The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1906-11 - 1906-12

              The Word Carrier
OF
SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
VOLUME XXXV.
HELPING THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE "WRONG.
NUMBER 6.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
NOVEMBER-DECEMBER, 1906
THIRTY CENTS PER YEAR.
Our   Platform.
F0r Indians we want American Education!
-. A^rlran Homes!   We want American F
!   We
ror Indians wc wain /-miGii>_aii i_>
want American Homes ! We want American Rights!
The result of which is American Citizenship! And
the Gospel is the power of their Salvation!
Dr. Riggs' Sickness.
Mauv of our friends have heard of Dr. Riggs'
serious illness. He was in Chicago for ten days
in November at a hospital, where he went for a
slight operation for a skin disease. He started
back November 16th feeling fairly well; but was
delayed at Springfield by ice in the river. He
was chilled there, and took a severe cold, which
brought on an attack of the grippe, followed by
lobular pneumonia.
For about two weeks he was very sick indeed.
His niece, Miss Mary Morris, who is a trained
nurse, came to take care of him For a few
davs it seemed as if he could not recover. The
doctors in consultation thought he could not
live many days, and the absent members of the
familv were informed of his condition.
Perhaps the most anxious day was December
13th. But that evening while the people were
praying for him in the regular Thursday evening prayer-meeting, be began to seem a little
easier. Two days later our hearts were cheered
by the coming of his brother, Dr. Thomas L.
Riggs. He was so cheerful and hopeful, so
full of helpfulness and good judgement, that
his presence was a great blessing to the troubled family, and to Dr. A.  L. Riggs himself.
Since then Dr. Riggs' has seemed to be gaining. The gain is slow as is to be expected, for he
was tired out before he was sick. The doctor says
he must have entire rest, therefore he sees only
members of his own household for the present.
There have been however a number of letters
and messages of sympathy and appreciation sent
by former pupils and workers, which Dr. Riggs
has enjoyed.
During the worst part of Dr. Riggs illness,
Mrs. liiggs was in Montana, with her daughter,
Mrs. Waples, who is sick with typhoid fever.
When it was known that Dr. Riggs had pneumonia, every one longed to have her home. Yet
it did not seem best to send for her at first.
When she heard how dangerously ill Dr. Riggs
was, she started at once It was a hard journey
of four days. When she reached Santee, she
found lie was better. But Mrs. Riggs herself
was sick a few days from weariness and anxiety.
Mrs. Stead, the second daughter, came home
from Jacksonville, Illinois, and is still here.
Mr. Stephen Riggs is on his way home from
Madrid, Spain.
Indian Qualities that Should be Preserved.
In making the composite characterof the future
American citizen characteristics of many people
are to be included: English stubbornness ;Ger-
man studious persistency; Scandinavian in-
dustriousness; French style, suavity and politeness ; Italian pepperiness—and innumerable seasonings of the peculiar qualities of every sort of
peoples. A quarter of a million Indians are
to be absorbed into our nation. What qualities
nave they to add to that composite man, the
future American ?
Good sense is one quality peculiar to Indians,
—just "common sense," often called "horse
sense," because so rare with humans. Indians
on the whole have more good sound sense than
other people.    They are rarely silly.
Indians are self-possessed. They"adapt themselves to surprises without showing surprises,
m unaccustomed circumstances where a white
fflan usually "gives himself away" and plays
the fool, our Indian is perfectly self-possessed,
todian parents train their children in self-con-
™}- If an Indian child makes a spurt at any-
tblng the parent calls him back with the instruction: "Groslow, my son." '-Never hurry."
0 the Indian is too slow for this progressive
Se-   But self-possession is the valuable quality
that should serve in the future composite to neutralize some of the white man's rattleheaded-
ness. And the Indian slowness will be offset
by the excessive Yankee hastiness.
_ Indians are preeminently dignified. In public meeting, without having any elaborated parliamentary forms, they are very formal iu action
i and speech. An Indian never blurts out. He
always begins a public speech with apologies,
j and addresses his auditors, no matter who they
are, as "My relatives."    And Indian dignity is
I not reserved for public occasions but is the uni-
j versal custom at home. A white man says to his
children: "Billy, do that," "Peggy,come here."
The Indian says: "My son" or "My daughter,
do this," The majority of white people treat
one another with no respect, address each other
by their first names, young striplings calling
fathers of the town "Tommy" and every other
name of diminutive ending and contemptible
familiarity.    Not so with Indians!
The Indian language has no slang words nor
swear words. The language is complicated in
the niceties of idioms, verbs and pronouns, and
is difficult to learn. White people can very rarely learn to speak it correctly. Indians never,
absolutely never, speak it incorrectly. On the
other hand the majority of white people never
speak their own language correctly. Indians
learn to speak English incorrectly because the}'
mostly learn it from the incorrect kind of white
people. But Indian accuracy in their own language ought to introduce an element of accuracy
into the composite race.
