USA > South Dakota > Minnehaha County > History of Minnehaha county, South Dakota. Containing an account of its settlements, growth, development and resources Synopsis of public records, biographical sketches > Part 53
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As I afterwards came to see, I had been led through a course of preparation for such a summons. Though born and bred at the East, I had spent six months in Michigan and Minnesota, 1863, and there seen something of the Indian problem.
I had seen that there was nothing in the van of civilization to ameliorate the condition of the Red man, because the van of civiliza- tion is often its vilest offscourings; that its first representatives gen- erally despise the Indians, and condescend to them in nothing but the gratification of inordinate appetites and desires; and that when civilization of a better class appears, it is too often so bent on its own progress, and so far from helpful or kindly, that its advance, like that of a railroad train at full speed, dashes in pieces those unlucky wan- derers who happen to stand in its way, and leaves the others with only a more discouraging sense of the length of the road, and the slowness with which they make their way along it.
I thought then, I think now, that good and patriotic men cannot blink the Indian problem. It stares them in the face. If ever the warning of the wise man be in season, it is in this case. "If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; if thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not He that pondereth the heart consider it? and He that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not He render to every man accord- ing to his works?"
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
Discussions of the probable future of the Indians were, it seemed to me, beside the question, and dangerous because they drown the call of present duty. Suppose these people be designed by Providence to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Our duty is to fit them for that lot. Suppose that they are to be merged in our more numer- ous race. Our duty is to fit them for that absorption by intermar- riage, and so arrest the present vicious intermingling. Suppose that they are to die out. Our duty is to prepare them for their departure. Our duty is the plainer, because the treatment which will fit these people for any one of these lots will fit them for either of the others.
The issue of all my cogitating was-I accepted the appointment.
The presiding Bishop determined upon Thursday after the Feast of the Epiphany, January 9th, 1873, as the time, and St. Luke's church, Philadelphia, with which I had been intimately connected in my early ministry, as the place for my consecration, and I was then and there duly consecrated. *
My grandfather, Bishop Hobart of New York, had been distin- guished for his missionary efforts in behalf of the Indians, the Oneidas and other tribes of the Six Nations in New York, and these Oneidas had been removed to Wisconsin, and were to be placed under the care of his grandson. In fact, my first visitation on leaving the East was to the Oneida Mission. Many whom Bishop Hobart confirmed in New York state fifty years before, brought their grandchildren to be confirmed by his grandson.
VISIT TO THE INDIAN TERRITORY.
I was desirous of studying the condition of the semi-civilized In- dians before going to the wilder tribes of the Northwest, and there- fore first made a visit to the Indian Territory of the Southwest. While I was en route, the whole country was plunged into a frenzy of excitement, and of denunciation of the whole Indian race, by the Modoc massacre, and the mouths of many sober men were filled with calls for revenge, such as at other times they were wont to denounce as the characteristic of the vindictive Sioux. The general of the army telegraphed a subordinate that he would be "fully justified in the utter extermination" of the Modocs. Friends wrote me that a blow had been struck at all efforts for the Indians which was simply fatal, conclusive; and that it would be folly in me to persist. I pressed on, nevertheless, only lamenting that the treachery of a handful of Indians was allowed by an intelligent people to govern opinion, while the good behavior of tens of thousands of Indians was utterly forgotten.
From the Indian Territory I made my way to Dakota, like Abra- ham, who wentout not knowing whither he went. I reached Yankton City, April 29, 1873. A military officer, to whom I was there intro- duced as being the Missionary Bishop to the Indians, somewhat bluntly replied: "Indeed! I don't envy you your task." I recalled the words, "Let not him who putteth on his armor boast himself as he that putteth it off," and simply replied, "A minister, like a mili- tary officer, obeys orders." Whatever was uncertain, I was at least sure of my commission.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
THE NIOBRARA MISSION.
