22 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Soon after her naming Mrs Converse was initiated into the 

 Pleasant Valley Lodge of the " Guards of the Little Waters," 

 popularly known as the Secret Medicine Society. She also became 

 a member of the Ye-ih-dos, the Society of Mystic Animals, one 

 of the Little Water fraternities. The writer is a member of the 

 first named order and of the lodge which she subsequently joined, 

 Ga-nun'-da-se. 



With the Indians the term " medicine " means a mystic potence, 

 or to use Hewitt's word, it means orenda. There is no English 

 equivalent of the word which the Indians term " orenda," though 

 it is erroneously and ambiguously interpreted medicine. The 

 " Medicine " Society, therefore, does not necessarily imply an 

 organization devoted to the compounding of drugs or the mixing 

 of nostrums. Mrs Converse was probably the first white woman 

 ever to have become a member of this fraternity and to have 

 actually held the great Ni-ga-ni-ga'-ah in her possession. 



The love which all the Iroquois nations of New York had for 

 her amounted to a passion. She was their one strong arm in every 

 trial. They could do nothing to express their appreciation, but to 

 plan more to honor her. Her first naming had only been a com- 

 plimentary honor and at the time considered the highest ever 

 given a white woman by the Iroquois. Now they planned to give 

 her a national adoption and to ratify and seal it with the consent 

 of the council and the seal of the nation. 



In April 1890, the Name Holders of the Snipe Clan held a council 

 and decided to change Mrs Converse's name. Thus on the follow- 

 ing June there was another ceremony. Mr Converse was present 

 with Mrs Converse and was given a clan adoption. He was named 

 Ha-ie-no-nis, Music Maker, in allusion to his ability to wring 

 melody from any musical instrument which he chose to touch. 

 Mr James Kelly of New York city, an American sculptor of note, 

 at this ceremony was named Ga-nius-kwa, Stone Giant, a name 

 consistent with the sculptor's profession. Mrs Converse was 

 received with great ceremony and named Ya-ie-wa-noh. The 

 next spring the Indians planned to advance her still further in 

 the honors of the nation. 



She had just succeeded in bringing about defeat to a particu- 

 larly objectionable bill. The New York World, April 8, 18 91, in 

 an article entitled " Named Ya-ie-wah-noh," describes the action 

 which was taken as follows: " After the bill was killed, when the 

 Seneca council, now in session at Carrollton, Cattaraugus co., 

 New York, in the Allegany Reservation was called, an application 



