The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1902-04 - 1902-05

              [The Word Carrier.
■VOLUME   XXXI.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT.   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBER 4.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
APRIL-MAT, 1902.
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR.
OUR PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Ed-
\umtion!     We want American  Homes!
We want American Rights!    The re-
suit of which is American Citizenship!
And the gospel is the Power of God for
Uheir Salvation!
ARTEMAS  EHNAMANI.
Artemas  Ehnamani,   pastor   of
[Pilgrim  Congregational Church of
[Santee, Nebraska, was born in 1825
tat Redwing,   Minnesota,   by   the
[mountain that stands sentinel at the
[head of Lake Pepin.    In his boy-
jhood he played by the banks of the
[Mississippi.    In his youth he hunted deer in the glades of Minnesota
and Wisconsin.    He was tall and
strong and was a famous hunter.
The war path also opened to him, in
the pursuit of his hereditary ene-
[mies, the Chippewas.
While yet in the prime of life he
and his tribe ceded their ancestral
homesteads along the Mississippi
; and moved on to the Sioux Reservation on the Minnesota River. But
not for long; for the Sioux Outbreak
of 1862 scattered everything to the
I winds and landed all their leading
men in prison. Ehnamani wasone of
them,and was pardonedby Abraham
;Lincoln. But while in prison he
found a greater pardon. He there
first heard the gospel, and became
I a glad servant of Jesus Christ. So
;that when the prisoners were restored to their families, which had meanwhile been deported to the Missouri
River, in Nebraska, Ehnamani was
soon chosen one of the preachers and
pastors in the reorganized church.
He served this church as pastor
thirty-five years, and passed on to
take his place among the Shining
Ones.on the eve of Easter Day, 1902.
Men liked him, and believed in
him. He had a clear, kindly look
in his eye, and his voice was pleasant, and sincere. His height and
well built form commanded attention anywhere. But he put on no
airs nor sought notice for himself.
He stood for all things honest and
pure, and his influence was felt; even
his opponents respected him. When
others went to the heathen dances
and carousals he spoke against such
practices and stayed away. He was
eager for all things that would make
the community clean, happy, and
prosperous—a worthy citizen.
He believed wholly in Jesns
Christ the Son of God and Saviour
of men. Often has he spoken of the
time when he first heard of Jesus
Christ, and the way in which he
yielded his faith and entered into
obedience. Often would he contrast the old heathen beliefs that
Wb father taught him with the
teachings of the gospel.
Christian brother-hood was a real
thing to him; he rejoiced in its
fellowship. It carried him bravely
beyond his clan, tribe, and race.
Even though he could not speak English nor understand much of it, he
was glad to attend the meetings of
his white brethren in the ministry.
The kindly greeting of eye and hand
that all gave him, and the opportunity to say a few words through an
interpreter was reward enough for
the labor and expense incured in
attending.
He led his people. He gave his
own judgment of a question but
was careful that the judgment of
the whole church should find expression and decide the matter. He was
tender and considerate in the discipline of the erring. His best service
perhaps was as presiding officer in
the board of elders and deacons of
the church, in planning to visit individuals and designating the one
who should go here or there; which
assignments were all taken very willingly by his official coworkers.
He also was duly amenable to the
discipline of the church and accepted very humbly and courteously the
investigation and reproof of the
board of elders, when he was accused of having fired off a gun to
kill the spirits causing the sickness
sonand Riggs in their periodic trips
visiting the then wild tribes. Later be put his two sons into the missionary service. He had tact as
well as courage. Once when he had
taken a vacation from his church
work on a deer hunt up the Running
Water, he fell in with a camp of
hostile Sioux. He filled his kettles
to the brim and called in the proud
warriors to a feast. And as they tilled their months with his savory
meat he filled their ears with the
gospel. Thus the deer hunt became
a soul hunt. Those wild Brules carried away more than venison; the
words of life then implanted have
borne fruit in later days.
of his wife. The truth was that he
was humoring the whim of his wife
made childish and half demented by
her sickness. But, no! this was taking up again the beliefs and practices
of the conjurors. It was wicked.
Some of his judges had been disciplined for heathenish practices
themselves, it was a good opportunity to even up the account; too
good to miss.   Others were willing to
"Compound for sins they were inclined to
By damning those they had no mind to."
But pastor Ehnamani bore himself
so meekly that he conquered his
conquerors. Only one of them followed him to his grave; the rest had
preceded him.
