The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1921-11 - 1921-12

              Word Carrier
of SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
VOLUME   L
HELPING THE   RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG
NUMBER 6
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
Nov.-Dec, 1921
FIFTY 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!
Why Mission Work is Needed
Among the Indians
Mission work is needed among the Indians
because the white man owes a debt to the red
man. In California, for instance, because the
Government failed to ratify treaties, many
Inci ins were left without land rights, although
the land was theirs before it was the white
man's. As a result, 180,000 Indians died of
cruelty, disease, and famine in the fifty vears
between 1850 aud 1900. To-day tbere are
14,500 "nonreservation" Indians in California. Of this number only 3633 have come
under any Christian influence.
Because the Indians are anxious to pass
on the good things that come to them. A
group of American Indian Y. M. C. A. meu
are supporting a traveling secretary in South
India,
Becuisethe Indians need Sunday schools.
Only about one third of the Indian children are
provided with Sunday schools, and many
schools that have been established have not
the proper teaching and textbooks.
Because "the only hope of the coming generation of Indian lies in a native leadership."
We must educate ai d train Indian leaders who
will pass on the story of Jesus to their own
people.
Because the Indian is deeply religious by nature aud has it in him to make as good a Christian as any white man. The Bible shows the Indian how silly his old superstitions and fear
are and iu their place gives him something
real to live for.
Because the Indians m el Christianity. In
Nevada, out of three thousand Iudians, probably one tenth have been Christiau'zHl. Yet
there is great demand for Indian labor, and
it is said that not only the Indian, but the
white man also, would profit if these [udiaus
could be made over into Christians.
Because there are neglected and only partly
evangelized Indians in at least twenty states.
Look up in the library the book called "The
American Indian on the New Trail," by T. C.
Moffat, and see whether your state is iu the
list. If so, what can your society do about
it?
Because the Indians respond to welfare and
missionary work. Education and Christianity change them from superstitions, degraded
ne'er-do wells, into sober, thrifty,.well-behaved citizens. The Indian is now welcoming
education and coming to realize that "the Indian's best friends are God aud the Church."
Yet only seven out of every one hundred Navahos can re;d and write.
Because the Great Commission, Matt. 28 :19,
includes the whole Indian people as well as
other races. As yet less than one third of
the 336,000 Iudians iu the United Stales are
Christian, and over 46,000 have never come
under any Christian influence. Missions have
been established in over one hundred different tribes, and there are twenty-five Protestant mission schools, but the amount of money
spent iu a year on Indian missions is to Utile
that if each Indian had au equal chance, it
would amouut to less than one dollar a person.—Christian Endeavor World.
Santee Water Works Disaster
Three years ago this fall we drilled a new
artesian well. We struck a great flow. The
well was perfectly cased and it was supposed
to be the best that any artesian well could be.
Every artesian well runs muddy at first but
should soon clear and stay clear. But this
well did not clear. It became more and more
muddy and began to throw out balls of mud
as large as would come through the pipe, together with pieces of sand stone coal. This
soon clogged the well. It would almost stop
flowing and then suddenly burst out with another big flow of mud, tho once iu a while it
would clear a little and we were always hoping that the time had come for it to he a good
well. But that time never came. Last winter
it entirely stopped and left us Avithout water for
three mouths.
As early as the river was crossable and the
roads passable in the spring, we got the wrell
drilling outfit back, at great expense, and re-
drilled the well. We then put down an inner casing to shut out the soft places, that
were caving, and below this a slotted pipe to
let in the water from the strata that were supposed to be water-beariug but not the caving
kind; and the slots in the lower casing were to
shut out anything that could clog the well.
We expected the well to then clear and it did.
But the soft strata continued to cave and the
cavings got past all our harriers aud by middle of the summer the well was being clogged
as badly as before. We succeeded in starting
the flow by striking on a piston that we inserted in the top of the well casing. Pounding on
| that transmitted a shock to the bottom snffi-
i cieut to loosen the obstructions and start the
| flow. But that process became less and less ef
i fective. Then we tried twice to dynamite the
well but could uot get the dynamite down to
' where it would do auy good. The conclusion
of the whole matter is the fact that our well
has been very unfortunately drilled into a soft
spot and there seems to be nothing more to do
but to drill a new well.
But only half a mile uorth east of us the
Government has had two wells that are already
so old that the casings have all rusted out of
them and yet they have never caved. They
have not run muddy, hut always clear, and
never clogged. The rock formation must be
harder there.
Now for another artesian well. We can not run
the school without water. Therefore we are going
as far from our caving well as we can go, and
in the direction of the good Government wells.
We are striking different rock formation and
we hope to have a very different kind of well.
This new well comes ou us as a new expense
entirely beyond all our expectations for this
year, and is therefore bankrupting us. The
American Missionary Association has agreed
to pay half of the cost of the well and we are
to find the other half which is $500. Now
therefore we most earnestly appeal to you who
are readiug this, and to every oue of our
friends everywhere, to come to our rescue, to
give usNwhatever they can, much or little, for
the well. Do please let us hear from you.
F. B. Riggs, Principal.
INDIAN MISSIONARY TRAVELS TO
SANTEE, NEB., IN MOTOR TRUCK
This is the second 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 worldly possessions. The journey wa
made in a second hand Ford truck, which Mr, Hurd rebuilt
with 36-inch rear wheels and accommodatons for camping in
the machine, with a load of 3,000 pounds. The first installment appeared in the September-October number of The
Word Carrier.—Ed.
Diary : From Massachusetts to Nebraska
via Ford Truck
Aug. 10. 1 haven't much to say about today's experience. I can't write about Niagara
any more than I could make myself heard a-
bove the roar of it.
I couldn't see but that it was falling about
as it was when 1 saw it last October. I enjoyed
the beauty and majesty even more, however,
because 1 was this time sharing the wonder
aud pleasure with my wife. Our baby seemed
as pleased as she could also and said "wa-ter"
with emphasis.
The day passed all too quickly, leaving much
unseen and undone, tho it may well keep until next time. We went thru the Shredded
Wheat plant (the home of our favorite family
breakfast food), and the sight of its cleanly
manufacture   increased   my   appetite for  it.
Altogether this has been a pleasant ml profitable day, aud as we lay us down to sleep in
our eamping place of last night, on the eve of
a resumption of the business of travel, I may
say, "This is the end of a perfect day."
Aug. 11. This is a wet night—wet enuf to
pay for all the dry ones we have had heretofore.
We have been "around Robin Hood's barn",
on the advice of some Ohio people we saw at
the Falls, to avoid every objectionable detour
aloug the lake shore. Possibly what we avoided was worse than what we got into over country
hill roads and "holy" cement. If it was worse
I'm surely glad we avoided it.
If it had not been for the rain this afternoon and its effect ou the dirt roads, we should
have enjoyed the day's trip more, eveu tho it
is about fifty miles longer than our direct
route. We were not troubled with much other
traffic, saw a good deal of "Rural New York",
and are camped in a delightful place (in fair
weather) under a locust tree in a high pasture
over looking Lake Chatauqua.
When we arrived the weather showed somo
signs of clearing so we went for a swim— intending to get supper iu our bathing suits.
While iu the water, however, the rain began
to fall in such torrents that we couldn't get
out of the water even tho we left the lake
and rushed our drenched baby up here and
into dry clothes.
Our bathing suits proved adequate protection from the rain while we got supper and
now we are revelling in a warm, dry bed and
hi ping for a betti r morning.
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