The Word Carrier of Santee Normal Training School (Santee, Nebraska), 1914-07 - 1914-08

              The Word Carrier.
of Santee Normal Training school.
VOLUME XLIir
HELPING TEE  RIGHT, EXPOSING THE WRONG.
NUMBER 4
SANTEE, NEBRASKA.
JULY-AUGUST, 1914
THIRTY 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 !
What Santee Is Doing
Santee Normal Training School is about a
mile and a half from the Missouri River, just
in a bend where it swings to the east. Tbe
situation is very pretty, on a bluff looking
across the river into the Dakota prairie, and
just at the foot of the seemingly endless glacial
hills of north eastern Nebraska. The school
grounds themselves are made beautiful by the
many trees which have been planted there and
carefully tended year after year.
We receive pupils of all tribes and all denominations ranging in age from seven to thirty.
They come from all over the Indian country
from Montana and. North Dakota to Oklahoma
and New Mexico. In many cases the missionaries choose promising young men and women,
and boys and girls and send them to us. Many
of our little ones are children of former pupils,
and of our chui-ch members.
There are over a hundred boarding pupils and
some day pupils. The dormitories are four in
number. Each is looked after by a house
mother who makes the home pleasant and attractive to those under her cax-e. The matx-ons
often give much attention to the care of house
plants. These add a good deal to the pleasure
of pupils and teachers alike. Each house is
furnished with an organ. Many pupils take
organ lessons. Some who cannot pay for them
are glad to do extra work for the school as payment. They all like to sing, and it is rather an
unusual thing iu some of the houses to hear no
music. It is an effort which pays well to keep
the houses supplied with good books and games.
A certain amount of home reading is required
of all pupils abvoe tbe primary grades To
many this reading is real pleasure, and all are
able to profit by it. The matron's greatest
opportunity, however, lies in the more intimate personal relations with the pupils in
her house.
In all grades above the primary the pupils
spend one half day in the school room and the
other half in industrial work. Tbe girls are
taught all branches of house work, and have
regular class instruction in sewing and cooking.
They usually have also manual training in the
shops. The young men and boys are taught
in the carpenter and blacksmith shops, the
printing office, and on the farm.
Our course of study differs iu some respects
from that of public schools for white children.
It is not in our plan to prepare for college or
any other school. We try to make our wox-k
fit the needs of the Indian, and to prepare these
young men and women to become leaders and
teachers of their own people. There are ten
grades, and many stay with us through the
whole course. In some subjects we go further
than public schools. In others, notably mathematics, we are behind them. We have always found that the Indian is weak in this line.
Some teachers say that he has no reasoning
power, others that he has never had use for
numbers, and that the number sense is undeveloped. There is truth in this, but I am glad
to see that as his knowledge of English becomes more exact, he takes up the study of
mathematics with iuterest. We have a pupil
occasionally who is remarkably good in this
direction, but such are not numerous.
It has been a great help to these people to
get a better understanding of the English
language. To be sure, their English is a strange
mixture of the language picked up at the Indian trading posts, and that learned in school.
But what they have they are better able to
handle, and so they are making steady progress
in the ability to "expx-ess themselves in the
classroom and elsewhere. Of course the natural result of this is, that there is gradually
more in their heads to express. One other
improvement in this direction is that our pupils
are reading more than ever before, and learning to like to read. Indeed, we are in real need
of more good story books.
Some of our pupils we have come to call
"camp pupils." That is they have come to us
right from the Indian Camp. All that they
have learned of civilization has been gained iu
a year or two at some District School. Upon
being examined many of these full grown
young men tell us that they have been in
'•third reader class." Some know "multiply
to fives." But this is not discouraging, quite
the contrary. These pupils are good material,
many of them bright and intelligent. If they
stay with us a few years and get into the upper
grades we shall see great improvement. At
present they are simply absorbing knowledge
in a general way and trying to get into our
ways of living and working. In the school
room it is hard to tell bow much they do take
in, because they are shy about expressing themselves. I have been pleased to see these young
men so far forget themselves as to volunteer
answers in class. Afterward they were overcome with embarrassment, ducked their heads
and were not heard from again that day. Their
written work, however, shows that they do
understand some things, and are trying to
learn. The girls as a rule are more responsive
than the boys and quite as studious.
