Can the Indian be civilized, and is he capable of a high-class education? This is our answer; here are four men from as many representative tribes, two of which are wild, blanket tribes, and yet each of them became men of broad culture and a high degree of civilization. And what is true of these could have been and should have been true of ten thousand others, had our Government pursued a policy of common justice to the race.
[CHAPTER XVIII.]
INDIAN ANECDOTES AND INCIDENTS, HUMOROUS AND OTHERWISE.
A Gentleman who wished to make a present of oranges to a lady, sent them with a letter, by his Indian servant. The letter told how many were sent. On the way the fragrant smell of the fruit proved too great a temptation for the Indian boy. His mouth fairly watered for a taste, but having seen his master read and write letters, he was possessed with the idea that the paper he carried would tell on him if he touched the oranges. He therefore put the letter carefully under a stone, and then, going off to a distance, ate several oranges, feeling perfectly safe. When he came to deliver the remainder of the oranges the lady saw by the letter that some were missing. She charged the Indian with the theft, but he for some time stoutly denied it, and asserted that the letter lied nor was it until threatened with punishment that he confessed, so certain was he that he had put the letter where it could not see him.
The Indians are very grave, attentive and courteous. Even if they did not believe or could not understand a thing, they took care not to let it be seen. On one occasion when a minister had explained to them the history of the Christian religion—the fall of our first parents by eating an apple, the coming of Christ, his miracles and sufferings, etc., an Indian orator stood up to thank him.
"What you have told us," he began, "is all very good. It is indeed bad to eat apples; it is better to make them all into cider."
He then related in his turn an ancient tradition handed down through many generations of his people concerning the origin of maize, or Indian corn, and tobacco. Said he, "Two starving hunters, having killed a deer, were about to satisfy their hunger when they saw a beautiful young woman descend out of the clouds and stand beside them. They were at first afraid, but taking courage offered the spirit the choicest portion of their meat. She tasted it, and then, telling them to return in thirteen moons to the same spot, vanished. They returned as she bade them, at the appointed time. Where the good spirit had touched the ground with her right hand they found maize; with her left, beans; and where she stood was the luxuriant tobacco plant."
The missionary plainly showed his disgust and disbelief in this tradition, saying to the Indian: "What I delivered to you were sacred truths; but what you tell me is mere fable, fiction and falsehood."
The offended Indian gravely replied: "My brother, it seems your friends have not well instructed you in the rules of civility. You saw that we, who understand and practice these rules, believed all your stories; why do you refuse to believe ours?"