From Now On You'll Be Seeing:
w
On Your Nickels, in Place of:
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
C Western Newspaper Union.
fHE buffalo and the Indian are about to do another
"Vanishing American" act. They're going to disap
pear from our coinage.
By law the design of a coin may not be changed
oftener than once in 25 years and on February 21 of
this year the familiar buffalo and Indian nickel, which
replaced the Liberty nickel in 1913, reached the retire
ment age. So Henry A. Morgenthau, secretary of the
treasury, announced a contest for the design of its successor,
a new five-cent coin to be known as the Jefferson nickel since
it will have a portrait of Thomas Jefferson on one side and a
replica of his home, Monticello, on the other.
Whether or not the retire- ?"
ment of the buffalo nickels
will mean a retirement of
all the jokes that have been
CHIEF IRON TAIL
made about it remains to be
?een. It's also a question
whether certain legends that
have clustered around this
coin will be dispelled or be
come more firmly fixed in
"American folklore" now
that no more examples of
this popular bit of money
will be coming from the
mint.
Outstanding among these
myths is the one that Chief Two
Guns White Calf of the Blackfoot
tribe was the "original buffalo
nickel Indian." That legend was
industriously propagated by fre
quent reproduction of his pic
ture in newspapers and maga
zines under some such caption as
"Face You Recognize on the Buf
falo Nickel" or "You've Got His
Portrait in Your Pocket" or "You
Carry His Portrait ? Perhaps!" or
"His Face Is Worth a Fortune in
Nickels." (Look at the portrait
at Two Guns White Calf, shown
with the buffalo at the head of this
article, and you will notice the re
semblance.)
Innumerable tourists, who vis
ited Glacier National park and
?aw the Blackfoot chieftain there,
helped spread the legend, and
during the many trips which he
took to various parts of the coun
try he was invariably photo
graphed, interviewed, advertised
and written up as "the Indian
wboae likeness appears on every
buffalo nickel." Ail of which was
interesting if true? only it didn't
happen to be true.
Am a matter of fact, the Indian
is a
ized portrait, not of just one red
man but several. No less a per
son than the sculptor who de
signed the coin is the authority
for that assertion.
He is James Earl Fraser and
in 1931 he issued a statement
which should have set at rest for
all time? but didn't!? the ques
tion as to the identity of the ' orig
inal." Mr. Fraser said he had
used the profiles of three Indians
for his design? Chief Iron Tail of
the Ogalala Sioux, Chief Two
Moons of the Northern Cheyennes
and a third whose name he had
forgotten. Many who thought
they had seen the "buffalo nickel
Indian original" when they visit
ed Glacier park chose to believe
that Two Guns White Calf might
be the third Indian whose name /
Mr Fraser had forgotten, despite
the fact that the sculptor also I
?aid that he "had never seen
Two Guns White Calf."
So the legend persisted and
when the Blackfoot died in 1934,
the familiar story (with pictures,
of course) blossomed out in full
flower again, thus proving that
error, as well as truth, when
"crushed to earth will rise
again." How did the yarn ever
get started anyway? It's as dif
ficult to trace this legend down to
its source as it is to arrive at
the beginning of any folk tale.
Perhaps as authentic a version as
?ny is this one. furnished by
Hoke Smith. Western develop
ment agent of the Great Northern
railroad, to the author of this ar
ticle several years ago. He wrote:
You asked lor It. 1 consulted the sages
of the tribe. ard here It U? f?2
ol tlw Indian face upon the nickel. ae
near as I can tranalale It from the
Blackfoot ipoi.rn and aign language:
Many moons ago, when he was
early thirties, the late Chief Two Guns
White Calf, chief of the C'acier National
Park Blackfoot tribe, got his first nickel
from one of the earlier ?Pen<?thrtft
tourists that came to bis
snap-shoo t:n\ It was one of the buffalo
aeries of five-cent pieces.
Two Guns was delighted with tb?P*c
ture of the Buffalo, which aide happened
to be "telle up" when the generous tour
ist put It in the palm of his hand A
moment later, when he turned the coin
over and beheld his own
lng In bold relief before him. It ?u
as lookin' into a mirror to Two Guns. i
"Me!" he exclaimed. "Big White CJvlef
out warrior on penny. But when it
come to nickel only chief
It happened the "liberal-handed tourist
Two Gun* was talking to wail newt
photographer -grabbing some photo fea
ture" a'uff while visiting the park.
Straightaway he went out and seized the
buffalo nickel Indian feature and gave It
wide circulation.
