The Chemawa American, April 14, 1926, Page 4, Image 4

PAGE 4
T H E CHEMAWA AMERICAN
SUPT. JAMBS H. McGREGOR
(Continued from page 1) ?
WHY THE PRAIRIE CHICKEN DOESN’T SING
A English test written by Marie Bauer:
Once, very long ago, there lived an Indian man
war, when he enlisted for service under the colors. whose name was Eenkidomi, which means .spider man.
He was employed at bureaus in Washington at differ­ Eenkidomi was an outcast from his tribe because he
ent times, was supervisor of schools in the Philippines, was never known to tell the truth. He was feared by
while Mrs. McGregor was a teacher in the Philippines. some of the tamest animals and birds, because he was
He was principal of an Indian school in Oklahoma, always tricking them with, his cunning, thus making
and in 1914 was principal of the Rosebud boarding many of the birds and beasts fear all mankind.
school at Mission. Eater he was superintendent of
One nice summer day when Eenkidomi was roaming
the Cheyenne agency, and in 1922 came to the Rose­ about, he heard some singing and flapping of wings.
bud agency.
He grew very curious and went on until he came to
“ Mr. McGregor is a Christian gentleman, and in his “ Chicken H ill,” where all the prairie chickens had
every-day dealings that was a powerful factor in making gathered to sing and dance as it was their custom to
his decisions. To this largely, may be ascribed his do every year. Eenkidomi listened awhile, making
unbounded success, and his gradual promotion in the believe he enjoyed their dance very much, but he was
field of his chosen work.
planning some trick to play on them, as he was very
“ The Rosebud country loses a very valuable man, hungry.
and in fact, a splendid family, in the moving of the
He told them he was a good friend of their grand­
McGregor family. However, the loss of the Rosebud parents, and that they were very pretty, but would be
is the gain of the school in Oregon, and their many more graceful in their dance if they sang with their
friends are loathe to see them go, but rejoice in his eyes closed. This flattery made them feel very impor­
promotion.”
tant, so they began to dance again, flapping their wings
Two daughters, Jean and Virginia, accompanied the faster and closing their eyes very tightly. There
parents to Chemawa, but John Donald, a son, remain­ were two wise prairie chickens in the crowd and they
ed in attendance at the Academy of,, Hastings, Neb. peeped and they screamed warning to all the chickens
He will join his parents in Chemawa on the close of to fly, because their good friend Eenkidomi was ring­
school at Hastings for the summer vacation.
ing their brothers’ and sisters heads’ off. Now the
prairie
chickens won’t sing when a person is around.
THE CHIPMUNK’S STRIPES
The following Indian story was written by George
Meachem as a test in English:
Once upon a time there lived a chipmunk in the
woods and it was his habit to go out every day. and
gather nuts. So one day, while he was gathering
nuts, he began to feel a little lazy. It was rather
unusual for him to feel that way. It was his custom
to get up early and go to the top of the tree and look
around for anything that might harm him. He got
along all right, but one day he was lazy and he didn’t
climb the tree and look around before he went out to
pick up nuts. He thought he was safe, so he went
out and while he was lazily picking up the nuts , a
wildcat sneaked up on him and made a jump to catch
him, but the chipmunk was a fraction of an inch
quicker than the wildcat.
However, the wildcat in snatching at the chipmunk
scratched him on the back, which left line wounds.
When the hair grew out again in these scratches; it was
a darker color, and it has remained sq : on all chip­
m unk’s backs to this day, and every time you see a
chipmunk running, full of life, he is afraid some­
thing might catch him. The stripes "Constantly
remind him.of his narrow escape from, being the prey
of the wildcat.
GOOD PENMANSHIP
What a pleasure it is to receive a letter from a deair
friend! But when that letter is so poorly written that
it is à greater task to read it than it is to decipher a
lot of hieroglyphics on the pyramids of Egypt much
of the pleasure' in reading’ it is missing. How vexa­
tious it is to run onto a word right in the midst of an
interesting òr important séhtence which cannot be
‘ ‘made out,
The word might be this, that, or some­
thing else—all making sense;—-"but what is it?’ Was
there ;ever such a pickle? So you see that good pen­
manship is a very important matter as well as a pleas­
ing feature for the eye.
Beyond , a certain degree of proficiency in writing
many of. us cannot go, as it is more or less a gift to
write an “ elegant hand,” but we can, and. should,
write legibly. Not long ago we read an article on the
decadence of the art of good penmanship in which
various reasons were stated as contributing to the pres­
ent state of affairs. It was said that the type-writer is
being brought more and more into common usage
and the only penmanship required in connection with
the machine is the signature at the end of the epistle.
Owing to the pace at which we are all traveling
through life, ,-and the pressure of business, friendly
letter-writing is almost a thing of the past and con­
sequently penmanship isisuffering.