The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1898-04

              The Word Carrier
VOLUME   XXVII.
HELPING    THE    RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBER  1.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBRASKA.
APRIL, l898.
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR-
OUK   PIATFOBM.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights! Tlie result of which is American Citizenship.'
And the gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
Superintendent Hailmann has
entered zealously into a plan for
caring for the growing body of Indian students who have returned to
their homes. He would have them
organize and hold meetings to keep
each other in countenance and.
stimulate each to live according to
the best they know how. For these
associations we suggest the name of
Civilization Brotherhoods. With the
Indian every association, religious
or political or festive, is a "brotherhood" or "friendship league."
It is an excellent idea to bring into these brotherhoods or leagues
others than returned students.
There are many on the reservation
who have not been away to school
but are as progressive as those who
have, and have much, more the
courage of their convictions. It is
a good thing to bring these two elements together. It will however
require tact on the part of the promoters of this movement. The
broad principles of the object in
view must be kept to the front,
and it must not be allowed to subside into a dilettante club.
While tiiis brotherhood should
have a wide horizon it can not attempt to do everything that is to be
done. We suggest that it will be
overloaded if it takes up social entertainments and the oversight of the
religious societies. Social intercourse at its brotherhood meetings
is very important but tbe general
question of amusements for the people is one to which they may contribute light from the platform but
is a dangerous contract to attempt
to till. And the same may be said
of supplying the religious wants of
the community. The movement
needs religious hope and faith to
impell it, but that is quite another
thing from patronizing religion.
DRUNKARDS   FOR  C1VII.IZEKS.
The whole Indian service demands a radical reform in the line
of temperance. That drinking, even
to drunkenness, is common in the
Indian service is a shame to any
and every administration And
that it is common is a well known
fact. The civil service rules and
examinations seek to provide against
it. And while it requires two certificates from acquaintances of the
applicant for appointment, stating
^whether he uses intoxicating drinks
in any form, yet it does not prevent
men who drink to intoxication from
being appointed. In fact the chances
are not any better for true temperance men under civil service rules
than under the spoils system. Under the spoils system the congressman was to a certain sense responsible for "his man". Under civil
service, no one is responsible for
him. And under the spoils system,
a new administration, if it dismissed good men it also discharged
bad. A good man had some slight
chance to remain on account of his
I'ecord, but now a bad man has
more chance to hold on because
there is nothing to be gained by
getting him out.
The laws in regard to bringing
liquor on to an Indian Reservation
are severe and clear. And the regulations of the Indian Bureau are
also clear. Notwithstanding all
this, drinking men and drunkards
have drawn their checks quarterly,
headed "Civilization and Education".
The new administration has now
fairly got hold of things and should
take hold of this matter and push
it until the Indian service is completely purged of this class of men.
It is not only a matter of haviug
men who are unfit for service at
times. For the growing curse of the
Indian is drink. And when a white
employer drinks, the mixed blood
and Indian employees are not slow
to follow in the same steps. The
curse spreads rapidly and swiftly
like an infectious disease. It needs
and demands radical measures. The
old cry " Place none but Americans
on guard" needs to be read, "Place
none but temperance men on guard."
And the cry, "Turn the rascals out,"
should resolve itself into an order,
stating that "Any employee known
to be drunken or to be using intoxicating drinks habitually will be
promptly  dismissed."
The safety of the Indian people
demands more care in selecting employees and more promptness in
dealing with the vice. The dignity
of a great government ought to seek
the same end.
A frequent method in dealing
with this matter is utterly indefen-
j sible. When an employee fears tha
i he is going to be "pulled" by an Inspector he will send in his resignation, giving some trivial reason for
his action. This often heads off investigation and leaves the man with
a clean record so far as actual reports are concerned. Then after
a few months of voluntary retirement he asks for reinstatement.
And if he can secure the assistance
of a congressman he is quite sure
of a new place, where he can continue. In this way he simply taints
and infects a new region. The Indian Department is either duped by
such action or acts with duplicity.
In either case evil results to the
Indian community.
AN OPEN IEXTBK.
To my friend, Mr. Garvie:— I
want to tell you how much I enjoyed
your story of John B. Walker, and
John B. Walker's son, in the Word
Carrier for March. It delighted me
immensely. I had the greatest longing to give vent to my delight, with
"three cheers and a tiger," but
I refrained for fear the Porcupine-
ites might think I was an "eyanpa-
ha" calling them to a feast!
Your tale brought to mind most
vividly some experiences at Sisseton
and are in particular, so long ago
as the winter of 1873-4. If you do
not recall this one, you will enjoy
my remembrance of it, I feel sure.
