loving Saviour, who had put it into their hearts to come and live among these neglected children, and try to win them to Himself. Our missionaries did not understand the Apache language, but both they and the Indians could speak enough Spanish to get along very well. Many of the Indians were eager to learn to read the book from which the missionaries talked so much, and so a class was started and they were patiently taught a word at a time. While on the reservation for a few days, I was in the missionaries' cottage when the Indians came in for their lesson. After they had drank their cup of coffee they were all ready, and I shall never forget how reverently they lifted the Bible from the table and carefully turned the leaves until they found their lesson, the fourteenth chapter of John, and with what joy they read over the few words with which they were familiar. Surely His words,' "Blessed are they that hunger and thrist after righteousness, for they shall be filled," shall be fulfilled in them.

Our teachers had not been among the Indians long before a great improvement was noted. Those who owned a little stock took better care of it; many cultivated their land and raised a nice garden; not a tin can was to be found on the reservation, for every Indian had half a dozen or more with plants growing in them, because the "white women" had flowers in their windows.

When an Indian died his body was carried off to the mountains and hid in the rocks, and his house and belongings destroyed by fire, his friends believing that in this way they reached him in the spirit land, where he would need them. Now the "white women" helped them bury their dead with proper ceremonies, and they no longer burned his property. Surely God was honoring the work of these noble women. The results obtained among these and other tribes of Indians would seem incredible did we not know that God always works mightily through those who put their trust in Him. During the last twenty-five years in New Mexice and Indian Territory. hundreds of churches have been built, whose sweet-toned bells are calling out over mountain and plain to the yet unconverted. Sunday-schools and sewing schools have been started in many of the churches. Missionary societies have been organized, presided over by Indian women, and large sums of money have been raised to help send missionaries among their people. The Indians call one of these societies "A Light on the Mountain.” They have received the light and they want it to shine into the hearts of their brethren. Their desire is fast being realized, for the light is spreading and continuing to shine "more and more unto the perfect day."

Many Christian farmers are going among these Indians to live, teaching them to till the soil that it may yield them good returns; and as the time is coming when they must depend more and more upon their own efforts for their support, this knowledge is very valuable. The Indian is quick to recognize

when he is trusted, and responds with gratitude. One chief of Kiowas said, when a brave young missionary went among his people: "One white Jesus woman come all alone among my people and no scared. That is good. The Great Father talked to your heart; we will listen to all he tells you to tell us and think about it over and over. We will call you no more 'white woman,' but 'sister.'" And that relation has been truly established through the bond of Christian fellowship.

To-day there are probably 25,000 Indian children in our several government schools. The girls are being trained in cooking, sewing and all the domestic industries; being carefully taught what home life should be and how best to discharge its responsibilities.

Systematic training is given to the boys in every department of farm work and in all trades. At Carlisle the course of study is very complete, and many of the students remain for eight years. In that time they acquire great skill in some industry, strong characters are formed, and a desire for civilization developed. When their school work is over, many of these students go out into the world and fill important positions with great credit to themselves. Others return to the reservations; the young men, enlisting in the army; others helping their parents in building homes and cultivating the soil. Many, both the young men and women, are employed as teachers in the government schools. The help these students are, in preparing students for citizenship and absorption into our national life, is beyond estimation. It is true, the old Indians, in many cases, will not abandon the time-honored ways of their people, or conform to the customs of civilized life. Consequently, when their children return from schoo!, having no help or encouragment, they naturally fall back into old ways of dress and living, but the lessons they have learned will not be lost, either upon themselves or the coming generations, and when the

Indian owns his land and is depending upon his own efforts for his support he will find their value.

The Osage Indians, in Indian Territory, are a wealthy people, having comfortable homes and well-stocked farms, and using modern agricultural implements. They have splendidly equipped schools on their lands, and are giving their children a good education. The tribes of the Cherokees, Creeks, Choctaws, and Seminoles, also in Indian Territory, are maintaining a government of their own, with a system of legislation and courts of justice. They also have comfortable homes and well kept farms and good schools. At Tahlequah, the capital of the Cherokee nation, is a large Indian University, having a regular college course and, in addition, one year's work in theological studies. In the last fifteen years nearly one thousand students have shared its advantages, and are now successfully filling positions as teachers, ministers, and physicians, or working with profit at some trade.

