 |
| I love a people who have always made me welcome to the best they had. I love a people who are honest without laws, who have no jails and no poorhouses. I love a people who keep the commandments without ever having read them or heard them preached from the pulpit. I love a people who never swear, who never take the name of God in vain. I love a people who love their neighbors as they love themselves! I love a people who worship God without a Bible, for I believe that God loves them also. I love a people whose religion is all the same, and who are free from religious animosities. I love a people who have never raised a hand against me, or stolen my property; where here was no law to punish for either. I love a people who have never fought a battle with white men, except on their own ground. I love and don't fear mankind where God has made and left them, for there they are children. I love a people who live and keep what is their own without locks or keys. I love all people who do the best they can. And oh, how I love a people who don't live for the love of money! American Artist George Catlin (1796-1872) speaking of the Indian peoples with whom he had lived and traveled. |