The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1918-03 - 1918-04

              rHE Word carrier
of Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME  XLVI
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
helping- the right, exposing the wrong.
NUMBER  1
MARCH-APRIL, 1918
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR
Our Platform
For Indians we want American Education! We wan
American Homes! We want American Rights! The result
of which is American Citizenship! And the Gospel is the
Power of God for their Salvation !
In Memory of Dr. Ryder
A leaflet in memory of Charles J. Ryder,
Corresponding Secretary of the American Missionary Association for twenty-five years, has
been written by John R. Rogers. In this there
is much to make thoughtful both the friends of
Dr. Ryder and those who knew him only by
name. It was the depth of love in his heart
and the real and tender influence for all with
whom he lived and for whom he worked that
marked his personality. While he lived he inspired others to nobler living, and now only to
read of his life touches the hearts of many and
stirs to desires for a deeper "life of the spirit."
"To consider some of the qualities that made
him what he was and enabled him to do his
work, first, we note his sincerity. No one ever
looked into Dr. Ryder's face and did not know
that he spoke the truth as he saw it. There
was something about his voice and manuer that
won attention and disarmed prejudice.
The second thing to be noted in Dr/Ryder's
character is the profound love for universal humanity which he had. White, Black, Yellow,
or Red, his big heart took them all in, with real
affection. And this love of humanity was no
mere sentiment, it wrought itself into deeds.
To Dr. Ryder preeminently belongs the initiation and promotion of the work of A. M. A. for
the American Highlanders, a name which he
originated. This warm affection for everybody
showed itself in a thousand seemingly insignificant things, but which revealed the inner
spirit of the man. Wherever Dr. Ryder went
and whomsoever he touched, virtue went out of
him, because, like his Master he loved much.
I will mention only one more characteristic,
and that is his wonderful optimism. Dr. Ryder
was clear-headed. He did not minimize facts.
Often, as we have been talking together, he has
pointed out the dark and discouraging aspects
of the problems of the A. M. A., but always
in the end asserting with sublime faith and unfaltering courage, that in God's good time these
problems would be solved. As one member of
the Executive Committee has said, ''When it
seemed as if there were no way through the difficulties confronting us, he was always serene
and hopeful, and the way out always opened."
In the sacred intimacy of friendship we have
often talked of the deep things; the mysteries
of Providence, of life, death, and immortality,
and he would say: "Well, whatever may be the
truth, I know that my work is good, and if I
had no hope of heaven I would choose to spend
my life helping those who need assistance."
Dr. Ryder had his full share of the trials, care,
and difficulties that come to all earnest souls,
but his was preeminently a happy life, because
an unselfish one.
In other relations of life he was a faithful
son, a loving husband, a kind father, a patriotic citizen. He was a joy to all those who
Were his comrades in fellowship. In all his
social relations "he bore without abuse the
grand old name of gentleman."
Joseph Roy Garvie
The second Santee Indian boy to volunteer.
He is now "Somewhere in France." Joseph
Roy Garvie was named for Rev. Joseph Roy,
D. D., late Western Secretary of the American
Missionary Association.
The Indian in the Navy
More than twelve hundred American Indian
students from vocational schools have enlisted
in the United States navy. They are taken into the heart of a warship family.
"These young men have not thought of themselves or of their race. They have joined the
army and naval forces with only one thought
in mind—their country was calling for them to
hear the rifles and the American Indian heeded
the call."—Milwaukee Journal.
Presentation of Aboriginal Life
Not because the North American Indian is
disappearing, as was believed, a few years ago,
to be the case, but rather because he is merging,
is there increasing interest and increasing haste
in the work of preserving his habitat and its
atmosphere. Th-? American Museum of Natural
History some time ago entered upon the meritorious task of producing a series of picture groups
of American aborigines, beginning with the_Ho-
pi, from studies as nearly accurate as are at this
time possible. The Hopi group, it is announced, after withdrawal for several months, has
been restored to public exhibition, considerably
changed. This would apparently mean, that if
the first studies will not bear criticism, they
will be revised until they will stand the test of
all reasonable scrutiny. Here is an assurance
that, eventually, the habitat groups will approximate those that, a few years ago, were to
be commonly seen- in real life, and some of
which may be seen in real life down to the
present day..
