paying whatever he may ask, to whom they must sell everything that they
would sell, taking what he may choose to give.

We have, it is true, a cumbrous system of machinery which is supposed to
educate and civilize the Indian, called the Indian Bureau. Some men have
studied it for years, and they fail yet to comprehend it. I believe it
is incomprehensible. I believe it was never intended to be understood.
Some men ask what it does. It does little, and largely shows how _not_
to do; and any effort to Christianize and elevate the Indians, so long
as the present system remains, will be a failure. Now, when our
philanthropists are endeavoring to lift them up, when our legislators
are taking favorable action, this Indian Bureau, through its Assistant
Commissioner, issues an order which says that the English language must
be the only language taught or _spoken_ in the mission-schools. The only
language the Indian knows is forbidden. Suppose we were to try to learn
a foreign language in that way? Suppose a Frenchman should come to teach
us French, and neither of us spoke a word of English--how rapid would
our progress be?

Thirty barrels of whiskey and one thousand scalping knives were issued
not many years ago as civilizing agencies by this department. An
instance given us last night by our friend from across the water, shows
that the English circumlocution office is a greyhound compared with our
Indian office. I remember a similar story that Bright Eyes told in
Boston some years ago.

She was then a teacher in an Indian school. She had little children in
her school that came some seven, eight, or ten miles barefooted, and
winter was coming on, and her heart sympathized with these poor children
who came so far to be taught. They happened to have a good agent, and he