The lust for money, power, and
conquest so characteristic of the Anglo-Saxon race did not escape moral
condemnation at the hands of his untutored judge, nor did he fail to
contrast this conspicuous trait of the dominant race with the spirit of
the meek and lowly Jesus.

He might in time come to recognize that the drunkards and licentious
among white men, with whom he too frequently came in contact, were
condemned by the white man's religion as well, and must not be held to
discredit it. But it was not so easy to overlook or to excuse national
bad faith. When distinguished emissaries from the Father at Washington,
some of them ministers of the gospel and even bishops, came to the
Indian nations, and pledged to them in solemn treaty the national honor,
with prayer and mention of their God; and when such treaties, so made,
were promptly and shamelessly broken, is it strange that the action
should arouse not only anger, but contempt? The historians of the white
race admit that the Indian was never the first to repudiate his oath.

It is my personal belief, after thirty-five years' experience of it,
that there is no such thing as "Christian civilization." I believe that
Christianity and modern civilization are opposed and irreconcilable,
and that the spirit of Christianity and of our ancient religion is
essentially the same.

II. THE FAMILY ALTAR

Pre-natal Influence. Early Religious Teaching. The
Function of the Aged. Woman, Marriage and the Family.
Loyalty, Hospitality, Friendship.

The American Indian was an individualist in religion as in war. He had
neither a national army nor an organized church. There was no priest
to assume responsibility for another's soul. That is, we believed, the
supreme duty of the parent, who only was permitted to claim in some
degree the priestly office and function, since it is his creative and
protecting power which alone approaches the solemn function of Deity.

The Indian was a religious man from his mother's womb. From the moment
of her recognition of the fact of conception to the end of the second
year of life, which was the ordinary duration of lactation, it was
supposed by us that the mother's spiritual influence counted for most.
Her attitude and secret meditations must be such as to instill into the
receptive soul of the unborn child the love of the "Great Mystery" and
a sense of brotherhood with all creation. Silence and isolation are
the rule of life for the