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CHAPTER XXXII.
CHURCHES, SCHOOLS, AND HOSPITALS.
1795-1884.
Glottof,
it is claimed, one of the discoverers of the Aleutian Islands, baptized at Oumnak in 1759 the first native admitted into the fold of
the Greek church. He was a chieftain’s son, and a large cross was erected on
the spot where the ceremony was performed; but timber was scarce in those
treeless regions, and soon after the Russian occupation the wood was used for
making sleighs. Until nearly half a century after Glottof’s visit neither Aleuts nor Koniagas received any
regular religious instruction, though Shelikof, as will be remembered, affirmed
that he converted forty heathen soon after the conquest of Kadiak.
The labors of the first missionaries sent forth to
Alaska have already been related. In 1795, or perhaps a year or two later, a
chapel was built at Saint Paul—the first in Russian America. At Sitka no church
was built until 1817, religious ceremonies being usually performed by one of
the officials of the Russian American Company, though meanwhile a priest
occasionally visited this settlement, and baptisms were not infrequent. In this
year an ecclesiastic named Sokolof arrived, and a temporary building was at
once erected, the altar being built of timbers cast ashore after the wreck of
the Neva, “among which,” wrote Baran of, “shone the image of Saint
Michael.” The vessels and utensils were of silver, fashioned by colonial
craftsmen, and the robes and draperies of Chinese silk.
In 1819 a church named Saint Peter’s was built at
Saint Paul Island, and one at Saint George named after Saint George the Victor,
in 1833; at the village of Unalaska a church was dedicated in 1826, and in the
same year a chapel, named Saint Nikolai, was built at Oumnak,
where, as Veniaminof would have us believe, sickness attacked the Russians, who
made sacrilegious use of the cross, while, for many years later, the Aleuts did
not dare to gather sticks or boards in the neighborhood of this sanctuary.
A clause in the charter granted to the Russian
American Company in 1821 provided that church establishments should be
supported throughout the colonies, and by order of the holy synod, in 1840, at
which date there were four churches and eight chapels in Russian America, they
were formed into a diocese, which included the Okhotsk and Kamchatka precincts,
the first bishop, afterward metropolitan of Moscow, being Father Veniaminof,
whom Sir Edward Belcher, writing in 1837, describes as “a very formidable,
athletic man, about forty-five years of age, and standing in his boots about
six feet three inches; quite herculean, and very clever.” “When he preached the
word of God,” says Kostromitin, who was baptized by
Father Ioassaf in 1801, “all the people listened, and
listened without moving, until he stopped. Nobody thought of fishing or hunting
while he spoke, and nobody felt hungry or thirsty as long as he was
speaking—not even little children.”
During Veniaminof’s administration a Lutheran clergyman was welcomed at Sitka, and the same spirit
of toleration was extended later to the Jesuits, several Poles of that order
being transferred from Canada. On the 13th of October, 1867, the first service
at which an American officiated was held at Sitka, the congregation being composed
of Russians, Finns, and Kolosh.
In 1861 there were in the Russian American colonies
seven churches and thirty-five chapels, several of them, including the
cathedral, being built and kept in repair by the Russian American Company. All
were maintained by the contributions of parishioners and the sale of candles
and tapers. About this date the aggregate capital of the churches exceeded two
hundred and fifty-five thousand roubles, the funds being
held by the company’s treasurer and interest allowed at five per cent.
The Sitka cathedral contained three altars, which were
separated from the body of the church by a partition, the doors of which were
gilt, and the pilasters mounted with gold capitals. There were eight silver
candlesticks more than four feet in height, and a silver chandelier hanging
from the centre of the dome which was supported by a
number of columns of the Byzantine order. On the altar was a miniature tomb of
the saviour in gold and silver. The vestments and
implements were also rich in gold and jewels. The books were bound in gold and
crimson velvet, and adorned with miniatures of the evangelists set in diamonds.
The communion cup was of gold, and similarly embellished; the mitre was covered with pearls, rubies, emeralds, and
diamonds. The building was dedicated to Saint Michael.
