Ernest Thompson Seton explains “The Gospel of the Redman”
Redman: Commemorative Edition is by well-known illustrator Paul Goble.
The Gospel of the Redman: Commemorative Edition honors Ernest Thompson Seton renowned naturalist, artist, and founder of the Boy Scouts of America. The book was originally compiled in 1937 by Seton and his wife Julia. It contains an Introduction by their daughter Dee Seton Barber, a Foreword by renowned children’s book illustrator, Paul Goble as well as Ernest Thompson Seton’s American Indian sketches and photographs from throughout his life.
Ernest Thompson Seton greatly respected the “Redman,” a common term which was used to refer to First Peoples. In recent years there is a tendency to think that this expression carries a racial connotation, but to Seton and his American Indian friends this word showed admiration and respect. Seton wrote this book to help the Whiteman realize the value of the doctrines by which the Redman lived in the days of his unspoiled grandeur.
Indian chief.
“Surely the darkest years for Native Americans were the three generations from 1877, which marked the end of the wars and the start of confinement on reservations. During those early dark years there were few voices raised in support … Ernest Thompson Seton was a light shining during those dark years … no one spoke to such a broad audience as Seton. A student of the natural world in Canada, he became Naturalist to the Government of Manitoba. He founded the Boy Scouts of America and the Woodcraft League.”
“He was a superb storyteller, and he had that wonderful and rare ability to speak about his specialty, primarily the natural world, in language which could be understood by both children and adults, and he also had the ability to sketch and paint, and to illustrate his stories … Seton knew Indian people, and it was his books…which stirred the imagination of those interested in Native Americans.”
“It is an honor, therefore, to write these few words to Seton’s, The Gospel of the Redman. May the book never go out of print because its message is changeless.”
—Paul Goble from the Foreword
“There is no Indian Bible written by an Indian, just as there was no Pentateuch written by Moses, no Tripitika by Buddha, no Dialogues by Socrates, no Gospels written by Christ. All these records were made long after by those who knew their Master in his lifetime, or at least received the traditions of his teachings from those who were privileged to hear his voice. I have never yet had an Indian tell me fully and frankly the details of his faith; but by respectfully questioning the old men, by assembling their traditions, by noting their customs, by observing their lives, by gathering the records of their prophets, by consulting living White men who knew the Indian in primitive days, and especially by conferring with Indians who were educated as Whites after spending their youth in the ancient way of their people, we have achieved something like a comprehension of the Indian’s creed, of his unwritten laws, of his sense of relationship and duty to the Great Oversoul, the Creator and Ruler, as well as to his neighbor and to himself.”
Seton also observed, “Many years ago in Montana, I heard a missionary severely rebuke an Indian for driving his team on Sunday. The Indian looked puzzled, as he was merely minding his business and caring for his family. The missionary reiterated that this was the Lord’s Day. At last a light dawned on the Indian. He glanced up with a gleam in his eye and answered, “Oh, I see. Your God comes only one day a week; my God is with me every day and all the time.”
“The idea of one Great Oversoul is widely spread among the Indians; not universal, perhaps, but much more widely spread than in the Old World. All of our best Indians believe apparently in one Great God. From among many recorded statements, I quote the following by Grinnell. In his discussion of the Pawnee belief in the Great Spirit, whom they call Tirawa, he says: “Tirawa is an intangible spirit, omnipotent and beneficent. He pervades the universe, and is a Supreme Ruler. Upon His will depends everything that happens.”
“He can bring good or bad; can give success or failure. Everything rests with Him. . . . nothing is undertaken without a prayer to the Father for assistance. “When the pipe is lighted, the first whiffs are blown to the Deity. When food is eaten, a small portion is placed on the ground [or in the fire] as a sacrifice to Him.”
Be hospitable. Be kind. Always assume that your guest is tired, cold, and hungry. If even a hungry dog enters your lodge, you must feed him. Always give your guest the place of honor in the lodge, and at the feast, and serve him in reasonable ways. Never sit while your guest stands. Go hungry rather than stint your guest. If he refuses certain food, say nothing; he may be under vow. Protect your guest as one of the family; feed his horse, and beat your dogs if they harm his dog. Do not trouble your guest with many questions about himself; he will tell you what he wishes you to know.
