The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 07, July, 1889 by Various
page 38 of 105 (36%)
page 38 of 105 (36%)
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other rivers in Dakota. One of the teachers from Oahe gives a
racy sketch of a trip among some of the out-stations. We make room for a large extract, regretting that we have not space for more. THE JOURNEY. We started Thursday morning, going about seven miles above the Mission to cross the river. We took dinner at the house of a white man who has an Indian wife, and then started out on the long drive. Our direction was almost due west, a little south toward the Cheyenne River. We reached an out-station on the Cheyenne about dark, where James Brown, a Santee Indian, is stationed. Two of our Santee school-girls are here, and it was encouraging to see their neat dress, and hear them use their English, though they so seldom see any one with whom they have occasion to use it that it is not easy for them. The next morning, the girls had classes in reading and writing. Some of the children were ragged and dirty, with faces unwashed, and hair uncombed, one little boy with both knees coming through his trousers, but their faces were, almost without exception, bright and intelligent, with the intelligence of childhood, which would inevitably change to the stolid indifference of ignorance, were it not for the influence which this Christian household among them may exert. To be sure, the girls are young and inexperienced, but that they do their best means a great deal. Two young men were learning to read the Dakota Bible. Soon after eleven, we were on our way again, keeping the Cheyenne River in sight. We stopped at one of the villages on the Cheyenne, where a Frenchman with an Indian wife has built up quite a little colony, all related to one another. Several of our pupils come from here, and the mode of life at their home has been modified by their influence. |
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