INDIAN HISTORY: FRANKLIN FOURTH-GRADERS GET LESSON IN AMERICAN HERITAGE

Franklin Elementary School students decided Monday that a tepee is a nice place to visit, but they wouldn't want to live there.

"I don't know about that. I'd have to get used to it," Anthony Cervantes, 10, said of living in a tepee.

His fourth-grade classmate Laura Hagler, 10, agreed. "I don't think so. My dog would be able to jump out the door or crawl under the edge, and I don't think I'd like that," she said.

Franklin students are studying American Indian cultures this week in reading classes. They got a chance to see a tepee firsthand when Kevin Cain set up a display tepee in front of the school.

Cain, whose daughter attends the school, is one-eighth Cherokee. He visits schools and other places when possible with his partially handmade tepee in tow to share information about living conditions of Plains Indians.

"I like doing this because the kids' eyes are so inquisitive and everything," Cain said. "I generally visit schools about this time each year and just talk about why they lived in tepees, where they got their tools and things like that."

Cain dressed in Indian garb, complete with a hat made of coyote fur, deerskin pants and a cotton shirt with handmade buttons carved from antlers. Students gathered within the tepee while he described the size of the living quarters and the art of flint knapping.

Students questioned Cain about everything from how tepees are able to keep out rain, snakes and rats to where he obtained the materials for his displays. They said they enjoyed the presentation because their exposure to American Indians is limited.

"I think it's interesting to learn about the history of other people in the past and their culture," said Laura.

"It's interesting because it's history, and it might be our ancestors," said Brad Labruyere, 9. "It's not around this century."

Cain said he was told of his heritage somewhat late in life because of the social stigma attached to American Indian ancestry. He had to gain much of his knowledge from books, he said.

He shares information with his two children and others because he wants to eliminate the secrecy of the past.

"It's all becoming a little more of a family oriented hobby," said Cain, who has two children, Rachel, 10, and Justin, 15. "Neither of them own much regalia, but they're becoming more and more interested over time."