The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1889-03

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XVIII.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING    THE   WRONG.
NTMHKH    .!.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBEASKA.
MARCH, 1889.
FIFTY CENTS PEE YEAR,
OUR   PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes'
We want American Rights! The result of which is American Citizenship 1
And the Gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation.
Commissioner Oberly has captured the civil service reformers by
promising to carry out civil service
rules 111 the Indian Bureau, if he is
only allowed to do so. It may be pertinent to raise the question Avhether,
in the present condition of things'
this would improve the Bureau any •
and again, Avhether Mr. Oberly is the
man to do it ? Inspection is of no
use Avhen the standard is wrong.
And there is no benefit in conserving
that which is rotten. We are afraid
that civil service reform in the Indian Bureau Avould be the form of
godliness with the power of Satan.
A civil service reform that would
cull out all the poor teachers and employees, of whom there is a host, from
the Government Indian Schools,
fill their places Avith persons really
fitted for their work, and then keep
them permanently during efficiency
and good behavior—such a civil service reform would be a sign of the
millennium, for which we could be
fervently thankful. But as yet Ave
see no signs of anything like this.
And to any person professing to
be its prophet Ave say: ShoAv us
the proof of your commission. One
test of a true reform is that the Indian schools be divorced entirely
from the Indian Bureau. Mr. Oberly, when Superintendent of Indian
Schools,Avorked for this independent
relation. Noav that he is Commissioner of Indian Affairs he wishes
the department of schools to be independent under the Commissioner!
The connection of the Government
Indian schools Avith the Agencies
has ahvays been to their detriment
and ahvays will be. It is safe to
say that the prophet of this reform
has not yet appeared.
MIGHT MAKES RIGHT.
We give beloAV the comments of
the Sioux City Journal on the new
bill for the opening of the Sioux
reservation that has just become a
laAv. The Sioux City Journal has a
very smooth way of saying some
A'ery brutal things.
"The full importance of the bill tor the
opening of the Sioux reservation in Dakota was lost sight of in the excitement
and hurly-burly which always attend the
inauguration of a president, The bill
was one of the last to pass congress and
it Avas signed by President Cleveland
only a few hours before he bade adieu to
the white-house. This measure which
is noAv the law insures the speedy opening of the reservation. So much is
finally settled. It is in every way superior in its provisions to the measure
under which a year ago it was vainly
sought to open the reservation Hie
absurd provision for securing the consent
of the Indians is wisely omitted trom
the present law. It is well that it is so,
for that provision is a fraud to begin
with. It is a fraud to pretend to treat
with trilling savage tribes on the same
basis as with independent nations, When
all the fundamental relations between
them and tho government proceed on
the assumption that they are not independent, but abjectly dependent, it is
also as much a farce as a fraud, as the
experience of the commission appointed
under the defunct bill of a year ago, as
well as m other notable occasions, abundantly proves.   The will ot the savages
m any event cuts no figure, and it ought
not to do so. The previous law offered
the Indians the equivalent of 50 cents
an acre for the land to he relinquished,
whereas the present law provides for the
payment of $1 per acre, to be properly
disposed of 111 the interest of the Indians,
inis is generous, and more than generous The lands to be opened to settlement, though of the richest and most
productive capacity, are of absolutely
no use to the Indians, while the land
reserved to them are far beyond then-
needs or their power to improve. It will
require some little time to dispose of the
preliminaries prescribed in the law. It
will take some months to make the
divisions of the lands reserved and to
apportion the balance into convenient
districts. But these and similar matters
are all that remain to be disposed of
before the lands are thrown open to the
public and made aA'ailable to civilization.
There will inevitably be an immense
movement of emigration to the newly
opened territory, for portions of it are the
fairest agricultural regions anywhere to
be found. Railroad corporations Avhich
have been arrested at Missouri river
points in Dakota by the barrier of the
reservation will now, or very shortly,
push lines to the westward towards and
into the Black Hills country. These will
necessarily be promoters of settlement
and development,"
NOT SO SWEET AFTER ALL.
The Sionx City Journal finds out
it Avas mistaken about the terms of
the Sioux reservation bill and loses
its  amiability.     It forthwith pro-
I ceeds to insure to Senator DaAves
the blessing promised "when men
shall reA-ile you." Here is a part of
: its editorial of March 12.
"The first advices sent out from Washington regarding the bill for opening the
Sioux reservation prove to have been
mistaken. It was stated explicitly in
I numerous dispatches from independent
! sources that the bill had passed without a
provision requiring the consent of the
Indians. This proves to he a mistake.
! The reservation can only be opened un-
| der the new law by the agreement of the
I Indians. That is where that notable old
fogy, Senator Dawes, of Massachusetts,
got in his mischievous work. He has
been a crank on the Indian question, and
unfortunately his. position at the head of
the senate committee on Indian affairs
has given him such opportunity of injurious blundering as rarely falls to the lot of
man. The reservation would have been
secured to a fructifying civilization, instead of to savagery, years ago if it had
not been for the interference of the old
Massachusetts nuisance. The law under
Avhich it was vainly sought to open the
reservation a year ago would have been
a prompt success but for his obstinacy in
insisting that civilization has no rights
whicli a gang of savages is not pleased to
accord and respect. He then compelled
the incorporation of the "consent" clause,
as he has just done in the law which Mr.
Cleveland signed in the last hours of his
administration."
Muscular theology is at the front
again, or is in a fair way to be.    It
seems that Mr. Caldwell, a theological student, is to pull stroke oar
in the Yale  University crew this ,
summer,  having  already  stroked
two winning races with Harvard.
