The Irish standard., 1899-01-14

| again the words engraven upon the tables
/! Of stone-thc law that was. the law that is
| today-thc law that neither individual nor
nation can violate with impunity.
INDIANS OF THE DULUTH DIOCESE
The recent outbreak of the Indians in
| Northern Minnesota has helped to call
public attention to two facts; one, the
bad treatment to which these wards of
the nation are often subjected; the other
the influence for good exerted by the
faithful and self-sacrificing Catholic
| missionaries.
| In various parts of the diocese, the
Indians have their religious needs sup
piled by Benedictine, Franciscan and
Jesuit fathers. These good priests
speak and write the Chippewa language,
visit the Indian missions with all the
| attendant difficulties of long distances,
bad roads and inclement weather, and
have succeeded in forming really good
Christian communities. The Benedic-
tine Sisters, with much devotion, have
| schools for Indian children at White
Earth and Red Lake reservations.
1t has been my good fortune to see
those children confided to the care of
the Sisters growing up we'll instructed
in the Christian doctrine, leading pious
even holy lives-and not likely to lose
in comparison with well-educated white
people. n T.
The schools, both at White Earth and
Red Lake, have been built by private
charity. Mother Katherine Drexel has
earned the prayers of the Indians, in
deed, of all lovers of humanity, for her
charities in this direction; the children
educated in these schools are an honor
to their teachers" and to the founders of
the schools
In the new order of things, these
same schools, built at great expense and
we'll furnished, are soon to be deprived
of any government aid, and the children
are to be sacrificed to the craze of what
are called non-sectarian schools.
Long ago, Senator George G. Vest, Of
Missouri, who made himself thoroughly
acquainted with the Indian question, a
man totally unprejudiced, declared pub
licly that the only schools that have
ever done the Indian any good are those
conducted by the religious" Though
this was wisdom crying aloud in the
streets, yet the cry was to deaf men, for
many would rather see the Indian
damned than that he should be saved by
Catholic influence.
Sad experience has shown that with
out a religious training, the so-called
educated Indian is worse than when in
his savage condition. Both time and
money are wasted. Some of the chill
dren come back to their homes from
these non-sectarian schools we'll skilled
in sneers at the Catholic religion and it's
practices, loud in their contempt for
confession, and able to quote Scripture
for their purpose. Soon enough, though,
the usual consequences are at hand; the
girls become the prey of impure white
men, and the boys the slaves of the
meanest of all white men, the whisky
seller. One is reminded very forcibly of
our Lords words to the Scribes and
Pharsees: Woe to you, Scribes and
Pharisees. hypocrites, because you go
round about sea and land to make one
proselyte. and when he is made, you
make him the child of hell two-fold
more than yourselves"
The appended report of the work
tho toll I
is worth a careful examination. 1t is
the fashion now to keep from the public
anything that rebounds to the credit Of
Catholicity, but to, seize with avidity on
every scandal and ON every lie that is
half the truth, and to put it in glazing
headlines before the reader.
l take this opportunity to offer my
| sincere thanks to those holy and earnest
men and women, missionaries, who, in
the diocese of Duluth, have done such
honest work for Gods glory and the
salvation of souls. Their names are
not in the mouths of men, but are,
hope, written in the Book of Life. When
the government places the Indian under
the management of United States Off
GERS such as are educated at West Point,
men free from the faint of bigotry and
prejudice. men above taking advantage
of the weakness and ignorance of these
poor people, then We shall have some
hope for the future red man. Up to this
the record has been stained and befouled
by much that is mean and dishonorable;
frequently. too, when the government
had the very best intentions.
These are the statistics of the Chip
pewas of the diocese of Duluth, CLASH
fled respecting their religion:
Reservation. Cath.Pagan. Prot. Tot
White Earth ..............7@ lat 80 9S7
Pemhina .b4u 545