Our government is doing no grander work, or appropriating its money for no better purpose, than that of maintaining schools for our Indian children. The progress they have made in the past gives promise of a still brighter future. A "little leaven eaveneth the whole," and these brave boys and girls, working faithfully against many odds, will yet raise their people to a proud place in our nation and bring about that glad time when two hundred and fifty thousand Indians, having lost their identity as such in citizenship, shall form with us one people, whose God is the Lord.

HIDERY PRAYERS.

BY JAMES DEANS.

It has been maintained by some people on this coast that none of the aborigines were known to pray, at least they made no such prayers as others do; that they have dances and sacred ceremonies, but no such thing as prayer. Having heard Hidery prayers, I consider myself authority on the subject and accordingly give you a few specimens. I begin with a prayer of the Massett Indians. It is a prayer to the sun for fair weather. Looking up to where the sun was supposed to be, these Indians would say:

O sun shine on us; look down on us. O sun take away the dark rolling clouds, that the rain may cease to fall, because we want to be about. O sun look down upon us from ou high and grant us peace amongst ourselves and with our enemies. Hear us in pity, O sun.

A SKIDEGAT HAIDA PRAYER TO THE SEA.

This prayer used to be said by these people, when caught in a storm at sea, in their canoes. It is as follows:

O Thou deep! Thou clear blue sea! (Quill cusedlos.) Still thy wild rolling waves; why do you want to break our canoe and swallow us up? We are dirty, all dirty, ourselves and our clothes. If you should drown us and we so dirty, we would pollute thy clear blue waters. Hear us, O sea! Listen to our supplication, O sea!

A PRAYER TO THE GODDESS OF THE MOUNTAINS FOR RAIN.

The Skidegat Indians have a salmon stream of considerable dimensions, which rises at or near a high mountain and flows southward until it falls into Skidegat channel. The name of this stream is Claig-a-doo (land of plenty), because, from its waters, every year they draw their supply of salmon, and also to its head waters they go for the black slate from which they make their famous carvings.

In this stream, the fish genarally begin to run toward the end of September. Every summer, especially a dry one, this stream gets low, so much so that salmon are unable to get up until the fall rains come, when the water rises. When the fall rains were light and the water continued low, they had the fol lowing prayer to the goddess of the mountain, for rain, in order to raise the river and enable the salmon to run. The name of this goddess, I have lost, so I will use the expression Goddess of the Mountain. The prayer is as follows:

O Thou great Goddess, whose dwelling is on the high mountain of Claig-a-doo. Thou, who hast control of the storm clouds and bringeth them to rest on the tops of the mountains, and while resting to pour out the waters they carry and cause the lakes and rivers to rise and the salmon to run in Claig-a-doo. Hear us, Thou great and good Goddess, and send now the clouds and rain, because the river is low and in it the salmon can not run, while our supply of food is already very scant. Hear us, O Goddess, and grant our request, that we, having food, may rejoice and be glad.

Allow me to to say, in conclusion, that according to the ancient belief of these people, everything had a spirit: The storm and tempest; the mountains, lakes, and rivers; the lightning and thunder. Even the stillness of the dense primeval forest was often broken by the awful screams of the storm god, forboding the coming storm. In the forest, also, were elementary sort of beings representing the Dryads, nymphs, and satyrs of the ancient Greek mythology.

THE WORD FOR MAN AND CHILD IN DIFFERENT

LANGUAGES.

BY C. STANILAND WAKE.

Sometimes it is useful to be able to refer to lists of words conveying a common idea in different languages, and we are able to furnish such a list, made some years ago for comparative purposes. It covers considerable ground and, although it gives words for "man" and "child" only, the list will be perused with interest, and will give rise to the thought that there may be a language affinity between the Polynesian Islanders and peoples of both the Asiatic and the American continents. The list is as follows: