PAM, 
 N. AKER, 
 
 jWr^v,. S 
 
 
 
 f 
 
 
 NAVAHO and 
 
 ZUNI 
 
 Mission Work 
 
 
 of the Christian Reformed Church 
 
 SECOND EDITION-^ 
 
 28 ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 /uni Church and Missionary’s Home 
 
 PRICE 25 CENTS PER COPY 
 Order from Rev. J. DolSin, Muskegon, Mich. 
 
 
 ngst Jen bate onzer Zendiny 
 
 For the benefit of the Mission Work 
 
 J 
 
 Cljrtstimt (Hljurclf 
 
 REV, HENRY BEETS, LL. D., Sec. 
 
 2050 Francis Ave. S. E. 
 
 GRAND RAPIDS, HIGH, {J* S , i. 
 
 GRAND RAPIDS PRINTING CO., GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. 
 
NAVAHO and ZUNI 
 
 MISSION WORK 
 
 of the 
 
 Christian Reformed Church 
 
 Price 25 cents per copy 
 Order from Rev. J. Dolfin, Muskegon, Mich. 
 
 Opbrengst ten bate onzer Zending 
 
 For the benefit of the Mission Work 
 
,, ] ' - 
 
 Our Workers and their Helpmeets among the Navahoes, May, 1914, 
 with the exception of the preachers. 
 
 See page 30 for our Zuni Mission force. 
 
 OUR PREACHING FORCE, MAY, 1914. 
 
 Top Row, from left to right — Revs. J. W. Brink, L. S. Huizenga and D. H. Muyskens 
 Lower Row — Mr. Mierop and Rev. H. Fryling 
 
 2 
 
I. The Work at Rehoboth, N. M. 
 
 EHOBOTH — “the Lord hath made room,” is the most centrally located 
 mission post of the Christian Reformed Church. 
 
 It is located 6 miles east of Gallup, in New Mexico. In 1902 the 
 Mission Board purchased the rights to what was then called “Smith’s 
 and during December, 1903, the boarding school was opened. 
 
 Bird’s eye view of Rehoboth 
 
 Since then the place has been greatly developed, as indicated on the bird’s 
 eye view of the plant taken during May, 1914, and reproduced here. The oldest 
 building, the so-called mission house, with its later additions is shown on the 
 picture on the foreground, at the reader’s right, a double frame house, painted 
 white ; two of its windows are visible on the cut. Next to it, seemingly a lean-to, 
 is the meat-house, built of stone; and left of it, the building with the long pipe 
 on it, is the laundry and pump-house. Back of that one sees the cottage of the 
 industrial superintendent, with a flagpole, (white), back of it. Next to this frame 
 building is a larger one of cement blocks, and therefore with a greyish look — it is 
 the school and chapel — the largest building on the place, erected in 1912. 
 
 The low building back of the chapel, on the background, is an adobe house, 
 used as dormitory, originally built as a trading store. To the left of that, is the 
 doctor’s home — a discarded laundry. 
 
 Upon the foreground, at the extreme left, is the stable and the large building 
 with a porch in front, at the right, is the hospital, erected in 1910. 
 
 Next to the hospital, toward the background, is the home of the pastor of 
 Rehoboth. It is expected that the new home of the general manager and the 
 doctor will be built between the dormitory and the parsonage. 
 
 3 
 
When the school was opened in 1903, fay Miss Nellie Noordhof, in charge 
 of the six little Navahoes shown in the picture, everything was in an embryonic 
 state of course. But since then the work has been developed on every hand. 
 
 Mr. J. H. Bosscher, the industrial superintendent, sent us the following in- 
 teresting sketch of the work at Rehoboth carried on day by day. 
 
 “The dormitory, a one story adobe building, houses the 53 
 
 children who at present receive a Christian training at Rehoboth. It 
 is composed of two departments — one for boys and one for girls. Each 
 department has its matron, and each matron her detail of boys or girls to assist 
 her in the work for the day. But you can also imagine, dear reader, that where 
 these children must be trained to the work, they are not always assistants. On 
 
 Miss Nellie Noordhof and the six Rehoboth pupils received in 1903 
 when the school was opened. 
 
 the other hand the most of them have by this time had a training and are a great 
 help to the matrons. You ask what work is to be done there? My friends, did 
 you ever step into a family where there were from four to ten or twelve 
 children ? As you watched the mother mending Peter's trousers or Annie's 
 
 4 
 
 ■Bill 
 
dress, or darning stockings, you did not ask her how she kept busy, that was 
 a natural thing. And so it is here, only the family is larger. The children 
 must be well dressed, their clothes mended and their hands and face kept clean, 
 and then the weekly bath. Besides, all this, their sleeping apartments must be kept 
 clean and in order. 
 
 At the Mission Home the housekeeper is kept busy with her detail of boys 
 and girls to prepare the meals. Imagine the work of washing all those dishes, 
 paring potatoes, baking bread and all the other work involved in a kitchen 
 feeding about sixty hungry healthy people. 
 
 The Mission House at Rehoboth 
 
 At the laundry there is also work, for the end of every week brings heaps 
 of dirty clothes from different parts of the place. The main items are the clothes 
 from the dormitory and the hospital, not to say anything about the towels 
 and table linen from the kitchen and dining-rooms. Within the last few years 
 working facilities have been greatly improved. The washing machine, run with 
 power, takes the place of the old hand washer. The extractor takes the place 
 of the wringer, and the mangle does all the plain ironing. The laundress also 
 has her detail of boys and girls, who are instructed in their work. 
 
 In the hospital, of course, we find a little world of its own, with its nurses, 
 its doctor, its housekeeper and its patients, and here too there is a variety of all 
 kinds of labors, 
 
 The school also with its two class rooms stands for much work. It looks 
 like a regular beehive at times. 
 
 The work of the general manager, and of his assistant, the industrial 
 superintendent, is also manifold. It is their duty to look out for the welfare of the 
 place. The general manager is an architect and builder. The industrial super- 
 intendent must supply the different departments with the necessary provisions, 
 food and clothing ; must respond to the various calls for aid which arise every 
 day from some quarter. Then there are the horses, cows and chickens to be 
 
 6 
 
looked after, the buying and selling, for the whole place; looking after the 
 financial side of the question at this end. Then the bookkeeping and business 
 correspondence. Of course you will understand that details of boys assist in this 
 work, such as repairing things that are continually wearing out, running the 
 steam engine, pumping water, cleaning stables etc. 
 
 To conclude we will give you an idea of a day's 'work at Rehoboth . At 
 seven o'clock in the morning it is breakfast, and at eight the school and work 
 bell calls to duty. The regular details go to their different departments to report 
 for work, as also the boys who help the superintendent. Their work is given 
 them for the day and all lend a helping hand. Of course all need instruction. 
 Henry is repairing the screen door and asks for advice, Marinus is building a fence 
 and wants to know how. David and Frederick are painting the roof and need 
 assistance. 'William comes from the engine room informing us that a belt has 
 gone wrong and needs tending to. Then when we have our mind made up 
 to do a certain thing an Indian is sure to come with mutton to sell, so we must 
 first weigh the mutton and pay the man. Or another Navaho will come telling 
 us his troubles and asks for advice or help. These things come before us more 
 or less every day taking more than one man’s time; therefore one man cannot 
 do justice to the boys or to the work. 
 
