Chapter 3

Crossing the Missouri is one of the first of our experiences. The team and wagon are loaded on the boat, the men row a few rods, then the boat stops. "Bar," remarks Mr. Cross, "got to tow;" when, horrors! "Is this a missionary I see?" Mr. Cross is in the water, sometimes to his knees, sometimes to his waist. Thus they tow the boat a half mile. From the way they hold their breath the water must be cold. Well, it is October 10, in blizzard-swept Dakota. But after two hours of work we are safely landed on the west side of the river and soon we are toiling slowly out of the _breaks_ of the river. After a ride of a few hours we come to a creek with no water but plenty of wood. Here dinner is announced. This is camping in earnest. This is not play. Camping in the East is generally within sound of the cackle of the hen and the low of the cow. But here you must live off of the land or out of your mess-chest. We combine the two. Many hotels and families could learn a good lesson from an experienced traveler and camper. In less than thirty minutes from the time we stop, horses are unharnessed, fire built, prairie chicken dressed and cooked, coffee made, table spread, blessing asked and we busy with the tender and juicy chicken. This is the same order at each meal.

At night we sleep on the earth and under the sky, with but little between us and either sky or earth. This is a new and somewhat larger bedroom than I have been used to. But with no house within twenty miles we are unmolested. What a place! I listen. "All the air a solemn stillness holds." I look. "So lonesome it is that God himself scarce seems to be there." But the clear air and quiet night soon lull me into unbroken slumber. Thus we travel until we reach Park St. Church Station, where we find our comfortable log house of one room ready to receive us. Though we reach the house at eleven o'clock at night, a full half dozen come to greet us, saying, "Catka, winyau waste luha, lila caute ma waste." "Left Hand, (Mr. Cross) you have a good woman, so I am happy." Sunday comes; at eleven o'clock we go to the neat little room, chapel and schoolroom. Here fifty men and women with children of all ages, listen with eagerness and attention to Mr. Cross as he tells them of the wise men who came to seek Jesus. Some of the faces are dirty, and so is much of the clothing. But all listen as if they perhaps might see this same Jesus. This is Dakota, our field, our people to save.

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NEW CHURCH AT FORT YATES, NORTH DAKOTA.

REV. T.L. RIGGS.

On Sunday, the 8th, we took steps here in the organization of a new church. By invitation, two of our Oahe Church, Solomon Bear Ear and David Lee, were present from the Cheyenne River Agency, and it was judged wise to organize. The Apostles' Creed and a short Covenant were offered as Articles of Faith and the pledge. The nine members of our Oahe church whose homes are at Grand River and Fort Yates will become members here on dismission at Oahe, and the native workers and other missionaries will also transfer their connection, so that if all do so, the new church will have a membership of eighteen or twenty.

In connection with these services the new chapel was dedicated to the Master's service by public expression; it has already been so consecrated. I doubt not, in the heart of the giver of the funds, as well as by the prayers of all who have been interested in it. Is is a bright, pleasant room within, and has a snug appearance from without. I think Mr. Reed has made a very creditable success in this his first building.

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THE CHINESE.

CHINA FOR CHRIST.

BY REV. WM. C. POND, D.D.

It is quite possible (though I do not distinctly remember about it,) that our readers have seen this caption at the head of my articles more than once already. Be that as it may, I am sure that such persons as read this Magazine cannot be weary of it. It is the motto of our corporation adopted twelve or thirteen years ago. It then looked rather magniloquent for a work so humble as ours; but there was promise in it, and prophecy, and nothing less would satisfy either our Chinese brethren or myself. This promise and prophecy begin to be fulfilled. We hoped then, and now we are gladdened by oft-recurring confirmations of our hope, that we were laboring not only for these sojourners in our own land, but for a mighty multitude to be reached by their testimony, and to be leavened by the influence of their example.

This will be illustrated for our readers by the following extract from an address delivered by one of our brethren at the last anniversary of our mission at Santa Cruz. His English will require a little straightening, but for the most part, I will give it just as spoken:

_Dear Friends_: I am glad to see you all here this evening; and that you have an interest in the Chinese work. I will tell you a few words about myself, what experience I had in my native land. I left California to go to China, July 15, 1887, and after thirty-one days, reached my home. I found a piece of red paper on the wall above my cooking place, with the name of the stove-god written on it. We call it "Doy Shin;" "Doy" means "Stove," "Shin" means "god." Every family worships the stove-god at the cooking place. The first of every month they burn some punk, and twice every month make a fresh cup of tea, which is left standing on the stove. I found that several thousands of punk had been burned during my absence, and the ends of the sticks were left in the bowls. I felt very sorry for it; so I tore up the paper and break the punk-sticks in pieces and burn them up. My wife felt very indignant, and was afraid the stove-god might be angry and make me sick, and punish me. I say: "Nothing to be afraid of. But I am only afraid that the true God in heaven will punish me if I do not tear up the paper and burn up the punk-sticks." I say: "I must entirely abandon this superstition and must give this testimony for Christ. For he is the only God that can preserve my life, and the only one that can take it away."

