The Newtown bee., 1907-01-04
FROM THE
 WEST
A CHURCH HOLY DAY AMONG THE
 PIE OPLE OF THE DAkOTAS.
BY FREDERICK FOOTE JOHNSON, BIsH-
 OPAssIsTANT OF SOUTH DAKOTA.

After long days windy drive across the plains and through the gumbo hills of portion of the Church's great mis- sionary district of South Dakota, we come, just as the shadows of the late afternoon are growing very long, the bishop assistant and one of the native missionaries in priests orders, to an isolated chapel which stands upon broad plateau and overlooks the mud dy Missouri from the west. We had arranged to hold service at this chapel on the morning of the following day and notice to that effect had been circulated among the Indians who have their allotments in the country round about. But we had gained upon our schedule, for we had a mighty driver of horses, and were here some hours earlier than we had thought it possible to be-. Should we alter our program and hold our service in the evening, leaving the morning free for taking up our journey at an earlier hour than we had planned, to city of the whites, 20 miles to the northward and across the Missouri? That was the question. At first thought it seemed good to us both to do so. The chief objection was that the Indians had been duly warned that the service was to be had on the morning of the following day. But the native priest was able to meet this objection in practical way; sfor," said he, 'sthe chapel bell can be heard mile away and we can send a fo6 summon those who are more distant than a mile and it will not take them long to prepare to come and all can be assembled in due time for service now this evening if we wish" How ever, we decided, after no very long discussion, to stay by the itinerary we had outlined and to have our service in the morning as had been announced. Taking up our carriages, we made our way to the home of one of the fam lilies of the Dakotas on the "bottoms, :" where our horses were soon in shelter of the corral and we were warmth g ourselves in the cabin by a friendly | fire, for the wind that day had been high and piercing. The Dakota house ! wife shortly had our supper laid; and | we were ready for it, for our only food since morning had been a slice of bread and bit of timed cold tongue, ! which we ate at noon while our horses were resting for an hour and browsing on wild hay. It was with grateful hearts that we stood about the table in the kitchen of this humble home and said: s'Thanks be unto Thee, O Lord; feed the hungry; may all men, everywhere, seek and find the living Bread which cometh down from heav- en;" and then seated ourselves to fried chicken, potatoes, bread, coffee, wild plum butter, and chocolate cake Withdrawing, after we had eaten, tC another room of the cabin, where we
 were to sleep, the missionary and l
 we soon found ourselves surrounded, a is usually the case in such visitations ) with circle of the men and womer , of the Dakotas who had crept in ol their silent, moccasined feet, to pa, . their respects and shake hands witt the assistant-bishop
 I Here was an opportunity. After
 short space of conversation, in whicl
 I was aided by an interpreter, the mis
 sionary produced from his travelini kit some service books and hymnal flor both the Prayer Book and tn
 Hymnal are translated into the Dako
 ta tongue), we sang hymn, 70 Bles the Lord, My Soul, 7" repeated togethe
 the Greed and the Lords Prayer an . several suitable Collects were saiC 1.-The missionary then read to the pee l ple, who sat upon the floor, a firing
 about the room, the exhortatiOn, s
 frequently disused, which the Churc
 has provided that the minister sha
 read when he 'tgiveth warning for tn
 celebration of the Holy Communion.
 The bishop-assiStant followed the reaC ing with a simple and unStudied med
 tation based upon the exhortation; a
 evening hymn was sung, 1.-The Day
 Past and Gone;'' the moccasin- fOOte
 Dakotas slipped out of the cabin 2
 silently as they had slipped in an 7 melted away into the night. And N IT went to our rest.
 And presently I found myself muslin
 in this wise as I lay and waited unt
 sleep should come and carry me ava
 "I am on an Indian Reservation
 There are no white folk for many mil - in any direction. l am in an India + cabin. This minister of Christ WI A sleeps tonight beside me in this roo S is himself full-blooded Sioux. He b' ~ been telling me to-day, as we ha' A iourneyed on the plains together, ho E we'll he remembers, as boy, seeii N the men of his tribe return to the X tents bringing with them the heads E1 five or six of the enemy, Ojibway
 whom they had killed upon the ws
 path. By how short space of yea