The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1911-01 - 1911-02

              the Word Carrier
OF
Santee Normal Training School.
VOLUME XL
HELPING THE RIGHT, EXPOSING THE -WRONG.
NUMBER 1
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
JANUARY-FEBRUARY, 1911
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 !
What the White Man Owes the Indian
It is not the intention to present in a new
light the relegated theory of an unbounded
obligation for siezure of land unoccupied and
unused. The Indian rarely claimed, unless
coached by some white man, any land except
what he needed for his existence, and in most
cases he secured this by his own prowess.
It was second nature to him to surrender lands
he could not defend and to fight for his hunting grounds and camp sites. He took all a
victor could take and expected to give his life
as well as his property when conquered. His
was not the life of a cringing parasite.
No, we owe no territory, but we are under
obligation to see that our treaties are carried
out to the letter, and that money due is paid as
agreed. Our obligation is not lessened because
the blood of innocent frontiersmen now rarely
call- to time negligent officials.
We have no moral obligation that demands
a pauperizing charity which disintegrates character capable of better moulding, but we have
greater obligations which are increasingly imperative.
Vv'hen geographical lines and sign-boards
warned trespassers from the Indians' land, then
there might have been some blame attached to
officials and employees; but today when white
men are settling in the midst of these people
the obligation rests on each one as an American
citizen to be an example of true citizenship.
"The Government" has been the scape-goat of
all our reservation failures, but that day is largely past. Does the man who cheats the Indian
to gain wealth and makes dishonest citizens ex-
pe<i to class as anything but a despicable thief?
Does the man who keeps liquor and leads the
Indian to his ruin by pandering his childlike
appetite expect to class as anything but a traitor and murderer? Does the man who is entrusted with the care of the Indian's property
ami welfare and proves unfaithful and negligent think that he will class as anything but
a malefactor? Does the man who violates the
chastity of an Indian maid or woman, taking-
advantage of their greater susceptibility and of
the improbability of exposure, expect to be
anything but a whoremonger?
We of the white race are under obligation
to see that the Indian who expects better things
of ns shall not be deceived. A Norwegian farmer once found $900 on the road and returned
it with some difficulty to its owner who was an
Indiau. The Indian never forgot it, and he and
his family became Christians as a result of this
act of the Christian farmer. We owe it to the
Indian to see he has a good grad( d school system
and not a system of pens to herd the children
for a per capita allowance.
It is a disgrace that with the facilities and
money spent the schools should so often be a
conglomeration of everything from a nursery to
an agricultural college." There are many schools
admirably located to differentiate and specialize and to give progressive courses to all the
Indian youth. They might be well prepared
for every walk of life and for entrance to our
great universities. It is harrowing to witness
the desperate struggle for sustaining the enrollment.
We owe it to the Indian to pay what we owe
him There is no excuse for a clerical error to
withhold the sustenance of a tribe and cause the
weak and feeble to starve to death. An American in the rough is a man who makes and pays
his own way. The Indian must let loose of Columbia's skirts before he can be an American
worthy of the name. We owe it to the Indian
to let him pay his way and support the govern
ment that protects him. Nothing will so impress upon the Indiau his responsibility as to
have a share in it. Our present treatment makes
molly-coddles, not citizens.
We owe it to the Indian to study him and
his history, to know his capabilities" and character, to rank him as he deserves—as a man,
self respecting, ambitious to improve, and to
give him a man's opportunities. •
We are making good citizens of immigrants
today from all foreign countries because they
are men, with a man's chance aud a man's
love of life and home. So the reservation
emigrant is a man, and should equally have a
man's chance as he already has a man's love of
life and home. Robert Hall.
Papago Girl Tells of Hopi Snake Dance
Early one morning we left Flagstaff, taking
the train for Winslow, the distance being fifty-
nine miles from here and it took an hour and
a half to get there.
Before noon we started out of town and rode
only a few yards when a rain storm struck us.
The rain lasted ten or fifteen minutes. Our
driver, Mr. Daze, took good care of us so that,
none of us were wet after the rain. A few
miles before us was the Little Colorado which
worried us from the start and for hours and
hours as we rode towards it. The road we took
led to the trading post built on the south bank
of the river. Inquiring there about where to
cross it, no one was able to direct us, so we
rode on with but wagon tracks here and there
to follow. We met some Navahos on horseback
and they tried their best to tell us where to
find the main road. They led us on for a few
miles but they decided to return, for the evening was cloudy.
After traveling twenty or twenty five miles
that afternoon we were ready to camp for the
night. Each helped about the camp and in a
little while all were seated around the spread
table and enjoyed our supper. Mr. Daze had
fixed us a nice bed in the wagon while he
spread his on the ground. All night we heard
the running water in the river. Late in the
night we heard some one talking aud another
singing. I guess those were the Navahos on
the other side of the river.
