4. IV. BARBARISM AND THE MORAL CODE
Silence the Corner-Stone of Character. Basic Ideas of
Morality. "Give All or Nothing!" Rules
of Honorable Warfare. An Indian
Conception of Courage.
LONG before I ever heard of Christ,
or saw a white man, I had learned
from an untutored woman the essence
of morality. With the help of
dear Nature herself, she taught me
things simple but of mighty import.
I knew God. I perceived what goodness is.
I saw and loved what is really
beautiful. Civilization has not taught
me anything better!
As a child, I understood how to
give; I have forgotten that grace since
I became civilized. I lived the natural life,
whereas I now live the artificial. Any
pretty pebble was valuable to
me then; every growing tree
an object of reverence. Now I worship
with the white man before a
painted landscape whose value is estimated
in dollars! Thus the Indian
is reconstructed, as the natural rocks
are ground to powder, and made into
artificial blocks which may be built
into the walls of modern society.
The first American mingled with
his pride a singular humility. Spiritual
arrogance was foreign to his nature
and teaching. He never claimed
that the power of articulate speech
was proof of superiority over the
dumb creation; on the other hand,
it is to him a perilous gift. He believes
profoundly in silence—the
sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence
is the absolute poise or balance of
body, mind, and spirit. The man who
preserves his selfhood ever calm and
unshaken by the storms of existence
—not a leaf, as it were, astir on the
tree; not a ripple upon the surface
of shining pool—his, in the mind
of the unlettered sage, is the ideal
attitude and conduct of life.
If you ask him: "What is silence?"
he will answer: "It is the Great
Mystery!" "The holy silence is His
voice!" If you ask: "What are the
fruits of silence?" he will say:
"They are self-control, true courage
or endurance, patience, dignity, and
reverence. Silence is the cornerstone
of character."
"Guard your tongue in youth,"
said the old chief, Wabashaw, "and
in age you may mature a thought that
will be of service to your people!"
The moment that man conceived
of a perfect body, supple, symmetrical,
graceful, and enduring—in
that moment he had laid the foundation
of a moral life! No man can
hope to maintain such a temple of
the spirit beyond the period of adolescence,
unless he is able to curb his
indulgence in the pleasures of the
senses. Upon this truth the Indian
built a rigid system of physical training,
a social and moral code that was
the law of his life.
There was aroused in him as a
child a high ideal of manly strength
and beauty, the attainment of which
must depend upon strict temperance
in eating and in the sexual relation,
together with severe and persistent
exercise. He desired to be a worthy
link in the generations, and that he
might not destroy by his weakness
that vigor and purity of blood which
had been achieved at the cost of
much self-denial by a long line of
ancestors.
He was required to fast from time
to time for short periods, and to
work off his superfluous energy by
means of hard running, swimming,
and the vapor-bath. The bodily fatigue
thus induced, especially when
coupled with a reduced diet, is a
reliable cure for undue sexual desires.
Personal modesty was early cultivated
as a safeguard, together with
a strong self-respect and pride of
family and race. This was accomplished
in part by keeping the child
ever before the public eye, from his
birth onward. His entrance into
the world, especially in the case of
the first-born, was often publicly announced
by the herald, accompanied
by a distribution of presents to the
old and needy. The same thing occurred
when he took his first step,
when his ears were pierced, and
when he shot his first game, so that
his childish exploits and progress
were known to the whole clan as to
a larger family, and he grew into
manhood with the saving sense of a
reputation to sustain.
The youth was encouraged to enlist
early in the public service, and
to develop a wholesome ambition
for the honors of a leader and feastmaker,
which can never be his unless he
is truthful and generous, as
well as brave, and ever mindful
of his personal chastity and honor.
There were many ceremonial customs
which had a distinct moral
influence; the woman was rigidly
secluded at certain periods, and the
young husband was forbidden to
approach his own wife when preparing
for war or for any religious
event. The public or tribal position
of the Indian is entirely dependent
his private virtue, and
he is never permitted to forget that
he does not live to himself alone,
but to his tribe and his clan. Thus
habits of perfect self-control were
early established, and there were no
unnatural conditions or complex
temptations to beset him until he was
met and overthrown by a stronger
race.
To keep the young men and young
women strictly to their honor, there
were observed among us, within
my own recollection, certain annual
ceremonies of a semi-religious nature.
One of the most impressive
of these was the sacred "Feast of
Virgins," which, when given for the
first time, was equivalent to the public
announcement of a young girl's
arrival at a marriageable age. The
herald, making the rounds of the
teepee village, would publish the
feast something after this fashion:
"Pretty Weasel-woman, the daughter
Brave Bear, will kindle her
first maidens' fire to-morrow! All ye
who have never yielded to the pleading
man, who have not destroyed
your innocency, you alone are invited
to proclaim anew before the
Sun and the Earth, before your companions
and in the sight of the Great
Mystery, the chastity and purity of
your maidenhood. Come ye, all who
have not known man!"
