Among the Sioux Part 4

"Blest be the tie that binds Our hearts in Christian love; The fellowship of Christian minds Is like to that above."

The Council Tent was in darkness! The lights were out in the teepees.

The whole camp was wrapped in solid slumber. And as we sunk to rest in our bed of new-mown hay, we breathed a prayer for the slumbering Sioux around us; May the Cloud, by day, and the Pillar of Fire, by night, guide the Sioux Nation through the Red Sea of Savagery, superst.i.tion and sin to the Promised Land of Christian Civilization.

The Native Missionary Society.

It is well worth a journey to the land of the Dakotas to witness an anniversary gathering of their Woman's Missionary Society. You enter the great Council Tent. It is thronged with these nut-brown women of the plains. A matronly woman welcomes you, and presides with grace and dignity. A bright and beautiful young maiden--a graduate of Santee or Good Will--controls the organ and sweetly leads the service of song.

And oh how they do sing! You cannot understand the words, but the airs are familiar. Now it is Bishop c.o.xe's "Latter Day" sung with vim in the Indian tongue;

"We are living, we are dwelling, In a grand and awful time; In an age on ages telling, To be living is sublime."

And now some sedate matron rises and reads a carefully written paper, contrasting their past, vile teepee life of ign.o.ble servitude to Satan, with their present, pure life of glorious liberty in the Lord Jesus Christ. And then they sing, so earnestly for they are thinking of their pagan sisters of the wild tribes, sitting in darkness and the shadow of death, in the regions beyond. The hymn is Draper's "Missionary Chant."

"Ye Christian heralds, go proclaim Salvation through Emmanuel's name; To distant lands the tidings bear And plant the Rose of Sharon there."

And now a lively young la.s.s, neatly attired, comes forward and with a fine, clear accent, recites a poem of hope, touching the bright future of their tribe, when the present generation of young men and maidens, nourished in Christian homes, educated in Christian schools and trained in the Young People's societies for efficient service, shall control their tribe, and move the great ma.s.ses of their people upward and G.o.d-ward, and elevate the Sioux Nation to a lofty plane of Christian civilization and culture; and enable them to display to the world the rich fruition of Christian service. And, by request, their voices ring out in song these thrilling words;

"Watchman, tell us of the night, For the morning seems to dawn; Traveller, darkness takes its flight, Doubt and terror are withdrawn.

Watchman, let thy wanderings cease; Hie thee, to thy quiet home; Traveller, lo, the Prince of Peace, Lo, the Son of G.o.d is come!"

Fervent prayers are frequently interspersed in these exercises. And oh, what wondrous liberality these dark-skinned sisters of the Dakota plains display!

How full their hands are with rich gifts, gleaned out of their poverty for the treasury of their Saviour-King. For many years, the average annual contributions per capita to missions, by these Sioux sisters, have fully measured up to the standard of their more highly favored Anglo-Saxon sisters of the wealthy Presbyterian and Congregational denominations, of which they form a humble part.

Chapter VI.

It was 1905. From the heights of Sisseton, South Dakota, another striking scene met the eye. The great triangular Sisseton reserve of one million acres no longer exists. Three hundred thousand of its choicest acres are now held in severalty by the fifteen hundred members of the Sisseton and Wahpeton Band of the Dakotas--the "Leaf Dwellers"

of the plains. Their homes, their schools, their churches cover the prairies. That spire pointing heavenward rises from Good Will Church, a commodious, well-furnished edifice, with windows of stained gla.s.s.

Within its walls, there worship on the Sabbath, scores of dusky Presbyterian Christians. The pastor, the Rev. Charles Crawford, in whose veins there flows the mingled blood of the shrewd Scotch fur trader and the savage Sioux, lives in that comfortable farm house a few rods distant. He has a pastorate that many a white minister might covet. Miles to the west, still stands in its gra.s.sy cove on the coteaux of the prairie, the Church of the Ascension, referring not to the ascension of our Lord, but to "the going up" of the prairies. On the hill above it, is the cozy home of the pastor emeritus, the Rev.

John Baptiste Renville, whose pastorate, in point of continuous service, has been the longest in the two Dakotas. After a long lifetime of faithful ministrations to the people of his own charge, enfeebled by age and disease, he sweetly fell asleep in Jesus, Dec. 19, 1904.

Doubtless his is a starry crown, richly gemmed, in token of the mult.i.tude of the souls of his fellow tribesmen, led to the Savior by his tender, faithful ministry of a life-time in their midst. Round about these two churches cl.u.s.ter half a dozen other congregations, worshipping in comfortable church homes. These form only a part of the

PRESBYTERY OF DAKOTA.

The original Presbytery of Dakota was organized September 30, 1844, at the mission Home of Dr. Williamson, at Lac-qui-Parle, Minnesota. It was organized, by the missionaries, among the Dakotas, for the furtherance of their peculiar work. The charter members were three ministers, the Rev. Samuel W. Pond, Rev. Thomas S. Williamson, M.D., and Rev. Stephen R. Riggs and one elder Alexander G. Huggins. It was an independent presbytery, and, for fourteen years, was not connected with any Synod.

It was a lone presbytery, in a vast region, now covered by a dozen Synods and scores of presbyteries. For many years, the white and Indian churches that were organized in Minnesota, were united in this presbytery and wrought harmoniously together. In 1858, the General a.s.sembly of Presbyterian churches (N.S.) invited this independent presbytery to unite with her two Minnesota Presbyteries and form the Synod of Minnesota which was accomplished.

