St. Lucas, Iowa, September 17,1895

The Indians

Indians are people who look all the time brown. They always look brown because they are in the sun every day. Yesterday afternoon there were very many Indians here and the children by  the school looked all at them.  In the summer when it is warm the Indians come and live in the bushes not very far from here and when the winter comes they go to Wisconsin.

In the summer the Indians go barefoot and in the winter they have some rags around their feet.   Some Indians are wild and some are not wild.  The Indians have their camps in the bushes and on rivers or banks.  The Indians have black stiff hair but they are like us.  The Indians carry some woolen shawls and some woolen clothes in the summer and in the winter.  When the Indians come in the summer they have many indian ponies and they are very thick and very little and they are very tame.

Willy Steffes has an Indian pony from the indians.  He bought it from the Indian men and the pony’s color is black and it has a white stripe between the eyes and it goes until the nose.  Some Indian men have belts around their bodies that hold their clothes fast so that the clothes [don’t] fall down.  This spring there were very many Indians here with twenty two Indian ponies.  The Indians have a language for themselves.  We call it the Indian language.  The Indians are people like us, but they are brown and not so cloth as we are.  The Indians were by the priest’s house.  Indians go from one county to the other counties.  The Indians buy some fruit and victuals in the stores when they come.  Some children are very glad to see some indians.