Document text
ORIGINAL MSS. OR FIELD NOTES (Cheek one)
PUB. Living Lore in New England
(Maine)
TITLE Henry Mitchell, Indian Canoe Maker
WRITER Robert Grady
DATE IDS. PP. 25 to31
CHECKER DATE
SOURCES GIVEN Interview
COMMENTS
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Living Lore
Old Town 254
(Mr. Mitchell's home is rijat next to the school house of
which Henry is the janitor. As we passed the brightly lighted
school I m)ticed that Henry was inside industriously sweeping
the fib r. Knowing that his dutiet: wo ldn't keep him there very
long I continued on to the house whel-e I found Mrs. Mitchell and
her daughte2 listening to the radio in a sleeping room off the
kitchen. The living room is on the opposite side of the kitchen.)
R.G. *Alas good evening. Did yey. think I wasn't co.iing backtw
Mrs. Mitchell: "tell, we wondered what had become of you.
Henry said yo had a telogrAn from Mr* Ellingwood the last time
yo called and that yo- were wondering if you were cying to get
fired* I'm clad th!:-t didn't happen."
"So am I. You see there we:e a few points remair.ing.
to be cleared up."
Mrs. Mitchell: *Come ri_ht into the other room and take off
your things. tinry will be back in a short time and he'll be glad
to talk with you again."
(Mrs. Mitchell buiied herself getAng thet.overcoat and mittens
off thiLlimial pay who was with me wh,le I .looked over a small out-
line.)
R.G.
know, Mrs. Mitchell, if Henry was acquainted
giramsep
*ith Ji Thorpe? Mrs Howe asked abo t that."
Mrs. Mitchell: don't think he was not ve.-"y well, anyway.
But I was. You see "enry finished at Carlisle a :ew yers before
Thorpe became famous. He knew butt Pleasant and Exendt'es though,
rho we •e very Load ayers even if they didn't get as much publicity
at Thorpe received. Bil4„; he cun tell yo more about that. I was
more interested in the girls activities* We lived in large dorms.
,(1
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Living tore
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tortes and we could select any coure of trini3-1,7 that interested
us. Hom‘ of the girls studied dressmaking and so:le trained for
carers as nurses. Almost any trade and a numbeI. of professions
would be lerned there. some very Lood dressmakers were turned
out at Carlisle.
Henry took up pattern mak-n:=. and carpentry. After he left
the taining sabool be wotked in the pattern roms of railroad shops
in Pennsylvania and Derby, Maine. He worked as a carpenter when be
came back here, both before he went into the canoe shop and during
dull seasons. Ei worked on the -ostoffice, the bank, the Strand
Theater, and several other very good buildings in Old Town.
"Mr. Whelelock„ who conducted the famous Wheelock's Band while
we were at Carlisle, paid us a visit last summer. It seemed good
to see hi7, again.
"Henry generally worked in the railing room at the canoe shop.
That shop has certainly helped the Indians a lot so many or them
work there in the summerti e. Almest every one who works there has
a canoe, and it is quite a sight to see all those canoes coming
across the river when the men are *ond.ng over to lunch or when they're
returning from work in the afternoon.
"W husband tried working in the pulp mill over there, but it
didn't agree with him especially the night work. I tried working
in the woolen mill, at speckin_, but that didn't agree with me. I
could do the work in the school house in the summertime when it is
not so hard, but I wouldn't attempt it now. Every one of those rooms
has to be swept with dustbane eveLlr night, and that is not esy. I
think thf-t is Henry outside there now. I'll tell him you're here.°
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alia (entering room): "Well, well: we thought yAlweren't
coming back. I'd been over. to Old Town several ti.lev to the post.
office and so forth, but I never saw ygu. "elle, fatty! (to the
boy) What is you real name, anyway, soOnyt Jim, Jo, co:! is it Pete?
You bet er come over here away irom that heater. It's too warm
there for you,"
Wrip, WitepaAls "I'll have to leave you people; I -have a
date. Oho was joking) We are rehearsing for a Okay we're froing
to gill* over here on. February 13 ler the benefit of the church.
