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[Illustration:
The American Missionary
June, 1884.
VOL. XXXVIII.
NO. 6.]
June, 1884.
CONTENTS
* * * * *
PAGE.
EDITORIAL.
SEVEN MONTHS--ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE--INDIAN MISSIONS 161
OUR SPRING ASSOCIATIONS 163
REMEMBER THE POOR 165
CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS IN COUNCIL--SOUTHERN MANUFACTURES 166
EARLY DAWN--TURN IN THE ROAD--JOHN F. SLATER--BENEFACTIONS 167
GENERAL NOTES 168
THE INDIANS.
THE DAKOTA INDIANS (Illustrated) 171
FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY 181
THE CHINESE.
LETTER FROM OAKLAND, CAL. 182
BUREAU OF WOMAN'S WORK.
LETTERS TO THE SECRETARY 183
ALA. WOMAN'S MISS. ASSOC. 184
THE SOUTH.
SUNDAY-SCHOOL WORK AT TOUGALOO 185
CHILDREN'S PAGE.
WONG NING'S IDEAS 186
RECEIPTS 187
* * * * *
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.
* * * * *
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION.
* * * * *
PRESIDENT.
Hon. Wm. B. WASHBURN, LL.D., Mass.
CORRESPONDING SECRETARY.--Rev. M. E. STRIEBY, D.D., _56 Reade Street,
N. Y._
ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR COLLECTION.--REV. JAMES POWELL, _56 Reade
Street, N. Y._
TREASURER.--H. W. HUBBARD, Esq., _56 Reade Street, N. Y._
AUDITORS.--WM. A. NASH, W. H. ROGERS.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE.
JOHN H. WASHBURN, Chairman; A. P. FOSTER, Secretary; LYMAN ABBOTT, A. S.
BARNES, J. R. DANFORTH, CLINTON B. FISK, S. B. HALLIDAY, EDWARD HAWES,
SAMUEL HOLMES, CHARLES A. HULL, SAMUEL S. MARPLES, CHARLES L. MEAD, S. H.
VIRGIN, WM. H. WARD, J. L. WITHROW.
DISTRICT SECRETARIES.
Rev. C. L. WOODWORTH, D.D., _Boston_. Rev. G. D. PIKE, D.D., _Hartford_.
Rev. CHARLES W. SHELTON, _Chicago_.
COMMUNICATIONS
relating to the work of the Association may be addressed to the
Corresponding Secretary; those relating to the collecting fields, to
the District Secretaries; letters for the Editor of this "American
Missionary," to Rev. G. D. Pike, D.D., at the New York Office;
letters for the Bureau of Woman's Work, to Miss D. E. Emerson, at the
New York Office.
DONATIONS AND SUBSCRIPTIONS
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 112 West 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.
* * * * *
CHAPTER II.
WORTH
(Jan. 1, 1883)
$10,265,632.60.
So says our sworn statement of that year, and the above figures you
will find head the column in statement dated January 1, 1884.
This money value was in the shape of Bonds and Mortgages, Loans,
United States Bonds Real Estate (estimated at cost), and Cash.
Working with this capital, we pushed our business vigorously during
the year 1883, and with what result we will show in chapter three.
Respectfully yours,
MANHATTAN
LIFE INSURANCE CO.,
156 & 158 Broadway, New York.
HENRY STOKES, President.
J. L. HALSEY, 1st Vice-P.
H. B. STOKES, 2d Vice-P.
H. Y. WEMPLE, Sec'y.
S. N. STEBBINS, Act'y.
* * * * *
[Illustration: COUNT RUMFORD]
HORSFORD'S
ACID PHOSPHATE.
(LIQUID.)
FOR DYSPEPSIA, MENTAL AND PHYSICAL EXHAUSTION, NERVOUSNESS,
DIMINISHED VITALITY, URINARY DIFFICULTIES, ETC.
PREPARED ACCORDING TO THE DIRECTION OF
Prof. E. N. Horsford, of Cambridge, Mass.
There seems to be no difference of opinion in high medical authority
of the value of phosphoric acid, and no preparation has ever been
offered to the public which seems to so happily meet the general want
as this.
It is not nauseous, but agreeable to the taste.
No danger can attend its use.
Its action will harmonize with such stimulants as are necessary to
take.
It makes a delicious drink with water and sugar only.
Prices reasonable. Pamphlet giving further particulars mailed free on
application.
MANUFACTURED BY THE
RUMFORD CHEMICAL WORKS,
Providence, R. I.,
AND FOR SALE BY ALL DRUGGISTS.
* * * * *
THE AMERICAN MISSIONARY
VOL. XXXVIII. JUNE, 1884. No. 6.
* * * * *
American Missionary Association.
* * * * *
_Seven Months._--Receipts from collections and donations,
$116,081.44, and from legacies $20,571.35, making a total of
$136,652.79. An increase from collections and donations of $6,905.71
over last year, but a decrease from legacies of $21,640.83, making
the decrease of total receipts for the seven months of $14,744.12. We
must again remind our friends that it is necessary to largely
increase our collections and donations or incur a debt.
* * * * *
OUR ILLUSTRATED ARTICLE.
It gives us pleasure to place before our readers in this number an
illustrated article on our Dakota Mission. The plates were prepared
for the use jointly of the ILLUSTRATED CHRISTIAN WEEKLY and the
AMERICAN MISSIONARY. The article was written by Rev. Addison P.
