Part 1

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EDITORIAL.

ANNUAL MEETING, 279 END OF THE FISCAL YEAR, 279 PARAGRAPHS, 280 THE GLENN BILL, 281 THE INDIAN LANGUAGE IN MISSION WORK, 282 MEMORIAL ON INDIAN EDUCATION, 283 OUR INDIAN WORK AT OAHE, 285 CANADIAN INDIANS, 289 BREADTH OF THE A. M. A. WORK, 290 A CENTENARIAN, 292

THE SOUTH.

NOTES IN THE SADDLE, 293 CHARLESTON, S.C., 294 SHOTGUN IN LOUISIANA, 295 DEATH OF REV. WILLIS POLK, 296

THE INDIANS.

THE MANDAN INDIANS OF NORTHERN DAKOTA, 297

THE CHINESE.

FRUIT AT PETALUMA, 298

BUREAU OF WOMAN’S WORK.

LADIES’ MISSIONARY SOCIETIES AND OUR ANNUAL MEETING, 300 MISSIONARY WORK—WHAT CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED, 300 NEED OF CONTINUED WORK OF THE A. M. A., 301

FOR THE CHILDREN.

LETTER FROM A YOUNG SANTEE, 302

RECEIPTS 302

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NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.

Rooms, 56 Reade Street.

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Price, 50 Cents a Year, in Advance.

Entered at the Post-Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class matter.

American Missionary Association.

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PRESIDENT, HON. WM. B. WASHBURN, LL.D., Mass.

_Vice-Presidents._

Rev. A. J. F. BEHRENDS, D.D., N.Y. Rev. ALEX. MCKENZIE, D.D., Mass. Rev. F. A. NOBLE, D.D., Ill. Rev. D.O. MEARS, D.D., Mass. Rev. HENRY HOPKINS, D.D., Mo.

_Corresponding Secretary._

REV. M. E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._

_Associate Corresponding Secretaries._

Rev. JAMES POWELL, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._ Rev. A. F. BEARD, D.D., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._

_Treasurer._

H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N.Y._

_Auditors._

PETER MCCARTEE. CHAS. P. PEIRCE.

_Executive Committee._

JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman. A. P. FOSTER, Secretary.

_For Three Years._ S. B. HALLIDAY. SAMUEL HOLMES. SAMUEL S. MARPLES. CHARLES L. MEAD. ELBERT B. MONROE.

_For Two Years._ J. E. RANKIN. WM. H. WARD. J. W. COOPER. JOHN H. WASHBURN. EDMUND L. CHAMPLIN.

_For One Year._ LYMAN ABBOTT. A. S. BARNES. J. R. DANFORTH. CLINTON B. FISK. A. P. FOSTER.

_District Secretaries._

Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, D.D., _21 Cong’l House, Boston_. Rev. J. E. ROY, D.D., _151 Washington Street, Chicago_.

_Financial Secretary for Indian Missions._

Rev. CHARLES W. SHELTON.

_Field Superintendent._

Rev. C. J. RYDER, _56 Reade Street, N.Y._

_Bureau of Woman’s Work._

_Secretary_, Miss D. E. EMERSON, _56 Reade Street, N.Y._

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COMMUNICATIONS

Relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the Corresponding Secretaries; those relating to the collecting fields, to Rev. James Powell, D.D., or to the District Secretaries; letters for “THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY,” to the Editor, at the New York Office.

DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS

In drafts, checks, registered letters or post office orders may be sent to H. W. Hubbard, Treasurer, 56 Reade Street, New York, or, when more convenient, to either of the Branch Offices, 21 Congregational House, Boston, Mass., or 151 Washington Street, Chicago, Ill. A payment of thirty dollars at one time constitutes a Life Member.

FORM OF A BEQUEST.

“I BEQUEATH to my executor (or executors) the sum of ———— dollars, in trust, to pay the same in ———— days after my decease to the person who, when the same is payable, shall act as Treasurer of the ‘American Missionary Association,’ of New York City, to be applied, under the direction of the Executive Committee of the Association, to its charitable uses and purposes.” The Will should be attested by three witnesses.

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THE

AMERICAN MISSIONARY.

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VOL. XLI. OCTOBER, 1887. No. 10.

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American Missionary Association.

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For notice of Annual Meeting see last page of cover. An excellent opportunity for a healthful sea voyage.

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END OF THE FISCAL YEAR.

