The Word Carrier (Santee, Nebraska), 1900-02

              The Word Carrier
o
VOLUME   XXIX.
HELPING    THE    RIGHT,   EXPOSING   THE   WltONG.
NUMBER 2.
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
FEBRUARY, 1900.
FIFTY CENTS PER YEAR.
our platform.
For Indians we want American Education! We want American Homes!
We want American Rights! Tire result of which is American Citizenship!
And the gospel is the Power of God for
their Salvation'
We present another of Mr. Lummis' keen articles on the Indian
question, entitled, "My Brother's
Keeper." He shows that he has
thought deeply and feels strongly.
Sometimes his intensity is to be regretted, for it destroys the convincing force of his argument. One
thing is thoroughly beautiful in Mr.
Lummis : that is his brotherly regard for the Indian; so that somehow he makes the Indian faces that
appear in his magazine interesting
and lovable.
In the articles in this paper entitled "Our New York Indians" and
"The Cherokee of Today" we have
some very helpful views of the present situation among those tribes
who have been under the influences
of civilization the longest. It does
not follow that they have received
the most civilization. There have
been many hindering conditions.
Yet the outlook is hopeful.
Do not fail to read the chapter of
missionary experience given by Dr.
J. P. Williamson in "A Reminiscence of Early Days"
OUR NEW YORK INDIANS.
In the beginning ofthe nineteenth
century nearly every trace of the
heroic labors of the Jesuit missionary had disappeared, and only one
Protestant church in the Mohawk
Yailey remained, the fruit of nearly
a hundred years of missionary toil
among the Iroquois.
The primeval forests have perished, but not the Iroquois. He lives
nearly as strong in numbers as
when Brandt and Cornplanter led
in ruthless foray; but no more like
the creation ofthe "sentimentalist"
than the Englishman inSouth Africa
is like his savage ancestors of the
Druidic period.
He is an Indian yet, and possesses
many of the characteristics of his
ancestors, but so changed by the
Gospel of Christ working through the
forces of civilization as to be hardly recognizable.
There is not a mud floor hut on
any of these reservations. His
only use for the uncivilized garb of
his ancestors is to beguile money
from the over-credulous whites.
On some of the reservations,
large and comparatively well-tilled
farms, productive orchards and excellent buildings are not infrequent.
There is scarcely a home in which
there is not some evidence of the
dawning of refined taste. Books, pictures, musical instruments, ranges,
farming implements, herds of cattle, horses and carriages tell of progress and comfort, if not of genuine
refinement.
The intense longing for political
and tribal reforms; a keen desire to
rise above and overcome the enervating influences of the reservation
system, and for the uplifting of the
home; the struggle even to self-
sacrifice for the education of their
children, evidence the presence of
civilizing and ennobling influences.
Even the practices of the so-called
pagans are giving place to Christmas trees, the singing of Christmas
hymns, and the recitation of Bible
verses.
Over one thousand church members, some merely nominal Christians, thirteen church buildings, I
Sunday-schools,0. E. Societies, temperance leagues, and hundreds of
children in state, national,and charitable institutions, tell of splendid
progress since Missionary Kirkland
traversed the wilderness of Western
New York in 1788, to plant a Christian mission among tne suspicious
and restless Senecas.
I would not, however, for a moment fail to see the darkest aspect
in the condition of the twentieth
century Iroquois. The vices and
diseases of the white man work
havoc on these Indian reservations.
There are lazy, dishonest Indians,
who fail to understand the sacred-
ness of an oath or the binding obligation of a contract. Poverty and
crime, the product of the drink curse
fostered by the barbarous in our
civilization, are not unknown to
our Indian people.
A recent writer has said that the
reservation system is a " nursery."
In some respects this is true. It
is a protection until something
better is devised. In many other
respects it is evil and only evil.
For the most part, our New York
Indians hold their lands under the
system subject to the claims of the
Ogden Land Company. This fact
calls for the utmost concern lest in
haste to dissolve the tribal relation
they lose their lands and become
a homeless people. Thus, they
need the warm, true friendship of
the best and brightest men and women of the state. The evils of the
reservation system must be abated
until present condition can be safely changed.
They need also wise legislation.
A compulsory school law, generously administered, would, no doubt,
prove more of a blessing than a
hardship. The law should also prohibit the sale of liquor tax certificates to trespassers on Indian lands.
Tbe marriage laws should be unified,
and larger protection given the
young womanhood of these reservations.
Educated and thoroughly consecrated Christian Indians are needed
who shall work among their own
people. In the past God has blessed
wonderfully the labors of such men.
The employment of a larger force
would, no doubt, result in great good
to this people. But while the Iroquois
possess an "unlimited right" to our
sympathies and our best gifts, the
regenerating,savinginfluences must
come largely from within.
It is for the twentieth century
Indian, with the blessing of God, to
work out his own destiny. The
chasm between a savage and civilized life has been safely passed.
Today he is a new man, with new
and pressing needs. These needs
hemu8tmeet.. The dawning century
presents to him a better, brighter
future—the trophy of a self-earned
manhood, the perfect measure of
the "stature of the fullness of
Christ."—Rev. Morton F. Trippe, in
The Assembly Herald.
