The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1887-03

              THE WORD CARRIER.
NEW SERIES,   VOL. IV.   NO.   III.
Helping the Right, Exposing the Wrong.
PUBLISHED  FOR   THE  DAKOTA   MISSION
Santee Agency, Nebbaska.
MARCH, 1887.
Fifty Cents a Year.
Our Platform.
For Indians we avant American
Education! We want American
Homes! We avant American Rights!
The result of which is American
Citizenship.
i£
%
Ldir
nwer
IS PUBLISHED FOB
cy, for rations, clothing, implements,
seed or whatever assistance the Government grants them. They waste half
their time in traveling and uselessly
wear out teams and clothes besides.
And all because they have had sense
enough to abandon the barren hills
about the agency and choose the best
farming land of the Reservation.
And the Government cannot adapt
its methods to the necessities of the
people.
THE DAKOTA MISSION,
in the interest of schools and mis-ions among
the Indians, with special reference
to the work of the
Santee Normal Training School
A. L_. RIGGS,
EDITOR A-INTD  PUBLISHER,
Santee Agency, Neb,
Teems—One copy $    .50
Five copies      2.00
Ten copies      3.00
[Entered at the Santee Agency Post office
■as second class matter.]
AVe are glad to learn that Mr. Williamson's own church at Greenwood,
D. T., stands up so nobly to its work
in his prolonged absence. The native pastor, Rev. Henry Selwyn, does
remarkably well in taking charge of
all the services, and is wonderfully
prompt and self reliant. His people
also seem to appreciate his sermons
better or have caught his spirit for
he has large audiences.
The latest news from Rev._John P.
Williamson is that he is improving.
AVe pray that the improvement may
go on to complete recovery.
brought out in the essay and the
thoughts suggested by it. The members of the Normal class Avere also
invited in. The burden of all remarks being the adaptability of the
method to the peculiar needs of these
Indian pupils.
How to teach primary arithmetic
was the subject for the meeting held
a few Aveeks since. A very excellent
paper upon the merits of the Grube
method was read by Miss Edith
Leonard. In the discussion which
followed it was agreed that
there is much in this system of teaching arithmetic to
commend it to our use. One reason
is because it teaches the pupils to
think. And another is because of
the thorough Avay in which it finishes up problems, using numbers under ten before proceeding to larger
numbers.
The evening was profitably spent
and the meeting adjourned to meet in
four weeks.
The Sioux Bill has failed, though
it came almost to success. The whole
thing is now probably dead. The
same bill Avill hardly come up in a
new congress. AdA^erse interests
that have kept wonderfully silent
will now assert themselves, and it is
doubtful whether the same bill could
ever come as near passage in the
House of Representatives again.
Many of the towns on the Indian
border haA^e cherished the hope that
the Indian title would be extinguished to the whole Sioux Reservation
and the Indians packed off somewhere. Feeling that half a loaf was
better than none, they have advocated
the Sioux Bill. But now they will
go for the whole loaf.
Prof. Thayer, of Harvard University, expounded at AVorcester, Mass.,
Feb. 13, a new scheme for taking care
the Indians. He would take them of
"out of politics," and "under the laAv"
by putting them in charge of the
courts in some way, and abolishing
the Indian Bureau.
Our Piano.
Mr. Tibbies and his wife Bright-
Eyes are now at the east, probably
in the interests of Prof. Thayer's
scheme. Mr. Tibbies is capable of
interesting his audiences if anybody ean. The great point to be proven is its practicability. AVhat ghost
of a chance would there be for making such a law. And where is the
moral force to work it right if made?
AVe mean not to be proud, but when
we look at our new school piano Ave
give our humility a rest. It is the
gift of Mr. Sumner Haynes, of Leominster, Mass. It stands in the place
of honor on the right end of the platform in our main school room. Already it makes its presence felt in the
alertness and precision of the movements in the gymnastic hour. If in
its day and generation it shall succeed in bringing a section of the Dakota nation to time, it will have accomplished a genuine missionary
work.
SOCIETIES.
The failure of the Bill is not an
unmixed evil. AVhile Ave advocated
its passage as a prudent choice between evils, and measure needed by
the Indians to protect them from the
insatiable earth hunger of the white
man, yet as it is to be otherwise Ave
are content to find the good that
there is in the failure. Which is
this, that the Indians living on this
Reservation will now have a little
longer time to select their homesteads I
and become located before the flood
of white settlement breaks over
them. For it is true that up to the
date the larger number of them have
not realized that they must find
farms or graves.
