Beasley’s Farm and
Home Weekly, Charlotte, N.C., July 31,
1941
Took Round Trip of 20
Miles…Only to Find That Old Jim Walkingstick Had Nothing to Say and Said It
By H.E.C. (Red Buck)
Bryant
Jim Walkingstick was a Cherokee Indian in 1901 but no doubt
he has passed to the Happy Hunting Ground long before this, for he was 77 years
old in that old horse and buggy era when I made his acquaintance. One Sunday
morning in November, I was walking from Bryson City, Swain County, to the
Eastern Cherokee Training School, 10 miles away on the banks of the
Oconee-Lufty River.
I had for a companion on that 20-mile round trip jaunt a
traveling salesman I had never seen before. He heard me say that I was going to
walk and insisted on accompanying me. I asked him if he had been used to such
strenuous journeys afoot, and he answered in the negative but boasted that he
could do the task if I could. He was what George Ade called a wind-jammer.
We made the journey, up hill and down hill, in very good
time. I never saw that pal again for 15 years, and then in Washington. On a
popular business street he stopped me, and recalled the ramble in the
mountains, and added that he went from Bryson City to Knoxville, Tenn., where
he was out of commission for nearly three weeks. He had undertaken, too much,
when he was not used to it, and it laid him up.
To the Cherokee School
Back there, 40 years ago this coming winter, I wrote:
“Bryson City, Nov. 22—If one would know North Carolina he
must travel from the Atlantic to the Smokies. Out here I almost feel like I was
in a foreign land. The topography of the country and the people are so unlike
what I have been used to around Charlotte. But the more I know of this section
and its inhabitants the better I like them. To fully appreciate the country or
the people one must make excursions into the rural districts. There mountain
men and women live. They are the salt of the earth.
“Bryson City is a very lonesome place for a stranger on
Sunday. Of course there are churches to go to but I go to those at home. One
soon tires of laying around a hotel and is compelled to do something in
self-defense. That I did yesterday. And, being interested in Uncle Sam and his
work, I walked out to the Cherokee Training School.
“I had for a walking mate a pill seller who walked well for
an inexperienced mountain climber. We made the visit between 9 and 5:30,and
with the exception of a ravenous appetite, a few sore muscles and a great
desire to sleep, I did not feel any the worse from the jaunt.
“What I saw at the school and on the way there and back
affords material for a good story.
Meets Old Man Jim
Walkingstick
“Seven miles out of town we began to see Indians—real
Indians. I have seen Catawbas and Croatans but none of them look like the
Cherokees, who have red, copper color, the high cheek bones and the long,
straight black hair.
“The first individual we met was old man Jim Walkingstick.
He was leaning against the fence that enclosed the red man’s church at
Bird-Town. His eyes were fixed on the far off mountains and his mind, no doubt,
on the Happy Hunting Ground. He was not the only man there for two dozen or
more young bucks stood along the fence, and others loafed in front of the
church. All waited for the services to begin. As we approached every mouth was
closed. If any conversation had been going it was stopped. Each Indian looked
as if he had lost his best friend. The atmosphere was heavy with Indian piety.
I felt like I was offending the Indians by desecrating the Sabbath. But I have
since come to the conclusion that they were simply playing ‘possum or pouting.
I believe they thought the two pale-faced tramps were after doing the Red-skin
harm. I tried to draw Jim Walkingstick into a conversation, but he did nothing
but grunt. He could not tell his own name. His silence sealed the lips of the
younger men. It was impossible to get a word of information about the country,
or the people. And when I insinuated that I would stay for preaching the whole
crowd looked more downcast than ever, and some few bucks grunted and walked
away. If we had offered to go in the church I do not believe the pastor would
have had a corporal’s guard.
Women Look Neat
“We moved on up the river toward the school and met a score
or more of women going to Bird-Town. Most of them wore red shawls or capes over
their shoulders and red bandana handkerchiefs on their heads. Their skirts were
made of some plain cloth and had been made when the water was high, for they
did not swing lower than the shoe top. They were made to walk in. I saw no one
but who looked neat. As a rule the women are large and strong looking. Several
of the girls wore strings of beads.
“The Eastern Cherokee Training School is maintained by the
federal government. From year to year Congress appropriates enough to provide
for 150 children. The school draws from all the Cherokee families east of the
Mississippi River. At present 168 children, 90 boys and 78 girls, are in the
school. Their ages run from 6 to 18.