Veniaminof, after acquiring the Aleutian language,
translated into it a number of books touching on the doctrines of his church;
but with this exception few of the ecclesiastics understood the native
dialects, while the interpreters had little knowledge of Russian. Between 1841
and 1860, 4,700 Indians were baptized, and if we can believe Veniaminof, some
of them were converted. “I do not mean,” he writes, “that they knew how to make
the sign of the cross, and to bow, and mutter some prayer. No! Some of them
can pray from their soul, not exhibiting themselves in the church and before
the people, but often in the seclusion of their chamber, with closed doors.”
The bishop, who on his appointment adopted the title of Innokenty, according to
the custom of his church, labored with marked success among the Kolosh. Before
his arrival they had resisted all efforts at conversion, those who were,
baptized submitting to the ceremony only because they received presents of more
or less value.
It must be admitted that the Greek church was a
failure throughout Russian America. We have seen in what disrespect the priests
were held by their own countrymen in the time of Baranof, and it is nowhere
recorded, except by the priests themselves, that, with the single exception of
Veniaminof, the teaching of the ecclesiastics made much impression on the
natives. They squatted and smoked during service, listened, bowed, crossed
themselves, and laughed so uproariously that the officiating priest was often
interrupted in his solemn duty. They cared not for religion, or at least not
for the doctrines of the Greek clergy. “If,” writes Golovnin,
“the object of a missionary be only the baptizing of a few natives yearly, to
show the country that the number of conversions increases, and in visiting so
many times a year such of the villages as are situated in close proximity to
redoubts and trading posts, then the colonial missionaries perform their duty
with more or less zeal; but if the missionary’s duty is to spread among the
pagans the teachings of an evangelist, and to strive by word and example to
soften their hearts, to help them in their need, to administer to their
physical and moral diseases, to persuade them gradually to lead a settled and
industrious life, and above all to labor for the education of the children,
and at last make the savages themselves wish for conversion, then not one of
our former or present missionaries has fulfilled his duty.”
In 1880 the Russian church claimed 10,950 members, but
this number is probably at least 2,500 in excess of the actual figures. The
bishop of the diocese usually resides in
San Francisco, whence he controls affairs and supplies the funds needed by the
various parishes. Service is at present conducted in Alaska both in the Russian
and Aleutian languages, but the more distant settlements are visited only once
a year by a regularly ordained priest, by whom baptisms and marriages are
celebrated and the sacrament administered to those who desire it.
When Alaska was transferred to the United States, it
was expected that the religious training of the Indians would not be neglected,
but ten years passed by and little was done. In 1877, however, a presbyterian
mission was established at Sitka. Two years later a catholic mission was
established at Fort Wrangell, but met with little success. Credit is also due
to the Church Missionary Society of London and to the methodist church of
Canada, both of which have their representatives on the borders of Alaska. For
several years protestant missionaries of several denominations, and especially
the Presbyterians, have, amid great discouragement, labored earnestly, and not
in vain, to introduce their faith among the natives of Alaska. Meanwhile their
efforts in the cause of education have been no less persistent.
Of the members of the Greek church only a small
proportion among the natives can read and write, though in villages where
parish churches have been established, perhaps thirty per cent of the inhabitants
have acquired the rudiments of an education. It was claimed by Veniaminof that
in some localities all the Aleuts except young children could read fluently,
but there is no evidence to support this statement. It was not until 1848 that
printed books were issued in the Kadiak language, and for several years later
none were circulated among the Kolosh. Those which afterward made their
appearance contained only translations of prayers, hymns, anthems, of two of
the gospels, the decalogue, and a small collection of words and conversational
phrases.
For half a century after the Russian occupation,
educational matters were little more advanced than in the days of Shelikof, who
established at Three Saints, in 1785, the first school in Russian America, and
himself instructed the pupils, in his own language, in arithmetic and the
precepts of Christianity. The labors of Fathers Juvenal and German in this
connection have already been mentioned. In 1817, and probably for some years
later, the latter was still in charge of a mission school at Yelovoi Island. In 1805 Rezanof established a school for
boys at Saint Paul, and during his visit a girls’ school was opened at this
settlement, but both fell into decay after the envoy’s departure, and were
finally closed.
