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[Illustration: OCTOBER, 1887.
The American Missionary
Vol. XLI.
No. 10.]
[Illustration: CONTENTS]
* * * * *
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
* * * * *
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
Rooms, 56 Reade Street.
* * * * *
Price, 50 Cents a Year, in Advance.
Entered at the Post-Office at New York, N.Y., as second-class
matter.
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
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._
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
THE
AMERICAN MISSIONARY.
* * * * *
VOL. XLI. OCTOBER, 1887. No. 10.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
For notice of Annual Meeting see last page of cover. An excellent
opportunity for a healthful sea voyage.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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.”
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
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._
* * * * *
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.”
The unity of the human race was confirmed in the way in which
Mark picked at his trousers, and in the way in which he did not
know what to do with his hands and his feet during his eloquent
oration. The Indians laughed at his embarrassment “just like white
folks.” The wives of the teachers and the Christian women from
the out-stations had come to this great entertainment. They met
at an Indian home (Spotted Bear’s) and decided to call a meeting,
inviting Miss Collins to address them, as she had just returned to
her old home and people after a long absence. About fifty women,
of whom about thirty were Christians and twenty were in varied
stages of darkness, made the congregation. Miss Collins opened
the meeting with a hymn of rejoicing, which was sung with a will
by all the people. Next she read the verses in Matt. 5.—“Ye are a
city set on a hill. Do men light a candle,”—etc. “Let your light
shine.” Speaking first to Christians who have been taught, she
reminded them that the heathen were looking to them for help, and
that if they did not honor God and the Church, then, instead of
giving light to their people, they were making the darkness more
dense—that even from the far-away districts they knew what the
Indians at Oahe and up and down the Cheyenne River were doing—and
if they followed Christ closely so would those beginning to see the
light follow them. It was as if they were making a road across the
trackless plains; if they kept on in a straight way, avoiding all
the bad places, finding the good camping places by the way;—those
who followed would be safe. Then she reported from her work at
Grand River, trying to impress upon the women the necessity of
working in their Missionary Society, to earn money to help give
the gospel to the people. Luluwin Deprey, a half-breed woman who
became a Christian and united with the church among the first
converts, reported from their workers on the Cheyenne. She brought
fancy articles made of buckskin trimmed in beads and porcupine
quills, to be sold for the Missionary Society. In all, they will
bring about ten dollars. She spoke in a quiet, modest way, saying
that in making all these things they had asked no help whatever to
buy material. They gave the material themselves, so that all that
they brought was clear gain to the work. She urged the necessity of
the church doing more, saying: “We have now but little money on
hand and September is not far off, and we must work much. We have
been ‘playing mission work’; now let us go to work and raise all
the money we can, for if we are Christ’s we must not be idle or
selfish. We must do all we can to help our heathen people, for many
of our neighbors are in darkness. Many in this room are yet without
the knowledge of God. We must _lift up the candle_.” Elizabeth
Winyan spoke eloquently of the work done in the white churches by
the Christian women for those who were living and dying without
the gospel. All people who are without the Bible are alike. None
can live without the Bible without starving the soul. It is true
we Dakota Christians are “a city set on a hill.” Bad actions are
seen even farther than good ones. If you keep your house well, the
others will learn from you. If you keep your children well, others
learn from you. If you pray, so will others learn to pray. It is
now time for the Dakotas to arise and with one action and one voice
proclaim themselves children of Christ. Jesus Christ, the Son of
God, gave Himself for us. He was an only son, and you and I know
how precious He was to His Father. We must now give ourselves and
all that we have to this work as these women (the white women) have
done. Our Indian Missionary Society has done but little, but now
let us truly lift up our hands and lay hold of this work. We have
learned the truth. We must learn to be the leaders and walk before
these people so that we may lead them to Christ. Our missionary has
brought tears in relating the sufferings of our people. Now let
us see what we can do to bring the people into the light. Without
the Bible our people will die. With the Bible we shall live and
multiply and be a strong people. We are “only women,” but women can
give the light to those in darkness, and the command to go into
all the world, means for you to help; you, and you, and me;—every
one. No one has a right to say: ‘Let others work; I will be good
myself but cannot help.’ When we see these white missionaries
who leave all and come to us, it is a shame if we who have been
brought to Christ should hold back anything from Christ. We can
do something whether we have money or not. We have our hands and
eyes and brains. We can make something that will sell and get a
little, and if only ten cents or five cents, the Lord will bless it
and make it do something for His honor and glory. Let us be more
diligent—pray more—and then shall our own strength be made greater
and our own hearts more steadfast and our own lives more fruitful,
and our light will shine so that the way shall no longer be dark
but plain and clear to those coming after us. We cannot sit all the
day idle if we are servants of God; we must bestir ourselves. Work
for God and honor him and save our people, and in this way shall we
strengthen our souls. Pray, depend upon God and do as He teaches,
and though now you may not understand all He teaches, your mind
will open and you will become wise.