A REMINISCENCE OF EARLY DAYS.
The recent death of Andrew
Hunter, at Watertown, S. D., brings
to memory one of the most thrilling adventures connected with the
pioneer mission work in Minnesota.
It was in the spring of 1852 that
Dr. T. S. Williamson determined
to follow the Indians and move from
his station at Little Crow's Village,
situated in what is now called South
St. Paul, and established himself at '
Yellow Medicine on the new Indian
Reservation. The place was 180
miles away,—100 miles beyond the
last white settlement; and so yet
only a few families of poor Indians
were living in the.neighborhood. As
soon as he could make his arrangements he employed four young men,
one of whom was Andrew Hunter,
to go with him and build a house at
the station.
It was a hard summer's work
cutting logs and sawing them into
boards with a whipsaw, and framing
them into a house; and it was well
along in November when the family,
whom tlie doctor bad just brought
up, moved joyfully into the new
house, and arranged the household
goods, which were not overly abundant, and the supply of food which
was only a few days' rations. The
winter's stock of provisions was only
brought to Traverse des Sioux (St.
Peter), 100 miles away. In a few
days Mr. Hunter, with two double
teams,—all the mission had, was on
his way to Traverse. It was the
10th of December when he and Mr.
Jacques, whom he had employed,
started on the return with two sled-
loads of provisions. They knew it
would be a hard trip, but the teams
were prime, and they themselves
were young and powerful, and they
started on the uu broken road with
light hearts.
They had gone but a few miles
when the clouds began to gather,
and the next three weeks were what
Dr. Williamson termed the most
terrible series of cold and stormy
days he ever knew. The average
thermometer in the morning was
sixteen degrees below zero, and only
three days did the mercury rise to
zero. It snowed repeatedly, and
the wind often blew a tempest, drifting the snow in drifts often over
ten feet deep. Two of the days
were terrible blizzards. On the second day out the snow blew so they
could see but a few feet and the
teams became separated. Mr. Jacques had all the bedding on his
sled, and Mr. Hunter spent the
night in the storm, freezing both feet
badly, and it was three weeks after
that before they were properly dressed. They did not again separate;
but slept many times in the snowdrifts, and only occasionally would
reach timber where they could have
a fire, Mr. Hunter's feet were repeatedly frozen, until it was a miracle of endurance that he could
travel, on the mangled mass of
decaying flesh and bones. Indeed
towards the last Mr Jacques had
to help him to his feet in the
morning, though he also had been
frozen several times. And the teams,
though given the best attention
possible, could not very long endure
the strain of plunging through the
drifts by day, and standing unprotected in the storm at night.
So after ten days, their loads,
and their teams, were left in tlie
snow here and there, until at last
all was left except a little bedding, a
little food and Mr. Hunter's Bible,
which they tied on a hand-sled,
and started to see if the Lord would
give them strengb for the remaining
thirty miles. It was about bedtime
on the third day that Dr. Williamson heard a noise, and opening tbe
door, the two men tried to come in,
and fell prostrate on the floor. The
family rejoiced greatly to see them,
even so much alive, though it
brought the greater perplexity to
their situation. The doctor was tied
down to their care for days. Mr.
Jacques recovered rapidly, but it
was months before Mr. Hunter
could stand, and then painfully and
crookedly, for the heel was all gone
from one foot and only the heel left
on the other, and much of what remained was not sound, and one
limb had to be amputated years
afterwards. However, thus crippled
he lived to be a useful Christian, for
some time an elder, and an honored
citizen, and he leaves behind him
a large number of children to call
him blessed.
It was starvation that was staring
the mission family in tne face when
the two frozen men were thrown on
their arms. They had already been
living on shortened rations of corn
and potatoes for over a month. It
was the third of January. The
snows had shut them in from the
outside world, and would probably
so keep them for three months more.
But their trust was in God and he
would keep them for further service. They had one bushel of corn
and a few potatoes left in the house.
Soon after, the Indians, who were
as bad off as they, found a large
shoal of fish in the river, and generously divided with the missionaries.
Then one of the Indians managed
to wade through the snows to Lao
qui Parle, thirty miles distant, and
told the condition of affairs, and
Rev. M. N. Adams loaded what provisions he could on a hand-sled and
spent two days dragging it down to
Yellow Medicine. So at last spring
came, the snows melted, food arrived, and no lives were lost. And
on the first day of April, 1853, Dr.
Williamson wrote: "Our provisions
have lasted so much better than I
expected that I am often reminded
of the widow's oil and meal. We
thank God that he counts us worthy
to suffer,as well as to labor."—J. P.
Williamson, in The North and West.
The story entitled "Only the Master Shall Praise," which won the
prize offered by the Century Magazine for the best short story by a
college graduate of 1898, was written by an Indian. The prize winner is Mr. M. Oskison, of Vinita,
I. T., a graduate of Leland Stanford University.
Miss Angel Decora, the young
Winnebago artist is at present a
student in the Cowles Art School,
Boston. Our readers, will doubtless remember the examples of
Miss Decora's excellent work which
have appeared in Harper's Magazine during the past year.— Tlie Indian's Friend.
Santee Normal Training School Press'
Santee,  Neb.