The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1895-06 - 1895-07

              The Word Carrier
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VOLUME   XXIV.
HELPING   THE    RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBERS «-7,
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBRASKA.
JUNE-JULY, i8q5.
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR.
OUR   PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education.' We want American Homes!
We want American RighU! The re
wits of which is American Citizenship!
And the gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation'
MISSION COUNCIL.
The Indian Mission Council of
the American Missionary Association held an exceedingly profitable
meeting at Santee Agency, Neb.,
May 24-28. Secretary Ryder was
present from New York, Rev. J. G.
Burgess from Crow Agency, Montana, Rev. C. L. Hall from Fort Berthold, N. D., Rev. G. W. Reed from
Fort Yates, N. D.,Mr. and Mrs. Rev.
Thomas L. Riggs Oahe, S. D., Mr.
and Mrs. Rev. J. F. Cross from Rosebud Agency, S. D., with the full
complement of the missionary
workers at Santee Normal Training
School.
Much difficult business in the adjustment of the affairs of the Mission field was done. Further reduction of expenses had to be arranged for the coming year. Although this year the Missionary
Association is very good to us and
the cut is not severe. But we had
fondly hoped to enlarge instead of
cutting down still more.
The discussion of the themes presented was free and helpful. The
bringing together of the thoughts
and experiences of the members
shed light upon the questions that
will insure practical results.
That for which we will remember
the meeting most gratefully is the
spiritual uplift gained from it. Missionary Burgess among his far off
Crows will go many days in the
strength of it. And those who live
in the older fields are confirmed in
their faith by the story of the difficulties and victories of these new
outposts.
The notes of the discussions will
appear in the Word Carrier as a
sort of mosaic for which no one need
to be held responsible, but out of
which suggestions may be gathered.
The Council will meet next spring
at Oahe.
YOUNG MISSIONARIES.
The Juvenile Missionary Society
of Oahe was established in the
spring of '93 with Ruth Red Star as
President. It was decided not to
fill the minor offices, until the society knew itself a little better, and
as it worked with the Woman's
Missionary Society it can hardly be
said that it was a separate society
until the spring of '94, when it began
to hold its meetings independently,
and work along different .lines.
Meanwhile however it did some work
in addition to its regular work with
the older society. Miss Lyttle of
Micronesia, who was at her home
in Oberlin, asked through the columns of the Congregationalist for
contributions of dolls and other
toys for the children of Micronesia.
Miss Hunnewell told the children
about this, and asked how many of
them were willing to give their
Christmas dollies to the little Micronesian   children.     Ten   of   them
promptly responded and under Miss
HunnewelFs direction the dolls were
newly and prettily dressed, and sent
to Oberlin. In the spring of '94,
when the society was reorganized,
the children pledged a penny a week
to be used for missionary purposes.
Some of them found it impossible
to always meet the pledge, but the
money that was given was expended
for dainty cambric which the children, with Anna Meyer's help made
into pretty scrapbooks which they
sent to Miss Griffiths for her young
people at Plum Creek. This kept
them busy until the close of school
when they separated for the summer. J. E. P.
During the autumn of 1894, the
Oahe Juvenile Missionary Society
again engaged in work under the supervision of Miss Hunnewell. The
members of the society chose a
name for themselves, and they
are now to be known as "The
Light Bearers," "Iyoyanpa Yuha
Unpi."
This society takes into membership children under twelve years of
age, both boys and girls: the most
of the members are pupils of the
Oahe School. The officers are a
President and Vice President, and
a Treasurer, the latter office being
held by one of the missionaries who
acts as Director of the Society.
The children meet every Wednesday afternoon at the time of the
meeting of the women's missionary
society. This year their work has
consisted in making Dakota dolls
and scrap books, the dollies are to
be sent to China and the scrap-
books to some needy children in
our own country. The missionary
in charge tells the children stories
of children in other lands and of
other mission schools, and tries
to. give them an idea of general
missionary work. To give "a penny
a week" is the aim of each. The work
hour closes with a short prayer-
meeting : the children select hymns,
and recite Bible verses and often
at the close, all kneel and after
a prayer by the leader, the children follow with "sentenceprayers,"
closing with The Lord's Prayer,
in unison.
A very pleasant letter was received this year from Miss Kinney
of Anpas, Ruk, in the Micronesian
Islands, to whose pupils our children sent their Christmas dollies last
year. The Micronesian girls also
sent some pretty shells' and some
bright red seeds which they string
for beads, all of which are very interesting to our girls and boys, and
seem to bring that far away country
nearer.
-- So we are endeavoring to train
our children up in the missionary
service. They will graduate from
this society into The Woman's Missionary Society, and into the Endeavor Societies and the Young
Men's Christian Association. After
January 1, 1895, Mrs. T. L. Riggs
became the director of the society,
but in May Miss Kennedy relieved
her. Perhaps she will at some future time tell The Word Carrier
more of The Light Bearers and
their work. M. L. R.
Oahe, S. D. June I. 1S95.
Santee Normal Training School Press,
Santee Agency, Neb.
COW BOY LIFE IN THE WEST.
