The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1897-05

              The Word Carrier
VOLUME    XXVI.
HELPING    THE    RIGHT,   EXPOSING    THE    WRONG.
NUMBER   5.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBRASKA.
MAY, 1807.
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR
OUR   PLATFORM.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights! The result of which is American Citizenship!
And the gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation'
OUR SISTER.
When to any of us there comes a
sore bereavement, and a beloved
one has been taken away for a little
while, it is well that we gather such
incidents and memories as will help
us to remember, and may also keep
our eyes fixed more steadfastly on
the "mark" for which we too are
striving. The graves ofthe departed are often kept fresh and lovely
with beautiful flowers, but the grave
of our beloved is where we cannot
reach it, if we would, so 1 bring today a different tribute to the memory
of our sister, Isabella Riggs Williams.
Of her last days there is little that
can be told. The sufferer could not
tit Ik much, for weakness and stupor.
Atone time she said to Mr. Sprague,
"Whatever is done is"—and then
paused, adding, "of God". There
could be no question as to her state
of readiness. She had no preparations to make. Her husband fitly
remarked, "Life's closeisno time to
prepare for dying." One day she
said to her daughter, "Give my best
love to my children. I tried to
wiite to them, but it was too hard."
Sometimes in her delirium she
said to her daughter, "Let me go,
Let me go." Aud the daughter
wrote, "1 prayed God that I should
not keep her back, if it was best for
ber to go. It had seemed sometimes
as if I were holding her back from
Heaven." And her niece wrote that
it seemed strange that her aunt
could not get well. "She tried so
hard, ate everything, and took her
medicine in a wonderfully patient
way. It just seemed as though God
wanted her, and we couldn't keep
her."
The very day before the summons
"Come up higher," came to her, she
seemed very much better. Her
pulse and circulation were apparently greatly improved. She insisted on doing some things for herself,
and said, "I am going to get well."
A few short hours, and she was indeed, "well." The end came speedily. Dr. Waples had been with her
in the early morning, and had gone
to his breakfast. SoOn a messenger came for him, but his skill availed nothing any more, for the spirit
had fled. She had asked, "Who is
in the room? I see Etta"—and
then, "I see my father." WTas the
veil into the other world lifted, so
that she saw into the Beyond, or
is that world and its inhabitants
nearer to us than we sometimes
think.
A. faithful friend wrote, "We
wanted all the Chinese christians
to see her, she looked so sweet and
peaceful. At the close of the service, opportunity was given them to
do so. 'Blessed are the dead, who
die in the Lord.' One of the loving
daughters in this country says, "Our
two servants, and two of the helpers,
carried the coffin to the grave.
The Chinese women stood around
with tears running down their
cheeks.    They will be brought near
er to Christ, by her love and work
for them. I think it was all as
mamma wished it, to go to Heaven
right from her work."
The testimonies as to the life and
character of our beloved miglit be
multiplied, but I shall give only a
few. One of her cousins, in speaking of her having left her dear children behind, remarks, "She must
have had strength given her from
above to enable her to endure the
separation. The fragrance of her
life will be a blessed memory to her
children and friends, and its influence will continue to have its effect
on the world. She has now such
knowledge of the loving care of God
for her children and such confidence
in the fact that he is making all
things to work together for their
good, that there is no alloy in her
happiness. 1 suppose this unalloyed faith does come to some this side
of Heaven, but I have seen very few
who I thought had it, and Isabella
is one of the few." Another cousin
gives this testimony: "I did so
hate to see her return to China. I
felt as if it was indeed a final good
bye. But the news of her death
after all affects me differently from
that concerning any other loved
friend or relative I have ever known.
I think it to be for this reason, that
Isabella is tbe one person with whom
I have ever been acquainted, who
impressed me as all ready to step
through the pearly gates, and into'
the golden city, at any moment without even a change of garments.
If old Elijah was in soul and spirit
as thoroughly prepared for translation, as she ever seemed to me to
be, no angel looked on him with
wonder or surprise, when he made
his entrance into the mansions
above."
Her daughters have found, in a
birthday gift, made to one of them
that last summer, this little poem
marked, and they feel it to be a farewell from her. As such they treasure it, and read it often, through
tears which come unbidden :
"Dear hearts, whose love has been so sweet to
know,
That I am looking backward as I go,
Am lingering while I haste, and in this rain
Of tears of joy, am mingling tears of pain.
Do not adorn, with costly shrub or tree,
Or flower, the little grave which shelters me.
Let   the   wild   wind-sown   seeds   grew   up
unharmed,
And back and forth, all summer, unalarmed,
Let all the tiny, busy creatures creep;
Let the sweet grass its last year's tangles keep;
And when, remembering me, you come some
day
And stand there, speak no praise, but only say,
'How she loved us! "Twas that which made
her dear!
Those are the words that I shall joy to hear."
Martha Riggs Morris.
SELF-HELP AMONG INDIANS.
Self-help ! Has it not an inspiring sound? What man who has ever
willingly earned and eaten the bread
of his own labor and felt the pleasure of it as a true man should. would
ever submit to the loss of independence and self-respect by placing
himself under the obligation of another for the same ? It is manhood,
born of high aspirations and fine
feelings.
