The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1893-06 - 1893-08

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXII.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBERS   0, 7, 8.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBBASKA.
OUR  PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights'. The results of which is American Citizenship !
And die gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
The appointment of twenty army
officers to take the place of as many
civilian Indian agents is enough of
a change to show whether the policy
is going to bring in the promised
millennium. If these military gentlemen will only remember that
they are in these responsible places
for the purpose of leading the Indians on in civilization, and make
use of all their energies to this end,
they are capable of doing considerable good. But if they are indifferent to the true object of their mission, or allow their self-importance
to lead them into arbitrary and despotic administration.-their term of
office will be a failure, and a backward movement will be registered
on the dial of Indian progress.
It seems rather ungracious to
suggest failure at the outset.- But
it is for the good of the service and
the future honor of these military
agents that we do it. For failure
is inevitable unless the work be
taken hold of by the right handle,
and in the humility of the true
spirit of service. The opportunity
for indulgence of autocratic power
is a most dangerous "temptation
which even good men will yield to,
unless they are wholly absorbed in
the development of their wards.
JUNE-JULY-AUGUST, 1893.
FIFTY CENTS PEB YEAB.
The administration of Captain
G. Le Boy Brown at Pine Bidge
Agency is a practical demonstration of what we have said. No
man could have started in with
better recommendations. No military man could have had a better
preparation. If military training
has its disadvantages they should
have been more than overcome by
the "enthusiasm for humanity"
which companionship with the late
General Armstrong in his Hampton work ought to have produced.
But the memory of Captain Brown
as an arbitrary autocrat is all that
he leaves behind him.
There is one thing that Hampton Institute has always done incomparably well. That is its presentation of its work to the public.
General Armstrong was an artist
in the way he did this. He knew
how to arouse the imagination by
his presentation of facts. His poetic gift is still at work. Hampton
Exhibit at the Columbian Exposition is certainly a stroke of genius. It will make her hosts of new
friends and double the confidence
of former patrons. It is worth
tens of thousands of dollars to her
treasury, It was a golden opportunity, and Hampton was equil to
the occasion.
Here comes a new block to our
missionary educational work. No
Indian pupils are to be allowed to
leave their reservation to attend
school outside without the consent
of their parents and the Indian
Agent. Young people of eighteen
years and over should have something to say about it themselves.
IN MEMORY OF GENERAL ARMSTRONG.
Oahe, So. Dak., )
June 3, 1893.   \
Rev. H. B. Frissell,
Hampton, Va.,
My Dear Mr. Frissell ■ I am desired to write you expressing our
deep sense of personal loss, and the
loss we as a Mission feel in the death
of General Armstrong. He was a
very dear friend to many of us and
we all greatly admired his spirit
and earnestness of purpose and life.
Of his work for the negro we know
by the results of the past and by the
present work of Hampton. The Indian too found place there, and this
work is abundantly justified.
Will you kindly express to Mrs.
Armstrong our warmest personal
sympathy ; and to Hampton School
will you make known our sense of
bereavement and grief, for it is a
loss we all feel greatly.
His was a strong inspiring life
and the world is better and men are
stronger because of this life. We
cannot measure the results of such
a life.
Even now in this time of sorrow
and grief we find ourselves thinking
of these results, so grand and full,
rather than of loss itself alone. Because of his life it is a song of joy
and gladness we would sing with
Hampton rather than linger over
thoughts of sadness in his death.
We wish you to accept from us
for Mrs. Armstrong, for Hampton
School and for yourself our heartfelt symyathy in the present sorrow.
I am yours faithfully,
T. Ii. Biggs,
Secretary'of Dakota. Mission.
By vote ofthe Mission in Conference   \
May 23-28, 1893, at Ft. Berthold, N. D.j
Insisting that he shall wear suspenders and do up his back hair (I
am prepared to defend the pronoun)
is good as far as it goes, but if he
does this simply because he is nagged into it, and not because he sees
the reason for it, it doesn't go far
enough.    And what is true of sus-
we can say to this applicant yes,
because we recognize his capability
of advancement, and to that applicant no, because we recognize limitations physical or mental that
bar his advancement. Shall the
lower grade schools take only the
children who can be  advanced  to
ing as they do the opportunities for
missionary work among the older
boys and girls who will never make
any special advance in English,
make this a part of their work.
You will remember that I began
by asking "What is the boarding
school pupil ?" You will also observe that I have not answered it.
I think I cannot do better then to
leave with you the question "What
ought he to be ?"
Julia E. Pratt.
Hampton, Va., 1
June 12,1893. I
Rev. T. L. Riggs,
Secretary of Dakota Mission,
My Dear Sir: Your kind words
of sympathy for us all in our great
loss   have given us greater cheer
and we thank our Dakota friends.