The next morning a little after five o'clock
we were up and had our breakfast, watered Pie
horses and were ready to start again. Dora and
I walked for a few miles when Miss Chingren
and Mr. Daze caught up with us with the rig.
We rode on all forenoon; had our lunch at one
o'clock and invited one of our Navaho friends
who was on the same road. Soon came to a
nice spriug on the side of a mesa. It was fenced
with rocks. There was plenty of nice, clear,
cool water for us and the horses. We all had
a fresh drink, this being the first fresh water
we had after leaving Winslow. We were there
a few minutes and started on again, crossed the
arroyo which we saw and rode along the banks
of it. In the distance we saw beautiful high
mesas and on one of these was built the village
of Oraibi.
We rode on for miles and miles when we saw
a light on the side of the mesa. It became
brighter and brighter. Then we saw the church
steeple. The houses at the day school were
seen, and at last we arrived. The day school
is not upon the mesa so there were quite a number of houses there. We arrived at nine o'clock
Saturday evening.
The next day was a great day for these people and they were up before dawn washing their
hair. There was to be a Marathon race before
the sun rose, so we were up early and climbed up the mesa. Before the sun rose people
were seen on the east end of the mesa. The
race started about four miles from the village
and most of these men were the dancers of the
snake dance. Before or after midnight a man
was sent, after the cup of water eight miles
away.   This is known as the secret water.    He
arrives and places it, a few yards from where
the race starts.    The first runner takes the cup
and carries it while those   behind are trying
to catch up so as  to it take away.    Thej' run
upon the mesa, the winner being the oue that
carries  home  the  cup   of   the   secret   water.
While  this race was going ou, the  men and
boys gathered corn,  beans and  melons from
their gardens, and when they arrived at. the
village  after  the  race there was  the biggest
scramble of women and girls taking such as
they could  for  their own  use, and this was
a  funny sight.    We went down the mesa for
breakfast.    In the afternoon people in wagons
and on horses and on foot were climbing up the
mesa in the rain to see the snake dance.    It was
held   between  four  and   five o'clock.    There
was a small space between houses where at one
side was built the kise of the branches of cottonwood trees and at the opening a cloth was placed.
The snake men have been in the kiva for eight
days during which some of them were out looking for snakes.    The kiva is a room dug into
the ground and an opening at the top.    A step
ladder was placed through the opening into the
room and  on the top it was  decorated.    The
men go and come upon the step ladder.    Before the snake men were out for the dance one
of them came into the kise with a sack of snakes.
The dancers numbered fifteen, five or six being
little school boys.    They were  dressed  from
their waist to their knees, painted their bodies
with red and white,  their faces black,   wore
feathers on their heads and the most beautiful
fox  skin  was  attached  behind at the waist.
Moccasins were worn   ind each man carried a
prayer feather in the *ight hand, and a bag of
corn meal in the other.   These men came marching from the kiva and in front of the kise was
a hole  with  boards placed  across.    On   this,
each man sprinkled some corn meal and stamped his right foot.    This was done a few times
when they formed two lines, five.?tood in front
of the kise and the rest opposite them.    They
chant away for twenty  minutes,   moving  the
body from one side to the other keeping time
to their song.    Then another circle was formed;
this was led by ten men.    Each little boy with
an older man behind him with his left hand
on the shoulder of the boy and prayer feather
waved back and forth on the back of the boy.
Each boy was handed a snake which he held
near the head in his mouth and with both hands
held the rest of it.    They went around the circle a number of times and then laid the snake
on the ground very carefully, a prayer feather
is waved over it and then it is caught and held
by two men outside of the circle and the rest
were held by those men in front of the kise.
Some were very large and long.    After every
snake was handed out of the kise there must
have been over forty.    They were carried to one
side of the space where some of the women
sprinkled  corn  meal on the ground on which
the snakes were dropped and then picked them
up  very  quickly.    These  men had  so  many
snakes and each was seen running towards a different quarter of the mesa to let them loose.
After they return to the village they go back into the kiva.    The people of the village are  not
allowed to  talk  to or come very near these
snake men.
We met people from different parts of the
country. Visiting the homes of these people
I found that their ways differ from the ways of
my people.
They bury their dead between rocks. Their
sun gods are placed in between rocks on the
east and the war gods on the west side of the
mesa.—The Native American.
Editor's Note—The writer Magelajose, is a Papago girl who graduated fioni Phoenix Indian school in the spring and spent her summer
ill Flagstaff. She goes home with a Hopi friend, Dora Humehong-
ka another outing girl, and they were accompanied by Miss Amanda
Chingren, the Phoenix outing matron, who was spending hei vacation
in Flagstaff.