The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-06-30

Clergyman
1t has been said that the civilized
white man, whose knowledge of the
Indian has been deri 81 from Lo k5fel-
lows HiaWatha or tie novels of Fenni-
more Cooper, regards the noble red
man IS a sort of idealized human
eagle, free, fearless, fierce and uncon-
Querable." Without doubt distance
has lent enchantment to that view"
for the Indian. when nearer seen and
better known" loses much of the ro-
nance which has been associated with
j the real life of his former days, when
wild in the woods the noble savage
ran. The Indian has either so COM
pletely improved or so completely de-
Perforated by the entertainments of the
white man upon his ancient hunting
grounds that his ancestors of genera
lions ago would hardly recognize him
as a legitimate offspring. He has come
to be either such a gentleman of fash
ion, affecting the ways and aping the
manners of the best specimen of the
superior race or he has degenerated
into the besotted Ioafer, skulking round
in the ragged garments of a cast off
white mans suit
There are Indians and Indians
! Though 1 have often come across In
! dians who have knocked all the ro-
Aance out of me, I have, on the other
/
! Scribed as noble" in appearance and
bearing. l have seen Indians with
| countenances which sculptor might
! wish to initiate and with a Napier
| and address that may be described as
! cOurtly, or even royal. Let those who
| doubt such statements read an article
! in a late number of the Century, where,
with descriptions of the habits and pc
| culiaritieS of Indian chiefs, there are
| given a series of pictures of the faces
| OF some living chiefs taken from mod
/ els executed by competent artist.
| Nothing that | have ever seen of pic
| lures of the imperial rulers of ancient
, Rome, with their proud and command
! ing expression of face, or the classic
| features of ancient Athenian sages as
they appear in we'll accredited portraits
are more strikingly stamped with that
! repOse which is indicative of conscious
strength than these facial models of
Indian chiefs. One of these models is
| almost an exact likeness of the pic
! lures commonly seen in America of
Henry Ward Beecher, There is a slight
difference, but it is in favor of the In
dian. The Brooklyn orator does not
quite compare with the Indian warrior;
the latter, notwithstanding his mag
nificent pSysiognOmy, is said to have
been particularly treacherous and cruel
in his treatment of the whites in years
gone by.
1t is a great mistake to suppose all
Indians are vile; that the only good
Indian is the dead one, and that the
only missions to Indians which are
worth talking about are those which
improve him from off the face of the
earth.
Many live Indians have become good
by agencies very different from pow
der, shot and firewater. The Indian of
America, like the aborigine OTIS Aus
tralia or the Maori of New Zealand.
may be destined to ultimate extinction,
but in the meanwhile do not let it be
said that he has proved himself incap-
able of adapting himself in any degree
to the civilization Of the white man. l
have been assured that the only mis-
sions which have proved of real and
lasting benefit to the American In
dams are those which were originally
started by the French Jesuits. and
which have been carried on under the
wing of the Catholic Church.
1t was an American and Protestant
who said to me with shrug of the
shoulder: "a Methodist, a Baptist or
Presbyterian Indian l have no use
for; he is pretty nearly always the
Samesold scoundrel, plus that of being
canting hypocrite" He was strong
in his affirmations that "the only re-
dian is the Catholic religion" | was
surprised to come across such a confir-
nation of lecture I had once read by
Cardinal Wiseman, in which he so
strongly pointed out the better results
of Catholic, as compared with Protest
ant missions.
As a visitor from Australia 1 have
been anxius to learn something of
Christian missions among the Indians.
observe mr. rin
Accordingly L have lately visited
tribe in this northwest corner of Uncle
Sans territory, The Indians of the
Occur d Alenes reservation in the state
of Idaho will compare favOrab-
ly with the average white settler of
this state. 1t is more than 100 years
since the Jesuits established a mission
on the lake after which the reserva-
ton is named. So unimpressible at first
were the Indians to the teachings of the |
good fathers, who were Frenchmen,
that they named their mission the
Occur de'Alenes Mission, signifying
that the Indian had heart of flint
The beautiful Occur d'Alene lake, |
said to- be even more beautiful than |
the lake Geneva in Switzerland, is |
known far and wide, and has become t
popular summer resort for people /
in the eastern part of the state of /
Washington A few years ago the whole |
country adjoining the lake was In
dian territory, but lately the United |
States government has purchased a
large tract of this country from the !
Indians, and has since thrown it open /
for settlement Though the nearest
boundary OF the present Indian reser-
walton is perhaps more than twenty |
miles away from the shores of the
lake, it is still called the Occur d'Alene
reservation. and the Indians are known
by the same old name, the Occur
d Alene tribe.
The Indians are absolute proprietorS
of the reservation, and have complete
control of all that which concerns their
social and civil relations as an organi-
zed community 1 was introduced to
Chief Saltese, whose picture 1 have
since seen in the Century, to which L
have referred above. He is man 81
years of age, but does not look so; his
squaw is perhaps, only half his age,
and has already borne a large number
of children to her husband, the young
est of which is not much more than
an infant.
The gentleman who escorted me, and
by whom l was introduced to the chief,
told me that nine years ago he took
Saltese down to Washington, and ac-
companied him in an interview with
President Cleveland. The Indian chief
was delighted that the Great Father
should have invited him to come for
ward and talk while distinguished
looking men were kept waiting for their
turns. l was told that Saltese behaved
himself like a perfect courtier, and con-
versed with the president in manner
quite composed, free alike from agita-
ton or affectation. Chief Saltese is
said to rule his tribe with just but
a firm hand. His word is law. He is
judge, jury and sometimes executioner
all in one. He is said. on more than