 The boys cannot receive the necessary manual training which they are so 
 greatly in need of to prepare them for life’s task. It takes one man’s time to 
 give them the daily training they need in their work so that they may be able 
 to build their own house or cultivate their own piece of land when they grow 
 up to be men. 
 
 Space forbids us to write more. We close by saying that ours is not a 
 hopeless task although it takes time. Pray for the Navaho people and especially 
 for our boys and girls at Rehoboth, from whom we get more and more encourage- 
 ment each day through the Grace of God.” 
 
 Yours in His work, JACOB H. BOSSCHER, 
 
 Industrial Superintendent. 
 
 This shack, next to the parsonage, houses the students of the Training School for 
 native workers at Rehoboth, N, M. 
 
 Here they sleep, work, and are taught. The two young men shown on the picture are 
 Hugh Denetdele and Paul Jones. 
 
II. Rehoboth, N. M. 
 
 Middel ter Evangelieseering van den Navaho. 
 
 EHOBOTH is een Zendingsstation . Niets meer, niets minder. Het be- 
 staat alleen om wille van de zending onder de Navahos. Allen, die 
 hier arbeiden zijn in dienst onzer Kerfc met het oog op de fcerstening 
 van dit heiden volfc. 
 
 Deze zendingspost fcan van onderscheidene zijden bezien en besproken worden. 
 Wij willen U iets voorleggen, daartoe van den Board der Heiden Zending ver- 
 zocht, dat betrekking heeft op Rehoboth als Middel ter Evangelizeering van de 
 Navahos, vooral met het oog op de Zendings Kostschool. 
 
 The New School and Chapel at Rehoboth, N. M. Erected 1912, 1913. 
 
 Het is ieder lid onzer Kerk nog lang niet duidelijk dat de Rehoboth 
 Zendings Kostschool methode eene gewenschte, nog minder, dat zij de meest 
 gewenschte manier is van zending drijven. Men heeft mij wel gevraagd, “Zeg 
 n« eens eerlijk, wat denkt gij van deze wijze van arbeiden onder dit volk? 
 Is ze gewenscht? Is ze niet al te kostelijk?” Mijne overtuiging is, dat eene 
 kostschool als Rehoboth, niet slechts eene goede methode van zendingsarbeid is, 
 maar de beste methode is, de methode, die, op den duur, de meest duurzame 
 vruchten afvuerpen kan . Deze overtuiging rijpte onder onzen arbeid alhier en 
 op de reservatie en bij het van nabij gadeslaan der gouvernement-scholen, als 
 kweekplaatsen voor Navaho Christenen. Mannen als F. G. Mitchell, John Butler, 
 H. A. Clark, D. H. Muyskens en anderen, mannen van kortere of langere erva- 
 ring op dit gebied, zijn het in dezen met mij eens. 
 
 Ziet hier iets van Vat bijgebracht worden kan, als grond voor deze over- 
 tuiging. 
 
 (a). Onze school is eene christelijke, Vijf halve dagen van elke week 
 zijn de Navaho jongens en meisjes, 'van allerlei leeftijd en karakter, op school, 
 waar ze in velerlei onderwezen worden in den Christelijken geest. De onderwijzers 
 
zijn Christus belijders, leden onzer Kerfc, begeerig den heiden tot Christus te 
 leiden. Zij worden niet belemmerd door velerlei dat zou kunnen hinderen. 
 
 (b). Onze scholiereti worden in tehuizen of dormitories verzorgd , die onder 
 de zorg staan van ChristeUjke matrons, dien bet er om te doen is den fcinderen 
 eene Cbristelijke opvoeding te geven, zooveel dit onder de omstandigheden doen- 
 lijk is. Elke dag begint met gezamenlijk bijbellezen en gebed in elke dormitory. 
 Christelijk vermaan wordt herhaaldelijk gegeven. Tucht wordt geoefend in 
 den geest der Cbristelijke liefde. De matrons worden bijgestaan en aangemoedigd 
 in baar Christelijk streven. Wie berekent den invloed, die biervan uitgaan kan 
 op de kinderen, die tien a twaalf maanden in bet jaar, tien a twaalf jaren aaneen, 
 onder zoodanige bewerking verkeeren ? 
 
 Dormitory. Rehoboth Mission .. 
 
 (c) . Dan is hier wat wij kennen ats het zendingshuis, m. a. w,: “The Mis- 
 sion Home.” Daar in bebben eenigen onzer medewerkers baar te huts. Daar is de 
 keuken en eetzaal onzer school. Derwaarts marcheeren de kinderen driemaal 
 per dag. Ook bier heerscbt de zendingsgeest. Bij tafel wordt gebeden, gelezen 
 uit de Scbrift en gedankt. Eene Christelijke opvoeding is ook hier bet ideaal. 
 
 (d) . Voegt daar nog bij ons zendingshospitaal, dat menigmaal gedurende 
 het scbooljaar, onze kinderen opneemt ter oorzake van krankheid. Hier ontvangen 
 ze verpleging van geneesheer en verpleegsters, die den Christus belijden en in hunne 
 zorg Hem, den Grooten Geneesheer, zoeken te vertegenwoordigen. In dit hospitaal 
 wordt gedurig de boodschap des beils in Christus gebracbt in twee talen. Met de 
 patienten wordt gebeden. Gelegenheid wordt hier geboden en waargenomen, 
 om een hartelijk vertrouwelijfc woord met hen te spreken in het belang der zalig- 
 
 8 
 
heid hunner z iel. Steeds worden ze er op gewezen, dat ze deze verzorging te danken 
 hebben aan de liefde onzes Heilands tot zondaren en tot hen. Dat heeft invloed 
 op httnne harten. We fcunnen het merken. 
 
 (e). We hebben tweemaal per Sabbat, en op alle kerkelijke dagen, prediking 
 des Woords, veelal ingericht gelijk we dat in onze Amerikaansche gemeenten ge- 
 wend zijn. Alle fcinderen gaan des morgens. De grooteren alleen des avonds. De 
 predifcing is benaderend voor deze fcinderen ingericht, zonder in een “talk” te 
 ontaarden. Geregeld wordt de Heidelbergsche Catechismus, zoo eenvoudig ons 
 mogelijfc, behandeld. Onze jongens en meisjes luisteren aandachtig, waartoe het 
 waakzaam oog van onzen opzichter of “disciplinarian” niet weinig bijdraagt. 
 
 Navaho Indians and Hogan visited by our Workers 
 
 Het gebeurt wel, dat ze over het gehoorde navragen, er met elfcander over sprefcen. 
 Het voile Evangelie wordt hun verfcondigd. A1 weer en al weer fcomt de 
 uitnoodiging tot hen om bij Jesus hell te zoefcen en de verzefcering gegeven, 
 dat wie tot Hem fcomt niet uitgeworpen zal worden. Het is een aan- 
 genaam oogenblifc als boodschapper van zoo goede tijdingen voor hen 
 te mogen staan, met de verzefcering in het hart dat onder hen van die schapen 
 zijn, waarvan Jesus zeide, dat ze zouden toegebracht worden en Zijne stem hooren. 
 
