Several correspondents have suggested that I did the Smithsonian
wrong by saying there was a falsified quotation from Mark Twain in one of
the inaugural exhibits of the new Heye Center of the National Museum of
the American Indian in Manhattan, without giving specifics. The specifics:
The wall text:
"When I found the shops at Niagara Falls full of dainty Indian
beadwork, and stunning mocassins, and equally stunning toy
figures...[Smithsonian's elision] I was filled with emotion."
--Mark Twain, "A Day at Niagara" 1869
The full paragraph:
"The noble Red Man has always been a friend and a darling of mine. I
love to read about him in tales and legends and romances. I love to read
of his inspired sagacity, and his love of the wild free life of mountain
and forest, and his chivalrous love for the dusky maiden, and the
picturesque pomp of his dress and accountrements. When I found the shops
at Niagara Falls full of dainty Indian bead-work, and stunning mocassins,
and equally stunning toy figures *** representing human beings who
carried their weapons in holes bored through their arms and bodies, and
had feet shaped like a pie, *** I was filled with emotion. I knew that
now, at last, I was going to come face to face with the noble Red Man."
The passage continues:
A lady clerk at the shop told me, indeed, that all her grand array
of curiosities were made by the Indians, and that they were plenty about
the Falls, and that they were friendly, and it would not be dangerous to
speak to them. And sure enough, as I approached the bridge leading over
to Luna Island, I came upon a noble Son of the Forest sitting under a
tree, diligently at work on a bead reticule. He wore a slouch hat and
brogans, and had a short black pipe in his mouth. Thus does the baneful
conntact with our effeminate civilization dilute the picturesque pomp
which is so natural to the Indian when far removed from us in his native
haunts. I addressed the relic as follows--
"Is the Wawhoo-Wang-Wang of the Whack-a-Whack happy? Does the great
Speckled Thunder sigh for the war parth, or is his heart contented with
dreaming of the dusky maiden, the Pride of the Forest? Does the mighty
Sachem yearn to drink the blood of his enemies, or is he satisfied to
make bead reticules for the pappooses[sic] of the paleface? Speak,
sublime relic of bygone grandeur--venerable ruin, speak!"
The relic said--
"An' it is meself, Dennis Hooligan, that ye'd be takin' for a dirty
injin, ye drawlin', lantern-jawed, spider-legged devil! By the piper that
played before Moses, I'll ate ye!"
. . . . .
The thing goes on quite a bit longer, and gets worse. It's one of
the space-fillers Twain churned out while he was running the Buffalo
Express, and is valuable only as a reminder that even the best of our
writers had his bad days.
But it plainly could not have been an innocent oversight that the
version in the NMAI exhibit reverses Twain's meaning. Either it was done
deliberately, by an idealogue who doesn't hesitate to rewrite history to
suit his or her purposes, or the elided quote was picked up without
checking, which is almost worse. The piece (whose actual title is "A
Visit to Niagara") has been widely anthologized; it took me less than
five minutes to find two sources in my own home, and I'm sure the
citation can be found in any neighborhood library in the land.
And I repeat my original point: I frequently find this sort of
travesty in museums, including, if not *especially*, the Smithsonian.
**************************
Hank Burchard * Weekend Section * The Washington Post
1150 15th Street NW * Washington DC USA 20071-0001
VoiceMail (202) 334-7243 * Email: [log in to unmask]
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