“Ptanwin,” or Buffalo woman, the mother of Spotted Bear’s wife,
and more than sixty years of age, then spoke. She came down here
from Spotted Tail Agency a long time ago, and attended school
all winter. She learned to sing many hymns and to read a little
in the Bible. Becoming a Christian and uniting with the church,
she remained here a year, and then said: “I must go back to my
relatives, who are still in darkness, and teach them.” She had held
meetings in various places, sometimes going thirty miles to hold a
prayer-meeting. All this time her son was asking for a missionary.
This poor woman, lame, wholly blind in one eye, and aged, was thus
passing the light along. Once in her sickness her daughter heard a
sound coming from her room, and on going in she found her mother
singing, “Jesus loves me; this I know,” in her own tongue. The
daughter said, “Mother, what is the matter?” She replied, “The pain
will not let me sleep, and when I pray and sing, it strengthens me
and helps me to bear it.” In her address she said: “I found you
had not collected much money, so I said: ‘I will help.’ I got a
buckskin, tanned it, and brought it down. I give it to you to make
little things out of, that the people will buy. When I started to
come I expected to have a good time, and strengthen myself with
your presence. Now I am here, God has given me even more than
this—He has permitted me to see and take by the hand the one who
brought me to Christ (Miss Collins), and my heart is full of joy.”
Her daughter, Spotted Bear’s wife, then made a few remarks in
behalf of the sick. She said: “We have tried to help the sick,
but we have but little money now, and so can do nothing. We want
more money. I remember nothing influenced me in my early Christian
experience so much as the way the missionaries cared for the sick.
All of you know how the care of your body draws your heart toward
the one who cares for you. Now, in many cases if we are good to
the sick, we may win the souls to Christ. Then let us not be close
or stingy. Let us help all we can. Christ came down from heaven.
He gave his body to die on the cross, to be pierced and spit upon,
and nailed to the cross. All this He did for us. What shall we do
now for the people? We cannot die for them; it is not necessary. We
cannot give our bodies for them; this is finished; but we can help
them. We can give money; we can read the Bible and pray with them.
Let us do something; we must be doing something, for these are our
brothers, our sisters, our children and our parents who are living
in darkness. We can help. We know the blessing of the gospel. We
must give this blessing to our people. We must be faithful. Our
American Missionary Association is not able to do all that the
Indians need, and we must help. As surely as we pray and read the
Bible and _give_ to this work, just as surely will we ourselves
develop into large and strong Christians. I will now ask your help
for this work.”
A hat was passed, and ten dollars collected—ten dollars, lacking
one cent.
Then Mrs. Riggs, Secretary of their Missionary Society, reported
the amount on hand—twenty-two dollars—and told the women that
“the work was far below what it ought to be; the people at the
out-stations have done well, but we must continue to give—must do
more, and if we will help ourselves, God will help us, and we shall
save many.”
So closed this interesting missionary meeting among the red Dakota
people. In the afternoon, after a lunch, the parents took their
children home for the vacation, but there were no Saratoga trunks
to pack or carry.
All of this, let it be remembered, was in the Dakota language—which
is now forbidden—the only language which they can use, or in which
the gospel can be made known to them.
A. F. BEARD
* * * * *
THE FOLLOWING INCIDENT, taken from a letter received at this office
from Miss Collins, is at least an intimation of how heartlessly
cruel is the proposition to deny the Indians the use of their own
language in their schools:
“One of our Santee school boys is dying. He is a true child of God.
He wishes to see his relatives all saved, and O! the light in his
face. It is grand as he reads in his own tongue to the old men and
women and the young people the sweet words, ‘Let not your heart be
troubled.’ He has plead with them to turn to Christ to be saved. He
says: ‘I am not afraid to die.’”
* * * * *
CANADIAN INDIANS.