I don't suppose you have forgotten how you, among the rest of
the sixteen boys, were crowded into
such a small house during that
winter. There was not much more
than room enough for the necessary
beds.   You know that many boys,
and some older people too, are very
averse to getting up in season in
the morning. One of the boys who
hated to get up even more than tbe
others, apparently, was James
Lynd. He had been late to breakfast so many times that he was
promised an acquaintance with Solomon's recipe, when next he should
transgress. The time came before
long, one Saturday morning. "Wa-
sicun" found the youth still in bed,
when he should have been else
where. The promise was fulfilled,
which James took in higa dudgeon.
Soon after, he was reported missing. He had run home, some ten
miles or so, to his ma! But his mother was made of sterner stuff than
some women, and though James
was as the apple of her eye, she
was not willing that he should lose
his opportunity for an education,
and for manhood. So that very
same day, as speedily as it could
be accomplished, she brought the
boy back again, Rev. John Renville
accompanying them. Although good
Louise hoped it might not be needful to punish her son in a similar
way again, she gave him to understand that he must submit to all
lawful authority. It goes without
saying that master James never
ran home to his mother again !
Now there was another youth
among these boys that winter, who
might have made a man of himself,
if his parents had possessed a tithe
of good Louise's grit and grace.
Glode Lafromboise was bright
enough and quick enough to have
learned a good deal, but he did so
hate to work! He felt degraded
every time he was told to bear a
hand at the wood pile, or had to
bring a pail of water. "I am not
a dog, that I should work," was his
favorite retort. Some work to which
he particularly objected being given
him one day, he stayed not on the
order of his going, nor stopped to
say good bye. And he never came
back again. That was the last of
his education. No doubt his father
and mother commiserated him, and
said he might do as he pleased
about going back to school. Of
course he didn't please to go. The
natural consequence was that he
has never really amounted to anything.
It certainly requires a deal of
courage and determination to do as
good Louise and John B. Walker
have done. All honor to them and
to all others who have grit enough
to keep their children in school.
Yours truly,
Martha R. Morris.
I have been much interested in
the bill before congress, which
would return to the public domain
a large part of Annette Island,
Alaska. My interest has led me to
attend the hearing before the
House Committee of Indian Affairs. It is hard to understand how
such a movement can find any
sympathy. The worst of it all is
that the promoters of the bill make
every effort to prejudice public
opinion in reference to the character
of Mr. Duncan. He—an old man
of eighty—the House Committee
cross-questioned and Harried unmercifully. A. R. W.
Santee Normal Training School Press,
Santee Agency, Neb.
DISTINCT ARTICULATION.
One of the greatest difficulties encountered by reading teachers is the
tendency of pupils to pronounce
words indistinctly. Letters in the
middle of a word are slurred over,
endings dropped, and sometimes
even beginnings are considered superfluous.
Much can be done to correct
these slovenly habits of speech by
drilling children in school on the
sounds of letters. It is important
that such drill should not be considered part of the reading lesson,
but an entirely separate exercise.
Reading is not sound-giving, but
thought-getting and the two should
not be confused in the pupil's mind
or allowed to interfere with one another in practice. Let the sound-
giving or phonetics be merely an
exercise preliminary to the reading
lesson but not a part of it. One
subject might be given in the morning and the other in the afternoon.
With the help of the letter sounds
given in any reader a teacher may
make out a course for herself. It
should be a progressive one begining in the lowest grades with easy
words, and going on to more and
more difficult ones. Suppose the
first sound taken up is a as in cap,
Keeping ap as an ending, different
consonants may be prefixed making
a list of words, each containing the
same sound, such as, tap, map, lap,
rap, sap. In the primary grades the
teacher may write the words on the
board for the children to repeat. In
the higher classes the pupils may be
asked to bring in lists of such
words, and while one reads another
may test the pronunciation by writing each word on the board as he
hears it- The drill should be rapid,
many words being given and repeated until they are pronounced
with tolerable clearness. Some of
the words used may then be formed
into sentences to be written on the
board and read for practice. It is not
necessary that the children should
be kept ou one set of words until
they are thoroughly known, for the
sounds will be repeated in new words
to appear in succeeding lessons.
Useful exercises are, to repeat
clearly and distinctly the vowel
sounds a, a, o, and e, i, and u,
putting different consonants before
them, and to have drill on words
ending in r, ing. Ids, and sts. To
secure flexibility of the lips and
tongue, pronouncing the syllables,
ip, it, and ik, is good practice.
Sentences may be put on the
board each week containing words
difficult or amusing to pronounce,
such as the time-honored ones:
"Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers," and "Theophilus
Thistle,the successful thistle sifter,
in sifting a sieve full of unsifted
thistles, thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb."
Words not clearly given may be
written on the board and repeated
often; it would be well to drill on
one common error for a week at
a time, and a quotation containing
some troublesome word should be
learned each week.
By means of these and other devices it is possible to greatly improve children's articulation, and
those who have tried constant and
progressive drill in phonetics are
well satisfied with the results obtained.— Soutfiern Workman.