The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1898-06 - 1898-07

              The Word Carrier
^
VOLUME   XXVII.
HELPING   THE   RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WRONG.
NUMBER G-7.
SANTEE AGENCY, NEBRASKA.
JUNE-JULY, i8q8.
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 tlie gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation!
GOVERNMENT TEACHERS'INSTITUTE.
The Government Indian School
Service Institute held this year at
Colorado Springs, Col., July 18 to
August 3, was on the whole a very
profitable meeting. Heretofore it
has been attempted to hold two or
three institutes. But this year all
were consolidated in one. Yet the
attendance was not much increased, being a little over one hunderd
and sixty.
To one who,during the four years
these institutes have been held, has
studied the material that constitutes the Indian School Service of
the Government, it is noticeable
that there is considerable improvement. Through the wise and untiring efforts of Dr. Hailmann the
Indian school service has arrived
at self consciousness. And to some
extent this is a moral consciousness, with an aim, and a sense of
responsibility, and a regard for the
honor of the service. There are
more bright earnest people among
them and fewer vacant-faoed salary
drawers.
The presence of Dr. Hailmann
as principal instructor in the institute did much to give character to
this session and keep the institute from falling to pieces. He
taught three hours each day.
The afternoons were generally
devoted to round table discussions
in tbe several sections. We were
much pleased in the discussions on
discipline in the Industrial Teachers section. The industrial teachers are frequently the school disciplinarians. It is encouraging to
learn of their efforts and partial
success in overcoming the use of
tobacco. In the superintendents
section the employment of Indian
disciplinarians was deemed entirely inadvisable. Dancing in the
schools meets with growing disfavor. One supervisor who used to
be favorable to it now takes strong
grounds against it for its bad practical results.
Miss Ella Worden, so long and
usefully identified with Santee Normal Training School, who has now
taken up work at Haskell Institute,
Lawrence, Kan., was honored by
being appointed to give instruction at the Institute in Nursing
and Cooking. The attendance at
her class was from twenty-five to
thirty.
The Honorable Grace E. Patton,
'Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Colorado, gave
an evening address to the Institute.
It was anticipated with much interest and remembered with feelings quite the reverse. The pro-
due lion was a high school girl's
essay delivered with would-be mannish ways that made the performance anything but agreeable. Mountain region politics brings a queer
sort of people to the front. The
Hon. Manuel C. de Baca, Superintendent of Public Instruction of
New Mexico, was to have addressed
the Institute the same evening but
was absent. His New Mexican
Highness seemingly preferred to
preserve his self respect.
It is well understood that the
placing of Miss Estelle Reel in the
office of Superintendent of Indian
Schools, formerly held by Dr. W.
N. Hailmann, is a political appointment pure and simple; consequently those who are asking what previous fitting there was for the office
are suggesting something unkind
and unnecessary.
No great good is obtained without some sacrifice, and the exaltation of woman is so much grander
than the development of a few
hundred Indian schools that the
latter is hardly worth considering.
Dr. W. N. Hailmann has accepted the superintendency of the
schools of Dayton, Ohio. He takes
up his work at once.
OUR PROGHESS.
[Oration by Samuel O.  La Pointe at his graduation
from Santee Normal Training School,
June   17,   1898.]
Our preparation for life must
differ as widely from that of our
ancestors as our labor differs from
theirs. We are wholly unacquainted with the use of the bow and
arrow. Instead of the hunting
grounds we use today farms; in
nlace of tents we use houses.
Farm implements have taken the
place of the weapons by which
the Indian formerly supported his
family. Instead of the superstitious beliefs, today we believe and
worship the true and living God.
When the pilgrim fathers came
over from the old world to this
country, with them came civilization, which has deprived the Indian of his customs. The weapons
and the tools by which he had
supported his family are now kept
in large museums as curiosities,
and as relics of a heathen nation.
But because we are relieved of
these heathenish customs, through
the teachings of the civilized white
people, we are not to think we are
better than they. Soft hands and
goodness are often far apart. Labor ennobles, and he who gives the
world most through his service is
the grandest and best.
We, young people, owe a debt of
gratitude which we can never pay,
to those who have planted schools
and have done all they could towards giving us education and promotion to better life. Many an Indian youth boasts of our present
condition and prosperity, who cannot so much as drive a nail straight,
when really the only cause he has
for congratulations is that he was
born at this particular period. No
great invention was ever begotten
of idleness. I have known some
boys and girls who,after much time
and money had been spent in trying to educate them, would return
from school to the reservation and
go back to the old Indian ways.
They are only weights on the wheel
of progress. They add no wealth
and give no inspiration to our race,
but as moth and rust they eat and
destroy.