From Yankton I passed up the Missouri river, along which the main body of the missionary enterprise of our church among the In- dians was then located. I found that missionary work had been es- tablished on the Santee, Yankton, and Ponca Reserves, and three brave voung deacons, fresh from the Berkeley Divinity School, had the previous fall, pressed up the river and begun the task of opening the way for missionary effort among the Indians of the Lower Brule, the Crow Creek and the Cheyenne River Reserves.
Altogether there were, besides three natives, five white clergy- men and five ministering women. I could not then, I cannot now, admire enough the courage with which these Soldiers of Christ had entered upon the work and the fortitude with which they persevered in it. Their entrance upon it was largely, of necessity, a leap in the dark, and their continuance in it a groping where there was no light and no trodden way. They had made the wild man their companion, an unknown heathenism their field of labor, and the wilderness their home. Nor could I but wonder at the grand faith, the dauntless conviction of duty and the tremendous moral energy of the one man William Welsh --- who had both excited and backed their efforts by his zeal, his counsel and his wealth.
The missionaries above referred to have since been joined by others of like spirit with the best of them. They deserve the en- comium which I admiringly bestowed upon them in one of my annual reports; "Brave leaders in the van-guard of civilization! Patient pioneers removing prejudices and other obstructions, and preparing the way for day schools and boarding schools and all the good things that accompany the progress of the King! Faithful guides, too, to the Indians amidst the perplexities which surround them, especially as they pass through their present transition stage."
But what about the Indians? I had read much of what had been written by delighted visitors of the heartiness and reverence with which the services of the church were rendered by these humble peo- ple. And all that was ever written I found more than realized, when it was my privilege to kneel with them in their little sanctuaries. I could understand how the brave, self-denying missionaries to whom I had come could feel regarding their converts as the Apostle ex- claims, "What thanks can we render to God for all the joy where- with we joy for your sakes before our God?" I found that a great deal of true and effective work had been done - work which affected the whole after history of the Mission.
It was not long before I saw both sides of Indian life. The bet- ter side: Said a shrewd christian Yankton chief, as I was about to leave the rude chapel erected among his people: "Stop, friend, I have a few words to say. I am glad to hear you are going to visit the wild, upper tribes. Companies of them often come down to visit my band, and I always take them to see this chapel. I think a good deal depends upon the impression my chapel makes on them. I think if it was put in better order it would make a better impression than it does. The rain and snow come through the roof. This floor
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
is not even. Now, you are called an Apostle. That is a good name. I believe it means, 'one sent.' But there are many people to whom you are sent to whom you cannot go; for they are wild people. But these visitors of mine go everywhere and tell everywhere what they have seen." The wilder side, too, I saw; for among the Lower Brules, a fellow rode up by the side of our party with an airy, reck- less, dare-devil manner, and remarked, as he flourished his weapon: "I want my boy to go to school, but I am an old man. I am wounded all over. I like to fight. I love war. I went off the other day among some strange Indians. They said: 'Go away, or we'll kill you.' 'Kill away,' said I, 'that's what I like.'" He was a type of hundreds and thousands. But is it an unheard-of-thing for white men to hate the restraints of religion and morality for themselves, and vet wish them for their children?
The scenes grew wilder as I pushed farther on. A service held at the Cheyenne River Agency, in the open air, left a deep impression on my mind. It was a strange scene. In front of us, forty or fifty feet distant, rolled the Missouri River. Nearer at hand, grouped in a semi-circle, fringed with a few curious soldiers and employes of the Agency, sat the Indians; many bedecked with paint and feathers and carrying guns and tomahawks; some in a somber guise, betoken- ing that they were inclining to the white man's ways; while all gazed, apparently half amused, half awe-struck, at the vested Missionary of the station as he sang the hymns and offered the prayers of the church, and then at the Indian Deacon and at me as we spoke the words of life.
PLANS OF WORK.
After a study of the field, and much conversation with the clergy, I reached some conclusions and began to lay out settled plans of work.
First-Mapping out the field. I soon saw that my work was not to be that of a settled pastor in daily contact with his flock; but that of a general superintendent whose duty it would be to reach the people through their pastors, not so much to do local work, as to make local work possible and easy for others.
