The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1917-03 - 1917-04

              The Word Carrier
of Santee Normal Training school.
e
VOLUME  XLVI
HELPING- THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG.
NUMBER 2
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
MARCH-APRIL, 1917
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR
Our Platform
For Indians we want American Education' We want
American Homes! We want American Rights' The result
of which is American Citizenship! And the Gospel is the
Power of God for their Salvation !
James Gregor Burgess
James Gregor Burgess was born in Stokes-
ley, England sixty years ago. His father, Richard Rose Burgess was the leading banker for
the town, the moors aud all the country side.
His mother, Sara Allen Burgess was a woman
of broad culture and great sympathy, full of
faith and trust and kind deeds "kindly done, beloved by all. The simple moor people came to
her for advice and help. The "Gentry" came
because she was one of them. None had "bluer blood," than she.
The children grew up in this environment.
"Jimsey" the youngest was a great favorite
with the moor farmers and on his well groomed
"Baalim" used to ride witih them. The moor
mothers were always delighted when his governess would invite their children to go with
them to gather primroses and hyacinths on the
hedge banks or play games amongst the heather and the laurel.
Later he went to Forres in the North of Scotland where his mother had been born. There
he attended a boarding school. Later he attended Crief academy, Lerthshire, then went
to Germany, first to Cologne then to the interior. In all he spent three and a half years in
Germany, acquiring much of the best that Germany then had to offer.
Thinking that he wanted to be a business
man, he became a banker in London but a favorite brother who was in the same bank died
suddenly. The old life became unbearable so
he migrated to Canada, locating in Manitoba.
There he became interested in the Indians
and was appointed by the Presbyterians as a
teacher to the Sioux. The Sioux did not want
to learn to read, so he used to go from house to
house with his bright colored picture books and
eventually the children could not resist aud
crowded around to see the pictures and hear the
wonderful stories. By this time he had acquired a working knowledge of their language.
It was a great triumph when he got a class
of boys off to Santee. Many blankets and much
provision was necessary to get the consent of
the grandmother. These boys returned earnest
Christians and started aggressive Christian work
among their people. They wanted their teach
er to take charge of their church and Y. M. C. A.
work but Mr. Burgess felt that he needed greater preparation so went back to England and
looked up some of his old friends of St. John's
College. They were able to lead him into the
greater light and freedom of the spirit that he
so much wanted.
His old friend, the Bishop of London, wanted
him to take orders in the Episcopal church but
he decided to enter the Moody Training School
in Chicago for more Bible study.. He offered
himself for the Congo with the understanding
that if he had a call to the Indians he would go
to them. He felt that he had a debt of gratitude to them that he wished to repay.
The call came to go to Port Berthold, North
Dakota, where he spent one winter. The work
among the Crows then opened and he was selected to carry it on.
For twenty-five years he has given the Crows
his time and strength. He has always stood
for righteousness, justice and fair play and the
same set of morals for the white man that he
demands of the Indians. He has always stood
between his Indians and those who would exploit them. With his varied experience and
wide sympathy, he was not denominationa
His ideal was to make Christian citizens. All
who were working for the uplift of the Crow
Nation were his friends.
Mrs. Burgess writes, January seventh he took
his last long ride. That was Reno Snuday and
there were many things to talk over with the
teacher after the service. He reached home at
eight o'clock very tired. The following day
he attended to his usual duties. On January
ninth when he attempted to dress, he would
have fallen only I was near enough to support
him. He had a very high fever with extreme
exhaustion. The doctor was called at once.
Nothing seemed effectual so we tried the Sheridan hospital. After a thorough examination
the doctor there reported "Heart good, lungs
good, no fever, respiration good. We will have
him ready to go home in two weeks."
They were all puzzled when his system did
not. respond to the usual remedies.    The doctor
said, "There is only one solution that I see.
Will you tell us if he has been subject to very
great mental strain recently or has he met with
great disappointment or loss?"    So I told him
some of the things that only those who are intimately connected with the Crow work will understand.    He then said "I am very sorry but!
there is no medicine known that will cure him." \
Christ was sent to heal the broken-hearted so J
on March first He called him home. i
As soon as the Indian people knew that he i
would not recover, they came in numbers to !
see him. Some said "I only want to shake |
his hand once more and look into his face." ',
Some insisted on staying that they might be I
near to the last. |
On March second we brought his body home.
A great many both old and young were at the
depot. The young men, followed by about a
hundred of our people, carried the casket over
to the church. All went in and 'Goes Ahead'
offered prayer as we all stood. Several stayed
at the church all night.
