The people of America are determined to press the Indian problem to a
speedy solution. Provision has been made for giving lands in
severalty, and the next great movement should be to induce the
Government to provide secular education, and the churches to furnish
religious instruction to all the Indians. The American Missionary
Association, during the year, has responded to this new impulse by
enlarging its work--in the opening of new stations, in the erection of
new buildings, and in the appointment of more missionaries and
teachers.
At the Santee Agency, Nebraska, our oldest mission station and school
has had marked prosperity in its normal, theological and industrial
departments, and, better than all, in a deep and wide-spread religious
interest that has pervaded the school and the church. The new
building, named Whitney Hall--from its giver--has been erected,
affording accommodations for twenty-two of the larger and more
advanced pupils, and furnishing rooms for the treasurer's family. A
liberal gift from Mrs. Henry Perkins, of Hartford, Conn., provides,
for the present at least, for the running expenses of the Boys' Hall,
and, in appreciation of the gift, and of the interest in the school
which the gift implies, the building will hereafter be called Perkins
Hall.
At Oahe, Dakota, on the beautiful Peoria Bottom, both the school and
church have prospered. The school is crowded to its utmost capacity
and a greater number of pupils has been granted in the contract with
the Government. A new building is urgently called for. The closing
exercises of the school were attended by a picturesque group of three
or four hundred Indians, who were encamped around the station. Some of
these came a hundred and twenty-five miles to attend the exercises.
One marked feature in the enlargement of the work has been the opening
of two more Central Stations: one at Rosebud Agency, the other located
at Fort Yates, near the junction of the Grand River with the Missouri.
The new mission house has been built, and by the aid of special gifts
from benevolent friends at the East, a commodious building has been
erected for a hospital.
A peculiar and very interesting feature of our Indian work is the
out-stations, located remote from the Central Stations. These
stations, numbering twenty-one, have been hindered and also enlarged
during the past year. The hindrance came from the interference of the
Government. In its well-intended zeal for the introduction of the
English language, it surpassed the limits which experience had fixed,
by requiring that the vernacular should not be taught, nor even
spoken, in any Indian schools on the Reservation including these
mission stations, which were wholly sustained by benevolent funds.
Under this ruling, thirteen stations were closed from September to
January. But the remonstrances coming from almost every denomination
of Christians in the land induced the Government to modify its orders,
and the schools have all been re-opened.
Some new buildings have been erected on this part of the field--a new
house for dwelling and school on the Grand River, and a cheap
structure at the Cheyenne River Agency, in which religious services
are held at the times for the disbursement of the rations, when large
numbers of the Indians assemble and remain for many days. A new
impulse has been given to this out-station work by contributions
received at one of the missionary meetings in Northfield, Mass. Four
new stations were provided for at that time by the contribution of
$400 for a building at each station, and $300 for the support of the
teacher. One was the gift of Mr. Moody, another of Mr. Sankey, whose
names these two stations will bear.
Fort Berthold, in the northern part of Dakota, has authorization from
the Government for a larger number of pupils under contract than last
year. But our exigencies require for this only a few and inexpensive
repairs and additions to be made on the buildings.
The Skokomish mission continues its stable progress. The missionary,
Rev. Myron Eells, has been tempted during the past year by several
calls to enter more lucrative fields of service, but his attachment to
the work, begun by his most honored father, and continued by himself,
is so great that he prefers to remain with his people, and to aid them
in their progress in civil and Christian life.
The Indian school at Santa Fé, New Mexico, has had some changes, but
the arrangement between the Association and the trustees is continued,
and the school, under the charge of Prof. Elmore Chase, maintains its
useful service in the training of the children of the Apaches, one of
the most hopeful and promising tribes of Indians on the continent.