In the mean time, a Chinese preacher who was supported by the Methodist Mission was very sick. His children were very small and his wife cannot walk. There was nobody to go after a doctor for him. So he sent for me to call doctor and get medicine. He and myself were the only Christians inside the walls of the city. Outside in the villages were a few Christians, but fifteen or twenty miles away. My wife advised me not to go to his house lest I get sick also, for my health was not very good. I say to her, that only he and I are Christians in this place. I _have_ to go to his house. I rather die than not go. In about twenty days he die. We sent for the Christian friends, from different parts--some thirty to fifty miles away--some nearer. So we bury him the Christian way. The men carry the coffin. They charge four dollars to bury him, because he is Christian. The others they charge only two dollars. We also hire music for the funeral--different from the heathen funeral. Several hundred people were standing on the way, watching us pass by. Some say: "How funny the burying of the Yason dog,"--_i.e._, the Jesus boy.

After the funeral I was very sick, and my whole body trembling with cold. Many blankets put upon me, but cannot make me warm. My wife begin to cry. My cousins and all said it was because I went to the dead man's house and catch the sickness. Some of them said it was because I tore up the paper and burned the punk-sticks of the stove-god. But my wife, sitting on the bed-side crying, suggested the medicine which I brought from California; the name--sulphate of quinine. So she ask me to take that; but I say: I never have been this way before, and never use that medicine for this kind of sickness. But she ask me to try; so I take a very little with a little water. Not more than three minutes my whole body stop shaking, and I felt a great relief. I thank God for his help, and soon I got all well.

Another Chinese preacher came from Canton to my district to take the dead preacher's place; also, to live in his house. Next day, he and his wife and boy all taken very sick. They grow worse and worse, every day appointed to death. I felt very much dismayed because many people say, "The Death Spirit make them very sick because they will not worship him." But I pray to God to make him well. I say:--"Oh Lord, if you let this family die also, all the people in this place will not like to hear thy Gospel, and I also may be tempted by the superstition. I ask thee, oh God, let thy mercy be upon them and not let this family going to die; so let all this people of darkness see thy power, and thy glorious light appear to their sight." I believe that God answered this prayer, for they grew better and better every day, though they were so sick they expected to die.

I will tell you of another trial which I encountered. I live inside the wall, and all the people inside are divided into six societies. I belong to No. 4. Once in three years we have what we call _festival_. So a man who had charge asked me to sign my name to give twenty-five cents to buy some pork and other things for offerings to the idols. The temples have some property, but they use the temple money for other expenses. I refuse to subscribe. So he advised me and said: "While you are in the foreign country, imitate foreign customs, but now you are in China, you have to obey Chinese customs." They try to compel me to give. I stand up and say: "If these six societies could not have this festival to the idols because I refuse, do the people depend on me? If so, then all the people are without hope, and may despair of the blessing of the idols. Is that what you believe? Because you worship the idols you give offerings to them, and expect blessing from them. I do not worship the idol, and he would not give me the blessing. I do not wish for the idol's blessing. It is not because I am stingy that I will not give to the offering of the idol, but because it is against the true God in heaven, whom I trust, and whose blessing I do greatly desire." So they could not compel me to give, and they let me alone, but they felt very much indignation and were hostile to me. A Christian in China has sometimes a very hard time. "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ." Yet more and more are believing the Gospel of Christ every year in China.

A year has passed since, this brother returned to America; but is there any hazard in affirming that those towns-people of his in China have thought more or less, even to this day, of the stand he took and the God in Christ to whom he testified?

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BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.

MISS D.E. EMERSON, SECRETARY.

MASS MEETING OF THE WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNIONS.

The first meeting of the Woman's Home Missionary Unions in connection with the American Missionary Association was a genuine success. The programme was put in the hands of Mrs. E.S. Williams of Minnesota by vote of the ladies at Saratoga in June last, and the interested group who filled the large and pleasant Sunday-school rooms of the New England Church in Chicago, October 29th, rejoiced in their new and forward movement for home and native land. Mrs. Lane of Michigan gave Mrs. Williams genial help in presiding. Mrs. Palmer of Massachusetts led in prayer. Mrs. Burke Leavitt, President of the Illinois Union, gave to the ladies a felicitous welcome to the city and to the sympathy of the workers of the great state of Illinois. Mrs. E.W. Blatchford greeted the women in behalf of the New England Church and of their co-workers in the W.B.M.I. If only all good women saw and felt, as this wise sister did, that all Christ's work is one, and that all work for him outside of our own home and church is mission service, their appeals to their sisters would have more irresistible force, and the Saviour's prayer be nearer answered, "That they all may be one." Miss Emerson, of the American Missionary Association, spoke with her usual straightforward effectiveness of the joy of the Association in their share of the work of the Unions.

