The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1902-11 - 1902-12

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXXI.
HELl'l.Vfcj   THK   RIGHT.   RXWlSWfl
1'IIK    WRONG.
SIM HER 7.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR
OUR PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights! The result of whicli is American Citizenship !
And the gospel, is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
When we commenced mission
work at Santee, Nebraska in 1870,
the Indians at that place were in a
village near the Government Agency
buildings living on their rations.
Now they receive no rations and
have long since been scattered over
their reservation on their own farms.
And the reservation is no longer a
reservation but has been open many
years aud white people are settled
among the Indians. The white neighbors have been developed into the
agricultural way of making a living
through hundreds of generations.
Their Indian neighbors are barely
passing the first generation and beginning on the second generation of
experience. And yet some white
people are surprised that the Indians do not succeed as well as the
the whites.    Wait a while !
Our Government has by mistaken
kindness persistently pauperized
the Indians for many years. What
they have thus endured would have
hopelessly enervated almost any
race. But now at the last hour the
Government policy has been changed toward those Indians that have
been drawing rations. Beginning
this last summer all rations have
been cut off and the Government
has offered work instead. The
change has proved a surprising
success already. The Government
work has been mostly road, bridge,
and reservoir building on the reservations.
A great deal of the Indian country
is wortulessly rough. That is why
it was made Indian country! The
road improvements ou Rosebud and
Pine Bidge Reservations during this
last summer are said to have been
marvelous! Indeed we may yet be
touring the Bad Lauds on boulevards like those in the Swiss Alps !
Much of the Indian country is
good for cattle raising except for the
scarcity of water part of the year.
>So the Government has set the Indians to work damming valleys to
hold back the rain water in great
reservoirs. The evaporation from
these will probably make more
rainfall, hence more vegetation, a
better climate, more cattle, more
and better people. This work
should have been commenced thirty
years ago instead of last summer.
The government is doing a large
school work among the Indians.
Missionary societies are also largely
interested in schools. The mission
schools do not compete with, infringe upon, or in any way duplicate
the work of the government school.
The mission schools are necessary
for the same reasons that the
Christian academies and colleges
are necessary. Government Indian
schools do not and can not do the
Christian work that is necessary to
develop character. Therein is the
difference between schooling and
education. The purpose of the mission school is to train all around
Christian leaders for the Indian
People. F. B. E.
DR.   EASTMAN'S "INDIAN BOYHOOD."
This is a book of great interest
! and unique value. It is not the
natural history picture of an Indian
boy drawn by an outsider; but it is
the affectionate remembrance of
personal experiences. As such it
could not fail to be somewhat
idealized, but this is all the better
for bringing us into sympathetic
| relation with it. To honest students
of Indian character it will be a
revelation ; to all wbo read it it will
be a treat for which they will thank
the author.
CHRISTMAS EVE.
For thirty-two years we have celebrated Christinas here at Santee.
In those early years we doubted if
many had a clear understanding of
the meaning of the day, and our
reasons for rejoicing! How surprised one and another seemed when we
said "Happy Christmas" as we
met them. How well we remember
that first Christmas in the unfinished chapel—but how full it was!
Every bench was full, and all the
floor room was tilled with mothers
and babies, grandmothers with
grandbabies on their backs, swaying back and forth, for the babies
must be kept quiet while they listened to the old old story, so new
to them!
Now, after all these years, after
the bright rays of the star of Bethlehem have penetrated still farther
into the darkness, we gather around
the Christmas tree once more, and
we look into the bright face of the
second generation upon whom the
light has dawned. They are singing
a hymn of praise and adoration.
Une of those who was at our
first Christmas celebration, and who
has walked in the light all along,
led us in prayer. Then our pastor,
son of pastor Ehnamani who was
with us a year ago, spoke to us of
the true meaning of Christmas. He
said. "I have often wondered how
it would have been in the world
without Christmas, without the giving and receiving cf gifts, and all
that Christmas has done for us."
He spoke of how much his father
always thought of this day. And
whiie he was speaking in the Dakota
tongue, there was very much interest and attention, even by the little
children in the front seats, who at
first could not keep from pointing
at the pretty gifts on the tree, and
wondering which would soon be
their own. While Dr. Riggs interpreted our pastor's words, so as to be
sure that all understood, the little
boys and girls seemed to realize that
the message was for each one, that
the Great Gift was theirs.
Then we had more beautiful
Christmas hymns sung by our older boys and girls, the last one, an
anthem, was especially beautiful.
After the singing Dr. Riggs spoke
of the trees of the Bible, and their
beauty, also of the beauty of our
Christmas trees, the value of the
gifts upon the Christmas trees all
over tbe world, but that it is the
gift of God to the world, to all, that
is the gift to have.
