The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1893-09

              The Word Carrier.
VOLUME   XXII.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBER   0.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBBASKA.
SEPTEMBER, 1893.
FIFTY GENTS 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
tlieir Salvation!
The Government boarding school
scheme should he modified so as to
embrace an extensive hospital service. Very many of the Indian children are diseased. But these are
as far as possible left at home.
Good care, proper food and medical
help at the right time would cure
many of them and materially help
all of them. The present scheme
of boarding schools is based upon
the total population of school age,
instead of upon those tit for the
school room. Upon the latter basis
it is largely overdone. Hence the
unseemly scramble for pupils by
the representatives of the schools.
There are not enough well pupils to
fill them all, and they do not have
any place for the sick ones. However, inadvertently, they do gather
in some who should go to the hospi-
tal rather than to the school room.
These frequently die on their hands
because of the lack of the right
care, and bring a bad name to the
school, and to education generally.
It may be late in the day to ask
the question, what are these Indian
schools for? But so far,the question
remains unanswered. That is, the
government school does not, in any
large measure, meet the needs ofthe
people. It is organized on the assumption that the Indian needs just
the same school diet that we are
cramming down the throats of American English-speaking youngsters.
Our boys and girls may stand it, and
may escape from it without chronic
mental dyspepsia, or they may not.
But it touches the Indian youth in
quite a different way. Not so much
that he is incapable of receiving
the dose, but it does not find his
constitution fortified by other influences which are hereditary with
the American youth,—influences
of home and civilized society, to
which the Indian youth is as
yet a stranger. Consequently the
scheme of the school fails to do for
him what it is expected to do, because it is aiming at what is merely
a supplementary work and not the
whole work in education. It is content to administer a concoction of
multiplication, fractions, reading,
spelling, English grammar, and a
little shoe blacking, and to call that
education. Instead, it should aim
at communicating the whole art of
living. Hence the need of hospital and infirmary annexes, which
should be health-schools and sanitariums, and not morgues.
The mission school has a different
and more limited function. Here,
the school is planted, not for general
education, but, for the particular
training of a certain number for
missionary work. ThisVierm isof
course taken in its broadest sense,
and may cover the training of
teachers for service outside its own
lines. And it may, to a certain extent, open its advantages to other
pupils.    But the fact remains that
the responsibility does not rest upon it for providing hospital accommodation or health retreats. This
may be done as a beneficent ciiris-
tian work, and in connection with
the school work, but on a separate
endowment. Circumstances may
justify and demand it, but this is
outside of the work of the school.
One unfortunate result of the
present condition of things is that
the mission sehool pupils have been
the prey of the Government school
agent during the summer vacation.
Two years ago our Oahe school
was taken off almost bodily to the
new government school started in
its vicinity. There were plenty of
children and youth who needed their
help more than these, but they were
after the bright, well pupils. Our
Santee school has had some experience in the same line. The Indian Bureau has stringent rules
protecting the schools against each
other, but they are not understood
to apply to mission schools, except
one way.
The new military agent at Fort
Berthold, may his days he numbered, has worked himself up into a
blind rage over the transfer of a
pupil from our Fort Berthold mission school to Santee Normal Training School. The girl was promoted
from that school to this, according
to her own wish, with the consent
of her parents, and under authority
from the Commissioner of Indian
Affairs. But the doughty Captain
likens it to the raiding of villages
by Arab slave stealers.
J. A. CHADBOURNE,
Seven years ago, Mr. James A.
Chadbourne came to this school as
; assistant principal.    His own needs
! and those of his family have made
i a change seem desirable for him,
; and he has therefore given up his
[ position and returned to New England.    He leaves warm friends behind him, to whom he has endeared
; himself by his frank and generous
; disposition, and his patient, faithful work.
He has been thorough in his class
work, painstaking and ingenious in
making  clear to minds unaccustomed to think, the truths he wished
to teach.    The training the young
men received from him in tlieir military drill has been of great benefit.
Toward the teachers who worked
with him, he has been disposed to
accord the fullest liberty to work in
their own way, while at the same
time, his earnest desire that all
should work in the best way, has
! secured for  the  teachers regular
i weekly business and prayer meet-
I ings which have stimulated them to
more earnestness and helped them
I to work harmoniously.
Mr.Chadbourne   has  been thoroughly interested in all things relat-
! ing to good citizenship,and has been
ready to do his part in such matters
' even when it would have been much
more, agreeable to let them  alone.
He was practically the'one who
j started the Christian Endeavor Society here, and during the first two
1 years was its president; and no one
here has done'more then he to make
it a power for good.
He will be "remembered by what
he has done "
CHICKEN'S  AND   INDIANS.
The occupation that shall have
the most civilizing effect on Indians has long been in question.
It has often been wisely argued
that cattle raising is peculiarly fit
for Indians. When arguing this
side of the case, people seem to
forget that stock raising is one of
the wildest forms of occupation.
