The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1921-09 - 1921-10

              - If
the Word Carrier
OF
SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
VOLUME   L
HELPING THE   BIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG
NUMBER 5
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER, 1921
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR
I"
Our  Platform
For Indians we want American Education! We
want American Homes! We waFit AFiierican
Rights! The result of which is American Citizenship! And the Gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
Rev. John tasiman
Rev. John Eastman died October 5, 1921 at
his home in Sisseton, South Dakota.
He was born in Bloomington, Minnesota,
in Mareh, 1849 and was therefore 72 years
old. He was educated at Santee Normal Training School and Beloit college. He married
Viola Frazier in 1873, who died of small-
pox within a year. In 1874 he married Mary
.lane Faribault, who still lives. They had
nine children.    S.x of them are still living.
Mr. Eastman was ordained to the Christian
ministry in September, 1876, aud was pastor
of the Presbyterian Indian church at Flandreau
for 30 years. From there he went to Sisseton
in 1906 and was pastor of the Good Will Indian
church for nine years. He became general
missionary t» the Presbyteriau Indian churches
in 1915. Beside his general missionary work
he did much general welfare work among his
people, and he often interceded with the
government in their interest.
The funeral of Mr. Eastman was at Flandreau, October 10, at 2 p. m., from the Indian
church on the hill where Mr. Eastman was a
pastor for thirty years. Rev. George Head of
Greenwood presided at the funeral. Rev. K.
J. Cardy pastor of the white peoples' Presbyteriau church of Flandreau, gave invocation. After scripture reading by Rev.
George Head aud Rev. Jesse P. Williamson,
the Rev. Albert Frazier of Santee led in
prayer. Rev. Jesse P. Williamson gave an
address in which he showed that there are
four reasons win' the Dakota people had come
to depend so much upon Mr. Eastman.
1. His strong faith and conviction. What
he believed he relied on with his whole heart.
He was not easily turned aside from what he
"undertook to do. Mr. Eastman had very little
schooling. He did not have any education-
id opportunity until nearly grown, very different from the boys and young men of today,
but he was always learning.
2. Mr. Eastman was a man who worked very
hard. He was not afraid of work; he loved
it. He was not afraid of hard things, not
afraid to try. All the time he grew in efficiency
and strength of purpose, and he felt increasingly the urgency of his work.
3. He was a great preacher in the sense of
the Dakota word for preaching—wowahokonkiye—which means not only in public speakiug
but in council aud giving of general and personal advice. He was the much sought-for adviser and close friend of old and young.
4. The real secret of his success was his
great devotion to Jesus Christ like John the
Baptist. But be was worn out and he seemed
to be glad of the coming of this last rest.
Then followed an address by Rev. George
Head, a sermon by Rev. A. F. Johnson, personal reminiscences by Rev. Albert Frazier,
and a short address by Principal F. B. Riggs,
of Santee, in which he made a plea for the
bringing up and training of the Indian young
people for leadership. Rev. Samuel Hopkins
then spoke and Sup't. Pierce of Riggs Institute,
the Flaudreau Indian School, gave a short address in which he spoke of the honesty and
trustworthiness of the older Indians and the
question as to whether the young generations
are going to be equal to the requirements of
these new times.
Mr. Eastman's casket was covered with beautiful flowers, many contributed by white people
far distant. A multitude of people packed
the little old Indian church building. The
hymns that were snug by the large audience
led by an Indian choir, were Mr. Eastman's
favorites. At the close of the church service
the people formed a procession past the opened casket. The pall bearers were all Indian
preachers. In the grave yard, immediately back of the church, the final services
were conducted by Rev. Joseph Rogers.
The weather was violently windy and cold.
Nevertheless the gathering of people was very
large aud they had assembled from long distances: Sisseton, Poplar, Greenwood. Dr,
George J. Frazier wae one of the representatives from Santee. Rev. A. F. Johnson and
Rev. Jesse P. Williamson were at the South
Dakota Synod meeting in Rapid City when the
summons came.
Native Preachers'  Bible Institute
The aim of every mission is to become independent, both in money and in men. Then
it ceases to be a mission and becomes an independent church. But we often forget
that independence from outside sources for
the supply of the pulpits is quite as important as independence in financial affairs. The colored churches of the Congregational denomination are to be congratulated because they have now reached the
point where not one white man is regularly
preaching iu their pulpits, nor are the positions of superin tendency held by whites, all
are men of their own race. Our colored friends
j have made a great advance in this respect.
