The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-10-01
Once Warlike Sioux
Nouu Church Members
So Enthusiastic Are They for the Cause that
They Support Missionaries in
China and Africa.
Sioux Indians in the leading Chris
tian denominations among them number
as follows:

Episcopalians e.2SS
ffespy terlans .......s.. 13S3
Congregational OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. LOOP
Total ................... lie sos
Indians in other Christian churches
10000. which, considering the fact that
the Sioux number about $4,000, is a
remarkable showing. ...-..
Fervor not unlike that with which
the reds engaged in the fanatical sun
and war dances pervades their ad
herence to the Christian religion. The
Episcopalian, Presbyterian and Congre..
gational Indian churches have annual
conventions and Indians travel as far
as 200 miles on foot or sell their be-
iongings ito buy ponies to carry them
in order to take part in the singing of
hymns, assist in planning to secure new
converts and listen to sermons in their
own tongue. The Indian is born de-
batter. In arguing questions of i'm
portanee to the church, red men dis
tinguished in years past upon fields of
battle, rise with dignity and deliver i'm
passoned orations that produce an
effect comparable to that of a Bryan
or a Depew upon audiences of white
men.
! Cut Ties Connecting Past
-. 1t is nothing less than pitiful to hear
Sioux Indians who have been sur
rounded on their reservations by many
adhering strictly to the immemorial
tribal customs, rise in these conven-
lions, and, with impassioned speech,
denounce the dances which their fore
burial Of braves with tomahawks and
guns and favorite horses and even de-
nounce the giving of money to the In
dlans because it corrupts them. And
yet, so loyal are these copper-hued
Christians that they hesitate not in de-
hberately severing ties with all their
heroic past, turning Their backs upon
become their very nature to love, and
enthusiastically to take up the ways of
the men who conquered them.
The record shows that the Indians
give to the cause of religion far more
in proportion to their income than do
their white brothers. The records of
the congregational and Presbyterian
ment of the churches in 1879. the In.
dams have given a total of 500, 396.O7
Of this: over $4,000 came from the
Squaws' societies. Squaws who are com
PEELED to live in poverty on account of
the failure of the government to sup
ply work for the bucks, sell their beads
and baskets, not for food or clothing
uuI Aoi 'cHuic1 CoHITlDuIloHs, uenylne
themselves real necessities. 1t is saiC
that every squaw communicate has
averaged 81 annually for the church
: since the missions were started.
Indians of the Episcopal and Catholic
: churches have given even more lib
orally, for churches of this denomina
tion are older and better organized.
Ritual Appeals to Them.
It is natural that the Episcopal an,
Catholic churches should have the larg
: est membership among the Sioux In
dams. The Indian is ever lover o
: show and display. The ritual of tn
Catholic and Episcopal service appeal
to them because the priests and mis-
! sionaries wear bright robes and G
thru a pantomime with the singing
: which in way reminds the reds o
: dances in gaudy paints and feathers
It appeals to their emotions and man
|. an Indian who subsequently becam
genuinely devout, first joined one o
these churches because it made up in
. way for the dances which the govern
!: ment has largely denied him.
|: Yet these Indians, in their own talk
! in public, declare they have reache
5 the conclusion that no Indian dance
. should be tolerated, because the keynot
Of the Indian dance is the fervor of a
: idolater.
= The Catholic church was the first
I find converts among the Sioux, Jesui
). priests being the first whites to g
), among them. But other churches hav
! ! been laboring many years. The Presby
= terrain and Congregational Indians hel
Il their thirty fourth annual ,conventio
this year. The Episcopalian Indian
~ met in convocation the first time twent
years ago., when there. were forty II
dian parishes. Now there are eighty
five Indian parishes and eighteen II
dian clergymen, and the church has
= regular annual meeting place at Whit
; Swan, S. D., in the center of the dis
trict wherein it's Indian communicate
live.
Leaders and Workers.
Among the noted Indian workers
Rev. John Eastman, himself an Indiat
pastor of the First Presbyterian churc
Of Flandreau, s. D. Another is Arte
mas <Ehnamine (Walking THRU, one o
the old Sioux chieftains, who Tough
the Chippewas, danced the scalp dane
on the site Of Minneapolis and wage
war against the whites in 1862. He wa
converted at Mankato and has been fo
many years pastor of a large Congre
gational church.
Among the white missionaries wit
the Indians noteworthy character
Rev. Albert L. Riggs, son Of note
missionary and born at Lac qui Parl
and ehristened by the Indians 5000
Bud.'
For the Episcopal church, Bishop v
H. Hare of Sioux Falls, has 1abored fc
twenty years INCREASINGLY among tn
Indians and acquired personal 70
lowing among them that is largely r,
sponsible for the growth Of its India
membership.
The Catholic missions have been !
charge Of Jesuits and Sistine father
Their 1000 members are found in seve
or eight large churches and the churc
has parochial schools on all the pril
cipal reservations.