Solely on account of the barrier of the language, the missionaries and churches among the Dakotas, pet.i.tioned the Synod of Minnesota to organize them into a separate presbytery. And the Synod so ordered and it was so done, September 30, 1867, just twenty-three years after the first organization at Lac-qui-Parle. By this order, the limits of the Presbytery of Dakota became the churches and ministers among the Dakota Indians. It is the only Presbytery in existence, without any geographical boundaries. At present, there are seventeen ordained Indian ministers upon the roll of this presbytery--workmen of whom neither they themselves nor any others have any cause to be ashamed.

There are, also, under its care, twenty-eight well-organized churches, aggregating more than fifteen hundred communicants, and eight hundred Sabbath-School members. The contributions of these fifteen hundred Dakota Presbyterians in 1904, exceeded the sum of six thousand dollars for all religious purposes.

Among the "Dispersed" of the Sioux nation, in Manitoba, there is one organized Presbyterian church of twenty-five communicant members. It is the church of Beulah and is in connection with the Presbyterian church of Canada.

In all, twenty-one Sioux Indians have been ordained to the Presbyterian ministry, by the Presbytery of Dakota. Of these, Artemas Ehnamane, t.i.tus Icaduze, Joseph Iron Door, and John Baptiste Renville have all pa.s.sed on, from the beautiful prairies of the Dakotas, to the celestial plains of glory. And how warm must have been their greeting as they pa.s.sed through the pearly gates of the city, whose builder and maker is G.o.d. Gideon Pond, Dr. Williamson, Samuel W. Pond, Stephen R. Riggs and Robert Hopkins, Margaret Williamson, Mary Riggs and Aunt Jane and other faithful missionaries and thousands of redeemed Dakotas, welcomed them, with glad hozannas, and sweet are the songs they sing as they walk together, under the trees, on the banks of the River of Life.

The Dakota Congregational a.s.sociation has under its care thirteen organized churches, with more than one thousand communicants and one thousand Sabbath school members. The prominent leaders of its work are Alfred L. Riggs D.D., of Santee, Nebraska, and Rev. Thomas L. Riggs of Oahe, South Dakota. They are the worthy sons of their famous father, Stephen R. Riggs, D.D., one of the heroic pioneers in the Dakota work.

The native ministers are Francis Frazier, Edwin Phelps, James Garvie, James Wakutamani and Elias Gilbert. This a.s.sociation is a mighty factor in G.o.d's plan, for the upbuilding of the Dakotas, in the things that are n.o.ble and of good report.

The Presbyterian and Congregationalists have wrought together, side by side, for seventy years, in this glorious enterprise. Under their auspices, forty-four churches, many schools and other beneficent organizations are in efficient operation among these former savage dwellers on these plains.

Seven other natives have, also, been ordained to the priesthood in the Episcopal Church, making thirty-three in all, who have served their fellow-tribesmen in the high and holy office of the Christian ministry.

There is not a single ordained Romish priest among the Sioux Indians.

"Watchman, tell us of the night, What its signs of promise are."

Seventy years ago, among the twenty-five thousand Sioux Indians in the United States, there was not a single church, not even one professing Christian.

They were all polytheistic pagans. There were signs of pagan worship about every teepee. It might be the medicine sack tied behind the conical wigwam, or a yard of broadcloth, floating from the top of a flagpole as a sacrifice to some deity. There was more or less idol-worship in all their gatherings. One of the simplest forms was the holding of a well-filled pipe at arm's length, with the mouth-piece upward, while the performers said, "O Lord, take a smoke and have mercy on me." In the feasts and dances, the forms were more elaborate. The Sun-dance continued for days of fasting and sacrificial work by the partic.i.p.ants.

Now these signs of pagan worship have almost entirely disappeared among the Dakotas. These facts speak volumes--one in eight of the Dakotas is a Presbyterian. There are two-thirds as many Congregationalists, twice as many Episcopalians and twice as many Catholics. More than one-half of the Dakotas have been baptized in the name of the Triune G.o.d and thousands of them are professed followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now what has wrought this great change among the Dakotas? It was the power of the Holy Spirit of the Lord, working through the means of grace as employed and applied by these faithful missionaries. They renounced heathenism, not because the government so ordered, but because they found that there was no G.o.d like Jehovah and Jehovah said, "Thou shalt have no other G.o.ds before me." Even those who have not accepted Christ have generally cast away their idols.

Now do missions pay? Do Indian missions pay? Let the grand work among the Dakotas and its glorious results be an all sufficient answer. It does pay a thousand fold.

Hear the Christian tribesmen sing the Hymn of the Sioux.

Lift aloft the starry banner, Let it wave o'er land and sea; Shout aloud and sing hosanna!

Praise the Lord, who set us free!

Here we stand amazed and wonder Such a happy change to see; The bonds of sin are burst asunder!

Praise the Lord who set us free.

Long we lay in darkness pining, Not a ray of hope had we!

Now the Gospel Sun is shining: Praise the Lord who set us free.

In one loud and joyful chorus, Heart and soul now join will we; Salvation's Sun is shining o'er us!

Praise the Lord who set us free.

_PART II._

SOME SIOUX STORIETTES

_Part II_

_CONTENTS_

SOME SIOUX STORIETTES.

I. The Dead Papoose.--The Maiden's Feast.