Part 4

The religious influences at these homes are foreign to ours, of course, but there is an influence. The Dakotas worship all nature. They pray to the spirits of heaven and earth; to the winds, the sun, the moon, the stones, and for fear something should be left out—it is summed up in the great mystery—the Great Spirit. All trouble and even sickness comes from evil spirits, hence the young never want to care for the sick, and do not dare for fear they shall be visited with disease too. Near the tipi of one of the women we noticed a large new tent; and we asked, “Whose is this?” “My tipi wakan,” (holy house) she replied. “May we enter?” “Oh, no, we do not allow white people there.” “But,” says my companion, Miss Collins, “they always allow me.” “Do they? well, come.” She led the way inside and told us the following incident:

Her son, a boy of thirteen, had died; and during his sickness all the relatives had promised to make a certain number of gifts, to be finished at a set time after his death. The tent was very large, and half way around on the inside were several rows of Indian travelling cases, which held the gifts. The mother opened one of these and showed us her offerings: moccasins, leggins, tobacco pouches, pipes and many articles for which I knew no name. All of them were beautifully embroidered, and she had handled them so carefully that the deerskin of which they were made was spotlessly clean. This poor sorrowing mother had worked so diligently that her wrist was very lame, but she was being doctored by one of their medicine men, and hoped soon to finish all she had promised. “My son has counted every one of these gifts,” she said, “and when the time comes we will call a feast, and our sacred men will say prayers, and we shall give these gifts away. This will please my son and he will pray for us.” _So_ she hoped to merit blessings for herself and others. Do we not hope that the dear Lord may soon grant this faithful woman a revelation of Himself?

Before leaving this view of Indian life, let me give you a glimpse of our other station, Fort Berthold, through a recent letter from Mrs. Hall, formerly Miss Webb, of Santee. She writes: “You have no idea, and I cannot begin to realize, the depths of heathenism and degradation which surround us. It is only a little walk to the village, and strange sounds come from there all through the nights. There is dancing and all sorts of wickedness going on. I wish our Agent would use his power to put a stop to such things. I have had my first women’s meeting. My plan is this: to have a circle composed of the mothers of our boys and girls, or, if they have no mothers, the woman nearest to them. My first meeting consisted of five. One of them could speak Dakota so I was able to reach her a little. She was an interesting, bright woman, but oh! so dirty! I was wonderfully drawn to her and also to one of her little girls. Here was an opportunity to use my Dakota Bible, which I was so glad to improve. Now I am surrounded by Rees and Gros Ventres, I feel the barrier of language exceedingly. The Rees are around us mostly. The Gros Ventres have taken their farms twenty, thirty, or forty miles away. Here will be such a field for some of our boys. Who will be the devoted, consecrated worker? I feel all we can do now is to pray; and I am sure God will hear and answer.”

Having tried to picture to you our people in their own homes, in parts of the Oahe and Fort Berthold fields, turn with me now to our Santee school, and the record of its boys and girls. Some of these not long since came from similar homes; others are the children of Christian parents and grandparents, and do not know of the native beliefs and customs, except as they are told. We have representatives from ten different tribes, five tribes (and the larger part) belonging to the Sioux or Dakota Nation, the remaining five belonging to the Rees, Mandans, Gros Ventres, Arapahoes and Poncas. The whole number of different pupils last year was 210. This shows a steady increase. They have continued in larger numbers through the year, and those from a distance have enjoyed attending the summer sessions of school. There has been marked progress in their studies and deportment; especially in deportment, for those who used to be so painfully shy, and their voices so faint one must strain the ear to listen, can now, with their acquired knowledge of spoken English, look you confidently in the face and respond with distinct voices. The brightening of the eye and whole countenance makes you sure of the bond of friendship established between teacher and pupil, which gives always a promise of success. In the homes, in the shops (of which there are three—blacksmith, carpenter and shoe shop), on the farm and at school, many through the year have given very satisfactory service. While I would not claim for any, perfection of conduct, yet in simple justice to their efforts I do say, they have tried faithfully to do well what they have attempted, and have succeeded, and so have won the esteem of their teachers in the several departments.

The studies are as yet mostly elementary. The Bible in Dakota and in English has always had a prominent place, in order that the young men and women may be fitted for religious work among their people. We would never lose sight of the fact that the first and highest aim is to form a Christian character that shall go with its influence into their homes and be felt. It is no plan of Santee to isolate the child from the parent, but rather through the child to influence the parent and all home life. Where there is such strong family affection, there is a proportionately strong hope that the greater and larger good can be accomplished in this way. Through the past year there has been an awakening to the claims of their own people upon our pupils as never before. They express desires such as these: “I want to help my people.” “I go alone on the hill and cry to God to bless and save my people.” “Pray for my people that they may all be Christians.” Surely God’s spirit is with them.

