The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1908-03 - 1908-04

              The Word Carrier
of SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.
VOLUME XXXVII.
HELPING- THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG.
NUMBER 2.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
MARCH-APRIL, 1908
THIRTY 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! Adn
the Gospel is the power of their Salvation!
Riverside and Sherman Institute.
Riverside, California, is a city of twelve thousand inhabitants, long made famous by its oranges. The orange culture has now spread to
other parts,so Riverside has not now the monop-
olv it long had, but as a city it is even more beautiful and rich than ever. Within six miles of
the center of the city on its famous Magnolia
Avenue has been located one of the two important Government Indian schools on the Pacific
coast. It is Sherman Institute, which has a
good complement of buildings all in the old
mission style, with quite a striking and unique
appearance.
The most remarkable thing about tbe school
and the city where it is established is the relation voluntarily assumed by the Evangelical
Churches of the city for the spiritual care of
the Indian pupils who are registered as Protestant. They comprise half of tbe school of five
hundred. Not only does the ministerial union
provide a preaching service for them every
Sunday afternoon, its members taking their
turns at this service, but also all their church
members are taxed to pay the salary of a cap-
able woman missionary who is the pastor of
this Hock of two hundred and fifty pupils,
many of whom are now christians and church
members.
The same service has been rendered by the
ministers of Lawrence, Kansas, for the pupils
of Haskell Institute, and probably in other
places likewise, but this is the only place we
know where the churches have assumed the responsibility and the expense for the pastoral care
of such Indian pupils. The credit of it is largely due to Rev. E. F. Goff, the pastor of the Congregational church of Riverside. The work
yet goes on although he has been obliged by
his physical condition to resign the pastorate
and has taken up other work.
Mr. Frank A. Miller the genial host of "The
Glenwood Inn" at Riverside is arranging for
an Indian Conference the hist of April on the
Mohonk pattern. He and his father before him,
in Wisconsin, have been great friends of the Indian. He gives the free hospitality of his elegant hotel to the invited guests at that Conference.
California's Indians.
It is a story of shameful treatment of the Indians of California which the Rev. Dr. Spining
is telling to California audiences these day7s,
speaking sometimes several times a day, so
deeply is he stirred by the wrongs of these red
men who once had undisputed possession of our
fertile sunlit valleys and hills. He told the
story thrillingly to the Congregational ministers of San Francisco and vicinity last Monday,
and as a consequence pulpits near and far will
be opened up to him so that his eloquent plea
for tlie suffering may bear more fruitage. Dr.
Spining has spent not a little time during his
eventful life in investigations among the various Indian tribes of our country, as a representative both of the United States government
and of missionary societies, and he states that
he never came up against such an Indian problem as he has found in California, pushing his
ffay far up into our mountain canyons and into
every recess and corner into which these people
nave been driven. Since those early mission
days when there were 210,000 Indians in California, it has been a relentless process of eviction
until today there are left not more than 17,500
and this remnant largely are found in localises crossing which a jack-rabbit would need a
knapsack and canteen and in which a goat j
would in despair butt its brains out on the
rocks. Driven into the holes and corners of our
great state the schools generally are closed
against them; and they are largely without religious ministration and instruction. I never
heard that story before, were in substance tbe
words which fell from their lips again and again
as Dr. Spining searched them out in their far
away recesses, and told them as he studied
their condition the story of tbe Christ. Won't
you send some oue to tell us about it? was the
plea. Seven times one man had his land taken
from him by unscrupulous white men. Without
schools, without church, without physicians
and hospitals, often hungry and cold, the mortality has been frightful, and today only fragments remain here and there over the state.
They trusted us, they trusted our Government;
and they have been deceived, says Dr. Spining.
Agreements with them which they were led to
believe would become tbe law of the land were
filed away in old pigeon holes, never again
to'see the light of day, and lands that ought to
be theirs today were stolen from them from
time to time.
And now the plan is to gather up these neglected suffering people and scatter them here
and there throughout the state on small tracts
of ground put inalienably into their individual
possession, and there to so train them that they
shall gradually fit into our civilization as workers and so have some honorable and assured
part iu the future of the state.
Let the good work go on, so that it can no
longer be said that "the Indian's chance of heaven is less since the white came to the state;"
nor said for long that the Indian's chance on
earth is not equal to the white mau's chance.
—The Pacific.    	
Work for American Indians.
