The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-10-18


first of all home-maker and besides
her own large family, she adopted two
indian children; nephews of my father S, |
the only real Indian kin we ever knew |
My father went out from Mississippi 8as |
chaplain of the Choctaw regiment which |
was formed for the Confederate army.
suppose it was natural to presume that !
I should follow in the footsteps of my |
father and become a pioneer worker |
among the Indians, but let me tell you /
something again: I never wanted to be |
minister, least of all an evangelist; i !
considered evangelism the lowest form of
the ministry; with it's sensationalism and |
it's ultra methods I wanted to grow up
like other boys, and make money and
see the world; one of my brothers is a
lawyer, another civil engineer, I'm
minister and the other, well, he's just
an ordinary human being
DR.. Wright's sense of humor is very
refreshing, and when l commented upon !
it, he laughingly said
81 never could have gotten over many
of the rough places without sense OF
humor; some ministers have it, others
haven't, but the majority of us are mis-
understood; we enjoy the humorous side
of life as well as anyone else. But was
going to tell you about my evangelistic
work. l was quenching all the time the
demand that was being made for me to
go into the ministry 1 worked over the
situation; l prayed for wisdom to see my
way clear l went to college and l felt
it was worth the there years of my life
there to know His will at last. So l
went into the ministry; I went to the
Indians the widest most western type;
worked with them, but somehow didn't
i succeed as l felt should. l could preach
| but l had no power; l couldn't save
| souls; and for five years it was difd1-
cult task, but at last God gave me light;
| in the woods out there in the west
| found myself I awoke to know my needs
and then and there my real work began
| God was calling me to do evangelistlc
work and at last knew it
| ''Back to the effete civilization Of the
east, 1 went" DR.. Wright said, and
soon l received a call to do evangelistic
work in New York and New Jersey,
which L at once accepted. My wife ana
children hadn't the wanderlust in their
veins that | have and so the life of the
nomad appealed to them very little.
However, when | got back to the east,
an incident occurred which again turned
me toward the Indians My health
| failed 1 had tuberculosis and in short
time L found myself going back to the
Indians in the west, which L had hoped
| never to do again.
| Nothing could be compared to the plo-
neer work that 1 went through with the
Somanche Indians" said Dr. Wright
"They were brave, but neglected, ana
| such crudeness as l saw you couldnt
think existed in a civilized world. Why,
I've preached to congregations where the
sheriff and a murderer sang from the
same hymn book; afterward the muir
derer was converted. 1t was the riff-raff
the renegade, the pistol toting scum OF
the west where l worked. 1t was reg
ular Botany Bay, where man would
kill you as quick as he'd look at you
II remember one day dining at the
home of some people," DR.. Wright SAID
"and l asked the good woman of the
house if she remembered old Mr.. SO
and So. She replied quickly: why, of
course I do; my father killed him and
his SON. That's the way they felt about
it out there. Let me tell you something.
Once an Indian gives his word he'll Keep
it to the end; parole an Indian Tor muir
! der and he'll come back on the day the
| judge has set for him to be hanged An
instance like this was related to me by
we'll known Judge at Muscogee, where
| something depended upon an Indian VINO
1 was to be hanged on certain day lie
came back on the day and asked the
1 Judge to postpone it one day so he -coulo
! do the work expected of him, ana the
Judge consented, and the next day the
I Indian was hanged
Il ''I had no books when I was boy
like other boys" DR.. Wright said, IN
i dulging in a reminiscent mood. Ihe
Bible, Paradise Lost Pilgrims Prog
! ress' and a few others constituted my
4 world so it was natural for me to want
I to get out among people and see ahu
4 know something beyond the narrow con-
a fines of my childhood. And right here lei
A me say that next to my father ano
y mother owe all of the good | possess &c
I my teacher, Miss Eddy, sanity, Cody
a woman. a missionary who Went TO Woff
A among the Indians and her health ran
ing, my father asked her to make hei
4 home with us and she became our IN
structor afterward.
"And so in the course of events" Dr.
Wright said. my work again called ms
i back among my own people as mission.
ary an evangelist. The womanS ex'
q ecutive committee of the Dutch Re
~ formed church, New York. sent me as
T. missionary to the Blanket Indians onc'
Al more. I've helped to establish five In
dian missions. one among the Cheyenne:
T and Arapahoes, the Comanches and tn
n Apache prisoners of war. at Fort Sill.
q converted old Geronimo and he was bap
a tzed | led his war chief Nache, sol
q of Cochesse to Christ, I established al
4 Indian mission among the Mescaler'
u Apaches in the Sacramento mountains o
New Mexico, and the fifth mission wal
Fl among the Winnebagos of Nebraska.
Every year I give four days each tt
three different missions in which / holt
camp meetings. Dr. Wright said
Among the Cheyennes the Comanches
and the Winnebagos. Often have hal
VI as many as five interpreters at one tim
- in a meeting. 1t sounds like Bedlam
II I've often remarked that language is no
IL bi-lingua but five-lingual out there
And oh, l wish you could see the chang
II in those people. Their demeanor il
: church. Why they used TO laush at tn
81 communion. Now it is partaken of b.
y them in the most solemn and beautiful
n and consecrated manner. Their dress /
- different. They are entirely transformed
And what has done it? Religion. Tn