A f1ay to help the church is an annual event over here. This one
is called Mother•JoReal House Party, and I'm to be Mother Jones.
Here arcssome parts I've written out. I'll have to get them type.
wrien. WoUld you like to loop them aver? it's a kind of musical_
play." (There were about six sheets of manuseript containing names
of :,layers„ nameL; of songs and singer, and sketches showing the
arrangement of furniture on the stage.)
(After Mrs. Mi chell had left); 'Henry,. you wife said
she thought you didn't knJw Thorpe very well, Is that right?"
lienrys, PThw,t's right. When I was at Carlisle he was there,
but he was hardly more than a boy. When I was finishing he was in
what viauld correpond to bhe grammar grades of a. public school. You
see Ca lisle wasn't exactly like the colleges th t ha,:e only four
yer courses. Thorpe happened to play in an sk“3 when a maximum
mout of •stblieity was being awarcied athletic heroes. No body can
detract fro his prowess: he was an outstanding all around athlete
and a fine footbal, player as well. I always :iked that story.
'haute Roekne told about him. As I remeMber It Thorpe was making
big gains-lj,round one end of the line and Inute hollered at him to
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try his (Roane' s) position* Thorpe Obliged him by doing so, nd
twice stopped h12 cold, but on the next play, Knute said something
like an express train hit him, and after Thorpe came running back
from the goal line he slapped Rockne on the back and said, 'That's
right, Kirte„ be a goAl boy and let Injun run -9
*Old Carlisle men, however, will never forget such greats- as
*bunt Pleasant, Dillon, Exendine, Hudson, Rogers, Johnson, and
others I might mention. .(As Henry spoke of these he looked up at
a picture of a Carlisle team that hunr on to wall.). That tall
chap an the end is Charles Rogers* he litae fellow sit ing in
the center of the front row is. Frank Hudson, frm::,us drop kicker and
quarter back* 1114- became a bank clerk in kitAsburg.• When Rudeon,
left, his place was taken by James Johnsaa„ who is standing next to
Rogers* Johnson is -a dentist now in Porto Rico* It was Johnson
who tucked the bail under Dillon 's jersey in 'Mut Harvard game when
Dillon rein for a touchdown. That was .funny. Indians were running
in alldirections on the field, and I guess the most of them, except
Dillon, were tackled by liar 'rd players w_o 4idn't k w who had the
ball.
*I always felt sorry that Carlisle was discontinued, but the
government Iust have had -Lood reason for that action. Maybe the
greater number of Indians are in the wevt and liaskell is better
placed ,3o,zra.hically. The first yeer men at Carlisle weren't al.
lowed to lesve the grounds for some reason, but after that first
year they could travel if they wanted to. Carlisle is sixty miles
northwest of HarrisburE.
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Old Town. 29
61 studied.cerpentry and patern makIng there, ad although I
worked in the pattern ahp of the Baldwin Locomotive works* in Lewis.
bung Pennsylvania, what I learned In school didn't help me much
there* All the, wanted UA for was the ball team. They had a rule
that only bona fide workers in the plant could play on the team,
and that is how I came to be in the pattern rolm. There were 100000
workers in that plant.. 'Zbt ball players .worked two bourn in the
forenoon and two in the afternoon. At n.:..ne in Uheammangths super—
intendent would come around and wink at us and say, tA11 right boys.'
Then we'd Eo out the back way to the ball diamond Alich was located
on the grounds. We practiced from two to four hours a day, and we
played four ,Iames a reek.'
62hese liars wooden patterns of madblne parts that we made*
They were painted black and stamped with a white number .on the end.
They were used in tho moulding department, ,but I was never in there
and I don't krilw much 'about that paPt of the work* In some parts of
that plant nobody: but the rei;ular woAces were allowed* There was a
spy scare eber once: a Japanese was accused of trying to get the
secret of t nuw car wheel.
