-O U.X I 3 wi - Kl , A - T~- X\ Home Mission Lesson PREr’ARKI) BY MaRV O. llURDETTK LESSON IV. - THE INDIANS. Koinntty. Onoe a Kiowa Warrior ISSL'EI) TiY the: W’oman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society 2iH)9 Vernon Avenue, Ohieago, 111. Uc vised 1910 Miss .Imiii Gwon. now Mrs. George Hunt in Indian Dress. Site is ilie Dangliter of tlic Famous Old Warrior Sulans Home Mission Lesson Prkpaked by Mary G. Burdette LESSON IV. THE INDIANS. I. What can you say of the origin of the name Indian, as applied to tlie red men of America? The red men of America were called Indians by Columbus and his followers, first, because of a real or fancied resemblance to the inhaliitants of India, and again because it was believed that the land discovered was a part of the Indies, hence the islands were called the West Indies and their inhabitants Indians, and the name was afterward made to include all the aboriginal inhabitants^ of America. 2 What is known concerning the origin of the North American In- dians? Nothing is known, although theories are numerous, and some of them very i)lausil)le. 'I'hat they are one of the older races of the human family cannot be doubted, but at what dale or by what roiute they came to the wes)tel"n world is still an unsolved problem. Until further research shall throiw additional light upon the history and migrations of the primitive races, the origin of these tribes of red men in America will remain shrouded in mystery. What were found to be some of the most marked national charac- istics of the North .-Xmerican Indian? Speaking generally, there was first a certain sense of personal inde- pendence. willfulness of action, or freedom from restraint; second, a fondness for the chase, and third, a passion for war. 4 . Did these Indians manifest any religious sense? The Indians were very superstitious. They believed in a Great Spirit everywhere ruling the elements, showing favor for the good and punishing the bad. Him they worshiped. They believed also in many subordinate -pirits, some good and some bad. The bad spirits were supposed to bring all rtie evil, and the good spirits all the desirable things of life. The medicine men were l)elicved, by fasting and prayer, to obtain a knowledge of the will and purposes of the spirit world, and reveal them to the peo- l>le. riie religious ceremonies of the Indians were performed with great earnestness and with serious formality. 5. In what estimate were their women held? The Indian woman was generally a degraded creature — a drudge, a beast of burden, and the social principle was correspondingly low. 6. Such are some of the things told us of the Indians at the time of the discovery of this continent by the whites: but have not the more than four hur.drcd years of Christian occupancy of the land resulted in marked changes for the better? Would we could say that all these things are but memories, records of a time that is wholly past in the history of our country, but what shall 4 HOME MISSION LESSON we say when we are told that out of the nearly 300,000 Indians in our land inaiiy thousands have not yet heard the gospel ; tliat of those now dwelling in our western lands there are still many tribes who have no missionary, and thatl in his wild state the Indian is to-day. as far as he dares he, just what he was at the time our Christian forefathers began the work of dispossessing him and possessing themselves of the land of his forefathers? 7. What are the greatest needs of the Indians? In two words ; Christianity and education. 8. What have been some of the things which have rendered work among the Indians peculiarly difficult? In the first place each tribe has a distinct foreign speech, in most cases difficult and unwritten ; in the second, over the whereabouts of the red men in the past there hung a terrible cloud of massacre and llame; and thirdly, their nomadic habits and frequent forced removals, in many cases, rendered any continued missionary labor among them ex- tremely difficult. 9. Were these difficulties insurmountable? They were not. There have, from the first, been found brave, con- secrated spirits, who penetrated the fastness of the wild tribes, and fol- lowed them in their flights : and in times of peace, while they have tar- ried in their lodges, made their abode with them, and patiently and lov- ingly taught them the way of life. 10. Were the results of these labors such as to encourage others to enter into them? Gospel work among the Indians has l)een encouraging except when . nullified by the wrong-doings of the whites. The stories of the mission- ary labors among the Indians of New England and Pennsylvania in Col- onial times read like a romance, and in recent and more flavorable times such work has, generally, been rewarded with success. GLIMPSES AT THE WORK OE BAPTISTS. From the Home Mission Jubilee Volume we glean the