The people of America are determined to press the Indian problem to a speedy solution. Provision has been made for giving lands in severalty, and the next great movement should be to induce the Government to provide secular education, and the churches to furnish religious instruction to all the Indians. The American Missionary Association, during the year, has responded to this new impulse by enlarging its work—in the opening of new stations, in the erection of new buildings, and in the appointment of more missionaries and teachers.
At the Santee Agency, Nebraska, our oldest mission station and school has had marked prosperity in its normal, theological and industrial departments, and, better than all, in a deep and wide-spread religious interest that has pervaded the school and the church. The new building, named Whitney Hall—from its giver—has been erected, affording accommodations for twenty-two of the larger and more advanced pupils, and furnishing rooms for the treasurer's family. A liberal gift from Mrs. Henry Perkins, of Hartford, Conn., provides, for the present at least, for the running expenses of the Boys' Hall, and, in appreciation of the gift, and of the interest in the school which the gift implies, the building will hereafter be called Perkins Hall.
At Oahe, Dakota, on the beautiful Peoria Bottom, both the school and church have prospered. The school is crowded to its utmost capacity and a greater number of pupils has been granted in the contract with the Government. A new building is urgently called for. The closing exercises of the school were attended by a picturesque group of three or four hundred Indians, who were encamped around the station. Some of these came a hundred and twenty-five miles to attend the exercises.
One marked feature in the enlargement of the work has been the opening of two more Central Stations: one at Rosebud Agency, the other located at Fort Yates, near the junction of the Grand River with the Missouri. The new mission house has been built, and by the aid of special gifts from benevolent friends at the East, a commodious building has been erected for a hospital.
A peculiar and very interesting feature of our Indian work is the out-stations, located remote from the Central Stations. These stations, numbering twenty-one, have been hindered and also enlarged during the past year. The hindrance came from the interference of the Government. In its well-intended zeal for the introduction of the English language, it surpassed the limits which experience had fixed, by requiring that the vernacular should [pg 312] not be taught, nor even spoken, in any Indian schools on the Reservation including these mission stations, which were wholly sustained by benevolent funds. Under this ruling, thirteen stations were closed from September to January. But the remonstrances coming from almost every denomination of Christians in the land induced the Government to modify its orders, and the schools have all been re-opened.
Some new buildings have been erected on this part of the field—a new house for dwelling and school on the Grand River, and a cheap structure at the Cheyenne River Agency, in which religious services are held at the times for the disbursement of the rations, when large numbers of the Indians assemble and remain for many days. A new impulse has been given to this out-station work by contributions received at one of the missionary meetings in Northfield, Mass. Four new stations were provided for at that time by the contribution of $400 for a building at each station, and $300 for the support of the teacher. One was the gift of Mr. Moody, another of Mr. Sankey, whose names these two stations will bear.
Fort Berthold, in the northern part of Dakota, has authorization from the Government for a larger number of pupils under contract than last year. But our exigencies require for this only a few and inexpensive repairs and additions to be made on the buildings.
The Skokomish mission continues its stable progress. The missionary, Rev. Myron Eells, has been tempted during the past year by several calls to enter more lucrative fields of service, but his attachment to the work, begun by his most honored father, and continued by himself, is so great that he prefers to remain with his people, and to aid them in their progress in civil and Christian life.
The Indian school at Santa Fé, New Mexico, has had some changes, but the arrangement between the Association and the trustees is continued, and the school, under the charge of Prof. Elmore Chase, maintains its useful service in the training of the children of the Apaches, one of the most hopeful and promising tribes of Indians on the continent.