The American Missionary. Volume 48, No. 10, October, 1894

ANNUAL MEETING

The Woman's Meeting will be held on Thursday afternoon, October 25th, as one of the regular sessions of the American Missionary Association Annual Meeting, at Lowell, Mass. The programme will include reports from the State Unions, and missionary addresses by Miss Kate La Grange, from the mountains of Tennessee; Miss Mary P. Lord, associate of Miss Collins in the Indian work; and missionaries from the South.

We hope for a large attendance from ladies' and young people's societies. Do not limit your attendance to this woman's day. Come to the opening meeting Tuesday, and attend all the sessions. The secretary of the Woman's Bureau will have a room at the church for a rallying point, where the ladies and missionaries can meet for mutual acquaintance and information. Notice of entertainment and railroad rates will be found on last page of cover.

A FEW WORDS TO BOYS

The American Missionary Association needs the help of every boy. Send to the Bible House, New York, for leaflets that will tell what the American Missionary Association is, and what it is trying to do, especially for the Indians.

Read the following letter, by Miss Mary P. Lord, our missionary among the Sioux Indians, and let us know what you will do to help teach Indian boys how to become good men:

Dear Boys:

No doubt you are already interested in Indians, from stories you have read of them. And perhaps you think they are very strange people, quite unlike white people. In some ways they are. But if you could come out here to our little Indian village (Little Eagle Village it is called), on the Standing Rock Reservation in Dakota, I think you would very soon be playing with the Indian boys just as merrily as you do now with your boy friends at home. Perhaps Ben Black Dog would show you some of the little gumbo images that he made when the mud was soft, and then it grew dry and hard, as the clay does that some of you use in school; and perhaps he would show you how he makes his life-like horses and riders, and buffaloes, and dogs, and all the rest.

One day I saw some boys playing with their gumbo figures, and heard one of the boys say "akicita," which is the Dakota word for "soldier"; so I suppose little Indian boys "play soldier," too! Then every Indian boy from the time he is a baby has his pony. One ten-year-old boy was telling me the other day what good care he tried to take of his pony, and I was very glad he thought about it, and knew that his "Charlie" ought to be well cared for. All the boys like to ride, but sometimes they forget that their ponies ought to be kindly treated, and to have proper food and rest. Indian boys have their favorite games, too, just as white boys do, only their games are different. One is throwing long, slender sticks, which they make in a certain way; but in order to know just how they make and throw them, you may have to come and see them do it. I am afraid I cannot tell you.

And they like to run, and jump, and play together very much as you do, only (shall I say it?) I think they are more quiet in their playing than many white boys I have seen and heard. They are not all alike any more than white boys are. Some are naturally very bright and quick to think and to act, and others not as much so. Some of the boys and men are diligent and hard workers, while others are lazy. Some like to study, and others like better to play. A large new Government boarding-school has been lately built in our little village for the Dakota boys and girls. One very cold day, a boy, perhaps fourteen years old, came walking fifteen miles, without overcoat or mittens, and alone, to ask if he might be received as a pupil in the new school. I think he must be one of the boys who likes to study, and who wants to learn. Such boys get ahead. Some Indian boys are naturally very gentle in their manner, and although their clothing may be ragged and dirty, and the homes in which they live are not nearly so bright and attractive as perhaps your father's stable is, yet these boys appear as gentlemanly as if accustomed to the little courtesies of the parlor in civilized life. One verse in the Bible says: "As he thinketh in his heart, so is he," and I think it is the gentle thoughts in the hearts of these Indian boys that make some of them so truly gentlemen, notwithstanding their surroundings and lack of training.

Some things that they say and do are very funny. After one of our village boys had been to the new boarding-school two or three weeks, he came to our house one day of an errand. While he waited, he said to Winona (that is Miss Collins) "Do you sleep on a bed the way we do at school?" She told him that she did, and then he said: "A long time ago, when I was little and not very wise, I used to come here to your house, and I always thought you slept on that table [the dining-table] but, now I am beginning to see clearly."

The same ten-year-old friend gave me a lesson one day in digging potatoes. And another time when he had ridden the pony Bessie to drink at the river, his younger brother came to the house with him. The two are as devoted brothers as any that I know, and when I reached out Ben's pay toward him, he motioned me to give it to Daniel instead. Very likely it was shared afterward, but at least I thought it showed a generous spirit of brotherly love.

Fourth of July and Christmas are great days here as well as among our white friends in the East. This year I had the pleasure of attending two Christmas-tree celebrations. The first was at our little church Christmas evening. The house was full, some of the boys and young men being obliged to sit on the edge of the little platform and on the floor, and everybody seemed happy. The next evening I drove about six miles, to the Oak Creek Station, to share in the festivities at Cross Bear's house. There, too, they had a tree, and a Santa Claus dressed up in a big, shaggy, fur coat, a very tall hat decorated with Indian designs, and in his hand he carried a stout staff on which he leaned, as if he felt the burden of many winters. He was just as funny as your Santa Claus, as he stood bowing and bowing, and making his little speech.

Indians like to have a good time all together, whether it is Fourth of July, or Christmas, or a prayer-meeting, or a feast. And we are very thankful that now they enjoy meeting in these ways, instead of having the old-time heathen dances. We are thankful that when we speak of Indians now, we do not mean a race of people who are only waiting for a chance to scalp us. They are our friends, as we are theirs.

God has been revealed to them, and they are coming out of their heathen darkness into His light, and they are learning how to live purer and better lives, to think new thoughts, and to be Christian men instead of heathen savages. We who have always known of God, and heard His word, must help them "in His name." Think, dear boys, if there is anything that you can do.

WOMAN'S STATE ORGANIZATIONS

MAINE

WOMAN'S AID TO A.M.A

State Committee—Mrs. C.A. Woodbury, Woodfords;

Mrs. A.T. Burbank, Yarmouth;

Mrs. Helen Quimby, Bangor.

NEW HAMPSHIRE

FEMALE CENT INSTITUTION AND HOME MISS. UNION

President—Mrs. Joseph B. Walker, Concord.

Secretary—Mrs. John T. Perry, Exeter.

Treasurer—Miss Annie A. McFarland, Concord.

VERMONT

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION

President—Mrs. J.H. Babbitt, W. Brattleboro.

Secretary—Mrs. M.K. Paine, Windsor.

Treasurer—Mrs. Wm. P. Fairbanks, St. Johnsbury.

MASS. AND R.I

[1 - For the purpose of exact information, we note that while the W.H.M.A. appears in this list as a State body for Mass. and R.I., it has certain auxiliaries elsewhere.]WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY ASSOCIATION

President—Mrs. C.L. Goodell, Boston Highlands, Mass.

Secretary—Miss Anna A. Pickens, 32 Congregational House, Boston.

Treasurer—Miss Sarah K. Burgess, 32 Congregational House, Boston.

CONNECTICUT

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION

President—Miss Ellen R. Camp, 9 Camp St., New Britain.

Secretary—Mrs. C.T. Millard, 36 Lewis St., Hartford.

Treasurer—Mrs. W.W. Jacobs, 19 Spring St., Hartford.

NEW YORK

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION

President—Mrs. Wm. Kincaid, 483 Green Ave., Brooklyn.

Secretary—Mrs. Wm. Spalding, 511 Orange St., Syracuse.

Treasurer—Mrs. J.J. Pearsall, 230 Macon St., Brooklyn.

NEW JERSEY

WOMAN'S HOME MISSIONARY UNION OF THE N.J. ASSOCIATION

President—Mrs. A.H. Bradford, Montclair.

Secret'y—Mrs. Wm. O. Weeden, Upper Montclair.