While Two Guns White Calf lived! for
twenty years after), he was hailed by
every school child In the United States
as the Indian whose face appeared on
the buffalo n ckel And there was much
controversy throughout the land I
The artlat? fraaer? who drew this In
dian head for the buffalo nickel, when
put with hla back to the wall to decide
the controversy, replied:
"When I drew the Indian face for the
buffalo nickel I had do particular Indian
In mind The face on the nickel la a
composite of a mental photograph ol
all American Indians!"
Whew! That was right tnto the laps
o< tbe^ defenders ol the Idea that 'twas
Two Guns White Cair a face, after all.
since he waa the most tra\eled Indian
in the United Sla-<s. ?nd consequent*
during his missionary >?"rT?yrs ta e*
plotting the marvelous beauties of u?o
KckiA
must have left a groter Imjneeionuuui
any ether individual Indian of recent
"tR-. <P * <? ?
"
of years ago), Two Guns held the dis
Unction of being the most statuesque In
dian figure in the country. And. even
to this day, be Is still regarded as the
Indian on the nickel, notwithstanding the
artist's disclaimer that no Individual In
dian ever posed lor his nickel design.
Out on the reservation, all they'll say
Is: "Well. Two Guns certainly was the
counterpart of the Indian on the buffalo
nickel." So has come to pass a contro
versy over a nickel and an Indian which
created much argument for nearly the
last quarter of a century.
Even though Fraser's state
ment robbed many Americans of
their belief that they had seen the
"original" in Glacier park, the
chances are that many of them
did see one of the "originals"
many times ? that is, if they ever
attended a Wild West show. For
Chief Iron Tail, who as a young
warrior had fought with his Og
lala tribesmen in the Custer battle
and other engagements in the
Sioux war of 1878-77, was among
the Indians who traveled with
Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West in
this country and abroad, was
later with the Combined Buffalo
Bill and Pawnee Bill Wild West
shows and still later with the
Miller Brothers' 101 Ranch show.
During this time the Oglala was
widely publicized as "the true
original of the Indian on the buf
falo nickel*" but most people dis
missed that claim as "just an
other circus press agent's yam,"
even though there was some ele
ment of truth in it. Iron Tail died
in 1916 while on a Chicago and
Northwestern railroad train en
route to Chicago.
More notable ui frontier history
than Iron Tail was the other
"original" ? Two Moons of the
Cheyennes. As a youth he dis
tinguished himsef by his feats
as a warrior against such tribal
enemies as the Crows, the Paw
nees, the Shoshones and the Gros
Ventres. The opening of the war
of 1876 found him the chief of a
band of Cheyennes in the Powder
river country and when the Chey
ennes joined their allies, the
Sioux, Two Moons had a con
spicuous part in the Battle of the
Rosebud, where Chief Crazy
CHIEF TWO MOONS
Horse defeated General Crook,
and in the Battle of the' Little Big
Horn, where Cutter was killed.
Two Moons was in another fa
mous battle ? General Macken
zie's attack on the village of Chief
Dull Knife of the Cheyennes that
bitter winter night in ltTt when
the power of his tribe was
Jsroken for all time. The next
spring Two Moons led his people
to Fort Keogh, Mont., where he
surrendered to Gen. Nelson A.
Miles. After the close of the In
dian wars Two Moons was looked
upon as head chief of the Chey
ennes and to the end of his days
he was zealous to leading his peo
ple in "the white man's road."
The Indian on the buffalo nickel
ia not the only symbolical figure
on our coins which had a proto
type in real life. The earliest
was in 1840 when t^ie "Indian
head" one-cent piece was de
signed. If you happen to have
one of those old-style pennies in
your pocket take a look at it.
You don't have to know much
about the physiognomy of the
red man to realize that the piod
el for the head on the coin wasn't
an Indian.
The "original" was a little
twelve-year-old girl named Sar
ah Longacre, whose father was
the chief engraver at the Phil
adelphia mint. When a compe
tition for the design of a new cop
per cent was announced, Long
acre decided to enter it.
One day, while his daughter
was in his office, a delegation of
Indians from the West visited the
mint. The friendly manner of
the little girl pleased one of the
Indian chiefs so much that he
took off his war bonnet and
placed it on her head. The ef
fect was so striking that Long
acre immediately made a sketch
of his daughter wearing the bar
baric headdress, submitted it in
the competition and won the ;
award.