The whole village was at once
aroused to the interest of the coming event,
which was considered next
to the Sun Dance and the Grand
Medicine Dance in public importance.
It always took place in midsummer,
when a number of different
clans were gathered together for the
summer festivities, and was held in
the centre of the great circular encampment.
Here two circles were described,
one within the other, about a rudely
heart-shaped rock which was touched
with red paint, and upon either side
of the rock there were thrust into
the ground a knife and two arrows.
The inner circle was for the maidens,
and the outer one for their grandmothers
or chaperones, who were
supposed to have passed the climacteric.
Upon the outskirts of the
feast there was a great public gathering,
in which order was kept by certain
warriors of highest reputation.
Any man among the spectators might
approach and challenge any young
woman whom he knew to be unworthy;
if the accuser failed to
prove his charge, the warriors were
accustomed to punish him severely.
Each girl in turn approached the
sacred rock and laid her hand upon
it with all solemnity. This was her
religious declaration of her virginity,
her vow to remain pure until her marriage.
If she should ever violate the
maidens' oath, then welcome that
keen knife and those sharp arrows!
Our maidens were ambitious to
attend a number of these feasts before marriage,
and it sometimes happened
that a girl was compelled to
give one, on account of gossip about
her conduct. Then it was in the nature
of a challenge to the scandal-mongers
to prove their words! A
similar feast was sometimes made
by the young men, for whom the
rules were even more strict, since no
young man might attend this feast
who had so much as spoken of love
to a maiden. It was considered a
high honor among us to have won
some distinction in war and the
chase, and above all to have been
invited to a seat in the council, before
one had spoken to any girl save
his own sister.
It was our belief that the love of
possessions is a weakness to be overcome.
Its appeal is to the material
part, and if allowed its way it will
in time disturb the spiritual balance
of the man. Therefore the child
must early learn the beauty of generosity.
He is taught to give what
he prizes most, and that he may
taste the happiness of giving, he is
made at an early age the family almoner.
If a child is inclined to be
grasping, or to cling to any of his
little possessions, legends are related
to him, telling of the contempt and
disgrace falling upon the ungenerous
and mean man.
Public giving is a part of every
important ceremony. It properly
belongs to the celebration of birth,
marriage, and death, and is observed
whenever it is desired to do special
honor to any person or event. Upon
such occasions it is common to give
to the point of utter impoverishment.
The Indian in his simplicity
literally gives away all that he has, to
relatives, to guests of another tribe or
clan, but above all to the poor and
the aged, from whom he can hope
for no return. Finally, the gift to
the "Great Mystery," the religious
offering, may be of little value in itself,
but to the giver's own thought
it should carry the meaning and reward
of true sacrifice.
Orphans and the aged are invariably
cared for, not only by their
next of kin, but by the whole clan.
It is the loving parent's pride to
have his daughters visit the unfortunate
and the helpless, carry them
food, comb their hair, and mend
their garments. The name "Wenonah,"
bestowed upon the eldest
daughter, distinctly implies all this,
and a girl who failed in her charitable
duties was held to be unworthy
of the name.
The man who is a skillful hunter,
and whose wife is alive to her opportunities
makes many feasts, to
which he is careful to invite the
older men of his clan, recognizing
that they have outlived their period
of greatest activity, and now love
nothing so well as to eat in good
company, and to live over the past.
The old men, for their part, do their
best to requite his liberality with a
little speech, in which they are apt
to relate the brave and generous
deeds of their host's ancestors, finally
congratulating him upon being a
worthy successor of an honorable
line. Thus his reputation is won as
a hunter and a feast-maker, and almost
as famous in his way as the
great warrior is he who has a recognized
name and standing as a "man
of peace."
The true Indian sets no price
upon either his property or his labor.
His generosity is only limited by his
strength and ability. He regards it
as an honor to be selected for a difficult
or dangerous service, and would
think it shame to ask for any reward,
saying rather: "Let him
whom I serve express his thanks
according to his own bringing up
and his sense of honor!"
Nevertheless, he recognizes rights
in property. To steal from one of
his own tribe would be indeed disgrace
if discovered, the name
of "Wamanon," or Thief, is fixed
upon him forever as an unalterable.
The only exception
to the rule is in the case of food,
which is always free to the hungry
if there is none by to offer it. Other
protection than the moral law there
could not be in an Indian community,
where there were neither locks
nor doors, and everything was open
and easy of access to all comers.
The property of the enemy is
spoil of war, and it is always allowable
to confiscate it if possible. However,
in the old days there was not
much plunder. Before the coming
of the white man, there was in fact
little temptation or opportunity to
despoil the enemy; but in modern
times the practice of "stealing
horses" from hostile tribes has become common,
and is thought far
from dishonorable.
