Yes, you see, a bell signifies civilization
Indians toiled for the mission and gained thereby protection (and for women and children, rights and ancestral identity as births, marriages and deaths were duly recorded). Whereas the alternate was back to hunting, gathering, war between tribes of less than 60, seasonal starvation, drought and no rights for women who were frequently kidnapped as a means of acquiring a wife and who prior to mission work, did 99% of the labor
Don Henley would not be happy.