No. 608 Our Indian Schools in South Dakota DEPARTMENT OF MISSIONS of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America 281 Fourth Avenue New York Our Indian Schools in SouthDakota W HEN the Church called Bishop Hare to under- take the great task of Christianizing the Sioux nation and sent him out as Bishop of Niobrara, he im- mediately recognized that the first step must be the establishment of Christian schools. Before he had been in the field two years he had two schools in operation, and was urging the missionaries to gather little groups of children for regular instruction in places where board- ing schools were impossible. Later on more schools were founded, until tlie number reached five. Then a crushing blow fell which blotted out two of these institutions and made the sale of a third inevitable. Up to that time the government in issuing rations had allowed tl at those for children in boarding schools be sent to the institution where they were in residence. This practical!}' provided their maintenance, so far as food was concerned ; but in the summer of 1901 a law was passed cutting off at a stroke these sup- plies. This meant the raising of many thou- sands of dollars for maintenance or the clos- ing of some schools. Saint Paul’s and Saint John’s respectively on the Yankton and the bueu:sox, S. T. D. Cheyenne reservations, Bishop of South Dakota 8 were abandoned. Hope School^ at Springfield, on the edge of the Santee reservation, was sold to the govern- ment, and only Saint Mary’s, on Rosebud, and Saint Elizabeth’s, on Standing Rock, survived the disaster. Yet today the work of these vanished schools goes on. Among the clergy a majority are the product of these institutions, and the best among the loyal laity have been pupils in these schools. To say “He was a Saint Paul’s boy,’’ or “She was a Saint John’s girl,” is suffi- cient guaranty of intelligent devotion to the Church. Every dollar, every effort, every prayer given or made in behalf of these Indian schools in South Dakota has borne its abundant fruit and this demonstration of the past makes all the more urgent the maintenance and continuance of the schools which remain. Indeed, those responsible for the conduct of the work feel keenly that the witness of our Indian scliools was never more needed than today. The reaction and restlessness among young people, which is everywhere apparent, has also invaded the Indian country. The influence of our schools is one of our chief means of combating the sag in morals and laxity in religion which seems to charac- terize the present moment. Our schools must be main- tained, and if possible multiplied. Saint Mary’s School, Mission First in point of time among our mission schools stands Saint Mary’s. It was originally established at Santee, Nebraska, but after a few years the building was de- stroyed by fire and it was thought best to remove it to a more central spot in the Indian country. Accordingly it was transferred to what was then the desert land of the Rosebud reservation. The school is in Todd 4 SAixT Mary’s school, rosebud reservation County, a little more than half-way across the State of South Dakota, near its southern boundary. Though great changes have come to the Indian coun- try, Saint Mary’s School is still thirty-five miles distant from the nearest railway, to reach which it is necessary to go south into Nebraska. Our first school building on the Rosebud was destroyed by fire in 1910, and has been replaced by a substantial concrete structure with an adjoining chapel. The staff of six or seven teachers, with Miss Priscilla Bridge as principal, cares for some fifty or more Indian girls of all ages, who come from the various reservations. The mission farm aids materi- ally in the maintenance of the school. A practical farmer is in residence. The town of Mission which is rapidly growing up adjoining the school, was so named because of the ex- istence of the school at that point. The citizens are highly interested in the enterprise and try to help the school in every possible way. Through the kind- 6 ness of the Townsite Company, we have recently se- cured a lot upon whicli we have built a missionary’s residence and have offered us at a very low price other lots to which it is proposed to remove Trinity Church, which is at present a mile from the school. In addition to improvements made in the school prop- erty last year, we have been able through the kind gifts of friends to install an electric lighting plant for the school, so that the old inadequate and dangerous kero- sene lamps are a thing of the past. A day at Saint Mary’s would be a joy to persons interested in the mission work of the Church. They would find themselves in a comfortable home where gentleness and refinement prevailed. The girls range in age from six to eighteen, are most neat in their dress, orderly in manner, and industrious at their school tasks. The work of the house is done by them under the direc- tion of the industrial teaclier. The daily services in the chapel, the classes in sacred studies and the Sundays at T rinity Church, are cogent fac- tors in the development of the Christian life of these children. Their work in the schoolroom grades well. Their en- thusiasm for