Warfare we regarded as an institution
the "Great Mystery"—an
organized tournament or trial of
courage and skill, with elaborate
rules and "counts" for the coveted
honor of the eagle feather. It was
held to develop the quality of manliness
and its motive was chivalric
or patriotic, but never the desire for
territorial aggrandizement or the
overthrow of a brother nation. It
was common, in early times, for a
battle or skirmish to last all day, with
great display of daring and horsemanship
with scarcely more
killed and wounded than may be carried
from the field during a university
game of football.
The slayer of a man in battle was
expected to mourn for thirty days,
blackening his face and loosening
his hair according to the custom.
He of course considered it no sin to
take the life of an enemy, and this
ceremonial mourning was a sign of
reverence for the departed spirit.
The killing in war of non-combatants,
such as women and children,
is partly explained by the fact that
in savage life the woman without
husband or protector is in pitiable
case, and it was supposed that the
spirit of the warrior would be better
content if no widow and orphans
were left to suffer want, as well as
to weep.
A scalp might originally be taken
by the leader of the war party only,
and at that period no other mutilation
was practiced. It was a small
lock not more than three inches
square, which was carried only during
the thirty days' celebration of a
victory, and afterward given religious burial.
Wanton cruelties and
the more barbarous customs of war
were greatly intensified with the
coming of the white man, who
brought with him fiery liquor and
deadly weapons, aroused the Indian's
worst passions, provoking in him revenge
and cupidity, and even offered
bounties for the scalps of innocent
men, women, and children.
Murder within the tribe was a
grave offense, to be atoned for as the
council might decree, and it often
happened that the slayer was called
upon to pay the penalty with his
own life. He made no attempt to
escape or to evade justice. That the
crime was committed in the depths
of the forest or at dead of night,
witnessed by no human eye, made
no difference to his mind. He was
thoroughly convinced that all is
known to the "Great Mystery," and
hence did not hesitate to give himself up,
to stand his trial by the old
and wise men of the victim's clan.
His own family and clan might by
no means attempt to excuse or to
defend him, but his judges took all
the known circumstances into
consideration, and if it appeared that he
slew in self-defense, or that the provocation
was severe, he might be
set free after a thirty days' period
of mourning in solitude. Otherwise
the murdered man's next of kin were
authorized to take his life; and if
they refrained from doing so, as often
happened, he remained an outcast
from the clan. A willful murder was
a rare occurrence before the days
of whiskey and drunken rows, for we
were not a violent or a quarrelsome
people.
It is well remembered that Crow
Dog, who killed the Sioux chief,
Spotted Tail, in 1881, calmly surrendered
himself and was tried and
convicted by the courts in South
Dakota. After his conviction, he
was permitted remarkable liberty in
prison, such as perhaps no white
man has ever enjoyed when under
sentence of death.
The cause of his act was a solemn
commission received from his
people, nearly thirty years earlier, at
the time that Spotted Tail usurped
the chieftainship by the aid of the
military, whom he had aided. Crow
Dog was under a vow to slay the
chief, in case he ever betrayed or
disgraced the name of the Brule
Sioux. There is no doubt that he
had committed crimes both public
and private, having been guilty of
misuse of office as well as of gross
offenses against morality; therefore
his death was not a matter of personal
vengeance but of just retribution
A few days before Crow Dog was
to be executed, he asked permission
to visit his home and say farewell to
his wife and twin boys, then nine
or ten years old. Strange to say, the
request was granted, and the condemned
man sent home under escort
of the deputy sheriff, who remained
at the Indian agency, merely telling
his prisoner to report there on the
following day. When he did not appear
the time set, the sheriff dispatched
Indian police after him.
They did not find him, and his wife
simply said that Crow Dog had desired
to ride alone to the prison,
and would reach there on the day
appointed. All doubt was removed
next day by a telegram from Rapid
City, two hundred miles distant, saying
Crow Dog has just reported
here."
The incident drew public attention
to the Indian murderer, with
the unexpected result that the case
was reopened, and Crow Dog acquitted.
He still lives, a well-preserved
man of about seventy-five years, and
is much respected among his own
people.
It is said that, in the very early
days, lying was a capital offense
among us. Believing that the deliberate
liar is capable of committing
any crime behind the screen of cowardly
untruth and double-dealing,
the destroyer of mutual confidence
was summarily put to death, that the
evil might go no further.
Even the worst enemies of the
Indian, those who accuse him of
treachery, blood-thirstiness, cruelty,
and lust, have not denied his courage
but in their minds it is a courage
is ignorant, brutal, and
fantastic. His own conception of
bravery makes of it a high moral
virtue, for to him it consists not so
much in aggressive self-assertion as
in absolute self-control. The truly
brave man, we contend, yields neither
to fear nor anger, desire nor agony;
he is at all times master of himself;
his courage rises to the heights of
chivalry, patriotism, and real heroism.
"Let neither cold, hunger, nor
pain, nor the fear of them, neither
the bristling teeth of danger nor the
very jaws of death itself, prevent
you from doing a good deed," said
an old chief to a scout who was
about to seek the buffalo in midwinter
for the relief of a starving people.
This was his childlike conception
of courage.