, the spider hastens up to the web,
deftly binds its prey with new m ade thread, injects
some poison into it and then begins its repast.
“ T he web is often shaken by the w in d ,” says
F ab re. “ T h e different p arts of th e fram ew ork, toss­
ed and teased, cannot fail to tran sm it their vibrations
to th e sig n a lin g thread. N evertheless, the spider does
not q u it her hut but rem ains indifferent to the com
m otion prevailing in the net. T h e line is therefore
som ething b etter than a bellrope th a t pulls and com ­
m unicates th e im pulse given. I t is a telephone,
capable, like our ow n, of tra n sm ittin g infinitesim al
waves of so u n d . C lutching a telephone w ire w ith a
toe, the spider listens w ith her leg; she preceives the
in n erm ost vibrations; sliefdistinguishes betw een the
vibration proceeding from a prisoner and the m ere
sh ak in g of the w in d .”