Foster, one of our Executive Committee who visited the mission last
year. The popularity of the Indian number of the MISSIONARY which we
issued in April, 1883, leads us to hope that this number will be
welcomed and preserved for use as occasion may offer.
* * * * *
OUR INDIAN MISSIONS.
Nine schools, with 356 pupils; five churches, with 271 members; five
stations; thirteen missionaries; thirty-seven teachers, are the
statistics. The churches are Congregational, and the church and
school go hand in hand. A careful survey of the necessities of these
missions was made early in the year, and the estimate called for an
appropriation of about $30,000. Repairs and improvements in old
buildings and construction of new buildings, imperatively demanded
for the efficient prosecution of the work, forbade a lower estimate.
In surrendering our African missions, obedient to the voice of the
churches that our appeal might be simplified, we gave up the proceeds
of invested funds that in large part sustained that work; while in
receiving from the American Board its Indian missions, there was
placed just so much additional demand upon our treasury. Our
inevitable outlook was a trilemma--either enlarged receipts, or
retrenchment, or debt.
We therefore sent to about fifteen hundred Congregational ministers
in February last a printed circular asking:
First--Shall we raise this year $30,000 for our mission work among
the Indians?
Second--Will you aid, and how?
Up to date we have received 206 replies. To the first question the
answers are nearly all in the affirmative; most of them strong and
positive, a few cautious and questioning.
To the second, 33 responded with immediate contributions; 43 promised
an increase in the regular church collections, 71 a special
contribution from the missionary concert, and 3 the proceeds of a
lecture.
The replies are representative. Ministers in charge of the strong
churches, and those in charge of the weaker, speak the same language
of encouragement. "Go ahead." "Forward! is the word." "We will back
you." "It is no more than fair that those who have hitherto sustained
these Indian missions through the A. B. C. F. M. should now turn
their hand into the A. M. A. to increase its funds for this work."
"Thirty thousand dollars will do more and better work than so many
muskets." "We love your work and will aid you all we can." Such are
the sentiments these letters breathe. From all parts of the country
they come. California strikes hands with Massachusetts, Washington
Territory and Utah range themselves with Florida, all of them wishing
us God-speed, and promising help in our Indian work. We are glad to
have received such encouragement as these letters give, and sincerely
thank our brethren who took the trouble and time to answer our
inquiries. We trust that none of them will fail to see that the
promises are fulfilled. There will be in some cases need of special
remembrance. Interests crowd in these days. Even what is lawful and
regular has to fight for recognition. There are others who have not
answered our questions, upon whose co-operation to bring up that
$30,000 we also rely. We hope that as they read these lines their
eyes will detect the special appeal, implied, though not expressed,
that is here made to them. We commend anew the claims of these
important missions to our friends, and again remind them that if we
are to worthily do this enlarged work they must come up to our help
with enlarged contributions.
* * * * *
OUR SPRING ASSOCIATIONS.
REV. J. E. ROY, D.D.
There were four of them, those of Alabama, at Montgomery; of
Louisiana, at New Orleans; of Mississippi, at Meridian; and of North
Carolina, at Dudley. The first three came the first part of April;
the last came the 1st of May. Alabama received two new ministers,
Revs. A. J. Headen and C. L. Harris, and two new churches, those of
Birmingham and Tecumseh, places of large iron and coal interests.
Louisiana received the Church of Chocahula and Rev. Byron Gunner. The
meetings of Alabama have come to the dignity of State Anniversaries,
those of the Sunday-school Association, of the Association of
Churches, and of the Woman's Missionary Association, which this year
transferred its auxiliaryship from the Boston W. H. M. A. to the
Woman's Bureau of the A. M. A. The Sunday-school body took a day for
its reports, addresses and discourses. Among other valuable
contributions was that of Mrs. Ash, widow of the late Rev. W. H. Ash,
upon the dress and deportment of the teacher. The body representing
the churches and the ministers came up to its own high-water mark of
intellectual force and spiritual tone. Among the practical subjects
discussed was that of the relation of the churches toward secret
societies. In the whole discussion not a word was offered in defense
of the clandestine orders. It would have done Brother Fee good to
have heard the fearless discussion. The church of Montgomery, under
the care of Rev. R. C. Bedford, was found in a prosperous condition,
ten members being received during the sessions of the body. Prof. G.
W. Andrews, an early pastor of the church, had the pleasure of
baptizing into the church a lad of thirteen, who had been named after
himself, George Whitefield. Prof. Andrews also delivered an address
upon the Mission of Congregationalism in the South, which was the
feature of the week of services. Upon invitation three of the leading
white churches of the city were supplied on the Lord's Day, those of
Dr. Petrie, First Presbyterian, Dr. Andrew, First Methodist, and Dr.
Woodfin, First Baptist--the service being rendered by Revs. O. W.
Fay, G. W. Andrews and J. E. Roy. Four white families extended
hospitality and four white pastors came into the meetings. And so
recognition is coming along.