 (f). Benevens de predifcing is er oofc C atechisaiie, en wordt er Zon- 
 dagsschool gehouden. In vier partijen gaan alle fcinderen naar de catechisatie. 
 Elfce weefc. Oofc de kleinsten. Ze leeren goed. De Bijbelsche historie en de Gere- 
 formeerde leerstukfcen worden onderwezen. De Sabbatschool is verdeeld onder 
 acht onderwijzers en onderwijzeressen, die of in de Navaho of in de Engelsche 
 taal onderwijzen. Is het half uur verstrefcen, dan geeft Paul Jones of Hugh 
 Denetdele een fcorte samentrefcfcing van de les met eenige wenfcen, in de eigene taal 
 der fcinderen, waarbij soms volwassen Navahos tegenwoordig zijn. Dat onder- 
 
 9 
 
wijs begint vrachten te dragen in meerdere Schriftkennis, vrijmoedigheid in spre- 
 ken en begeerte om den Heiligen Doop te ontvangen. Gedurende Mei, 1914, deden 
 een zevental belijdenis ; vier jongens en drie meisjes, zonder daartoe aangespoord 
 te zijn. In alles is bet te zien, dat de Geest van Christus in de harten arbeidt 
 en dat Jesus sommigen onder onze jeugdigen tot Zich lokt. 
 
 (g). Boven dit alles kunnen we nog wijzen op den invtoed die uitgaat van 
 onze kinderen als ze des zomers twee maanden thuis ztjn bij ouders of vrienden. 
 Wij geven bun, met de vacantie, kaartjes met Bijbelplaten, boekskens, met 
 Bijbelsche verbalen, mede naar buis, Ook gaat wel eens een Testamentje mee. 
 Met nadruk wordt bet bun opgedragen te buis de platen te laten zien, en de 
 gescbiedenissen te vertellen, opdat ook de hunnen bet goede mogen booren, bier 
 vernomen. Wtj weten uit bet getuigenis der ouders, dat ten minste sommigen 
 dit doen. Soms vragen de lui bet van hen. Onlangs nog zeide een Navaho, 
 “Dat hebben onze kinderen ons verteld.” Het dagelijksch voorbeeld des gebeds 
 leidt wel eens tot bidden der kinderen in de hogans. Ieder kind, alzoo doende. 
 
 Rehoboth Parsonage. Erected 1912, 1913. 
 
 verricbt zendingsarbeid, kan een middel zijn in de hand des Geestes tot voorberei- 
 ding tegen den tijd dat bet zaad des levens ingeplant worden zal, ja, kan instrument 
 Gods zijn tot bekeering ten leven. Die zegen is een directe vrucbt der Rohobotb 
 Zendingskostschool. 
 
 (h). Ten slotte nog: Ouders en andere familieleden en vrienden komen de 
 kinderen bezoeken en blijven tanger of korter in ons midaen. Terwijl ik dit 
 zit te scbrijven neemt een Navabo vader mij aandacbtig waar, zich verwonde- 
 rende, dat die letters zoo maar op bet papier springen als ik op de sleutels der 
 scbrijfmachine druk. ‘ Hij blijft dezen middag bij ons te eten, gaat dan zijn doch- 
 terke bezoeken in de dormitory, om dan weer buiswaarts te keeren. Die be- 
 zoekers komen in aanraking met bet Christendom, onder invloed van de Christe- 
 
 10 
 
lijfce atmospheer, en zien alzoo heel wat anders dan hun in Gallup gewoonlijk 
 onder de oogen komt. Soms vinden ze hunne kinderen aan onzen tafel, alsof ze 
 leden onzes gezins waren. Dat doet hun weldadig aan. Ze hebben hunne kin- 
 deren lief. Van deze school wordt onder hen gezegd: “Ze behandelen onze kin- 
 
 deren als hunne eigene.” Dat is mee de reden dat we altijd welkom zijn, wie 
 onzer hen ook bezoekt in de hogan. Tseyanici wordt hoe langer zoo meer en 
 gunstiger onder hen bekend. 
 
 Deze bezoeken geven ons ook gelegenheid om. door middel van een der 
 schoolkinderen of een der kweekelingen onzer Opleidingschool, met hen te spreken 
 over zonde, ellende, verlossing en wat dies meer zij. Sommige ouders hebben 
 we nog nooit ontmoet behalve hier te Rehoboth. 
 
 Meer kon hier gedaan in het Christelijk opvoeden der Navaho jeugd, indien 
 •vast gehouden •ware aan het oorspronketijk doet, om Rehoboth een nijverheidsschool 
 te doen zijn. Tot dat oorspronketijk doet dient terug gegaan, Daartoe is tot 
 onze vreugde door den Board besloten. Eerlang wordt daar begin mede gemaafct. 
 
 Rehoboth kan meer kinderen ter opvoeding bekomen. Ze worden ons aan- 
 geboden. Met het najaar komen ouders er mee aanzetten. Zutten <wij die kin- 
 deren terug verwijzen naar het heidendom, dewijl er in de dormitory geen plaats 
 is ? De school is gebouwd om honderd kinderen te onderwtjzen. De dormitories 
 zijn vol. Daar is geen plaats. Van onderscheidene zijden ontvingen wij in 
 den loop van dit schooljaar aanzoeken, om Navaho kinderen te mogen verzorgen 
 aan deze inrichting. Sommigen hadden het geld reeds gedeeltelijk klaar liggen. 
 Wij zijn blijde dat dit volgend najaar het getal scholieren van 53 op 65 zal worden 
 gebracht. God geve ons eerlang twee nieuwe dormitories. Help ons om dezen 
 zomer woningen op te richten voor den geneesheer, en den general manager, en 
 dan zullen, zoo we hopen, die dormitories wel komen ! J. W. BRINK. 
 
 A picturesque rock, called “Navaho Church,” near Rehoboth, N. M. 
 The picture shows the peculiar red rock formations in the vicinity. 
 
III. Christian Education for Navaho Indians. 
 
 I HEN Navaho children come to school they enter upon a new and 
 entirely different field. At home they are brought up in heathen 
 surroundings. Their mode of life, their language, their religion — every- 
 I thing is pagan through and through. The pagan religious rites are 
 taught from early childhood through “sings” (religious festivals) and by the 
 medicine men. "When they are scarcely able to walk they are sent out with 
 the sheep in any kind of weather. Over the mountains they must follow the 
 sheep from morn till night guiding the flock now this way, now that, always 
 seeking for a scant bit of grass or sage brush to feed the hungry flock. They 
 play at primitive games and sing wild, quivering songs. They swear and curse 
 in their language at anything that incurs their displeasure. 
 
