Dahcotah | Page 6

children, and many of them read well. On the Sabbath, divine
service is regularly held, and he has labored to promote the cause of
temperance among the Sioux. Christian exertion is unhappily too much
influenced by the apprehension that little can be done for the savage.
How is it with the man on his fire-water mission to the Indian? Does he
doubt? Does he fail?
As a great motive to improve the moral character of the Indians, I
present the condition of the women in their tribes. A degraded state of
woman is universally characteristic of savage life, as her elevated
influence in civilized society is the conspicuous standard of moral and
social virtue. The peculiar sorrows of the Sioux woman commence at
her birth. Even as a child she is despised, in comparison with the

brother beside her, who is one day to be a great warrior. As a maiden,
she is valued while the young man, who wants her for a wife, may have
a doubt of his success. But when she is a wife, there is little sympathy
for her condition. How soon do the oppressive storms and contentions
of life root out all that is kind or gentle in her heart. She must bear the
burdens of the family. Should her husband wish it, she must travel all
day with a heavy weight on her back; and at night when they stop, her
hands must prepare the food for her family before she retires to rest.
Her work is never done. She makes the summer and the winter house.
For the former she peels the bark from the trees in the spring; for the
latter she sews the deer-skin together. She tans the skins of which coats,
mocassins, and leggins are to be made for the family; she has to scrape
it and prepare it while other cares are pressing upon her. When her
child is born, she has no opportunities for rest or quiet. She must paddle
the canoe for her husband--pain and feebleness must be forgotten. She
is always hospitable. Visit her in her teepee, and she willingly gives
you what you need, if in her power; and with alacrity does what she can
to promote your comfort. In her looks there is little that is attractive.
Time has not caused the wrinkles in her forehead, nor the furrows in
her cheek. They are the traces of want, passion, sorrows and tears. Her
bent form was once light and graceful. Labor and privations are not
preservative of beauty.
Let it not be deemed impertinent if I venture to urge upon those who
care for the wretched wherever their lot may be cast, the immense good
that might be accomplished among these tribes by schools, which
should open the minds of the young to the light of reason and
Christianity. Even if the elder members are given up as hopeless, with
the young there is always encouragement. Many a bright little creature
among the Dahcotahs is as capable of receiving instruction as are the
children of civilization. Why should they be neglected when the waters
of benevolence are moving all around them?
It is not pretended that all the incidents related in these stories occurred
exactly as they are stated. Most of them are entirely true; while in
others the narrative is varied in order to show some prevalent custom,
or to illustrate some sentiment to which these Indians are devoted. The
Sioux are as firm believers in their religion as we are in ours; and they
are far more particular in the discharge of what they conceive to be the

obligations required by the objects of their faith and worship. There are
many allusions to the belief and customs of the Dahcotahs that require
explanation. For this purpose I have obtained from the Sioux
themselves the information required. On matters of faith there is
difference of opinion among them--but they do not make more points
of difference on religion, or on any other subject, than white people do.
The day of the Dahcotah is far spent; to quote the language of a
Chippeway chief, "The Indian's glory is passing away." They seem to
be almost a God-forgotten race. Some few have given the missionary
reason to hope that they have been made subjects of Christian
faith--and the light, that has as yet broken in faint rays upon their
darkness, may increase. He who takes account of the falling of a
sparrow, will not altogether cast away so large a portion of his creatures.
All Christian minds will wish success to the Indian missionary; and
assuredly God will be true to his mercy, where man is found true to his
duty.
The first impression created by the Sioux was the common one--fear. In
their looks they were