THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
PAGE 4
GOOD WORK GOES ON
(Continued from page 1)
among Indian tribes, some long since extinct, not only
in New England, but into the far West. The Society
has always been non-sectarian, its membership being
made up of representatives from various denomina
tions.
Since 1911 the work of the Society has very largely
been devoted to the support of a field representative
in the Government Indian Schools. This was due to
a carefully planned visit of Dr. F. Kengott, then of
Lowell, Massachusetts, to a number of schools and
reservations during 1910. As a result of his report
Rev. Arthur P. Wedge, a minister of the Baptist
Church, was appointed as the first field secretary of
the Society. Mr. Wedge, later joined by his devoted
and capable wife who was a matron-at-large under the
Indian Bureau, visited practically every Indian School
in the United States, not once but several times, and
endeared himself to the hearts of the students and
teachers wherever he went. By his sudden death last
June this phase of the Society’s endeavor in behalf of
of the Indians came to an end.
It soon became evident that a shift in the main em
phasis of the Society’s work might wisely be stressed
at this time, partly because Mr. Wedge had done so
well the work which he himself planned and carried
out, and partly because moral education has now been
incorporated into the regular curriculum of these
schools. With this end in view Mr. Lindquist was
called into the conference by the members of the Select
Committee and suggestions were entertained fora con
structive program of work.
“ My conception of the task to which the Society
through its representative should address itself,”
writes Mr. Lindquist, “might be expressed in the
word promotion. There is a great need today for the
promotion of methods for the establishment of a better
understanding of the American Indian people. This
can be done partly by the dissemination of correct in
formation on Indian affairs, partly through special
projects, including conferences, for a better under
standing between whites and Indians in states having
considerable Indian population. The present trend
seems to point a closer cooperation between state and
federal agencies in promoting the inevitable assimila
tion of the red men. Anything which can be done to
prepare them for this step is worthy of support.
“Schools there are as well as facilities for every
Indian boy and girl to receive an education. Neverthe
less there is urgent need of promoting plans fora sup
plementary educational program. There are the re
turned students. These young people do not so much
need an employment agency as a moral support, a sort
of bolstering up of the aims and ideals acquired dur
ing school days. Many of these returned students
find themselves in white communities where they
need tobe related to church groups and friendly organ-
nizations. They need as never before a wise and
sympathetic guide who will interpret for them the
meaning of these relationships.
“Furthermore, in this program of creating a better
understanding between Indians and whites, I would
stress community work. The American Indian Sur
vey revealed the imperative need of promoting a
modern rural church program adapted to Indian com
munities. Facilities for carrying on social work are
greatly in demand. Who would undertake to carry
on Americanization work in our great cities among
the ‘new Americans’ without facilities for social work?
And yet this very need has been too long unmet in
our work among the ‘oldest Americans.’
“Another word which should loom large in the
vocabulary of the present day Indian endeavor is
cooperation. There are a number of excellent agen
cies at work among the Indians. The time for narrow
partisanship and bigoted sectarianism is past. The
new day calls for a cooperative spirit and approach.
This Society, in view of its long history, its traditions
and achievements, has a uniqne opportunity to further
every effort looking toward cooperative work among
Indians.
“The task is not a light one. Any program, no
matter how constructive and enlightened it may be, is
bound to meet with opposition. But at this point I
will quote from the Minutes prepared by Peter Thacher,
secretary of the Society, January, 1798, to emphasize
that the original purpose and program as stated in the
paragraph that follows must still be the spirit in which
we address ourselves to the new and challenging tasks
of today:
“Notwithstanding the discouragements which have attended
almost all the attempts to Christianize the Indians, the Society
feel it to be their duty still to continue them. Their funds
will not admit of sending missionaries into distant parts of the
continent, or to seek out those nations of Indians who are
wholly unconnected with the white inhabitants. Their attempts
are confined to those tribes interspersed among the white in
habitants, or in their neighborhood. The wish of the Society
is to propagate and cherish the spirit of Christianity in the
minds of these people, and, as their means and opportunity
will admit, gradulle to disseminate Christian knowledge among
more distant tribes.”
A BOY’S PRAYER
To a father who wrote to ask him concerning re
creational reading material for a son the Rev. Dr.
Cadman submitted a list of books that any boy would
enjoy reading and added the suggestion that the lad
might also memorize Beaching’s little poem. “A Boy’s
Prayer:”
“God who created me
Nimble and light of limb
In three elements free,
To run, to ride, to swim;
Not when the sense is dim,
But now from the heart of joy,
I would remember Him:
Take the thanks of a boy.”