 Our Boys at Rehoboth 
 
 Such children we take in our school and with the help of God we try to educate 
 them to become useful citizens and Christian men and women, who will in turn help 
 to win their kinfolks and neighbors for Christ. This is our aim, and the strategic 
 point occupied by our school. And in this line we have already achieved some 
 very encouraging results. By the blessings of God we can do much for His 
 Kingdom in this way. Our school must not only give the children a knowledge 
 of the way of life and the common school branches but a thorough and practical 
 course in the everyday things of civilized life. However, in the last we must 
 go slowly and carefully. 
 
 12 
 
The religious training at our school consists in the main in daily devotional 
 exercises, such as prayer and Bible reading, mornings and evenings and at meals, 
 studying and memorizing their catechism lessons, etc. The classroom sessions 
 are opened and closed with prayer. Catechism is given each child as much as we 
 do in the home congregations. The Sabbath is kept in the usual way. 
 
 The classroom work is carried on in the usual way, iollowing in genera! 
 the New Mexico Common School Course. The course is however modified and 
 adapted for the Indian mind and requirements. For instance, the Navaho has 
 no use for anything so technical as English Grammar, square and cube root, an 
 intimate knowledge of the geography of distant lands or even the causes of the 
 Revolutionary War. On the contrary we seek to bring education as near to his 
 
 Our Girls at Rehoboth 
 
 mode of life and his environment as possible. We seek to develop a good hand- 
 writing, facility in reading, accuracy in arithmetic in such branches as he needs 
 most. Physiology, however, is quite an important branch. Here we can counter- 
 act the influence of the medicine man and many of his make-believe cures. Here 
 we can disprove their superstitions of disease and death. 
 
 The ideal industrial course in an Indian school would be such a course as 
 would make the pupil to perform better the ordinary things of Indian life? 
 it would have a tendency to improve the everyday life of the nation. Such a 
 course should comprise for the girls the general and practical elements of house- 
 hold economy. They should learn to cook, sew, scrub, and wash well. A little 
 practical training in caring for sick persons would make the course exceedingly 
 useful. Care must be taken that we do not create tastes and necessities which the 
 children will be unable to supply when they return to their people. This is the 
 
 13 
 
aim in our school. We must ask ourselves day by day, “Is this training really useful 
 to our children?” 
 
 The above holds true for the boys as well as the girls. The boys must 
 learn to repair shoes, harness, wagons, etc. They help in building whenever 
 necessary. They take care of horses and cows, do the milking, help care for the 
 pumping plant and laundry and help in whatever way they can about the grounds. 
 It is of great importance that the boys learn to take care of animals in a civilized 
 way, keep the harness clean and in repair, and such like, for these things will 
 be important in their future life. 
 
 As stated before, we must be careful in the branch of industrial training. 
 Many unwise and ruinous theories have been tried. Often the industrial training 
 in Indian schools has made the pupil unfit to live with his people. For instance, 
 we have near us a graduate of the foremost Indian school in the United States. 
 He is a well trained plumber. But what use can he make of his trade when he 
 is twenty miles from the nearest house ? The Navaho does not need plumbing 
 for the next fifty years. The same holds true for printing, cabinet making, 
 steam engineering and the like. We have a graduate steam engineer near us, but 
 as in the case of the plumber, he can find no employment except he leave his 
 people. This the Indian must not do. After the young people are educated they 
 must go back home and in turn help uplift their people. 
 
 We must not try to civilize the Indian too fast. Look back and see how 
 long it took us to reach our present stage. And would we then try to bring the 
 Navaho up to us in one jump? That would be absurd. And it is just as 
 unwise to train a few to nearly our level, since they become misfits among their 
 own people. The education of Indians is a serious problem. It requires much 
 thought and prayer. Through God’s help we can solve it in time and in such 
 a way that it will help the coming of His kingdom. 
 
 G. HEUSINKVELD. 
 
 A peep into the Rehoboth School. 
 
IV. Rehoboth Medical Mission Work. 
 
 OT long since I was asked, by a man, who for twenty years has been 
 an “Indian Trader,” on or near the Navaho Reservation: “Does mis- 
 
 sionary work, or medical missionary work, among the Navahoes, show 
 any signs of being appreciated by them, or can you see any improvement 
 in them? I can give a few facts, and figures, which, I think will speak louder 
 and plainer than anything else that can be written or spoken in answer to this ques- 
 tion, or any question which may be asked along this line. 
 
 During the latter part of the year 1912 and the first part of 1913, Rev. J. W. 
 Brink and I, with an interpreter, made many trips, visiting the Navahoes in 
 their home wherever we could hear of sickness, and even if we did not hear 
 of sickness we went, in many instances, where there were sick and the “Medicine 
 Men” were conducting a “Sing,” “Sand painting,” “Dance,” or some of their 
 various ceremonies by which they profess to charm and enchant their gods or the 
 good spirits, and frighten away the evil spirits. But we were never invited into 
 the hogan or permitted to get a look at the sick, but were given to understand, 
 by scowling faces and sullen looks, that our presence was not at all desirable; 
 and sometimes our interpreter, we were quite sure, was given hints that our 
 departure would be very acceptable to the “Medicine Men,” This was not on 
 account of the “Enisodi,” but on account of the “White Medicine Man” whose 
 presence would prevent the charm working satisfactorily. But there has been quite 
 a change in our reception and treatment, in the past year; most anywhere we go 
 among the Navahoes, East, West, or North within twenty-five miles of Rehoboth, 
 we are made welcome, and in many a hogan we are treated with, what the 
 Navahoes consider, marks of honor and respect. 
 
 In our treatment of their ailments we always try to impress on them, the 
 solemn truth that the remedies and medicines we use for their diseases have no 
 power in themselves unless the great God, our Father and Lord, bless the 
 remedies used, and that we are only instruments in his hands and that what- 
 ever benefits are received, the thanks, praise, gratitude, and glory must be given 
 to Him through Jesus Christ His Son. The most common diseases which we are 
 called on to treat among them are Tuberculosis in some form, Trachoma, (about 
 33 per cent of them have Trachoma), Pneumonia Fever, (there were a num- 
 ber of deaths from this disease the past winter months), Measles, Whooping- 
 cough, Rheumatism, Tonsilitis, Bronchitis, Diarrhea, (brought on by eating too 
 much meat), Indigestion, Coffee and Tobacco Heart, 
 
 During the months of January, February and March, 1913, we traveled 197 
 miles, visited 15 hogans, and 58 Navahoes; during these 3 months there were 76 
 Navahoes came to the Hospital for treatment and medicines. We gave 506 treat- 
 ments to these Navahoes and the school children. During the corresponding 3 
 months of 1914, (January, February and March), we traveled 605 miles, visited 
 60 hogans. Visited 397 Navahoes, giving medicines and treatment to 225 of this 
 number. There were 96 Navahoes came to the Hospital for medicine or treatment, 
 
 15 
 
during these 3 months, and we gave 1,357 treatments to those who came to the 
 Hospital, those visited at the hogans, and the school children. 
 