These greetings were followed by the roll-call of State Unions, with brief responses. Mrs. Williams represented Minnesota; Mrs. Palmer, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. She also read a letter from Miss Nathalie Lord of Boston. Mrs. Grabill responded for Michigan, Mrs. Cowles for Ohio, Mrs. Morgan for New York, Mrs. Miner for Wisconsin, Mrs. Bronson for Missouri, Mrs. Taintor for Illinois, Mrs. Douglass for Iowa, Mrs. Leavitt for Nebraska, and Miss Emerson for Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina. A telegram was received from Mrs. Gale of the Florida Union, letters from Mrs. Swift of Vermont and Mrs. Andrews of Alabama, and a warm message from Louisiana came just too late for public hearing. Greetings also came from Northern and Southern California, Oregon and Colorado.

After prayer by Mrs. Douglass, of Iowa, Miss Hand gave a brief, but very effective address on "What the New West needs from our Women--prayer, consecrated effort, contributions."

In the afternoon, Mrs. Lane gave a complete summary of "Foreign Missions at Home. What have we done? What have we left undone? What ought we to do now?" No brief mention can give any adequate idea of the amount of information which was crowded into this address, or the earnestness of its presentation.

Mrs. Regal, of Oberlin, presented the report of the Bohemian Bible Readers' Home, in Cleveland.

Mrs. E.M. Williams answered effectively the question, "How can we induce women of wealth to give to Home Missions?" She thought lack of information was the cause of most of the indifference from which the work suffers, and recommended individual effort as likeliest to be successful.

Mrs. Bailey, of Ogden, Utah, gave a stirring address on the "Need of Pure Homes and True Churches in the West."

Elizabeth Winyan, a Christian Indian woman of the Dakotas, next addressed the meeting in her native language, Rev. Mr. Riggs acting as her interpreter. Elizabeth's manner is very calm and dignified, and her gestures are graceful and forcible. Her language is eloquent even though trammeled by the necessity of having an interpreter. When she "shakes hands with us in her heart," we know she means it, and when she has "said enough," we know she is done.

A Free Parliament for the discussion of practical questions was conducted by Mrs. Regal, of Ohio. The subjects of Missionary Literature, Life-Membership, Dangers threatening the Unions, Holding meetings in connection with or separate from local and State Conferences, and National Organization, were discussed, a large number of ladies participating freely.

Mrs. Goodell, of St. Louis, conducted a "Sweet Hour of Prayer," which closed the day's sessions, and the earnest group dissolved only to swell the throngs at the best meeting the American Missionary Association ever held.

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WORDS FROM OUR ANNUAL MEETING,

OF SPECIAL INTEREST TO WOMEN.

Twenty-six Woman's State Organizations now co-operate with us in our missionary work. Each year shows the increasing importance and helpfulness of the Woman's Bureau. From it go counsel, help and inspiration to the lady teachers in the field, and missionary news and helpful suggestions to the ladies of the State Associations. Through it pass the sympathy and the help of the earnest workers in the older churches to the earnest workers in our mission churches and schools. The people for whom we labor can not be saved either for this world or the next unless the women who make the homes are lifted out of coarseness and vice, and taught true womanhood and womanly duties and arts. The Woman's Bureau is a most potent factor in the work of bringing the gospel to the rescue of womanhood in our mission fields.--_Annual Report of Executive Committee._

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Our laborers are faced by all the serious problems of the foreign land--problems unrelieved by a single romantic charm. When we send our missionaries to Africa they go to labor among the Africans; and when we send them down South they go to teach "niggers." I believe that the American Missionary Association, in its calm and unimpassioned history, is one grand and splendid eulogy of woman. Our sisters went South while the sky was yet heavy with the clouds of war; they went to the rude dwellings where those people sat in stupor and in darkness after the first thrill of the new found liberty; they went from homes of refinement and culture and wealth and religion; they bore to this darkness light, to this dullness life; they carried down there in their white hands the great tree of Calvary, the cross of Christ, and planted it in the land of the magnolia and the palm. I say that the history of this Association is a grand and glowing eulogy of woman because these were willing to be called "teachers of niggers" for their love of humanity.--_Rev. C.W. Hiatt._

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It is one of the most astonishing signs of the times that really into the feeble hand of womanhood is given the key of the situation. They respect these educated girls, they reverence them and give them a place of dignity in their hearts. That makes it possible for these women to do a large and splendid work in the South.

