Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.djvu/34

COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES being left in the center to let out the smoke. These were often fitted up in a very comfortable manner, and formed the model after which the white settlers built their first habitations. The whites however, far exceeded the savages in craftsmanship and design, and (heir homes were fitted with that highest evidence of superior civilization—the chimney.

Many persons have read of the Indian "lodge" yet few are familiar with its construction. Lodges were not used for permanent habitation, but mostly for camping and war purposes. Saplings were stuck in the ground in the form of a bow, something like a series of croquet hoops set in a row, only about five feet in height. A "lodge-pole*' was lashed along the tops of the hoops and over all were thrown skins or matting, thus forming a long hut, in which the sleepers lay. Cooking was done outside at the camp fire.

The agricultural operations of the savages were crude and their tools still more primitive. Hoes were made from sharpened sticks and the earth was simply scratched to receive the seed. Com, beans, pumpkins and tobacco were the crops, and the tilled spots remained unfenced, the horses being pastured at a distance to prevent depredations. After the coming of the whites seeds were purchased from the traders and the variety of crops was more extensive, some fruit trees being also set out and tended. The rude implements were replaced by others better fitted for the cultivation of the soil, and better tools were introduced into the wigwams. Steel traps took the place of "deadfalls" and pits; muskets replaced the bow and arrow; awls and needles made from the bones of birds and animals were no longer used tn sewing the skin clothing and fitting together the matting coverings of the wigwam; and the iron hoe made cultivation easier for the overburdened squaw. Before the introduction of the pots and pans of civilization food was prepared by roasting on twigs stuck over the fire or, in the absence of clay pots, boiled in skin kettles, heated by dropping hot stones in them.

MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OP THE INDIANS

The squaws bore the burden and toil of life in an Indian camp. There was no "suffragette" propaganda then. While the male members of the village hunted, fished, went on foraging and warlike expeditions, or slumbered before the fire, the females did the heaviest and most degrading labor. They cut poles and built the wigwams and cabins, performed all the village drudgery and cooking, cared for the ponies, gathered fuel, cultivated the soil, planted the seed and harvested the crops, cut up and preserved the meat brought in by the hunters, tanned the skins and made the clothing for the entire family, bore and nursed the children, and when on a journey carried great bundles of camp equipage. They were undemonstrative and patient, bearing up under their eternal burdens with much fortitude, and when in (he pain of childbirth uttered not a sound. The squaw who cried or groaned was forever disgraced. It was believed that her sons would grow up to be cowards. Not¬ withstanding all these hardships the squaws were loyal and divorces were unknown, while the custom was for a warrior to have but one wife, except in rare cases.

The warrior was the head of the wigwam; his wishes were obeyed without question and his word was law. The papooses were taught from infancy to be quiet and scarcely ever cried. The only occasion in which the writer ever heard an Indian baby cry was when he as a child wandered down to the river and found half a dozen papooses suspended on boards from the branches of a tree. They were facing each other and making a queer cooing sound, but as soon as they caught sight of the strange white face they set up a chorus of howls that quickly brought the squaws to the spot. They set upon the trespasser with canes and chased him crying from the vicinity.

In the winter the babies were allowed to roll around over the dirt floor of the wigwam, and in summer along the lanes between the tepees. When carried they were hashed to a forked stick or rough hewn board, with ample wrappings of skins and blankets. When a halt was made they were sometimes suspended from a tree if the parents were likely to be absent, thus protecting them from animals; but if the stop was short the tightly bound infant was simply stood against a convenient tree, and not always in (he shade; yet the little one would blink in the glaring sun without a whimper.

As they grew older the children were given ail the training that would fit them for their savage life. The boys were early turned over to the men. who gave instructions in fishing, hunting and woodcraft, while the girls were soon forced into the dreary routine of the squaw's life of drudgery. The young of both sexes developed early; at the age of fifteen the boys were free to come and go without restraint: two years before that the girls had budded into womanhood, and it was