r twenty miles a day with
this burden, bending forward, and staggering under its weight. The
result is to spoil the figure and gait, and deprive them of every
semblance of beauty. The awkward walk produced by this hard labor we
used to call "The Dakota shamble." Under this treatment they soon look
old, and become wrinkled, and are called "Wakonkas," which might be
translated to mean old witches.

With this visitation in prospect, I awaited quietly their coming. About
ten in the morning they began to assemble about the agency in groups of
all sizes and ages. I could hear a great deal of giggling among the
girls, and scolding by the elder women. They were apparently selecting
someone to break the ice by making the first assault. Presently a
venerable dame opened the door, and sidled in like a crab. She
approached me and kissed me on both cheeks, and received her presents.
Then they followed in a line, old and young, pretty and ugly, each
giving me a hearty kiss, which, in some cases, I returned with interest.
The ceremony continued with great hilarity and much frolicksome
tittering and fun, until forty-eight squaws had kissed and been kissed
by me. They all carried off their presents and seemed very happy.
Whether it was all caused by the presents or not, I am unable to say,
but I was not the grizzled old fellow then that I have since become. I
have celebrated a good many New Year's days, both before and since, but
none have left a more agreeable impression than the one I have
described. I have never known the exact figures of Hobson's Kansas
experience, nor can I make a just comparison between the Sioux and the
Kansas article, but from the general reputation of that state, I would
recommend the caress of the untutored aborigines.

If Hobson ever reads this story he will have to admit that there were
others.

A POLITICAL RUSE.

All people who keep the run of politics will remember that the
Republican party, now called the "Grand Old Party" (I suppose on account
of its extreme youth), had its birth in the year 1854, after the death
of the Whig party, and succeeded to the position in American politics
formerly occupied by the Whigs, with a strong tinge of abolition added.
It was, of course, largely recruited from the Whigs, but had quite
formidable acquisitions from the Free-soil Democrats. It sprang into
prominence and power with phenomenal rapidity, coming very near to
electing a president in 1856, and succee