During our summer vacation we receive letters from those at home, which give a little insight into their life when they return to old surroundings. One young girl writes, “There are some new Indians here. They have their old ways yet, and I am afraid of them and very careful with them. No Sunday-school, no church and no prayer to-day is just dreadful to me. Remember us in your prayers that we may be able to resist temptation.” Quoting from a letter from one of the young men, “The people here asked me to go to grass dance, but I said ‘I don’t know how to dance now.’ They have dance every Sunday. And the white man, he always took some picture on Sunday. You think he doing right? I think they don’t know how to walk to the church. I know what makes those white men not want to go to church. They didn’t like to hear the truth and doing in the right way that Jesus wants all people to do.” Do not such words as these show that the good seed is taking deep root?

Our organized Christian work embraces three missionary societies and a Y. M. C. A.

The Society of Native Women holds weekly meetings for prayer and sewing. Their homes are far apart and but few can attend at once; yet some one is always ready to welcome the Society and prepare herself to lead the prayer-meeting. They have raised during the year $74.25. The girls of the Dakota Home organized a separate society, October, 1885, with an average attendance of thirty. They raised from September to July about $12. This was done by small weekly offerings, and by the sale of useful and fancy articles at the close of school. The little girls of the Birds’ Nest have also had their society of seventeen members, varying in age from six to twelve years. By little services they have earned $1.20, and a gift of $2 from a gentleman has enabled them to report $3.20 at the Annual Dakota Meeting in September. The Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. handed me his report, from which I quote as follows:

“Our year’s work was quite profitable. We had at first nineteen members. Our work was to bring young men to our meetings, and we appointed four for that special work, though it is the work of us all. We appointed four others to go in different homes and have prayer with those who are not church members; four to visit the sick and find out needs, to help them. Our contribution was rather small, though it is the best we can do; this year $43.16. Out of that, $25.80 goes to help our native missionary account; the remainder is for helping delegates to different meetings. There were twenty-five new members this year, most all associate members, leaving only fourteen active members, but God has blessed us in many ways.”

In conclusion, I think I speak the minds of all the teachers at Oahe, at Fort Berthold and at Santee, when I say we feel much encouraged in this our work for the Dakotas and other Indians. God does bless our efforts, and the hearts of the young are being won to his service. We know it is your work, too. We ask you still to strengthen our hands and hearts in the future. We need your interest and your prayers. We need your hearts with us constantly, that we may be able to do better and greater things. It is a _privilege_ to try to teach those committed to our care, of the love of God and Jesus, which has existed so long for them, even as it has for us. It is a privilege, in place of their fear and worship of all nature, to tell them of the tender love and care of a Heavenly Father. It is a privilege to see the faces brighten and show the peace of God, because their hungry, fainting, souls have found the Master. There may be self-denial in a life among them; but in working for the elevation of a people like this, not simply to be our servants and forever the weaker race, but with an aim to bring them to stand on a level, to be Christian men and women, able to fight the battle of life with a pure faith in the one God and Saviour of us all, is something _worthy of self-denial_.

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RECEIPTS FOR NOVEMBER, 1886.

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MAINE, $162.00.

Alfred. Cong. Ch. and Soc. $15.00 Augusta. Sab. Sch. Class, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 2.00 Bangor. Mrs. Walter Brown 10.00 Casco. “A Lady,” by Mrs. Richard Mayberry 1.00 Hermon. L. J. Peabody, _for Marie Adlof Sch’p Fund_ 1.00 Machias. “A Friend.” 5.00 Portland. State St. Ch. and Soc. 100.00 Thomaston. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 18.00 Wells. Mission Circle of Second Cong. Ch., _for Pleasant Hill, Tenn._ 10.00

NEW HAMPSHIRE, $423.73.