REV. SILAS HUNTINGTON, a missionary of the Montreal Methodist
Conference, has been laboring along the line of the Canadian
Pacific Railroad. In his report recently made, Mr. Huntington gives
an incident illustrative in a striking manner of the power of the
gospel over the pagan heart. He says:
“The Hudson Bay Company has an important post established on the
line of this road in connection with which I have found a band
of Indians, numbering seventy-two souls, who were converted from
paganism at Michipicoton over twenty years ago under the labors
of the late Rev. Geo. McDougall. They claim to be Methodists, and
through all these years, although separated from the body of their
tribe, they have kept their faith and maintained their religious
worship without the aid of a missionary.
“The testimony of Mr. Black, the Hudson Bay Company’s officer, on
their behalf was given in the words: ‘These Indians are a godly
people. I often attend their services, and find their prayers and
addresses fervent and intelligent, and they have not been corrupted
by the vices of the white men.’ Persistent efforts have been made
by bigoted ecclesiastics to seduce them from their allegiance to
Christ, but hitherto they have resisted all such overtures. I
baptised five of their children and promised to do what I could to
obtain a teacher for them.”
* * * * *
BREADTH OF THE A. M. A. WORK.
BY REV. NELSON MILLARD, D.D.
There are certain considerations which entitle this American
Missionary Association to the peculiar esteem of our churches.
There are in these churches not a few who cherish a paramount,
not to say an exclusive, interest in _foreign_ missions. On the
other hand, there is another considerable number who cherish
a like primary and preponderant concern for _home_ missions.
Many are ready to give largely to the work abroad, but little
to the domestic field, and _vice versa_. I regard this drawing
of a sharp line of distinction and division of interest between
the two departments of missionary activity as unfortunate and
illogical. Foreign and home missions are in their essential nature
one. Our navy, when striking at an enemy in distant seas, is in
essential spirit and aim at one with our army operating within
our own borders. Nevertheless, the division of feeling, however
illogical, exists, and what I desire to say is, that this American
Missionary Association offers itself to the earnest interest of
_both_ parties, because it combines in itself the elements of
both the foreign and the home work. In carrying the gospel to the
Indians and the Chinese, it is taking it to _pagans_. So also,
in carrying it to many of the Negroes and to the poor whites of
the mountain regions of the South, it is taking it to those whose
ideas of religion are far more pagan than Christian, and whose
gross superstition causes them to need the pure gospel as much as
if they lived in India or Japan. So that this Association may be
rightly regarded as a foreign missionary agency. And yet, on the
other hand, these various populations to which I have referred are
dwelling within our own borders, are to a considerable extent a
part of our body politic, and are being more and more incorporated
into it; so that the work is also home missionary in its character.
And we may cordially and confidently commend this Association to
our churches, because it combines both grand forms of religious
enterprise. To those most interested in carrying the Gospel
to pagans, we can say, “We are doing that work,” and to those
centering their regard upon the evangelization of our own land, we
can say, “We are laboring toward that end also.”
But this Association commends itself to us, again, because it
has borne, on account of those for whom it works, a vast amount
of obloquy and scorn, but, in spite of it all, has persisted in
exhibiting unflinchingly the innermost spirit of the Gospel—namely,
that of self-sacrifice for the peculiarly needy, and identification
of itself with the cause of the outcast and forlorn. Foreign
missions have not had to bear any stigma of contumely or disgrace.
Home missions have even felt the favoring breath of popularity.
But this Association, in espousing the cause of what many regarded
as pariah and outcast classes, had to bear from certain quarters
unmeasured obloquy and contempt. But it bore them not only without
shrinking, but rejoicing that it was counted worthy to suffer for
Christ’s sake.
Its noble teachers and other workers, in many and constant
exhibitions of splendid heroism and self sacrifice, gladly made
the cause of the friendless and despised their own. They have
rejoiced to illustrate that great principle of the Gospel, that
we owe not simply those who have done something for us, but those
for whom we can do something. And they have believed, and never
failed to assert, that the most infernal of all arguments and the
very spawn of hell, is that because a man is already under or
inferior, therefore you may still further oppress and keep him
down. That is just the reason for helping and lifting him up. All
honor to a society that has had, and that has cordially accepted,
the opportunity, not afforded to all benevolent enterprises, of
illustrating the spirit of Christianity in the midst of obloquy and
scorn.