following infor- mation ; The first organized efforts of American Baptists for the evan- gelization of the Pagan Indians of North America appear to have been put forth in the present century, in connection wi(th other mission work undertaken by societies formed at this period. In 1809 the Massachusetts Missionarj^ Society report that they had been engaged for two years, in connection with the New York Missionary Society, in the support of a mission among the Tuscarora and other In- dian tribes in the northwestern part of New York. They also report, as a result, a church organized, and its members “well instructed in the doctrines and ordinances of the Gospel.” In 1819 the Hamilton Baptist Missionary Society appointed a missionary to labor among the Oneidas, and opened a school for their children, whose proficiency in learning was reported as “truly flattering.” The General Missionary Convention of the Baptist Denomination in the United States of America for Foreign Missions was organized in HOME MISSION LKSSON u May, 1814. At its first triennial meeting, held in May, 1817, the condi- tion and claims of the various tribes of Indians in the United States re- ceived a large measure of attention,, and the Board soon after appointed Rev. Isaac McCoy as an itinerant missionary in Indiana and Illinois, as- signing him special work among the Indians of that region, and Rev. Humphrey Posey to labor among the Cherokees of North Carolina. These appointments were followed by those of Rev. Evan Jones and others, and the work continued bj- the General Convention and its successor, the Ilopi Woman Making Pikl, .\rizona Missionary Union, until 1865, when it was transferred to the American Baptist Home Mission Society. Under the “Convention" and “Union" marked attention was given to educational and industrial interests. Schools were established, in which English was taught, and in whose support the United States government co-operated. Black-smithing, carpentry, and agriculture were taught the males, and spinning, knitting, weaving, and the essential brandies of liousewiferv the femali-, A-. a result of these efforts we read, in 1827, concernin.g one If0x\n<: MISSIOX LKSSOX (■) tril)e thus aided : “The Cherokces are, as a nation, civilized. Tlicy cul- tivate their farms, they have horses, goats, sliccp. and swine. 'I'hey raise corn, cotton, tol)acco, wheat, oats, indigo, sweet and Irish potatoes; they carry on a considerable trade with the adjoining states. There are puh- lie roads, the houses of entertainment kept hy natives; cotton and woolen cloth are manufactured ; nearly all of the merchants are native Chero- kees; a regular go\ernment is established, with two legislative houses, courts of justice, etc., the officers of which are natives; a written lang- uage, invented hy a native, is in use among them ; they have a printing office, and have just issued a newspaper. Schools are increasing every year. There are several Christian churches in the nation. In fact, the Cherokees present the aspect and the elements, at least, of a regular, civ- ilized nation.”* Prior to the breaking out of the Civil War, in i86i, the “Missionary Convention” and “Missionary Union” had sent to the Indians si.xty mis- sionaries, die religious results of whose labors may be inferred by the statement that during these years 2,000 Indian converts had l)cen bap- tized. Missionary operations in the Indian Territory were, in 1861. inter- rupted hy the Civil War, and when the work was resumed it was by the “American Baptist Home Mission Society,” to which it had been transferred from the “Missionary Union." At this time the living mis- sions of the Union were but two, viz., those among the Cherokees, and the Delawares and Shawnees, in the Indian Territory. In the report of the American Baptist Home Mission Society for 1905-06 we learn that twenty-four missionaries had been employed during the year among the Indians, and twenty-three teachers, including those supported hy Women’s Home Mission Societies. There are now ( 1910 ) in Oklahoma, about seventy Indian Baptist churches, with an estimated mcmiicrship of nearly 4 , 100 . Among the blanket Indians of Oklalioma, the Wichita, about five miles from Anadarko, is the oldest Baptist church. Work among the Kiowas was begun in 1892, and a church organized at Rainy Mountain Creek in Januar\% 1893. with eight members. Subsequently churches were organized among the Kiowas at Elk Creek, Saddle Mountain, and Red Stone; the Comanches near Lawton; the Cheyennes near Kingfisher and at Watonga ; the Arapahoes, near Watauga ; the Arapahoes and Cheyennes at Darlington and the Osages at Pawhuska. In 1907 the membership of tliese churches was about Coo. Established in Tahlequah in 1879, '>'’1 removed in June, iS8(). to Ba- cone, near Muskogee, is the Baptist Indian University, whose primary ob- ject was the training of native