The whole field was therefore mapped out into divisions, these divisions being ordinarily the territory connected with a United States Indian Agency. The special care of each of them was en- trusted to one experienced Presbyter, and around him were grouped the Indian ministers and catechists, and others who were engaged in evangelistic work within his division. Their pay I arranged should pass to them not directly from me, or from the board, but through the hands of the Presbyters immediately over them, that the respon- sibility of the assistants to their chief might be duly felt. The assistants were to reside near their several chapels and conduct the services there, and monthly the chief missionary was to make his visitation, for the purpose of ministering the word and sacraments, and in inspecting the condition of his field. The whole field was soon, in this way put in manageable shape.
Second-Boarding Schools. My visit to the Indian territory and my study of the Indian problem in my own field, convinced me
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
quite early that the boarding school ought to be one of the most prominent features of our missionary work.
I thought that children gathered in such schools would soon be- come, in their neat and orderly appearance, their increasing intelli- gence, and their personal testimony to the loving and disinterested lives of the missionaries with whom they dwelt, living epistles, known and read of their wilder brethren. They would form the nuclei of congregations at the chapels connected with the schools, and learn to carry on with spirit the responses and music of the services.
I also proposed to establish a central boarding school of higher grade, at the place of the bishop's residence, to be conducted under his immediate supervision, to which the other schools should be trib- utary by furnishing their most promising boys for education as teachers, cathechists, and missionaries.
The plan was carried out, and thus grew up the St. Paul's, St. Mary's, St. John's, and Hope Indian boarding schools, which, under their respective heads, have won a deservedly high reputation. St. Paul's boarding school was the first venture in this line, among the Indians in South Dakota.
The last feature of the plan was modified later when the estab- lishment at the East of schools for the Indians, like Hampton Insti- tute, offered peculiar advantages in the way of higher education. It seemed wiser to send out of the Indian country, to these schools, the pupils who had proved themselves of most promise and most likely to develop into teachers and ministers.
Third- Limitation. I next realized that, as no man can do everything, I must eliminate from my plan of work those things which it was not absolutely necessary for me to do, and devote my attention to those things which no one else could or would do, and to the things most essential in one holding the position and placed in the conditions in which I found myself.
There stretched before me vast tracts of wild country inhabited by roaming tribes. It was to be my duty to explore them and make a way for the entrance of the church. There were in the whole dis- trict but five churches and but two dwellings for the missionaries, and not a single boarding school. The missionary board employed no business agent in the field, and I saw that I must be a builder of parsonages, schools, and churches. There were but seven clergy- men in the mission; I saw that I must seek out, or raise up, more. Obstacles of varied and peculiar nature met the workers at every turn. I saw that I must be their friend, counsellor, and comforter a real pastor of pastors -- if I could be. Large funds would be needed. I was made to feel that it was left largely to me to raise them. "The mission had two ends," I was told; "one was in the East, where the money was, and the other was in the Indian Terri- tory, where the work was. I was expected to look after both ends."
I gave up, therefore, all thought of ever learning the several na- tive languages with which I was confronted, except so far as neces- sary in order to read the vernacular service. It is my associates, and not I, who have mastered the native languages, and proclaimed it to the Indians, in their own tongue, the wonderful works of God.
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY
From the first, I struggled against the notion that we were mis- sionaries to Indians alone and not missionaries to all men; I pressed the study of the English langauge and its conversational use in our schools, and, however imperfect my efforts, the aim of them has been to break down "the middle wall of the partition" between whites and Indians, and to seek not the welfare of one class or race, but the common good.
NATURE OF THE MISSION UNDERTAKING.
The character of the work to be done appears from the fact that the Indians with whom the Mission has to deal, were some of the most reckless and the wildest of our North American tribes, and scattered over a district some parts of which were twelve days' travel distant from others. So desolate was the country that on one of my trips I remember not seeing a human face or a human habita- tion, not even an Indian lodge, for eight days. Emissaries of evil had reached the Indians long before the missionaries of the Cross ap- peared. "All the white men that came before you," replied a chief, "said that they had come to do us good, but they stole our goods and corrupted our women; and how are we to know that you are dif- ferent?"
