Of the mode in which the North American Indians educate their children.

Many of the Asiatic nations and African tribes sell their children without compunction; but no emolument or hope of advantage can induce a North American Indian to part with his child to strangers. Of the tenderness with which the American Indians regard their offspring, Buchanan witnessed the following manifestation:—

“A mother with an infant at her breast, and two other children, one about eleven and the other eight or nine years of age, were in a canoe near a mile from land, during a violent squall. The wind came in sudden gusts, and the waves dashed in rapid succession over the frail vessel. The poor woman, with a small oar in one hand and the other surrounding her babe, directed the two young ones, who each had a paddle, to get the head of the canoe to the wind while the squall lasted; which, with much labour on the part of these tender little mariners, aided by the mother, was at length effected; but during the effort it was very touching to see the strong emotions of maternal love, evidenced to the poor infant at her breast. She would clasp it tightly to her agitated bosom, then cast a momentary look at her other children, and with an anxious and steady gaze, watch the coming wave. In this scene was exhibited such high degrees of fortitude, dexterity, and parental affection, that I would have wished many of our civilized mothers, who look and think with contempt on the poor Indian, had beheld her.”

It might be expected that those who display such tenderness to their offspring, should be particularly careful of their subsequent education. Accordingly, we find that the Indians pay particular attention to this matter. “It may be justly a subject of wonder,” says Mr. Heckewelder, “how a nation without a written[37] code of laws or system of jurisprudence, without any form or constitution of government, and without even a single elective or hereditary magistrate, can subsist together in peace and harmony, and in the exercise of the moral virtues; how a people can be well and effectually governed, without any external authority, by the mere force of the ascendency which men of superior minds have over those of a more ordinary stamp; by a tacit, yet universal submission to the aristocracy of experience, talent, and virtue! Such, nevertheless, is the spectacle which an Indian nation exhibits to the eye of a stranger. I have been a witness to it for a long series of years, and after much observation and reflection to discover the cause of this phenomenon, I think I have reason to be satisfied that it is in a great degree to be ascribed to the pains which the Indians take to instil at an early age honest and virtuous principles into the minds of their children, and to the method which they pursue in educating them. This method I will not call a system, for systems are unknown to these sons of nature, who, by following alone her dictates, have at once discovered, and followed without effort, that plain obvious path which the philosophers of Europe have been so long in search of.”[71]

The manner of this education is described by our good missionary as follows:—

“The first step that parents take towards the education of their children, is to prepare them for future happiness, by impressing upon their tender minds, that they are indebted for their existence to a great, good, and benevolent spirit, who not only has given them life, but has ordained them for certain great purposes. That he has given them a fertile extensive country, well stocked with game of every kind for their subsistence; and that by one of his inferior spirits he has also sent down to them from above, corn, pumpkins, squashes, beans, and other vegetables for their nourishment; all which blessings their ancestors have enjoyed for a great number of ages. That this great spirit looks down upon the Indians, to see whether they are grateful to him and make him a due return for the many benefits he has bestowed, and therefore, that it is their duty to show their thankfulness by worshiping him, and doing that which is pleasing in his sight.

“This is in substance the first lesson taught, and from time to time repeated to the Indian children, which naturally leads them to reflect and gradually to understand that a being which hath done such great things for them, and all to make them happy, must be good indeed, and that it is surely their duty to do something that will please him. They are then told that their ancestors, who received all this from the hands of the Great Spirit and lived in the enjoyment of it, must have been informed of what would be most pleasing to this good being, and of the manner in which his favour could most surely he obtained; and they are directed to look up for instruction to those who know all this, learn from them, and revere them for their knowledge and the wisdom which they possess; this creates in the children a strong sentiment of respect for their elders, and a desire to follow their advice and example. Their young ambition is then excited by telling them that they were made the superiors of all other creatures, and are to have power over them; great pains are taken to make this feeling take an early root, and it becomes, in fact, their ruling passion through life; for no pains are spared to instil into them, that by following the advice of the most admired and extolled hunter, trapper, or warrior, they will at a future day acquire a degree of fame and reputation equal to that which he possesses; that by submitting to the counsels of the aged, the chiefs, the men superior in[38] wisdom, they may also rise to glory, and be called wise men, an honorable title to which no Indian is indifferent. They are finally told that if they respect the aged and infirm, and are kind and obliging to them, they will be treated in the same manner when their turn comes to feel the infirmities of old age.”

When this first and important lesson is thought to be sufficiently impressed upon children’s minds, the parents next proceed to make them sensible of the distinction between good and evil; they tell them that there are good and bad actions, both equally open to them to do or commit; that good acts are pleasing to the Good Spirit which gave them their existence; and that on the contrary, all that is bad proceeds from the Bad Spirit who has............