People's Pilot, Volume 3, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 August 1893 — IN ODD CORNERS. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN ODD CORNERS.

Interesting Exhibits in Remote Portions ot the C reat Pair. Indian* ot Six Nation* from the of New York— Distingnislied Bed Men of Early Times—Varioiu Notea and Incident*. (Special Chicago Correspondence]

the exhih its at the /Hf iff world’s fair are I a number that j are tucked I j aw a y in odd corners and nooks of the grounds which ‘Of. in consequence J WSs of their ineonsp i cuous location are passed by un n o ticed Otoa by a great many visitors in their p er egrinations

among' the buildings. In the general rush for the leading points of interest these lesser features are overlooked. snd when the hasty visitor has “done"' the fhir and returned home and reads in his family paper a description of some of these out-of-the-way exhibits he regretfully exclaims: “Why, I didn't see that!” and comes to the conclusion that he might have had more for his money had he used his eyes to better advantage. Common interest naturally centers in the main buildings of the fair and these are constantly thronged with eager sightseers. People get in among ; the wonderful collections the arts and industries, and so intent ao they become upon the magnificent displays of man’s skill and ingenuity that their time slips away, and they suddenly awaken to the consciousness that if they are to see all of the fair they ] must skip some things, and they hurry • along from one point to another, and this way lose much of superior interest.

The Esquimaux, for instance, away "up in their little corner near the north gate attract but a small portion of the crowd that enters the fair grounds daily. True, tbe extra charge of twen* ty-five cents for admission into their inclosure deters many from visiting these queer little people, but were they more advantageously situated their receipts would undoubtedly be greatly increased. • Another somewhat isolated exhibit, 'which is well worth the attention of every visitor at the fair, is the Indian colony on the lake shore near the Forestry building, in the southeastern portion of the grounds. Here, dwelling in a state as nearly copied after the manner of their forefathers as circumstances and surroundings will permit, are representatives of the six tribes of the state of New York. These tribes once formed that great federation known as the Six Nations, then a great

power, but now a mere shadow of their former greatness. The names of the tribes are the Oneidas, Cayugas, Onandagas. Senecas, Tuscaroras and Mohawks. They all meet in a big bark council lodge, and one •queer feature of their meetings is that their native dialects differ so that they all have to speak English There are quite a number of their houses built of basswood bark and roofed with.elm. They are symmetrical, orderly-looking structures, and by no means so primitive as the material would indicate. The largest one of the group is the council lodge. Originally the interior was divided-into six sections by mat partitions. The representatives of each tribe occupied a section in their debates, and when a decision was reached among each squad of petty chieftains the dividing mats were thrown aside and a general debate The council lodge now is used as a sort of bazar, in which relics of the

days whan the Six Nations were the warrior* of the continent are shown side by side with beautiful basket and bead work and fans and trinkets of scented grasses The sales are conducted by pleasant-faced young women of the tribe, some of them decidedly pretty and all of them with hardly more than a dusky pallor to distinguish their divergence from the Anglo-Saxon race. A visitor referred to one of them in her hearing Vecently as a squaw, and six men felt an impulse to kick the offender, which only disappeared when they discovered that the culprit was another woman. In the afternoons the Indians dress up in robes, such as their fathers wore

when New York city was a much smaller village than it is now. and hold a sort of state reception. It is intended later to reproduce some of the national customs and dances for the benefit of visitors. but they have not got that far as yet. The men who represent the Six Nations are almost all of them men of distinction in the tribes. There is Chief Jack of the Tuscaroras. who is the secretarr of Iroquois nation; Solomon O'Bail, the grandson of old Chief Corn planter, a one-time friend of George Washington, in whose honor the president directed a

medal to be struck off; and not least in the list is Deerfoot, the matchless runner who has even raced in England, and whose run of an hour hasUever been beaten. An old man he is now, but hale and fond of sitting in the big council tent attired in his buckskin suit and recounting Events in his stirring life a little chuckle of appreciation. At the mention of the prince of Wales the chuckle deepens, and he tells that he dined with the prince some twenty or thirty years ago. “We were pals,” he laughs, with an odd mimicry of the English accent. Solomon O’Bail is a sturdy old fellow of near seventy, who still clings to the religion of his fathers -undefiled by any admixture with the creeds of the aliens. He is a sociable old gentleman, and always ready to answer questions, and often puts himself to great pains to explain some little thing to the visitor. Among the other oddities on sale are a number of grewsome corn-husk masks used in the new year dances. One of the visitors questioned Mr. O’ Bail about these and drew out an interesting account of the three yearly dances of the tribes.

The civilization of the Six Nations is at present precisely like the civilization of the rest of New York stata, They have the same schools, the same churches, and the same habits. This oamp at the fair grounds is as much a revival as the spelling bee or old-time singing school, with which our modern churches regale themselves occasionally.

DEERFOOT.

COUNCIL LODGE OF THE SIX NATIONS.

IROQUOIS IMPLEMENTS.