Faith in a Risen Saviour was the
key note of his preaching. As he
said, "Who of all the Saviors of the
Indian people ever rose from the
dead. Not one." "Our fathers
told us many things and gave us
many customs, but they were not
true." "1 grew up believing in
what my father taught me, but
when I knew of Jesns Christ the
Son of God I believed in him and
I put aside all my old ways."
He frequently dwelt on the contrast between heathenism and the
religion of Christ. It was to him in
truth the coming out of darkness
into light. "Sins are like wolves"
he said. "They abound in the
darkness and destroy men. When
we enter the new day,Jesus watches
over us. Be awake! and follow Him.
All over the world men are beginning
to follow Christ. The day is here."
This zeal for the "Good News"
made him rejoice when in tbe early
days he was called on to accompany the old missionaries William-
INDIAN  GRATITUDE.
When I was in the Theological
Seminary our Professor of homi-
letics once said, that it would be
well for us to keep a list of the presents we should receive from the
people, where we preached, for
there would betimes, when it would
seem to us, that they would be
very ungrateful, and if at such times
we were to look over the list, it
would do much to cheer us up,
and encourage us. At one time I
kept such a list, but for many years
I have not; yet sometimes I am reminded of the Professor's statement.
Very often it has seemed to me,
that while Indians often thank me
for doing something for them, yet
they do not show their gratitude
by making any presents. I think
that this is partly due to the fact
that government has done so much
for them, which they thought was
their right to receive, because of the
treaty. They had given their land
to the government, and they had re-
eeived in return schools, medicine,
instruction from employees, and
annuities, and why should they show
their gratitude, when they really
thought that the government got the
best of the bargain. When the government continued the schools and
physician much longer than was
called for by the treaty, it came
along so naturally that they did not
realize that it was a free gift: and
when a missionary was sent among
them, they placed him in the same
list, for he belonged to the same
white race as the grovernment employees and Agent. If the Agent
used his influence to help the missionary, which was very pleasant to
the latter,  it made it seem all the
more as if they were partners.
But while this has often been so,
yet a few events lately, have made
me think of the professor's statement.
Three miles from me was an Indian who was on his dying bed for
more than six months. 1 visited him
often, sometimes every week, nearly always talked to him about some
Bible truth, and prayed with him.
At his request I baptized him. I
often held services at his house,
when his neighbors would come.
At one time, at his request I went
to his house to help him make his
will. The water was high, but with
the help of other Indians 1 reached
his house quite comfortably, though
it took me two hours to go the three
miles. This belated me and when
I was ready to return it was after
dark, and for nearly all the way I
had no company. I had to walk
about a quarter of a mile in water
over the top of my rubber boots,
some of the time waist deep and it
was cold for it was midwinter. 1 attended his funeral . A short time
afterward his wife came to my house,
and said that she was poor, but she
wanted to make me a little present because of my kindness, so
she gave me two very good aba-
lone shells, whieh she said cost her
about two dollars and a half.
They lie on my desk in my study
yet. I wrote on a slip of paper the
words "Dearer to him are the
gifts of the poor," the last line of
the hymn "Brightest and best of
the sons of the morning," andplace-
ed it between the shells.
Next door to us a young woman
was passing away with slow consumption. She lived with her mother-in-law^ but the cooking of the latter did not suit her. She could not eat
it. So she asked my wife if she would
cook for the sick woman. We both
concluded it would be best. So for a
few months in the fall and winter.my
wife cooked for her three meals a day
and carried them to her usually—
a few rods.perhaps fifteen or twenty.
It was appreciated. After this there
came to us a piece of meat, venison,
beef or salmon or a little something
else. At Christmas the mother-in-
law gave my wife a rug, of her own
make, and her young woman husband gave ber a dress. The mother-in-law also began to knit for her
some lace, but when it was partly
done, a yard or a yard and a half
having been made, a half crany
woman stole it, and carried it away,
twenty miles. She did not try tore-
cover it, but patiently began again,
and a few days ago brought the
work to my wife, a piece about three
yards long, and two or three inches
wide.
I have quite a collection of articles
of Indian make, near a thousand.
As I sometimes look at it, I see a
number of articles which were presents; two war clubs, one of stone
and the other of copper, very scarce
and valuable; a rare pipe, implements used in ancient worship, tine
baskets and the like, and as I look
at them, I say that notwithstanding that some Indians seem at
times to be ungrateful, yet some are
very thankful, and show it by their
works. It is well to look at the list
sometimes, for it does a person good.
Twana, Wash. M. EeLLS .