|
|
INDIAN REMINISCENCES BY A. D. P. VAN BUREN
Of the two sermons, his to the whites in English, and Mary's to the Potto-wattomies in Indian, 1 think Mary's was the most effective. She had the best listeners, and then her Indian words as they left her lips went more effectually to the hearts of her audience than Hickey's did to his, because the Indians are more gifted as listeners. From the old patriarch of eighty years, to the little Indian boy or girl, they seemed to feel that they were in the house of God. The very moment that they entered the door of the chapel, worship began. They were in the presence of their Creator. They are worshipers to "the manor born. "
There was, at this time, living at the mission, an Indian from the far west called the "Mississippi Indian. " This was Mo-sha. By those who admired his speaking he was called the "Mississippi orator-. " "He that only hears Demosthenes loses the better part of the oration. " We could not understand what he said, but we saw and heard Mo-sha, arid in his manner and act-ion we thought he evinced much of the orator. Surely the Demosthenic test of making action the principal thing in oratory would have made Mo-sha an orator. We, at least, found Indian delivery admirable. No public speaker was more distinct in elocution than Mo-sha. He spoke the pure Indian with an articulation and modulation that was faultless, and his gesture was just what the word naturally required. He followed the instruction of a great master—"suit the action to the word, the word to the action. " Although we understood scarcely a word of what he said, yet we were so interested in
him while he was speaking that we were sorry when he took his seat. What was it that held us as with a spell?
Twas the charm of delivery—the magical art That thrills like a kiss from the lip to the heart.
Here, thought I, is a model for some of these "Boanerges" in the pulpit, who, not only "tear a passion to tatters, " but tear their words into fragments and drive their meaning out of the minds of their hearers. Mary left her husband, Man-do-ka, and went with another Indian to Canada. Mo-sha died a few years later at the mission.
Michigan
Page 5
|
|
|
|
|
|