IQ08 



WORK IN A NATIONAL FOREST 



247 



aside from one's legitimate forest 

 work, let me tell you about a few of 

 the things that happen up here where 

 we have to deal more or less with In- 

 dians every day of our lives. 



First. I shall illustrate what the In- 

 dians think about the National For- 

 est. Once a very drunken Indian walked 

 up in front of me and gave a yell. Then 

 he said : "You heap big man — own all 

 land — million million acres !" Then 

 he went off leaving me to reflect on the 

 bigness of my ranch. 



Second, let us consider the willing- 

 ness of all the Indians, when sober, to 

 accept guidance ; and their capacity, 

 in the main, to pick out their real 

 friends. Nothing in the whole Indian 

 problem seems to me more wonderful 

 than this. After so enormous an 

 amount of suffering as these people 

 have endured, they meet good will 

 half way ; they finally give us their 

 faith in the most complete manner. 



There was old Julie, who lives all 

 alone in a cabin on the side of Goat 

 Mountain. It was built by her 

 Frenchman years ago ; he was a work- 

 man on a certain infamous mining 

 swindle, the great placer mining ditch 

 of this region, floated on Parisian 

 capital by a small promoter. He took 

 the girl from her rancheria, named 

 her Julie, taught her much, died in 

 this cabin — and she lives on and on, 

 without change or forgetfulness. 



One time we had a fire up there ; 

 Julie sat in her doorway and watched 

 us ; we filled our canteens at her 

 spring. The next day the rangers 

 wanted to sleep, and she "spelled" 

 them on the fire line. She made coffee, 

 too — her coffee — in an old tin can. 



Well, the boys gave her some grub, 

 and I paid her for half a day on the 

 fire line, and she thought it was pret- 

 ty nice. Then I heard lots of pleas- 

 ont tales about her. One was how a 

 man, now a ranger, had once been ill 

 and wanted to stay in a tent near her 

 spring. She told the man's wife : 

 "Your man he sick ; put him in my 

 house." And she went out under a 

 pine tree, and slept in utter content. 



One very cold and rainy night there 

 was a knock at my cabin door. It was 

 old Julie, wet and draggled, but se- 

 rene as a princess. 



She announced : "I stay here." 



"Where you come from, Julie?" 



"I stay here to-night." 



"Why, sure ; come right in ; get 

 warm at fireplace; my wife make you 

 some supper." 



"I got horse; he stay here to-night." 



So we took care of her horse, and 

 the next morning when the storm was 

 past, she made ready to leave. 



"^^"ell, goodbye, Julie; good luck 

 to you." 



"Wait, I show you." She untied a 

 piece of cotton rag and brought out 

 her small store of silver and tendered 

 it all. "You take." 



"No good take money, Julie ; all 

 friends ; you fight fire, too." 



One swift look, then a cheerful 

 laugh. "All right. Goodbye." 



Now you, who teach language in 

 universities, can you set forth a terser, 

 more idiomatic English than this of 

 Julie's? Oh, the loads that I have 

 seen this poor old Indian woman carry 

 up the rough trails would stagger a 

 mule ! There are many more of just 

 the same sort, growing old, and as full 

 of courage as it is possible for any 

 human being to be. 



It is time to stop, and it is midnight, 

 too ; and magazine forms will not 

 stretch. But let me put emphasis, in 

 closing, on just this : That not least 

 among the responsibilities carried by a 

 forest officer are those which arise 

 from the presence of dependent human 

 beings of every kind. We all know 

 the Grazing, the Special Use, the Tim- 

 ber Sale problems, all of which are 

 tied up with human affairs. The Act 

 of June 1 1 and the Indian Allotment 

 and Lease problems have put gray 

 hairs on the tops of some of our heads. 

 But they have done us good, after all. 

 for we have gotten closer to the plain 

 people, white, brown and red. And 

 it doesn't hurt to keep a box of apples 

 for the Indian children, or a cigar for 

 your Indian wood-chopper. 



