The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1903-01 - 1903-02

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXXII.
HELPING    THE    RIGHT.   EXPOSING    THE   WRUNG,
NUMBER   1.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1903.
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 tlie gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
TEACHERS   INSTITUTE.
The last week of November Mr.
A. 0 Wright, Inspector of Indian
Schools, planned for an Institute
to be held at the Mission on the
two days following Thanksgiving.
Teachers from the Yankton Agency
Government school, the Hope sehool
at Springfield, and the Santee Government school were to meet with
us.- Floating ice made the river
nncrossableattbelast moment, the
result being that a short session
was held on that side of tbe river and our part postponed indefinitely.
Almost a month later, on the
16th and 17th of January, Supt.
Wright carried out the other half
of his plan, and the institute had
a second session, those present
being Miss Hilton of Hope school,
Miss Edna Chidester of Santee
district school, Supt. Blish, Miss
Anderson and Miss Hearst of Santee Government school, and all the
Mission workers.
An evening with the stereopticon
began the program. The Hopi, or
Moqui, Indians of Arizona was the
subject, and as Supt. Wright told
of their country, customs and what
manner of people they were, Mr.
Riggs showed us the pictures. Some
of the interesting facts we heard
that evening you will find elsewhere
in this paper under the title of
Moqui Indians.
Saturday morning we met together at half-past eight. Miss Anderson brought in a class of small
children to illustrate a method in
reading which seemed particularly
adapted to teaching Indian children. Each sentence was formed
and spoken by the children and
then written on the board; after a
short drill on the lesson, the pupils
were able to read and spell the new
words. The peculiar advantages
were seen to be in the interest of
the children, and in acquiring the
use of the language.
Work with primary boys in carpenter classes was spoken of by Mr.
Stone. He passed around samples
of the boys first work, and showed
bow each piece represented a lesson
in the use of different tools. In
manual training with the younger
pupils he has found that the article made must have some practical
value or it is difficult to keep the
boy interested in his work.
Miss Hearst's paper on Nature
Study with the younger children
led to an interesting discussion as
to whether or not the Indian boy
and girl were more observant of
natural life than the ordinary
country bred white child. Striking from the question all romantic views, the popular opinion
was that the Indian is not more
observant, although his natural
knowie(3ge is probably ahead of the
white child's because all in his way
of living has tended to make it so.
Also an Indian child has an inti
mate knowledge of many plants
and roots that a white child can never attain, it is a 'grandmother knowledge,'secrets of nutritive and medicinal qualities having been told
them from their earliest days. That
Indian children were extremely fond
of all forms of nature study was
unanimously conceded.
The teaching of Physics in primary grades was spoken of by Mr. F. B.
Riggs. He brought to notice many-
simple home-made pieces of apparatus which children could under
stand, some that they themselves
could make with ordinary ingenuity
and almost no material.
Two classes in singing, one of
the second and the third grades, and
one first grade class, gave us an insight into the results obtained by
daily singing lessons with the child-
sition in the cocking class taught by
Mrs. A. L. Riggs. The class consisted of eight young girls; they
had their regular class work, three
being given a new lesson and three
being assigned a former lesson,
while two were appointed housekeepers. The work was done regardless of the many visitors, and
graham wafers with hot gingerbread were soon served as refreshments.
Class work in domestic science
has not yet been attempted in Government schools, and Supt. Wright
is working toward that end. The
remaining time of tbe afternoon
session was given to a full and free
discussion of the best way in which
to introduce the teaching of sewing, cooking and laundry work in
these schools.
INDIAN  PARENTS  BRINGING  CHILDREN TO   SCHOOL—NEW ARRIVALS.
ren. Mrs. F. B. Riggs had them
sing many of their class songs and
then gave them a trial at note singing, having them sing new exercises as well as those they had
had before. The best test of their
knowledge of what they were doing came from someone's request
that the exercises be tried backwards, to which the children readily complied, much to the satisfaction of the onlookers.
