Some few have given the missionary reason
to hope that they have been made subjects of Christian faith--and the
light, that has as yet broken in faint rays upon their darkness, may
increase. He who takes account of the falling of a sparrow, will not
altogether cast away so large a portion of his creatures. All Christian
minds will wish success to the Indian missionary; and assuredly God will
be true to his mercy, where man is found true to his duty.
The first impression created by the Sioux was the common one--fear. In
their looks they were so different from the Indians I had occasionally
seen. There was nothing in their aspect to indicate the success of
efforts made to civilize them. Their tall, unbending forms, their savage
hauteur, the piercing black eye, the quiet indifference of manner, the
slow, stealthy step--how different were they from the eastern Indians,
whose associations with the white people seem to have deprived them of
all native dignity of bearing and of character. The yells heard outside
the high wall of the fort at first filled me with alarm; but I soon
became accustomed to them, and to all other occasional Indian
excitements, that served to vary the monotony of garrison life.
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