Every fall thousands of young
cattle are shipped from Texas to
the western part of South Dakota.
There they run at large until old
enough to be shipped to Chicago for
beef.
In the late spring a number of
men are sent out to round these cattle up. They are joined by representatives of the smaller ranches
who by working for the large companies sueh as the "Flying V." and
the "Turkey Track," get their board
and at the same time round up their
own cattle. 1 know that you will
ask as I did, "Why do those companies take those queer names ?"
For the simplest reasons in the
world. The brand of one is like a
V with wings. See! The other
brand looks like the track of a Turkey. The Flying "V have just
brought a bunch of fifteen hundred
wild cattle down through the Moreau River Valley. These are not
like the gentle cows which you have
seen grazing in the country and
from which some little girls, yes and
big girls too, run in terror. No indeed ! They are wild as can be.
No one dare go near them on foot.
The cow boys look formidable as
they ride among the cattle on their
not much less wild bronchos. How
you boys would like to see them.
Great sombreros, pistol belts and
revolvers, high boots and spurs.
Ready at hand are the rope with
which to rope the cattle, and the
strong straps on the saddle by
which to hold when the broncho
feels inclined to buck.
The foreman of the round up said
to me. "The life of the cow boy is
wild and bad enough but not nearly
so bad nor as full of wild pleasure
as the boys in the east would like
! to think.
Well this round up came slowly
j down the river bottom eight or ten
I miles a day. The Indians flocked
to the camp noon and evening to
get a good meal and insist on being
paid for the use of their country.
Fifteen steers were killed and divided among them.
At White Horse Village, I rode
out with the Government employees
to see the cattle. They made a
pretty-picture quietly grazing on a
broad fiat enclosed by low, rounding
hills, just beyond which could be
seen the Episcopal chapel tower.
Two men rode into the herd and
carefully "spotted" and drove out a
steer,or in cow boy language "a critter." They pursued it into a ravine,
but the enraged creature turned and
chased the horsemen up the bill.
Three score of Indian horsemen
standing on the brow of the hill
spread out along the ravine and the
poor, frightened steer turned to the
flat. The two men again pursued.
The steer, fighting for life had them
at bay once and again before the
men roped him and skillfully entangling his legs in the rope threw
him. You may wonder as did some
of us why they did not shoot the
animale. To have done that would
have created a stampede. Every
sound startled the herd. They
would start to run even when a little prairie chicken suddenly flew
out from the bushes. Then the cow
boys would hasten to the front of
the herd and change the course of
the animals until they would run
around and around in a circle and
finally stop of their own accord.
The foreman kindly rode past the
herd with us. The animals not accustomed to seeing a top buggy,
would stop grazing to look with
frightened eyes toward us, so our
escort kept carefully between us
and them. We drove up to where
the Indians were dexterously carving up the beef. What do you
think is a dainty with them ? The
tripe, seasoned from the liver and
eaten while still steaming. No accounting for tastes you see !
We were invited to take supper
with the round up. Can you picture
a broad flat plain with low hills all
around, the sun just setting behind
them ? Near the center of the plain
are pitched seven pointed tents
such as soldiers use. There is a
large wagon, the back end of which
is a pantry, the door letting down to
form a table. A ditch is dug and
logs are burning in it. Above is adjusted a horizontal bar on which are
suspended iron hooks. On these
are hung great covered iron pots,
you might recognize them as Dutch
ovens. Rolls of bedding were given
to us for seats. We were each handed a cup and plate of agate ware, a
knife, fork and spoon and told to investigate the contents ofthe pots. We
found steak, stew, potatoes, stewed
apples and prunes, tea, coffee and
the best of light bread. We were
constrained to ask the cook how he
made such bread in camp. At
night he buries the sponge in the
ground, covering the lid of the kettle with hot coals. At morning it
has risen to be very light, and then
it is baked in the large covered
kettles.
The cow boys seemed to enjoy
having us there to supper, for they
had had only Indians for company
for about two weeks.
While we were at supper, the
herd of one hundred and fifty ponies were brought in and coralled
within a large circle of rope. Those
needed by the first watch of the
herders, were roped and taken out.
Each man has ten horses. They
get very tired running after the
cattle, and one cannot be ridden
very long at a time.
Such a time as these cattle had
crossing the Missouri. They tried
taking them over in the flat boat.
Ten became frightened, jumped off
and swam over. Then the men
tried to swim the rest of the herd.
The leader, terrified, tried to turn
back. This caused a panic in the
herd. They "milled" and a number were drowned. Finally they
were crossed on the boat and shipped to Chicago. D.  B. D.
The General Annual Mission
Meeting of the Congregational and
Presbyterian Missions among the
Dakotas will convene September 12,
9: a.m., at Mountain Head, Sissiton Reservation, near Rutland,
North Dakota. Trains on the Great
i Northern R'y run up from Aberdeen to Rutland on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, returning the
next day Trains from Andover to
Britton, Chi. Mil. & St. Paul R'y,
run. up on Tuesday, Thursday and
Saturday and return the same day.
Britton is 22 miles and Rutland 11
miles from Mountain Head.