Morning journal and courier., 1886-10-21
THE INDIAN.

@uIt8 Among the 1n01anB-Ine FOOT
 Whites of Tennessee - Believers in
 SuperstitIOns. W1tchcraft and spell.
 Doctors.
 In the afternoon the church was so crowd ed that an ''overfow" meeting was an- nounced in the United church, the speakers repeating their papers there after speaking in the Center church.
 The afternoon was devoted largely to the Woman's Bureau. Following the report of the secretary, Mrs. I. E. Emerson, and the hymn "From Greenland's Icy Mountains" sung in their language by the Indian choir,
 Miss H. B. Ilsley, missionary to the Sioux Indian, read paper. She has been working for six years among the Dakotas. The sta
 tions are from five to fifteen miles apart
 with day schools of twenty pupils or more.
 They have religious services on Sunday and
 the people are visited during the week. The people live in the old log houses
 with earthern floor aoor' still keeping ture and pray to everything. All mystery is summed up in the great spirit. They are
 very superstitious in relation to gifts to the
 dead. All the Indians believe that educa-
 tion is good thing, but do not know how to
 get it; some think it to be contained in the
 school house itself or in the books or surely in the teacher. Their parental affection is
 strong and they think it cruel to oppose the
 children in the slightest degree. There is the deepest friendship between teacher and
 pupils. The children are giving satisfaction
 in doing faithfully what they try to do They
 have made great progress in study and de-
 pertinent. The teachers aim to form Chris
 tian character in the child and through
 the child to influence the parent. Miss Ilsley
 closed with touching appeal for help and
 prayer in this department of the cause.
 ''Jesus Shall Reign Where'er the Sun"
 was sung and Miss Bertha Robertson then
 gave an account of the work among the col there one must either see the people and compare them with those who have not been reached or go and work among them. Miss Robertson has besn in Macintosh, Ga The people think that the teachers can do every thing. The children come without any home training with no hope or am bition i'll life out of a low standard of morality, from parents who as slaves received from cruel masters the hardest cruelty in return for the hardest work. The work of the teachers is based upon the Bible, giving 8 religious and moral training first. The people work hard; they are not dull and stupid; they are trust worthy; they are not ungrateful, and they do care for an education. These points the speaker firmly established; they are gener- ally misunderstood and believed to be con- trary. The discouragements are many, but are more than balanced by the encourage ments received in lifting young men and girls out of immortality and wickedness up to consecrated lives Faith and works go hand in hand-let the barnacles be cleared from the old ship and your prayers be multiplied for these people.
 Mrs. N. J. St. Clair was the next speaker; she spoke in clear, easy voice without man uscript of mountain work among the poor whites in Tennessee. They are very pecu- liar people, living in poor homes of only one room; superstitious, believing in witches and spell doctors who pretend to say that they can take away the spells which come when the witches disturb the people. Every harm and good come from witches, which the speaker illustrated with amusing stories from her own personal experience. They are people anxious to learn, taught by min isters who are ignorant as they and who do not study the word of God but the people are making a rapid rise as they are begin ming to find out that they know nothing at all. In describing ride among them Mrs St. Clair said: ''I always take my Bible, some white bread which I can eat after leave house if I can't eat what they give me, some of the very best of soap, comb some scissors, some hair oil which proves to be very effective in great many cases and several other things according to circumstances" The women chop the wood, grate the corn and do the housework often weaving until late at night by the light of burning pine knot in the fireplace. They are beginning to think for themselves and are rising. In conclusion the speaker said: s'You have done nobly-the work is yours and we cannot let you go now. God has blessed you in what you have done and he will bless you in giving as we'll as them in leceiv- ing"
 Rev ". G. Sperry read report upon the work, giving prominence to the part they had played in the work of putting down the rebellion. The mountain region covers 10000 square miles, including the valley of the Shenandoah and other valleys which are not missionary fields. The dis cussions upon labor and capital, which are questions of the day and which have been ably set forth from this pulpit, need not keep us from going down there where there is no capital and no labor. The controver- sies in theology need not prevent our being Christians and going to teach them the true principles which they will heartily receive with ever increasing welcome.
 Rev. Martin Dexter, of Boston, spoke of long time have been left at one side and for gotten. When God ordains such fact 1t is that such people may attain vitality. When the time of awakening comes it is full of energy and needs to be guided and control led When this enlightened life comes it will have @ wonderfully pure influence upon the luxurious and materialistic enlighten- ment MT Rufus N. Taft, missionary in Eastern Tennessee, spoke for few moments after which announcements were made and the meeting adjourned until evening.