INDIAN BOYS.
Just here a word about Indian boys would not be amiss. An Indian boy is
a live, wild, and untamed being. He is full of mischief and cruelty
to those he hates, and passably kind to those he likes. I never saw in
their character anything that could be called love. They have no idea of
such a tender tie. Thus by nature he is cruel without having a sense of
humor, much less gayety, and in all my experience I never saw or heard
one give a hearty laugh, except on the occasion of a mishap or accident
to any one, and then the little fragment of humor is aroused.
He is skillful in drawing his bow and sling, and has a keenness of sight
and hearing. He takes to the life of a hunter as a duck takes to water,
and his delight is in shooting fowl and animals. He does it all with an
ease and grace that is most astonishing. In everything of that nature he
is very skillful. Pony riding is his great delight, when the ponies were
not otherwise engaged, but during my stay with them, there was too much
excitement and change all around for the boys to exercise that animal.
While we were driving along after breaking up camp the little fellows
would run along and pick flowers for us, one vieing with the other as to
who would get the most and the prettiest. They were gifted with a most
remarkable memory and a slight was not very soon forgotten, while a
kindness held the same place in their memory.
The general behaviour of Indian boys was nevertheless most intolerable
to us white people. In the tepee there was no light and very often
no fuel, and owing to the forced marches there was not much time for
cutting wood, also it was hard to light as it was so green and sappy.
The boys would then wrap themselves up in a blanket, but not to sleep,
only to yell and sing as if to keep in the heat. They would keep this
up until they finally dozed off; very often that would be in the early
hours of the morning.
Like father, like son; the virtues of young Indians were extremely few.
They reach their tether when they fail to benefit self. Their morality
was in a very low state. I do not remember that I saw much of it, if I
did it was hardly noticible.
Where the charm of a savage life comes in I do not know, I failed to
observe it during my experience in the camp of the Crees. The charm is
a delusion, except perhaps when viewed from the deck of a steamer as
it glided along the large rivers and lakes of the Indian country, or
perhaps within the pages of a blood and thunder novel.