The Louisiana Association met with Rev. Isaac Hall's church, which
with paint and fresco had put its house of worship into beautiful
condition. Dr. W. S. Alexander was elected Moderator for the eighth
year. A member of his church, a converted Catholic, was licensed that
he might preach among the French-speaking colored people in the city
of New Orleans. The account of his conversion was extremely
interesting, showing how, by the word of God, he had worked out of
Romish superstitions and had "found out what it was to be born
again." During the sessions, by a proper Council, Mr. Byron Gunner,
of the Theological Department of Talladega College, was examined and
ordained to serve as pastor at New Iberia, the place where the
Acadians settled and Whittier's "Evangeline" drifted in search of her
lover. Dr. Alexander preached the sermon and Rev. R. C. Bedford, of
Montgomery, gave the charge. The venerable brother, Rev. Daniel Clay,
preached the opening sermon on the text, "Fear not, little flock, for
it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom."
The whole body was at the Boarding Hall of the Straight University
for a lunch, when the President made the members a fine present of
books from a Northern society.
The meeting of the Mississippi body was the second, and it revealed a
maturing process. President Pope and Professor Hatch represented
Tougaloo University--the president preaching a sermon on Christian
Industry, and the professor reading a capital paper on Revivals. Rev.
C. L. Harris, of Jackson, preached the opening sermon. He is finding
a wide and effectual door at the Capital of the State. Pastor Grice,
at Meridian, is encouraged by the assistance of Miss M. E. Green, a
lady missionary. Miss A. D. Gerrish serves in the same capacity at
New Orleans. At the meeting in the last named city, Miss E. B. Emery,
from Maine, gave an impressive talk upon Woman's Mission Work. Misses
Sperry and Wilcox, teachers, followed with words of confirmation. In
Mississippi three or four promising fields are opening for the School
and Church process, and these will be entered and occupied as soon as
may be.
The Old North State held its fifth annual meeting on the first four
days of May, at Dudley. This was a place at which the colored people,
during the Ku-Klux terror, "refugeed," making there a stand for
life--the hunted creatures at bay. Early the A. M. A. opened here its
Mission School and Church. Difficulties, peculiar to the
heterogeneous material thus gathered, have gradually been overcome,
until now the gospel is in the ascendant as an assimilating force.
The church and school under Rev. J. E. B. Jewett and his wife, of
Pepperell, Mass., are in a high degree of prosperity. The New England
Academy Principal seems especially adapted to these children of toil.
The Association had the round of discussions, essays, devotional
meetings. The National Council and the annual meeting of the A. M. A.
were duly reported. The new Confession of Faith was heartily
approved. A memorial service for the late Rev. Islay Walden, a native
of North Carolina, was a marked feature of the occasion. The great
work he had accomplished for his people in so short a time was
instructive and encouraging to the other young ministers, and to the
young people of the Assembly. Mrs. Elenora Walden continues the
school work of her husband, greatly confided in by the people. Rev.
Zachariah Simmons takes up the pastoral work. Three delegates from
Strieby and Troy had _walked_ 130 miles for want of money to pay the
railroad fare. Three new school-house churches were reported--those
of Pekin, Oaks and Hillsboro, the last two having been dedicated by
the Field Superintendent on the Saturday and Sunday previous. Sermons
were preached by Revs. D. D. Dodge, G. S. Smith (Moderator), J. E.
Roy and Z. Simmons. Deacon Henry Clay Jones, of Raleigh, made a
flaming temperance speech, claiming that 60,000 Prohibition voters
held the balance of power, which, as a third party, could and should
overmaster the 100,000 majority that went against home protection.
* * * * *
REMEMBER THE POOR.
When Paul and Barnabas were about to set forth to labor among the
heathen, Cephas, James and John gave them the right hand of
fellowship with a charge included in these words: "Only that they
would remember the poor." How they should do it had been indicated by
Him who said of his own labors "the poor have the gospel preached to
them."
The expression "the poor" is comprehensive. All human wants relate to
it. The poverty of some, however, is more complete than that of
others, and the poorest have early, if not the first, claim to
attention. The Pauls and Barnabases of our times may justly listen to
appeals which arise from the following conditions:
1. Ignorance. In this country it may be said ignorance is the mother
of poverty. Indeed, ignorance is one of the worst forms of poverty.
Intelligence among the masses, coupled with true religion, would soon
abolish it. Whatever is lacking of knowledge of God, of what He has
promised, of what He has made for us, of what we can do for
ourselves, must be supplied. It was an observation of Dean Stanley
that we ought to teach the heathen how to count three before
attempting to instruct them as to the doctrine of the Trinity. The
great Preacher was the great Teacher also. If there be the greatest
ignorance South, the appeal from the South to us to remember the poor
is urgent and imperative.
2. Poverty. Where a large proportion of the people can neither read
nor write, there nothing but a fractional supply for human wants is
to be expected. Inadequate buildings meagerly furnished, insufficient
clothing for the young, lack of medical care and neglect of the aged
and infirm--these are evil conditions only too common all over the
South, rendering much that ministers to a thrifty and manly character
impossible, as things are now. Where there is the greatest sickness,
privation and want, there apostles to the poor have legitimate field
for labor. Is there any such field in our country as that presented
at the South?
3. Vice. It is admitted that ignorance and poverty beget vice.
According to recent statistics, gathered from the whole country, it
is shown that the illiterate classes commit more than ten times
their pro rata of crime. The missionary must stay the progress of
vice, drying up its sources as best he may, and uncapping the
fountains of life. To do this he must impart knowledge and preach the
gospel.
