we are here and can see each other face to face, the feeling has grown.
Second: it is a great idea that has been thought of to send a man here to
take our speeches and make our pictures, and think over and talk over the
old times, and make a record of them. To me this is a great
accomplishment. It is a great accomplishment in this way: we cannot go to
Washington; we cannot present ourselves there, but the pictures and the
record will be preserved there and in great cities, to speak for us. I
want to draw a little illustration. You speak a language that we know
nothing about. With the help of your people you have educated the younger
element and through them we can speak to you, and the different
interpreters can speak for the different tribes to you, and thus we can
all talk with you and tell our story. I want to point out in this way the
difference between the old people and the young people. The illustration
I have given seems to me like a dream. I can see the advancement our race
has made thus far. Our race is constantly changing, and this meeting will
be a great memory to all the Indians represented here. This meeting means
a great deal to my tribe. One great feeling of gratefulness I have about
this meeting is that I hope that my grandchildren and their grandchildren
will read the speeches I have made here, and will see my pictures.

CHIEF RUNNING FISHER: I think there is a great idea back of calling the
chiefs together, because there will be something left of us when we are
all gone. This record and pictures will live when we are all dead. I am
glad to have had this privilege of meeting all these chiefs from all the
tribes. I feel sad at the thought of not meeting these chiefs again, for
I would like to meet them all once more, but I feel pretty sure we will
never meet again.

Chief Running Fisher died within two weeks after reaching home from the
council.

CHIEF BULL-DON'T-FALL-DOWN: This meeting of the great chiefs in council I
consider one of the great events of my life. Chiefs from all over the
United States have come here, chiefs whom I have never seen before and
whom I will never see again. We have had an opportunity to see their
faces, shake hands with them, and talk with them in the sign language.
Since the great council of the chiefs on the Platte River in 1867, we have
not seen any of their faces until this day. Then we were on the
warpath--at this council we meet in peace. I was one