s in Indian Territory, resemble white men in
appearance very much. They will sometimes work side by side with swarthy
Caucasians, whose skin has been tanned by exposure to the sun, and
except for the exceptionally high cheek bone and the peculiarly straight
hair, there is little to distinguish the Indian from the white man.

But these cases are exceptions to the general rule, which is that
education is looked upon by Indians as a degradation rather than
otherwise. Great difficulty is often experienced in persuading parents
to allow their children to be taken to the training schools at all, and
so much compulsion is often necessary that an appearance of kidnaping is
imparted. The first thing that is done with an Indian boy or girl
admitted to one of these schools, is to wash the newcomer with
considerable vigor from head to foot, and to cut off the superfluous,
and, generally speaking, thickly matted hair.

The comfort of short hair, neatly combed and brushed, seldom impresses
itself upon the youthful brave. For obvious reasons this is, however,
insisted upon, and while the boy is at school he is kept neat and clean.
Directly, however, he returns to his tribe he is in danger of relapsing
into the habits of his forefathers. Too often he is sneered at for his
neatness. His short hair is looked upon as an offense, and he is
generally willing to fall in with tribal fashions, abandon his neat
clothing, and let his hair grow and his face accumulate the regulation
amount of dust and dirt.

The Indian trader and the pioneer generally will tell you that the only
good Indian is a dead Indian. He will repeat this adage until it becomes
wearisome in its monotony. Then, perhaps, he will vary it by telling you
that of all the mean Indians the educated one is the meanest. This is
only true in some instances, but it is a fact that education does not
invariably benefit the Indian at all.

Almost all Indians are passionately fond of dancing. Several books have
been written descriptive of the various dances of different tribes. Some
of them have a hidden meaning and dangerous significance, while others
are merely for the purpose of amusement and recreation. For these dances
the Indians generally put on the most fancy costumes they have, and
their movements are sometimes graceful and sometimes grotesque. The sign
dance, as seen in some of the Southwestern tribes, is a curious one. One
of the belles of the tribe leads a man into the danci