and help for, the sick and dying. One young man among the Mandans
died last year as I stood beside him. Before he grew unconscious,
he had said to his friend that the white people were coming for
him, and he was going. Perhaps some revelation of heaven and God’s
love came to him in that shape. There was a woman once who touched
only the hem of a garment. There is One who does not quench the
smoking flax. Another poor consumptive died this spring, telling
her people not to believe what bad Indians said about our malign
influences; that we were good; that if she got well she would come
to church; that father and mother must not grieve for her, but, if
they felt sad, go to us to be comforted. God has been teaching us
how to comfort bereaved parents and friends by taking away our own
baby, Harry, to the home over there. An atmosphere of sorrow is
about all our Dakota mission-stations. Mrs. Thomas Riggs has been
suddenly taken from a useful, active life, near Fort Sully, D. T.,
and lies buried on her field of work; and Mrs. Renville is taken
from the Flandreau people, and Miss Williamson from the Yankton
people. But “sorrow is the atmosphere that ripens hearts for
heaven,” and, ripe for heaven, they are best for earthly usefulness
also.
Conversions.
The white employés and white men living among the Indians were all
interested this spring, and we hope there were several conversions
and much good influence at work. One young man, born of missionary
parents in the South Seas, who had wandered here from England and
from the Lord, we trust has gone back home to live a better life.
One man, with a half-breed family, said: “The white people have
been teaching the Indians better ways of living; then you have had
school, a good school, and now we are going to have church and
religion, and do better.” God grant it, but we have to sow and
wait, and wait. Our seasons are short, our spiritual zone northern.
Yet God will conquer!
From Devil’s Lake three or four days’ hard travel across the
prairies to the north-east, there came a word of cheer in the early
summer. Some, especially one man who had been under missionary
influence in the Southern part of our Territory, but apparently
cared for none of these things, came to see us, and to sympathize
with us in our loss (he had lost children), and to get what help he
could from us in understanding his Bible, and teaching his friends
to read. He went away with the urgent request that we come to
Devil’s Lake and preach to them.
Devil’s Lake is a Roman Catholic agency, and they do not preach to
them in their own tongue. One thing is certain: if the sons are
to talk English to us, we must preach in the Indian tongue to the
fathers.
* * * * *
LAKE SUPERIOR AGENCY.
I. L. MAHAN, AGENT, BAYFIELD, WIS.
A Merciful Man, etc.
I am glad to report the following, as one of quite a number of
instances that have come within my own knowledge. Last fall, in
obedience to the request of twelve of my Indians, I estimated for
twelve cows and calves, but received only eight. In consequence
of this failure, four of my people were disappointed, after
having harvested, at their own expense, a sufficient amount of
food to supply the cattle during the winter (by no means an easy
undertaking for an Indian). The disappointed ones, however,
took the ill luck philosophically, and made the best of the
disappointment. They earnestly besought me to try again, and, if
possible, get the cows and calves. I did try, and secured each of
the four a good cow and calf, for which they each worked upon their
own 80s in clearing, etc., under the direction of the Government
farmer, thirty-eight days, and received each a cow and calf, and
drove them to their houses. A few weeks after, a report came to me
that Henry Buffalo was sadly neglecting his cow and calf; that he
had secured each to a stake, driven in the ground for the purpose,
and had taken his family on a visit to an adjoining settlement, a
few miles away, leaving the cow and calf without food to eat or
water to drink for days at a time. This, to me, seemed terrible
treatment, and I set myself about an investigation, and found
that, upon the occasion above referred to, the Indians in the
vicinity had all gone to attend church service some miles distant,
they having word of the coming of a favorite priest. Friends had
advised the stake arrangement—the fences not being considered
strong—and made preparations for Henry, in order to induce him to
go. He started, but looking back, took pity upon the dumb brute,
and returned and remained at home all day, feeding and watering his
cow and calf, and using an evergreen brush to keep the flies off.
The report was founded upon the fact that his house was locked up.
Such care and sympathy is worthy of reward.
An Industrious Builder.
The other day an Indian applied to me for lumber and nails to
finish his barn, that he might have a floor to thresh his grain
upon. The lumber and nails were furnished him, and, on inquiry, I
learned that he had stripped a sufficient number of cedar trees
of bark to cover his barn; and not having horses or cattle, had
transported it in a small boat, upon the lake, to the nearest point
toward his house, and then packed it upon his back one and a half
miles. Do you say such zealous and fatiguing labor does not deserve
its reward?