*Man I played in the band Axt there I guss_ we played about
everything. Band music generally runs to marches, patr-ds„ overtures,
and so forth. Sousa's marches were always r2opular 7;Ith us, but I
dant remember that we,evr played any of K. T. Paul's compositions.
I always liked the Wiallam Tell Overture and the Poet and reasant
MarCh.
"The most of my time in the canoe slop was spent in the railing
room. I've often been sorry that I dintt take ur) paddle making:
they work the year around. When I started railing we 03t 0.5.00 a
week. Tho rails are rut on after the Atnoe is coverd with canvas
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Old Town 30
and filled, but befOre the color- coats. The only difftrence I can
see in the week now is that they use better tools and consequently
they ork faster. Screws, for insance„ cea be riven in much quicker
v:ila an automatic screwdriver than wit.. one of Aabse you turn by hand*
About all they can't do quicker is nail drivinE. That is done just
the s,ine at always,. After I worked on canoes fora while they gut
me down on flat bottom boats and then n motor boats :.11.t•InE on
rails, decks, and combinEs They used electrically C:riven tools down
there almost exclsivelys. Even the litAe circu Sr ban saws were
run by electricity. I cot about 04.40 a day on the boats,
"They seem to be reTA.acing all us fellows over fifty with
younger men. I suppose they have a ri-jat to employ any one they
want to, but it's rather ':lard on the older workers. I'm lucky, may.
be, to have this little job at the scho3ihouse, but it's hard to
meet livtn expenses n th t salary. It costs UA t12.00 a week to
live, and that job ays only ten. The baskets lye _aake help a little„
but not erauch. Mee isn't
h profit in :ilaking baskets an.:2orna
ments compared to the work tAlit goes into them. Those war clubs, for
example, ha e to be dug cleaned, scraped, carved, and polished.
The totem oles look to be er:.sy to Aike, but nobody makes them nround
here. You have to be somethinE cw a sculptor, and it isn't every
kind of woo. thnt ca be used. Birch, for ins.oance, will crack.
They generylly use balsa wood, but I uses popular can also be usecl.
you think they're easy to make, just try one. About everything
else In thai Indian store except the totem roles is made over here.
t don't knew exactly how many types of baskets we Aike, but we make
theii for a 1 t of different t2r.poses„ inlwling wood, pack, and boy
scout baskets, jewelry and sewing baskets; hampers and fish baskets;
clothes, potao, peek, and bushel baskets..
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*I haven't any keen dissatisfactions and about the only ambitions
I have left are to be able to keep on working and earning a living**
R. C. "If you eoitld change the present laws that relate to In..
diane so that the latter wo id have the erne stnt':s a!: whites, would
.you do VW
Amaze Nrolli that's a hard question to answer there are so
many:Add:ea of It to co:isider. The young eople m_ght favor the idea,
but the old- people rould oppose It* I don't we'd enjoy any
more advantages tiT.n we do now if e could vote a:- citizens* Prob-
ably there are some people over there (in Old Town) who'wouldn't want
us on that side: they'd think all we wanted to IA wet, town charges.
Of hand I'd say .tbDt I'd feel inclined to let well snow:A alone.
There is ne law I'd like to change, though, allid that is the one that
allows low class whites to mar2y our iris an: :veva over here with us*
This :s supposed to be an Indian reservation, but ther,. are fifteen
of those fellows over tre now, an ac Liany girls ho Aive mar-ied.
Indians. Those iris probable have to get marries but after they
have been over here for a yeu:r or two, they start to find fault with
us* What di. the:: come over here for if they didn't like the place?
any of those fellows who mar,,y Indianarls teke them over there
to live with than? They don't do it. hee were some famous excep.
tions„ maybe John Smith and.Ba-on Castne but they were real men.
No Indians wou,d object o Indian girls marrying men 1Lce 6mith or
Ca.„ tine, but we dan't lie to be absorbing so much riff Atilt. And
I guess nobody'll biome us for that**