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Show 426 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OB INDIAN BOHOOLS. The rlan nnmc aus always given wit11 religious cerpmonics. T h r ~ eto ok plare at infauvy, tlori!!: clrildhootl, or latrr at maturity. In the lartpr i~mtancs the name wk,.n r ~ n h ~ t~hee ~halh v name These an. sc,lnetin.t..: fancift~l. Inl t nrarlv trihe* have a siries of six or skven names, one for boys and one for girls, denoting the order of their birth. "Winona" is the Dakota child mme for theeldeat or first-born dau hter; "Konokaw" is the Winnebago name for the oldest or first-born son. ~ %cuesto m for a man to take a new or added name to commemorate some indi-vidual experience or achievement is widespread amon the Indians. These names are generally taken or announced at some.public gattering and in such manner as to tie the act to a religious thought or rite. Briefly stated, we learn from the rites connected with the bestowal of clan names and the customs pertaining to their nee that a man can not live for himself alone; that he is bound to his kinship group by ties he may not break, and must never forget or disregard. This obligation id kept in mind by certain usages, ~3 the tabu, which forbids the man to touch, use, or eat of the object referred to by his clan totem 01' sign; the custom which prohibits speaking to n eraon by his or her personal name or mentioning it in the barer's presence, and t%e exclusive use of terms of relation-ship as a mode of address. Instances could be cited of the survival of some of these customs among ourselves, aside from those of the home circle, father, mother, ete.; hut time forbids dwelling upon the long schooling of the m e to inculcate the idea of the interdependence of men. Turning to the use ol translated Indian names, we are at once madeaware of the wide difference betweenthe structureof theEnglish and the Indian lanpnages. This difference is so great a4 tomake a conciseand truthful translation auitahlefor practical use all but impossible. In the Indian tongues the nouns are allqualified by descrip-tive suffixes or by some other device, so that it is impossible to s eak of any object without describing it, as round, long, eto. or of any animal wittout indicating its position or action, as walking, nmning, sitting lying, etc. Verbs are alsoqualified, so that a few words in an Indian language bill present a picture or describe an action that can only be set forth in amore or lesa complex sentence of p lish To illustrate: There iu a well-known Dakota name generally translated as foung man afraid of his horses." This translation gives an erroneous idea of the true meaning oi the name,.which is "The young man whose valor is such that even the sight of his homes bnngs fear to his enemies." The impracticability of nsingsuch a sentence as a name is apparent. The Dakota is far better. Again, all clan names refer to the heraldic sign or totem of the clan and deal with some detail of the object oranimal. In thelatter instanceit may be with some phys-ical part or some peculiar trait of the creature. The Indian regards animals as endowed hy the Great Spirit with life and what we may for convenience term "char-acter." They bring help to man, as by food, or they strengthen him by their peculiar gifts; therefore no part of the animal is regarded with d~shonor. All natural func-tions and conditions are accepted simply So, in the instance given at the beginning of this paper, "stomseh fat," a translat~onw hich does not carr the meaning of the original, does not present to the Indian a disagreeable thongit. The word refers to the fat that envelops some of the internal organs-uet, we say-fat that was serviceable to the people and was one of the giftrl the Great Spirit made to man through the animal. The name commemorates the gift. The loss of original Indian names through the substitution of inadequate transla-tion would he a loss to the history of the human mind. Aside from this historic aspect, such a substitution would be a grave injustice to the people who used these names. Adequate translation is imprrteticable, as we have seen, and anything less will place the people in a false light, not through any fault of their own, but because of ignorance and carelessness on our part. Humanity, not to speak of the higher claims of Christianity, demands that we beware of such action. To a body of teachers I need not hesitate to speak of the obligation we are under to do all that lies in our power to help the m e who called this country home before our fathers discovered the land we love so well. We desire the Indian's education that he msg befit* to enter upon the duties of manhood and criltivate the gentle graces of C nstlsnlty, hut we can not successfully accomplish this desire if we disre- $ard his rights as an individual or if we fail to recognize what was noble and worthy In his paet history. It is not an eaay tmk to substitute a strange language for one's mother tongue, nor is it eas to accept the fact that the career of one's race, aa such, is over; yet such is the tad before the Indian youth. His language, his ancient avocations, his racial beliefs belong to a time that has gonenever toreturn; but there remains to him many noble heritages from the past, which it shoul<l he onr pleasure as it is our duty, to conserve, that he may feel the touch of Christian brotherhood aa we help him to a place by, our side, where he may be known by a name that was smed to his fathers. |