The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1913-08-30
Two Hundred Tents Pitched at
E.bowoods, North
Dakota.
Six Tribes Formerly at War. Now
in Peace and Gathered for
Religious Service.
Work of Father Hughes Among
North Dakota Indians Very
Successful.

which takes its name Of Elbowoods
among the Indians from sharply
bending course of the Missouri river
through the cotton woods, out in the
sun-kissed, wind-swept summer
blessed, winter-cured North Dakota
prairie, Catholic Indians from six
tribes, once inveterate enemies, are
met in the peace and the common
faith and the humble pride of their
Catholicity. With the mission church,
convent and priests house as the CEN
ter. the Indians are camped upon the
plain. Two hundred tents, white as
the sun in the distance, pointed tee
PEGS which are SO picturesque against
the sunset sky, and squatty modern
tents, which bring out the contrast of
the old teepee-two hundred of them,
counting five persons to each tent, are
here.
They have come to be the guests
OF the Mandans, eros Ventres and
Artckarees, who are attached to this
mission. There are Sioux from Fort
Yates and Cannon Ball, Standing
Rock Reservation, on the South Da-
kota border, and their cousins from
Devils Lake and Wolf Fill, Fort Tot
ten Reservation, North Dakota. There
are Chippewas from Minnesota and
from Turtle Mountain near the Cana
dian border in North Dakota, and AS
siniboines from far-off Montana.
They are met but for a single pur-
pose, which is the theme of every
speech and the motive of every &C.
ton. They are Catholics-just Cath
olics-happy in their new-found faith
and jealous for its spread among the
pagan Indians Of the plains and of the
mountains. They are intensely Cath
Ole. The men, in particular, impress
the white man by their devotion In
prayer to God and in service to others
to be and to make good Catholics.
An Indian Orator.
The Sioux is a natural orator. His
thoughts are elevated. His speech Is
filled with figures drawn from nature.
"As the bees" says Ignatius Court,
gather in the clover when it Is in
flower and then scatter to the four
winds, going to many hives, so will we
leave this place of sweet concourse.
the Catholic Indian Congress-; but not
until we have gathered each one,
something holy, which we will carry
to our own reservation. home and
life.".
The Indian who expressed so poet
ically the object Of the Indian Cath
Ollie Congress bears the double dis
tinction of being the only Indian
Knight of Columbus in the order, and
Of being the assistant editor of the
Catholic newspaper in Sioux AMI Eng
fish published by Father Jerome Hunt,
o. S. B.. at Fort Totten, North Da-
kota.
At the Congress old warriors who
in. years past were kept from the war;
path only by being held in chains, like
John Grass, and young men of mag
nificent physique. on whom the John
Grasses are glad to lay the robe of
chieftainship, like Jerome Cottonwood
of Cannon Ball; faithful old converts
like Good Bear, the Gros Ventre, and
neophytes like James Garfield, the
Montana Assiniboine, stand up in the
meeting Of the st. Joseph Society for
men, and declare the faith which rules
their lives and which impelled them
to come to this meeting. John Grass,
patriarch that he is, with q face which
is touched with the grace of God
speaks as a Bishop might speak. He
tells his people to remember we'll the
words which were spoken to them the
day before by Bishop wehrle, when he
confirmed 40 Indians Of all ages from
8 to 90. ''The Bishop told u.s." says
the chief. "that in confirmation he i'm
prints the sign Of the cross upon our
souls. Be not ashamed, then, to de-
clare yourselves Catholics by the sign
Of the cross. Be not like some white
men who attend mass only when at
home and neglect it when away"
Good Bear. the Indian apostle Of the
faith at Elbowoods. tells Of his first
visit to Standing Rock. in the Sioux
country, IS years ago. when he saw
the great benefit Of the Catholic reli-
gion to the Sioux. He told how he
came back ana told his people that
they. too, should have a black robe
And then how he. Good Bear, and
Wounded Face. went to Bishop Shan
ley and asked for 9 priest. The Bish-
op sent Father Francis Craft, in 1890
James Garfield. speaking for the
Assiniboines OF Montana. tells a stir