And then, this Association commends itself to our hearty regard
by the breadth and enlightenment of its views concerning the
work it undertakes. It has intelligently grasped and acted upon
the principle that the only effectual antidote for the gross
superstition of the classes among which it labors is, in the full
sense of the term, _light_—light educational, moral, religious. It
has not believed, to its credit be it spoken, that even a little
learning is a dangerous thing, but rather that it is better than
none. It knows that though intelligence without faith may be
perverted to evil, equally so may faith without intelligence. If
the former can make an infidel, the latter can make a bigot. If the
former may make an Ingersoll, the latter may make a Torquemada,
between whom there is little to choose. By furnishing, as the
antidote of superstition, at once secular, moral and religious
light, this Association gives fundamental and radical treatment
to the evil, and by the breadth and enlightenment of its views
commends itself to our intelligent denomination.
Need I rehearse the grand motives which should incite us to
sustain this noble society in its work? Are we patriots? Then let
us take the darkened masses of our land for Protestantism, for if
we do not they will be taken for Catholicism. I am not blind to
the many elements of good in the Catholic church; but one fact
stands out bold and prominent in her long history, viz.: that she
is the foe of free institutions. To be such is the instinct of
an irresponsible hierarchy. So long as the Negro was without the
ballot, the Romish church paid little heed to him; but when she
saw in his hand that white symbol of power, she went for him, for
she takes the scent of power as quickly as the deerhound takes the
tainted gale. Are we patriots? Then let us win the Freedmen to
Protestantism and its liberty, if we would not have them won to the
Papacy with its religious and political bondage.
Need I mention that love of man which is a higher motive even than
love of country, that philanthropy which is a nobler incentive than
patriotism? Or need I mention that love and loyalty to Christ,
which is a motive finer than love of country and loftier than
love of man? Under the mighty and splendid impulsion of all these
incentives, let us count it a privilege to give ourselves, with an
ever fresh and ever constant enthusiasm, to the aid of this noble
Association and its noble work.
* * * * *
A CENTENARIAN.
Mrs. Betsy Averill, of New Preston, Conn., last May celebrated her
centennial birthday. She is still living. As the Constitution was
not adopted until September, 1787, she is older by a few months
than the Republic. She lives in the house in which Horace Bushnell
was born. Dr. Tyler was her pastor. Dr. Lyman Beecher she knew
well, and Dr. Jeremiah Day, President of Yale College, was her
personal friend. For more than eighty years she has been a faithful
follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. She has been conspicuously the
friend of missions, and her zeal in this direction is greater now
than ever. She has been a contributor to the American Missionary
Association ever since its formation in 1846. The Negro, Chinese
and Indian have had in her a true friend. An Indian girl whom she
helped to educate sent her a picture and congratulations on her
centennial anniversary. The Connecticut Indian Association passed
special resolutions of kind appreciation, which were presented to
her on the same occasion.
Fifty of her descendants and relatives sat down with her at the
birthday dinner. This was her centennial message to the company:
“I have lived a century. Long have I tested the love of God and
the faith in Christ. I want to recommend to you all that loving
Saviour who is my closest friend and my precious hope of glory.”
She still retains to a remarkable degree health of body and vigor
of mind. The editor of THE MISSIONARY “presented the cause” in New
Preston, recently; he of course called upon this venerable “Mother
in Israel.” To his great regret, she was not at home. She had gone
off on a visit to a friend, some miles distant; but he brought away
her photograph and a card on which she had, with slightly trembling
hand, written her autograph.
Says her pastor, Rev. Frank S. Child: “There is a precious and
inspiring lesson written upon the pages of such a rare, long life.
May we learn the lesson and weave it into character.” And so say
we. The American Missionary Association is proud of having had such
a constituent since the beginning of its history, and THE AMERICAN
MISSIONARY of having such a subscriber and reader. God bless her.
Moral: If you want to have a happy old age, serve God; become a
life member of the American Missionary Association, and a constant
reader of THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY. Try it.
* * * * *
THE SOUTH.
NOTES IN THE SADDLE.
BY FIELD-SUPERINTENDENT C. J. RYDER.
I have no extended missionary trip to report this month, as the
schools of the Association are closed, and the church work is
somewhat quiet this season of the year.
A run into Ohio, to assist in the ordination of Rev. J. F. Cross,
who goes as a missionary among the Sioux Indians, may, however,
legitimately furnish a basis for “Notes in the Saddle.” A good
New England friend recently asked, in all seriousness, if there
really were a horse belonging to the A. M. A., or whether I hired
one, from time to time, as the occasion demanded? What a wild Tam
O’Shanter ride it would be from Washington to Texas in four or
five days! But such a ride, taken once or twice a year, would only
cover a small portion of the field of the Association. Here on the
west is the work among the Indians, stretching from Santa Fé, New
Mexico, away up to Dakota. The A. M. A. has schools and churches
all along the line. This Council in Ohio gave its commission to a
new harvester going out into this field.