RESULTS.
Such were some of the difficulties, but notwithstanding them all. and despite all shortcomings, the missionaries have penetrated the most distant camps and reached the wildest of the tribes. We have missions now among the Sissetons, Wahpetons, Blackfeet, Sans Arcs, Oncpapas, Minneconjoux, Two Kettles, Upper Brules, and Ogalalas.
The blessing which has attended the labors of the missionaries appears from the fact that in 1872 there were but six congregations, and in 1887, there are forty-five.
Twelve years ago there was not to be found among any of these Indians, a single boarding school! We have now four in successful operation, with about forty children in each.
We have three commodious, substantial, boarding school build- ings, the fourth is conducted in a government building and a vast and once desolate country is dotted over with thirty neat churches and chapels, and eighteen small but comfortable mission residences. No recess in the wilderness is so retired that you may not, perhaps. find a little chapel in it. All these buildings have been erected with- out government subsidies, by the gifts of generous friends.
The clergy have presented for confirmation during my Episco- pate, nearly fifteen hundred candidates; seven faithful Indians are serving in the sacred ministry, four having died; and the offerings of our native Christians have increased since we were able to make a systematic effort in this behalf, as indicated in the following state- ment:
1881
S 585
1885
$1,801
1882
960
1886
2,000
1883
1,217
1887
2,500
1884
1,514
30
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
The money for all the thirty churches and eighteen parsonages referred to above, except three, passed through my hands, and the buildings were put up under my supervision. I know, therefore, their condition, and am glad to report that they are all of them en- tirely free from encumbrance and debt of any kind, except one of the Santee chapels, on which the Western Church Building society holds a mortgage of $100.
AN EASTERN DEANERY.
If I had not discovered it before, the events of 1875 made it plain that I should soon be the messenger of the church to white people as well as Indians.
The discovery of gold, in 1875, in a part of the great Sioux res- ervation known as the Black Hills, set a large part of our western population aflame, and hundreds of adventurers during that year, in open violation of the law and the proclamation of the executive, in- vaded this portion of the Indian's land and took possession of it.
I was outspoken in denunciation of this flagrant violation of the sacred obligations of a great to a weak people. I foresaw, however, that no power on earth could shut our white people out from that country if it really contained valuable deposits of gold or other min- eral. I went, therefore, to Washington and urged upon the presi- dent that a commission of experts should be sent out to explore the country, and that, should they report the presence of gold, steps should be taken to secure a surrender of the tract in question from the Indians, on equitable terms. This was eventually done.
The government had at first been prompt and decided in requiring the removal of intruders; then it weakened and prevaricated; and soon the desire for the acquisition of this country was so ardent and influential that the government was practically driven to negotiate with the Indians to secure a voluntary sale of the coveted territory, as the only resort from the danger of a popular movement which should snatch it from them by force.
The Black Hills were thus thrown open to settlement, and I made there my first effort in the line of establishing the church among the white people of Dakota.
In 1883 an important step was taken by the House of Bishops, which gave my missionary district its present size and shape. The house passed the following resolutions:
Resolved, That the boundaries of the Missionary Jurisdiction of Niobrara be so changed as to make it identical in outline and area with that portion of the Territory of Dakota lying south of the forty- sixth parallel of latitude, and so as to include the Santee Indian res- ervation in Nebraska.
Resolved, That the name of this jurisdiction be changed from Niobrara to South Dakota.
The change was altogether acceptable to me. It was an evidence of confidence at a time when a number of influences and schemes, to whose success my presence and continuance in office were a menace, had combined against me, and had culminated in an onslaught which had met a temporary success. The change detached from my dis-
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY
trict, territory on the north, remote, and, to me, difficult of access, and it gave me country on the east, near at hand and on the line of railroads, thus making it possible for me to do twice the amount of work with little increase of travel or labor, and it gave me the op- portunity and privilege of active intercourse with the people who are to control the destiny of this part of our land, a people of high intel- ligence and wonderful enterprise.
