Indian character is human character because the Indian is human. Being
human he is susceptible to all human teaching and experiences. None
yields more readily to love and kindness.
Few can speak of the Indian with absolute propriety, for very few know
him. To the mind of most Americans, I venture to say, the very name
"Indian" suggests scalpings, massacres, outrages of all kinds and an
interminable list of kindred horrors; all too true. But it must be
remembered that the Indian presented to his first discoverers a race
most tractable, tenderhearted, and responsive to kindness. He was
indeed the child of the plain, but a loving child.
The chevaliers both of Spanish and English blood taught him in the
most practical manner the varied refinements of deceit, treachery, and
cruelty. He was an apt scholar, and the devotee of social heredity,
which has here so striking an example, cannot curse the redman if the
sins of the fathers are meted out to succeeding generations.
Under definite heads I am giving some very brief sketches of living,
down-to-date aborigines, such as have come under my own observation in
Utah and Idaho.