The Apaches, a tribe of unsavory reputation,
but far from being as bad as painted, have been
chosen for the second . ,roup. Because of the
difficulty experienced by the white settlers of
the Southwest in living peaceablv with thern,
or near them, aud because of the difficulty the
Washington Government experienced in subduing them, they came to be regarded as a very
troublesome people. It cannot be said, however,
that they presented a greater problem than the
White River Utes, the Modocs, the Sioux, and
other tribes that could not, while game was
available to them on the plains or in the mountain passes, be tempted by the reservation and
the sutlers' stores. The reputation of the Apaches for lawlessness, at all events, crossed the
ocean, and Paris long since applied their
name to the most dangerous criminal class
in the city.    -
It seems to be quite certain that the Apaches
were corrupted by early association with unscrupulous whites. When the Spaniards first
came in contact with them, they were tractable
and friendly. Always nomadic in their habits,
they followed the trail afoot up to the coming
of the paleface. The Spaniards appealed to their
friendship by giving them the first horses that
American Indians ever rode.    Mounted,   they
proved to be excellent-hunters. Later, their
horsemanship, and the firearms for which also
they were indebted to the white brother, proved
to be formidable factors in prolonging race war
over a wide district.
They had many fearless chiefs, among them
Black HawK, not, however, the one of the memorable Black Hawk War, who become an implacable enemy of the whites; and the famous
Geronimo, who displayed not only surpassing
bravery, but a high order of military genius.
Geronimo was finally captured by General Miles,
and the loss of this leader broke the spirit of
the tribe. Nearly all the well-known Indian
fighters aud scouts of the last half of the Nineteenth Century participated, at one time or another, in campaigns against the Apaches. General Leonard Wood, then quite young in the
service, got his first taste of hard campaigning
in the Miles-Apache expedition, and was rewarded with the gift of a Congressional medal
for the part he played in conquering the very
bothersome band.
As one result of the numerous expeditious
against the Apaches, the Government collected
a vast amount of material bearing upon the habits and customs of the tribe. A great many
collections of Apache arms and utensils also
were made, most of which found their way into private hands or public museums. Much ha3
been written by army officers, scouts, and correspondents, about the Apaches. Howard Me-
Cormick, an artist of note, in New York, and
Mahomri Young, a sculptor, who were engaged
to prepare the Apache habitat group for the
American Museum of Natural History, have
availed themselves of all the material within
reach, tbe result being a picture as realistic as
art could make it. in the foreground of the
group, as it has been described, is a sun shelter,
resting upon forked sticks, aud made of bleached branches. Under such a shelter the men
and women of the tribe would ply their vocations in the heat of the day. Among the figures shown are a man breaking arrows, a woman
thatching a dome-shaped house, a woman covering a basket with pitch, a substitute for pottery, and a mounted Apache warrior.
As already remarked, it is not too late, even
now, to witness representatives of many American Indian tribes living in all the primitivenesa
of the Fifteenth Century, but their number ia
every year decreasing. Even the "blanket"
Indian is becoming rare iu districts where he
once was commonplace. It is high time the
museums were gathering in all they can find
appertaining to aboriginal American, for the
prospects are that his descendents will soon be
living as ordinarily as other civilized people.—
The Christian Science Monitor.
The White Man's Contemporary
The Indian population of the United States
exclusive of AI iska is about 350,000, or, roughly, 1 in every 231 of the whole population.
The numbers are increasing slowly. Iu 1916
the birth rate was 31. 85 per 1,000 and the death
rate only 23. 33. Of the one time savage Indian
of our country, four times as many now live in
modern houses as do in primitive tepees, tents
and other temporary structures, and all but
50,000 wear modern dress.
About three-fourths of the North American
Indian children are in public or mission schools,
but 70 per cent of the whole number still cau-
not read or write English.
Dartmouth college was founded by an Indian.
The 'first woman teacher in Wisconsin was
an Indian, Electra Quinney. She taught in
the first free school Wisconsin had, a school
established by Mohicans from New York.—
World Outlook.