“The work done at this school is decidedly practical. The
boys and girls are trained to work as well as taught to read and write. The
purpose of the education is to prepare the boys for earning an honest living by
honest labor, and the girls for making good housekeepers, good wives and good
mothers.
How the School
Operates
There are 140 acres of land in the school tract. The boys
work in the gardens, in the dairy, in the carpenter shop, in the blacksmith
shop, in the shoe shop, where the girls learn to sew, to cook, to wash. The
boys milk the cows and the girls take the milk and prepare it for the church
and the table. The boys care for the barn and the stock while the girls help
cook food and make clothes. The school is made self-sustaining as far as
possible. One department helps the other. The work of a session is so divided
that every boy must take a turn in each department. For instance, one week he
will work on the farm, the next in the blacksmith shop and so on through. The
object is to make him an all-round workman. The girls are worked in the same
way.
“There are about 18 buildings in the enclosure. The main
ones are the girls’ dormitory and dining hall, the boys’ dormitory, the
teachers’ quarters, the superintendent’s cottage, the commissary, the school
building, the office building, the baker’s shop, and the carpenter’s shop.
“The school is a model for neatness and cleanliness. Every
building is kept in ship shape. The boys and girls are required to make their
beds and clean their rooms. The superintendent makes a close inspection every
Sunday morning from 9:30 to 10 o’clock. He goes to the sleeping apartments and
each and every child is expected to be dressed in his or her best clothes, and
standing by his or her bed. Order and system prevail everywhere. Along with
several other visitors I was conducted into the large bed room of the girls,
the dining hall, the kitchen and the school building. The girls sleep in a
large room on iron beds equipped with comfortable mattresses and coverings.
Boys and girls eat in the same dining room, though they occupy separate
buildings and have separate play grounds.
“We arrived at the school soon after dinner had been served.
The children were at play on the lawns. Fifty or more boys, handsome little
fellows, with black eyes, black hair and red-tinged faces, were scattered over
a hill side and a valley, inside the fence, playing shinny. They were like so
many lambs skipping about. Further on, the little girls were running and
jumping about on their lawn. They were pretty to look upon in their dainty,
clean Sunday clothes with their raven locks arranged in plaits tied with bows
of ribbon at their backs and on top of their heads. It was an attractive
picture. There was a beam of happiness in every little black eye. The children
seemed healthy and satisfied. As they romped they did not make much noise. Now
and then, however, a boy would give a regular Indian yell. Uncle Sam, thru the
teachers, has already accomplished much at this school. He has taught the boys
and girls how to keep clean, how to dress, how to work and how to live together
in peace and harmony. They should make good citizens.
‘It will no doubt be of interest to other schools’ boys and
girls to know the names of 10 of the Cherokee children. Here they are: Masters
Owen Walkingstick, Joe Coloniheiski, Jesse Ropetwister, Wilson Gadageski, and
cunuaneeta welch, and little Misses Ona Youngdeer, Wahueeto Standingdeer, Yon
Youngbird, Maggie Walkingstick, and Josephine Jessan. Those will do to
remember. The girls who bear these names are good looking and young. The boys are
bright and attractive.
“The location of the Cherokee school could not be improved
upon. It is in one of the most charming mountain spots of North Carolina. The
Oconee-Lufty River circles around the ground with its clear, swift water in
full view of the buildings.
“The children go to Sunday school in the forenoon and to
special service in the afternoon every Sunday.
“The Cherokee tribe of North Carolina numbers about 2,500
persons. Jesse Reed is chief and his board of councilmen is composed of 17 of
the leading Indians of this section. They met a few days ago.
“On our way to Bryson City, we saw Jim Walkingstick out
strolling. He was more communicative than he had been in the morning. On being
asked where some Indian wares could be had he piloted us to the house of his
son, John, where we purchased a small basket made by Lady Walkingstick. Near
the Bird-Town church we bought some table napkin holders made out of laurel. It
was then that the Indians became more interesting. Several of them condescended
to talk a wee bit.
Whittier’s, on the Murphy branch of the Southern Railway,
seven miles east of here, is the most convenient station to Cherokee.
“Many of the most promising boys, after leaving the school
here, go to the Carlisle Indian School, of Carlisle, Pa.”
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