The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, December 20, 1903, Page 24

- THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL—CHRISTMAS NUMBER. HAD work is now quite the rage. ;Omne firm in New York alone sold 4 last year on an average of thou- sands of dollars worth of beads &’ week. Think of it! Tons of beads for the purpose of decorating the fair necks and shoulders of America's fairest populstion and for girdling their supple and beautiful forms. In the childhood of many & woman who is now in her fifties and stxties beadwork was almost as popular as It is to-day. All the girls were taught the art, and they threaded beads until their eyesight suffered, and a large crop of ocular troubles was developed for the eye speclalists of forty years later to attend to. But noww women as well ‘gs girls heve the craze, and have it bad, and out of a hundred of those you meet on the streets of New York, Boston, Chicago, etc., one-half to two- thirds use heads of some kind upon their persons for decorative purposes. fully Yet, strange though it may® appear, the primitive bead worker was the In- dian woman. There is no white woman to-day who can equal in beauty, va- riety and striking character of her de- signs those of the Sioux, Winnebago and other Indian womeh. They use beads for decorating every possible article of dress, as well as for articles of utility Cradles, moccasins, jackets, hat ban necklaces, girdles, anklets, wristlets, dolls for bables, carrying bags for la- @ies and tobecco pouches for the men. The Sfoux have always been great bead workers, but in the West the Mo- haves and Wallgmgis are both expert tribes. At The Needles, on the main line of the Santa Fe, the Mohave wom- en meet the trains with their hands full of long strings of beads. They make a speciaity of necklaces, belts, collars and watchfobs. It is interesting to watch one who knows them trying to b Picking out a long string the would purchaser asks, “Peso cav-al-wee?” (How many dollars?) The reply comes, “Peso sit” (one dollar), or “Peso mee- hi-weeka” (one dollar and twenty-five cents), ¢r ‘“Peso me-champ-pop” (one dollar and fifty cents), or “Peso mee- hi-weeka mee-champ-pop” (one dollar and seventy-five cents). If the chafge is too large the buyer expresses his disap- probation with a stern “Han-a-to-op- o-gl,” which signifies “bad.”” If he is satisfied he exclaims, “Han-ni-gle” (good)) and the trade is made. ¥Figure 1 shows a Mohave woman at the reservation on the Colorado River, Parker, Ariz., holding a loom made by Professor Rapson of the United States be Indian School. Indlans .semselves, however, often strike the pegs wupon which they do their work into the ground or upon a rude plece of 4. Yet upon these rude looms they pro- duce marvelous work, as will be seen from later pictures, which represent a variety of articles. There are belts, collarettes, watch fobs, garters and a battle ax, ete. Figure 2 shows a Mohave Indian making a collarette for her own use. Here she has invented a loom to suit her own purposes. She has made a large olla, with a neck about as large 2s her own, and upon that proceeded to do her work, thus showing a keen adaption of the limited materials to the result she desired. The Mohaves and Wallapais both make a large number of plaited neck- laces, using two, four and six strands. Figure 8 shows a flat bralded necklace and a watch fob, which I purchased recently from a Mohave, Figures 4, 5 and 6 are Mohave work. The braid or plait is used in a variety of ways to produce different but pleas- ing effects. Some are flat, others round, others square. In the upper specimen of figure 4 the belt part is woven In the usual manner on the loom, the two ends for tying being braided from long strips of beads, Thus & novel and pleasing effect is produced. But it 1s In the belts and garters that one gains an idea of their versatility in making designs. Figure 7 shows some of these belts. Of course, an inflnity of diversity can be galned simply by cholee ,of different colors. Bach works according to her own preference, but some of them show-an appreciation of harmony in colors that one would not ——— GOVERNOR BY PROXY Half-Hour Storiette o——————— - N the station platform at desolate Xerxes Junction stood two impatient men. The big, lumbering, round-faced - man was Colonel <Joe Layson; the thin, sallow one was Henry Clay Finley. -1t m campaign time, and the twain were swinging around the circle,” - Colonel Layson as the candidate of the “Outs” for or and Finley as the spell- binder paid to extol the merits of his party’s standard bearer. The afternoon train that was to stop at Xerxes Junction and take .an pas- sengers for Ardenia was late, and ‘the rough old colonel began to lwur as he studied his watch. “It'll be here ih @ minute, Governor, said Fintey soothingly, carefully ob- serving the custom of addressing chn- didates by the title to which they as- pire. “»:A¥gerawny, bent-over old woman, carrying an<apronful of wood, came call me.” “Won't you pardon my bny‘? He's servin’ five years in Osborn prison. The old man’s been sick abed for months and I ain’t able to work, and .we're nearly -tarvln'.