A few years later a school was opened at Sitka by
Baranof, but the instruction was very inefficient until 1833, when Etholin took charge of it and somewhat improved its
condition. At the end of their course, the pupils served the company in various
capacities.
In 1839 an institution was established at Sitka at
which the orphan daughters of the company’s employés were educated at the company’s expense. In 1860 there were 22 inmates, and the
expense for that year was 6,364 roubles. About the
same date a similar institution was opened for boys, to which were admitted
orphans, and the children of laborers and of inferior officials. All were
taught to read and write, and there was a small class in arithmetic and grammar.
Their training of course included religious instruction. In 1860 there were 27
pupils, most of whom were intended for mechanical pursuits.
It was not until 1841 that any attempt was made, even
at Sitka, to provide the means for a higher class of education. In that year a
church school was opened, which, in 1845, was raised to the rank of a seminary.
“This institution was kept in good order,” writes Ward in 1853, “the
dormitories and classrooms being plainly but neatly furnished. One room
contained good philosophical apparatus, including airpumps,
batteries, pulleys, levers, etc., and another a good-sized library of Slavonic
and Russian books.” The course included the Russian and English languages, the
elements of the pure mathematics, mechanics and astronomy, navigation,
history, geography, and book-keeping.
In 1858, when the seat of the bishopric of Kamchatka
was transferred to Yakoutsk, a vicariate being
established for the colonies, the seminary was also removed to Yakoutsk. Soon afterward a school was established under the
name of the General Colonial Institute, for the sons of officials who had
rendered faithful service to the company, all who could read and write the
Russian language and understood the first four rules of arithmetic being
admitted free to lectures on the governor’s recommendation. The course of
instruction was almost identical with that of the three-class graduating
schools in Siberia, and differed little from the curriculum of the academy.
Navigation, commercial branches, and the English language were taught by naval
officers and others selected from the company’s employes. The children of
officials were usually supported at the company’s expense, in which case they
were required, after graduating, to enter its service for a term of ten years,
receiving a small salary, 500 roubles for outfit, and
honorable rank at the end of six years’ service. Instruction in theology and
the Church-Slavic language was also given to those destined for the church,
their expenses being paid from the church funds. Though the sum disbursed by
the company for the support of this school exceeded 24,000 roubles a year,28 in addition to 3,750 roubles contributed by
the holy synod, there were at its opening but 12 pupils, and in 1862 the number
was only 27. It would appear indeed to have been founded mainly for the benefit
of the teachers, who received 13,450 roubles out of
the funds furnished by the company, the sum expended for all other purposes
being less that 11,000 roubles.
The most successful school in other portions of the
colonies was the one founded at Unalaska, by Veniaminof. In 1860, after it had
been in existence for 35 years, there were 93 pupils of both sexes. At the same
date one of the Kadiak schools was re-opened, and there were primary schools on
the island of Arala, in the Atkha district, at the Nushagak and Kvikhpak missions, and at Bering Island, but all with a meagre attendance. There was
also a school-house on the lower Yukon, but with no pupils.
After the purchase, even the few traces of enlightenment
which the Russians had left behind were in danger of being obliterated, for the
Russian schools were closed, and for years there were none to take their place.
In 1869, Vincent Colyer, secretary of the board of Indian commissioners,
visited Alaska, and mainly through his exertions the sum of $50,000 was
appropriated by congress for school purposes; but there was no one to
administer the fund, and it remained intact. According to the terms of the
contract, two schools were maintained among the Aleuts, but they existed only
in name, and no further provision was made by the United States government. It
is somewhat remarkable that a nation which ranks among the foremost in wealth,
culture, and charity, a nation whose boast it is that education is free to all
her children, should have left the inhabitants of this territory for more than
half a generation in outer darkness. To quote the words of the Rev. Sheldon
Jackson, superintendent of presbyterian missions in the territories, “Russia
gave them government, schools, and the Greek religion, but when the country
passed from their possession they withdrew their rulers, priests, and teachers,
while the United States did not send any others to take their places. Alaska,
today, has neither courts, rulers, ministers, nor teachers. The only thing the
United States have done for them has been to introduce whiskey.”