I received a cordial welcome to the new part of my field, from the clergy and the people. If preferences had been thwarted by my ap- pointment, the fact was kindly forgotten, or considerately hidden from my eye. I had soon met each and every one of the missionaries in their respective fields and drunk in their counsel. All felt cheered that the Church had at last brought the Mission in Dakota out from a corner, and all had a mind to work. *
I found the condition of the new district assigned me that of de- pression. Dakota, in the days of its quickest growth, had been allowed to remain as an appendage to Nebraska-of itself a huge dio- cese-and dragged after a Bishop whose rare gifts of mind and heart were overtaxed by the imperative demands of his own diocese. When opportunities had been great and others had been busy, our church had been comparatively inactive.
I thought that some one palpable want should be met in some distinct, striking way, met immediately, met well, met completely. If this were done, it would show that, notwithstanding past inactivity, we were ready to make brave ventures and could do good things well. It would thus inspire enthusiasm and confidence.
With this end in view, All Saints School was undertaken. I hoped to be able to push it to completion without delay, to make it a building which would attract the eve and win admiration, and dedi- cate it free from any and every kind of lien and encumbrance. The enterprising and generous spirit of the people of Sioux Falls, and the munificient gifts of friends at the East, enabled me to carry out my design. The corner stone was laid September, 1885, and stands to-day, with the five-acre tract on which it is placed, free from en- cumbrance of every kind. Better than this, a faculty has been drawn thither which, in the best spirit, works together harmoniously and efficiently, toward noble ends, in the development of the mind and character of the young.
More important, however, than this enterprise, though not a work that could be taken in hand and completed with dispatch like a building, was the reinforcement of the little band of faithful clergy. There were but nine in the whole Eastern Deanery, and one of these was preparing to withdraw. The securing of clergymen has been my most difficult task. There was but little, in a worldly way, to offer.
Nevertheless, my call was listened to, and there is nothing in my work which gives me so much comfort, and so much makes me think I may be good for something, as the character of the clergymen who have joined our ranks.
I begin to have a feeling that, whatever difficulties are ahead, we are dear brethren, "out of the woods." We know what we have to
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HISTORY OF MINNEHAHA COUNTY.
do. We are resolved to do it. We feel the glow, at least sometimes, of new life. We are making headway. The accession to our ranks of eleven valuable clergymen; the building of eight churches, five more being under way; the erection of three rectories; the passage of three missions from a state of dependence into a condition of self- support; the establishment of a boarding school of high grade, and the erection of a noble building for its use, tell their own conclusive story.
CONCLUSION.
For all this work in both Deaneries, and for all that the clergy and my other fellow workers have done to effect it, I am profoundly thankful. I am not elated. One of my maxims has always been the quaint old saying: "In woe, hold out; in joy, hold in."
As I look back upon the past, there rise up before my mind's eye, periods of physical inability which must have made me seem a drag upon the enterprises of my brethren, and must have sorely taxed their patience; shortcomings so grevious that I must have seemed a cumberer of the ground; want of thoughtfulness for my as- sociates, which must have made them think me hard-hearted. I can only say, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified." *
Since the delivery of the foregoing address, in addition to his work in South Dakota, Bishop Hare has spent several months in active work in Japan. He was elected on February 4, 1891, by the House of Bishops, by a unanimous vote, to proceed as early as possi- ble to the Empire of Japan as its accredited representative in all matters and for all purposes that might arise, but especially to exer- cise such charge and oversight of the missionary jurisdiction of Yeddo as might be practicable, and to act provisionally until a bishop should be elected and consecrated for such jurisdiction, or until he should resign his commission. This action by the House of Bishops was heartily indorsed by the Board of Managers of the Domestic and Foreign Missionary Society.
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