John T. McCutcheon
Chicago Tribune
September 30, 1907
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Yep,
sonny this is sure enough Injun summer. Don't know what that is, I reckon,
do you? Well, that's when all the homesick Injuns come back to play; You
know, a long time ago, long afore yer granddaddy was born even, there used
to be heaps of Injuns around here—thousands—millions, I reckon, far
as that's concerned. Reg'lar sure 'nough Injuns—none o' yer cigar store
Injuns, not much. They wuz all around here—right here where you're standin'.
Don't be skeered—hain't none around here now, leastways no live
ones. They been gone this many a year.
They all went away and died, so they ain't no more left.
But
every year, 'long about now, they all come back, leastways their
sperrits do. They're here now. You can see 'em off across the fields.
Look
real hard. See that kind o' hazy misty look out yonder? Well,
them's
Injuns—Injun sperrits marchin' along an' dancin' in the sunlight.
That's what makes that kind o' haze that's everywhere—it's jest the sperrits of the Injuns all come back. They're all around us now.
See off yonder; see them tepees? They kind o' look like corn shocks
from here, but them's Injun tents, sure as you're a foot high. See 'em
now? Sure, I knowed you could. Smell that smoky sort o' smell in the air?
That's the campfires a-burnin' and their pipes a-goin'.
Lots o' people say it's just leaves burnin', but it ain't. It's the
campfires, an' th' Injuns are hoppin' 'round 'em t'beat the old Harry.
You jest come out here tonight when the moon is hangin' over the hill
off yonder an' the harvest fields is all swimmin' in the moonlight, an'
you can see the Injuns and the tepees jest as plain as kin be. You can,
eh? I knowed you would after a little while.
Jever notice how the leaves turn red 'bout this time o' year? That's
jest another sign o' redskins. That's when an old Injun sperrit gits tired
dancin' an' goes up an' squats on a leaf t'rest. Why I kin hear 'em
rustlin' an' whisper in' an' creepin' 'round among the leaves all the
time; an' ever' once'n a while a leaf gives way under some fat old Injun
ghost and comes floatin' down to the ground. See—here's one now. See
how red it is? That's the war paint rubbed off'n an Injun ghost, sure's
you're born.
Purty soon all the Injuns'll go marchin' away agin, back to the happy
huntin' ground, but next year you'll see 'em troopin' back—th' sky jest
hazy with 'em and their campfires smolderin' away jest like they are now.
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From his pipe the smoke ascending Filled the sky with haze and vapor, Filled the air with dreamy softness, Gave a twinkle to the water, Touched the rugged hills with smoothness, Brought the tender Indian Summer To the melancholy north-land, In the dreary Moon of Snow-shoes. — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Hiawatha 1855 |
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