Smart Surveying.
The Lac Courte D’Oreille reservation is located in the north-west
corner of Chippewa county, near the intersection of Ashland and
Burnett counties. It was selected, undoubtedly, for the timber,
although some very fine farming-land has been found. The Indians
made choice of this region of country on account of the very fine
groves of sugar-maple and the large number of inland lakes; but
the white man, who defines the boundaries, took occasion to so run
the lines that the most of the maple-groves and many of the lakes
are left out, and the Indians have a reservation running from
south-west to north-west about thirty miles, and from north-west
to south-east but about three or four miles. Upon this reservation
we have made 160 allotments of eighty acres to individuals, and
many good farms have been opened without very much encouragement
from the Department, as the Indians long for their patents, as in
the case of Red Cliff and Bad River. In passing up the Lac Courte
D’Oreille River, I found five new log-houses, and, in one case,
about ten acres cleared, and all planted. There are perhaps twenty
or twenty-five other houses, that have been built by Indians
without any individual aid from Government. They have improved the
roads across the reservation. They have some stock, but are sadly
in need of more.
No Civilizing Measures.
Belonging to the Lac du Flambeau reserve are 542 Indians, who live
almost entirely by trapping, hunting and fishing. They are rovers
in every sense of the word, having no houses or permanent homes,
save the starry-decked heavens. They are visited each year by the
Agent; and such goods and supplies as the Department furnishes are
distributed to them as presents. The appropriations are not large
enough to supply employés; therefore, no civilizing measures have
been introduced here. Five thousand dollars a year, judiciously
expended for labor, in building houses, clearing land, and
supplying cattle to these Indians, would, in a very short period,
place them beyond want; while the present policy—of leaving them
to their own inclinations—will make a class of miserable paupers,
without knowledge or disposition to be anything else; and the State
will sooner or later be called upon to step in between the Indians
and the general Government, and exercise some of its Christian
charities. These Indians must be aided, or they are lost beyond
redemption.
A Farmer on a Rock.
The Bois Forte bands, numbering 797 Indians, have a reservation of
107,509 acres, lying in unsurveyed territory, about forty miles
north-west of Vermillion Lake, in Minnesota. They have mingled with
the whites but little; therefore have but few of their vices. They
roam, fish, hunt and trap for a livelihood. They dress in civilized
costumes, and a few of them sow and plant and harvest, live in
houses, and have some of the ordinary home comforts; but they are
few indeed. They have been banished to perhaps the most wretched of
all lands, or rock, in North Minnesota. Their treaty stipulates
that a farmer shall be provided. A farmer! Think of it—on such
a rock! The explorers report not a spot upon which to plant a
potato. There is not a road within forty miles of the reservation.
The treaty is rapidly passing away—half gone; soon they will have
nothing left. We would most earnestly renew our recommendation of
last year, that about 1,000 acres of land on the south side of
Vermillion Lake, be set aside for agricultural and educational
purposes, and that the Bois Forte Indians be induced to select
homes and settle thereon; that the boundary be defined, and that
the employés be permanently located.
Schools.
Our schools have been well attended. Books for more advanced
scholarship have been a constant demand, and the statistics from
teachers and farmers show a gradual improvement. The free-lunch
system at Red Cliff and Bad River has been continued all year, and
is, without doubt, the most successful medium through which to
reach poor and hungry children.
The Wisconsin Scare,
as it is called, might have reached immense proportions had not
the officers of the Indian Bureau taken a firm stand against
the possibility of such a thing as an Indian outbreak among the
Chippewas. The Chippewas have grievances that would make white men
tear their hair and howl from one end of the country to the other;
but they prefer to submit quietly and peaceably to the powers that
be, praying without ceasing, hoping continually that the good men
of the Great Father’s household will yet hear and answer their
petitions by the necessary legislations.
* * * * *
RED LAKE AGENCY, MINNESOTA.
School, Church, Farm, Mill, etc.
C. P. ALLEN, M. D.
This reservation embraces about 3,200,000 acres of land, of which
one-third is supposed to be tillable; two-thirds wooded, grazing
and worthless.
Perhaps the most gratifying feature of the work here is the
successful opening of a fully equipped boarding-school in November
last. Ten boys and as many girls were taken, clothed and fed; the
girls were taught to wash, mend, knit, cook, keep house; and the
boys were taught to cut and prepare fuel, to plow, plant, grub, do
fence and farm work. In addition to the twenty boarding pupils,
there were some twenty day-scholars, so that the present capacity
of the school is filled. The results are very gratifying.