 During the past two years we have had no epidemic of any of the con- 
 tagious, or infectious diseases among our children at Rehoboth, notwithstanding 
 the fact that in Gallup, only five and a half miles away, there was a severe 
 epidemic of Measles, Mumps, Whooping-cough, Chicken-pox and Scarlet Fever, 
 there being 28 deaths among the small children in Gallup from Measles and 
 Whooping-cough in one week. This epidemic, of all the diseases mentioned, 
 occurred within the last three months, and there has been a number of deaths 
 all around us in the camps and hogans of the Navahoes, from Whooping-cough 
 and Pneumonia. Our total freedom from these diseases can, under the 
 blessing of God of course, be attributed to the care each and every employee 
 has taken to assist in keeping out disease. None of the school children at Rehoboth 
 were permitted to go to Gallup during the severity of the epidemics, and the 
 employees restricted their visits, tr those only absolutely necessary. 
 
 Rehoboth Hospital 
 
 I had forgotten to say that during the winter of 1913 all our visits to the 
 hogans, and the sick, were made voluntarily, on our part, while during this past 
 winter (January, February and March, 1914) we scarcely visited a sick Navaho, 
 that we were not called, or solicited to do so, by the Indians themselves, or some 
 of their friends. 
 
 There has evidently been quite a change also in the Navaho mind in regard 
 to Rehoboth Hospital. A year and more ago there were very few Navahoes, who 
 came voluntarily to the Hospital and remained for treatment, the greater number 
 being solicited by some one of the mission workers, and brought in by some 
 of us. All the patients we have had in the Hospital within the last ten months. 
 
 16 
 
with very few exceptions, have come of their own free will, feeing brought 
 by some member of their family, and some coming alone, A few sent us word 
 that they wished to come to us for treatment and care in the Hospital, but had no 
 conveyance. These we have gone after with buggy or wagon. Some have come 
 to us from Arizona, sixty or seventy miles away, and asked to be taken in. The 
 first question they used to ask us, if we spoke to them of coming to the Hospital 
 as a patient, was, “has any-one died there ?” I do not remember of having been 
 asked that question for some time now. We take pains to tell them that we 
 have two Navaho nurses who speak their language, to attend to their wants. Some- 
 times it so happens that the patient will know one of the nurses, and will request 
 that the one they know be permitted to wait on them. And just here I want to 
 say a word about our Hospital force. No Hospital large or small has a better force 
 than Rehoboth. Our two nurses in training, Christine Beltz Hood, and Fannie 
 Becenti, under the efficient help, teaching and training of Mrs. G. Heusinkveld, 
 
 Our Nurses in front of the Hospital Building:, 1912 
 At present only the first two nurses, here shown, are in our service, 
 
 Christine Belz Hood, and Fannie Becenti. 
 
 keep Hospital and patients in irreproachable condition, and this too sometimes 
 under conditions and circumstances which would seem almost impossible. 
 We have had visitors, traveling men who cover the territory west of the 
 Mississippi River, for such manufacturing houses as Parke, Davis & Co., Detroit, 
 Mich., Bauer & Black, Chicago, 111., who have said after being conducted 
 through the Wards, Operating Room, Bath and private rooms of Rehoboth 
 Hospital, that "It is the nicest place of the kind we know of in the West,” 
 notwithstanding the fact, that it was built for, and is conducted for the Navaho 
 Indians. Rehoboth Hospital is gaining quite a reputation for the ability of her 
 
 17 
 
nurses. Since August 1st, J 9 1 2, or in the twenty-one months I have been at 
 Rehoboth Hospital, there have been one hundred and seventeen (117) patients 
 in the Hospital; 26 of these were school children, 15 mission employees, the re- 
 mainder 76 Navahoes. The greatest number in the Hospital at one time was 18 
 and the smallest number at any time was 5. 
 
 The ailments treated have been : 
 
 Typhoid fever 1, recovery. 
 
 Pneumonia fever, 5 cases, 1 death, 4 recoveries. 
 
 Tonsilitis, 16 cases, 16 recoveries. 
 
 Fractured ribs, 1 case, 1 recovery. 
 
 Tumor, 1 upper maxilary removal, recovery. 
 
 Chill blains, 4. 
 
 Eccema, 5 cases, 4 recoveries, 1 in Hospital. 
 
 Rheumatism, 6 cases, 5 recoveries. 
 
 Septic infection, 4 cases, 3 recoveries, 1 death. 
 
 Tubercular Abscess, 3 cases, 1 removed, 1 death, 1 under treatment. 
 
 Burns, 4 cases, 1 very severe, 3rd degree, all recovered. 
 
 Cornell ulcers, 5 cases, all recovered. 
 
 Gun shot wounds, 3 cases, all recovered. 
 
 Other wounds, 6 cases all recovered. 
 
 Otitis media, 3 cases, all recovered. 
 
 Mastoid Abscess, 2 cases, recovered. 
 
 Heart Disease, 3 cases, all improved. 
 
 Kidney and Bladder diseases, 5 cases, 4 recovered, 1 benefited. 
 
 Illio Collitis, 1 death. 
 
 Confinement cases, 6. 
 
 Births, 5. 
 
 Still born, 1. 
 
 Pelvic Abscess, 1 case, recovered. 
 
 Operation, 1 Perineal repair, successful, 
 
 Fistulo in Ano, 1, successful, recovered. 
 
 Trachoma, 30, 19 recoveries, 11 improved under treatment. 
 
 Tuberculosis, 9 cases, 4 deaths. Five went away, and died afterwards. 
 
 During the months above mentioned, besides the duties at the Hospital, we 
 have traveled 1579 miles and visited 143 hogans, where we have given medicines, 
 and treatment 4,714 times to 1,236 IMavahoes. This does not include Indians 
 we have seen on our trips to Crown Point, Zuni, Tohatchi, or Ft. Defiance. 
 Rehoboth, N. M., May, 1914. 
 
 C. J. K. MOORE, M. D. 
 
 18 
 
V. Views and Descriptions of Tohatchi, N. M. 
 
 OHATCHI is the name of our oldest mission post among the Navaho 
 Indians. The place consists of a Government School, were about 150 
 Navaho pupils are boarded and taught by a staff of about 10 teachers; 
 an Indian trader, where Navahoes from far and wide come to trade their 
 wool, blankets, etc., for groceries and the like; and a little group of mission 
 buildings of the Christian Reformed Church, were the missionary, sent by the 
 Holland churches, resides with his little family. 
 
 This place is called Tohatchi, that is, Little Water, although there is found 
 much fine water here as compared to other sections of this desert land. The 
 well on the mission property, as well as the one near the Government School, 
 gives an abundant supply of most excellent water the whole year. This place 
 
 Government Buildings, N. M. 
 
 belonged to an old Navaho, a neighbor of us, who had a little orchard and a 
 cornfield at this place, before the Government put up its school buildings here. 
 
 Tohatchi is protected from the northern and western winds by a high 
 mountain ridge against which ridge the buildings are nestled, This makes Tohatchi 
 several degrees milder in winter time than Gallup or Rehoboth. 
 
 I. GOVERNMENT SCHOOL. 
 
 At the Government School the 150 Navaho children are regularly taught 
 in various grades of study, as found in most Grammar Schools. Besides this, 
 the boys and girls receive instruction in baking and cooking, washing and ironing, 
 
 19 
 
gardening and other manual training. There is also some religious training out- 
 side of what the missionary gives, which is, indeed, gratifying. Even when there 
 is no missionary, the Sabbath School is regularly held with the International 
 Lessons. The golden text is taught at mealtimes, and Sabbath evening a general 
 gathering is held, where Gospel hymns are sung, and portions of Scripture oft 
 repeated. The behavior of the boys and girls gives credit to the teachers. 
 