Once let these girls that come under the influence of our Christian Northern women who go there as teachers, and the graduates of these various colleges and schools that we have planted, and are about to plant in the South; once let common womanhood in the South that has been so much under the heel of this oppression; once let girlhood feel the power that has come to girlhood, that to them as young women in the cradle of these hills, under this fair sky, is given the power to turn over in not less than thirty or forty years this whole country for God and humanity, for enlightenment and for Christian peace; once let that idea get into the minds of those girls, and we have not the same problem that we have to-day.--_Rev. D.M. Fisk._

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There were deeds of valor by mountain heroines that shine as brightly as those of a Molly Stark or Barbara Frietchie. Mrs. Edwards, of Campbell County, marched 150 miles in inclement weather, over the mountains, to carry information to Union troops. Immediately upon arriving at home, having received some valuable information, she pushed her way through the rain, on horseback, alone, and saved the Union General Spears from capture. Again and again this same woman took perilous journeys to carry information to Union officers. Nor was she the only heroine among the mountain women. During the siege of Knoxville, General Grant desired to send an important message to General Burnside. "So overrun was the territory between Chattanooga and Knoxville by Confederate troops that it could only be delivered, if at all, with great difficulty and hazard. At length Miss Mary Love, of Kingston, Tenn., agreed to take the message through the Confederate lines." She got as far as Louisville, Tenn., but could get no farther. There she found but one person who was willing to run the risk of taking the message through the lines, and he was a boy only thirteen years of age, John T. Brown. He carried the dispatch safely through the lines and delivered it to General Burnside.

Let us build school-houses and churches, where their better cabins have risen from the ashes of the past. Let us invade their coves and press up their mountain sides with an army of Christian teachers and preachers, until the gray old forests that echoed with the shout of these loyal Highlanders shall again echo with the sound of church bell and school bell, and they who took from us the larger sacrifice of war, shall find that we are ready to share with them the blessed fruits of peace.--_Secretary C.J. Ryder._

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There is, furthermore, a peaceful Christian invasion of this land. We scarcely realize how much these gospel songs mean to those Southern people, and how they listen with eagerness at once to the sweetness of the tune and to the gospel that is within it. It is an entering wedge to a new life there. A dear girl of my acquaintance taught from thirty to fifty of these women; they listened eagerly, and the tears rolled down their cheeks, and they said to her, "Oh, come and tell us more about Jesus, for we want to be different kind of women, different kind of mothers."

There was one girl who came out to one of our commencements and went back with the arrow in her heart, saying, "I would give all the world if I had it, if I could write a piece, and git up thar and read it like them." She went home determined she would go to college. She was a large girl, fifteen years old, yet did not know a single letter. She walked fifty miles nearly, and came and said to the college president, that she wanted to work for her board, so that she could enter the school. What could she do? He found that really she was incapacitated for doing anything; but she said; "I can hoe corn like a nigger." Finally she was set at some sort of work, and that girl, after three or four years, went out as a school teacher into a district where young men dared not go, where her eyes were blistered with the sights she saw--men shot down before her face and eyes by the whiskey distillers--and she was asked to organize a Sunday-school there. When any one starts a Sunday-school he is expected to preach, and so that girl had to become a preacher, and to-day she is preaching the gospel of God and spreading the work there. And yet she came from one of the very humblest classes.--_Rev. D.M. Fisk._

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There is another influence of which I would speak, the influence of the home. Here in our happy homes we know but very little of what that means to the Indian. An Indian has no home, in our sense of the word. There is at Santee Agency a piece of limestone, perhaps three feet wide by five feet long, which was the hearthstone of our Dakota mission home. It was taken a few years ago by my brother, from Minnesota, where it had served the purpose of a hearthstone in one of the original buildings of the mission. He took it to Santee Agency, and every time I go to Santee, I go out and look at that stone. There is the hole in the stone into which we poured milk to feed the cat, and on another corner is the place where we used to crack nuts. That stands for our boyhood home. The Indian has nothing of the kind. The Dakota Indian lives in a region, not in a place. The Christian home coming into the midst of a village carries there an ideal of which the Indian knows nothing, and he is taught by the power of example day after day. The Christian woman in that home keeps her house clean, keeps her children clean, and stands here as a persistent example of the power of the gospel of soap.--_Rev. T.L. Riggs._

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