The Spartans of the West 13 



but the first and third: that is, he had many lesser gods 

 besides the one Great Spirit, and he knew not the Sabbath 

 Day of rest. His religious faith, therefore, was much the 

 same as that of the mighty Greeks, before whom all the 

 world of learning bows; not unlike that of many Christians 

 and several stages higher than that of the Huxley and 

 other modern schools of materiaHsm. 



THE DARK SIDE 



These are the chief charges against the Indian: 



First: He was cruel to his enemies, even torturing them 

 at the stake in extreme cases. He knew nothing about for- 

 gi\dng and lo\Tng them. 



In the main, this is true. But how much less cruel he was 

 than the leaders of the Christian Church in the Middle 

 Ages! What Indian massacre will compare in horror %\-ith 

 that of St. Bartholomew's Eve or the ^lassacre of Glencoe? 

 Read the records of the Inquisition, or the Queen Mary 

 persecutions in England, or the later James II. abomina- 

 tions for further Hghtl 



There was no torture used by the Indians that was not 

 also used by the Spainards. Ever}- frontiersman of the 

 Indian days knows that in every outbreak the whites were 

 the aggressors ; and that in every e\dl count — robbery, 

 torture and massacre — they did exactly as the In- 

 dians did. "The ferocity of the Redman," says Bourke, 

 "has been more than equaled by the ferocity of the 

 Christian Caucasian." ("On the Border with Crook," 

 p. 114.) 



There are good grounds for stating that the Indians were 

 cruel to their enemies, but it is surprising to see how Httle of 

 this cruelty there was in primitive days. In most cases the 

 enemy was killed in battle or adopted into the tribe; very, 



