TSLR_1904_05_14_P9_001_03.txt

Satisfactorily dried, Baby acquired a most inconsistent ambition to be wet again. The little imp broke away from his guardian, ran to the basin, splattered water all over himself and flopped down in the dirt. Then Elder Sister started in to wash him once more. At the finish of the second cleansing she took no chances. She hauled Baby into the tent, where Eldest Sister tied him hard and fast to the center pole.  Mme Pueblo’s preparation for the noon- day meal attracts much attention from visitors. The head of the family has dug a round hole in the ground, and in it a fire is blazing merrily. Madame has kneaded a combination of flour and water and bak- ing powder into dough, and this she is frying with grease into a kind of thin cake.  The onlcokers gaze at the simple oj ~7a-- tion as if it were a most unusual perform- ance. Madame pays no heed, but keeps on with her cooking. if, then, you had turned to one side, you would have seen a few feet @way at another domicile a very Straight-featured young Indian woman, who is laughing merrily at the extreme ir terest which Mme. Pueblo has aroused.  This other woman's color is lighter than a Pueblo’s; her hair is neatly dressed, and,  with her black tresses and light-brown complexion set off with a bright red shawl, she is pcsitively pretty. Addressing her as to the cause of her laughter, you get reply in the King’s English, perfectly pro- nounced:  “It's so absurd! Everybody looking and looking, to see so small a thing. It’s all the way they have of making bread.”  The latter was Mrs. Benson. Mr. and Mrs. Benson probably represent the high- est degree of Indian development to be found among the two hundred odd Indians on the World's Fair grounds. Converse with them, and then consider them in comparison with the others of their race]. whom you may see, and the whole story of the various stages of Indian life, which | | the “living exhibit’ is designed to tell, will have been forcibly impressed upon you.  Mr. Benson ts not college-educated; he | | is self-educeted and at that is of the prac- tical type who Is able to shift for himself. His people—the Lomas, they are called— prefer not to live upon a reservation. | | Each seeks absolute independence. As a|' rule, they are fairly prosperous, subsist- ing by farming or basket weaving inj! Southern California. f  It is a long way from a Cocopa to e@ Mr. Benson. :  The physical characteristics of the Lome |” Indian, if Mr. Benson is a good example, | ' are different from those which, for in-| ‘ stance, are the distinguishing marks of a|' high-cheeked Sioux. It may be then that]! the Lomas are the descendants of an-| / other race, intermixed with Indian blood. | ©  As to his origin, Benson admits a com-|! plete ignorance and regards the matter|* somewhat 23a joke Pvidently, scientists! ' have been busy “locating him” and have come to no final conclusion. “Some say I'm Spanish,” he declares. “Others tn-| ! sist that I'm Mexican, while attll others| ' declare that my people, the Lomas, are| ' the last descendants of a race which once| ! were the nobility of America. As far as/ ! I know I'm a full-blood Indian.” ‘