392 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



before, then aided the pioneers in subduing the wilderness, wel- 

 coming them with open hands. But to understand the change 

 more fully, one should go into some of the better Iroquois homes 

 of today, and contrast them with anything — the very best — 

 found on an Indian reservation 60 years ago. Much is yet desir- 

 able; but there is constant progress. Some object to the change 

 who have a taste for the novel and picturesque; some because 

 the change is less rapid than they wish. Let both rest assured 

 that the progress is natural and healthy, and is resulting in good. 

 With more time and better influences a higher good will come. 

 One pleasant feature is the revival of interest in all pertaining 

 to the Indian race, practical or curious. That we should wish 

 tc know the meanings or history of the local names we use seems 

 a matter of course, but there is a constant call for Indian names 

 for places, houses, boats and clubs, because of their beauty and 

 sonorous sound. The desire to know more of aboriginal life 

 daily increases, and new works on the subject or reprints of old 

 ones constantly appear. The fact that old customs and articles 

 are vanishing has led to personal study of those which remain, 

 as well as the preservation of much which is curious or valuable. 

 It would be well were there more visible memorials of historic 

 Indian sites, but monuments are not forgotten. Jogues and the 

 Mission of the Martyrs are recalled by the shrine at Auriesville. 

 The Brant monument at Brantford in Canada, tells of a notable 

 man and a powerful confederacy; the Red Jacket memorial at 

 Canoga marks the birthplace of a great orator, and his monu- 

 ment at Buffalo points out his tomb; the Kirkpatrick memorials 

 at Syracuse recall the friends and guides of Le Moyne; and the 

 Logan monument, within the earthwork at Auburn, bears that 

 chief's pathetic words: "Who is there to mourn for Logan?" 

 Other memorials there will be, but the historic, legendary or 

 descriptive names he has left to meadow, river, lake and moun- 

 tain, will still be the red man's greatest and most enduring monu- 

 ment, heard from infant lips and cherished in old age. As Schiller 

 wrote : " O'er dust triumphant lives the Name." Nations die, but M 

 that endures. 