The cow boys and the Indians are
wild men—simply different kinds
of savages. Even though they do
not become cow boys themeselves,
the Indian young men readily acquire the worst features of the cattle men. Indeed, cow boy life has
made so great an impression on
the rising generation of Indians,
that the highest ideal of many an
otherwise promising Indian young
man is to imitate cow boys. They
wear cow boy hats, talk cow boy
language and walk like cow boys.
In the eyes of the Indian young
man, the cow boy has come to be the
representative of civilization. The
combination of Indian heathenism
with cow boy deviltry is not likely to be productive of good citizenship. The care of cattle on the
plains, is at its best, a rude, rough,
wild and cruel occupation. It fits
in very naturally with the Indian
instinct for roving, and it does not
tend at all towards changing his
natural delight in the ba.rbarities
of the chase. A common reason
for Indians being fit for the cattle business is, that because they
hunted buffalo they can chase
cattle. This is no more foolish
than the other arguments to the
same end.
A great many of the Sioux Indians have already gathered small
herds. These cattle run wild on the
great reservation. They rarely receive any care, and the indian very
seldom pays any other attention
to them than to run his ponies half
to death chasing them twice a year
on what is called the "lound up."
The Indian is generally too lazy
to brand his own calves, so he is
continually losing the increase of
his stock over the borders of the
reservation, where it is driven into white men's herds by the cow
boys.
Cattle raising for the Indians
means loafing most of the • time,
and wild inhuman chasing occasionally. If he comes to pay closer
attention to his cattle the result will
doubtless be an arabian style of roving. It goes decidedly against the
Indian's grain to live in any one
place more than a few weeks at a
time. When he goes to the Agency
for his rations he usually spends
much more time than is necessary
on the way,—any excuse to camp
out. He will even pitch his tent
two miles from home early in
the evening when both roads and
weather are good.   ,
Now suppose he is to derive
his livelihood from his herd. The
land is of such a character that'
even a small herd requires several
thousand acres of grazing surface,
affairs is a necessary result of the
present tendencies. As it now is
the Indian is very rarely at home ;
even though the whole influence
of the government is exerted to
keep him there. Most of the land
the Indians occupy is not fit for
agriculture. It is fit for cattle
raising.
But there are other domestic
animals, pigs and poultry, for instance. A man cannot go away for
a week and leave his chickens to
take care of themselves. If Indians raise chickens and pigs they
will have to stay at home. Out on
the great Sioux reservation at present there are a few families who
have a homelike disposition. They
are the only ones who keep pigs and
chickens. Indians have always cultivated more orless corn, and though
extensive farming is impossible,corn
can be raised in sufficient quantity
to keep pigs and chicken. Moreover, pigs find a great deal of fodder
in wild grass roots, artichokes and
other tubers. During the summer
time pigs will "rustle" for their own
food, and will need little attention. And since grasshoppers are
one of the chief products of the
northwest, Providence intended
chickens to follow.
In cattle raising the Indian will
always be a roving wild man. But
if he is taught to support himself
on corn, pigs, and poultry, he will
necessarily settle down into a quiet
home life. F. B. B.
The Printing Department of
Santee Normal Training School is
adding several things to our Dakota vernacular literature. 1. The
Lords' Prayer in clear large type
for wall use. 2. Life of Abraham
Lincoln andaselectionfrom iEsop's
Fables. This is intended as a small
reading book for schools. The life
of Lincoln is a translation by Bev.
James Garvie, and the translation
of iEsop is by Miss Jennie Cox (now
Mrs. Aungie) and Miss Eunice
Kitto. 3. Akiciyupta Yawapi, a
Besponsive Bible Beading on the
Besurrection, prepared by Bev. T.
L. Biggs of Oahe. 4. Manual for
Dakota Y. M. C. A. meetings by
Bev. James Garvie.
A number of our former pupils
have recently been married. At
Sisseton Agency, S. D., August 2,
Albert Brant and Margaret Le
Bland; and August 20, John Ortley
and Anna Lovejoy. At Yankton
Agency, S. D., August 6, George
Blackowl and Minnie Oneelk. At
Crow Creek Agency, S. D., Daniel
Eagle and Lizzie Spotted eagle. All
but Daniel's wife have been Santee
pupils.
Mr. Iver P. Wold and family left
Santee for Eugene City, Oregon,
August ,28. It is now thirteen years
since Mr. Wold came to us to be
Superintendent of our shoe shop.
With the exception of one year,
when he took a trip to California, he
has served the school continuously
and even if the Indian is not al- j in this capacity. A better workman
lowed to rove with his herd over the   cannot bo found.    We feel grate-
whole reservation of his tribe, he
will migrate round about on his own
little patch of land. Such ways of
life will never lead to American
citizenship.    And this condition of
ful that our boys have had such
a good instructor, and for so many
years. 'The place is waiting now
for another earnest christian workman to fill it.