The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1880-09-08

butte it to witchcraft, but SAYS that he him
self is Na-koo-a- Na-koo-a-fa ia na-mad, to-
mad to be heard by the Great Spirit wheI
he asks for rain, and that their crop
must burn up. The credulous Indian
gather aboat him, implore him to TT,
again. and eagerly beg TO know wha
can be done to restore his good humor. H
REPLIES that he will tell them after awhile
| he is too mad now to think or to talk. ID
remains secluded until he notes the sign
of an approaching change of the weather
and then he appears in public, and tell
them if they double his fee the rain shall
come Glad to propitiate his anger, they
promptly brought even more than he de
manded Aud very soon the rain comes a:
he had promised.
The Choctaw. like most Indians, was
taciturn, of naughty demeanor, patient
abstemious, apparently insenslbie to pain oil
emotion the stole of the woods " They
were hospitable, grateful for favors, unob-
trusive, neither forgetting nor forglving
They were fond of dress, of paint and
pIumes, of trinkets and iewelry, and would
spend hours in adjoining their persons and
admiring themselves in the small mirrors
they carried in their bosoms. Red and blue
were their faVorite colors. In early times
they wore a profusion of silver ornaments.
The metal was obtained in their predatory
| excursions about the sources of the Arkan-
sas and Ouachitta, and from the earliest
times there were skilled artisans in metal
| among them.
The Choctaw had no fear of death. He
regarded it as a mere journey to a better
hunting ground and formerly, his pipe,
| tobacco pouch, knife, tomahaw and gun
were buried with him, and sometimes his
| horse was slain on his grave, As It was sup
posed he might need them on his arrival.
| Thus the Natchez killed the attendants of a
great parsonage, that he might have ser
wants in the other world.
The cry over thegrave was never omitted.
At time appointed, relatives, neighbors,
and friends assembled, and one group after
another sat around the grave in a circle,
with their blankets over their heads, and
made their lamentations. They continued
several days and nights and then they had
a feast and dance. When this was over,
the name of the dead was pronounced no
more.
The Choctaw woman had one blessing
amidst all her burdens. She was exempt
from the curse which the scriptures tell us
was bestowed on parturition. They were as
prolific as other races, and yet the sage femme
was unknown among them. a woman
about to become mother, retired into the
woods, and in a few hours returned with her
child, and resumed her occupations.
1t is the testimony of the Missionaries
that they found the Choctaws strictly hon
est, scrupuOusly punctual to their engage
ments. If one borrowed an article, to the
very hour he promised to return it, it would
be brought.
The itinerant white trader was the potent
instrument of decentralization, and counter
acted many of the wholesome teachings and
regulations of the Missionaries.
These devoted teachers, however, sue
ceeded in accom- lishing many reforms, and
I
tions The Medicine-man, Rain maker and
Prophet, were soon recognized as imposters.
1t was affecting to observe with what in
terest they listened to the history of the
Redeemer, and how soon, under the Divine |
guidance, they seemed to comprehend and
feel the regenerating influence of revealed
religion. They heard, with amazement, the |
story of the cross and the atonement. For |
a man to yield his life for the life he had |
TAKEN for friend to die for a friend, was
their own law and creed, but for one to die |
for his enemy, for the son of the Great
Spirit to die for those that reviled, scourged |
and crucified him, required more than the |
eloquence of the missionary could accom-
plish, but it pleased God to enlighten their |
understandings, and they soon manifested
an earnest faith, visible iR their prayers,
and in their lives and conversation.
In 1918, under the auspices of the Amer
lean Presbyterian Board of Missions, the |
Rev. Messrs. Kingsbury, Byington, Glea-
son, Hooper, Touse and Cushman, with their
families, and Dr. Pride and Misses Burn
ham, Foster and Thatcher, established them
selves near what is now Mayhem Station, on !
the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. They gave |
their settlement the name of Mayhem.
Not long afterwards a similar establish |
ment was made under the name of Elliott, |
some sixty miles southwest on the waters of |
the Yaobusha.
After Iaboring several years as evangelist |
and teacher at Mayhem, Rev. DR.. CGshman, |
who was greatly beloved, was induced by |
the Folsom's and other leading Choctaws,
to remove ten miles west of the present |
Starkville He built on spot known to
the Choctaws, by tradition, as the old
ChOcehuma Fort, and where the last of their
people had been slain. The Indians regard
ed it as haunted ground, and were terrified
by the ghosts of the departed. They be-
lieved that the presence of the white race
would frighten them away.
Every Sabbath, no matter how cold or
stormy, the missionary chapels would be
crowded by these untutored people, never
tired of listening to the narrative of the
and eagerly inquiring for the
bread of life,
The women arranged themselves ON one
side, the men on the other, the sexes never
SlGIinS pIOHIlSCuOuSISs 1nO BACdCu6EJ NuItll !
he acquired the language) stood wg;;ttn his
fronting the ASSEMBLE. and
spoke a sew sentences which were immedi-
ately rendered by the interpreter. At the |
end of every sentence the men would ex
claim Ytn-n1a VERY good, Now and then,
warrior would quietly leave the church,
and in a few moments return with his
capacious pipe filled with tobacco and
sumach, resume his seat, draw few whiffS
and pass it to his neighbor, and so the pipe |
travelled round until its contents were ex-
hausted. Then he, who had been favored |
with the last puff, silently withdrew, re-
plenished it, returned, and the pipe thus |
went round till the exercises were closed.
the missionary schools were well attended, |
and contrary to expectation the pupils were |
found extremely docile and subordinate. |
The parents frequently visited the schools, |
manifesting intense interest, often making |
"a talk'' to the students and pointing out |
the great advantages they possessed over |
their forefathers.
There was farm and farmer attached
to every mission under charge of a compe- |
tent Northern farmer, and the boys were
taught to pillow and to hoe, and gradually |
weaned from their traditional prejudices |
and Incidence.
The farmer had a wife and daughters,
and sixty years ago these NewN England |
women, we'll educated, refined and pious
who had followed their husbands and fathers |
into the wilderness did what Miss Corson is |
now doing in New York. They reclaimed |
the daughters of the savage-taught them |
to sew and knit-to spin and weave-initia-
ted them into the making of butter and |
cheese, and drilled them in regular New
England kitchens
They sang the hymns taught them by the |
missionaries in their own language. These |
had been translated from the English, but
sometimes, it was evident, they improvised |
to the missionary airs. The Choctaw Lam
guage is musical and some of the woman |
sang beautifully. The voices of Choctaw |
women are low and sweet, corresponding |
with their gentle manner and modest de-
pertinent. Two villages stood in the vicini- |