Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/159

Rh such simple ritual and formal observance as the Roman Catholic priests exacted of them. There were occasions on which gifted and earnest individuals among the natives poured out a strain of simple, kindling eloquence in expatiating upon the grand and exalted truths of their own religion, of its special adaptation to themselves and the conditions of their own lives, the aspects of earth and sky under which they met the experiences of existence, and the kindly care of Providence for them in supplying all their needs through natural products and the services of their humble kindred among the animals.

Probably the fact held good in its application in degrees to all the native tribes under the teaching of the missionaries, which is signally illustrated in the case of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico; namely, that while yielding a seemingly ready compliance with the observances required of them by their priestly teachers, they retained in deeper impressions and with undiminished attachment the tenets of their ancestral religion. They certainly do in privacy or fellowship cherish their old rites and festivals in connection with a reverence for fire, for the sun, for periodical recognitions of the seasons in their ancient calendar, and for commemorating the departed generations of their race. Here nature and training, so often in strong antagonism with each other, seem to be brought into harmonious working together. It is the utmost result which can be looked for from the most hopeful teaching of religion to adult savage people. Should not that result, or even approximations to it, be regarded as the reward of wise zeal and effort?