But the Indian. Oh, that is dif-
I ferent. We are apt to think that
j he is only the mere outline of an
! ordinary human   being;   that  he
must be built up here and carved
down there, given some new and
studied form or opportunity; that
he, being an Indian, should have a
kind of patent-applied-for device to
raise him up to even a semblence of
civilized life and independence,
think for him, see for him, work for
him.
Now, that is not only unnecessary,
but is really harmful. The Indian
can think, see, and work for himself,
if the proper opportunity is given
him,something within his reach. He
is, in fact, just like his white brother
in that respect. For instance, I go
out on the street with a roll of posters and say to a newsboy or a boot
black: "See here, my little man, if
you will tack up these posters on
telegraph poles and other high
places as high as you can reach,
I'll pay you well." The little fellow
would dance for joy, and would, in
all probability, answer, "I'm your
man," not simply for the sake of the
money, but he would feel confident
that he could accomplish what I desired of him.
On the other hand, suppose I
should say: "Here, you little urchin,
I want you to tack these posters
on the tops of the telegraph poles
and church steeples, and if you
don't do it you're a shiftless, no-
account fellow, unwilling to work
for your living." Friend, did you
ever try to reach too high and fail ?
Did you ever feel that you were not
worth the room you occupy on the
earth—utterly hope! ess? That is the
point; keep up a man's hope and he
can move the world, but take it
away and he is indeed powerless.
It  is just  so  with the Indian.
! Let him once grasp the idea that
! he  can accomplish  a   thing,   and
ten to one he will go at it willingly.
■ But in my opinion, the greatest obstacle in the way of self-help in regard to Indians is lack of hope. You
will find that faculty lacking or very
little developed in most of them.
The Indian lives only for today.
j He has very little care or hope for
the future. Try to persuade an In-
i dian to plant a garden and his first
thought is that he might die before
realizing the fruits of his labor. Advise him to build a better house and
get out of his bark wigwam, and
his answer will generally be, "Oh,
good enough, pretty soon all Indians
dead." That's the Indian of it, you
say. Let's see; did not the children
of Israel consider it hardly worth
while to abandon their tents and
build permanent awellings for the
few hundred years they bad to
live?
The same idea is often expressed
among the children of the school.
In their compositions we often find
such clauses as, "If I should grow
up to be a man," or "If I don't die
before I am a man." One boy in
writing about the death of a schoolmate expressed himself in the following manner: "Poor Linken is
dead, but he was always a good boy
and believed in that Lord So I
think he has gone up to heaven
through the golden gate. 'Well this
is a great die world any how." The
only way out of it is to lend a helping hand to the older Indians, and
repay in a small measure the debt
we owe them, and to teach the
younger ones that they  have the
ability to help themselves. Then
to inspire them with confidence in
their own resources, we must convince them that we believe them
worthy of confidence. A man is of
no use in the world when he loses
all confidence iu himself.
But how can the Indian help
himself? By using his own special
characteristic gifts he may accomplish much. If he is fond of agriculture, let him be a farmer; if of
horticulture, let him raise fruit; if
of cattle, let him raise cattle. In
other words, let him cultivate his
own gifts and turn them to the utmost account. But will he do this ?
Perhaps not without proper training. My experience, however, in
the school has proven to me that
the Indian children are very ready
to take up new ideas. I have often
been surprised. This spring we
planted a small garden just as an
experiment. The boys while helping to plant it would ask for a few
of the seeds which were given them.
I thought nothing more about it until about a week later. One Saturday afternoon while walking above
the school house I saw seven boys
with sacks on their backs, and bent
almost double with loads. Wondering what they could be carrying, I
followed them and found that they
were earring fertilizing material to
a little garden of their own that
they had mapped out near the little
flume that carries water to the
school.
One Indian near our school has
a small piece of land that will raise
vegetables, and he has, with great
labor dug out a spring and ditched
the water to his garden. This year
his neighbor, a white man, has run
a ditch from the spring and taken
all the water that rightfully belongs
to the Indian but by law is given
to the white man. This is the way
the Indian is often encouraged to
help himself.
f contend that the Indian will
and can help himself, if he is given
an opportunity to do so. But we
must not expect too much, nor be
in too great a hurry, nor should we
hope in a few short years to entirely
overcome the influence of generations.
The Indian should be given something to help himself with. If a
great ship at sea runs down and
sinks a smaller vessel, it is not
enough for tbe captain, as he proudly stands on the bridge of his stanch,
steel ship, to wave his hand and
say to the struggling, sinking men
and women: "Help yourselves! It
will improve your mind, develop
your muscles, and strengthen your
lungs." No! let the good captain
throw out the life-line and lower
the life-boats. Throw a plank to
the Indian. Help to loosen from
him the weights of ignorance and
superstition which are dragging
him down.
I am willing to admit that it
takes time, patience, and money to
teach the Indian how to live and to
provide for himself; but the world
is full of men that are burning with
enthusiasm to earn their bread by
the sweat of some body else's brow,
and they are not all Indians, either.—Paper before San Francisco Indian Teachers' Institute, by Supt. Edward Ament.