 2. INDIAN TRADER. 
 
 At the Indian trader's store, you can ofttimes find a nice group of Indians. 
 One cannot help to think of the grand opportunity an Indian trader would have to 
 bring the Gospel if he were a consecrated Christian. It is true, the missionary’s 
 vocabulary is different than that of the Indian trader, but a Christian trader 
 would get that vocabulary as well as a missionary, Saturdays we see many 
 Navahoes at the store, for our trader at Tohatchi has a closed store on Sunday, 
 and no Indians are seen there then. 
 
 3. CHURCH. 
 
 Next to the Indian trader, at about one-half block distance, are the mission 
 buildings of which you find pictures herewith. 
 
 Tohatchi Church 
 
 The first building you see is a modern church, with three large finished rooms 
 in the basement, a large furnished auditorium, and two large Sunday School rooms. 
 The church is as complete as might be looked for in any of our congregations. 
 Stained windows, with life-sized likenesses of the Good Shepherd, a bell, a fur- 
 
 20 
 
nace, an organ, communion, collection and baptism sets, all complete. At present 
 the building is used only one hour a week for Sunday School, and if the weather 
 is not very good, it is not used at all, as the Government School has a fine assem- 
 bly hall for Sabbath School. Possibly we can make better use of this building 
 later on. 
 
 4. DISPENSARY. 
 
 Next comes a little, inexpensive, but very useful building. It has been the 
 building where for years most of Tohatchi’s mission work has been done, while 
 the missionary was at home. And at present it is most useful, and we hope it 
 will be for a long time. It is a small mud building, with two rooms, where 
 Indians have been received and instructed in years past, and where Indians are 
 received today. It is used at present as a dispensary. As soon as we can speak 
 with the Indians, we hope to use it also as a place to dispense spiritual instruction, 
 which must now be done through an interpreter. Many Indians come to receive 
 treatment, which is given to them gratis by the missionary. Do you want part 
 in this work, dear reader ? If so, write. If too much of any medical supplies 
 be sent, they can be transferred to our Rehoboth Hospital. 
 
 5. MISSIONARY’S HOME. 
 
 Across the way from this little mission dispensary, is the missionary’s home 
 — also a mud or adobe building, with nine rooms and a little attic space. It is 
 
 The Missionary’s Home, Tohatchi, N. M. 
 
 a very coey home, and at present the most homelike place in all the world for 
 your missionary, for under its roof are spent happy hours. In this little home you 
 find the beautiful furniture donated by Mr. Brouwer from Holland. Here also 
 you find many reminders of Englewood, N. J., and friends out East, who so 
 generously remembered the missionary and his little family, with useful gifts, 
 ere leaving for this field. Here you find Baby Ann and her mother, and when 
 we three are home, let me tell you, this is home indeed ! No secret societies 
 or other societies seem necessary to make life more pleasant. A home that is 
 
 21 
 
kept like a home, orderly and cozy, that has love to cement the members of the 
 family to one another, and to God, which busies itself in unselfish service to a 
 fellow man — -that to me seems an ideal home. For it we strive by the help of God, 
 
 6. OTHER BUILDINGS. 
 
 Next comes a very useful barn, large enough for any materials necessary 
 for the work. 
 
 Besides it is a chicken coop, housing about 50 chickens, and supplying part 
 of our daily food. 
 
 Our water is pumped by a gasoline engine from a 60-foot well into a tank 
 and is conveyed from the tank into the house. 
 
 One little building remains yet to be described. It is the interpreter’s home. 
 This is a little two-room stone building, very well suited for the purpose. 
 
 The whole property is well fenced in, and has very little grass on it, for the 
 rest it is as barren as all the surrounding country. 
 
 7. THE WORK. 
 
 At present the work at Tohatchi consists of teaching the Government children, 
 of treating what Indians may ask for medical aid and speaking with them the best 
 we can about their soul's salvation. 
 
 There are several members of our Church around Tohatchi, it is said. They 
 are, however, hard to find. One works for us occasionally. The other day, 
 while calling on a sick Navaho, I found her to be one of our members. Part of 
 our work will be to look them up frequently, and impart to them much needed 
 instruction. 
 
 To work in this section as well as on other parts of the field, will need 
 much traveling, but it is not at all hopeless. Work must necessarily go slow. 
 The Navaho is slow. The Navaho can be reached and the Gospel brought to 
 him, and this is our duty. To reach all is a possibility. Trained native 
 helpers, as interpreters, readers, and evangelists, will greatly aid the rapid spread 
 of the Gospel among them. Caring for their sick will, in time, become valuable, 
 we expect. 
 
 Prayers of God's people, and active co-operation encourage the workers in 
 the field and are heard and noticed by the Lord of the harvest. 
 
 “The World is the field”- — the Navaho and Zuni mission fields are small 
 patches of the world field. 
 
 LEE S. HUIZENGA. 
 
 22 
 
VI. About the Two Grey Hills Work. 
 
 Mission Friends: 
 
 PON request of the Mission Board these few words are written about 
 the Two Grey Hills work on which I entered January, 1914. 
 
 May this article be instrumental in promoting knowledge, love and 
 
 devotion, yes stir up some young and consecrated Christian to take up 
 
 mission work in this or other fields ! 
 
 The work in general consists of : Hogan visiting, Stereopticon work, and 
 
 conversations with visitors. 
 
 — — — — ' ' ' ' « 
 
 The Two Grey Hills Mission Property 
 
 The work in particular includes work during the week in the Government 
 school at Toadlena, and on the Sabbath Sunday School at Toadlena, and services 
 at the Mission. 
 
 1. THE WORK IN GENERAL. 
 
 I have separated my work into two classes as given above. Not that they 
 are not of equal importance but merely to show the different phases and the 
 difficulties that so often confront us. Our work lies in particular with the 
 children so as to get a foundation that is strong and solid enough to build upon. 
 
 •23 
 
(a) I have tried to make it a point of visiting the Indians in their hogani 
 as much as possible. This is because of the women who generally keep in the 
 hogan and are always found by their weaving frame. There is much work of 
 this nature to be done, for some have more than one wife and then have very 
 many children, the majority of whom do not attend school. Thus we get all 
 the family practically, except the father. Him we get at the church and while 
 taking care of his sheep. We will also get him when our stereopticon comes 
 and casts its spell on him. We tell the ones at the hogan about Jesus, how He 
 wants them saved, how much He loves them. They drop everything they are 
 doing, even the weaving which lies nearest to their hearts and listen intently. 
 How much they take to heart is unknown. Christ knows ! We are to sow the 
 seed, perhaps for another to reap. May the harvest of Navaho souls include 
 many women and children to whom we have spoken of the Saviour. 
 