If, in consequence of the ignorance and poverty of the people South,
there is vice and crime unparalleled in the annals of our country; if
these things combined constitute a poverty unknown elsewhere in the
land when estimated by its extent, then those who seek the poorest
will not neglect the millions in the Southern States.
It is our work, as an Association, to do what we can to render these
people the help needful. Will not the friends of Christ help us
"remember the poor?"
* * * * *
CHRISTIAN EDUCATORS IN COUNCIL is the title of a pamphlet of 266
pages, giving full report of sixty addresses by American educators at
Ocean Grove last August, arranged topically as follows: I. Education
and Man's Improvement. II. Illiteracy in the United Slates. III.
National Aid to Common Schools. IV. The Negro in America. V.
Illiteracy, Wealth, Pauperism, and Crime. VI. The American Indian
Problem. VII. The American Mormon Problem. VIII. Education in the
South since the War. IX. Christ in American Education. Tables:
Illiterate and Educational Status, United States, 1880. Rev. J. C.
Hartzell, D.D., the editor and compiler, purposes to issue a second
edition for general circulation. He may be addressed at the Methodist
Book Concern, New York. We know of no one document of equal value, on
the subjects discussed. The price is one dollar.
* * * * *
SOUTHERN MANUFACTURES.
An account of the Southern manufacturing and mining enterprises for
January and February is given in the _Manufacturers' Record_, and
illustrates the growing thrift of these industries in the South.
Kentucky shows the largest aggregate, which foots up $6,851,000.
Alabama is second with 5,210,000; Virginia, 3,830,000; Texas,
3,593,000; Georgia, 2,074,000; Maryland, 2,015,000; North Carolina,
1,227,000; West Virginia, 916,000; South Carolina, 904,000;
Tennessee, 846,000, and the other States a little less than 500,000
each. The cotton mills begun since January will cost over $325,000,
and will add more than a hundred thousand spindles to the number now
in the South. The Eagle and Phoenix Mills, Columbus, Ga., intend to
erect a new structure at the cost of $1,000,000. At Rome, Ga., and at
Birmingham, Ala., new cotton mills to cost $100,000 each are about to
be erected. Confidence, which can only spring from intelligence and
Christianity, is the one thing needful in order to secure the capital
wanted for the development of the vast manufacturing interests of the
southern portion of our country.
THE EARLY DAWN is the title of a paper published at Good Hope
Station, Sherbro Island, under the management of Rev. Mr. Gomer, the
colored Superintendent of the Mendi and Shengay Missions, now in
charge of the United Brethren in Christ. THE EARLY DAWN is welcomed.
* * * * *
A TURN IN THE ROAD.
Gov. McDaniel, of Georgia, has commuted the death sentences of two
negroes. One of these, it is said, had no fair chance of defense, and
the other killed the invader of his domestic peace, for which offence
the Governor said he would never allow a man to be hanged. It is to
Mr. McDaniel's credit that this clemency was exercised in full view
of the desperate efforts which have been made for more than a year to
save from the gallows one Turner, a man of influential family, for
whose crime there was no excuse. All recourses of appeal to the
courts having been exhausted, Turner's friends are bringing every
pressure to bear to have the Governor give him a "negro's chance,"
but that official has decided to let the law take its course.
* * * * *
JOHN F. SLATER.
The death of Mr. Slater, which occurred at Norwich, Conn., May 6,
removes one of our foremost philanthropists. His well-known gift of a
million dollars for the emancipated race in America was made after
years of converse with eminent scholars, statesmen, capitalists and
Christian philanthropists. The act was in every sense deliberate. His
successful business career, extending over many years, his knowledge
of men, gained by his relations with business interests in the great
centers of trade; by his employment of large numbers of laborers; by
his observations while traveling at home and abroad--gave him
opportunity to reach the best conclusions as to what people in our
land were the most needy, and where the gifts would yield the most
abundant results. He took a business man's view of the subject, and
has left an expression of judgment, supported by a princely
benefaction, of great value to others who are prayerfully considering
how they may best promote the interests of Christian civilization.
Modest, consistent, dignified, courteous, a regular attendant at a
Congregational church, a good neighbor, a good citizen beloved--such
was John F. Slater. He has left a name better and more enduring than
his great riches.
* * * * *
BENEFACTIONS.
The late Lucius J. Knowles bequeathed $5,000 to Doane College,
Nebraska, and $10,000 to Carlton College, Minnesota.
A professorship at Williams College, in honor of Dr. Mark Hopkins,
has been provided for by subscriptions amounting to $25,000.
The New York University is to receive $5,000 from the estate of the
late Augustus Schell, and the New York Historical Society $5,000.
Mrs. Louisa L. Vought, besides other gifts to the Protestant
Episcopal Church, left $10,000 for work among the colored people
South, and $1,000 for the Indians.
Harvard College is to receive $5,000 for the astronomical observatory
connected with that institution, from the estate of the late Thomas
G. Appleton.
The Yale Corporation has voted to accept $50,000 from the Frederick
Marquand fund for a chapel for the use of the College Young Men's
Christian Association.
Knox College is to receive about $60,000 from the estate of the late
H. H. Hitchcock, of Galesburg, Ill.
Mrs. Oswald Ottendorfer, of New York, bequeathed $50,000 for a German
teachers' seminary in Milwaukee.