In another man’s lodge, follow his customs, not your own. Never worry your host with your troubles. Speak softly, especially before your elders or in presence of strangers.
Let each tepee be in its place, as long ago appointed by the old men—the wise ones—the nigh kin near each other, and the clans of different totems facing across the circle.
Abraham Lincoln while President said: “If I live, this accursed system of robbery and shame in our treatment of the Indians shall be reformed.”
At every first meeting of Red men and Whites, the Whites were inferior in numbers, and yet were received with the utmost kindness, until they treacherously betrayed those who had helped and harbored them.
Even Christopher Columbus, blind and burnt up with avarice as he was, and soul-poisoned with superstition and contempt for an alien race, yet had fairness to write home to his royal accomplices in crime, the King and Queen of Spain: “I swear to your Majesties that there is not a better people in the world than these; more affectionate, affable, or mild. They love their neighbors as themselves, and they always speak smilingly.”
—Ernest Thompson Seton
An excerpt from Seton’s journal-
Sept. 17, 1912
“I was sitting in Curley’s lodge among the Crow Indians in Montana. He had been Custer’s Chief Scout, and was the only survivor in Custer’s last fight except White Swan, who barely lived through it. Curley was talking bitterly of the government’s ingratitude in attempting to push his people off their ancient lands. He refused to sign the agreement and gave me a signed copy of his refusal on that occasion. It reads thus:
“I was the friend of General Custer.
“I was one of his scouts and will say a few words.
“The Great Father in Washington sent you here about this land.
“The soil you see is not ordinary soil—it is the dust of the blood, the flesh and the bones of our ancestors. “We fought and bled and died to keep other Indians from taking it, and we fought and bled and died helping the Whites.
“You will have to dig down through the surface before you can find nature’s earth, as the upper portion is Crow.
“The land as it is, is my blood and my dead; it is consecrated; and I do not want to give up any portion of it.”
“O Great Spirit of my fathers, this is my prayer.
Help me to feel Thine urge and Thy message.
Help me to be just even to those who hate me; and at all times help me to be kind.
If mine enemy is weak and faltering, help me to the good thought that I forgive him.
If he surrender, move me to help him as a weak and needy brother.”
“O Great Spirit of my fathers, help me to wholly void my heart of fear.
And above all things, O God of my people and of my soul, help me to be a man.”
“O God, show me the way of wisdom, and give me strength to follow it without fear.”
“O Great Spirit, this is my prayer! Grant that fear may never enter into my heart to be the guide of my feet.”
“There was no stronger impulse in the Indian than the deep abiding love of his country and the soil on which he and his people had lived for generations. Their most desperate fights were those in which the bravest gladly gave their lives to hold their own country for their own people.”
“The honor of their tribe, and the welfare of their nation is the first and most predominant emotion of their hearts; and from hence proceed in a great measure all their virtues and their vices. Actuated by this, they brave every danger, endure the most exquisite torments, and expire triumphing in their fortitude, not as a personal qualification, but as a national characteristic.”
Throughout The Gospel of Redman, Ernest Thompson Seton has demonstrated his deep admiration for the “Redman,” and out of respect for them incorporated many of their traditions and beliefs into the Boy Scouts of America, including a deep respect for nature, profound respect for God, and a love of vigorous outdoor living.
This is best expressed in Seton’s own words, “And still I held my vision of the perfect man,—athletic, fearless, kind, picturesque, wise in the ways of the woods, and without reproach of life. And by a long, long trail, with ample knowledge of histories and of persons, I was led, as many before have been, to choose the ideal American Indian. By all the evidence at hand, his was a better system, a better thought, because it produced far nobler, better men. He, more than any type I know, is the stuff that fires our highest dreams of manhood, realized complete. Him, therefore, I proclaim as the model for an outdoor life, our travel guide on the fourfold way that leads to perfect manhood.
