Viewing page 26 of 28

This transcription has been completed. Contact us with corrections.

individually and so the compassion for the gift issuing from it was for the people for whom compassion was craved.

I learned another thing while on this visit. It was warm and Wa-xri-^[[/]]zhi and I sat out of doors talking with some Osages and Quapaws who were there to attend the meeting,when his eye caught sight of a bunch of mistletoe a tree close by. He asked me if the Omahas ever used the mistletoe for any purpose and when I said that in the Omaha country there was no mistletoe and that it was not known to them ,he told me that the Osages called if^[[-]] No^[[n]]-ni^[[']] ba-tse"tobacco bunch,and that in the early times when the osages were out of tobacco they used the m. for tobacco. For some time I have been trying to find out if the Osages had a neme for the m.and the information came of iteself in this interesting way.

I have also secured a beautiful story of the resurrection of a young couple. It is very romantic and shows and appreciation of a true conjugal affection not only in the couple themselves but also by the people who remembered and handed the story down as one worthy of preservation. Of course the msystery surrounding the ressurrection had much to do with the memorizing of the story but the zest with which the part relating to the abandonment of all things by the hero for the companionship of his wife,was told shows the appreciation of real affection and love. Today I am doing some letter-writing so cannot take up the story but tomorrow I shall give it all the day and write it out carefully. In some respects the story is very much like the one told of Two-crows' mother. By the way I notice that this story is given in only a few words in the book when it should have been given in ful^[[l.]] A story told in that way takes away from it all its spirit and shuts out the personal interest of the narrator and his appreciation of the story.

There are other interesting things I have learned from the short visit but in this letter which is already too long I cannot tell them to you to give you a good idea of them.

One of the Bureau reports has an Osage wi-gi-e given by J.O.Dorsey. Near^[[ly]] all the wi-gi-e have the phrase "a bin da, tsi-ga" ^[[in each line]] and I have been unable to secure a satisfactory explanation of its meanining and if it is not too mu much trouble will you look and see how Dorsey has translated it in his paper. I hardly think it is reliable but still I want to know how he gave it. both Wa-xri-^[[/]]-zhi and Saucy-calf declare that "tsi-ga" does not mean grandfather but is simply a part of the phrase and is not capable of analysis. They say that if it was -grandfather- it would be pronounced "tsi-go" instead of"tsi-ga" As soon as I see Pa-thi^[[n]]-wa-we-xta I shall ask him and if he agrees with both these men I shall conclude that the word has lost its meaning. S.C. is positive and he is considered an authority,agraduate,as some of these interpreters express it and from all that he has given I shou should judge him as one of the scholars of this intricate rite.Wa-xri-^[[/]]zhi did not know that S.C. said that the word is not tsi-go but tsi-gi and when I asked him the question he replied without any hesitation that the word does not mean grandfather but that it was a part of the phrase and that its function was not known. If the name meant grandfather I am sure these two men would know and would say so.

Remember me to both Mrs Cushing and to Mrs Parson. AnD tell Dora that I am glad that she postponed her marriage,and that I think she did a wise thing.

All next week I shall work on the translation of the songs and rituals of the wa-xo-be and try to get them into shape so thattI can take up other things. As it is my mind continually reverts to them and unfits me for the study of other things.

Now I must close and get this off.

Affly.
^[[F]