The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1905-03 - 1905-04

              The Word carrier
OF
SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
VI
,1,|!JIE    XXXIV.
HELPING    THK    IlIGHT.    EXPOSING    TH K    WRONG.
N'UMHKH   -i.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
MARCH-APRIL, 1905.
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR.
Our   Platform.
For Indians we want American Education!
we want American Homes! We want American Rights! Tlie result of which is American Citizenship! And the Gospel is the power
of God for their Salvation!
Buffalo Bill Shows Again.
It is a standing disgrace that the Wild West
shows are still allowed to take Indians from the
reservations. It has been said that persons
high in authority were personal friends of Buffalo Bill and ready to promote his interests at
the "xpense of the best interests of their Indian wards. And what favors are granted to
Buffalo Bill must of course be granted to other
sho>v   proprietors.
That the effect of being with these shows is
demoralizing and degrading to the Indian is
not a matter of theory but of actual fact.
Here is the testimony of an Indian man of high
stan ling at Pine Ridge Agency; and it agrees
with the witness of many other Indians who
have at heart the interests of their people.
He says:
• Now again there is a great departure for
the shows of both young men and old men.
The old men are the most eager to go, and
though they have large families some take
thi : 1 all along, and the children are without
schooling. Others leave their families behind,
an the homes stand shut up and deserted.
Some of these are Christians but they seem to
foi get that and go with the rest.
• ■ What makes them wish to go with these
shows is this. They have notoriety because of
it. When one is chosen to go, almost the whole
trii e come to visit him and he has great glory.
And when he is to start they come and sing in
his praise. Then where they go they have the
rui of the saloons, and photograph galleries,
and houses of prostitution. They think of no-
thi g else; they give no thought to the wives
an<; children they have left behind. When
thi return home they come dressed up and
deckpd out in a double amount of ornaments
anc -an talk of nothing but of going again. Then
the; open their trunks which are full of their
pictures. In one the man will be holding a
bottle; in another holding a woman. One who
was going with Buffalo Bill said in my hearing. 'God has been merciful to me and Buffalo
Bill has chosen me ; and when I get there the
blankest black woman will be my girl.' So
those who go and return have no more interest
in ehristianity. They only desire their hair to
grow long so they can go again."
Now what sort of civilizaton is this? And
why should our government officials be aRow-
ed. not only to debauch the long haired pagans,
but to make worse than pagans those who bad
already made a start in better things.
the tepee; or it might be a yard of broadcloth
adorned with ribbons floating from the top of a
flagpole as a sacrifice to a deity. Then there
was more or less idol-worship in all their gatherings. One of the simplest forms was the
filling of the pipe and holding it at arm's length
with the mouth-piece upward while the performer
said, "0 Lord, take asmoke and have mercy on
me." In the feasts and dances the forms were
more elaborate. In the sun dance after days
of fasting the leading performer would cut
chunks of flesh from his own body and laying
them on the sacrificial altar pray that the spirit
of the god might fill him so he could do supernatural deeds. And sueh men became war-
prophets or conjurers.
Now these signs of pagan worship have almost entirely disappeared among the Dakotas.
How is this when religion is one of the most
deep-seated habits f Our Government has mad e
some rules against seR-immolation, but they
make no claim to changing their religion ■ and
do not accomplish it, as we see among the Winnebagoes and Sacs and Foxes, who have been
under government control longer than the Dakotas.
What then has produced the change among
the Dakotas I It was the power of God. They
renounced heathenism not because the Government told them to,but because they found there
was no God like Jehovah, and Jehovah said,
"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
And this belief is now so strong among the
Dakotas that even those who have not yet accepted Christ have generally cast away them
idols.
There is much yet to be done for the purifying
and elevating of the Dakotas, but the overthrow
of paganism is a wonderful victory. And the
Presbyterian Church which has been in the van
of the fight should lead in the further work of
Christian instruction and the development of a
godly IRe.—Rev. John P. Williamson, D. D. in
Tlie Assembly Herald
Aztec  Traits.
Overthrow of Heathenism Among the Dakotas.
Among the Dakota Indians there are twenty-
seven Presbyterian churches and the twenty-
eighth is to be organized in a few days. In
these churches are a little over fifteen hundred
communicants and there are about as many
more non-communicant members. As there
are twenty-five thousand Dakota Indians in the
United States, nearly one in eight of them is a
Presbyterian. There are about two-thirds as
5J*?y Congregationalists, about twice as many
%iscopalians, and about twice as many Catholics. So we see that more than haR the Dakotas have been baptized in the name of the
Triune God.