Our Government is largely responsible for this failure of the Indians
to realize the situation. For years
its policy has been to keep the Indians huddled about the agency,
where it was easy to feed them. The
Government accepts the different
theory now, but its practice is much
the same. For instance here is an
enterprising little colony of farmers
in one of the outlying districts of
Rosebud Agency who are sadly crippled by having to travel back and
forth over a hundred and forty miles
of road between them and the Agen-
The Advance strikes the key note
when it terms the Indian Severalty
Law the Proclamation of Indian
Emancipation.    It says:
"At last there came a day when the
stroke of Abraham Lincoln's pen
emancipated the negro race in America. Now at length the day has come
for the emancipation of the Indian
race within the territorial limits of
the United States."
This law "lifts off from the neck of
the Indian the cruel yoke of barbarism, Avhich, for so long, we had left
upon him. This is one of the greatest events in our recent history. It
not only marks a new point in Indian
civilization, it notes a new era in the
moral culture of the American people. AVe now make it possible for
the Indian to become a man and a
citizen."
The teachers at Santee Normal
Training School have recently arranged what might be termed Institute Sessions for their own benefit. A subject is agreed upon
and then presented by one of
the teachers who compares all
popular methods of teaching the
study under consideration with the
one which she thinks the best. Then
folloAvs a discussion upon the points
santee normal training school.
Young Men's Christian Association.
President —James Garvie.
Vice President:—Joseph Simon.
Secretary:—George Philbrick.
Treasurer:—Samuel AVing.
"gleaners."
Girls' Missionary Society.
President —Eugenia La Moure.
Vice President:—Nancy Doctor.
Secretary:—Mabel Riggs.
Treasurer:—Rosalie De Coteau.
"BIRDLINGS."
Birds' Nest Girls Missionary Society
President:—Miss H. B. llsley.
BAND   OF  MERCY.
President:—Julia Pratt.
Secretary —George Philbrick.
Treasurer:—Eugenia La Moure.
YOUNG MEN'S DEBATING SOCIETY.
Presided over by one of the teachers, usually Mr. James Garvie.
George E. Foster, author of Sequoyah, the American Cadmus, is
authority for the statement that after
a cessation of nearly twenty-five
years the printing of religious literature in Sequoyah's alphabet has been
resumed. For many years the Cherokees have printed their laAvs and their
national paper in Cherokee and English, but no religious literature has
been published in the Cherokee alphabet since the Avar.   Rev. Nicholas
Neerken, assisted by Rev. A. N.
Chamberlin, the interpreter of the
Cherokee Council, is hoav publising a
Child's First Book. Several Hymns
have recently been published for the
first time in Cherokee, among them
being Hold the Fort, Even Me,
Christs's Second Coming, and Coronation.—Advance.
Grand River Mission.
Miss Collins' introduction to work
in her neAv field has been no tame
affair as far as the physical  element
could make it.    The Avinter has been
unusually cold and stormy.    But the
people have welcomed her cordially
and she has been especially  helpful
to the sick.    Her  administration of
simple remedies has been blessed of
the Lord to work a number of cures,
which  to the Indians have  seemed
miraculous and have given her a reputation as a healer.     So that they
bring sick to her from all directions.
One morning she found at the door a
young woman sick with pneynionia
who   had been  brought there on a
hand sled by  her mother and sister
through the fearful snow storm. Miss
Collins expostulated Avith them for so
exposing the sick one. The mother answered: "AVe heard that unless you
see the body Avith your oavu eyes and
lay your hands upon them you cannot
heal them."    This  report no doubt
arose from the feeling of the pulse of
the sick.
A child Avhose sister had died of
convulsions and St. Vitus dance; and
who was also thought to be dying in
the same Avay, was brought to her.
The spasms were relieved at once,
and in a feAv days the root of the difficulty was discovered and she was
cured.
Elias Gilbert the hoav teacher who
takes the place of Edwin Phelps
during his absence at Hampton
works in finely. He is very enthusiastic over the progress the people
have made under his predecessor,
and the hearty interest they take in
the school and in church services. ■
On the Sabbath there is a very interesting women's meeting numbering about thirty, mostly mothers.
Adams AVakanna is the new worker at Oak Lake, another point in this
field. This is newer ground, and the
people are yet in careless ignorance
of the way of life. But our native
helper is full of zeal, for this very
reason: Edwin Phelps who has worked so long and so Avell in this field is
noAV at Hampton, Va., taking Bible
studies and serving as Indian Chaplain there. Many of the pupils
Hampton are from his own
Standing Rock Agency,
special interest in them
sonal hold upon them,
fail to do them good.
The Grand River field should at
once have a thorough equipment of
buildings and missionary force,
84,000.00 was given two years ago by
Mr. E. B. Monroe to build this mission. But everything Avaits for the
fit man for a missionary.
at
field at
So he has
a  per-
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