With this month our fiscal year ends. At this writing we are very anxious about the outcome. As we noticed last month, July receipts this year fell off, as compared with last year, $17,000, and in August they fell off, as compared with last year, about $3,000. This puts a heavy strain upon September. When this magazine reaches our readers there will still be a few days in September left. They ought to be golden days for our treasury. The thought that, if every one will do his duty, it is possible for all deficit to be overcome and all debt to be wiped out, makes us urgent to make yet one more plea before our books are closed. The time for hand-to-hand action has come. Reader, can _you_ not do something? Do you not know some individuals and churches that have given us nothing the past year? There are a great many of them in the country. Can you not, by a little personal effort, induce them to do something before September ends? A little effort all round, and God will bless it to our complete deliverance.

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A friend of our work sends us word that in his judgment the Association should not only be speedily relieved of its debt, but that a good balance should always be in hand to meet emergencies. He therefore makes a proposition that he will be one of a hundred who shall give $1,000 each to secure this most desirable end. But where are the ninety and nine? We lay the suggestion before our readers. We believe that among the constituents of the A. M. A. there are a great many more than the required number possessing means in over-abundance to meet the call. We appeal to all such to take the suggestion under consideration and let us hear from them at their earliest convenience.

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Our Indian boys are interested in the Association’s closing the year free from debt. A teacher in the Santee school writes: “Some of the young men who live in the Young Men’s Hall wish to help the Association pay its debt.” Here follow the names of eight young men who contribute $9.25 for this purpose. The teacher adds: “This is money that the boys have earned besides paying for their clothing and making other contributions.” Were the church members in the country to do proportionately as well as these Indian youth, there would not only be no debt threatening, but the new fields so urgently calling for cultivation would be entered and our work greatly enlarged.

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The editor of the MISSIONARY rejoices in having such a little friend as the writer of the following letter, and he greatly desires that her tribe may increase:

“_Dear Friend_—I learned from a friend, one of our late missionaries, that you was in debt, and as I am a little girl and interested in it, I will give one dime toward the debt.”

M. G.

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The field is the world, and the work is one. Frequently we have occasion to realize this blessed truth. Two contributions just received bring it up with fresh emphasis. One is from a home missionary who sends us a generous contribution for our work, and the other is from a former foreign missionary, who in sending his gift from over the sea, accompanies it with these inspiring words: “Your grand work still broadens out on all sides. God give his people hearts to devise and execute liberal things. The light surely is increasing and hope grows stronger as your work rolls onward with its mighty power—the power with which alone the spirit of God can endue it—is enduing it.”

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The questions with which we have to do are inseparably connected with the welfare of our beloved land. They strike deep at the roots of the life of the churches. They touch the mission work in which the churches are engaged all along the line. Both home and foreign missions will languish if they are prosecuted at the neglect of just the work which the American Missionary Association is doing. The heathen world is a common object for the prayer, thought, sacrifice and effort of the churches of Christendom. But the heathenism of the neglected classes of America must be reached by the churches of America. Over that heathenism we cannot spring; past that heathenism we must not go without giving faithful attention to it on the way.

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THE GLENN BILL.

HAS A WHOLE STATE LOST ITS POISE?—It would seem as if the white people of Georgia had done this in so far as they are represented by their Legislature in its action on the Glenn Bill. The sentiment of the civilized world is against them. Of this they might easily satisfy themselves; yet it is reported that Mr. Glenn, during one of his speeches in favor of his infamous chain-gang bill, cried out: “What do the people of Georgia care for the sentiment of the world?” There is evidence, however, Mr. Glenn to the contrary notwithstanding, that Georgia does care for the sentiment of the world. In the Senate the bill has been called to a halt, and several attempts have been made to modify it. Here is a bill that has been passed by the Assembly about as unanimously as was the Glenn Bill:

“_Resolved_ by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring: That in future the Governor be directed not to draw his warrant for the annual appropriation of $8,000 to Atlanta University, under the act of March 3d, 1884, until such a plan of expenditure as will secure the exclusive use of the same for the education of the colored children, in accordance with the declared and settled policy of the State on the subject of the co-education of the races, has been submitted and approved by the Commission constituted in said act for the supervision of the expenditure of said appropriation.

“_Resolved_ further: That said Commission be directed to see that said fund is faithfully applied according to said plan of expenditure, and in no other way.”

This bill is practically as wicked as the one for which it is offered as a substitute. As the New York _Independent_ says, it “imposes a fine of $8,000 per year upon an institution for permitting the child of a teacher to recite to his own father.” Such legislation is a disgrace to the century. Private and missionary schools should have the fullest liberty in this Republic to teach whom they will. A missionary school opens its doors and says, in the language of the gospel whose teachings it is bound to follow, Whosoever will, may come. The Georgia Legislature sets itself up above the gospel, and says, Whosoever will, may _not_ come. Shame upon the State that, while calling itself Christian, dares to legislate in violation of Christian principle. It will not, it cannot prosper, till it changes its course. What the final outcome will be we cannot yet say; but this is certain, the legislation will be against our principles and our work. In the meantime, it is pertinent for us to ask the churches if they intend to stand by us as we attempt to stand for the principles on which as an Association we rest—principles that we believe to be the very essence of the gospel? To close this year with a debt would certainly be a great discouragement in our work. Friends, bend to the rescue with a will.

