THE CODE OF HANDSOME LAKE 15 



they hold most of the offices. In connection with the Allegany 

 and Cattaraugus Seneca I use the word control, advisedly, since 

 there may be times when the majority of councilors may be of the 

 Christian party. Even so, the " conservative " party controls 

 enough to maintain the system that they deem right. 



When their poverty is urged as an argument against their 

 religion and social system they assert that the true follower of the 

 prophet will be poor and suffer much in this world but that his 

 condition in the " new world above the sky " will be in direct con- 

 trast. They therefore esteem poverty, lowly surroundings and 

 sickness as a sure indication of a rich heavenly reward and point 

 to the better material surroundings and wealth of their brethren of 

 the white man's way as an evidence that the devil has bought them. 



The writer of this sketch has no complaint against the simple 

 folk who have long been his friends. For a greater portion of his 

 lifetime he has mingled with them, lived in their homes and re- 

 ceived many honors from them. He has attended their ceremonies, 

 heard their instructors and learned much of the old-time lore. 

 Never has he been more royally entertained than by them, never 

 was hospitality so genuine, never was gratitude more earnest, never 

 were friends more sincere. There is virtue in their hearts and a 

 sincerity and frankness that is refreshing. If only there were no 

 engulfing " new way " and no modern rush, no need for progress, 

 there could scarcely be a better devised system than theirs. It 

 was almost perfectly fitted for the conditions which it was designed 

 to meet, but now the new way has surrounded them, everything 

 which they have and use in the line of material things, save a few 

 simple maize foods and their ceremonial paraphernalia, is the 

 product of the white man's hand and brain. The social and 

 economic and moral order all about them is the white man's, not 

 theirs. How long can they oppose their way to the overwhelming 

 forces of the modern world and exist ? How long will they seek to 

 meet these overwhelming forces with those their ancestors devised 

 but devised not with a knowledge of what the future would re- 

 quire? My Indian friends will answer, " Of these things we know 

 nothing; we know only that the Great Ruler will care for us as long 

 as we are faithful." Asked about the clothes they wear, the houses 

 they live in, the long house they worship in, they reply, "All these 

 things may be made of the white man's material but they are out- 

 side things. Our religion is not one of paint or feathers; it is a 

 thing of the heart." That is the answer; it is a thing of the heart 

 — who can change it? 