}:Pndon ‘the boy, won't you, Guy, ed to g6’ ddwn to the cnplml -.yea a) Dannie u.ay._ ( I hul.no money and T couldn't*walk'that far.” The Céloniel raised his finger and seemed l‘yout to explain, but the wo- man talked on piteously: #'They sa¥ihe stole. a cow for Hal- der, the cattle king that lives down at Belden. Maybe you know him. I don’t believe Daunie did any stealin’, but if he did, Guvner, it wouldn’t be right rushin’ him off to prison,and leavin’ old Halder free and still hirin’ honest folks’ boys to steal cattlecfor him.” “It doesn’'t seem right for a’ fact,” admiited the oolonel “But my good woman,” lntmptad Finley, “there was certainly no .evi- dence against Mr. Halder, or surely the majesty of the law. would -have - been - sustaffied and he, t00, would have suf- out pf the 'fl“mp of trees across the s.;eq the punishment Of the transgres- nflmd t] and limped ’,loq‘ until she’ re. he platform, where she mpped ooked up into the colone's face with yacant-eyed curiosity. Finley ‘was shocked. . “Buch claimed. -'sn‘un f her to be off, Betore the Colonel could. answer,the® The woman look puzzl cld woman clambered updn the plu— * form and limped “Be you the Guvner?” she’ ukel; The Colanel smiled Y big, "'d#nnm!" he; ex‘-g X hearted ' smile and answered: “That's what they old man and me'll dle before spring if wrote steadily, sor.” 3 “I don't catch all:your fine words, mister, but 1 know Dan’s in pn-on-lnd lhlddr is, tullty. Fln; word- can’t “gef ; g chuckled » m. eoloml —_—s t wy;fl\tho took: you don't. It won't hurt you to pardon him. He ain't no dangerous crim’'nal. Anybody ‘round.: here!ll tell you Dannie Higgs was rever before the judge till ‘this time. He’s all the child I got left, Guvner. ' Don’t keep him from me."” The colonel helped Mrs. Higgins to her feet:and led her to a bench just * outside” the doof of tha little télegraph office. . ‘All the while he was'thinking deeply. He was the candidate of,the “Outs”, for Covernor; the “Ins” had a natufdl majoFity of '60,000° votes; Gov- ernor John Randall, with a good official record to ‘bdck 'Bim, Was up for re-elec- tion, and Colonel Joe Layson had as much chance of becoming Govénor as he had of n.}mnl the throne of _Turkey. resolved the ntu.ltloq in/ his . mind, and as he found his ation - Mrs. Higgs started to - rise, ; but he “Finley, it would be & good scheme If . waved her back,: you'd talk English once inja while.” L mment but the colonel's face was kindly, and, ¥to' his side. '*1hmwln‘ down her bundle of ‘wood, she dropped on her knees before him. “Please pardon my boy, Guvner. The there, madam; until I send a ne-n and get an tigate thi trowned and stalked into the telegraph office. ;| ‘For perhaps two minutes he ‘When he had finished appearance of the weavera In more elaborate articles ef dress perhaps no béadworkers in the world can equal the Sioux. In figure § are a pair of moccasins end leggins most beautifully and tastefully adorned with beads. To harmonize a design with the peculiar shape of the foot, for instance, is not always easy, yet ths Sioux weav- er never makes any error in this direc- tion. Of the meaning of these designs much could be written—too much for the lim~ ited space at my disposal. The four bags pictured In Fig. 9 maks fancy work bags, or even tobacoe pouches, and T know of one man whose purse is one of these beautifully beaded Bloux bags. The Indlans use them for carrying the ‘“hoddentin™ or sacred meal, which they sprinkle constantly whenever they wish to give a religious significance to any act that they are about to perform. By far the most convenient loom yet invented is the Apache loom, patented by the Benham Indian Trading Com- pany of New York. (See Fig. 10) It consists of a flat board, on which are two raised bridges. over which the threads are connected at one end with the retaining pegs, and at the other with a revolving drum, upon which the work can be rolled as fa: a portion of it 1s completed. On this loom thou- sands of American women to-day are enjoying the delight of making articles for their own personal adornment and that of their friends. A little side light upon the historic fmportance of the old wampum or shell bead belts may not be out of place here. As is well known the wampum or beads of these belts are generallyob- long tubes, about the fourth of an. inch in length, shaped like