750 THE GHOST-DANCE RELIGION [eth. Ann. h 



and visions — a study in mental philosophy, showing what the mind may do under 

 certain circumstances. Yet it is all easily accounted for. These Indians have 

 mingled with the whites for a long time, nearly ever since most of them were 

 small. All classes of whites have made sport of their religion — the infidel, the 

 profane man. the immoral one, the moral one, and the Christian — and they have 

 been told that God and the Bible were against it, consequently they lost faith in it. 

 But the Indian must have some religion. He can not do without one. They were 

 not ready to accept the Bible in all its purity. They wanted more excitement. 

 Like the Dakota Indians more recently, they saw that Christ was the great center 

 of the most powerful religion of the most powerful, intelligent, successful, and 

 wisest nations with whom they came in contact. Consequently they formulated a 

 system for themselves that would fill all their required conditions, and when a few 

 leaders had originated it, a large share of the rest were, ripe to accept it, but having 

 had more Christian teaching than the wild Dakotas, it took a somewhat different 

 form, with no thought of war and with more of real Christianity. 



.lames Wickersham, esquire, of Tacoina, Washington, the well-known 

 historian of that region, is the regular attorney for these people as a 

 religious organization, and is consequently in a position to speak with 

 authority concerning them. In reply to a letter of inquiry, he states 

 that the Shakers believe in an actual localized heaven and hell, and 

 reverence the Bible, but regard John Slocum's revelations as of more 

 authority. "They practice the strictest morality, sobriety, and honesty. 

 Their 500 or 600 members are models, and it is beyond question that they 

 do not drink whisky, gamble, or race, and are more free from vice than 

 any other church. They practice a mixture of Catholic, Presbyterian, 

 and old Indian ceremonies, and allow only Indians in the church. They 

 have five churches, built by themselves, and the sect is growing quite 

 rapidly." From till this it would appear that the Shaker religion is a 

 distinct advance as compared with the old Indian system. 



Under date of December 5, 1892, Mr Wickersham wrote again on 

 this subject, as follows: 



I read your letter to my Indian friends, and they beg me to write you and explain 

 that they are not Ghost dancers, and have no sympathy with that ceremony or any 

 other founded on the Dreamer religion. That they believe in heaven as do the 

 orthodox Christians; also in Christ, and (iod, the Father of all; that they believe 

 in future rewards and punishments, but not in the Bible particularly. They do 

 believe in it as a history, but they do not value it as a book of revelation. They 

 do not need it, for John Slocum personally came back from a conference with the 

 angels at the gates of heaven, and has imparted to them the actual facts and the 

 angelic words of the means of salvation. 



This testimony is even better than the words of t 'hrist contained in the Bible, for 

 John Slocum comes L800 years nearer; he is an Indian, and personally appears to 

 them and in Indian language reports the facts. These people believe Slocum as 

 firmly as the- martyr at the stake believed in that lor which he offered up his life; 

 but it is the Christian religion which they believe, and uot the Ghost dance or 

 I (reamer religion. 



In short, they have a mixture of Catholic, Protestant, and Indian ceremonies, with 

 a thorough belief in .John Slocum's personal visit to heaven, and his return with a 

 miss ion to save the Indians and so guide them that they, too, shall reach the realms 

 of bliss. Personally. I think they are honest, but mistaken: but the belief cer- 

 tainly has beneficial effect, and has reduced drinking and crime to a minimum 

 among the members of the "Shaker" or " Tschaddam" church. 



