The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1894-03

              The Word Carrier
VOLUME   XXIII.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMHER 3.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBRASKA.
MARCH, 1894.
FIFTY CENTS PEE YEAR.
OUR   PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education! We ivant American Homes!
We want American Rights! The results of which is American Citizenship!
And tlie gospel is the Power of God for
tlieir Salvation!
A FRIEND OF THE INDIAN.
I recall with pleasure my last in-
terivew with Miss Elizabeth Peabody, it was so thoroughly characteristic of her. In a furious snowstorm, about six years ago, I found
myself at the windiest corner in
Boston,—that corner at which the
late Judge Russell thought that a
shorn lamb should be kept always
tethered. It was necessary to cross
the street, but the snow was already
so drifted that the task seemed formidable. Presently I saw dimly
through the falling flakes an aged
lady with loose white curls. She
was stumbling across unaided, and
once or twice seemed actually falling in the very track of vehicles.
Hastening forward to aid her, I discerned Miss Elizabeth Peabody,
who took my proffered arm, and
struggling up, looked me in the face.
"Oh!" she said, "'I was wishing I
could see you ; there is trouble about
Sarah Winnemucca. Now you
know (but I did not know in the least)
that there are people who do the
greateste injustic to Sarah Winnemucca, and the fact is that"—And
so she went talking steadily on, telling her tale, utterly oblivious of the
snow storm, and as placidly as if we
were sitting together on a balcony by
a summer sea, as long as I could
continue with her. Sarah Winnemucca, an educated Indian half-
breed, was just then her latest object
of enthusiasm. All her hopes and
thoughts were concentrated on this
lady's Indian school. She had gone
out alone on that formidable day,
at the age of eight-four, to see somebody about it. And if she had been
rescued from drowning—it really
came very near to that—she would
simply have resumed the theme of
importance with her rescuer, and ignored all else. It is really a delight
that the last image of one to whom I
had owed so much should have been
in so wholly unique and characteristic a situation.—J. W. Higginson in
Harper's Bazar.
EASTER AT SANTEE.
Our observance of the joyful Easter festival began Saturday evening
with the Christian Endeavor prayer meeting. Pupils and teachers
rilled the entire time with helpful
thoughts. Sunday morning dawned bright but chilly. At prayers and
throughout all the services of the
day the beautiful assurance of the
resurrection was uppermost in all
minds. Lovinghands brightenedthe
chapel with a large number of potted plants in bloom. Pastor Ehnamani at the morning Dakota service,
preached of the conversion of Paul
and of the power of the Holy Spirit
saying, "By the Holy Spirit we too
should go out to save men." The
special service was in the afternoon.
After an anthem by the choir the
congregation joined in a responsive service of suitable scripture selections interspersed with Easter
hymns from Laudes Domini. One
hymn was sweetly and distinctly
sung by little girls from the Pri
mary class. An earnest, helpful
sermon by Dr. Riggs preceeded the
offering for Home Missions. The
contribution, forty dollars, speaks
well for the patriotism of the school
and church. E. W.
OUR  MISSOURI RIVER.
It seems somewhat presumptuous
to write anything about a subject so
familiar as our river and hills, and
yet one or two thoughts about them,
of late, have given me a greater interest in them, and possibly it may
be the same with some others.
I used to wonder how it happened that this irregular mass of hills
and hollows should occur between
the prairies of South Dakota and
those of Northern Nebraska. And
I could not feel quite satisfied with
the explanation that some of the Indians are said to have given, that
when God made the earth he had it
all finished when Saturday sunset
came,except this little part,so he left
it rough as it was, rather than break
in upon the Sabbath rest to finish it.
To one who has lived where the
streams make but little impression
upon their gravelly beds, the amount
that a river can do, in a sandy or
clayey region, in cutting out and
fashioning the face of the country is
a marvel. Owen Meredith has said
in Lucile.
"The mountains, the great cities, and the sea,
Are each an era in the life of youth."
In my own case, the first time I
had an opportunity to study for myself the work done by a river in a
sandy or loose soil, I felt much of
the same charm that came with the
first acquaintance with the sea and
the mountains. In each case, seeing is much more than hearing.
A river seems to have a distinct personality of its own. Tennyson has
beautifully expressed this thought
in his personification of a brook:
"I wind about, and in and out,
With here a blossom sailing;
And here and there a lusty trout,
And here and there a grayling.
And out again I curve and flow
To join the brimming river,
For men may come, and men may go,
But I go on forever."
And when we see the immense
energy, and to all appearance, the
voluntary activity of a great river,
as it cuts away a bank here, and
builds up a meadow there, and by
and by breaks through some obstacle and makes a new channel for
itself, we hardly wonder that the
Tiber and Ganges and Nile have
been looked upon with awe, as personifications of some powerful deity.
