Arizona silver belt., 1896-02-20
RUINED REDSKINS.
Civilization Is Too Much for the
 Poor Indian.
The Sudden Transition from Wild Life to . Tame Existence Has Been Fatal to His Morals as Well as
 Constitution.

Dr. Charles A. Eastman, the Sioux In- dian physician and missionary .who was married to Elaine Goodale. the poet. m the Church of the Ascension m this city tour years ago. on visit to New York with his wife made an address before the Harlem branch of the OUng Men Christian association. Dr. Eastman told his large audience many interest ing things about the Indians.
 "i find." he said. "that the Indian IS a man IS very much the same as the men of other races. Their habits and their faculties are the same. and when they are developed they have as much man. liness, godliness and self-respect as tle men of other races. It is surprising the amount of faith in God you will iind among some of the most ignorant and uneducated Indians. l could mention dozens of remarkable cases if l had time, but, as 1 am limited, l will only tell you of one. This one was m old Indian who was converted long ago. Ever since his conversion he has made 6 practice of rising every morning at seven o'clock and saying his prayers. When l asked him why he did this ne told me that it gave him first chance with the Lord. and he was thus enabled to be heard alone.
 "rhe great trouble with our young men to-day IS that they have been pre- cipitated into modern civilization with sorbed most of the evil of 1t and little of the good. They are mostly drunk ards. rustlers and idlers and are phys ical and moral degenerates. They are not the same men that the Indians of my day were. Then, our young men thought nothing of ten or twenty-mile runs, and it was n common amusement across the prairies.
 To-day you can scarcely find an In. dian who can run us much as two miles, while in the old days it was nothing to do from 50 to 70 miles day in foot travel, and to go for as many as three days and n.ghts without food. This dd- terence between the Indian of old and the indian of to-day only serves 10 illustrate the fact that the race has de- generated physically and morally since civilization has been thrust upon it.
 "They say that the Indian is dying away. If the Indian is, it is good thing. What we want to save is the man. the good in the young men, and by dong thIs we can save the race. It IS gong to be hard work, for the small tribes are scattered all through tho west, aud, harassed and driven nearly crazy as they are by the government, 1t is difficult to win over their confidence. They are absolutely without ambition now, and the only way that that can ever bt effected is through the medium of the Gospel. The Indian is known in the east as stoical and sad individual, but that is a mistake. Before strangers he is stoical, but that is only diplomacy and not his real nature. Get him around the camp fire and he is good fellow. He will talk and laugh with you md tell funny stories the same as white man What he likes more than anything else is joke, and if you want 10 earn the contempt of an Indian you have but 10 show anger over joke Tn VIII tShS a Jpht ou himself and hugh as heartily over It as if it was on another, so he has no use for any man who cannot do the same.
 My idea of converting the Indian is to start Tn by improving him physically. Then improve him mentally and you will find self-respecting. noble and gentlemanly man. The Indians were originally the most gentlemanly race extant. The Sioux were famous for their gentlemanly behavior among themselves. and know it was the same with many of the northwestern tribes. The best evidence of this is the fact that the young Indians were never ai. lowed to address their elders until they were 2l years of age, and no male could smoke until he had proved himself a grown man and had been admitted to the councils of the tribe. It was such laws as these that made the Indian Il de- voted husband and a fearless warrior. For such was the original Indian. To- day the race is a ruined one--ruined by civilization. Every game with them is a medium for gambling. There arc none of the manly contests of the old days now. They're all beggars, too. and even the very youngest is not ashamed to ask for aims. They live nnl y in ,.nt n nn sIpep and heir f hoitybis