The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1859-08-25

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the common efforts of the tribes, aud
patch therein allotted to each head Of
family who would agree to plant and till
it-l appreheDd to very little purpose.
For Left Hand, though sLrewed iu his
way, is an Indian, and every whit as con-
servative as Boston's Beacon street or
our Fifth avenue. He knows that there
is certain way in which Dis people have
lived from time immemorial, and in which
they are content still to live, knowing
and seeking no better. He may or may
not have heard that it is the common lot
Of prophets to be stoned, and reformers
to be cruciied; but be probably compre-
bends that squaws cannot fence and plow,
and that "brayes" are disinclined to any
such steady, monotonous exercise of their
muscles. believe there is 10 essential
difference in this respect between braves"
of the Red and those of the White race,
since even our country's bold defenders
have not been accustomed to manifest
their intrepidity in the corn fields along
their line of march, save in the season of
roasting-ears, ald, he verb "to soldiers"
has acquired, throug hout Christendom
and in all its moods and lenses, a signifi-
cance beyond the need of a glossary
Briefly, the brave whether civilized or
savage, is not worker, aproducer, and
where the men are all "brsves," with a
war always on hand, the prospect for
productive industry is gloomy indeed -
If, then, the hope of Indian renovation
rested mainly on the men, it would be
slender indeed There is little probabil-
ity that the present generation as braves
can be weaned from the traditions and
the habits in which they find certain
personal consequence and immunity from
daily toll, which stands them instead Of
intelligence and comfort. Squalid and
coDceited, proud aud worthless, lazy and
lousy, they will strut out or drink out
their miserable existence, and at length
afford the world a sensible relief BY dying
out of it.
But it is otherwise with the Women
Degraded and filthy as they are, beyond
description or belief, they bear the germ
of renovation for their race in that they
are neither too proud nor too indolent to
labor. The squaw accepts work as her
destiny from childhood. In her fathers
lodge, or in that wherein she comes in
turn to hold fifth or sixth interest in
husband-(for all Indians are polyga.
mists in theory, as all who have means
OF energy become such in practice) )-she
compreheDds and dutifully accepts druid :
gerry as her peculiar institution" She
pitches and strikes the tent, carries it
from one encampment to another, gath
ers and chops the wood, and not only
dresses and cooks the game which forms
the famiiy's food (when they have any
but goes into the woods and backs it home
when her lord returns with the tidings
that be has killed any Tanning or
dressing hides, making tents, clothing.
moccasins, &C., all devolve on her. Un-
der such dispensatiou, it is not difficult
to believe that she often willingly accepts
a rival in the affection of her sullen mas
ter as promising mitigation rather than
an aggravation of the hardship of her
lot.
And yet even the Indian women are
idle half their time, from sheer want Of
anything to do. They will fetch water
for their White neighbors, or do anything
else whereby piece of bread may be
honestly earned; and they would do ten
times more than they do if they could
find work and be reasonably sure ofeven
meagre reward for it.
l urge, therefore, that, in future efforts
TO improve the condition of the Indians,
the women be specially regarded and ap-
pesled to. A conscientious, humane, ca
pable Christian trader, with wife tho
roughly skilled in household manufac-
lures and bandicraft, each speaking the
language Of the tribe with whom they
take up their residence, can do more good
than dozen average missionaries. Let
them keep aud sell whatever articles are
adapted to the indians needs and means,
and let them constitute and maintain an
Industrial School in which the Indian
women and children shall be freely taught
how to make neatly and expeditiously
not only moccassins but straw hats, bon
nets, and (n time) hundred other arti-
cles combining taste with utility. Let q
farm and garden be started SO soon as
may be, and vegetables, grain, fruits,
given therefrom in exchange for Indian
labor therein, at all times when such la
Dor can be made available. OF course,
the School, though primarily Industrial,
should impart Intellectual and Religious
instruction also, wisely adapted in char
acter and season to the needs Of the pu-
pills, and to their perception of those
needs. Such an enterprise, combining
Trade with Instruction, Thrift with Phi
lautbropby, would gradually mold gen.
GRAFTON after its own spirt-wouid teach
them to value the blessings OF civilization
before imposing on them its seeming bur
dens, and would, in the course OF twenty
years, silently transform an indolent saw
age tribe into a civilized Christian com
munity. There may be shorter modes
of effecting this transform alton, but |
think none surar