The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1894-02

              The Word Carrier
VOLUME   XXII1.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT.   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG,
NUMBER 2.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBEASKA.
FEBRUARY, 1894.
FIFTY CENTS PEE YEAE.
OUR   PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights! Tlie results of which is American Citizenship!
And the gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
Once you get a man to consider
his savings he will begin to look af
ter his spendings. The most hopeful sign we have discovered recently
of progress among our Santees is the
fact that a considerable number of
them have deposits in the bank.
When Chas. Hill, Esq., retired from
the charge of this Agency three years
and a half ago he moved across the
river to Springfield and tookcharge of
the bank of Geo.W. Snow & Co. As
he had been so long identified with
the Agency, and as the Indians had
perfect confidence in him they got to
dropping in at the bank to see him and
then to leave a little money. While
it is not the policy of the bank to
encourage deposits Mr. Hill hastak
en some pains to explain matters to
the Indians and has been very care
ful to have them understand just
what the bank could do and then to
scrupulously fulfill the terms of a-
greement. The result is that their
deposits now aggregate $8,278.16.
They are mostly time deposits.
One half of this has been with the
bank from one to two years and has
gradually grown up to the present amount. Banker Hdl deserves
thanks for the interest and pains
he has taken in this new move.
And these Santees are to be congratulated upon what they have
learned which is worth even more
to them than the three thousand
dollars in the bank.
Alice Fletcher, in the January
Century tells in an engaging way of
her explorations in the field of Indian music. She has done more
than report from an outsider's point
of view. She has felt the mysterious
spell of the occasion, has entered
into the heart of the singer and
thus has reached the under melody
of the song. Very few of those who
write up the Indian are able to come
as near to the feelings of the Indian. As chants adapted to the solemn ceremonies of their religious
rites these rude strains have a musical force before unsuspected. For
after all music is fit or unfit, good or
bad, as it does or does not give expression to the emotions belonging
to the occasion. To read the Indian's music one must be in sympathy with its occasion.
However, John C. Fillmore, to
whom Miss Fletcher submitted a
hundred of her Indian songs, and
who has also listened to them when
given by the Indians themselves,
goes further than this. He finds
as a "characteristic of the primitive musie of our own American
natives one of the most striking
characteristics of the modern romantic composers as regards harmony in the free use of the major
cords of the over-third and under-
third as well as of the over-sixth
and under-sixth." He says further : "In short, all melodic and harmonic resources to be found in our
music, even the most modern and
'advanced' are also to be found in
this   primitive   music."     And he
suggests that if the music of some
of their solemn ceremonies were
to be compared with some of the
commonplace jingles so frequent
in our Sunday schools aud in some
of our churches, the comparison
would hardly result in our favor.
ANOTHER AGENCY SCHOOL BURNED.
On the 8th of this month between
6 and 7 in the evening the Pine
Bidge Agency sehool burned to the
ground. No lives were lost. Very
few of the teachers were able to
save any of their effects. The property of the school is a total loss.
Besides the main school building
which contained living rooms, kitchen, dining room and dormitories,
the adjacent brick building, where
were the school rooms, also burned.
The whole tribe being present at the
Agency for the annual clothing issue, the children were quickly cared
for by their parents. The estimated loss on the buildings is $60,000.
But as the main building was very
old it is likely that that is nearly
double the real loss.
The following letter just received
from one of the teachers will be
read with much interest.
Pine Ridge, February 12, 1894.
I suppose that by this time you
have heard of the terrible calamity
that has befallen our Pine Bidge
school home. Last Thursday evening at supper time little did we
think that before eight o'clock we
would be homeless.
After supper I went to my class
room, corrected some exercises,
talked a little while with some of
my boys then went up stairs to my
room till the first study hour bell
would ring. In a few minutes two
of my girls came up to visit me.
We sat and talked a few minutes
when we heard the night bell being
rung, but often the big bell turns
over so supposed this was the case.
I said to the girls: "There goes the
first bell, let us go." They started down and I went to the stand
for my keys and leisurely sauntered
downstairs. Going down I found Mr.
Taylor ringing the alarm as hard
as he could. "The house is on fire,"
he said. I rushed back to my room
gathered what clothes I could and
started. When I came down the
first time the fire was pouring out
of the front of the building. When
I came down the second time the
front of the building fell in.
The fire started in the girls' south
east dormitory, just over what was
our sitting room. The origin of the
fire is not and 1 suppose will never
be known. However, those who were
there first say that it started in the
dormitory closet. It must have
been smouldering for a long time
before the alarm was given. The
closet was burned and the ceiling
fell in on Mr. Davis room below.
The wind was from the north, so
that those who lived on the north
side were very fortunate indeed,
it took fifty minutes for the main
buildings to burn against the wind.
Assembly Hall caught fire and
nothing remained but the walls.and
two of them have fallen in since
Thursday. Hard work saved the
boiler house. The water tank and
out buildings are badly scorched.
The laundry still stands. It with
the burnt pile is all that is left to
remind  us of once  happy school
and home.
