The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1893-02 - 1893-03

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXII.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBBASKA.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBERS   a-8.
FEBRUARY-MARCH, i8q3.
FIFTY CENTS PEE YEAB.
OUR  PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights'. The results of which is American Citizenship !
And the gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
It is much to be regretted that
Dr. Charles Eastman has been compelled to leave Pine Bidge Agency.
The work he was doing as Agency
physician was so important, and the
influence he was obtaining among
the people was so rare, that it
would have warranted sacrificing
much to have remained. His Indian blood and his use of the Indian language gave him such access
to their confidence and such opportunities for their instruction,
that his departure from the Indian field is a great loss.
The decision ef the Honorable
Secretary of the Interior in Dr.
Charles Eastman's case is peculiar. It reminds one of the sentence
of the country justice, "The prisoner is not guilty but mustn't do so
anymore." That is not saying anything against the decision. It is
creditable to the Honorable Secretary. But it reveals a condition
of affairs on an Indian Beservation
like nothing else in this free country. Free thought, much less free
speech, has no place there. Few
persons can understand why any
section of our country should have
to be governed as the czar of Bus-
sia governs his dominions. Nor is
there any real need of it. We create the necessity by putting the Indian Agent in such a position that
he must be autocrat or nothing.
To whisper any criticism of his
administration is to imperil its authority. There is a simple cure
for this distemper in the body
politic. Not by abolishing the reservation. That is another question to be settled as the time comes
for it. But by divorcing the executive and judicial authority on the
Agency. If the Agent was known
to be under the law as any other
man, and not supreme dictator, it
would do away with the evil. It is
evident that the Indian Police
Courts are no value for this end,
for they are but the creatures of
the Indian agent.	
The more of actual fact that a
man knows about the Indians the
greater will be his desire to lift them
up. You may get to know his
habits and his customs, and perhaps somewhat of his language
from books, but the brotherliness of
the reclman never comes to you till
you have lived with him; and to
know more of his work and of his
people, will make the missionary a
man of more abounding love and
more abiding zeal, than if he were
suddenly ushered unknown and unknowing into the midst of the peculiar life of this quickening people.
—Rupert's Land Gleaner.
NOTES ON PRIMARY TEACHING.
I am just discovering the beauty
and exceeding usefulness of scales.
For first year pupils that do not understand English, scale singing is
one of the best ways of drilling in
enunciation. And I have them sing
not only the sounds of the letters as
advocated m the synthetic method,
but each word they learn too, so we
have a new song for every new word
lhen for busy work they print each
word up and clown the synthetic ladder, giving the vowel its appropriate
marking. Or if it is a noun that
leads_itself easily to illustration, picture it on one side thus:—
I have been without a blackboard
for several months, and now that I
have one again, I can feel what a
help it is, and I wish I could say
to all Indian teachers, Illustrate!
Illubteate! ILLUSTBATE! a
great deal more than you do now.
The picture, even if crude, will make
an impression.
Indian children always draw
horses I believe. I don't discourage
it except by encouraging them to
draw other things too. Drawing
can be worked in so well with number work and language. Where-
ever I have taught in Indian schools
I have had to spend two months or
more in breaking the children of
saying, "a box," "the chair," etc.,
with great emphasis on long "a"
and "e." Couldn't this be avoided'?
Where is the misguided teacher
who started them all wrong?
I wish I knew what tbe majority
of teachers think about requiring
answers to every question in complete statements. I have known
many good teachers who always require it from the first, but thinking
about it lately, it seems to me that
is not the natural way. I think it
cultivates an artificial and mechanical way of talking which is too hard
to prevent with any method. And
in some cases I know that the children have thought that "I see a
clock," "That is a pencil" were the
names of the objects. So now I
teach them names and actions, pure
and simple, first, then bring in a
few modifying words, as colors,
size, shapes, etc., then proceed to
the simple statement, using only the
first person for awhile.
The delight which my children
take in hand work, in contrast with
head or voice work, seems to indicate pretty strongly that that is best
adapted to their present stage ot
development. Stick laying pegging, picture work, bean work, word
and sentence building and all the
hand work I have tried will keep
them happy and interested when
regular recitation work fails. Love s
"Industrial Education' is a helpful
book in this line because it is so
svstematic and carefully graded,
and the plates are very suggestive.
THE   COMBAT   BETWEEN  THE
THUNDER-BIRDS AND THE
WATER-DEMONS.
.    .    Our higli chiefs voice to arm for war
Rang out in tones that rent tlie morning sky,
A god might gaze and tremble at the sight
Of our array that turned the day to night;
Witli bow and shield and flame-tipped arrows all
Rushing together at our leader's rail.
Like storm clouds sweeping round a mountain
height.
The lofty cliffs our warlike muster saw,
Hard by the village of great Wabashaw,
Where through a lake the Mississippi flows;
Far o'er the dwelling of our ancient foes,
The hated Water-Demon and his sons,
Cold, dark and deep the sluggish current runs.
Up from their caverns swarming, when they
heard
The rolling signal ofthe Thunder-Bird,
The Water-Demon and his sons arose,
And answered back the challenge of their foes.
With horns tumultuous clashing like a herd
Of warring elks that struggle for the does,
They lashed the wave to clouds of spray and
foam,
Through which their forms uncouth, like buffaloes
Seen dimly through a morning mist, did loom,
Or isles at twilight rising from the shore.
Though we were thirty, they at least four-score,
We rushed upon them, and a midnight pall
Over the seething  lake our pinions spread,
'Neath which our gleaming arrows thickly sped,
As shooting stars that in The rice moon fall.