He will preach none the worse, as
Eev. J. F. Cross, a member of the
Divinity School class of '87, also is
demonstrating.   He played on the j
university nine during Ins seminary
course, and is now doing noble work ,
for the Indians under the A. M. A.
at the Eosebud Agency in Dakota, j
while the very base-ball trousers
worn in many a famous match are
clothing one destitute little Indian •
■boy—Congregationalist.
LITTL E   1»< >ss ESS IONS.
A windy ride in the falling snow
up the Missouri valley and across
the river on the ice, and through
two or three miles of timber and
several more of prairie beyond,
brought me to a small log house in
which a dozen people Avere squatting on the dirt floor. The family
had been afflicted by the death of a
married daughter, avIio had been a
consumptive for a year or more.
She bad died, Ave trust, Avith faith
in God, telling her step-daughter to
folioav faithfully the religious teachings of her school, and charging her
husband to do his best to provide for
her OAvn little one, not yet tAvo years
old, which she must leave with him.
The bereaved man Avas sitting with
his back against the wall, holding
his child. He had been to the mission for sympathy and help through
all his grief. He had tried in the
years gone by to learn to read the
Bible, but the task was too much
for him, although he made continual efforts, but he had for some
years been a hearer of the word,
and iioav in his afflction he was iii a
receptive frame of mind.
When I left the house he proposed
to go with me and sheAv me the road,
a neAv Avay to the upper settlement, and Avhen we were seated in
the buggy, he said: "I think I can
do that now." "What," I asked:
"What I haA'e talked about before
—joining those who pray. There is
only one thing that I am in doubt
about. I am so poor that I may not
be able to get clothes for myself and
food for my child." "Hoav about the
dances," I said. "We who pray do
not go to them, because Ave think
they are a degrading amusement,
and interfere Avith a pure and industrious life." "Yes," he said, "I can
leave the dances, I think; but I fear
I cannot get clothes to make a proper appearance among white people.
Think about it. HaA'e you any work
for me to do, so that I can earn
something ?"
This request was a good one, and
I arranged that he should cut some
cord-Avood for the mission. We went
on and visited together at several
houses. In one a man bad some
illustrations of the Sabbath school
lesson we had given him tacked upon the Avail, one of which he did not
understand, and Ave explained it to
him. In another there was a sick
woman,to Avhom something Avas given, and a prayer for forgiveness and
recovery taught; in all there were little children glad to receive "picture
papers." Then I left the houses to
traverse a solitary road several miles
across the bottomland and the river
again to another settlement.
My friend rode on a little way,
and then he got out, and as he stood
in the wintry wind that rustled the
prairie grass, I said, "God's way is
difficult. You cannot go in it alone.
You must have roofs, so that you
will not dry up when trial comes;
not turn back when the way is hard.
Think about it. Having roots is like
trusting in God. God .will forgive all
your bad works, and help you. Let
your heart be toAvard him. Think
about that." He stood a moment
thoughtfully, his hand on the Avheel,
and then Ave shook hands. Little
children for whom Ave travail in birth.
February 14,1889.       C. L. Hall.
1!K\ 1KAV   DAT.
The results of normal (raining
Avere manifest in the carpenter shop
on review day. which occurred on
March 2. Eleven boys constituted
the class under instruction. With
some it had been their first month;
others of them had been in three.
The work done was varied and interesting, and a portion of it executed in a workman-like manner.
Miniature bedsteads, cribs, gates
house-frames, and the like were the
chief articles made by the ad-
A'anced pupils; half mortise frames,
saw-horses, one, tAvo and three tenon
and mortise frames, etc., by the beginners, while some had progressed
sufficiently to make a gate and bedstead. Most of the boys that had
not been sick had something laid
over for "general reA'ieAV," which
occurs once a year, at the close of
school.
One of the boys had made, among
oilier things, a large, excellent saAV-
borse, the strongest that had ever
been put into the Avood yard. The
material Avas selected from the common Avood-pile. It Avas a creditable
piece of Avork, especially as it was his
first month. Another, in his third
month, had laid out nearly all of
the work on the articles he was appointed to make. The execution of
them, however, did not compare as
favorably as some of the others,
though he received No. 1 because
he had done so much independent
work. His genial, good nature during the month won the approval of
his teacher.
One of the youngest boys distinguished himself by his rapid strides.
When he came into the shop "he
could do hardly anything," so the
infractor said ; but he labored earnestly and learned to execute his
work well. His zeal and progress
entitled him to No. 1, Avhich he received.
Promptness, as Avell as ability and
progress, also entered into the making of their records. As regards this,
one was conspicuously mentioned.
He was always of the first to enter,
and had not been tardy once. Two
others might haA'e had No. 1, but
for a little lack in this, as their work
was well executed, and a portion
of it laid out by themselves. All
of the boys had entered into the
Avork with a great deal of interest
at first, but a few lagged toward the
close of the month.
Following is the standing of the
members of the class:
NAME. NO.  I NAME. NO.
Demas Eastman . . . .  I     I Edwin W. Porter . . . .  z
Samuel Goodteacher .  I     ■ Joseph   Lovejoy z
Willis Hawk 1     I Harry Haverly ...... z
Russel Spotted Hear .  i1^ ! John Selwyn z
Thomas Geniclc .... 1% J Elias Cekiya 3
Henry Kennedy ....  1^ I
The report did credit to the class
and superintendent, as they were
complimented as "having made the
best showing since the shop was
opened." c. R. L.
Santee Normal Training School.
Mr. Joseph H. Voorhees, father of
Miss S. Lizzie Voorhees, of this mission, died at his home in Rocky
Hill, New Jersey, February 16, in
his seventy-sixth year. It was a
great comfort that he could have
all of his ten children around him,
gathered from Maine to California,
a number of Avhom are filling posts
of great usefulness.