Indians are generous. A few white people
have the reputation of being "generous to a
fault." All Indians are that generous. A characteristic which in this extreme form is detrimental, when combined with the natural selfishness of Anglo-America should tend to benefit the composite American. Indians care for
orphans. They do not need asylums. Children that are ralated to nobody while their
parents live are related to everybody when their
parents die. And everybody proceeds to take
care of them without any special arrangements.
Everybody's house is open to an orphan and
the orphan is soon adopted into a family.
Indians are naturally the most religious
American people, not absurdly aud fanatically
religious like many Asiatics. Their good sense
seems to prevent that. But Indians are thoroughly religious. Their religion is not to be
put on and off according to time, place or convenience, as with white men. The Indian's
every common act is a religious act. There
must be prayer at every meal, also with every
pipe-smoking, till there came the white man's
vile fumigator! With hunting and sport and
planting and harvesting there must be worship.
Indians considered dancing a part of public
worship, as David did. Heathen Indian worship
has degenerated, but Indian religiousness is
still evident in the Christian Indians. They
are great people for meetings. They can stand
longer meetings and enjoy more preaching than
any other people! And they are generous in
their contribution to Christian work. Indiaus
have faith, good for injection into European
American nationality. Indians do not need to
be converted but instructed. They already believe but do not understand what they believe.
These qualities would evidently be a good antidote to white men's persistent lack of faith and
preference for reason, in which nevertheless
they are blind to religious evidences.—F. B.
Riggs, in Congregational Work.
Indians Start Bank.
Led by Col. Sol. McLisk, a rich Chickasaw
Indian, a number of his tribesmen passed
through Omaha on their way to the new
townsite of Randlet to organize a banking
trust and real estate company with a capital
stock of about half a million dollars. All the
stockholders are to be Indians, andthe business
will be transacted by Indians. All the members of the party are well dressed and spoke
good English.
Col. McLisk said: "It is but a few miles
from Randlet to the Chickasaw Nation boundary, and we expect to draw business from our
people there. Then there is the Comanche and
Kiowa business. We do not expect this to be a
very big concern for a few years to come, but
when these Indians have become clothed with
full American citizenship and begin handling
their own financial affairs, we'll be ready to
assist them."—The Arrow.
Returned Students in the Southwest.
Ever since the Indian schools have been established people have been asking whether
this education amounts to anything, whether
it pays, and we hear a good deal about the
returned students who are not doing anything.
We would like to hear about those who are
successes, and there are a good many such,
young men and young women, who are living
quietly at home, keeping house and conducting
themselves as good citizens of this republic.
On the Campo reservation and the Rincon
reservation there are two families the young
men of which have been to school and returned.
Each has rented 500 acres of wheat land off the
reservation north of Fallbrook. Last year they
produced good crops and one of the young men
expects to be able to buy 160 acres next year.
He has already picked out the place.
Nelson Gorman, a former student at Fort
Defiance, is now conducting a store, the only
full-blood Navaho who ever conducted a store.
In the few months he has conducted it he has
gained rapidly, as far as business is concerned,
and he is proving himself to be a good business
man.
Robert Martin, a returned student from
Hampton, I think, is interpreter at the north
side agency, employed by Mr. Sheldon at Shiprock. Martin is getting a salary of $60 and
saving $30, starting a small bank account. He
wants to become a farmer, and is saving his
money for that business. He is one of those
upright Indians, six feet three inches tall, and
stands straight up.
Harry Azul, who went to school at Hampton,
runs a little trading store over at Sacaton and
is quite wealthy—that is, as wealth goes among
the Pima—and he also has quite a herd of
cattle. Several of his children are going to
school at the Tucson  Missiou   school.
Hugh Patton, formerly a day school teacher on the Pima reservation, is now owner of
a trading store at Gila Crossing.—The Native
American.
Our Alaska Mission.
The summer has been short and busy. The
ice left us about the last of June. Snow was
on the hillside until August and I have seen it
fall every month up on the mountain. Our supplies reached us on July 17. I helped the young
man who acts as interpreter build a house. Then
I spent three weeks at the reindeer herd, where
I had a varied experience. Most of it was wet.
Arctic rains are four times as wet as water and
several times as cold. The only thing that
was dry and warm was our sleeping bags.
Our people were nearly all gone. It was bard
to get forty to meetings and then we had 96
per cent of the population of the villages. Now
they are all back and we have a crowded house.
In September Helen came up to me, coming
from St. Paul unattended. She had the best
care and attention. Since her arrival she hasbeen
teaching the government school. The regular
teacher has been on a trip on the Revenue Cutter
Thetis as interpreter. They caught some notorious villians and he has been detained at court.
It was a disappointment when I heard no one
is to come this year. The work is promising
and the field is inviting.       James F. Cross.