Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1888-08-30
CONVERTING INDIANS.
A Jesuit Priests Opinion Of tho Red Mon
Of Canada.


A Jesuit Priests Opinion Of tho Red Mon
Of Canada.
"Was IL not vory difficult TO give
them Christian principles9 How lid
you beginP"
"It was all very simple" said the
priest; "it had TO be simple, for an In
dian OF eighteen Is not above whito
child OF six years. II was hard work
for them 10 learn 10 read their own
tongue; but few learned TO read and
sing from manuscript books written In
the characters OF our printed alphabet
AS they are exceedingly fond OF music.
and liked our melodies far better than
their own dull chants, they at once took
10 copying those hymns. Music led
them on, till, finally, nearly all have
learned TO read their hymns and cate
chism now printed for them. They
write a good many letters for me 10
carry from post to post. And in the
woods they frequently give news and
make appointments in the hunting
grounds by writing on birch bark,
which they put into a split stick erect
cd ON some frequented route. This
primitive postal service Is quite relia-
BILE, and brings me news often from
even the most remote families; and you
would be surprised at the delicacy and
strength OF sentiment in somo OF those
letters. Their earliest literature, so 10
speak, Is geography, very accurate
maps OF their country drawn on birch
bark 20 guide tho first traders and mis-
sionaries; some OF them are still pre-
served by the Hudson Bay Company,
at Montreal. But TO return to their
conversion, thoir progress was com
paratively easy after they became IN
torested in the hymns"
"What do you try TO teach them9"
"Simply to read the hymns and cat.
echism. Then our preaching is upon
the most elemental duties and morality
Of Christians. They need nothing be.
yOnd this in their simple existence; in
fact, they are with us 80 little, and
havo such slow minds. that Il would
be impracticable TO do moro. They
can not count even beyond ten, ex
cepting by additions to ten, as ten-one
ten-two, etc. "
do you find any difficulty in gov
erning them?"
None whatever, II they keep away
from the whites. They are very obe
dent, and they worship the missionary
as veritably the representative OF God.
And we have TO be doctor and
magistrate as we'll as teacher and
preacher TO them. They take very
easily the leading ideas Of Christian.
ity, and follow them pretty well; and
they are very regular in their rellg.
ious duties, even in the woods"
But why don't you give them more
Of the material advantages Of civiliza.
tlon, and extend thoir education moreP
THAT is scarcely practicable. They
will not change their mode OF life
The only way to help the Indian is Il
give him the simplest code OF mora
and religious conduct, make him fee
the constant criticism OF God even II
his isolation, and then let him con
tinue his natural life in the woods
They must be kept firmly under con
troll, but only through kind and sym
pathetic relations, and through the In
Auence OF religious duties. | think
that your Indians and every wild rae,
could be governed peaceably by such
means, instead OF by armies and in
dustrial civilization that they will no
accept
The winter life OF these Montagnal
Is essentially the same as that Of thei
heather foroiathers. They all star
for the woods in August in thei
canoes, loaded down with provisions
etc. They travel slowly up the variou
rivers OF the coast in companies TO tn,
far interior; there each family leave
its companions as 1t reaches its hunt
ing-ground, and sets up its lodge o.
its ancestral domain. They spend
month or more preparing snow-shoes
toboggans, etc, for winter; then, a
navigation closes, they put up thei
canoe and begin the winters hunt
The game is too small and scarce u
allow more than family or two h
live in a given locality; so the arcti
winter passes in dIeary isolation -
q. II. FGrnham. in Harper's Magazine
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