Hon. John R. Bodwell, of Hallowell, Me., gives $1,000 toward the new
building for Industrial School for Girls in that city.
_Persons desirous to help where help is most needed, to help where it
will do most to promote national prosperity and true religion, may
well consider the question of endowments for the educational
institutions of the A. M. A._
* * * * *
GENERAL NOTES
AFRICA.
--The two brothers Denhardt, already known by their previous
explorations, are preparing an expedition to the Dana, which they
will reascend to reach Kenia.
--The Universities' Mission has constructed for the eastern side of
Nyassa a steamer which will bear the name of _Charles Janson_, a
missionary recently deceased.
--Messrs. Taylor and Jacques, missionaries at Saint Louis, have made
in the Oualo, inhabited by emigrants and the Wolofs mussulmen, a
journey of exploration with a view to the extension of their field of
activity.
--The French Consul at Tangier has interdicted his French subjects,
and the mussulmen placed under his protection, from buying, selling
or possessing the slaves of the Maroe. His example has been followed
by the representatives of other powers.
--General Bacouch, a great proprietor in Tunis, encourages, in a
domain of many thousands of acres, the cultivation of a plant
imported from Java, which may replace the cotton of America.
--Messrs. Lindner and Von der Broock, in the service of the
International African Association, have set out from Zanzibar for
the Congo, taking with them 200 negroes to replace those whose term
of engagement has expired.
--According to the Natal _Mercantile Advertiser_, the German
Government has charged M. A. Schultz, of Durban, with making an
exploration with a view to establishing a series of commercial
stations as far as Zambeze and the Congo. He will be accompanied by a
surveyor and a geologist.
--M. Lagarde has been charged with proceeding to the limits of the
Territory of Obock, in connection with M. Conneau, Commander of the
_Infernet_. This same ship carries out the members of a scientific
mission sent to the Choa. It bears presents to King Menelik.
--James Roxburgh, the engineer appointed to accompany the sections of
the steamer _Bonne Nouvelle_, has announced to the London Missionary
Society his safe arrival at Liendwe upon the borders of Tanganyika,
the place designed to launch the vessel. He met there Capt. Hore and
Mr. Swan, who will immediately commence the reconstruction of the
boat.
--Major Machado, who has been at Pretoria with Portuguese engineers
to make the plan of the railroad upon the Territory of Transvaal, has
received orders from Lisbon to proceed to Lorenzo-Marquez to confer
with the engineers sent by the Portuguese Government, to the end that
they may commence the work from the Bay of Delogoa to the frontier of
Transvaal.
--The _Bulletin of Colonial Inquiry_ announces that ten army surgeons
from Africa have formed an association for the establishment of
French colonies in the district of Saida, 171 kilometers to the south
of Oran. Each shareholder will furnish a capital of 6,000 francs, and
the society will be conducted in an economical manner, but with the
best conditions for starting.
--According to the Arab journal _Noussret_, the Negous has ordered
the Governor of Axoum to hold ready provisions, and beasts of burden,
as also ammunition, so that they may have means of passage with the
army to the coast to take possession of the territories which Egypt
has laid open to them.
THE CHINESE.
--The Baptist Chinese Mission, Portland, Oregon, has over two hundred
Chinese connected with it, several of whom are women and children.
Seventy different Chinese have been connected with the school at
Santa Cruz, Cal. Five of the pupils have been baptized and received
to the Congregational Church. Two more will soon be baptized. This
little company of Chinese Christians is full of life, of prayer and
of eager liberality.
--About forty Chinamen are under instruction in Philadelphia in
connection with the Sunday Schools of the Episcopal Church. They
have undertaken to send thirty dollars annually to endow a bed in the
hospital at Wuchang, China.
--The Chinese Young Mens' Christian Association in Oakland, Cal.,
co-operates in preparing converted Chinamen for church membership.
Converts in the Sunday-schools are referred to the officers of the
Association, who are themselves Chinamen. After six months' probation
the candidates are brought before the Church Committee by the Y. M.
C. A. and the officers of the Sunday-school, and, if report is
favorable, they are received into the Church.
--"As to the yellow races," says the _Spectator_, "who ought to be
just lazier than Europeans, they beat them altogether. We suppose
there are indolent Chinese, but the immense majority of that vast
people have an unparalleled power of work, care nothing about hours,
and, so long as they are paid, will go on with a dogged steady
persistence in toil for sixteen hours a day such as no European can
rival. No English ship-carpenter will work like a Chinese, no
laundress will wash as many clothes, and a Chinese compositor would
be very soon expelled for over-toil by an English 'chapel' of the
trade."
THE INDIANS.
--At some points the Government has issued to Indians what are called
scholars' rations, in order to assure school attendance, accompanying
teaching with gifts of loaves and fishes almost literally.
--Agent Miles, of the Osage Indians has secured the passage of a law
cutting off annuities from all Osage children between seven and
fourteen, who do not attend school. These Indians have a Congress of
their own.
--The Indian children of Forest Grove, Oregon, publish a paper edited
by themselves, called "The Indian Citizen." It is in the interest of
the Forest Grove school.
--The Presbyterians commenced their work in Kansas by the
establishment of a Mission among the Indians. They now have 300
churches in that state.