 (b) By the time this has reached its destination our stereopticon machine 
 will be here. With this machine and its slides we will go to the cornfields and 
 tell them also about the Christ. With the machine go two boxes of slides 
 concerning the Old Testament stories, and the life of Jesus. May the Lord of Hosts 
 bless abundantly the efforts made in this direction. We must tell them all about 
 our dear Saviour. 
 
 (c) Visitors at the Mission Post are always assured a hearty welcome, 
 especially Indian visitors. They frequently come from far away just to pay the 
 “enisodi” (missionary) a visit. They are always welcome and we try to make 
 them feel at home. 
 
 2. THE WORK IN PARTICULAR. 
 
 (a) At the government school at Toadlena we find a great work. There 
 are at present 16 Indian children, 6 boys and 10 girls, besides two white children, 
 totaling 18. They are contemplating increasing that number to double, perhaps 
 triple that amount when the new buildings are erected, perhaps this fall. Here 
 Is where instruction is given concerning the salvation of their souls. Here is 
 where the religion of our God and our Church is expounded. May they show 
 early in life that they wish to remember their Creator before the evil days come 
 when they could say we have no desire therein. The children are the foundation 
 we are building upon. We talk to their parents personally and they go home 
 and do likewise. Thus double missionary work and double pressure is brought 
 to bear upon them to change from heathendom to Christianity. 
 
 (b) On the Sabbath day we do a great deal of work. In the morning we 
 go to the government school and there explain the Sunday School lesson to the 
 children and all who sit around us, totaling about 30, at times 35 when white 
 visitors are here. Here is where all sorts of religious beliefs are met. From a 
 Roman Catholic down to an athiest, infidel and skeptic. This does not of course 
 influence me in the least to give a different interpretation of the lesson. 
 
 (c) When the Sunday School is over we return to the Mission Post and 
 there find quite some Indians waiting to hold church services. Here we have 
 a sort of a program consisting of a cornet, organ and violin selections, also a 
 quartette when above instruments are not in use. How these Indians love music I 
 After which they are given a talk of an hour or more about Jesus. On one 
 
 24 
 
occasion we had an interesting debate concerning the creation. They believe we 
 all came from a cornstalk in the first world ! We are now living in the fourth 
 world! On account of the distance they walk, some 10 to 20 miles, we give 
 them coffee and crackers, as Jesus said to His disciples to feed the multitude 
 so they faint not on the way. They are now most at the cornfields which de- 
 creases our church attendance considerably. 
 
 So much for the work we are doing. There is much more to be done. 
 Enough is not done as yet. The proper way to reach alt is to get a large 
 wagon, commonly called an emmigrant’s wagon, stock up with pro- 
 visions and go and live among them for months at a time. There 
 are very, very many who never heard of Jesus, whom we can hardly 
 reach owing to the distance. A wagon like above would reach all of them. 
 I have tried it about a month or two ago. No feed for the horses, had to beg 
 for our own, as the stores were over 30 miles away. We returned finally almost 
 ruining the horses, not mentioning ourselves. By living in this wagon we meet 
 them on their level. God will bless us all still more than He has done in the 
 past. There are parts of the Navaho Reservation where Christ Jesus has not 
 been preached ! There are hundreds, yes perhaps thousands, who are on this 
 Reservation and have never heard the name of Jesus mentioned ! Just stop, 
 pause a moment and think this over once! 
 
 I am yours in the Master’s service, 
 
 WILLIAM MIEROP. 
 
 Grey Hills as seen from our Mission Home at Two Grey Hills, N. M. 
 
 The walls of the large hill, here shown, are very steep and almost inaccessible. From afar 
 the hill looks like a large cathedral, without a steeple. The walls contain several 
 pre-historic inscriptions. 
 
VII. Crown Point, N. M. 
 
 CROWN POINT, N. M. 
 
 Crown Point, N. M., 45 miles Northeast from Rehoboth, is the youngest 
 mission station of the Christian Reformed Church. It was opened Sept., 1913. 
 The missionary home, a shack, was erected within five days’ time by general 
 manager Spyker and his force. 
 
 While it looks very unpretentious, and is in need of siding without and 
 wallboard within, it is in reality quite a cozy and conveniently arranged little 
 home. 
 
 Our Missionary’s Home at Crown Point, N. M. 
 To the left the oven and stable 
 
 Unfortunately it is without occupants at present, since Rev. Muyskens and 
 family left it, June 1. 
 
 Crown Point derives its historical name from a number of rocky crags 
 which surround this point on all sides like a crown. It is the seat of a government 
 Navaho boarding school which this fall is to house 150 pupils, a goodly number 
 for a missionary to labor with in the gospel. The relations between the govern- 
 ment people and Rev. Muyskens were very good, as the farewell services May 31, 
 amply attested. The brother who succeeds him in the blessed work will find 
 every opportunity to continue harmoniously with the agent and employees, a 
 very desirable feature. The work of the missionary at Crown Point is centered 
 
 26 
 
around the government school of course. Catechising, teaching in Sabbath School, 
 preaching on Sabbath evening, are the main parts of the work. 
 
 But the Indians who visit the government post, or labor for it or on it, 
 and those whose hogans are around the place in all directions, also furnish abun- 
 dant opportunities for gospel efforts. 
 
 Navaho Indians near Crown Point, N. M. 
 
 What is needed for this branch of the work is an interpreter, who is able to 
 express properly what the missionary tells, although this work does not seem 
 to be very easy, since several expressions and ideas with which Christianity has 
 made us familiar, have no equivalent in the Navaho tongue. May the Lord lead 
 our Church, and particularly the Paterson congregations in charge of the post, 
 to obtain a worthy successor to brother Muyskens and may many jewels be 
 gained here for our Savior’s Crown. 
 
 HENRY BEETS. 
 
 27 
 
VIII. Present Day Conditions of the Mission Work at Zuni. 
 
 HE Zunies are, unlike many other Indian tribes, a very religious people. In 
 their worship they are polytheists, worshipping Sun, Moon, Stars and the 
 elements of nature. The Sun is the Father of all and is called Honawan 
 Tachu (our Father), and his priest Pekwin is the chief leader in the Zuni 
 religious worship. He regulates the ceremonies. At his bidding all the Zunies wor- 
 ship by long prayers, sacrifices of bread, meat, flour, grain and things to wear. Some 
 men at times have to dress in such a fashion as they think a particular god 
 looks, and he among the other dancers with masks on to represent gods, is prayed 
 to. (See the picture.) These “Kokos” or gods dance in their sacred hall over 
 
 Representations of Zuni gods 
 
 night and are prayed to by the priests, and during the day time they appear in 
 the sacred plaza in the middle of the Zuni village. As long as they represent 
 a particular god the men are very holy and are worshipped as dreadful gods 
 which must be feared. In that capacity the people will let those gods do things 
 which they could not do, and be punished for doing if they were in their every- 
 day dress. They evidently pour their heart and soul in their religious worship. 
 With the first acquaintance with the Zunies, a person would hardly believe that 
 they are heathen, and that they can stoop to such low pagan practices as they 
 
 28 
 
Zuni Pueblo, as seen from the Missionary’s heme, 
 realized that the missionary aimed to overthrow their religious system, and to 
 build up another religion. For this reason, the people did not care for his help, 
 they did not want, as some of them expressed it, Jesus Christ as their Savior. 
 Their religion was good enough for them, and the missionary’s was intended for 
 the Americans. About three years ago this sentiment somewhat changed, as the 
 missionary obtained access to the Government Indian School to give religious 
 instruction to the young Zunies. The Commissioner of Indian Affairs issued an 
 order that all religious workers among Indians had to get the consent of the 
 parents or guardians, before they could instruct the children in the schools. 
 
 do. They do things in their heathen blindness which are unseemly to mention. 
 The more enlightened, however, the people become, the more these practices will 
 disappear. A person need not be with them very long to know that they need 
 the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and that they need it badly. 
 