"Silver Dollar Girl"
The next girl to be immortal
ized in our coinage was Anna
Willess Williams of Philadelphia
whose profile was used as the
model for the "Goddess of Lib
erty" on the old silver dollars.
Back in 1876 George Morgan, an
expert designer and engraver,
was commissioned to prepare
the design for a new silver dol
lar that was to be minted at Phil
adelphia. When he asked Thom
as Eakins, a Philadelphia artist,
to suggest some one who would
act as a model for the head on
this coin, Eakins recommended
a young girl named Anna Wil
liams, whom he had known while
she was an art student, as hav
ing the most nearly perfect pro
file that could be found at that
time.
Miss Williams was then prin
cipal of the girls' school at the
House of Refuge in Philadelphia
and it was only after much per
suasion and the promise that her
identity would not be made
known that she consented to pose
for Morgan in Eakins' home. She
is said to have been a very beau- !
tiful girl, with fair complexion,
blue eyes, and a Grecian nose, j
But her "crowning glory" was an
abundance of golden hair, worn |
in a becoming soft coil. This was i
the most striking feature of the i
first design which Morgan made !
but later it was partially con- .
cealed by the Liberty cap with
its sheath and stars.
For two years the identity of
"Miss Liberty" on the new silver
dollars was kept secret by the
artist and officials of the mint.
Then a Philadelphia newspaper
man revealed the fact that Miss
Williams was the "silver dollar
girl." Immediately she received
many offers to go on the stage.
But she declined all of them, pre
ferring to continue teaching for
$80 a month at the House of Ref
uge until 1891 when she accepted
the position of teacher of kinder
garten philosophy in thfe Girls
Normal school in her native city.
Among the romantic legends
that became associated with the
"silver dollar girl" was one
which declared that the designer
of the new silver dollar fell in love
with his beautiful model and later
married her. But the fact is that
Miss Williams never married but
devoted her life to teaching until
she retired in 1924 and died a
year or so later at the age of
sixty-eight. In later years she
was often asked to tell the story
of how she came to be the model
for "Miss Liberty" but she al
ways smilingly referred to it as
"an incident of my youth" and
preferred to talk of her work in
the kindergarten schools of Phil
adelphia.
"American Coin Girl"
One other woman who gained
fame because of a coin portrait
was Miss Doris Doscher who be
came known as the "American
Coin Girl" after she had mod
eled for the figure on the quarter
dollar which was designed by the
famous sculptor, Hermon A. Mac
Neil. She is the girl you see ,
walking down the stairs on the J
silver 25-cent piece, carrying an
olive branch, signifying peace, in
her right hand and grasping with
her left hand the shield which
symbolizes strength.
On the other side of the quar
ter is the figure of a flying
eagle which, incidentally, caused
considerable discussion when this
new coin appeared. MacNeil
showed the eagle with its legs
trailing behind it, as did Augus
tus Saint Gaudens, designer of
the eagle on the new *20 gold
pieces, which appeared at the
same time. Immediately cer
tain naturalists cried "nature
fake I" and declared that when
an eagle is in flight its legs are
tucked up neatly under its breast
instead of trailing out behind Uke
. stork's legs, though notquite
so far behind. But the Philadel
phia Academy of Natural Sci
ences and the National Art Jury,
which passes on the designs of
all American coins, said that Saint
Gaudens and MacNeil were not
only great artists but close stu
dents of natural history and that
the legs oa their eagles were
correctly placed. So they (the
legs) continue to trail. |
[SKIING IN
AMERICA!
OK (or a Day'i Skiing.
Thrilling Winter Sport That Is
Popular in Our Mountainous Regions
Prepared by N.Uon.1
Washington, D. C.? WNU Service.
AMERICA'S skiing season is
f\ on. Snow and weather
* *? conditions are right and
railroads are publicizing the ac
commodations of their special
ski trains.
When one has learned to en
joy it, skiing wins an affection
akin to that of a golf addict for
his game. No other sport, to a
skier, is so much a matter of
self. Skiing is essentially a solo
performance.
A sportsman writes: "In my own
limited experience, I have tried
many sports. Polo has its tre
mendous thrills, but, after all the
horse does much of the work. ScuU
ing has its charms, but also its la
bors. I have never ridden a free
surfboard. Perhaps that is as thrill
ing, for the sport resembles skiing.
I have soloed gliders. Soaring cer
tainly is 'tops.' But even there,
the machine introduces an imper
sonal element.
"I suppose the first man to stand
on the top of Everest will have a
feeling of personal achievement be
yond that of any other mountaineer.