a plece of to- —" BEAUTY IN all the various tribes of the Iroquois, the hero of Longfellow’s great poem, wu the inventor of the method of using Indeed an Iroquols tradition oclearty states that he is the inventor of the wampum belt as his name implies. The Indian of the name of Hayunwatha, from sayunwa (wampum belt) and kathe (to make), hence he is' “tha maker of the wampum belt.” —_————————— What Is Selium? ‘We would like to hear some furthes words from Germany as to the discov- ery In that state of & new metal, called selium, by its alleged discoverer, Ed- ward Mollard. For a substance that has been newly found a surprising deal appears to be known of its properties. Mr. Mollard says it can be produced at a cost only one-twelfth as great as that of radium, that it is lighter and stronger, does not rust, takes a fine polish, is useful for shipbuilding, pipes, railroad construction, cooking utensils, has greater resisting power than irom, and a hardness somewhat less. Have we been living for all these years om beds of selium ore, o rich that steam- boats and railroad trains can be made of it, and have not suspected it? One is tempted to suppose that what is announced as a discovery means an invention merely, and that selium is an alloy; but you cannot alloy heavy metals and secure a light-product. Mr. Mollard seems to imply that the metal exists in prodigious quantities; hence it is astonishing that it has never been discovered befora. We are finding new things in nature all the time, as wit- ness radium, but then, radium exists in such small quantities that there is per- haps not an ounce of the free metal in 21l America at this time. Theoretically, you could do cooking and lighting and heating with it, but the fulfillment of theory by*practice is prevented by na- tural limitations as to quantity. Let us hear something further about seffum before we accept all that has been sald of and for it. POLITICS By John Taylor Waldorf e R e e e ‘ he hurrledly gathered up the satisfac- toryPdheets and slammed them down on the operator's table. “Here,ymy man,” he Asend tlds in a dbig hurry.” "% Phe operator lookeii up sleepily, rub- bed his eyes and Tead: 2 “To Hon. John Randall, “BExecutive Mansion, Eagleton: ' “My Dear Gov.—I'm running against you, but you know it's only for exer- cise, and I want you to help me out of a hole that has nothing to do with politics. I've got an old woman here who takes me for you and wants me to pardon her son. It would be a shame to undeceive her, and anyway I'm better looking than you are. The boy's name is Dan Higgs. He was sent up for, five yeara for cattle stealing. His father' is sick, and both father and mother are starving. Pardon the bo; for mé, John. I mever envied you your job until this minute, and even now I want it only long enough to pardon a cow stealer. Answer at once. I'll wait here at this God-forsaken junction un- u\l hear from you. “JOSEPH LAYSON.” It was the longest and by far the oddest telegram known in Xerxes Junc- “tion. The operator looked dubious and tlmldlr suggested, “You ml‘ht skel: _etonize this and saye ‘money.” ¢ - ”No, sir,” said the Colonel, MM— ly.. “Send every blamed word of it. This is & matter of state.” The operator labor: th the mes- sage 'while the colonel Went out on the platform to - tell Mrs." Higgs to wait _patiently. Soon after the message had gone over the wires the Ardenia train came puffing in, commanded, “Come on, Governor,” said Finley. “We can't wait any longer.” “I can't leave now,” Colonel, leaning languldly against station door. “But you must. We speak ta Arde- nia to-night.” “You can make enough noise for both of us.” “Ardenia counts on hearing you, Gov. ernor,” urged Finley. “A willfull dis- appointment like. this might ruln your chances of election.” “You know I never had any, Finley. What's the use of saying that? Any- how, I'm not going.” With that he took a seat on the bench beside Mrs. Higgs. “You'd better be moving, Fin- ley,” he added. “I'll joln you at Beeda- burg in the morning.” Just then the operator came rushing out with a message. The Colonel seized it, almost tearing it in half In his eager- en held the piéces in shaking hands while he read: “Dear Colonel—Have teleghoned to warden at Osbern. No objection there. Higgs' pardon signed this minute. Glad to be of gervice. 3 “ JOHN RANDALL™ The Colonel turned to Mrs. Higys “It's all right,” he said thickly. “Your boy §ill be home to-morrow.” “Thank you, thank you. You're the best Guvner God ever made.” At ihis * she broke down and sobbed. . “A)] aboard!” shouted the conductor. The Colonel took a step toward the train. “It's all right,” he repeated. "l'vo done only my duty, but if you feel grateful tell the boy to vote 'tor me, John Randall, for Governor.™* ¥