State

THE STATE A Weekly Survey of North Carolina Гм»>*4 *«ot4 rliii m»U.r. Jen» 1. 10ЭЭ. »t Ih. Pe.toSf. »t R«l»i*b. North Cerolin». пвЛт tho Art of Worth J. 1670. Vol. X. No. 31 _ January 2, 1943 The Cherokees They're a great raee. but the average tourist who passes through the reservation in the western part of the state has little opportunity of knowing anil understanding them. By ROBERT T. HOLLOMAN COMPARATIVELY few people know anythin" about the 3,000- or-more Cherokee Indians in the western part of North Carolina. About the only contact that the aver¬ age North Carolinian has with them i« when he drives hurriedly through the Cherokee reservation and catches a glimpse of some of them along the highway. To my way of thinking, tho Cherokees are well worth studying and well worth knowing. 1 have been living in Swain County for a number of years and during that time have Income pretty well acquainted with the people on the reservation. As you probably know, the Govern¬ ment keeps a representative on hand to «се that everything runs smoothly. So far as the actual control of the tribe i.« concerned, however, the re¬ sponsibility rests entirely upon a chief and members of a council. Roughly speaking, it may be said that they arc similar in their duties to the chair¬ man and members of tho hoard of commissioners of our various counties. Efficient Government It is seldom that any problems arise *hich have to be appealed to the Government. The Indians regulate and control their affairs smoothly and efficiently, and there is very little fric¬ tion of any sort. Most white people have a fixed and established idea about the habits and personal characteristics of the red- men. All Indians are supposed to 1ч* cold-blooded, serious-mi nded. haughty and without the slightest vestige of humor. Perhaps they were, many years ago; but I doubt it. At any rate, our Indians in North Carolina certainly do not fall into any such classification. True, they do not make friends very quickly with outsiders. A member of the Cherokee tribe has to know you for some time before he will “open up,” ns the saying goes. But once you make a friend of him. ho is your friend for life and will do anything he can for you and your family. Here are some things I have found out about them: Indians do not like to be patronized. They are tolerant toward tourists but they resent, being regarded as curiosi¬ ties. When some visitor stops and asks them silly questions, the chances are they’ll walk off and leavo him. Indians have a keen sense of humor, hut they keep it well under control, so far as the outsider is con¬ cerned. I have found them to be great practical jokers, and they like nothing better than to put something over on one of their fellows. When a white man manages to play some kind of a practical prank upon a friend, he’ll laugh fit to kill himself. Not so the Indian, however. Last year, I was with a party of six or seven of Cherokeen Indian girl, with some of the wares which are mado on the reservation and are sold to tourists. them. We were going fishing. A heavy plank lay across the stream, and as we started to go across, the members of our group held back so that a rather stout Indian would have to cross the plank first. When he got half-way across, the plank gave way, and down he plunged into the stream. (One of the others had sawed it half¬ way through earlier in the day.) When lie rose to the surface, puffing and blowing, his comrades regarded him with expressions which suggested kindly concern. I didn’t see n single smile, but 1 knew that inwardly they were bubbling over. The one who had fallen into the creek, scrambled to the opposite side and never said a word. Devoted to Families Indians are devoted to their fnini lies. At times they are stern with their children, but not unjustly so. There is just as much genuine devo¬ tion on the part of the Cherokee parents toward their offspring as there i« in white families. And there i* a much deeper feeling of respect on the part of the Iudian child toward it* parents than there usually is among whites. The average Indian likes to drink and likes to smoke. On the whole, however, you find very few cases of (Continued on page twenty)