THE SASKATCHEWAN NATIVES 



31 



geography, grammar, (sic) vocal music, and especially the 

 English language. Their training appeared to the best ad- 

 vantage when they sang hymns in their mother tongue. They 

 .also sang in English hymns wholly unintelligible to themselves 

 ,and nearly so to the listener. 



On the playground I found the boys engaged in a game of 

 football. The "ground" was a little opening among the pines 

 surrounding the building, where three feet of snow had been 

 packed firm and hard by the tread of many moccasins. The 

 ball was made of rags and about six inches in diameter, irreg- 

 ular in shape and very light, but not too light for the feet of 

 the players protected only by moccasins. A genuine "rush" 

 would have resulted in the total demolition of the wearing 

 apparel of the participants, who wore the cast-off tatters of 

 their elders. 



At noon each pupil was given two hard-tack biscuits for 

 lunch. This was supposed to be sufficient inducement to bring 

 them to school. Many of the children ate the meat or fish they 

 had brought with them andcarried the hard-tack to theirparents. 



Mission. About twenty years ago an Episcopal mission was 

 established at Grand Rapids, then included in the diocese of 

 Rupert's Land. The Indians built the church and missionary 

 residence, so the buildings are their own and not the property 

 of the church as other missions, where the land is set apart by 

 the government. The church is a barn like structure of hewn 

 logs, with very little furniture within and no decoration what- 

 ever. The bell is hung upon a tower apart from the building. 

 The manse is a low roofed cabin, very cold in winter and very 

 muddy in summer when the rain washes out the clay with 

 which it is chinked. The missionary receives a small salary 

 from the church missionary society of England, which also 

 provides Bibles and hymn books, printed in the Cree language. 

 Both the syllabic 1 and the Roman characters are used in these 

 publications, and nearly all can read. They possess a natural 

 talent for vocal music and their language being a musical one 2 

 the choral service is very pleasing to the ear. 



They cannot comprehend sectarian differences and do not 



1 A syllabic alphabet was invented by a Cherokee Indian named George 

 Guess, in 1826. A system of syllabic characters was independently devised 

 by James Evans, a missionary at Norway House, on the northeast shore of 



