The Hiawatha Indian Passion Play: by Robert A. George

              The
 Hiawatha Indian Passion Play 
by
 ROBERT A. GEORGE




HIAWATHA





Management,
 MUTUAL LYCEUM BUREAU, Chicago, Ill.





OPINIONS



The Hiawatha Indian Passion Play was presented to the public for the first time in our church.  It was the best entertainment we have ever had during the fifteen years of my ministry.
—
Rev. Robert M. Russell, D.D., Pastor Sixth United Presbyterian Church of Pittsburg, Pa.




The Hiawatha Indian Passion Play is wonderfully full of interest.  The eloquent address, the story itself, and the view-bits of unsoiled nature are charming.  Nothing better has ever appeared in Kent.
—
Rev. W. H. Dickerson, D. D., Pastor First Methodist Episcopal Church of Kent, Ohio.




Mr. George has hit upon a fascinating theme for a popular entertainment.  He has a fund of fresh information for every American.  This beautiful and fascinating entertainment should be given in every city, town and village of the land.
—
Rev. Elwell O. Mead, Pastor First Congregational Church, Mt. Vernon, Ohio.




We can truly say that we never enjoyed an illustrated lecture more.  The views were the finest we have ever seen, the coloring is magnificent.  The story was beautifully told.  Everybody ought to have the privilege of hearing and seeing this unique entertainment.  It should be given everywhere.
—
Rev. W. H. G. Temple, D.D., Pastor Plymouth Congregational Church, Cleveland, Ohio.




I wish to thank you for the presentation of your delightful story of 
The Indian Passion Play.
 The views were the best we have ever seen and the description full of interest and charm.  It will long be remembered by our people as one of the best platform exhibitions they have ever enjoyed.
—
Rev. Casper W. Hiatt, D.D., Pastor, Euclid Avenue Congregational Church of Cleveland, Ohio.




The Indian Passion Play,
 founded upon the story of the Indian Messiah, Hiawatha, is made luminous by the classic lecture and after hearing it three times I would count it a delight to hear it again.  The views, most of which were taken by the lecturer himself and tinted by his wife were the finest I have ever seen.  The ancient Ojibway songs sung by Mrs. George greatly pleased the people.  Before leaving the church there was a proposition from the audience to have it repeated.
—
Rev. O. Badgely, Pastor, Pearl Street Methodist Episcopal Church, Cleveland, Ohio
.




I had the pleasure the other evening of seeing and hearing the beautiful entertainment, 
The Hiawatha Indian Passion Play.
 The views were the finest I have ever seen, the moving pictures striking in their exhibition of the Indians and their customs, but above all the lecture was a rich treat for the great poem and the grand and beautiful scenery of the North-land.  The eloquent treatment of the subject held, fascinated the hearer from the first to the closing sentence of the same. It deserves to be classed with the very best productions on the modern platform.
—
A. W. Lamson, Judge of the Common Pleas Court, Cleveland, Ohio.




I wish I had language in which to express the pleasure and profit received from your lecture on the Hiawatha Indian Passion Play.  The beauty of the pictures as artistically tinted; the grandeur of the country represented by the wisely selected views; the attractive style and the reverent manner of the speaker together with the ethnic interest of the drama so vividly presented by the moving pictures from life constituted a most pleasingly impressive and absolutely unique entertainment.  It appeals irresistibly to all the finer sensibilities of our nature.  It is remarkable that while the adult portion of the audience gave rapt attention from the beginning to the end of the lecture, the large number of children present were held as by a spell in wondering silence.  I consider it the best thing on the modern platform.  It should be given everywhere and heard and seen by every intelligent citizen.
—
Rev. Geo. K. Morris, D.D., L.L. D., Presiding Elder, Cleveland District, East Ohio Conference.







The Boy, Hiawatha





Mr. George is pastor of Trinity Congregational Church of Cleveland, Ohio, one of the large and influential churches of that city.  For a number of years he has been seeking summer rest in the Hiawatha country.  While there he became interested in the manners, customs, folksongs and beautiful legends of the Ojibways.  He has talked with the chiefs of the tribes, the government officials, the missionaries and teachers and has studied so carefully the authorities until there is perhaps no man in the country better posted on the legends of the Indian people.




Robert A. George





Hiawatha, 
The Indian Messiah



Hiawatha was a Messenger, sent by Gitche Manitou, The Great Spirit, to live among the Indian people, to toil among them, to clear the fishing grounds and rivers, to slay all Monsters and Magicians, to teach men the antidotes for poisons and to be the friend of men.




I will send a Prophet to you,


A Deliverer of the nations,


Who shall guide you and shall teach you,


Who shall toil and suffer with you


If you listen to his councils,


You will multiply and prosper;


If his warnings pass unheeded,


You will fade away and perish.




When his mission was accomplished he departed




To the islands of the Blessed,


To the kingdom of Ponemah,


To the land of the Hereafter.




On the shores of Lake Huron there has been yearly enacted an 
Indian Passion Play
 which celebrates the coming, the doings, the sufferings and the final departure of this Indian Messiah.  The theatre is a corner of the Canadian wilderness, and the players are the children of those to whom this Messenger from Heaven came in the long ago.




The scene is impressive.  The wide expanse of the waters, the islands, the rugged hills, the Indian tepees, the canoes, at night the glare of the camp fires, the sacred theme, the character of the actors make this in many respects the most remarkable production ever rendered on the American continent.





THE STAGE






MOVING PICTURES.




THE ACTORS





With a flickerless machine, in the hands of a skillful operator, more than a thousand feet of moving picture film is used, showing the largest passenger boat on the great lakes under full headway, a beautiful storm scene, the taking in of the fishing seine, the assembling of the tribes to the great Peace Council, the smoking of the pipe of peace, Hiawatha the boy learning to shoot and to dance, the departure of Hiawatha to woo Minnehaha, Hiawatha stalking a deer in the woods, his arrival at the lodge of the Arrow Maker, the tribe welcoming Hiawatha and his bride, the wedding dance, the gambling for furs, the pursuit of Pau-Puk-Keewis and his jump from the cliff into the water, the arrival of the Missionary, and the mysterious departure of Hiawatha.  There is not a dull moment in it.  Your nerves tingle all the way through.





MINNEHAHA






LANTERN PAINTINGS




Wickiup





Mr. George is an artist in handling his camera and the views are pronounced by all to be the finest they have ever seen.  We are indebted to Mrs. George, the gifted wife, for the artistic coloring which gives them the effect of beautiful paintings.  She accompanies her husband part of the time and sings the songs of the Ojibways.





Realms of Mudjekeewis







Tepee





This entertainment is especially suited for churches and Chautauquas for it describes reverently this beautiful Messiah legend.  The songs and dances are prayers.  It appeals to the higher nature of old and young alike and is an inspiration from the beginning to the close.  No one can hear it without receiving an impulse for a better life.





Pau-Puk-Keewis







DEPARTURE OF HIAWATHA.





Thus departed Hiawatha,


Hiawatha the Beloved,


To the regions of the home-wind,


To the islands of the Blessed,


To the kingdom of Ponemah,


To the land of the Hereafter.