We are limited by our own energies. Our bodies are only instruments through which the mind
acts. We are a part of God. As
we  develop  our powers of mind,
and thus increase our life, we become great. To be perfect means
simply to develop fully all our God-
given powers. As the mind is developed, so will the body be developed. The mind not only shapes
the face, but is the life of every organ in man. Self-care and self-love
are essential principles in life. You
can not afford to neglect yourself—
your life. Every day ought to be
one of growth. In our domestic
animals we seek for physical enlargement, for it is the material
animal we desire. But in man.the
mind is the measure of value.
Hence some one has said "Man is
worth the most of all animals while
living but worth the least when
dead." Schools are but nurseries
of human greatness. The budding
and grafting is done in the nursery. Then the tree must be given
a larger field before it can bear
fruit. So in school, they can but
nourish the life, by budding and
grafting in the mind the germs of
a better fruitage. Then we go out
into the world orchard for all mankind.
But what a life this would be for
us, to face this great and busy
world without a purpose to strive
after. The boys and girls who return from school and fall back to
the old Indian ways were aimless
when they left school. It is our
duty to make the most possible of
ourselves. All the past is our
inheritance. We should store up
knowledge and virtue, friendship
and heart-treasure. For "the granary must be filled before the poor
are fed. Knowledge must be gained before knowledge is given."
We are in the age when civilization has reached a high altitude.
We are surrounded today with
more intricate and elaborate duties
than our forefathers. But this
great work of civilizing the world
is not the labor of a day or one
year; it is made possible only by
the industry and thrift of hundreds
of years. People who have accomplished great achievements in this
world began to work after their
aspiration when they were yet
young. They labored at it, amid
failures and discouragements. Most
of them did not have the opportunities we have today. But through
patience and perseverence, they
have succeeded and the world honors them today. Webster's greatness was accumulating while he
was roaming the fields; Lincoln's,
while he sat by the open fire place
and worked his examples on a
•wooden shovel; Garfield's, while he
was riding mules on the tow-path
of a canal. And subsequent years
only afforded opportunities for the
use of their accumulated forces.
Think of the years that have
past! It does not seem to be a
great many years ago, when our
people were superstitiously bound
to indescribable heathenism. Today that is all changed. The present demands and requirements of
civilized life makes them realize
that their existence is coming to an
end. The curling smoke of the teepee has vanished before civilization.
One step outside of the reservation
tells them that the clouds of smoke
rising from these prairies are caused by the great factories and rail
roads of the enterprising people of
the towns and cities. It tells them
that they must either labor with
them or die on the reservation.
They are slowly, but steadily and
gradually advancing in civilization.
But like all other nations, they
have obstacles to meet, difficulties
to overcome—hindrances that prevent them from progressing.
The reservation is one of their
chief hindrances. The reservation
is their prison, and the so-called
annuities and rations are the chains
that bind them to the walls of the
prison. They see that the government is furnishing all their needs
and is giving them sufficient support, and thus they regard labor as
a disgrace. If they continue to remain on the reservation, I am sorry to say, there is little or no future
for them. Let the stalwart but
dependent Indians look out for
themselves. And they will advance
in better time than they are doing
at present.
There was a time when the doors
of opportunity were not opened to
the Indian. It was impossible for
an Indian to move out into the
larger and better life of the white
people. But today the doors of
opportunity are wide open for you
and for me as well as for any other
boy or girl. The highway to civilization leads from every school,and
if it is our desire and purpose to
take it, it is ours. After leaving
school many young men and young
women, thinking themselves strong
enough to meet the world of temptations, have forgotten to put their
confidence in our Lord.
God has created us and placed
us in this beautiful world overflowing with opportunities, and we
ought to give the world the benefit
of our powers. The world can get
along without us but it ought not
to. Our people were formerly in a
degraded condition, but shall we
remain so because our progenitors
did ? No ! We ought to, at least,
make a struggle for one step. Failures will come, but always look forward and upwards to our Saviour,
with an earnest and fervent prayer,
and He will send His aid. Let us
determine for what our talent is
best fitted, with a resolute heart,
and with an earnestness that the
world will admire. Let us march
to the front with victory inscribed
on our banners.
Let us, who are Indians, as a
race climb the heights of civilization and leave all superstitions far
below. Have a purpose in life,
and hold on to your purpose. Noble purposes for your talents and
your years ! life plans, which you
set for your aim, both in this world
and the next! Let no power on
earth deprive you of them ! To" attain them may take toil, tears and
travail. But the joy of realization
will be worth all it costs. For a noble aim fully worked out will abide
when the sun shines no more.
A herd of buffalo are kept in a
park about two miles from Banff.
When they were first brought to
Banff, some of the Indians were
taken down to see them. The older
men just put their heads down on
the fence and cried like babies.—
Regina (Assinaboia,) Progress.