In our ludiau churches, we have nnfortnnate-
j ly not yet reached this stage.    All our super-
i inteudents  are  white  men, and many of our
| preachers, though natives, are untrained. One
I of the great drawbacks in our Indian missions
I is this lack of trained native workers, and
I worse yet, there are so few in any of the denominations which work among the Dakota In-
I dians, that are now receiving a thorough pre-
1 paration for the ministry.    Our ardeut prayer
1 is that a number of our young men may realize the need, see the vision, and prepare themselves   for  religious work among theiy own
people.
In the meantime, we have to do the best we
can. A middle-aged man with little or no
education can not go to a theological seminary
with any profit, but he most certainly can improve himself. To help native preachers and
teachers in fitting themselves better for their
task is the purpose of the Native Preachers'
Bible Institute which is meetiug in Santee from
October 19 till November 15. Both the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions and the
American Missionary Association have recognized the value of such au institute and have
kindly given us enough money to pay the fare
to and from Santee for a number of promising men, and to take care of their board while
at Santee.
What do we teach? Everything that we feel
will help the men to become more useful and
more efficient in their work. The Reverend
Amos One-road is giving a thorough course on
the gospel of Matthew, in which he teaches
not only the contents of that book, but tries
to show how to proceed in the study of any
book of the Bible. Mr. Wright is giving two
courses, one in Bible History, one in the essentials of evangelism. Mr. Hertz is teaching
Church History, Mr. F. B. Riggs is offering a
course in general history aud nature study,
and Mr. Hurd gives some of the fundamentals
of agriculture and husbandry. So there is
quite a variety of subjects, and we hope that
the men may go home to their churches better
able to lead their people toward the Kingdom
of God.
INDIAN MISSIONARY TRAVELS TO
SANTEE, NEB., IN MOTOR TRUCK
■fr-^SH
This is the first installment of Mr. Hurd's
own story of his trip half way across the
continent, from Massachusetts to Santee Normal Training School, with his wife, little
daughter, dog, and wordly possessions. The
journey was made in a second hand Ford
truck, which Mr. Hurd rebuilt with 36 inch
rear wheels, and accommodations for camping in the machine, with a load of 3,000
pounds.—Ed.
Diary: From Massachusetts to Nebraska
via Ford Truck
INTRODUCTION
I do not know whether or not it is the usual
thiug to write an introduction after writing
the thing to be introduced, tho I thing good
authors often do it. At any rate, this introduction is the result of sober second thought
and gives no chance to apologize for and explain whatever may to considered the shortcomings of my "Diary: From Massachusetts
to Nebraska via Ford Track."
When the American Missionary Association
appointed me to my position at Santee, and I
determined to make the trip in a truck with
my family, 1 resolved to keep a trip diary,
both for what it might mean to me in future
years and for what it would provide in the way
of interest to friends and others who might
care to read it now.
I had visions of a documental account of real
instructive yalue agriculturally, since I was to
pass thru au area of the world's greatest food
production, and at the same time something
to please those not particularly interested in
agriculture.
So great are the differences between expectation and realization 1
All I can say in regard to the "Diary" is
that it was written from day to day under the
stress of daily experience and influenced by
needs which resulted.
And, in regard to the trip: "It was a great
trip. The experience is not for sale. If you
want to know more about it take it yourself."
Santee, Sept. 30, 1921. GORDON K. HURD.
Aug. 3. Well, we are on our way via a question mark. I am hoping to prove that a piston-
slapping, poorly shod, overloaded Ford truck
is a fit creature to trust as a 2,000 mile conveyance. It is a doubtful hypothesis but I
want to write "Q. E. D." at the end of our
journey. If I succeed there will also be proved
several valuable corrollaries, viz:
1. We are a tough aud healthy family.
2. 1 am a good mechanic.
3. Invention is a great help to necessity
(any dutiful child should assist its mother),
etc.,   etc.
I could write a long  story about our first
day's short  trip.    Enuf to   say that  I was
carrying about all of our overload on  my
shoulders   until we   climed   Leicester   Hill.
Continued on Next Page, Third Column