Sometimes it seems bard to tell just where
our pupils have made definite progress during
one particular year. And yet, looking back
over several years one can see very decided advancement both in individual cases and in tbe
conditions of the people as a whole. It is a
great thing to see that they are coming to a
better understanding of our ways of thinking
and living, and consequently a little moi-e readiness to adopt them. Sometimes it seems as
though the more superficial things were taken
up first, instead of the most important ones;
for instance, the girls adopt our manner of
dressing, when we would so much rather they
would learn real cleanliness. However, it is a
good beginning, and the other things are gaining also. Some of the older Indian people regard our ways with a sort of friendly tolerance,
as something white and not Indian. But our
former pupils are always pleased to show us
that they have made use in their own homes of
what they learned here. One evidence of this
is seen when some of their children come to
school with well made clothes, all having buttons and button-holes. The mothers came
when they were young, with only the clothes
which they wore—a remarkable adaptation of
civilized dress it was too, and always pinued
together.
On account of its situation Santee has the
great advantage of beiug able to teach the Indian boys and girls how to live in their own
country. The conditions of land and climate
at Santee are the same as those in which our
pupils will make their own homes and gain
their own livelihood. A boy who is success-
fid in gardening at Santee can do the same
thing at home.
They are full of interest, these Indian children, young and old alike, and full of promise.
       J. M. M.
In Canada there are 1,553 Indian reservations.
The total area of these is about 5,000,000 acres.
Theyjcomprise many thousand acres of first-class
agricultural land, abound in mineral wealth
and contain vast stretches of merchantable timber. There are today in actual operation 251
day schools, fifty-five boarding schools and
twenty-one industrial schools.
Gathered in One by One
Mrs. Julia Conger of Yankton Agency finding that sbe bad been appoiuted to look after
Santee's interests among tbe former pupils of
her district, and yet not able to invite a general
meeting, concluded to take pains to meet them
individually as she went ax-ound from day
to clay. So during the past winter and spring
she received these remembrance gifts for Sautee. All wei-e glad to be reminded that they
"belonged to Santee," aud will be glad to be so
remiuded again.
Lucy Bonniu   $1 00
Sybil Vandal ,.     1 00
Mabel Packard      1 00
Lorine Gregg     1 00
Alice Gray     1 00
Josephine Aungie      1 00
Alma Bean ,      1 00
Martha Hare      1 00
Mrs. Cote     2 00
Mrs. Conger '     5 00
Mercie Bonnin         50
Eliza Redbird         50
Mrs. Simmons, Sr         50
Mary Bobtail  50
Mrs. Lyman  50
Ruth Hare         50
Adelia Jondreau         50
Cora Thornton         25
By one now unknown     2 10
$20 85
Sep.
i Oct.
I Dec.
Santee Former Pupils   Association
Treasurers Report 1913-14
Received
Contributions at Red Hill meeting $125
George Hopkins       1
Julia Porcupine Grinnell	
Poplar  Association    by    Mrs.
Lizzie P. Arthur     50 27
Apr. 1914, Henry R. Cloud       5
May 13 Mrs.   Julia  Conger,   collected,
Yankton Agency     20
May 28 Ascension, Wawokiya cistinna
by Mrs. Mary V. DeCoteau...    10 00
May 28 Ascension  Santee   Association
by Rev. Louis DeCoteau     12 00
Funds in Bank after the gift for Santee New Building   109
71
00
50
00
85
01
334 34
Expended
Salary of our  teacher  Miss   Margie
Mayberry, eight and one half months. .  170 00
Balance in band $164 34
Sept. 1, 1914. • Lucy Lincoln.
Building Fund
Santee Former Pupils Association
Last fall after the meetiug at Red Hill, I
sent out to every district Santee Association
and to many not in Associations, asking for
their vote on the proposition to give $550. from
our Omaha bank fund to the new school building to be built at Santee. Only one person
voted no ; every one else said, yes.
So the transfer was made, and we have
since then held for the Building Fund.$550 00
Then we received as special gifts from
Ascension S. N. T. S. Association ....    24 00
Fort Yates, N. D., Collected  by Mrs.
Alice C. Keeler  .    33 50
Interest on the fund     36 00
Total amount in hand $643 50
A. L. Riggs.
Three-fourths of the people on the mainland
of Central America are Indians: three-fourths of
the population of Guatemala are Iudians and
three-fourths of the remainder half-breeds;
seven-eights of the population of Honduras are
pure Indians; seven-eights of the population
of Nicaragua are Indians or half-breeds.