Amherst. Cong. Ch. 4.50 Atkinson. Joseph Grover 8.00 Atkinson. Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Rosebud Indian M._ 5.10 Bennington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.50 East Derry. First Ch. and Soc. 1.71 Greenland. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 24.00 Greenville. Isaiah Wheeler, 100; Cong. Ch., 8.72 108.72 Harrisville. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 5.50 Hopkinton. First Cong. Ch. 17.70 Lebanon. C. M. Baxter, _for Woman’s Work_ 65.00 Mason. Ladies, _for Freight_ 2.61 Milford. First Cong. Ch., to const. MISS CHRISTIANA MOORE, MISS ALICE M. FARNSWORTH and MRS. LIZZIE R. HOWARD, L. M’s 127.83 Nelson. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.50 Peterboro. Mrs. M. A. and Miss M. D. Whitney 4.00 Rindge. Cong. Ch. 3.51 Sullivan. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.55 —————— $399.73 LEGACIES. Concord. Estate of George B. Woodward 14.00 New Ipswich. Estate of Wm. D. Locke, by A. N. Townsend, Agt. 10.00 —————— $423.73

VERMONT, $244.07.

Barton. “A Friend,” to const. GUY ROBERT VARNUM, L. M. 30.00 Bethel. Y. P. S. C. E. Missionary Gardens, _for Indian M._ 2.70 Brattleboro. Central Cong. Ch. 103.40 Brattleboro. Mrs. F. C. Rice, _for Student Aid, Talladega C._ 2.88 Castleton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 19.75 Coventry. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.62 East Hardwick. Ladies’ Aid Soc., Bbl. of C., _for Tougaloo U_; 1.35 _for Freight_ 1.35 Essex Junction. Ladies of Cong. Ch., _for McIntosh, Ga._ 7.25 Granby and Victory. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 4.12 Saint Albans. H. E. Seymour 5.00 Saint Johnsbury. South Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch. 38.25 Springfield. Ladies’ Soc., Bbl. of C., etc., _for Macon, Ga._ Waitsfield. Ladies, by Mrs. S. A. Bigelow, _for McIntosh, Ga._ 4.75 Woodstock. Ladies, _for McIntosh, Ga._, by Mrs. Henry Fairbanks 14.00

MASSACHUSETTS, $4,762.81.

