c&he cButeau of ST&iddiond, S8i6fe eTotoe., 9levu Wozfi. The Indian Missions OF THE P ROTEST ANT EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN SOUTH DAKOTA LETTER FROM BISHOP HARE ILLUSTRATED IlfS A Word of Explanation I TRY, by an annual letter regarding the Boarding-Schools, to keep our kind benefactors apprised of their progress, and to insure that our friends shall know that I personally am sensible of their interest, and desire not to be forgotten. It is a not unnatural wish of many of those who support scholarships that particular children shall be named and assigned to them as their special proteges; but to comply is hardly practicable. The children are apt to be already named when admitted to the schools; we need, in many cases, the liberty to keep a child for a few months only, and then supply his place by another; and while we are sure that the boarding-schools will, as a whole, be a rich blessing, and can therefore guarantee that money given in their behalf will be productive, we cannot insure that any particular child, a small fraction of the whole, will turn out in a way to give satisfaction to those who have chosen him as the object of their hopes and charity. Further, the special attentions which benefactors are apt to bestow upon their particular proteges tend often to spoil the favored children, and to produce dis- content in others. I trust, therefore, that our benefactors will ask to name only the scholarship which they support, and not the child who occupies it, and look for their satisfaction, not to good results in the case of a particular child, which must be an uncertainty, but to the good effect of the schools as a whole, which is a blessed certainty. Church Work Among the Indians Sioux Falls, South Dakota. To the Friends of Indian Missions in South Dakota : I have written so much in past years about our work that I think I can now best lay it before you if I present to you some pictures of the work and let these pictures tell their own story. The pictures are arranged in an order which indicates the beginning, the prog- ress, and the results of work. There are now in the Niobrara Deanery, i.e., in the Indian field of South Dakota, six white and sixteen Indian clergymen ; about fifty licensed lay assistants known as Helpers and Catechists ; and 10,000 baptized persons connected with the mission out of a total Indian population of about 25,000. Services are held regularly every Sun- day at about ninety different points, some of the congregations, however, being very small and of a transient character. Over 6,500 have been confirmed. There are 3,500 living communicants, who annually give to charitable and religious objects about $8,000. William H. Hark, Missionary Bishop. PICTURE OF BEAR DANCE. This picture represents one of the peaceful dances. It gives a good idea of wild Indian life, in other words, of the raw material which the mission had to begin with. Of the other dances, such as the scalp dance, a reliable writer says : “ The violent physical exertion and mental excitement, with such accessories as blackened faces, painted bodies, full war costumes, weird singing, hideous ‘ turn turns ’ of drums, gory scalp-locks held high in the air on slender poles, the wind playing with the straight black locks or lighter colored tresses, perhaps at night, their wild faces and bodily con- tortions thrown into bold and horrible relief by the flickering light of the tongues of flame from a huge fire, all combine to throw the dancers into a state of excitement bordering on frenzy.” BISHOP HARE OH A MISSIONARY TRIP. The Bishop stands near his little sleeping tent. It is early morning. The Indian attendant has brought the horses from watering in the Missouri river, which can be seen below the bluff. With his mess-chest under the seat, his tent and blankets and corn for the horses packed in the wagon back of the seat, with a spade for digging down the bank of un- bridged streams, an axe for cutting firewood strapped underneath the wagon, the Bishop was able to travel over the wild as free as the Indians. THE BEGINNING OF A CHURCH AND RECTORY AMONGST THE INDIANS OF SOUTH DAKOTA. The above picture represents the first essay in establishing a mis- sion in the early days amongst a body of