The following day at two p. m. we had the
services. Mr. Fisher, the Congregational minister of Sheridan and Mr. Petzoldt, the Baptist
missionary to the Crows, conducted the services. 'Goes Ahead', 'The Enemy' and others
offered their tributes. A former Santee pupil,
Laura Cooper Covington, played the organ for
the singing.
The casket was covered with flowers given
by our people—all the flowers that he especially loved, violets, hyacinths, daffodils, roses,
lilies, carnations and one woman remembered
his best loved English primroses. I have
since wondered how they knew just what flowers were his special favorites.
We laid him to rest in the church yard. As
the casket was lowered, the young men all joined hands around the open grave and sang ' 'Blest
be the Tie that binds our Hearts in Christian
Love".
They had asked that he might be left with
them so that they woulc' never forget his teaching. One said, "If you take him away we might
forget, if you leave him here we can never for-
get".
Mr. Burgess was so quiet, reserved and unassuming that his intimate friends often said
"His life is being wasted." He thought, however, that laying the foundation for a nation to
build on was most important.
A young Indian evidently caught his idea
when he said "We have lost the best friend
we ever had. We can not have his words of
cheer and wisdom but he has told us many
good things and has laid a foundation for us
to build on. We must build so that he will
be pleased when we see him again." Another
said "I was a medicine man. This man came
among us and I watched him. I decided to
follow him and he brought me to God's son
Jesus Christ. My leader is gone. 1 can not
read to find out God's will but 1 am an old
man and God may soon take me home." An
old' grandmother stood  crying at the   grave,
' 'My son, yon have given us the light and taught
us to walk in it, now it seems dark without you."
The many letters that have come since he left
us show how far reaching his influence was.
A University professor in the East writes,
"He did more for me spiritually than any person I ever met." A senator said, "He had an
ideal and he lived up to it." A celebrated lawyer wrote, "His was a life full of good deeds
and unselfishness. It is seldom that one can
say that iit these days." An Indian girl who
was unable to attend his funeral wrote, "I will
be one of the stars in his crown." A young
minister says, "He has gone to his reward.
My heart aches for the Crows. He has laid a
good foundation. May God send the right person  to continue the work".
Mrs. Burgess writes: "Mr. Fisher, the Sheridan minister had charge of the funeral service,
but virtually all was done by the Indians. The
young men met the train, and carried the casket over to the Church followed by over a hundred Indians. Silently they all followed into
the Church. Old 'Goes ahead' the scout, reverently offered prayer. The people sat quietly
for a time, and then went by one's and two's
until just a dozen or so were left to keep watch
for the night. They said 'We never felt as
though he was dead: he seemed to be with us
all night'. At two o'clock Friday afternoon
we had the service, Mr. Petzoldt and Mr. Fisher
speaking through an interpreter. 'Enemy' got
up to speak and after a half dozen words he
sobbed and sat down. Old 'Goes Ahead' took
his place until he could control himself. Laura
Cooper, your Santee girl, played tbe organ, the
Indians doing most of the singing. The Y. M.
C. A. boys acted as pall-bearers, and at the
grave they joined hands and sang "Blest be the
tie that binds our hearts iu Christian love."
It was beautiful, but even they had to sob several times. Every one tried to make it as bright
and beautiful as was possible.
"The last thing Mr. Burgess said that I could
really understand was, 'The way is all shiny, it
is a glorious day.' "
Mr. Burgess was buried iu the church grounds.
This was at the special request of the Indians.
He gave to the Indian work all that was in
him. Most direct and simple and true in all his
thoughts and dealings with others, his great
purpose in life was to bring ail his friends and
those whom his life in any way touched to the
happiness of a Christian life. His influence
was most far reaching. Hundreds of the Crow
Indians have been led by this earnest man to
the knowledge of Christ their Savior.
"Through such souls alone,
God stooping, shows sufficient of His light
For us in the dark to rise by."
Mojave Indians Self-supporting
Mr. Edward E. Ayer in his report to the
chairman of the Board of Indian Commissioners, Hon. George Vaux, jr., speaks highly of
the Mojave Indians. He says: "In coming east
over the Mojave Desert, the first Indians are
the Mojaves, a splendid tribe or probably the
tallest and the best Indians in America. Physically they are some of the most splendid
people I ever saw in my life and that has been the
judgment of all the people who have visited
them from 1846 to the present time. There are
only a few of them and they are selfsustaining
practically. I met there Mr. J. W. Woods, who
has been a contractor on the Santa Fe Railroad
in cement work for 25 years. He has worked
some of these Indians all of this time and is devoted to them as laborers. He said they turned
out nearly twice as much work a day as Mexicans and that they were tractible, reliable,
splendid people. He said one of his head foremen was an Indian and he did not know what he
would do -without him."