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THE INDIAN LANGUAGE IN MISSION WORK.

There has been severe and just criticism on the policy of the Indian Commissioner prohibiting the use of the vernacular in the schools among the Indians, not only in those sustained by the Government, but in those supported wholly by private contributions. We wish to give due credit to the Commissioner. He is honest in his purpose, and his general aim is good. He is right in wishing to make the Indian a civilized _man_, and not a civilized Indian. The Indian dross must be taken out and the manhood-gold polished. A man’s language is a part of himself, and the language of the Indian, while it is rich in metaphors relating to natural scenery, comparatively pure in reference to the social virtues, and exalted in its conception of the Great Spirit, yet, in many respects, it holds him to his old life, with its cruelties and superstitions. It is true that as the Roman and Greek languages, conveying originally only human and mythological ideas, came at length to be the vehicle for Christian meanings, so may the Indian’s vernacular. But the process is long and tedious, and the number of Indians who use it is so small and its vocabulary is so meagre, that the effort to make it a permanent vehicle for thought and speech is not worth making, especially as there is a language so much better just at hand. The only question relates to the mode of transition from the one to the other, and how far the Indian tongue can be made a means of more speedily and accurately teaching the English; or, rather, how far the Indian language can be used to help the Indian into a Christian civilization.

Here is the Commissioner’s great mistake. No square rule is wise. It depends on persons, locations and surroundings. For example:

1. The Indian pupil at Hampton or Carlisle is surrounded by English-speaking people, and he will learn English perforce, as an Englishman learns French in France, or German in Germany. Yet even here the process is slow. The Indian youth is so bashful that he makes reluctant use of his opportunities, so that it requires three or four years to acquire the English language at Hampton; and withal, an interpreter is an essential helper there.

2. The Indian boy at the Santee Normal School has only the teachers as his English-speaking associates; the rest are Dakotas. He must spend toilsome years in getting a little knowledge through a dense medium, when an occasional Dakota word would at once illuminate the meaning of the English. What the pupil wants is English ideas, rather than English words. Whatever will give this should be used.

3. But the greatest difficulty is in the schools at out-stations, which have a _missionary_ aim. Here the idea is mainly the making of Christian character and life. The teacher is usually a native, a pupil from the Santee or Oahe schools. He has some knowledge of English, enough to enable him to give more precise and better meaning to the Dakota, but not enough to enable him to teach or preach in it, and if he could his hearers would not understand him. He must use his native tongue mainly, or not work at all. The Missionary Societies would find their work ruinously crippled if these out-stations were cut off. They are the pioneers of missionary work.

4. Then, again, there is the mass of the adult Indians that can never learn a new language. They must hear the gospel in their native tongue, or never hear it. The President of the United States, Secretary Lamar and Commissioner Atkins have all committed themselves to the value—nay, the necessity—of religion as a lever for the elevation of the Indian. Do they mean now to forbid the Missionary Societies from training teachers and preachers for these people? This is an assumption of authority that befits Russia, and we are sure the people of these free United States will submit to no such Star-Chamber dictation.

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MEMORIAL ON INDIAN EDUCATION.

ADOPTED BY THE CHICAGO MINISTERS’ MEETING.

_To his Excellency the President of the United States:_

The Congregational ministers of Chicago and vicinity, in their weekly session at the Grand Pacific, September 5th, to the number of thirty-five, desire to memorialize you in behalf of a modification of the recent orders of the Indian Department, whereby the use of the native language is interdicted in all Indian reservation schools, not only those that are under Government patronage, in whole or in part, but also those that are private or are under missionary societies.

From the first we have favored the policy proposed by missionaries among the Indians, now adopted by the Government, and heartily approved by yourself, of bringing these aborigines into American citizenship and of securing them land in severalty, with the surplus turned into a school fund.

Nor do we question the motives of the heads of the Indian Department. Indeed this is forefended by the fact, as semi-officially stated, that “the question of the effect of the policy of the office upon any missionary body has never been considered;” and this fact gives us the more assurance in soliciting you, that the missionary view may yet receive a due consideration.