Santee Sioux Indians, by the Eev. Paul Mazakute, a native Santee Sioux in Priest’s Orders. It was summer time, and the people at first assembled under the leaf shade, or booth. A neat frame chapel was soon after erected in its place and still stands there, one of the first churches erected by the Society of the Double Temple of New York. Church of the Holy Cross. Missionary’s Log House. PIKE RIDGE MISSIOK. st. mary’s boarding-school for Indian children, rosebud agency, Dakota. The school was begun in February, 1874, on the Santee Indian Reservation. It was totally destroyed by fire in 1884 and re-erected on the Rosebud Reserve, in order to reach the large body of heathen Indians there. SCHOOL-HOUSE AND DWELLING THE CHAUEL st. Elizabeth’s school and chapel, standing rock mission This school was begun about twenty years ago. Its history is a most inter- esting one and may be found in leaflet No. 608. PICTURE OF WASOSO BOYS AND GIRLS. Indian mothers are as fond of their children, and as happy in them, as white mothers are in theirs. This picture shows Indian children dressed up in the best that wild life could afford. A BOAEDING-SCHOOL DOOK. TO STAY, OE NOT TO STAY. After hearing of, and seeing the com- forts and other advantages of the Boarding- school, both mother and child think it the best of places, until the time comes to say “ Good-by.” INDIAN GIRDS IN ONE OP THE MISSION BO AKDIN G- SCHOOLS MARSHALLED EOIi CHURCH OH A SUNDAY MORNING. IN EVEBY-DAY WOKK CLOTHES. Next to forming Christian character, the grand object of the Indian Boarding-schools is to make handy boys and girls, and the pupils are taught, therefore, to per- form, as far as may be, all the work of the house, the barn, the garden, etc. A VESTED CHOIK OE INDIAN' BOYS. The Eev. J. W. Cook (now deceased) is seen on the ex- treme left, the Eev. I. H. Tuttle, native Deacon, in the door- way. The Indian mission could never have been set on foot had not men like Mr. Cook been ready to leave relatives and friends and cast in their lot with the children of the wilderness. Bishop Hare ordaining two Indians under a temporary booth at the Con- vocation of 1898. Rural Dean Ashley stands at the Bishop’s right, holding the Indian Prayer Book for him. Beyond him is the late Rev. J. IV. Cook, then the Rev. A. B. Clark and Indian Deacons. On the Bishop’s left are the Rev. Messrs. L. C. Walker, H. Burt, P. J. Deloria and the Rev. Mr. Rees, of Devil’s Lake, North Dakota. Beyond him, Indian Deacons. The kneeling candidates are Herbert Welsh, immediately in front of the Bishop, and Joseph Good Teacher. NIOBRARA INDIAN CONVOCATION. The clergy, catechists and helpers in front. Back of them the people ranged under their standards. At Convocation time, some 2,000 people gather together, when the delegates from the ten departments of the field —each led by its own standard-bearer holding aloft a flag of white bunting embroidered with a large Niobrara Cross and the motto in Dakota, “In Hoc Signo Vinces” in different color for each division— start from their several camps, fall into line before Bishop and clergy, and march toward the central place of meeting. Prom an instantaneous photograph of an Indian Convocation. Bishop Hare kneels at the table, On his right the second, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth are Indian clergymen, three being absent. THE REV. WILLIAM I-IOI.MES AND THE REV. GEORGE DOWANNA RED OWL. THE CI.EKGY AND CONGREGATION PRESENT AT THE ORDINATION TO THE PRIESTHOOD OP THE REV. WILLIAM HOLMES. At the right are three Indian Catechists in their cassocks. The two clergymen in the background are the Rev. Joseph Goodteachcr and the Rev. William Saul, both Indians. The three in the centre row are the Rev. John Elockhart, a white man; the Rev. Amos Ross, an Indian; and the Rev. E. J. Williams, a white man. Those in the front row, besides Bishop Hare, are the Rev. L. C. Walker, the Rev. Baptiste Lambert, the Rev. William Holmes, the Rev. George D. Red Owl, all Indians. Copies of this pamphlet may he obtained from Tiie Corresponding Secretary, Church Missions House, 281 Fourth Avenue, New Yorlc. Ash for No. 600. All offerings for missions should he sent to Mr. George C. Thomas, Treasurer, Church Missions House, 281 Fourth Avenue, New Yorlc.