Westerners in Action

WESTERNERS IN ACTION O-und, The Arrow Maker By H. R. Merrill Among all the white people of Utah there is, perhaps, no person more interested in the Redman and his waysi than is O-und, the arrow maker, known to his friends as Mormon B. Selman. Brother and Sister Selman spent many years of the best part of their lives as missionaries among the Indians, where they both learned to ap- preciate the Redman and his ways. O-UND, THE ARROW MAKER, HIS TEPEE AND BUCKSKIN Brother Selman became so interested in the Indian language and in the task of teaching his dusky brothers that he attempted a-n Indian dictionary, in which he has spelled most of the Indian words and has given their English equivalents. This little dictionary is of unusual interest as many of the Ute words are beautiful and poetic

WESTERNERS IN ACTION 905 in their suggestivcness. From it one can learn much of the Indian method of thought. To hundreds of Boy Scouts, Mormon B. Selman is known as O-und, which really means, I am told, "the arrow maker." At making bows and arrows, he is especially adept. He usually carries a good bow and a quiver of fine arrows whenever he goes out in his Indian regalia. With these weapons he is a fair shot. As old as he now is, O-und, were he turned loose in the Kaibab forest with no implements of any kind, would be able to find a good living. Besides being an arrow maker, he is expert at tanning buckskin in the true Indian fashion. He can make moccasins and bead them with the best of the Indian artists even yet. Recently he has been at work upon a pair of beautiful moccasins, which will be of con- siderable value when they are finished. Nothing pleases Brother Selman more than to dreSs in his Indian suit and take the part of his red brethren in the dance or in other activities. Many a person well acquainted with Indians has mistaken him for one when he has been so dressed. At his home in northeastern Provo, he is often found at work on some Indian implement or piece of clothing. On his lawn he usually has a fine tepee standing among his trees. He says that on his lot he can find plenty of arrow material and other woods for his Indian work. Last Fall he came into possession of several deer skins, th: buckskin manufactured from which you may see in the photograph, lying on the side of the tepee. Though he is mdre than seventy years of age, he is unusually spry. Each Summer for the past few years he has climbed Timpan- ogos in moccasins and war paint, bow and arrow in hand. He gave the boys a genuine thrill at the Timpanogos Scout camp, when he baited a bear with honey and was able to show them, by means of his tracks, where bruin had visited the spot during the night time. Again they were pleased when, upon finding a cow that had been dead but a short time, he showed them how to secure sinew for their bow-strings and how to spin it. O-und is an interesting character. Scouts everywhere in the Timpanogos council know him and love him for his kindness and his helpfulness and great store of knowledge of the woods. State Commercial Contest at B. Y. U. East met West and Catholics met Protestants at the State Com- mercial Contest which was conducted at Brigham Young University on Friday, April 1. Although only its third year, the contest was participated in by 141 high school students of Utah in the typewriting and shorthand departments. A feature of the contest was the visit of George L. Hossfeld,

906 IMPROVEMENT ERA of New York City, present world champion typist and the only individual who has had this honor for five years. Mrs. Elizabeth Adams, of the Gregg Company of San Francisco, was representative from the Pacific Coast, and these enthusiasts exemplified in a mature way the enthusiasm which the youthful contestants radiated. A free trip to New York City, given by the Underwood Company to the winner in the first-year typewriting event, was won by Miss Beth Christensen, of Richfield high school. This is the second year STATE COMMERCIAL CONTEST HELD AT B. Y. U. this high school has won this honor. Individual honors were won by Donna Leak, Davis county high school (Kaysville), and Clars Pace, Payson high school, in the shorthand event; and in typewriting by Beth Christensen. Richfield high school; Louis \V. Darby, Granite high school (Salt Lake City) ; Lorin \V. Wheelwright, Ogden high school; Willma Boyle, B. Y. U. high school (Provo) ; Dorothy Coons, Richfield high school; lone Christensen, North Sevier high school (Salina) ; Max Bee, Provo high school; Clyde Sandgren, Provo high school; and Lorna Jensen, B. Y. U. high school. School honors included pennants given by Brigham Young University and loving ct:ps given by the Utah Power and Light Company and the Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company. They were won by Richfield high school in the shorthand event, and B. Y. U. high school (Provo), Lincoln high school (Provo), and North Sevier high school (Salina), in the typewriting events. The contest was taken charge of by A. Rex Johnson and E. H. Holt of Brigham Young University. These contests are open only to regular, enrolled students in the high schools of the State.

WESTERNERS IN ACTION 907 PROVO L. D. S. SEMINARY. DEDICATED SATURDAY. MAY 21. 1927. BY ELDER GEORGE F. RICHARDS. OF THE COUNCIL OF THE TWELVE. In front, left to right: Victor Anderson, Ezra Stuki. H. Alva Fitzgerald, Jesse Washburn, seminary teachers. Elder George F. Richards, President Thomas N. Taylor of Utah stake. Elders J. Wm. Knight and Simon P. Eggcrtson, counselors. Photo by Howard B. Anderson, Denver. From the oil shale in the black ledges of this, the Government Experimental plant, near Rifle Colorado, is extracted a gallon of oil per ton of shale. The Colorado river and the Pike's Peak Ocean to Ocean (P. P. O. O.) highway are in the foreground.