Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1905-11-28
INDIAN RELIGION.
MISSIONARIES WANTED ON TAMA
RESERVATION WHO WILL
NOT PREACH CHRIST

No Hope Of Converting the Tamas 70
Christianity, Says Rev. ]. n. Ward
Need Religious Training ON Broad
LInes-The Great Manitea.
Tama, Nov. Observation-Disclosures
missionaries who are ready and VALE
Ing to quit preaching Christ and Him
crucif1ed; to forget the name Of JsAo.
veh and to omit the story Of the erets;
and In place Of the usNlal aerrnons ON
religion to preach only eood fnorAls,
sobriety and love Of ritht. Such ,tniu-
sionaries are badly NEEDED on ths =.
serve of the Tana Indians In Iowa.
where, surrounded on Atl rides by
Christian people and a high ctv!iisa~
ton, a whole tribe OF indiana nas
succeeded In defyine ChristlAnity 40
thoroughly that today there II not
one church member, not one church
building, nor one missionary on the
reservation. Religion and the church
people, and ACCORDING to Rev, J. II,
Ward Of the Iowa State Histte1cal So
ciety, religion In Its usual 4 rn. can
do nothing for them. Hear What DR..
Ward says. after spending t6s entire
summer with these Indians. * knew
that their faith could never - shaken,
! knew that the best we can ever do
for them is to incite in them a desire
to be good Musquakljes. II we send
VIII leave out the story Of Christ and
dwell upon the Manitoa instead"
(Manitoa Is the Indian name Of their
Great Spirit.)
DR.. Ward is probably the first min
lister of the gospel who has ever ad-
vocated missionaries who did not
preach Christ and the idea is entirely
new. In past years these Indians
have had missionaries sent them and
ed among them for years without a
single conversion. No TaIna Indian
has ever become q member OF a church
and today these people cling to their
customs-not single change in their
spiritual life since the coming Of the
white men to Iowa three quarters Of
a century ago.
Old and New Minols.
There are not many Of tho TAmas
left-only s7s-and they are punched
together on 5000 acres Of the finest
lands in the state. down in the Iowa
river valley. Two railroads ana one
electric trolley line pass through the
reservation, but the Indians have not
absorbed civilization to any ertsnt.
Only sixty Of then, dress a whites:
five live in houses; there 10 - marry
Ing and no divorce; there 10 40 naArry-
ing and no divorce; they live a. man
and wife. with nothing but = verbal
contract, and either bresks the con-
tract whenever they desire 70 do -:
In fact thew are ruled b. the old tribal
customs sus,.o 1s !, and are llyins N st.ts g
few tribes And this state II maari.
tanned within sight Of chlrehss and
schools, railroad trains and motor
cars-altogether the queerest rningiing
Of the new and the old on The Afneri-
can continent.
The tribe has two chiefs who arc "a
violent opposition. The pfoEfessives.
follow the lead Of old Push-e-tb-neke-
qua, who is the rightful and hereditary
chief. The nonprogresstves have set
up usurper in the person Of little
Pa-ke-k a -ma-qua, a. child OF less than
10 years old now, and who was only
years old when made chief OF tho nom
progressives. The only claim the boy
had on the chieftainship was that he
was the son OF former aspirant for
tiidL pOcJl0l. All tA6
children in the agency school belong
to the progressive, but the nonprogres-
sives will not permit their children to
attend school, The progressives do a
little farming; the nonprogressives
get along by hook or crook-mostly
crook.
Some years ago the Tamas were In
duced to put in a pretty good-sized
corn crop. But just at the time when
ha MIA fonaIo6 n,,1ffxyo ffay, a
band Of Pottawatornis Indians from
Wisconsin came down on visit to the
Tamas, and a. dance, which lasted six
weeks, was started. The Tamas re-
fused to do any work during this time
simply dancing until exhausted, rest
ing up and going at 1t again. When
the Pottawatonis went home and the
help. Because the crop did not TURF
out we'll, the Tamas haven't done much
farming since then.
Faith Of tho Tamas,
Although living close to the whites
and not until the past summer have
white people been able to secure any
| idea of just what their spiritual belief
were. For years the indians have
baffled all efforts OF tho government Il
find out their faith and Il wao' only b
| living among them Tor several Menthl
that DR.. Ward was Aim 70 NJ insid,
information along these lines.
For years our chrtstiasa people hsv!
marveled because Of the unbeifsf d
these Indians" says Rev. ward "lso,'
we find that their faith 10 not - ar.
| ferent from ours after an. after
had been with the tribe three ntou1Ai
succeeded In getting into III eodn.
ell and in hearing just what shSv DID
believe.
I'm the following legend 10 all tn
religion Of the lowe Indians: TN ~
beginning when the grsat Nantes
created the clouds and the siky and thu
earth and the big rivers, he looked u
them and said: TITS all good" Their
he looked about him and said: ''Whas
shall now n1ake?" And he cut ont q
piece of his own heart, bright and rcd
! and he made man and spoke lifs
into him and said: Look at your.
self and tell me what you see" And
he answered: II see Musquakie'
| (Which means "made from the ret
| hearty
| u.rrhe great Manftoa thsn toct 1,ai.