We are clear, with the Indian officials, that in the effort to Americanize these natives, the English language must be introduced as fast as possible. But we would not do this to the total exclusion of the native tongues in the missionary and interior station schools, being confident that the final result will be more speedily secured by the use, in part, of the Indian language.

We are confident that the greatest civilizing power among any pagan people will be that which comes from the ideas and the influence of the Christian religion; and that these can be made most effective through the Bible of that religion in the native tongue. This has been the wisdom of missions in all times and countries, and none the less in those to the Indians of America. By this process alone have we secured the civilized “nations” we now have in the Indian Territory, in New York, in Wisconsin and in other parts of our country. So the missionaries to the Sioux gave them the Bible, the catechism, Pilgrim’s Progress, spelling-books and readers in their own dialect, and in this way gave them the really American ideas, as well as the religion of Christ. And what is the result? Two thousand of them gathered into the Christian church and twice that number civilized.

Of the people it is not possible that any but the children will be taught English, and of these, for a long time, only a small portion. For the adult people and even for the young, as for the process of helping them to heaven, “one hour of their vernacular is worth a cycle of any other tongue,” and this must be from the native’s Bible in hand. The new order will close eighteen schools and stations of our missionary body, and as many more under the care of the Episcopalians and Presbyterians. It will deprive seven or eight hundred children of the instruction they are fitted to receive, and will prevent access to about 6,000 who are near these schools, but not yet reached. Principal Belfield of our Chicago Manual Training School, after a recent visit to the Normal and Industrial Training School of the Santee Agency, under Rev. Alfred L. Riggs, reported in one of our dailies, in terms of the warmest admiration and commendation, of the comprehensive system of manual, industrial and moral training of that school, which he declared was working a wonderful transformation among the Indian youth of both sexes. And yet it is against this school in particular that the new orders are aimed. And this, not because the English language is not chiefly used there, but solely because the Dakota, in connection with the English, is used at school in reading the Bible and singing gospel hymns.

The station schools back in the interior of the Sioux Reservation, under native teachers only, having no connection with the Government, are also ordered closed. But these teachers have been trained at the Santee and Oahe schools, to which some of their pupils have been brought forward; and these again furnish the scholars who are secured for the institutions at the East where the English is exclusively used. This process shows the relation of the vernacular schools to those of the advanced English. It also shows how unfair it is to decide the whole case of teaching exclusive English by the selected specimens to be found at Hampton and Carlisle.

This plan keeps up a connection between the young and the old, between the raw interior and the more civilized front. It agrees with the established policy for assimilating people of foreign tongues in our country—that of using both the vernacular and the English in their public worship. It would be a gross usurpation for our country to interdict such peoples from thus using their native language in parish schools for imparting their own religious views of truth and duty.

We feel sure that to insist that these new candidates for citizenship, in addition to all the other new things implied in this revolution of their old ways, shall be tied up in all their schools to a new language, will be a disheartenment that will defeat the desired result.

Our petition is, that you will secure such a modification of the recent orders as will allow, in private and mission schools, a discretionary use of the native along with the English language, and all this in order, as we think, to a more speedy extinction of the one, and the prevalence of the other, among all the Indian tribes.

And so we respectfully appeal.

(Signed) J. D. MCCORD, Pres. (Signed) F. D. ROOD, _Sec._

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OUR INDIAN WORK AT OAHE.

AN ILLUSTRATION OF WHAT THE U. S. GOVERNMENT _proposes_ TO KILL.

It was my privilege to attend the closing exercises of our Indian school at Oahe, in Dakota, which is under the direction of Rev. T. L. Riggs. About forty children have been in school during the winter, and now in mid-summer they return to their homes to spend two months. Mr. Riggs has sent word to all the out-stations that the parents and relatives of the children were expected to come here for their children at that time. As school closed on Wednesday, those living at a distance of ninety miles started the Saturday previous. Many of them reached Oahe on Tuesday, and on Wednesday morning we watched them coming in in their white covered wagons and on their ponies. Stopping near the river they pitched their tents, and thus had temporary homes. There were here then one hundred and fifty in number who came from all parts of the “Cheyenne River Agency Reservation,” and some from the “Spotted Tail Agency.” The mission house was open to all, and not a few came at once to pay their respects, staying only a few moments. The school exercises were intensely interesting. The delighted parents in their blankets and with feathers in their hair, looking uncouth enough to please the most fantastic taste, themselves satisfied beyond qualification, seated and standing, filled every available space when the exercises began. These were recitations and songs, etc., which made even the phlegmatic red people smile audibly. One little fellow named Mark “spoke his piece” as follows:

“I am a little boy Not quite four feet high, I hope when I grow big I’ll not be quite so shy; I can’t be very sure, But I will surely try.”