 The mission in Zuni, although the tribe is small, only numbering 1,600 
 souls, is very difficult, and till about three years ago, did not promise to yield 
 good results for the future. All the missionary tried to do for them was looked 
 upon with suspicion and his good will was taken as an evil omen. They fully 
 
 29 
 
At that time there were about one hundred Zuni school children without religious 
 instruction, and the missionary was not allowed to instruct them. The missionary 
 in Zuni, however, needed not to be told twice to obtain this consent, as he had 
 before tried to get the consent of the Zuni chiefs, but failed. The consent of the 
 parents or wards was easier to be had, He therefore hired the help of an inter- 
 preter, or a person who had the confidence of his people, and got the signatures 
 to a request from the parents or wards to the Government Agent, to have their 
 children instructed by the missionaries of the Christian Reformed Church. Now 
 his Bible class and Sunday School work began. This religious work with the 
 children in the schools has changed the sentiments of the people to such an extent, 
 that he now finds a friendly and pleasant reception wherever he goes to visit 
 them. The Zunies are a village people, and they live today where they lived 
 two hundred years ago, and they maintain themselves by farming and stock- 
 raising. In their primitive way they are very industrious. They are also a 
 
 THE ZUNI DAY SCHOOL 
 
 From left to right, back row — Mary Van der Wagen, Miss Alice Aardsma (teacher), 
 Philip Zuni (Janitor), Rev. H. Fryling, Mrs. Fryling, Sophia B. Fryling, 
 
 Miss Hattie Beekman (Matron). 
 
 home-loving people, and make rapid progress in civilization, enlarging their houses 
 year after year, eating better prepared food and wearing better clothes. This is 
 likely due to the education given the young people in the schools, and their 
 constant contact with a better element of white settlers and Indian traders, 
 who hold out to them new and modern things. 
 
 At present there are three schools in Zuni, with an aggregate of two hundred 
 pupils. There are yet about two hundred children without school facilities. 
 Of these schools, the Government maintains a Boarding-school at Black Rock, 
 
 30 
 
four miles east of the Zuni village, and one, a Day-school, in the village. The 
 third, also a Day-school with thirty pupils, of which twenty are Zunies, is sup- 
 ported by our Church. This is called the Mission Day School, shown here. 
 The work done in this school must be reported to the Indian Department every 
 month, and at the end of every quarter of the year, the same as that done 
 in the Government Indian Schools. Miss Alice Aardsma of Cincinnati, Ohio, 
 is at present the missionary teacher. She has all she can do in teaching all the 
 grades, from the Chart-class up to the Eighth grade. Her influence as Christian 
 teacher, for the spiritual uplift of the people, is invaluable. We ought to remem- 
 ber her in our prayers. Here in school the heathen children do not alone learn to 
 read and write and figure, but above all to pray, and about the Lord Jesus Christ 
 as their only Savior. 
 
 Miss Hattie Beekman, from Alto, Wisconsin, is the missionary matron. 
 Her duties are to bathe the Indian children, see to it that they clean up before they 
 enter the schoolroom, to wash and mend their clothes, to teach them neatness as 
 well as cleanliness, to teach them their questions for Bible class, and besides all 
 this work in and for the school, she visits the English-speaking women in the 
 village, bringing the message of the Gospel to them, by reading to them the simple 
 Bible-stories. 
 
 Missionary Fryling has plenty to do, for besides his regular visits and 
 calls in the village, he preaches twice on Sunday, conducts two Sunday Schools, 
 and holds eleven Bible-classes every week. In that way he reaches over two hun- 
 dred young Zunies with the Gospel. The prospects for our mission in Zuni are not 
 unfavorable, but at present quite encouraging. Besides his missionary work, 
 he must look after the interest of the Mission Day School. The school needs 
 fuel and water, and he supplies it. He further has to buy and fit the Indian 
 children out with clothing, so that they look somewhat respectable. His duty 
 towards the school is that of a Superintendent. Besides all manner of labor for 
 school and mission, he has to study the language. Although his Bible-class, Sunday 
 School and religious work in the schools is and must be conducted in English, 
 he has to converse with the people who do not understand English, in their native 
 tongue. With the schoolwork done in Zuni, the number of English-speaking 
 Indians gradually increases, and in course of time the English language will be 
 the language of these people. The old people, however, are reached in their 
 own tongue. 
 
 Let us not forget that the work of converting the people, is not human, 
 but divine, but He who said to His servants; “Go ye and teach alt nations,” 
 is also the same One who gave the promise to be with them to the end of the 
 world. Our Lord, who by His divine power, created all the world, and by 
 His providence keeps and rules all things, and every human heart, also the heart 
 of the Zunies, is equally able and willing today to bless our efforts. With an eye 
 to Him who sent His Gospel to be preached in Zuni, we can expect great things 
 amongst these people. The progress will likely not be fast, but in due time we 
 shall reap rejoicingly if we now faint not. In Zuni our mission is yet in its 
 seed-time. We are sowing the seed of God’s Word, are entrusting it to the 
 soil of the human heart, we are planting and at the same time prayerfully looking 
 
 31 
 
up to our Great Master, to water and bless it. What we do at present may seem 
 of little or no value, but it will be available of much good to the glory of God 
 and the salvation of immortal souls. 
 
 In Zuni, with the blessing of God, we can expect an organized Christian con- 
 gregation, a Christian nation, because the people live together, they are fully 
 able to support themselves, they are a willing people in their own pagan worship, 
 and when converted, we may reasonably expect them to be the same in following 
 the truth. Let us not forget to earnestly pray for them, that the Lord may let 
 His Kingdom come quickly in Zuni. We would also impress on those who 
 read this that one of our needs in Zuni is a reading room to entertain and reach 
 the young educated Zunies. We really should have something like aY.EC A,, 
 with the emphasis on the C., but providing all the things the Y, M. C. A.’s of our 
 land usually provide. In course of time we should have a Y .W. C. A. likewise 
 to reach our educated Zunies girls. May the Lord open the way for this. 
 
 H. FRYLING. 
 
 P. S. Some of the children at our Zuni Mission Day School will need sup- 
 porters, at $50 a year for clothing, books, care, etc. Couldn't your Sunday School 
 or Society pledge this amount to the Mission Board ? Write Rev. J. Dolfin, 
 Muskegon, Mich. 
 
 Zuni Indians engaged in one of their religious exercises. 
 
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