Rent by our beating wings the cloud waves
swung
In eddies round us, and our leader's roar
Smote peal on peal, and from their bases Hung
The rocks that towered along the trembling
shore.
A Thunder-Bird—alas, my chosen friend,
But even so a warrior's life should end,—
A Thunder-Bird was stricken; his bright beak,
Cleaving the tumult like a lightning streak,
Smote with a fiery hiss the watery plain;
His upturned breast, where gleamed one fleck
of red,
His   sable   wings,  one   moment  wide   outspread,
Blackened the whirlpool o'er his sinking head.
The Water-Demon's sons by scores were slain
By our swift arrows falling like the rain;
With yells of rage they sank beneath the wave
That ran all redly now, but could not save.
We asked not mercy, mercy never gave;
Our flaming darts lit up the farthest caves,
Fathoms below the reach of deepest line;
Our cruel spears, taller than mountain pine,
Mingled their life blood with the ruddy wave.
The combat ceased ,theThunder-Birds had won.
The Water-Demon with one favorite son
Fled from the carnage and escaped our wrath.
The vapors, thinly curling from the shore,
Faint musky odors to our nostrils bore.
The air was stilled, the silence ofthe dead;
The sun just starting on his downward path,
A rosy mantle o'er the prarie shed,
Save where, like vultures, ominous and still,
We clustered close,on sullen Wings out spread;
i And sometimes, with a momentary chill,
A giant shadow swept o'er plain and hill,—
! A Thunder-Bird careering overhead,
! Seeking the track by which the foe had fled.
1 While thus we hovered motionless, the sun
Adown the west his punctual course had run,
! When lo, two shining points far up the stream
! That split the prarie with a silver seam,—
i The fleeing Water-Demon and his son;
j Like icicles they glittered in the beam
Still struggling up from the horizon's rim.
His sleeping anger kindled at the sight,
; Our leader's eyes glowed like a flaming brand.
I Thrilled by one impulse, all our sable band
' Dove through the gathering shadows of the
night
i On wings out shaken for a headlong flight.
! Anger, revenge, but more than all the thirst,
The glorious emulation to be first,
' Stung me like fire, and filled each quivering
plume.
With ten fold speed our sharp beaks cleft the
gloom,
i A swarm of arrows singing to the mark.
j We hissed to pierce the foe ere yet't was dark.
Still up the stream the Water-Demon fled,
Their bodies glowed like fox-fire far ahead;
But every moment saw the distance close
I Between our thirsting spear-heads and our foes.
I Louder the blast our buzzing pinions made
Than mighty forest in a whirlwind swayed;
|  The giant cliffs of Redwing speeding back,
Like spectres melting from a cloudy wrack,
Melted from view in our dissolving track.
Kaposia's villiage, clustered on tlie shore,
With sound of snapping  poles and tipis riven,
Vanished like swan's-down by a tempestdriven.
Stung by our flight, the keen air smote ussore
As ragged hailstones; on, still on, we strained
And   fast  and  faster on the  chase we gained.
I'm neck and neck the fierce pursuit remained,
Till close ahead we saw  the rocky  walls
O'er   which the mighty river plunging falls,
And at their base the Water-Demons lay:
The panting chase at last had  turned  to bay.
Then thrilled my nerves with more than mortal
strength;
A breath of Deity was in the burst
Thai bore me out a goodly lance's length
To meet the Water Demon's son accurst.
His evil horn clanged hollow on my shield
Just as my spear transfixed him through and
through;
A moment towering o'er the foam he reeled
Then sank beneath the roaring falls from view.
A dying yell that haunts me yet he gave.
And as he fell the crippled water coiled
About him like a wounded snake, and boiled,
Lashing itself to madness o'er his grave.
We knew not where ihe parent Demon fled;
Noneof ourspearsmight pierce his ancient mail,
Welded with   skill demoniac scale on scale.
Some watery realm  lu   wanders, and 't is said
That he is changed and bears a brighter form,
And goodly sons again about him swann;
And peace, 'tis but a hollow truce   1   know,
Now reigns between him and his ancient foe.
—From Winona aud other Poems, by Capt.
Eli L. Huggins.
GIVING AND LIVING.
Our Indian preacher says that the
contribution basket is a necessary
means to salvation. "Civilization
everywhere," says he, "gives us examples of contributions. Government is a necessity, and it is supported by the contributions of all citizens. There are a few persons who
do not contribute to the government
but they have no recognized rights ;
they are cut off from mankind, and
are not counted as men. All those
who contribute to the Government
enjoy protection of the laws. Men
accomplish much by contributions.
One man is not able to build a railroad, but when many men make contributions they are able to do it.
A little from many means much.
And when any man wishes to travel he must first make a contribution at the railway station. If he
does not make his contribution there
is no possibility of his traveling. So
it is in Christain life. We can not
make the least progress on our heav-
enward journey if we do not make
our contributions. Contributions
are just as necessary in church as
in the railway station."    F. B. R.
Miss Collins writes very encouragingly from the Grand Biver mission. In speaking of a beautiful
sunshiny Sabbath during the recent
warm spell, she said: "We had a
large congregation at our morning
service. There were just as many
men as women. The new hymn
translated by Edwin Phelps—the
benediction hymn—is very popular
with the people. They sang it with
a will this morning. In looking
over the congregation I was struck
with the earnest, thoughtful, expression of the people while I spoke.
Every one listened eagerly while I
tried to impress upon those who
could read the word of God the duty to give freely of their help to
those who could not read. I wish
our returned students would feel
that to read the Bible to their less
fortunate brethren is a work of God
that they are especially commissioned to do,"