--The Indian boys at the Hampton Institute have a debating society
for the purpose of encouraging each other in speaking English. The
topic for the first night, over which two exercised their powers in
the new language was, "Shall we allow the white men in our
reservation?" There is also a debating society among the girls in
Winona Lodge.
--A Canadian Indian was recently seized by a party of masked
Americans and hanged within the borders of the Dominion, in British
Columbia, and the matter having come to the ears of the Government at
Ottawa the question has been considered, and satisfaction is to be
demanded of the United States Government.
* * * * *
THE INDIANS.
[Illustration: INDIAN FAMILY AT FORT BERTHOLD, DAKOTA TERRITORY.]
* * * * *
THE DAKOTA INDIANS.
BY REV. ADDISON P. FOSTER.
It was my rare good fortune last summer to spend nearly a month in a
trip of investigation among the Dakota Indians. A record of
observations thus made may perhaps be of interest.
Across the Missouri, in Northern Nebraska, is a reservation about
twelve miles square on which are located the Santees. These Indians
came originally from Minnesota, and were concerned in the terrible
New Ulm massacre there. This was years ago. After that bloody
outbreak a large number of Indians were imprisoned. While thus
incarcerated they were deeply moved by the truths of religion. The
long and faithful labors of Drs. Riggs and Williamson bore fruit, and
very many were truly converted. These Minnesota Indians were
subsequently removed, a portion to the Sisseton Agency, a portion to
Flandreau, and a portion to the Santee Agency. At this last-named
spot the Indians are practically civilized. They wear the white man's
dress; they cultivate farms of their own; they sustain two churches,
one Episcopal and one Congregational, the latter having its excellent
native pastor and an outlying chapel where the native deacons conduct
meetings in turn; they have recently, to the number of fifty, taken
up land under the homestead laws and now own them in fee simple.
There are three boarding schools on the reservation, one sustained by
the American Missionary Association and in the charge of the Rev. A.
L. Riggs, another sustained by the Episcopalians, under the
jurisdiction of Bishop Hare, and a third supported by the Government,
of which Rev. Charles Seccombe, a Congregationalist, is principal.
The work in all these schools is admirable. The children are neat,
intelligent, attractive, orderly, and studious, and while not as far
advanced nor as quick, will compare favorably with the children of
schools among white people. The development of Indian character under
these Christianizing influences was remarkably shown in a visit to
one of the cottages on the mission. Here dwell one of the native
teachers, her mother and grandmother. The aged grandmother in her
whole appearance bespoke the wild Indian. Gray and bent with age, she
loved best to sit on the floor in a corner, after the fashion of her
people. The mother, a comely matron of perhaps forty-five, was
evidently more cultivated, was lady-like in her appearance, and had
lines of thoughtfulness on her thin face. The work of civilization
had made great advance in her. But the daughter, a young lady of
eighteen, well educated, knowing only the ways of civilization, was
as thoroughly refined and bright and attractive as the young ladies
of our own Christian homes.
[Illustration: INDIAN BURYING GROUND.]
At Oahe, fifteen miles west of Pierre, Dakota Territory, is a second
mission station, under the charge of the American Missionary
Association. Up and down the river, on what is known as the Peoria
Bottom, are perhaps a hundred families of Indians, each living on
their own homesteads, off reservation limits, cultivating their
farms, dwelling in comfortable log-houses, dressed in civilized garb,
and showing as much neatness and industry as the average white man.
These people are recognized as citizens and are voters. They have a
neat chapel, a native pastor, sustain admirable prayer-meetings--a
woman's prayer-meeting among them--and live good reputable lives. In
this spot and at Santee Agency the Indian is seen at his best. Life
and property are respected, the land is fairly tilled, the homes are
happy, intelligence is general, and religion is the universal
motive-power.
[Illustration: WIGWAMS AMONG THE SIOUX.]
On the west side of the Missouri in Dakota lies the great Sioux
Reservation, containing 8,000 Indians at the Pine Ridge Agency,
nearly 8,000 at the Rosebud Agency, 1,500 of the Lower Brule Indians,
3,000 along the Cheyenne River and northward, and nearly 4,000 on the
Standing Rock Agency. It was my fortune to visit a number of villages
on the Cheyenne, Morrow, and Grand Rivers and at Standing Rock. The
Indians at these places are all wild--that is, still wear blankets,
breech-cloths, and leggings, feathers and geegaws, do little toward
cultivating the land, and are ignorant heathen. A Sabbath in a
village on the Cheyenne showed what wild Indians were. The morning
opened with two men disguised in buffalo-skins with the heads on,
running through the village. They had had a dream, were supposed to
be possessed of spirits, and as they chased the villagers all ran
from them, affrighted lest some witchcraft be wrought by them.
Presently the church-bell rang at the missionary's tent, and fifty
Indians came in, gaudy in paints and wampum, ornaments, and dangling
queues tied up with mink-skins, the chief wearing a broken down
beaver hat with a faded weed upon it, and the rest supplied with fans
of eagles' wings, pipes, and other accompaniments of Indian
gentlemen. They listened with occasional grunts of approval during
worship, and filed out at the close with a cordial handshake, one
remaining, named from his height Touch-the-Clouds, to say that he
felt the importance of this new way, and that he wished for himself
and his people schools and churches. This was encouraging, but as the
evening came on there set up a hideous noise; a dance was in
progress, and all night long a relay of three Indians kept up the
hideous and monotonous tom-tom of their kettle-drums, while the
shrill scream of the women pierced the air.