But in a more humble way, every
skier who stands at the top of a
beautiful, unmarked stretch of new
snow, waiting for the clean, flowing
track of his own skis, experiences
that exaltation. It is like being
the first one out in the crisp frosty
air of an autumn morning. The
skier gets a chance to breathe it
before anybody else has breathed
Racing on Skis Is Thrilling.
Racing has its place. It is a
thrill to see a well-co-ordinated,
confident runner come streaking
down a narrow trail, cutting a hot
corner. by a graceful quick thrust
with his heels and an almost in
stantaneous skidding of his skis,
which changes their course or to
watch a skier in a slalom race, rid
ing a steep slope in easy schusses,
checking his speed with broken cris
ties, or "tailwagging," taking deep
or soft snow in a graceful telemark,
or steered turn.
Some racers crouch very low to
keep their center of balance near
the ground. Others ride erect and
confident.
The most experienced make their
control movements so easily that
they seem to float while the skis do
the turns. "Tempo stuff," that, the
acme of controlled skiing.
But a person alone in the wilder
ness, finding a pair of skis and
knowing what they were, could find
fun long before he found technique.
"As a child on the Kenwood hills
behind my home in Minneapolis,"
said a skier, "I learned to stand on
skis, then to walk on them, then to
run on them, then to slide on them,
and then to stop and maybe fall
down on them.
"No matter what language one
uses to name it, that sequence is
about all that skiing is. I used to
crouch down when I was afraid of
falling. It was 25 years before I
knew I was doing an 'Arlberg
crouch.'
"I still lose patience when I hear
some fairly good veteran chilling
the ambitions of a would-be skier
with a display of ski terminology.
Yet even the most kind-hearted
group of novice skiers, each owning
skis and harnesses from which price
marks have not rubbed off, will reg
ister derision when they notice some
uninstructed girl or boy with a
pair of store skis having only the
leather loop, or toe strap, on them.
'Tde-strapper' is a word of open
scorn."
Children always have learned ski
ing with only toe straps. Grown
people will find for themselves that
toe straps are good for nothing ex
cept straight-ahead, easy slides. A
pair of skis which do not turn
with the feet obviously cannot be
controlled.
Girls Help Make It Papular.
When a grown girl attempts to
ski with high-heeled shoes it is ab
surd. When she falls and twists
her ankle, as she well may, her
suffering is just a reward for her
stupidity.
Girls, however, must be credited
with much of skiing's popularity.
Many no doubt became interested
when attractive ski. costumes were
mada available. They looked so
swagger in the clothes that they had
to carry on, buy skis, board the
?now trains, and become skiers.
And when all the pretty girls were
going on the snow trains, they were
not going alone.
Said an old-timer, "I have no in
tention of ever running the full head
wall in Tuckerman ravine on Mount
Washington. My racing days are
all behind me. The only skiing
championship I hold and cherish
is the neighborhood championship
won for riding down the vertical
pitch from the high tee by the
bridge on the Winchester (Mass.)
golf course on a single ski without
falling."
To have the world's most exten
sive network of down-mountain
trails, more than 300 miles of them,
as New England has; guarantees its
popularity as a mountain runner's
paradise.
Many of the existing trails, de
spite the effort to classify them as
"expert," "intermediate," and
"novice," vary so much from day
to day with weather and snow con
ditions that under certain circum
stances even some of the novice
trails will scare the beginner.
New England Trails.
After all, how much multitude ap
peal is there in mountain trails with
such reassuring names as "Hell's
Highway," "Chin Clip," "Nose
Dive," "Wildcat," and "Thunder
bolt"?
Those are actually the names of
five New England trails. They have
spectator appeal. People would
want to go and watch others risk
their necks on them. Such names,
however, have not the persuasive
lure that attracts participants rath
er than spectators.
Obviously, if a steep mountain
trail has plenty of turns, a skier
will automatically slow down when
he makes the turns, or in trying to
turn he will fall harmlessly. In
either case, he has killed the speed
which can be so dangerous.
A mountain trail with such fre
quent turns would not be fast
enough for Olympic-caliber racing
runners; most of the New England
down-mountain trails were laid out
according to the preferences of rac
ing men.
Fortunately, New England has not
stopped with its down-mountain net
work. Skiing, like golf, requires
facilities. And communities, sens
ing the winter business possibilities,
have undertaken to provide suitable
open slopes, woods roads, new con
necting trails, slopes which can be
floodlighted for nighttime skiing.