The missionary work has been under the auspices of the Protestant
Episcopal Mission, who sent last year two native clergymen to labor
here; one died in September, 1877. This year, three others have
been sent to labor here and across the Lake, where no missionary
work has been done, and where the Indians oppose any work of the
kind. A church edifice is in process of building, to be completed
by December 1st.
Progress is seen in the extent of land in cultivation, in largely
increased crops, in fencing made, better dwellings, more stoves,
tables, chairs, crockery, better clothing, greater cleanliness,
more wash-boards and wash-tubs in use, more comfortable homes; more
stock each year; a growing desire to have their children educated;
more knitting and sewing done than formerly. Owing to a general
lack of snow and water, less has been accomplished this season than
usual in the way of building houses, as we had little lumber to
build with, although logs were cut, preparatory to driving to mill,
to the amount of over 100,000 feet.
Arrangements are about completed for putting in here a substantial
little flour-mill this fall, to convert their wheat into nice
flour. This will prove a great incentive to increased labor
in clearing up land and raising more wheat. This again, will
conduce to improved health, as much of their sickness arises from
insufficient food, and that of poor quality.
During the last year a new source of revenue has been developed,
which is _Senega root_. Of this, they have dug nearly $4,000
worth, and the supply is not exhausted.
This tribe is not decreasing in number, the births fully equaling
the deaths. What we need is to cultivate _individuality_; to treat
the Indians as men and women, not as parts of a tribe; to allot
lands in severalty, giving them titles to their homes.
* * * * *
THE CHINESE.
“CALIFORNIA CHINESE MISSION.”
Auxiliary to the American Missionary Association.
PRESIDENT: Rev. J. K. McLean, D. D. VICE-PRESIDENTS: Rev. A. L.
Stone, D. D., Thomas O. Wedderspoon, Esq., Rev. T. K. Noble, Hon.
F. F. Low, Rev. I. E. Dwinell, D. D., Hon. Samuel Cross, Rev. S.
H. Wiley, D. D., Edward P. Flint, Esq., Rev. J. W. Hough, D. D.,
Jacob S. Taber, Esq.
DIRECTORS: Rev. George Moor, D. D., Hon. E. D. Sawyer, Rev. W. E.
Ijams, James M. Haven, Esq., Rev. Joseph Rowell, E. P. Sanford,
Esq., H. W. Severance, Esq.
SECRETARY: Rev. W. C. Pond. TREASURER: E. Palache, Esq.
* * * * *
In place of our usual communication from Superintendent Pond, which
he has not been able to send us, on account of special pressure in
his work, we reprint from a California paper the following article
by Rev. Dr. M. C. Briggs, one of the leading men in the Methodist
Episcopal denomination in California. It embodies very important
truth in a most sprightly and incisive style.—[ED’S AM. MISS.]
CHINAPHOBIA.
“Bring me to the test, and I the matter will re-word that madness
gambols at.” This sentence from Shakspeare (I hope it is correctly
quoted) is the sole partition between our Assemblymen and a charge
of confirmed monomania. All roads lead to Paris, and all subjects
of discussion lead these astute Solons to John Chinaman. To assert
your philanthropy, curse the Chinese. To prove your patriotism,
denounce the Chinese. To abate land monopoly, abuse the Chinese.
To eradicate the social evil, grow furious over the Chinese. To
regulate finances, tax the Chinese. To quell incendiary mobs,
displace the Chinese, and put ruffians in their stead. To pass
the Bland bill, expel the Chinese. To effect resumption, crucify
the Chinese. To ensure commercial prosperity, exclude forever the
Chinese. To show your faith in the Declaration of Independence,
levy a high tariff on the bones of the Chinese. To reclaim our
swamp lands, howl at the Chinese. To encourage citizens to furnish
free meals for white tramps, who refuse to work at any price, drive
out from our kitchens the Chinese, who to-day receive higher wages
than white men and women are getting in any State east of the Rocky
Mountains. To show yourself a hero, hurl brickbats at the Chinese.
From whatever point of the political or moral compass these broad
and eloquent men set out, they are sure to end with a stereotyped
spasm on the stereotyped topic—the infernal Chinese. Such untiring
repetitiousness grows stale, and one almost wishes that the
“nigger” or the Hottentot, or any human being without a vote, would
appear on the political tapis, to offer leather-lunged demagogueism
a chance for variety, and the weary ears of the people a rest.
