Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. II.djvu/429

Rh speaks out, and obtains a hearing, a time of trial, an examination, and—judgment is passed, that is to say, time and opportunity to rise or to fall, according to its measure and its power.

Scenes also of the life of the Indians and the negroes in this country belong to the dramatic and picturesque life of America. The wild dances of the former on the prairies of the West, the gentle songs of the latter in the fragrant forests, belong to the theatre of the New World.

The government of America has not a little to reproach herself with as regards her treatment of the Indians. Latterly, however, this treatment has become more just and mild. The land is purchased from the Indians; they are subjected by gentle means and by money; prohibitions are made against the introduction of intoxicating liquors among them, and the missionary is encouraged in his labour of introducing Christianity and civilisation. But this does not do much. The Red men, who consider themselves the most successful creation of the Great Spirit, retire backward into the desert and die. Merely a small number of them have passed over to the faith, the manners, and the mode of government of the whites.

The progress of Christianity is much more considerable among the negro race. The doctrine of the Saviour comes to the negro slaves as their most inward need, and as the accomplishment of the wishes of their souls. They themselves enunciate it with the purest joy. Their ardent, sensitive being, obtains from this its most beautiful transfiguration. The ability of these people for prayer is something peculiar and quite unusual. Their prayers burst forth into flame as they ascend to heaven. The children of the warm sun will yet teach us, by their prayers, the might of prayer.

During the conflict which is going forward in the Free States for the abolition of slavery, the friends of the slave