Do you remember his reference to Indians in Stuart Little?
It is that part where he's fixed up a birchbark canoe and plans to take Harriet out for a ride in it. There's a string tied to it, though, that he can't untie. He's really annoyed. Harriet says they could go anyway and let the string drag behind them. Stuart is not keen on that at all. On page 122, he says:
"Did you ever see an Indian paddling along some quiet unspoiled river with a great big piece of rope dragging astern?"Harriet says that they could pretend they are fishing, but Stuart says
"I don't want to pretend I'm fishing."As his prior statement suggests, he was imagining Indians. I don't know that it'd be accurate to say he was playing Indian. He wasn't doing anything with feathers and paint, but he definitely has an image in mind of an Indian in a canoe. Nice that it wasn't an image of an Indian on a horse!
Curious if he'd written anything else about Native peoples, I started digging a bit and found a poem called "An Indian Burial Mound" published in 1922 in Art and Archeology. It is as follows:
The sculpted buttes cut cameo-wiseTime for some analysis! That'll come. Later. Gotta run for now!
Against the bold blue skies,
Above the grave.
No catafalque, no lordly marble tomb;
But,--in his native hill side carved,-a room
His bones to save.
The tomb profaned, simple would show his needs;
A shard or two, a strand of turquoise beads
The spirit crave.
Here ruled his tribe before we bade them go.
Here buffalo and deer paid tribute to his bow.
Here lies a brave!
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