teachers and preachers for a more effective Christian work among the Indian tribes. Professor A, C. Bacone was the devoted and honored president from the beginning of its histor> until April 22, 1896, when his death deprived the institution of his servi- ces. Subsequently the position has been successively filled hy J. H. Scott. *Eleven years later, in 1838 , tliese Cherokees were forcibly removed from their homes in the South to the wilds of Indian Territory, and every- thing thrown into dire confusion. HOMF. MISSION LKSSON 7 F. B. (juernscy and Rev. W. C. Farmer, INIr. Collett Blackman, and a largo number of the students belong to the white race. The otlier Bap- tist school in Oklahoma is Cherokee Academy, founded at Tahlequah in 1886. The total enrollment in these schools is 458. WOMEN’S WORK FOR INDIAN M’OAIEN. As among the pagan nations in the orient, so among the untutored Indians of America, 'the direct curses x)f heathenism fall on woman. The Indian squaw was but a piece of property, to be cast aside by its owner when it had served its purpose. She is still among the wild tribes, and until Christianity has given her her true position, buit a slave, sunken in degradation worse than death, and shrouded in a moral and spiritual darkness than which on earth there is no deeper. In her pitiable thrall - dom slie has found a voice to cry for help to her Christian sisters, and the ears of some, at least, have been open to the cry, and the hands of a few are even now reaching out to meet hers and lift her to a higher plane and tiobler life. I'or thirty-three years has the IComcn’s Bat>- tisf Home Mission Society, now the IVoman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society, had its representatives on Indian soil, seeking to direct in the paths of true womanhood those to whom the name of wife and mother have been hitherto associated chieflt', if not entirely, with toil and degradation. Commissioner Kingsley spoke no idle words when he said in one of his reports : "An essential line of effort looking toward civilization and improvement, and one that has been overlooked, is that of educating the women.” "Elevate the women and they will elevate the race." No power out- si HOMK MISSKJN LESSON headquarters at Watonga. November i, 1897, Miss Hattie Everts was sent to assist Miss Jayne at Watonga, and Miss Spanswick transferred to the Kinglisher District. Miss Everts' health failed, and she left the held July 4, 1898, Miss Abigail Johnson reaching the held as her succes- sor October 19, 1898. Miss Spanswick resigned in February, 1809, and March 2d became the wife of P. C. Piepgrass. Miss Johnson was sent to the Hopis in 1904. In November, 1905, Miss Jayne was detailed to do general work in Oklahoma Territory, and in December of the same year Miss Lillie Corwin was appointed to take up work on the Cheyenne and Arapahoe helds. Miss Jayne is to-day still working among the Cheyennes and Arapahoes at Watonga, Oklahoma. Miss Corwin is now working among the Piutes in Reno, Nevada. HOPIS OR MOKIS. Sunlight Mission, among the Hopi Indians of Arizona, was opened as a mission of the Women’s Baptist Home Mission Society, November 12, 1901, with Miss Mary McLean as missionary. She was joined March I, 1902, by Miss Maryetta J. Reeside, whose health was so much better that she ventured to render this service of helping Miss McLean get started. She remained until the arrival of Miss Adella Williams, August 25, 1902, released her. The mission was opened on the second mesa, hut in December, 1902, Miss Ida M. Schofield, transferred from the Com- anche mission, and jMiss Abigail Johnson, from the Cheyenne, were sent to the first mesa. In the fall of 1904 Miss Wiliams was tranferred to Salt Lake City, Utah, and Miss Mary Kelly appointed to assist Miss McLean. In August, 1906, ^liss Kell\- was called from the field to visit churches in Illinois, and Miss McLean secured a native helper. This mission is the outshining of gospel light at Saddle Mountain, and since its opening other Kiowa and also Comanche and Cheyenne Christians have generously contributed toward its support. The Woman’s American Baptist Home Mission Society supports teach- ers in the Baptist schools in Indian Territory. Miss McLean is now located on the second mesa and Miss Abigail Johnson on the first mesa. Miss Ida M. Scofield and Miss Emma Christensen are working among the Mono Indians in Aubery, California. HELPFUL LITER.-VTURE. Historical Skelches of the work of the Woman's .\merican Baptist Home Mission Societj-. 1. Among Civilized Indians loc. 2. Among Uncivilized Tribes loc. The Trio at Rainy Mountain 15c. The Heroine of Saddle Mountain 15c. From Tent to Chapel at Saddle Mountain 15c. Sunlight Mission Among Hohis. Three pamphlets, each.... 5c. Send orders to THE WOM.\n’s AMERIC.\N B.^PTIST HOME MISSION SOCIETY. 2969 \’ernon Ave., Chicago. Price, 2 cents.