The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1909-03 - 1909-04

              The Word Carrier.
of Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME XXXVIII.
HELPING THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE "WRONG
NUMBER 2.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
MARCH-APRIL, 1909.
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! And
the Gospel is the power of God for their Salvation !
loshua W. Davis
Our friend Joshua W. Davis of Newton, Mass,
die-.! Monday March 22, after a short illness.
Foi many years he has beeu the untiring friend
of ie Indian and of our mission. In his quiet
but efficient way he has set many things going
and kept them going more than a dozen other
men more prominent in the public eye.
In acknowledgement of what he has doue for
Santee, our central building bears his name.
Ami the most cherished ornaments of our dining room are the large photographs of Mr. and
Mrs. Davis that hang on the north wall. A-
mong other things that Mr. Davis did for Santee. he obtained the means by which we secured
our artesian well; and also the library and laboratory extension of our chapel.
. He was especially interested in our Indian
pastors and in training young men for the Christian ministry. Twice he visited our Annual
Conferences and contributed to their success.
Those who were at the first meetiugat Fort Yates
will remember the many large scripture mottoes
in Dakota with which the audience booth was
decorated, which were provided by Mr. Davis
and made in his own house.
We have lost a most devoted friend.
The Assinaboine Indians
Last fall I came to the Assinaboine Indians
of Fort Belknap, Montana, to preach the gospel. The Assinaboine Indians were far behind
in civilization and religion.
It is over twenty years since the government
has established the institutional progress of
civilization for the Indians at this very place
but still they are in the original place of indolence and ignorance. The main obstacle of the
Indians toward becoming civilized people is
tnat they are not allowing their children to go
to school. They think that the school has
nothing to do with the Indians lives. Some
ohe.has said that, for this reason, "the Indians
have prevented increasing their generation."
If that is true, Indians of this reservation will
soon be exterminated.
The government has given opportunity of
every line of work, such as making irrigating
ditches and dams and so forth.
They also have the chance of raising
cattle and sheep and they could raise most
any of the grains, but these opportunities
have been annihilated by themselves and
they are suffering for food and clothes.
I am sorry to say that there are some
young men and women who have been
graduated from different institutions, and
ought to have led their people to become
civilized and christianized, but they have
fallen back to superstition and dances.
I am proud of Santee and am giving a
high recommendation for Santee students
who have graduated for having done successful work in the advancement of civilization and Christianity.
I recently came to this people to preach
the  Christian life to  them.    They think
that the  Christian   life is good, but they
want to have both "tbe old and hew man."
George Firecloud.
From an Indian Pastor's Sermon
You have been in school for nearly a
year and are now to go to your homes.
But you will not be like some of the Indians among whom you go. You will see
your friends and perhaps may learn other
lessons which you will suffer for.
Remember what the word of God says,
we are not to turn aside even for our
friends.
My father died when I was twenty years
old. When he was dying he gave me all
the things he used to worship and charged me
never to depart from what he taught me.
He thought he had the spirits of the bear and
the thunder so he was a great warrior and killed
many enemies. But I never could be like that.
There is no life in such religion for me. I
show no disrespect to my father in not heeding
his words. So you too, if you are asked to
believe in or worship such things, do not have
to do it because you are asked. Remember
what you have learned. If others do wrong
and try to teach you strange things, gently
tell them of the better way and you will give
them life and joy in heaven.
Warm Spring Indians
The Warm Springs Reservation consists of a
tract of land 40 miles square, containing one
million, twenty-four thousand acres. There are
767 Indians on the reservation ; 74 of these are
Pi Utes, the others are Wascos and Warm
Spring. The large majority are Warm Spring,
and the language is, almost universally, Warm
Spring. The Warm Spring and the Umatilla
are almost identical. To each, on this reservation, the government has allotted 80 acres
of. good land or 120 acres of pasture land, and,
in addition, each has a tract of good timber.
Each man, woman and child has an allotment.
