Out of Doors--California and Oregon | Page 9

I apologized for attempting to talk to
him in his own language, and accepted the trout. He baited his hook,
cast it into the stream, and in a short time landed a still larger trout.
Without removing it from the hook, he came up the bank to where I
was seated. He laid his fish and rod on the grass, wiped his forehead
with his hand and sat down.
"I never catch more fish, or kill more game than I need for my present

wants," he remarked. "That trout will be ample for my wife and myself
for supper and breakfast, and in fact for all day tomorrow. When he is
gone, I will catch another one."
Then, turning to me, he asked, "From what section of civilization do
you hail?" I told him I was from Los Angeles.
"Ah, Los Angeles," he murmured. "The Queen City of the West and
Angel City of the South. I have read much of your beautiful city, and I
have often thought I would like to visit it and confirm with my own
eyes all I read about it. What a paradise that country must have been for
the Indian before you white men came! I can hardly imagine a land of
perpetual sunshine, a land where the flowers bloom constantly, where
snows never fall. Yes, I would like to go there, but I imagine I never
shall." Then, with an inquiring glance, "What may be your calling?" he
asked.
I told him I was an attorney-at-law.
"A noble profession," he remarked. "Next to medicine I regard it as the
noblest profession known to our limited capabilities. Do you ever
think," he asked me, "that the medical profession is devoted to relieving
physical ills? To warding off death? The law, on the other hand, takes
care of your property rights. It is supposed to be the guardian of the
weak. How often, however, do we see its mission perverted, and how
often it becomes an oppressor of the unfortunate. How many times do
we see it aiding in the accumulation of those large fortunes with which
our modern civilization is fast becoming burdened and brutalized."
While I had never contracted the filthy habit of smoking, I had in my
pocket several good cigars. I extended the case to my newfound friend.
He took one, thanked me, bit off the end, lit it and puffed away with
evident enjoyment. I took the liberty of asking him his business. "I am
a professor of belles lettres and philosophy in the Indian College on the
Klamath reservation. I am here on my vacation. I was born and reared
to early manhood in these mountains. They still have a charm for me.
While I love my books and my labors, there is a freedom in my life
here which appeals to me. Here I go back to natural life, and study
again the book of nature. Each day I take a lesson from the wild
animals of the forest, from the surging streams and twittering birds.
Here I can better realize how small is man in the general plan of
creation."

He hesitated, and I took advantage of his silence and asked him about
the religion of his race. Whether the modern red man adhered to the
teachings of his tribe, or leaned toward the white man's God. Replying,
he delivered to me a discourse of considerable length, which, as near as
I can recollect it now, ran as follows:
A Red Agnostic.
"My people have been too busy these many years filling their stomachs
to pay much attention to saving their souls. We teach a religion that
inculcates good behavior, and promises as a reward for a well-spent life
an eternity of bliss in the happy hunting ground. Our future is depicted
by our priests as a materialistic future, where we follow the chase,
defeat our enemies and enjoy to our full those things which render us
happy in this world. Personally, I have long since discarded the
teachings of my people, and I am in a state of doubt which seriously
perplexes me. I have read much and widely on this subject. I find that
you white men have not one religion, but many. You are divided into
sects, torn by factions. From the teachings of history I would think that
the multitude of denominations you support was your greatest
safeguard. You know from times past, when a religion becomes too
powerful it becomes also intolerant, and persecutions follow. I am loath
to accept the Christian theory of the origin of man or his probable
destiny. Science teaches us that the human being has existed for
millions of years longer than the churches admit we have existed. The
idolatry practiced by the Catholic church repulses me, and