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Arts of Citizenship at the University of Michigan

Transcription of Letter by Frederick Schmid to the Wruttenburg Seminary, August 1833

Transcribed letters are held in the collection of the Zion Lutheran Church Archive, Ann Arbor, Michigan

But with all such, the saddest is this, that they [Native Americans] do not find a good example among the so-called Christians to whom they come. Thus recently one of the heathen had a quarrel on the street with a baptized Christian. The white man, an Englishman, did an injustice to the Indian and used force on him, but the Indian grasped some hay together that lay on the street and threw it into the air to indicate that there was someone higher up who would judge correctly; how shameful for the Christian! A second example of how the Christians cheat the heathen is this: namely, after the heathen came back from Canada to Detroit with their gifts, certain merchants took everything away from them for a bit of poor brandy or other worthless things, so that the poor people returned as empty-handed as they came.

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