Seventy years ago there was not a church
among them. They were all polytheistic pa-
fiaus. One who knew what they were coidd see
the signs of pagan worship about every tepee. It.
might<be the medicine sack tied to a stake behind
The Aztecs of old were not only great soldiers, but also ddigent cultivators of the soil,
and had acquired considerable proficiency in
agriculture although they had no horses, oxen,
or other animals of draught. To this day they
earn their living chiefly as day laborors in the
fields now owned by the Mexicans. The staple product now as of yore is the maize, and
next to it the maguey or agave., the sweet sap of
which is tbe principal material for the famous
Mexican pulque. Some species are cultivated
as vegetables, others for the sake of their
leaves which yield a strong fibre that can be
woven into fabrics. Hence the saying that
the agave supplies the people with drink, food,
and clothing. The men have Rttle ambition
to excel in handicraft. Farriery and carpentry
are about the only trades they care to take up.
In the cities they work as porters, carriers, or
peddlers, in a  small way.
Like all southern Indians their complexion is
of a ruddy chocolate brown, and they are not
particularly good looking. Most of the women
now have large hands and feet, probably the
inheritance of generations of hard workers.
And they are strong. In the warehouse of a
wine merchant an Aztec porter was seen to take
a cast of claret on his back and carry it quite a
distance. The load certainly weighed not less
than four hundred pounds, and no white man
would have thought of lifting it. Tbe law requires the people in the cities to forsake the
Indian breechcloth and poncho, and assume the
regulation garb of the poor working class of
Mexico—the wide, loose trousers of cotton cloth
or manta, with jacket to match—but the breechcloth is worn outside of the trousers and thereby replaces the civilized suspenders.—From the
Southern Workman.
Opportunity Among the Omahas.
The past months have been full of hard campaigning. Much house to house work has been
done. The mild, open fall has been favorable
to out-door life to most of us.    Yet to many it
I brought fevers and other ailments.    Your mis-
| sionary has spent many hours beside the sick
bed.    He has directed the house cleaning and
} cooking while nursing the sick. He has had to
stand by and see death take some of our most
faithful native members.    Every funeral, howr-
! ever, gives him another opportunity to preach
to those who never come to church.
| . Our greatest  hindrance hi  the work is  that
; there is only one missionary on the field. He
simply cannot reach all the corners of the
field. The reservation is eighteen by thirty
miles. The country is all hills and streams.
The roads are not worked, and bridges are
scarce.
It pays well, however, to send missionaries
to the Indians. This tribe has thirteen hundred
members and about two thousand whites live
also on the Reservation among the Indians. The
very presence of a missionary on this Reservation keeps the white man in check. No matter
how careless the whites may have grown religiously, they keep with more respect the Sabbath day, do less drinking, and are less liable
to bootlegging. They are more honest and
considerate with the Indian because the Indian will appeal to the missionary to seek justice for him.
In recent months the Indians have held fewer
feasts, fewer "give aways" (which are held in
respect to the dead at funerals and which pauperize the Indian widow or widower) and drunkenness is becoming less frequent.    They are
! more and more asking for my services at their
funerals.
I had been here a short time when I could
see a change in the respect people, both whites
and Indians, had for each other. They changed the Sabbath day very decidedly. Two or
three instances I relate here.
Whde driving to my church, or rather school
i house, over southwest eight miles to hold ser-
, vice on Sabbath afternoons I have stopped men
on the road who were going to the field to work
I and asked them to come over to church. They
turned round and went home. They did not
come to church but they did not go to the field.
Others whom I coidd not speak to because of
distance, saw me and left the field. So there
is a restraining influence by having a missionary here who sees things.
The horses and cows are better cared for because I aways speak of such animals looking
"thin" when they show neglect. Mine are fat
and slick even when driven so hard. The people see it and try to imitate.
It pays to send missionaries to these Indians
just to stimulate the district schools. Already
I have been instrumental in dismissing six incompetent teachers. One teacher who was retired taught infidelity in the school, and made
fun of Christ and his church. He carried a.
pistol, chewed tobacco in the school room
during school hours, flourished dady a bottle
of whiskey and offered it to some of his pupils, used profane and vulgar language and
so forth. Yet the people were tolerating it
because there was no one to stand up and
say "Halt!" That school now has a good
Christian teacher.—Rev.. Clarence E. Dickason,
in the Assembly Herald.
A new edition is caRed for of the little Ree
hymn book. Mr. Hall has added considerably
to it. Our Dakota compositors find it more
difficult work than Dakota or English copv.
But we are glad the Rees can sing it. There
has been quite an increase in singing lately, and consequently the old books are aR
worn out.