For days and weeks the boys
and girls have been busy preparing
their little gifts, and ob, the love,
the fascination of mystery! As one
of the girls expressed it while
hanging   gifts   on the  tree,   "On,
tbe secrets in the Dakota Home, j
you would think the house would
burst!"
Some of the Cottage boys made
presents for some of the Birds' Nest
girls, and we older ones have been
made to realize anew the real
value of a gift, no matter how
simple. Many of the children's
parents were there, and they had
sent in for their children and
neighbors little tokens of love
and good will, even out of their
poverty.
Those of us who were present at
the first and the last Christmas
can see, and feel a difference, a
blessed change and a better understanding of the real Christmas.
M. B.  R.
CHRISTMAS SONG SERVICE.
Hymn-
Angels from the realms of glory.
Prayer by Francis Frazier.
Solo.—Glory to God,
Mrs. H. C. Riggs.
[Piano and organ accompaniment. I
Responsive Reading—
The Coming Christ.
Hymn—Once in royal David's city.
Talk about the city of Bethlehem.
Hymn—0 little town of Bethlehem.
Talk about the eastern shepherds.
Responsive Reading—
rr Shepherds and Angels.
Hark the herald angels sing.
A few words about the old Christmas bells.
Hymn—I heard the bells on
Christmas Day.
Talk in Dakota about the wise men,
their names and descriptions,
and about Herod the King.
Hymn—From theeastern mountains
Primary song.—Children be bright
and beautiful.
Talk about Jesus' home and home
life.
Hymn.—0 holy Lord content to fill
In lowly home the lowliest place.
Responsive Reading.—
The great salvation.
Offering  for Missions  beyond the
Seas.
Hymn.—0 come all ye faithful.
It was a beautiful Christmas
service, full of the true peace and
joy. The words of Dr. Riggs, telling of tbe cities and country and
customs of the Holy Land brought
to ns a deeper understanding of the
whole wonderful story.      o. w- R.
WOMAN'S  MISSIONARY FAIR.
A few days before Christmas it
was announced that the Woman's
Missionary soceity would hold their
annual sale of articles. They had
worked away so quietly that we
were rather solicitous lest they
might not be ready ; but never fear,
they always prove themselves equal
to the occasion: everything they
planned to make was finished and
brought to the president's home to
be priced and marked, then taken to
the chapel to be arranged in the
most attractive manner. They do
not waste any time in talk and bustle
but move about quietly and with a
purpose. The quilts were hung full
size on one wall, and on another
side was a long row of gingham and
calico work aprons for women.
Over in the west wing of the chapel was a long table, made by laying
blackboards over the desks, and they
were covered with sheets, which
made the pretty Indian articles laid
along show to good advantage.
There were buckskin purses embroidered with beads, silk, or porcupine quills, also little moccasins
worked with ribbon and beads.
Other articles of native make and
skill were there. Then, hung on a
line just back of the table were
various kinds of childrensgarments,
and a few articles contributed by the
mission people who enjoyed having
"a finger in the pie."
Over on the platform were the refreshments, and very nice they looked too; home made peanut-taffy,
made by our pastor's daughter,
and popcorn balls—big ones, made
by the same young lady and her
friends.
At another table were plates for
sale, each filled with two or three
kinds of cake, these found ready purchasers, and as the sales of dry goods
seemed gradually to decrease, the
crowd moved toward the refreshment corner. Those in charge were
on the alert, and discreetly added an
extra doughnut or cookie to the
plates so as to assure their customers that they were getting their
money's worth. It was astonishing
to see how the appetites improved
as some especially nice looking
frosted layer cakes were cut.
Never did we attend a fair where
there was more genuine sociability
and enjoyment than at this.
By half-past nine o'clock the
plates and contents were all sold,
the mothers began t o wrap up the
babies, for the air was sharp and
frosty without.
The sales women were counting
the money, and folding away the
few unsold articles, saying "We
will sell the rest at mission meeting
next fall."
They went home happy over the
fact that $48 had been cleared for
the treasury of the native missionary society. m. b- r.
PRESERVING  NATIVE CUSTOMS.
Read this from The Independent
of  November 6—
"It is almost certain that the cause
of missions itself has seriously suffered
from the denunciation as 'heathen'
and 'depraved' of traditions aud customs which those familiar with the
facts know to be beautiful and often
of real nobility. The average American . . . thinks far too contemptuously of the inferior races. He has
not learned to appreciate their contributions to the world's stock of poetic
and artistic ideas."
Then read this from The Independent of November 13—
"We presume that when the British
Government in India proposed to suppress the practice of burning widows
at their husbands' funerals there was
a society for the preservation of native
customs that protested against the
abolition of so picturesque a practice.
At any rate the Aborigines Protection
Society of South Africa has offered a
protest against the proposition merely
to discourage polygamy by putting a
tax on superfluous wives. They say
it is a 'momentous innovation alien to
all native institutions.' Such it certainly is, aud all the better for it."
The comparison is too funny.