After removing what things were
saved to a safe distance and placing a guard over them we went with
heavy hearts and tearful eyes to
the hospitable homes of the Agency
and Mission people who have been
so very kind to us. Though our
hearts are sad at the misfortune
that has happened to the children
of this Beservation in the loss ofthe
school, yet we are grateful that no
lives were lost.
We had organized our Junior Endeavor Society just three weeks before the fire. The children took
great interest in the meetings, and
it seemed to have begun to do a
good work among them.
Annie A. Burr.
the dawes association.
Pine Ridge Agency, So. Dak.,
January 11, 1894.
I beg leave to submit herewith a
part of our constitution. I shall
send the constitution and by-laws
in whole when completed.
The Preamble and object of our
association is as follows.
Preamble : In order to acquire a
better knowledge of Indian treaties
and prepare ourselves for citizenship of the United States, We, the
undersigned hereby form ourselves
into an association to be known as
The Dawes Association.
Object: The object fo this association shall be the mutual help of its
members for the preparation of worthy citizenship ofthe United States.
I have, in suggesting this association, believed that such is christian
like in the work and that my labors
in organizing this association have
been to me as happy thoughts. I
would like very much to write you a
longer letter after a while and earnestly desire the faculty and students of your school to be interested
in the work organized by and for
the Sioux Indians. Our association
shall again be glad to receive words
from you for encouragement.
Yours Bespectfully,
Henry Standing Bear,
Corresponding Secretary.
This item will be of interest to
those who know Mr. W. F. Cash
who was formerly at Santee. He is
now at Idaho Falls, Idaho, which
is situated in a mountainous district abounding in game such as
any hunter would be pleased to furnish his table with. Mr. Cash,with a
friend of his, Mr. Schum, went on
a hunting and fishing expedition a
short time ago. They had prepared themselves with team, wagon,
tent, camp stove, cooking utensils,
to cook the game if they captured
any, plenty of ammunition, rifle,
shotguns, and fishing tackle.
The snow was on the ground so
that they could track game without
any trouble. When they pitched
their tent and got their fire going
in their camp stove they were so
comfortable they could almost believe they were at home. At one
of the streams they cut a hole in
the ice and caught eighty-three
trout in twenty-seven minutes.
Large game was in abundance.
They killed thirty-one deer and seven elk. They also killed a large
number of pheasants, grouse and
sagehens. W. H.
CHRISTMAS  AT POPLAR.
Christmas morning dawned cold
and clear at Poplar. All day the sun
shone out gloriously. With evening
the indulgent moon shed silvery rays
on happy children and older ones as
at the ringing of the bell they gathered at the little chapel for the Christmas celebration. There was to be a
tree and a few exercises,so much they
knew. Then there were rumors of the
arrival of a Christmas box, a whole
pail of candy, and, it was whispered,
that Santa Claus himself was to appear. And was not all that quite
enough to set every little heart bounding with anticipation and tongues
chattering as noisily as magpies ?
For several hours the minister's
study had been full of children and
grown people from the BoKpa neighborhood, three miles away. These
got into rapid motion at the first
stroke of the bell, and in an almost
incredibly short space of time were
seeking admittance at the closed
doors of the chapel. Tbe long
haired boys and the girls with big
shawls slipping from their heads,
immediately subsided as they entered the door and moved quietly
to the places assigned them, gazing
with wide open eyes at the attractions
at the farther end of the room.
The tree, reaching from floor
to ceiling, stood draped with strings
of frosty looking popcorn, and
patriotic chains of red, white and
blue paper; here and there hung
a brilliant orange; dolls peeped out
from under the branches; pretty
white handkerchiefs shone like blossoming lillies; while mud turtles
and green lizards crawled along the
limbs. Beneath the tree, bright
picture books and articles too heavy
to be hung upon it appeared.
So absorbed were they in contemplating the wonders before them
that they quite forgot to join in the
opening Dakota hymn, and the imploring glances and emphatic nods
of the organist towards them were
entirely lost. Had they not been
singing those hymns over and over,
while this was something new which
they could not see afterward when
they could sing? There were a few
English recitations, some bible quotations spoken by grown people
seated in different parts of the
house, all about Christ's coming to
the earth, and some songs. The
minister told them in Dakota, why
people have celebrations on Christmas. Then while a piece about
"bells ringing" was being sung they
heard some one outside, and in
came Santa Claus blowing a trumpet and jingling his bells, with a big
pack on his back and a bundle of
switches. These he distributed a-
mong the parents while from his
pack he took candy bags which he
gave to every body. And every
one laughed and talked and had a
good time. Meanwhile the tree
was being lit up, or rather the little
candles on it, which made it look
prettier than ever, and very soon
the presents were taken off, one by
one, the names on them read aloud
and Santa and others carried them
to the right persons till all got some-
thing.if it was only a penwiper. Then
the tree was dismantled of its popcorn, the oranges were distributed,
and all joined heartily in a closing
Dakota hymn.        A. L. Miller.
Poplar, Mont., January 4, 1894.