There remains much land that is not allotted.
The soil is excellent, some of it as fine as any
in the State of Oregon. The rain fall is rather
light but they grow good crops. The reservation will, in time, be thrown open for settlement, but not before the Indians are able to
take care of themselves and compete with the
pale face. The greatest curse to the Indian is the rum traffic. The rum traffic kills
the Indians quicker, debauches them sooner,
and brings back their wild and ferocious natures
in a more dangerous degree than any other race.
Many of the woman in the summer time go
outonthe plains; and over the Rim Rocks,
gathering luxks, or bread roots. The bread
is good and nourishing.    Two or three women
go together, taking pack-ponies, and provisions,
and cooking utensils, and gather roots all week,
returning home on Saturday with their ponies
well laden with roots. The roots are put in
pits until the time for gathering is past. Then
the roots are cleansed and mashed and kneaded
into a stiff dough, made into small cakes, or
sometimes loaves and then sun baked. Two
days hot sun will do the baking. The Indians
do not need to do this for a living, for their
land is fruitful, and many of them raise more
wheat than they can use. Their wealth is in
their herds of ponies and cattle. One Indian,
last fall, sold $1800 worth of cattle and his herd
was little depleted.
The wealth of the woman cor sists of blankets,
shawls, fur rugs, beadwork, klick-a-tack (reed
baskets) —the latter worth from $6.00 to $30.00
each. I saw an Indian woman wear a different shawl for six consecutive Sabbaths, and I
learned, afterward, that she was the proud possessor of 13 different kinds and colors of
shawls. • The blankets are in proportion.
The Christian life of the Indian is very much
marked, and is easly seen in their lives. They
do not lie, nor steal, nor cheat, nor work on
Sabbath. It is under protest, when they are
required to work by the authorities over them.
We have a congregation of about 75 members,
who meet together to worship, listening to the
preaching of the Word They are attentive and
devout listeners, and those who are Christians
will sacrifice more of ease and comfort to attend Divine service than perhaps you or I have
ever done; we have faithful members who live
8, 10 and 12 miles away, aud have no way to
come but on their ponies. Every Thursday
afternoon, we go out into some of the Indian
homes and hold a prayer-meeting. The Christian Indian never refuses to pray or testify. In
fact, this is where the line is drawn between the
Christian and the non-Christian Indian. They
always pray, as they call it, before eating;
even the pagan Indians do that, which is more
than pagan white people do. The poorest old
Indian to whom I give a bowl of soup in my
kitchen will not partake of it until she asks a
blessing.
When Mr. Dickie went out last fall to the
railroad for our goods, and was with the Indian freighters for a week, everywhere, when
they sat down to eat, whether in hotel or in way
side camp, there was the reverent waiting, and
then the request, "you pray," before partaking
of any food. At one time the white people began to eat, and Mr. Dickie, coming in last, all
the Indians waited for him, and did not begin to
eat until the' blessing was asked, and the white
people had the grace to stop and wait for a minute, also.
So you see we are not among as great heathen
as eastern people are wont to think.—The Women's Missionary Magazine.
To see what radical changes in social ideas
the Indian people have had to make, note the
following instance.
A feeble Indian woman had to go half mile
to get a bucket of water. A white person present said to her'' Why don't you make that great
lazy boy go and draw your water for you?"
She drew herself up proudly and replied.
"Do you suppose I would let my son do such
things as that!" She wanted him to be a
warrior.
Married
Jones-Holmes : In Norfolk, Neb., Feb. 25,
by Rev. Edwin Booth, Mr. Stephen S. Jones
to Miss Ida Edna Holmes, daughter of Rev.
William Holmes, all of Santee, Neb.
Chisley - Brewster : March 9, 1909, Mr.
John E. Chesley of Cisco, Texas, to Miss
Emma L. Brewster of Wolfboro, New Ham.
Their home will be at Cisco. Miss Brewster was
connected with our Santee Mission two years.