The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1902-11-27
Traits Of Indian Char.
aCter.
Paper Read Before the Chautuuqua Circle.

!. ~ AC " NJ AOSoASoSSA cAA~o o.OS>
early visitors who treated Of the
discovery and settlement OF Amer
lea have not, given us more /partic.
ular and candid accounts Of the
| remarkable characters that flour.
ished in, savage life. The scanty
anecdotes which have reached us
are full of popularity and interest
they furnish us with nearer
glimpses of human nature; they
show what man is in a compare.
lively primitive state and what he
owes to civilization. There is
something of the charm of discov-
cry in lighting upon these wild
and unexplored tracks of human
nature; in witnessing, as it were
the native growth Of moral senti-
ment, and perceiving those gener-
GUS and romantic qualities which
have been artificially cultivated
by society, appearing in sponta-
neous hardihood and magnifcence
In civilized life, where the hap
piness, and indeed almost the ex-
istence, of man depends SO much
upon the opinion of his fellow
men, he is constantly acting a
studied part. The bold and pc
culiar traits of native character
are refined away, or softened down
by the leveling influence of what
is termed good breeding; apd he
practices SO many receptions and
affects SO many generous senti-
ments, for the sake of popularity,
that it is difficult to distinguish
his real from his artificial charac-
ter. The Indian, on the contrary,
free from the restraints and re-
fnements of polished life. and in
great degree a solitary and in
dependent being, obeys the i'm
pulses of his inclination or the
dictates of his judgment; and thus
the attributes of his nature, being
freely INDUCED, grow singly great
and striking.
Society is like a lawn where
every roughness is smoothed,
every bramble eradicated, and
where the eye is delighted by the
smiling verdure of velvet sur
face. He, however, who would
study nature in it's wildness and
variety, must plunge into the for
est, must explore the glen, must
ford the torrent, and dare the prec-
ipice.
There is something in the char
acter and habits of the North
American savage, taken in con-
nection with the country over
which he is accustomed to range,
it's vast lakes, boundless forests,
majestic rivers and trackless plains,
that is, to my mind, wonderfully
striking and sublime. He is
formed for the. wilderness as the
Arab is for the desert. His ma
ture is stern, simple, and enduring:
fitted to grapple with difficulties
and to support privations. There
seems but little soil in his heart
for the growth of the kindly vir-
tues; and yet. if we would but take
the trouble to- penetrate through
that proud stoicism and habitua]
taciturnity, which lock up his
character from casual observation
we should find him linked to his
fellow man of civilized life by
more of these sympathies and at.
fections than are usually ascribed
to him.
It has been the lot of the un.
fortunate aborigines of America
to be doubly wronged by the
white man. They have been dis.
possessed of their hereditary
possessions by mercenary and FIRE.
quently wanton warfare, and theil
character has been traduced BY
bigoted and interested writers
The, colnnist has often treated