Cherokee Sister: The Collected Writings of Catharine Brown, 1818-1823

Catharine Brown, the Converted Cherokee: A Missionary Drama, Founded on Fact (1819)

Catharine Brown, the Converted Cherokee: A Missionary Drama, Founded on Fact A Lady of Connecticut New-Haven S. Converse Printer 1819 128 persons represented. mr. hoyt, a Missionary. mr. chamberlain, Instructor and Agriculturalist. mr. elliott, a visitor at Brainard. mr. thornton, a benevolent gentleman residing in New-England. mr. olmstead, a farmer. The Father of Catharine Brown. mr. hicks, an Indian Chief of piety and intelligence. mrs. hoyt. mrs. chamberlain. susan, daughter of Mr. Hoyt. catharine brown, a converted Cherokee. The mother of Catharine Brown. Chiefs, Women and Children. 129 Nineteenth-Century Representations Scene—partly in New-England;—mostly at the Missionary station at Brainard. scene first. In New-England.¹ [Mr. Thornton is discovered reading a religious newspaper.] [Enter Mr. Olmstead.] mr. olm. Good morning friend Thornton. mr. tho. Good morning neighbor Olmstead. mr. olm. I don’t see what you find so very entertaining in those religious newspapers. I seldom come in, without finding you reading a magazine, or a report of some charitable society, or some publication of that kind. It is as much as I can do, to read the political news; and learn what is going on in the political world. mr. tho. I confess it is my greatest joy to witness the wonderful improvements , which are making in the moral state of the world. mr. olm. Well, I have no time for discussing those subjects now. What say you to a removal to the south. mr. tho. I am not uneasy with my present situation. mr. olm. Well, then you may live amongst these rocks and hills. For my part, I am tired of plowing and doffing, where I cannot find dirt enough to cover a hill of corn, without turning my hoe sideways.The winters are milder in the south, and the land is more feasible. My farm is advertised for sale, and in a few weeks I intend to be in the state of Mississippi. mr. tho. Have you never feared, the health of your family, would be less secure, in a southern climate? mr. olm. I am not one of that sort of people who are always borrowing trouble. Other families live there, and why cannot mine? mr. tho. Are you not afraid of the Indians, who reside in that country ? They are sometimes accused of being troublesome. mr. olm. Fie.—Do you think I am afraid of Indians? They’ll soon have to make their escape, I warrant you, and take up their residence on the other side of the Mississippi. There was a whole township of 130 Nineteenth-Century Representations them destroyed last year, by a Capt. Wright, I think it was; and others will have to share the same fate, if they don’t go farther back into the woods. mr. tho. Then the plan is to cut off the savages, and take possession of their lands by violence. I had much rather hear you say you intend to civilize the wild licentious savage; to tame his ferocious nature, and teach him the principles of Christianity. mr. olm. Teach the birds Christianity. It is impracticable. What does it signify, to spend time and money for nothing? mr. tho. Let us not pronounce the civilization of the Indians impracticable . Why are not the natives of this country, as capable of improvement , as those of Africa and the western Islands? mr. olm. Well, what if they are? mr. tho. Then we have encouragement to make exertions, in their behalf. On one of the Islands in the Pacific Ocean, there has been erected in the course of a few years eighty-four houses for Christian worship, and the Sabbath is better observed than it is in most Christian nations. In South-Africa, there are hundreds now laboring in the field, and in the work-shop, who, a few years ago, were sunk lower, in vice and ignorance, than the savages on our borders. mr. olm. Whether they are capable of improvement or not, I have no notion of sparing such monsters of cruelty, to go forth with tomahawk and scalping knife, against the defenseless inhabitants of our new settlements.This would be a new sort of benevolence. mr. tho. I am far enough from wishing to encourage the savages, in the horrid work of human butchery. But have they not been provoked by the whites? Have not their lands been taken from them without their consent, and their cattle driven...