The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1888-08-23
A JESUIT PRIEST ON INDIANS.
The Work Done Among Canadian Indians
by SeIf-Sacrifieing Priests.

WAS it not very difficult to give
them Christian principles? How did
you begin?"
ut was all very simple" said the
priest: sit had to be simple, for an In
dian of Is is not above a white child of
syears. 1t was hard work for them to
learn to read their own tongue; but
few learned to read and sing from
manuscript books written in the char
aeter. of our printed alphabet. As
they are exceedingly fond of music,
and like our melodies far better than
their own dull chants, they at once
took to copying these hymns. Music
led them on, till nearly all have learned
to read their hymns and catechism
now printed for them. They write
good many letters for me to carry from
post to post. And in the woods they
frequently give news and make APP
pointments in the hunting grounds by
writing on birch bark, which they put
into split stick erected on some fire.
quented route. This primitive postal
service is quite reliable, and brings me
news often from even the most remote
families; aud you would be surprised
at the delic2cy and strength of senti-
ment in some of those letters. Their
earliest literature, so to speak, is geo.
graphy, very accurate maps of their
country drawn on birch bark to guide
the first traders and missionaries: some
of them are still preserved by the Hud-
son Bay Company, at Montreal. But
to return to their conversion, their
progress was comparatively easy after
they became interested III the hymns"
''What do you try to teach them?n
Simply to read the hymns and
catechism. Then our preaching is
apon the most elemental duties and
morality of christians. They need
nothing beyond this in their simple
existence; in fact, they are with us so
little, and have such slow minds that
it would be impracticabie to do more
They cannot count even beyond ten,
excepting by additions to ten, as ten
one, ten-two, etc.
"Do you find any difficulty in gov
erning them?'
''None whatever, if they keep away
from the whites. They are very obe-
dient, and they worship the missionary
as veritably the representative of God.
And we have to be doctor and magis-
trate as well as teacher and preacher
to them. They take very easily the
leading ideas of Christianity, and fol-
low them pretty well; and they are
very regular in thoir religious duties,
even in the woods"
"But why don't you give them more
of the material advantages of civili-
zation, and extend their education
more?n
That's scarcely practicable. They
will not change their of life. The
only way 70 help the Indian is to give
him the simplest code of moral and
religious conduct, make him feel the
constant criticism of God even in his
isolation, and then let him continue
his natural life in the woods. They
must be kept firmly under control, but
only through kind and sympathetic re-
lations, and through the influence of
religious duties. | think that your
Indians and every wild race could be
governed peaceably by such means,
instead of by armies and industrial
civilization that they will not accept"
The winter life of these MOntangnais
is essentially the same as that of their
heather fOrefathers. They all start
1Cf lle WOOdS III August III lnelf canoes,
loaded down with provision, etc. They
travel slowly up the various rivers Of
the coast in companies to the far in
terror; there each family leaves its
companions as it reaches its hunt
ing ground, and sets up its lodge
on its ancestral domain. They spend
a month or more preparing snow-shoes.
toboggans, etc, for winter; then, as
navigation closes, they put up their
canoe and begin the winters hunt.
The game is too small and scarce to
allow more than family or two to live
in given locality; SO the arctic winter
passes in dreary isolation. - c. H.
Fdr,aham, IN Rarpers Nagaziae.