The Chemawa American, June 01, 1913, COMMENCEMENT NUMBER, Page 10, Image 10

8
THE
CHEMAWA
AM ERICAN
ping, and fishing. They exchanged their furs with the British for food,
clothing, rifles, tools, and cooking utensils. During the spring, summer,
and fall they dried fish, bear meat and venison and put up other food
for use in winter. In November they went up Nass River and exchanged
some of the food they had prepared for vegetables.
In every Indian village of the southeastern part of Alaska totem poles
are still to be found. They commemorate the deeds or virtues of the
departed near whose graves they are reared, and indicate the tribal em­
blem of the person for whom they are erected. They are elaborately
carved from top to bottom and are painted many different colors. Their
height signifies the importance of the individual. Some are as high as
seventy feet. When a totem pole was to be erected the people of the
neighboring villages were invited to come and feast, dance, and assist
with the ceremony. The celebration attending the erection lasted a week
or more.
After a time, when the people of the two villages I have mentioned
saw that the white people had begun to make a settlement at Ketchikan,
they appointed a committee to select a place where they might unite and
make a new village. A site south of Ketchikan was chosen and the
natives moved in 95 and 96. Then a missionary was sent to teach
them. Later Edward Marsden, a native, became missionary.
In October, 1903, Mr. Marsden took me, together with thirty-five
other boys and girls, to Carlisle. While at Carlisle I spent most of my
time under the “ outing system,” working in private families and going
to public schools. After five years I went home to visit my parents
and found wonderful changes in the town and among the people. They
had built a church, organized a Salvation Army, and done awav with
the old Indian customs. They lived in frame houses and ate from ta­
bles with knives and forks. Many of them have become Christians anti
the influence of religioa is felt by‘all. Christianity has raised most of
them above the debauchery of dissipation, and today almost every one
is endeavoring to lead a Christian life. Some of the old people who
have no education whatever are trying to learn parts of the Bible in
their native tongue. During the winter, on certain days set apart each
week for a meeting at the missionary’s house, the interpreter translates
verses from the Bible into the Thlinget language and the natives mem­
orise the verses. At the Sunday service when one of the old men is
leading, he opens his Bible and turns to the verse which he wishes to
use for a text. He repeats the translation that he has memorized. The
eagerness of these people for a knowledge of spiritual things, their
hunger for the bread of life, the progress that they, with the help of a
few Christians, have made during the brief period within my memory
is significant of what might, with the co-operation of religious organiza-