The next morning were things equally painful. A young Indian woman,
with four children to care for, put away by her cruel husband for
another wife, came to beg the missionary's influence to secure for
her Government rations. A tent hard by was visited, where the family,
in accordance with Indian superstitions, were gathering, and had been
for a year or two, all sorts of valuable articles for presents in
honor of some deceased member of the household, intending by-and-by
to distribute all these things, leaving themselves beggared. And last
of all, in a neighboring village were seen three men and a boy, clad
with a few feathers in their hair, and yellow ochre on their bodies,
going through mummeries in the sight of a large company. They were
"making mystery," whatever that may be.
[Illustration: INDIAN GIRLS AT SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.]
At Standing Rock were Sitting Bull and Chief Gall, with their bands.
Not many years ago they had been on the war path; they were concerned
in the Custer massacre; but now they are in wholesome awe of the
Government and dependent on Government favor for daily bread.
Consequently they are orderly and peaceable, and though a few years
since it would have been dangerous for three unarmed men to pass
through their reservations, it was perfectly safe last summer for a
missionary speaking the Indian language and his friends.
[Illustration: INDIAN IN NATIVE DRESS, FORT BERTHOLD.]
A third class of Indians was found at Fort Berthold. This reservation
is a hundred miles north of Bismarck, Dakota Territory, on the east
side of the Missouri. There are three small tribes combined in one
large village for protection against their ancient enemies the Sioux,
namely, the Arickarees, the Mandans, and the Gros Ventres. These
Indians have latterly made great advances in civilization. They have
800 acres under cultivation, all looking admirably and well fenced
in, and they are taking great pride in their work and asking for more
land to cultivate. They have comfortable homes, or "lodges," as they
are called, made in an octagonal form, of logs completely covered
with earth. They are eagerly obtaining from the Government such
comforts of civilization as they can--reapers, cooking-stoves,
baking-powder, and the like. And yet this people display some of the
grossest elements of savagery. Polygamy is common. The disgusting
scaffold burials still go on, and the air in the neighborhood of the
village is sometimes foul from the adjacent cemetery. Buffalo heads
and poles with red streamers, as offerings or invocations to spirits,
surmount many of the lodges and bear witness to the heathenism of the
people. Many of the men are terribly scarred on the shoulders, breast
and arms with the cruel practices of the sun dance. Men and women
alike wear the dress of their savage life. There has been as yet
little success from schools or church work. Few care for schools, and
the attendance at the mission chapel is not large. The fault,
however, is not with the devoted missionaries, Rev. C. L. Hall and
his helpers of the American Missionary Association, whose
faithfulness is unsurpassed, but with bad white men who visit the
village. For years these Indians have been brought in contact with
some of the worst influences of civilization, and in consequence the
women have become gross, the men have lost their sense of honor, and
the people are manifestly more degraded and harder to reach than the
wild Indians on the Sioux Reservation.
After observation of these three types of Indians, the Christianized,
the wild and the polluted, certain conclusions were inevitable.
1. There is a natural nobility in the Indian character. The Indian is
debased by heathenism and his wild life, lazy, improvident, filthy,
obscene and cruel; and yet he is well endowed by nature with brains
and heart and conscience. He is clear-headed and generous; he is
often affectionate in his family; he is capable of becoming
industrious, conscientious, scholarly, and thoroughly consecrated. If
his wild life has affected him unfavorably, it has not done him the
same kind of harm that slavery has to the colored man. He is not
crushed in spirit and ambition as was the colored slave at the time
of the civil war.
[Illustration: INDIAN WOMAN AT FORT BERTHOLD.]
[Illustration: INDIAN LODGE AT FORT BERTHOLD.]
2. There, as elsewhere, the gospel proves the most efficient
instrumentality. The United States Government is doing a noble work
for the elevation of the race by introducing the agencies of
civilization. The Indian agents in Dakota are, as a rule, noble men,
vieing with the missionaries in endeavors to benefit the race. The
Board of Indian Commissioners are deserving of all praise for their
great services. The present system of Government management in
establishing schools, in encouraging agriculture, in discountenancing
savage practices, in stimulating the home-life, is most admirable.
But Christian efforts are yet more efficacious. It is where the
gospel has sway the longest, or has been the chief influence, that
the Indians are the most elevated.
[Illustration: SANTEE INDIANS TEN YEARS AGO.]
3. It cannot be questioned that we have come to a new stage in Indian
affairs. At last there is throughout the country almost complete
control of the wild Indians. The day of Indian wars is over. We may
very likely never have another. Now that the buffalo has largely
disappeared, the Indian is dependent on the Government supplies for
food and clothing, unless, like the white man, he resorts to
agriculture. In consequence, without any large display of military
force, the Indian agents are able to preserve excellent order on the
reservations. The Indians feel their dependence and recognize the
power of the Government. If fairly treated by the white man they will
give us little trouble hereafter. It is easy to see that
modifications in their condition, all looking toward civilization,
are constantly taking place. They are giving up their Indian dress.