General Armstrong's life was one
that will be remembered; it is indeed as you say, our thoughts turn
rather to the great good that he
has done than to tbe sadness of
his death. We cannot be too thankful for the strong foundation that
he laid, and the inspiration he has
given whereby to carry on the work.
Very Sincerely Yours,
H. B. Frissell.
THE BOARDING SCHOOL PUPIL.
What is he ? What are his limitations, what his possibilities, and
i what our responsibitity concerning
him ? We all recognize in part tbe
difficulties under which he works,
his ignorance of t he language, habits
and customs of his new environment, not alone his ignorance of
tbem externally, but his ignorance
of their inner meaning and the
bearingthey have on his civilization.
We know that some of our ways
strike him as even more absurd than
his do us simply because he does not
see their hidden meaning and tlieir
unconscious influence. Andlsome
times think we are in danger of trying to drive these things into him,
instead of instilling them into him,
and in this way failing to get the
spirit of the thing into him at all.
penders and back hair is true also j the higher, or shall they, recogniz-
of all things along the same line,
of personal cleanliness, of neatness
and order and promptness. He
fails utterly to recognize the ethical
bearing of these things, and in
this lies his most serious limitation.
His possibilities.—We can but
admit the largeness of them when
we see what he has already done,
andknow that, as the natural tendency of christian civilization is growth,
he must necessarily do still more.
We have watched him overcome
native indolence, native ignorance,
native conservatism. We have seen
him struggle up against heavy odds,
we have seen him learn to conquer
self, that most insidious of enemies,
one that after every defeat rises
stronger than before only to find
the conqueror's strength increased
in double ratio.
Our responsibility concerning
him.—Before we recognize his limitation we expect too much of him.
We forget that he is walking a new
road where he must feel every step ;
of the way. We grow impatient
over his repeated failures, his consequent discouragement and his inclination to either stop or turn back.
After we recognize his limitations,
and before we recognize his possibilities we expect too little of him;
wre do not throw him enough
on his own resources, and consequently fail to develop them. We
begin ourselves to fear failure for
him and we prop him up and help
him along, and guide him here, and
guard him there, until his individuality is weakened, and he becomes helpless when left to his own
efforts entirely. A man will never
learn to swim with a life-preserver.
If you want to teach him to swim,
support him until he has gained
confidence and then withdraw your
support gradually. He will strike
out for himself before he is conscious
that he is no longer dependent upon
you. The confidence once gained
will not be easily destroyed. We
wrong him every time we do for him
that which he can and ought to do
for himself.
It seems especially desirable too
for us to make him realize, if possible, his opportunities, so that we
shall not have to go out for him,
but he will come in to us. It has
been suggested that at our University (Santee), the pupil shall pay a
nominal sum for his tuition, simply
byway of teaching him that a thing
worth having has its price. How
we can induce him to pay for the
privilege of coming into our schools,
when the Government school stands
ready to pay him. for coming into it,
is our problem.
Then again, what shall be the
character of the accepted pupil?
And where one object of the lower
school is to train pupils for the
higher, is it wise to take a pupil
who will never by any possibility be
fitted to enter the higher school.
Haven't we reached the point where
MARRIED.
Biggs-Bideout.—At Hudson, 0.,
June 28, at the Congregational
church, the Bev. C. W. Carroll officiating, Mr. Frederick B. Biggs, of
Santee Agency, Neb., and Miss
Adelaide A. Eideout, of Hudson, 0.
The young people of the church
provided profuse and elegant floral
decorations, and made everything
pass off in the most delightful
manner.
A UNIQUE PUNISHMENT.
An Indian teacher tells how he
punished two of his own family for
disobedience.
"My two boys are growing to be
quite large but I have never whipped either one of them. Their
mother has done that kind of thing
some times but I never have'. But
one time I came very near it. It
was on a hot day in mid summer.
We were ready for our noon meal
when I told the boys to go for some
cool water. We were in a hurry
and I told them to be quick. They
hurried off as though they would be
back in short order, but we saw no
more of them till night. Then they
came straggling in and I was thinking hard as to how I could punish
them. I thought it would be right
for me to give them a hard whipping. But then I pittied them and
thought also that some other punishment might be better. I wanted
to make them feel as ashamed of
themselves as I could. So I told
them both to stand in the middle of
the room. Then I ordered them to
dance the grass dance (awild Indian
dance). They were astonished and
stood motionless. I again ordered
them to dance. They looked at me
strangely and said that they didn't
know how. I said, 'That don't make
any difference, you are to sing for
yourselves and dance the grass
dance.' The older one was ready
to cry and the younger whimpered
out, 'But we don't know the song
either.' 'Then you can make up
a song,' I said. 'You have heard
a few words of the song 1 know.
Now you are to dance! Begin
right off! Quick!!' They saw that
! there was no getting out of it, so
they started in, yelling senselessly
and hopping about. When I let
them stop they were so ashamed of
themselves that they never after-
\ wards were disobedient to me."
F. B. B.