They have constructed ski tows,
American developments which pull
the skier to the top of the hill and
increase manyfold the amount of
sliding down which one can do in a
day.
The snow trains, which brought
35,000 skiers to New England ski
areas during the winter of 1935 have
created an interesting new problem.
It is difficult for the New York, New
Haven and Hartford railroad, for
example, to locate areas near
enough to New York for a one-day
excursion train trip, where the snow
is sure to be satisfactory and where
the skiing terrain can accommodate
thousands of skiers.
Week-End Snow Trains.
The first regular snow train was
run by the Boston and Maine rail
road from Boston in 1931. That
winter these trains carried 8,371
passeners. Last winter they car
ried 24,240 passengers, 80 per cent
of whom were skiers.
Being nearer the more mountain
ous section of New England, the
Boston and Maine has a wider
choice of one-day snow train des
tinations than the New Haven. How
ever, New York has solved that
problem by introducing the "week
end snow train,"
Skiing has had a peculiar devel
opment in America. It was intro
duced originally by the Scandinavi
ans, with whom cross-country ski
ing and ski-jumping were the vogue.
Cross-country skiing did not cap^
ture popularity in America. Ski
jumping did become a sports event.
It was the development of moun
tain skiing in Switzerland and Aus
tria which suggested to New Eng.
landers their own mountain possi
bilities.
Today, cross-country skiing over
mountainous regions seems to be the
coming thing. A series of shelter
huts was built in the White Moun
tain National forest last summer
supplementing the Appalachian
Mountain club trail cabins. Indi
vidual skiing trail systems have
been linked together and mapped
for touring.
AROUND
J THE HOUSE
Washing Pirtle;. ? Parsley
washed with hot water keeps its
flavor better and is easier to chop.
? ? ?
Preserving the Broom.? Soak
ing a broom in boiled salt-water
every two weeks will help pre
serve it.
? ? ?
Jumpers Keep Their Shape. ?
When drying woolen jumpers run
a curtain stick through both
sleeves and then hang up. A coat
hanger will make "pokes" on the
shoulders and spoil the shape.
? ? ?
Dry Those Boots. ? At this time
of the year overshoes or boots
often get damp inside. Don't dry
them by the Are or the rubber will
perish. Keep two old woolen socks
filled with bran. Heat these in
the oven and pop them into the
boots ? the bran retains the
warmth for some time and helps
to dry out the dampness.
? ? ?
Cleaning Hair Brushes. ? To re
move grease and dirt from hair
brushes and combs, wash them in
a quart of water to which a tea
spoon of ammonia is added; rinse
and dry in the sun.
What Is Proper Use
of Furniture Polish?
In a recent investigation, it was
proven that many, many home
makers use furniture polish incor
rectly ? pouring it on a dry cloth,
for application to the furniture!
This is a gross waste of the house
wife's time, energy and her pol
ish! And the latter is usually
blamed. We refer, of course, to oil
polish? for this type is best to
clean, beautify and preserve the
furniture. The best oil polish is not
greasy, because it's made with a
fine, light-oil base. The polish
should be applied on a damp cloth
?thoroughly moistened with
water, then wrung out. Saturate
this cloth with the polish ? spread
on? and rub lightly. The "wet" of
the cloth smoothly distributes the
polish ? and the finish absorbs, re
ceives it evenly! This correct
procedure takes the "labor" out of
polishing ? and requires far less
tiresome rubbing! A dry cloth is
then used to easily work up the
glow, which is even and uniform ?
the desired effect! This ? and only
this ? is the proper way to use a
good oil polish!
MORE WOMEN USE
O-CEDAR POLISH
THAN ANY OTHER KIND!
. . . because O -Cedar not only dam*
u it polishes, bat pratrva your fur
niture? "feeds" the finish, prevents
All Life Is Music
All one's life is music, if one
touches the notes rightly, and in
time. But there must be no hur
ry. ? John Ruskin.
INSTANT LIGHT1NQ
Coleman^, iron
?an. tlw lenoine laatart IIiIiiIm Iron. J oat
Sjtt ? matefa^T It Nchta i?
The Coleman heata In a jUTy. laqoickly
raadrforaa*. Opera tea for HI an boar. See
w* dealer or write toe FREE POLDER.
??? stove ca.
WNU ? 4
a? 38
f-WATCH?
the Specials
You can de
pend on the special
tales the merchants of
our town announce in
the columns of this
paper. They mean
money saying to our
readers. It always pays
to patronize the mer
chants who adyertise.
They are not afraid
of their merchandise
or their price* ? ? ?