Dr. Riggs, who has spent forty years in trying to lift up the American Indian, gave a most
interesting and instructive lecture before the
Pomona college students on Thursday morning.
He spoke in part as follows:
' 'The North American Indian is an interesting
study both iu his historical relation to the early
history of the Dation as well as iu his own personality. We who are of European civilization,
having behind ns generations of civilization,
find in him a new kind of man—a being who
looks upon life and upon God from a new point
of view. In order to understand him one must
look through his eyes and see,as he sees.
The Indian is at home with the earth ou
which he walks. We may be strangers but the
Indian is a part of the country as much as the
wild animals whom he owns as his brothers,
either the wolf, the eagle or the buffalo is his
guardian angel. The animals are therefore his
brothers. He looks about him and feels the
mystery of life—the water, the hills, the woods
—the great mystery.    It is his God.
The Indian has uot many idols. There is the
stone which he worships. He paints its face
red and brings his offering to it. There is the
sun, or, iu the dry west, the serpent. In them
he recognizes the potency of the spirit world.
His life is bound up in his religion. When he
sits down and takes out his pipe, he first offers it to the earth below and to the sky above;
this is his offering.
Tbe impression has gone forth that it is a
vanishing race, nothing need be done for them
as they will disappear in a few years. I
believe, however, that there are as many now
as in the time of Columbus. Some tribes have
disappeared by war or disease but others have
increased.
Relations with our national government have
been rather peculiar. Since the days of Jefferson, there have been many treaties. At first
these only expressed a desire to keep the peace.
Then more room was wanted; time and   time
again they were moved over until there was no
longer a place to move to. Then they were pnt
into reservations aud fenced about. They seemed to be considered as wards of the government
and as such it was thought necessary to train
them up, so the treaties show a change of sentiment. From time to time they have been
taught agriculture. There have been many mistakes but more from ignorance than from any
desire to injure the Indian. The government
has tried to educate the Indian for citizenship
on the reservation, but how can you expect
to educate a man wdien you put him in prison.
The w7ork has been supplemented by schools.
Four million dollars has been expended on
schools, thirty thousands are being educated
and many thousand more are being sent by the
missionary organizations of the churches. Our
work is not quite what it is expected to be.
There is a vast difference between the government work and our schools. At the age of five
he is put into the reservation school a pagan. He
does not even get the instruction of his pagan
grandfather. Here he must stay until 18 years
of age. He then comes out with no education
and frequently no honor. Once a pagan always
a pagan for he thinks the religion of his forefathers is good enough for him. There is no
chauge in his life until there is a change in his
thought of life and God. He believes that a
curse will fall upon him if he accepts a different religion from his fathers. Where the
government has tried to educate them without
religion, their efforts have proved a failure.
When they are taught that God will help them
in distress and that he loves and cares for them
then they will become good citizens.
Our work began with the translation of the
Bible. At times this seemed a useless expense
of time and money. It is, however, of infiuite
importance to bring the message of God to their
hearts, if only the book of Mark or the Psalms.
This must be carefully done for they speak in
eloquent language. The interpreters frequently
use very poor terras. There was au excellent
example of this in Grant's administration. An
Indian pleaded the cause of his people in most
eloquent words, the interpreter rose and said,
'Mr. President, he says he wants more grub.'
The native ministers are able to carry the
word to their people much better than the w7hite
mau. If only the missionaries can be secured
to teach the students, they7, in tnru, will carry
it to their people. It takes great patience and
time and expenditure of men and money but
the result is sure. The kingdom of God will
come among the Indians as among all people."
—Los Angeles Daily Progress.
Jennie Cox Aungie—An Incident.
On reaching home last evening, I found The
Word Carrier awaiting me. I always push
everything else aside uutil I have found the
news from the Indian stations, as neither Mrs.
Shelton nor I have ever lost our interest in the
Indian work.
The first thing that caught my eye was the
death of Jennie Cox Aungie, and it immediately started a train of thought. How well I re-,
member, and bow much I admired her during
those day7s we were together on that eastern trip.
I shall never forget her singing as a solo,
that last Sunday evening in the New England
Church, Chicago. "Shall we gather at the river," and I remember just as she came to the
last chorus, she choked, and almost broke
down. In speaking to me afterward, she said
she realized that it was our last service together and for a moment, it was all she could do
to control herself and finish.
Since reading that notice, I have so many
times thought of that experience. Those few
months together were a revelation in a great
many ways of character, and Jennie's alway7s
stood the test. Chas. W. Shelton.