Indian always attracts attention. I have no doubt that all the boys and girls who read these pages have seen one or more Indians. You do not have to go to the mountains and prairies of the West to meet these "original Americans," for they live among us; many of them attend schools of their own in different parts of the country, and some of them are engaged in business. For years past the football club of the Indian School at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, has ranked among the best, as more than one of our colleges have found to their cost. A full-blooded Indian was a member of General Grant's staff, and was present at the surrender of General Lee at Appomattox.

Where did these red people come from? Nobody knows any more than he knows where or when the first human being appeared on this earth. There have been a good many guesses—for they are little more—to tell how the Indians came to be on this continent. Some have thought they are descendants of the Lost Tribes of Israel, who passed across Bering Strait from Asia, and, in the course of centuries, spread over and peopled both North and South America. Why their color changed to the well-known copper tint must have been due to the climate, though it is hard to understand why other persons should become yellow, brown or black. Then, too, a learned man once said there was no reason why the Indians might not have crossed Bering Strait from the other way, and peopled the Eastern Hemisphere. No doubt we shall have to wait a long time before learning all about the origin of man.

You hardly need be told how these red people got their name. Christopher Columbus, when he caught sight of land, after sailing so many weeks to the westward over the Atlantic, thought it was a part of the Indies. So, quite naturally, he called the natives Indians, and the name will never be changed.

You have heard of the Mound Builders, and many of you have seen some of the vast piles of earth which they heaped up hundreds of years ago. Ohio has ten thousand such mounds, and one near St. Louis covers eight acres. For a long while, it was believed that the Mound Builders were a race different from the Indians, who in the course of time gave place to them. This is a mistake. They belonged to the same race, and when Columbus discovered America, the Mound Builders were working like beavers in many parts of the country.

I am quite sure that you boys and girls, when reading or thinking about the Indians, have believed they were dying off, and the day would come when there would not be one of them left in America. No doubt you have felt sad over the thought (I remember when I was a little fellow how I shed a tear, and sniffed and hoped a few of them wouldn't die till I had become a man and gained a chance of seeing them.) This mistake is one of the most curious of which I know. There are to-day as many Indians in this country as there were four hundred years ago. The last census of the tribes in Canada shows a slight increase. True, some tribes have been destroyed, but others have grown in number. There are more Iroquois or "Six Nation" Indians now than during the Revolution. When the end of all things comes, and the white men of this country are called to be judged, plenty of red men will be among them. They are in the United States to stay, and stay they will as long as the white man remains.

At the opening of the twentieth century, the Indian population of the United States was more than 270,000. This did not include Alaska, and is a clear increase during the preceding ten years. More than a third of the Indians wear civilized dress, and a half of this third know how to read. Nearly a half of all the Indians are on "reservations" or at schools. The five civilized tribes, and their members in round numbers are: Cherokees, 30,000; Chickasaws, 7,000; Choctaws, 15,000; Creeks, 15,000; Seminoles, 2,500. They have fine schools, churches, banks, newspapers, factories and all the luxuries of modern life, with a system of government copied after our own.

More than a million dollars is spent every year by our government for the support of the various schools formed for the education of the Indians. These schools are at Albuquerque, N. M.; Chamberlin, So. Dakota; Cherokee, N. C.; Carlisle, Pa.; Carson City, Nev.; Chilocco, Oklahoma; Genoa, Neb.; Hampton, Va.; Lawrence, Kansas; and twenty-four other places.

You know that while the color of the Indians shows different shades, it is so similar that, leaving out the Eskimos, it is certain all of them had the same origin. The "pure-bloods" have coarse black hair, black eyes, high cheek bones, and not much muscular development, but they can stand a wonderful amount of fatigue. They are generally of a melancholy disposition, brooding and sullen by nature—though there are many exceptions—revengeful, unforgiving, treacherous, and yet they do not forget favors or kindnesses shown to them. The fact that from the day the first white man set foot on this continent he has abused the Indians, had much to do with the hatred shown by them toward these invaders from across the ocean.

Now, when you bear in mind that a good many tribes number only a few hundreds; that four hundred languages and two thousand dialects are used by the natives of North and South America, you will see how hard it is to classify them. Yet it is said the members of each tribe can be recognized. A good many systems have been used in classifying the Indians, but the best is that which divides them as follows:

The Panis-Arapahoe family, including the Panis or Pawnees, the Arapahoes and the Jetans, called Comanches by the Spanish.

The Columbian family, including the tribes in the North-west, of which the principal are the Snake or Flatheads, and the Shoshones.

The Sioux-Osage family, in which are found the powerful and numerous Sioux or Dakotas, the Assiniboines, who live in alliance with the Chippewas, the Mandans and the Osages.

The Mobile-Natchez, or Floridian family. This is composed of six independent branches, each divided into several tribes, including the five civilized ones already referred to.

The Algonquin, Huron (Wyandot) and Iroquois family. The first two named are residents of Canada, while many of the Iroquois live in Central New York.

The Lenape family include the Shawanoes, Kickapoos, Sacs, Foxes, Illinois, Pottawatomies, Winnebagoes, Delawares or Lenni-Lenape, Mohicans, Chippewas, and several others. The Apaches forming the most terrible of all Indian tribes, belong to the Mexican family.

The Indians knew nothing of firearms until they saw them in the hands of the white men. Like the ancient barbarians of other countries, they made use of the primitive bow and arrow, spear, tomahawk, knife and club. Swine, sheep, cows and horses were unknown until brought across the ocean by white men. America, in turn, gave tobacco to the Old World. The warrior lolled in his wigwam or tepee, smoking his pipe, while his squaw scratched the earth and raised maize and a few vegetables. Now and then the head of the household wandered into the woods to hunt for game, or to fish in the streams. His delight, however, was in going on the "war-path," and in slaying those of his own race, who belonged to another tribe. Through the gloomy depths of the forest, where only his trained eye could trace the prints of the moccasin, he tracked his enemy, braving storm, heat, cold, fatigue, starvation, and every kind of hardship, for the chance of stealing upon the sleeper, or catching him off his guard. Burying his knife in his breast, or driving his deadly arrow into the heart of his enemy, he wrenched the scalp from his crown, and with a shout of triumph, hurried back to his own people, with the shocking proof of his bravery. The members of the tribe who thus lost one of their number did not rest, so long as there was hope of revenge. Thus the fierce warfare went on, just as if these dusky people were civilized, or belonged to some of the "feudists" in certain parts of our country.

Among the many thousands of Indians there have appeared from time to time, numerous men of striking mental ability. They have had some of the most eloquent of orators, while others have shown marked military skill. Brought into contact with the white people, they have sometimes surpassed the Caucasian in real genius. In tracing the history and development of our country, we meet proofs of such skill and ability on the part of the Indians, and in the pages that follow we shall give attention to the most interesting instances, whose truth cannot be questioned.