So, while we have no mountains
and no sea to give grandeur to our
scenery, let us not forget that our
river has a character of its own,
and a highly respectable one. We
are apt to narrow our view of it to
the little section we see in crossing-
it and forget the three thousand
miles of its course from its sources
in Yellowstone Park and the mountains of Montana,crossing or bordering seven great states,till it reaches the Mississippi near the busy
city of St. Louis. We are apt to
think its waters rather uninviting
and its scenery tame. But the
scenery of the Upper Missouri is
said to be remarkable for its grandeur. It passes through one gorge
called the gates of the Rocky Mountains where the walls are 1200 feet
high,  and  450 feet  apart   for   a
distance of nearly six miles. At
Great Falls, in Montana, is a fall
of eighty-seven feet, and the accompanying series of falls and rapids extends for over sixteen miles.
We are apt also to forget that the
river has any history. But it was
one of the natural highways in the
exploration of America. I have
forgotten most of the story, but I
can distinctly remember the intense interest that, I felt when a
child in poring over a fragment
of a book describing the expedition of Lewis and Clarke up the
Missouri in 1804.
But there is an older bit of history concerning the Missouri that
has especially interested me this
fall. If you will notice the next
time you go through Yankton to
Sioux City, you will see that just
beyond the mouth of the James
River the Missouri valley undergoes a great change. Above that
point the valley is about two miles
wide, but below that point it is a
great deal wider, more nearly nine
or ten miles wide. The railroad
runs along the river bottom, which
seems like a wide prairie with
bluffs far off in the distance. What
could make all that difference ?
It is said that the Missouri has
not always followed the course it
now takes. Those who have studied the surface of. the country about
here have found that the bed of
the James River is cut through an
older river bed that was much
wider, proving that a much larger
river once flowed where the James
now flows. That could have been
no other than the Missouri. What
then could have changed it ?
The eastern bank in South Dakota is hemmed in by some irregular
hills like those here on the reservation, and examination of these hills
shows that they are all of glacial
origin. In short, our hills and
those of Yankton Agency and the
counties north, are just the heaps of
gravel and stones left by the glaciers.
The glaciers stopped right here, and
so we cease to find the hills and rocks
in Southern Nebraska.
These piles of stones and gravel
obstructed the former course of the
Missouri, it is said, and pushed it
far to the west. But near where
the Niobrara enters it, it broke
through the glacial moraine again,
and so flowed along north and east
of our hills till it met again its former channel. The ancient bed of the
Missouri was filled up with loose
material brought in by the glaciers.
Then the James gathered up the
waters that were left, forming a
tributary where the main stream
formerly flowed. And now in digging wells along trie banks of the
James, men dig down many feet
first through the lighter material
that was brought in, and afterward
come to the harder bed that was
formerly the Missouri river bottom.
For myself, I have quite an affection for the Missouri, and while I
do not suppose many of us feel for
it so much enthusiasm as the Germans feel for the Rhine, yet I think
I am not the only one who has felt
a thrill of pleasure when he could
say ou his return, after some
months of absence, "There's the
river! and there's the mission!"
Edith Leonard.
THE SEWING SCHOOL.
Our sewing school in December
had an attendance of thirteen, three
from the Dakota Home, and nine
little girls from the Birds' Nest.
The girls from the Dakota Home,
whose ages were from sixteen to
eighteen came two hours every
morning, excepting Saturday. I
found them quite expert with the
needle, having been for several
years in the mission scliool at Fort
Berthold, where a general knowledge of different kinds of work is
taught.
The object of our sewing school is
to teach plain sewing, how to use
patterns, how to cut out common
garments, and the care and use of
the sewing machine. The little girls
from the Birds' Nest, were particularly interesting to me. Such bright
happy little things ! Some of them
could'nt speak a word of English,
having just entered school this fall.
These came for an hour and a half
every afternoon to make clothes for
their dolls. The older ones could
sew quite nicely, but the younger
ones found it quite difficult to hold
the needle and use the thimble. It
did not take long for these little tots,
babies in fact, not more then five
or six years old, to learn how to
use the thimble. For were they not
going to make pretty new dresses for
for dolly—all themselves ? and this
was enough to make them overcome all obstacles. What if the
stitches were crooked and sadly out
of place, it was enough to see their
happy faces, and willing hands trying so hard to make the seams and
hems look nice. They held it a
great honor to be permitted to come
to sewing school to be taught how
to sew, an event in their lives
which will not soon be forgotten.
Before the month was out there
was great improvement in tlieir
work; no more crooked stitches,
and their button holes would be
a credit to many an older person.
At the beginning of each month
new classes are formed. In January
I had a class of four of the intermediate girls. Their ages being
from twelve to sixteen. Their hours
were from 1:30 to 4:00 o'clock
p. m. excepting Saturday. I found
them all very bright and willing
to learn. Three of them understand and talk English perfectly,
having been in school here a number of years. Each girl is given
a pattern which she uses in cutting
out her own work. In this way she
is made to feel some responsibility.
One of these girls, who is sixteen
years old came from Rosebud Agency three months ago. She could
then hardly speak a word of English. She had been in school but
a short time before she came to us
and was barely able to read in her
own language. Now she speaks
enough English to be well understood. Her knowledge of sewing
was very limited, but she soon
showed such interest, remembered
so well every thing that was told
her, that to teach her is a pleasure. Now at the close of four
weeks, she has improved wonderfully, and is the most reliable girl
in the class. J. M. Lind.
Santee Normal Training School Press,
Santee Agency, Neb.