Industrial teaching was brought
before us by Miss Leonard's exhibit
of what her history classes have
been doing in the line of basket
weaving. She showed us baskets
in all states of completion. Most
of them were made of raffia; these
were very pretty and showed quite a
degree of adaptibility by the pupils
for first work. But it was the start
made in willow basket weaving
which was of peculiar interest, for
the willows are a natural product
with us and if it can be carried
further it could be enlarged into a
very practical industry for many
Indian schools, and later prove a
means of livelihood for pupils at
their homes.
The advisability of going into
DoinesticScience workwith younger
girls, those between ten and twelve
years of age, had a practical expo-
Supt. Wright thinks they should
be brought right into the school
room in first primary grades, and
used there as a practical means of
teaching the children English. Also that if there could not be the
regular graded class work, which
the Santee Mission school has, at
least the preparation for meals, in
which the older girls assist, might
be so planned that it tend not merely to routine work. Here the difficulty to be met is that the cooking
of food is in too large quantities
for the girls to easily apply their
knowledge when they return to their
homes. In sewing there has always been the same trouble, the
children being sent at certain hours
to the sewing room where tbe seamstress has very often but one aim,
to get through with the necessary
work with the greatest possible
swiftness. He stated that happily
this was not so in some government schools, citing several individual instances where the aim
was qualitv rather than quantity.
It is a good thing for the workers in Government and Mission
schools to have the opportunity of
meeting together for discussion of
just such questions as were considered at this Institute.        o. w. r.
BIBLE CORRESPONDENCE INSTITUTE.
Tlie Santee Bible Correspondence
Institute is prospering and growing
this year more than ever before.
The work is in Bible History and
Geography. The lesson papers are
printed by the Santee press and are
questions with blank lines left for
the answers. When the lesson
paper is returned the answers are
corrected and the paper is again
sent to tbe student with the next
lesson paper enclosed. A record is
kept of the percentage of correct
answers credited to each student.
The students are many of them
former pupils of Santee. Many are
native missionaries, native pastors
or Y. M. C. A. leaders. The rest are
the more progressive Indian young
men in their respective communities. There are also a few Indian
women who are members.
The membership of this Indian
Correspondence School is scattered
all over the northwest: Nebraska,
South Dakota, and North Dakota,
Minnesota, and Montana. The
membership is now one hundred
and twelve, and is increasing almost every day. The following are
some of the strange names of these
Indian University Extension Students: Redowl, Stoneboy, Bear-
fighter, Goodboy, Bearhawk, Swift-
bear, Redhorse, Stonearrow, Rain-
bowmilk, Elksky, Whitethunder,
Blackring, Goodbird, Blackfox,
Nightcbase, Bigshield, Yellowhawk,
Hornedeagle, Flexible, Walksshoot-
ing, Lastman, Blackeagle, Rainwater, Ice, Killspotted, Twobears,
Redears, Killall, Crowfeather, Ironmoccasin,Cotton wood, Redthunder,
Whiteturtle, Bobtail,     f. b. riggs.
SOUTH DAKOTA HISTORICAL
SOCIETY.
The annual meeting of the State
Historical Society which was held
in the chamber of the house of
representatives last evening was
largely attended by members of the
society and citizens of Pierre, and
an interesting program was presented, consisting of papers by the
president, Hon. T. L. Riggs, and
Rt. Rev. Bishop O'Gorman, of
Sioux Falls. President Riggs sketched in a brief and concise manner
the political history of the section
now known as South Dakota from
the time of its discovery by La
Salle to the present time. He also
emphasized the value of the work
of the historical society and the
importance of proper support by the
state for the carrying out of the
plans of the society.
Bishop O'Gorman's paper dealt
with the early explorations by
Spaniards and French, one of which
expeditions touched near the spot
where Pierre now stands as early
as 1643. The place mentioned in
the report of this expedition is clearly proven to be a point on Cherry
Creek between Fort Pierre and Fort
Bennett, some thirty miles distant
from Pierre. Bishop O'Gorman's
address was an able, comprehensive
and authoritative review of these
earlier explorations, showing extensive research and familiarity with
the subject, and proved very interesting and instructive to all who
are interested in the state's history.
At the close of the program a
number of new members were added
to the society.—Pierre Free Press.