Blackfoot Lodge Tales | Page 3

ago.
I have elsewhere expressed my views on Indian character, the
conclusions founded on an acquaintance with this race extending over
more than twenty years, during which time I have met many tribes,
with some of whom I have lived on terms of the closest intimacy.
The Indian is a man, not very different from his white brother, except
that he is undeveloped. In his natural state he is kind and affectionate in
his family, is hospitable, honest and straightforward with his fellows,--a
true friend. If you are his guest, the best he has is at your disposal; if
the camp is starving, you will still have set before you your share of
what food there may be in the lodge. For his friend he will die, if need
be. He is glad to perform acts of kindness for those he likes. While
travelling in the heats of summer over long, waterless stretches of
prairie, I have had an Indian, who saw me suffering from thirst, leave
me, without mentioning his errand, and ride thirty miles to fetch me a
canteen of cool water.
The Indian is intensely religious. No people pray more earnestly nor
more frequently. This is especially true of all Indians of the Plains.
The Indian has the mind and feelings of a child with the stature of a
man; and if this is clearly understood and considered, it will readily
account for much of the bad that we hear about him, and for many of
the evil traits which are commonly attributed to him. Civilized and
educated, the Indian of the better class is not less intelligent than the
average white man, and he has every capacity for becoming a good
citizen.
This is the view held not only by myself, but by all of the many old

frontiersmen that I have known, who have had occasion to live much
among Indians, and by most experienced army officers. It was the view
held by my friend and schoolmate, the lamented Lieutenant Casey,
whose good work in transforming the fierce Northern Cheyennes into
United States soldiers is well known among all officers of the army,
and whose sad death by an Indian bullet has not yet, I believe, been
forgotten by the public.
It is proper that something should be said as to how this book came to
be written.
About ten years ago, Mr. J.W. Schultz of Montana, who was then
living in the Blackfoot camp, contributed to the columns of the Forest
and Stream, under the title "Life among the Blackfeet," a series of
sketches of that people. These papers seemed to me of unusual interest,
and worthy a record in a form more permanent than the columns of a
newspaper; but no opportunity was then presented for filling in the
outlines given in them.
Shortly after this, I visited the Pi-k[)u]n-i tribe of the Black-feet, and I
have spent more or less time in their camps every year since. I have
learned to know well all their principal men, besides many of the
Bloods and the Blackfeet, and have devoted much time and effort to the
work of accumulating from their old men and best warriors the facts
bearing on the history, customs, and oral literature of the tribe, which
are presented in this volume.
In 1889 my book on the Pawnees was published, and seemed to arouse
so much interest in Indian life, from the Indian's standpoint, that I wrote
to Mr. Schultz, urging him, as I had often done before, to put his
observations in shape for publication, and offered to edit his work, and
to see it through the press. Mr. Schultz was unwilling to undertake this
task, and begged me to use all the material which I had gathered, and
whatever he could supply, in the preparation of a book about the
Blackfeet.
A portion of the material contained in these pages was originally made
public by Mr. Schultz, and he was thus the discoverer of the literature
of the Blackfeet. My own investigations have made me familiar with all
the stories here recorded, from original sources, but some of them he
first published in the columns of the Forest and Stream. For this work
he is entitled to great credit, for it is most unusual to find any one living

the rough life beyond the frontier, and mingling in daily intercourse
with Indians, who has the intelligence to study their traditions, history,
and customs, and the industry to reduce his observations to writing.
Besides the invaluable assistance given me by Mr. Schultz, I
acknowledge with gratitude the kindly aid of Miss Cora M. Ross, one
of the school teachers at the Blackfoot agency, who has furnished me
with a version of the story of the origin of the Medicine Lodge; and