Nasby’s patent question, “If the nigger is set free, whom will the
Democrats find to look down on?” has been answered to the glory and
delectation of both the old parties, and, pre-eminently, of the new
party, which has nothing American about it save whisky and brag.
The republic is sick. It has gastric fever, gout, goitre, gangrene,
scrofula, sciatica, croup, consumption, ophthalmia, vertigo,
small-pox, and cholera. It has eaten too much, drank too much,
danced too much, flirted too much, smoked too much, gambled too
much, run riot in frivolity, gone mad in greed, flaunted its
pageantry of pride, coveted, lusted, blasphemed, forsaken God,
despised religion, loved leasing, and hated honest toil, with its
health-giving frugality and slow but solid gains. Poor patient!
It needs skilful treatment; and what will these queer doctors do?
Why, they propose to force emetics and drastics down the throats
of ever so many Chinamen. If the case were not so serious, it
would be infinitely funny. The patient has brain fever. Kick the
Chinaman. It has palpitation. Cuff the Chinaman. It is shaking with
chills from Maine to Mexico. Pull the pigtails of the Chinaman.
Banks are breaking in New York. Set the dogs on the Chinamen.
Mercantile houses are tumbling into ruins in Massachusetts. Arrest
the Chinaman on suspicion. Finances are deranged, and Congress is
quarreling over resumption. Shoot the Chinamen. The South needs
pacification. Cut the throats of the Chinamen. Industry flags
everywhere. Get up processions, and raid on the wash-houses of the
Chinamen. Wages are six bits a day, without board, in the Eastern
States. Banish the Chinamen from California forever and forever.
Hurrah!!
There was once a doctor who was “death on burns.” These gentlemen
are not a whit behind him, only their specialty, into which they
resolve all wounds and diseases, is the Chinese pest, _alias_
the Asiatic nuisance, _alias_ the Cooly invasion, _alias_ the
cheap-labor plague of the Pacific Coast.
What repose it gives a State to have wise and just men at the
helm of affairs! This epidemic rage—as unstatesmanlike as it is
unphilanthropic—so prevalent in the halls of legislation just
now, merits the sarcasm of a Lord Brougham. Yet I accord to our
Representatives a fair measure of good intentions. The Chinese have
no votes, and are not patrons of the press; therefore, it is safe
to denounce them. Besides, just now it promises to be a paying as
well as a perilless pastime. The rioters have ballots in their
hands. “Pathric” counts one (sometimes two or ten) at the polls;
and who will defend John? “Pathric” does not care to remember that
he was threatened with expulsion on similar grounds, and with
equally cogent reasons, in the bygone. It will be well for him to
recall the fact; for when once the principle of discrimination is
incorporated into the policy of the nation, the bolt that hits John
to-day may chance to strike some one else to-morrow. When caste and
caprice usurp the place of justice and humanity, every man will
thenceforth hold life, liberty and property by sufferance of the
mob. It is natural to the weak side of public men, to court the
voters’ favor. Not many politicians are tall enough to look over
the heads of stump orators and bannered agitators. Has the good God
no taller men to send us for these agitated times?
* * * * *
THE CHILDREN’S PAGE.
* * * * *
AN OLD-TIME PRAYER MEETING.
Among the many things which I have observed is the singular form of
worship which the colored people practice here. While at Hampton
last term, I read Livingstone’s book about Africa. Some of the
religious customs related in that volume have certainly been
brought over by our forefathers, and are in this enlightened land
found mingled with the true religion. The great belief which our
people have in conjuration, (or “throwing for each other,” as they
call it) signs, and the returning of departed spirits, confirm the
above opinion. Not long ago I went to one of their meetings. It was
held in a little church about twenty-two or twenty-three feet long,
and twelve feet wide, with three windows, which have shutters of
plank, through which, when shut, little or no air can pass. In the
middle of the floor sits a large stove in which a very hot fire was
kept during the meeting. The preacher was to have come that night,
but for some reason he disappointed them. His absence, however, did
not prevent their having an “Old-time prayer-meeting,” as they call
it. So, after waiting for some time for their pastor to arrive,
they commenced the meeting by singing a hymn, given out by one
called “the leader of the band.” Prayer and a short exhortation
came next. Indeed, these two parts of the opening exercises were
well performed by a young man. But, in the scene which followed
his excellent prayer and advice, he (though somewhat intelligent)
was one of the chief actors. One or two more hymns were sung from
the hymn-book. I heard some of the women say: “If those men don’t
stop singing those dry tunes we’ll take our bonnets and go home.”
