The Newtown bee., 1908-05-22
FRIENDS AT HOME AND
 ABROAD. LAB0RS OF A MISSIONARY BISHOP. J0TTINGS BY BISHOP JOHNSON.

1 l am back Tn what IS called Tn tnls
 part of the country "the finest lant
 that lays out of doors" l crossed thu
 Missouri river this morning in a skifi
 and drove 20 miles to Gettysburg iron
 which point 1 get a train to Sioux
 Falls. l shall not have to cross the
 Missouri in boat again this summer.
 That suits me. It is always treacher-
 ous stream. Two Indians rowing a
 doctor over were drowned the other
 day in part of the river where l have
 often crossed. The doctor made the
 shore. 1 don't know whether l should
 be so lucky; though used to think l
 knew how to swim in "Jim Beers
 pond." l never practiced with my
 shoes and all my clothing on.
 have had two solid weeks among
 the tents and cabins and churches of
 our Sioux Indians. have travelled by
 wagon every day, on the Standing Rock
 and the great Cheyenne Indian reserva-
 tions. Once and sometimes twice d
 day or evening have had service and preached to congregations of the h.
 dians. My preaching, of course, must
 always be by an interpreter, and it
 makes a long sermon in spite of my l good intentions. But with the Indians.
 the longer the better. They like to
 string things out themselves and they
 expect their bishop to talk heap long time. Nights have bunked in Indian
 cabins, often with no white person
 around. By kind of sign language l
 can make known the things which 1 ab- solutely must have and by few Sioux words which 1 have picked up l can convince any Indian who wonders what I'm there for that I am friendly white man. Beside, nearly all the South Dakota Indians, Christian and heather, know me now. When l first went
 among them they used to call me "the new bishop" Now they have an h. dian name for me which, being inter- preted, mean" the long bishop"
 On those trips just ended l have eat ea hash among the cabins of the Sioux. This assures me that the two and a half years of my episcopate have min istered grace to me if not to others It takes real grace to eat hash in some places. have eaten much of a kind of bread made in the shape of crullers and boiled in hot fat, but unsweetened. Last year, at a certain cabin. the squaw who was conveying the. .victuals from the stove to the table got bit fused and the chunks of boiled chicken slid off her plate onto the cabin floor. The l dogs and pups were kept measurably well at bay until the scraps were gath i cred up to furnish forth our meal. On this trip lodged and took supper and breakfast at the same cabin and am thankful to say there was no such ex- citement. l went to bed in thick cloud of smoke from four pipes and in my ears the musical accents of the Sioux tongue. When I woke next two of my companions were wound up in their blankets on the floor beside me. The other had bunked elsewhere.
 Yesterday I had a busy Sunday. Sat lrday had driven 50 miles in the teeth of wind which had made my face bleed and in order to reach the point where 1 was to spend Sunday. Up in he morning early and our breakfast lone, the first service was the Sunday school and l talked to the children $ Sioux and parents who had gathered, lbout 150 of them. This was followed y a confirmation service and the Holy I Communion and was the preacher. ! Ne were done at two o'clock. Dinner I hen. At three o'clock a service in English for congregation mostly made up of those who are in govern l nent employ and their families. 1 | preached. When this was done, l bought to take a little horizontal re- V reshment. But committee had | sked the privilege of talking with me c through an interpreter, of course) and P his committee kept me from four to ix o'clock. Their names were Moses z )ne Feather, Adam High Bear, James l! White Eye, James Crow Feather, Si- t non Two Tail, Louise Don't Touch It, W lollie Kingman, Charles Gabe, Eliza X eth One Feather. When I had done o nth this committee it was time for n upper. Then call came for me to go p D to the Government Indian school nd make a speech" at the Sunday e vening assembly. My audience there a as made up of 175 children of all ages r nd some 50 employees, white and ldian.
 Returning at S.30 I said to myself. al Now the day is over and I'll put my z ,et up in chair and take rest and jt y evening cigar" But in less lan ten minutes two Indians came in