and danced above him as he walked with the royal dignity of a Mogg Megone.  Here was civilization and savagery in dress at least.  This is about what our Government is doing for this people; urging them to put on the faded coat of imperfect citizenship, and at the same time forbidding that they be instructed in the truths of religion in their own language.  We can never civilize the body while we leave the heart savage.  A visit to Fort Smith would convince anyone of the absolute failure of this method.  In the miserable prison pen, one hundred and forty-four were crowded like cattle.  Among this multitude of criminals were young boys, just entering upon a life of crime, imprisoned for some paltry offence, and herded with them were grey-headed murderers.  All these prisoners were from the Indian Territory, or the “Nation” as they call it.  One man had just been convicted of murder.  Two beautiful daughters of an Indian mother stood weeping beside him.  A gallows stands constantly on the edge of the “Nation,” and is used with appalling frequency.  A lawyer who courteously introduced me into the esoteric mysteries of the law as executed in this United States Court, pointed out the peculiar construction of the gallows which increased its capacity.  “Eight men can stand on that plank and the drop will swing them all off at once,” he said with evident pride, then added apologetically, “I never saw but six hung at one time, but they do hang eight.”

“Hanging day,” I was informed, was one of the great festival occasions.  Thousands of Indians, of more or less purity of blood, gathered from the “Nation” to enjoy this treat.  There is an excuse for a fence around this perpetual gallows, but there are wide openings in it and the awful scene enacted within its enclosure can be witnessed from surrounding elevations.

No doubt an attempt at justice is made in the United States Court.  I attended the trial of a case and it seemed to me the accused had a fair hearing, but what a comment on our Christian civilization:  A court overrun with cases; a prison pen with young boys and grey-headed criminals herded together in it; a gallows standing ready the year round; saloons and brothels permitted at every turn; bad men and worse women appealing to the lowest passions of ignorant and degraded men—­all these the legalized representatives of a Christian civilization.  Is it strange that these Indians do not accept more readily our Christian theories, when they come into constant contact with our most unchristian practice?  The Indian language is used in saloons and gambling hells and brothels to lead these poor, heathen people to physical and moral perdition, but is forbidden by Government to be used in mission schools to lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ!  We ought to plant a mission for the Indians and the colored people at Fort Smith this year.  The work is painfully urgent.

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RELIGIOUS INTEREST AT LINCOLN MEMORIAL CHURCH, WASHINGTON, D.C.