Ashburnham. C. G. Noyes 10.00 Boston. Mrs. E. P. Eayers, 5; “A Friend,” Carpet, val., 50, _for Room 21 Cong. House_,—Dorchester. “Friend,” _for Indian M._, 46.07.—Roxbury. Immanuel Ch. and Soc. 93.50.—Roxbury. Immanuel Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Marie Adlof Sch’p Fund_, 75 219.57 Boxboro. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.00 Boxboro. Grace Dustan, _for Marie Adlof Sch’p Fund_ 0.40 Brockton. “Friend,” _for Santee Indian M._ 65.68 Brockton. Mrs. Mary E. Perkins 5.00 Cambridge. Miss Mary E. Marrett’s Sab. Sch. Class, First Cong. Ch., _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 10.00 Cambridge. Mrs. J. Russell Bradford 5.00 Campello. South Cong. Ch. 100.00 Charlton. “A Friend” 3.00 Chesterfield. Cong. Ch. adl. 10.00 Chicopee Falls. “A Friend,” by Rev. R. P. Hibbard, _for Tougaloo Miss._ 10.00 Concord. Trinitarian Cong. Ch. 33.09 Cummington. Mrs. H. M. Porter, 2 Pkgs Patchwork, _for Macon, Ga._ Danvers. Maple St. Ch. (36 of which _for Charleston, S.C._) 115.71 Danvers. First Cong. Ch., to const. ELBRIDGE A. GUILFORD, MOSES CHAPMAN and MRS. NANCY MORRISON, L. M’s. 93.77 Dedham. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 166.00 Dover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.00 Easthampton. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 56.69 Enfield. Edward Smith. 500.00 Erving. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.00 Everett. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.75 Fitchburg. Dea. Holton, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 15.00 Freetown. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 14.70 Gardner. Ladies’ Miss’y Soc., by Mrs. F. H. Whittemore, _for Indian M._ 50.00 Great Barrington. First Cong. Ch. 111.32 Greenwich. Daniel Parker, deceased, by Mrs. M. P. Estez. 5.00 Hanover. Second Ch. and Soc. 10.00 Hatfield. Cong Ch. and Soc., to const. DAVID BILLINGS, JR., and MRS. ISABELLA L. DWIGHT L. M’s. 66.16 Haverhill. Mrs. E. G. Wood, _for Freight_. 2.00 Haverhill. Nettie L Webster, _for Rosebud Indian M._ 0.30 Holliston. “Friends,” 14.63; Class of Young Men Cong. Sab. Sch., 6; “Friends,” 2; “Friends,” Straw Matting and Oil Cloth, _for Student Aid, Talladega C._ 22.63 Hyannis Port. Dr. J. H. Wright, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 5.00 Hyde Park. Ladies’ Missionary Soc., by Mrs. M. G. Bunton, _for Woman’s Work_. 25.00 Melrose. Ortho. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 64.09 Merrimac. John K. Sargent. 2.00 Methuen. First Cong. Ch. 27.45 Millis. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.03 Milton. “A Friend’s Mite Box”. 2.20 Natick. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 50.00 Newburyport. Prospect St. Cong. Ch. 90.60 Newburyport. North Cong. Ch. and Soc. 31.26 Newton. Eliot Ch., _for Santee Indian M._ 75.00 Newton. Ladies’ Freedmen’s Aid Soc. Box of C., etc., _for Macon, Ga._, 1 _for Freight_. 1.00 Newton Center. First Cong. Sab. Sch., _special gift for Oahe Indian M._ 15.00 North Billerica. Mrs. E. R. Gould, _for Rutland Sewing Sch._ 3.00 North Brookfield. First Cong. Ch., _for Pleasant Hill_. 14.50 North Weymouth. Old South Ch., 11.25; Pilgrim Ch., 8.77, _for Student Aid, Straight U._ 20.02 Norton. Trin. Cong. Ch. 57.00 Oxford. Woman’s Miss’y Soc., by Miss L. D. Stockwell, Treas. 7.70 Pepperell. Dea. G. Blake, 10; Miss S. J. Miller, 2, _for Student Aid, Dudley, N.C._ 12.00 Reading. Woman’s M. Soc., Bbl. of C., _for Tougaloo U._; Eliza A. White, 1.25 _for Freight_. 1.25 Randolph. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 142.29 Salem. Crombie St. Ch. and Soc. 45.00 Somerville. Franklin St. Ch., _for Santee Indian M._ 45.35 South Attleboro. Mrs. H. L. Draper, Bbl. of C., _for Grand View, Tenn._ Springfield. South Cong. Ch., _for Indian M._ 10.00 Stockbridge. Miss Alice Byington, _for Indian M._ 30.00 Taunton. Broadway Cong. Sab. Sch., _for Rosebud Indian M._ 25.00 Waltham. Trin. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 28.01 Westboro. “A Friend”. 2.00 West Medford. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.26 Williamstown. South Ch. 13.79 Winchendon. First Cong. Sab. Sch. 23.62 Winchester. Cong. Ch., _for Pleasant Hill_. 50.00 Woburn. Daniel Richardson. 1,000.00 Woburn. Ladies’ Charitable Reading Soc., _for Freight_. 1.35 Worcester. Piedmont Ch., 276.47; Piedmont Sab. Sch., 25, _for Indian M._ 301.49 Worcester. Piedmont Sab. Sch., _for Atlanta Students in Sch. of Theology, Hartford, Ct._ 50.00 Worcester. Plymouth Ch. (10 of which _for Indian M._) 80.00 Worcester. Salem St. Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch., _for Student Aid, Fisk U._ 9.00 Worcester. Old South Ch. M. C. Coll. 7.00 By Charles Marsh, Treas. Hampden Benev. Ass’n. Chester. Center 2.00 Chicopee. Second 56.90 Monson 40.88 Springfield. South, _for Debt_ 5.00 West Springfield. First 27.00 West Springfield. Park St., Mrs. H. A. Southworth 20.00 151.78 ——————————————— $4,262.81

LEGACY. Cummington. Estate of Mrs. Clara K. Porter, by Milton Porter, Adm’r 500.00 ———————— $4,762.81

CLOTHING, ETC., RECEIVED AT BOSTON OFFICE. Pittsfield, N.H. By Miss Susie G. French, Bbl. and Box, _for Marion, Ala._ Medfield, Mass. Box, _for Wilmington, N.C._ Newbury. Mass. First Parish, Bbl., _for McIntosh, Ga._ Watertown, Mass. Mrs. E. P. Wilson, Bbl., _for Louisville, Ky._

RHODE ISLAND, $375.86.

Barrington Centre. Cong. Ch., 81.15, and Sab. Sch., 25. 106.15 Bristol. First Cong Sab. Sch. 20.00 Little Compton. Mrs. Antrace Pierce. 5.00 Providence. Union Meeting, Beneficent Cong. Ch., _for Indian M._ 159.50 Providence. Beneficent Cong. Ch. 50.00 Tiverton Corners. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00 Westerly. Cong. Ch. 28.21

CONNECTICUT, $1,614.73.