It is now rare to find an Indian whose dress is not in some way
conformed to the white man's. They are learning the comforts of
civilization through the supplies from Government, and welcome the
frame house, the sugar and syrup, the flour and beans, the tools and
clothing which come to them from this source. They feel the pressure
of the white population crowding upon them from every side. They see
their wild life is a thing of the past, and while there are selfish,
vicious, superstitious and conservative influences strongly at work
against the change, still the change goes on. Their more thoughtful
men, perceiving the necessity of the change and recognizing its
advantage, are urging the establishment of schools and churches among
them. There can be little doubt that as these processes continue the
tribal relation will eventually cease, the reservation system will be
abandoned, the Indian will come under ordinary laws, he will be
assigned land in severalty, will cultivate it for his support, and
become citizen. Already this is true of many Indians, and the day is
not far distant--I venture to prophesy that it is within the next
twenty years--when, if these influences continue, the Indian will be
so thoroughly absorbed among his white brethren that as a separate
race he will be lost to sight, and the Indian question will be a
question no more.
[Illustration: INDIAN IN NATIVE DRESS, FORT BERTHOLD.]
A word now in explanation of the illustrations accompanying this
article. An Indian chief is prominent in the first cut. His son is on
horseback beside him. His wives and younger children are seated on
the ground. The influence of civilization already appears in the
dress of these people and in their use of cattle. The second cut
represents a small portion of the large burying-ground at Fort
Berthold. The wigwams in the third cut are mostly of skin, but
generally canvas furnished by the Government is now used. The
arrangement of poles and the desolate appearance of the tents
scattered here and there are true to life. In the sixth cut the heavy
earrings and necklace are of wampum and very valuable. The dress,
while cut in Indian fashion, is, like nearly all that the Indians now
wear, furnished by the Government. The Indian in the fifth cut wears
his hair long and tied up in two queues, with mink-skin pendants. His
constant companion, a pipe of red pipe-clay, is in his lap. The lodge
in the seventh cut admirably represents the peculiar homes of Fort
Berthold Indians. It is very large, and sometimes divided into
several rooms inside. It is well constructed as a protection against
the severe winters of Northern Dakota.
[Illustration: INDIAN BOYS AT SANTEE NORMAL TRAINING SCHOOL.]
On the top of the lodge an Indian is standing. For many years the
Indians of Fort Berthold have been accustomed thus to look out across
the Missouri, on the watch, lest their ancient enemies, the Sioux,
steal upon them unaware. Beside the Indian may be seen the wicker
framework of a "bull boator," skin coracle. The Indians can seize
these in a moment, run with them on their heads to the river, and
paddle across the Missouri with ease after a deer or a buffalo. In
the foreground is a _travoir_, or Indian wagon, made of two poles
with a pouch of leather thongs slung between them. A pony rather than
a dog ordinarily drags this. Another cut represents the Santee Indian
as he was a few years ago. He now lives in a comfortable log-house,
or often in a frame house given him by the Government. In the last
cut are very good likenesses of two girls who are now at the Normal
Training School sustained by the American Missionary Associates at
Santee. They are pure-blooded Indians. Their father is a chief at
Fort Berthold, who has turned from his wild life to become a regular
attendant at church and a thoughtful imitator of the white man's
ways.
[Illustration: DAUGHTERS OF INDIAN CHIEF "POOR WOLF."]
Two other cuts represent groups of school-children at Santee, all
Indians. The artist has not exaggerated the bright and attractive
look upon their faces. They come from all parts of Dakota and the
Santee Reservation. In the ninth cut is represented an Indian who,
with a white man's shirt, retains his native leggings, blanket,
necklace and tomahawk.
* * * * *
FORTY-FIVE YEARS IN WASHINGTON TERRITORY.
REV. CUSHING EELS, D.D.
From August 1838, to Sept., 1883, a period of more than 45
consecutive years, I was a resident of what is now Oregon and
Washington Territory. I spent the greater part of those years in what
is included in Washington Territory.
I was employed during the first ten years in mission work under the
patronage of the American Board in behalf of the Spokane Indians.
The massacre of Marcus Whitman, M.D., and others in the Walla Walla
Valley, Nov., 1847, was followed by war which necessitated the
removal in 1848 of all Protestants from the mission field east of the
Cascade Mountains. By military proclamation, June, 1848, the country
named was declared closed against missionaries. It remained thus
eleven years. June, 1859, by military proclamation, the Walla Walla
country was declared open for settlement.
In July of that year I, as agent of the A. B. C. F. M., went to Walla
Walla to look after their interests. Standing beside the grave of the
distinguished patriot and martyr, Dr. Whitman, I purposed to attempt
the erection of a monument to his memory in the form of a school of
high Christian character. The following Spring, 1860, I commenced
work in fulfillment of the plan named. During the next 12 years the
execution of that plan was with me all-controlling. In pursuance of
said object I recently returned to my native New England.
During my sojourn in Walla Walla from 1860 to 1872 I was favored with
opportunities for the measurable prosecution of evangelistic work
among the Spokane Indians. In May, 1872, my house at the place
formerly occupied by Dr. Whitman was consumed by fire.
My elder son had previously been nominated by the American Missionary
Association as Indian agent and confirmed by Government. Previous to
his taking charge the Lord's day had been distinguished for the
performance of outlandish wickedness. With the new agent there was
change of employes. A weekly prayer meeting was appointed and
conducted. With a good degree of constancy it has been continued to
the present time. A Sunday-school was organized. It is continued with
sustained interest.