By the women ceasing to sing, the men discovered that there was
something going wrong. The “leader of the band” seems to have seen
at a moment’s glance what caused the commotion, and immediately
struck up the well-known “I, John, Saw.” The women now joined in;
and the woods and hills rang with the resounding melodies of that
music which has never known a teacher, but yet is wonderful and
almost sublime. While this “shout” was being sung the men and women
gathered around the stove, the men on one side and the women on
the other. The church by this time had become full of people. One
could not kneel down without leaning on some one else. All three
of the windows were shut, and the shutters closed. A fire was in
the stove. Soon a sickening feeling came over me, caused by the
impure air which pervaded the place. I asked one who was standing
near the window to please open it. “You want us to freeze, don’t
you?” said he. I looked up, and, to my great satisfaction, found
that the roof was full of holes, and I knew that hot air rises, so
I said no more to the man about the window. The “leader” had now
become too warm it seemed, for while we were at prayers he took
off his coat and rolled up his sleeves, exclaiming at the same
time, “Get ready, children, we are going to drive out the devil
to-night!” The others, as soon as they saw him without a coat,
immediately disrobed themselves of theirs. Had I expected to see
such heathenism I am sure I would not have gone to the meeting.
After this there came a tumult and excitement—women jumping among
the men, men holding each other; some of the young girls uttering
screams which really could have been heard a mile; and some tearing
their clothes off without regard to womanly modesty. But what
discouraged me most was to find among this seething mass some of
my school-children. After the meeting was over, and all on our way
home, a shameful fight came off between two of the leading shouters
(females), about something which had been said during the meeting.
What shall I say, having seen such degrading things with my own
eyes, (and I have not told the worst). All I can say is this: Let
us work on with our might, and hope for better things. “For if God
be for us, who can be against us?”
—_Student’s letter in the Southern Workman._
* * * * *
RECEIPTS
FOR SEPTEMBER, 1878.
* * * * *
MAINE, $161.98.
Bangor. Hammond St. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 100.00
Brewer. M. Hardy 20.00
Bridgton. “Dean,” First Cong. Ch. 5.00
Castine. Rev. A. E. Ives 2.00
East Madison. Eliza Bicknell 5.00
Machias. Centre St. Cong. Ch. 17.15
Portland. Williston Cong. Ch. 10.83
St. Albans. Rev. Wm. S. Sewall 2.00
NEW HAMPSHIRE, $493.07.
Amherst. “Friends” ($5 of which _for Student
Aid, Straight U._) 14.75
Alstead. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 3.24
Atkinson Depot. Gyles Merrill $50; Mrs. Gyles
Merrill $25; Mrs. Betsey Bartlett $50 125.00
Campton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 17.35
Colebrook. Mrs. Benj. Gilman 1.50
Derry. First Cong. Ch. Sab. Sch. 13.81
Fitzwilliam. Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hill 5.00
Gilmanton Centre. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.50
Hampton. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.85
Keene. First Cong. Sab. Sch. $141.73; Second
Cong. Ch. and Sab. Sch. $2.53 144.26
Mason. Mason Division of the N. H. Memorial
Union, _for Wilmington, N. C._ 7.00
Manchester. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 76.56
Merrimac. “Ladies.” 9.00
Nashua. Sab. Sch. Class by Mrs. Saunders, _for
Wilmington, N. C._ 2.00
Piermont. Cong. Sab. Sch. 26.00
Swanzey. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 2.00
Tamworth. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.00
Wolfborough. First Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.25
VERMONT, $565.25.
Coventry. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 15.35
Craftsbury. Dea. J. W. 1.00
Bethel. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 8.60
Brattleborough. Centre Ch. 37.86
Derby. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 10.00
Essex Junction. E. T. M. 1.00
Newport. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 7.00
Plainfield. ESTATE of Catharine Shepard, by
Willard S. Martin, Adm’r. 350.00
Rochester. Cong. Ch. 22.28
St. Johnsbury. East Cong. Ch., Rev. J. P.
Humphrey and wife 20.00
Shelburn. “A Friend.” 25.00
Vergennes. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00
Waterbury. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 20.00
West Derby. Col. by Rev. S. S. Nickerson 3.33
West Dover. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 6.15
West Westminster. “A Friend.” 5.00
Williamsville. Emory Dunklee 3.00
Wilmington. Cong. Ch. and Soc. 9.68
MASSACHUSETTS, $1,988.39.