Mr. Cross is a graduate of Adelbert College, Cleveland, and of Yale
Theological Seminary. He has had somewhat peculiar preparation for
the missionary work upon which he now enters, through experience
gained in home missionary fields. He enters upon this new work with
his eyes open, fully appreciating its hardships. He will be located
at Park Street Station, among the Blanket Sioux. Three villages,
containing some 8,000 Indians, will constitute his parish. His work
will include school teaching and almost every form of religious
service. His nearest missionary neighbor will be at Rosebud Agency,
sixty-five miles away. In 1885 an old building was purchased from
the natives, and in 1886 a new building was erected, the Park
Street Church, Boston, contributing the funds. This building is
not a modern parsonage, with hot and cold water, gas, furnace, and
all the luxuries with which many churches delight to furnish their
pastor’s home. This parsonage of the prairie is a log building,
with shingle roof, containing two rooms; and yet it answers the
purpose for which it was built well. A native missionary with
Christian passion for his people, has gone into this field already.
Brother Cross follows Jacob Good Dog, who was the Boniface in this
pioneer missionary work. In a letter written by Francis Frazier,
who is the son of Rev. Artemus Ehnamani, the Indian pastor, there
is the following pleading petition for his people: “Thus God has
blessed this people; and that God will give them understanding to
go on to comprehend His laws, and that they may believe and have
faith in Him, when you pray will you remember them?” This tender
and passionate appeal for the Indians gains additional emphasis by
the going out of a new missionary to this field.
* * * * *
The churches and pastors of Ohio I found were greatly stirred up
by the proposed outrages against our missionaries and teachers in
Georgia. Cordial words were spoken on every side in endorsement
of the A. M. A., and in condemnation of the un-Christian and
un-American attempts to violate personal liberty and freedom of
conscience under the flimsy pretense of legal right. A tremendous
Republican uprising will follow this attempt on the part of Georgia
to introduce again the policy of suppression and inhumanity that
had its culmination, years ago, in the cruelties of the prison
stockade of Andersonville. The thumb screw and rack and chain-gang
as instruments for the suppression of freedom of opinion, are
things of the past, and no feeble attempt to legalize them can be
permanently successful in this land to-day.
Sad news just reaches us from Texas of the defeat of the
prohibitory amendment to the State constitution. Ignorant Mexicans
were brought over the border to vote for rum, and so overcame
the honest vote of the Christian and moral people of the State.
Jefferson Davis, after permitting a member of the Woman’s Christian
Temperance Union, who was more enthusiastic than patriotic, to pin
a silver badge of that society upon his coat in evidence of the
esteem in which this prohibition society held him, wrote a letter
to the people in Texas denouncing the prohibitory movement. Mr.
Davis’ prohibition seems much like his patriotism, “conspicuous for
its absence.”
* * * * *
CHARLESTON, S.C.
The past year has been a prosperous one for Plymouth church,
notwithstanding the earthquake. The people are struggling manfully
toward self-support, and will in the course of two or three years
be able to relieve the Association of the greater part, if not the
entire burden of the appropriation which is now granted to it.
The earthquake has proven of much benefit to Charleston in various
ways—a real blessing in disguise. Many houses have been repaired
which probably would have remained unimproved, and the city
presents a more lively appearance than before the disturbance. Many
persons were shaken into their senses from a spiritual standpoint,
and the work of God’s servants has been greatly blessed. We have
reaped a goodly harvest. During the past year and six months,
102 persons have united with the church, about 25 of whom were
more or less impressed with the manifestation of God’s power in
the earthquake. There are many careless, lethargic places which
might be benefited by a similar experience. There has been more
faithful preaching of the Gospel to sinners since than before.
There is perhaps in the South, as well as in the North, too much
of a tendency toward speculative and æsthetic discourse, rather
than direct and comprehensive exposition of God’s word. Wherever
the cross of Christ is preached with earnestness, good results are
sure to follow, as is plainly shown in the sequel of the Charleston
earthquake.
We are working hard to raise funds for the erection of a parsonage
for our church, which will cost about $1,800; we have raised
already $400, and have the lot. The parsonage completed and
paid for will enable the church to become in a large measure
self-supporting. We shall lay the foundation as soon as half of the
amount needed is raised. We hope to begin this work the coming fall.