missions and other like matters is notable. From time to time promising scholars from >nss PRISCII-LA BRIDGE, Principal of Saint Mary s School, Rosebud Reserve Elizabeth’s are admitted 6 THE cwnt.s OF SAIXT MAHy's SCHOOI. PRESEXTIXG A PAGEANT to All Saints School, Sioux Falls. A girl who came last year from Saint Mary’s, and who is the daughter of one of the Indian priests, has taken a leading place among the white pupils and was chosen president of her class. Saint Elizabeth’s School. JVakpala The people of Standing Rock were the last ones brought under the influence of the Church. They con- sisted largely of bands led by unreconciled Indians, such as Sitting Bull, who were forced at last to submit in the unequal struggle with the white man. It was in line, therefore, with Bishop Flare’s policy that one of the early enterprises on this reservation was a school for boys and girls, called Saint Elizabeth’s. The school stands on the bluff overlooking the distant valley of the Missouri and the nearer valley of the Grand River. When the school was established the railroad terminus was sixty miles distant. Every pound of provisions and 7 3AIKT Elizabeth’s school, staxdikg hock eesebvatiox every foot of lumber had to be freighted over these vfeary miles. It was the most remote of all the reserva- tions. But, by one of those changes which take place in a new country, it is now the most accessible, and the transcontinental trains passing to and fro on the Chi- cago, Milwaukee & Saint Paul Railway run at the foot of the bluff on which the school stands. It is quite a group of buildings that greets you as you come in sight of Saint Elizabeth’s. Those pertaining to the school proper are the central building, the chapel and schoolroom adjoining, and a small cottage for the teachers. Near at hand, forming part of the group, is the Church of Saint Elizabeth, which has our largest Indian congregation on the reservation, the home of the Reverend Philip J. Deloria, and the guild room and Woman’s Auxiliary house. Farther back on the plateau is the well kept cemetery of the mission, and at the foot of the bluff beyond the railroad, lies the school farm. This is the only one of Bishop Hare’s schools for children of both sexes. Only young boys, however. 8 are received. The number in the school is fifty, about one-third of whom are boys. Both have their separate dormitory and sitting room and both groups are under the care of a special matron. While the building at Saint Elizabeth’s are fairly ade- quate for our purpose, they ought to be considerably improved, and we should especially like to put in a lighting plant like that at Saint Mary’s. More pictures carpets and books would add to the attractiveness of the school, and the comfort of both teachers and scholars. There ought, also, to be separate quarters for the farmer, and if possible some form of manual training, such as a carpenter shop, for the boys. I'"ive teachers form the staff at Saint Elizabeth’s, with Deaconess Gertrude J. Baker at their head. These make a Christian home for the children, and the rapid progress made by most of tliem in their studies and industrial tasks is greatly encouraging. The Church .Sclmol and Service Teague of Saint Eliza- , beth’s last year gave for eleven objects in the five fields of service $361.79. It may be thought by some that the urgent need of Church schools among the Indians has passed, but such is not the case. There is an increasing de- sire among them that their children shall have the benefit of schools de.'co.vess gertrude j. baker, , , . . Principal of Saint Elizabeth’s where mental training School 9 and Church teaching are combined. Their experience with government schools has only deepened this desire in the minds of many parents. The Church is doing no more effective work than in these two schools of South Dakota, and the expenditure for producing this result is astonishingly small. This condition would be impossible were it not for the devoted women who give themselves to the work of teaching at salaries so inade- quate that it is difficult to understand how it is possible to live upon them. They eould receive two or three times as much elsewhere. Yet it is our common work which is being done by them. Will not the general Church rally to its support and so make fruitful the sacrifices of these missionaries ? In addition to our schools in South Dakota, work is carried on among the Indian people in more than one hundred congregations. There are nearly 5,000 Indian communicants with a baptized membership of about 10,000. Everyone will recognize that these figures are a large proportion of the Indian population of 25,000. The total appropriation for the support of Indian work in South Dakota is at the rate of $41,000 a year. Individuals, congregations or Sunday schools desiring to help in the support of some particular part of the South Dakota work among the Indians, can readily be assigned shares in it by writing to the Department of ]SIissions, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York City. Copies of this leaflet may be obtained from the Educational Division, Church Missions House, 281 Fourth Avenue, New York, by asking for No. 608. Price 5 cents. 1 Ed. 9-21. 6M. Sys. 10