FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90  
91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>   >|  
cs did not harm them, nor disturb their minds merely to corrupt them. The French they loved. But the stern Presbyterian, with his dogmas and his task-work, the city circle and the college, with their niggard conceptions and unfeeling stare, have never tried the experiment." Margaret naturally felt an especial interest in observing the character and condition of the Indian women. She says, truly enough, "The observations of women upon the position of woman are always more valuable than those of men." Unhappily, this is a theme in regard to which many women make no observation of their own, and only repeat what they have heard from men. But of Margaret's impressions a few sentences will give us some idea:-- "With the women I held much communication by signs. They are almost invariably coarse and ugly, with the exception of their eyes, with a peculiarly awkward gait, and forms bent by burdens. This gait, so different from the steady and noble step of the men, marks the inferior position they occupy." Margaret quotes from Mrs. Schoolcraft and from Mrs. Grant passages which assert that this inferiority does not run through the whole life of an Indian woman, and that the drudgery and weary service imposed upon them by the men are compensated by the esteem and honor in which they are held. Still, she says:-- "Notwithstanding the homage paid to women, and the consequence allowed them in some cases, it is impossible to look upon the Indian women without feeling that they do occupy a lower place than women among the nations of European civilization.... Their decorum and delicacy are striking, and show that, where these are native to the mind, no habits of life make any difference. Their whole gesture is timid, yet self-possessed. They used to crowd round me to inspect little things I had to show them, but never press near; on the contrary, would reprove and keep off the children. Anything they took from my hand was held with care, then shut or folded, and returned with an air of lady-like precision." And of the aspect of the Indian question in her day Margaret writes:-- "I have no hope of liberalizing the missionary, of humanizing the sharks of trade, of infusing the conscientious drop into the flinty bosom of policy, of saving the Indian from immediate degradation and speedy death.... Yet, let every man look to himself how far this blood shall be required at his hands. Let the missionary, instead of preaching to
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   76   77   78   79   80   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90  
91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Indian

 

Margaret

 

position

 
occupy
 

missionary

 

inspect

 

feeling

 

things

 
reprove
 

impossible


contrary

 
possessed
 

nations

 
native
 

European

 

civilization

 

decorum

 
delicacy
 

striking

 

preaching


difference

 
gesture
 

habits

 

humanizing

 

sharks

 

infusing

 
liberalizing
 

writes

 
conscientious
 

saving


degradation

 

speedy

 

policy

 

flinty

 
question
 
children
 
Anything
 

folded

 

returned

 

required


aspect

 

precision

 
observations
 

condition

 

especial

 

interest

 
observing
 

character

 

valuable

 

repeat