Under the auspices of the presbyterian mission, a
school was established at Fort Wrangell, which in 1877 had about 30 pupils, and
a home for the rescue of young girls who would else have been sold into
prostitution by their parents; while at Sitka a school was opened on the 17th
of April, 1878, 50 scholars being present the first day, and 60 the following
year. All this was accomplished with very slender funds. About the same date
there were twenty-two children in attendance at the two schools which the
United States government promised to support, but which are in fact supported
at the expense of the Alaska Commercial Company.
During infancy, the natives of Alaska receive little
care or supervision from their parents. Until seven or eight years of age they
are more frequently naked than clad at all seasons of the year, often sleeping
almost without shelter and with insufficient covering. Under these conditions,
living, as they do, in a country where snow is perpetually in sight, and where
rain, sleet, and fog are almost incessant, they grow up for the most part a
weakly and puny race. Even where the skies are less inclement, this is still
the case. The climate of the Aleutian Islands does not differ essentially from
that of some portions of northern Scotland, and yet there are few more
effeminate specimens of humanity than the Aleut, and none more hardy than the
Scotch highlander.
At Sitka, though the rains are excessive, averaging
nearly 83 inches in the year, the days on which snow falls are seldom more than
thirty; and, remarks Dall, “the average of many years’ observations places the
mean winter temperature about 33 Fahrenheit, which is nearly that of Mannheim
on the Rhine, and warmer than Munich, Vienna, or Berlin. It is about the same
as that of Washington, 1,095 miles farther south, and warmer than New York,
Philadelphia, or Baltimore. At Nulato the mean winter temperature is 14 below
zero, at Fort Yukon about 17, while at both points the thermometer reaches 100
in summer.”
The census of 1880 gives the population of Alaska at
33,426, and this is probably little more than half the number of inhabitants
living during the early period of the Russian occupation. Many causes were at
work to produce this result. Slavery in its worst form existed among the
Alaskans. “A full third of the large population of this coast,” writes Simpson,
“are slaves of the most helpless and abject description. Some of them are
prisoners taken in war, but the majority have been born in bondage. These
wretches are the constant victims of cruelty, and often the instruments of
malice or revenge. If ordered to kill a man, they must do it or lose their own
life.” The earth huts of the Aleuts were without ovens. There was always a
scarcity of wood and often of food. Sometimes their only diet was rotten fish,
but those employed by the company were well fed, housed, and clad.
Among the most fatal diseases were consumption,
gastric, bilious, typhus, and other fevers, syphilis, and scrofula. For the
sick there were hospitals at Sitka and Saint Paul. In 1860 the former
accommodated 1,400 patients, and was maintained at an expense of about 45,000 roubles; the latter had 550 patients, and the outlay was in
a greater ratio. There was also a hospital for the treatment of skin diseases
at the sulphur springs near Sitka. The steam bath was
the great panacea of the natives, who before the Russian occupation had no
medicine, nor even knew of any medicinal herb.
Sick, aged, and disabled servants were provided for by
the company, one half per cent of its profits being appropriated for this
purpose after 1802. In later years a tax of ten roubles was levied on each keg of liquor, and of one rouble on each pound of tea sold by the company. From the funds thus raised the
deserving poor were pensioned by the government, and in I860 there were 375
persons in the receipt of pensions, the aggregate amount of which was 30,000 roubles a year. The pensioners were lodged at the company’s
expense, and the needy were also supplied with food from the public kitchen.
Those who wished it were made colonial citizens, a class composed mainly of
Russians and creoles. They were exempt from taxation, and had the privilege of
reentering the company’s service at will.
Creoles—by which term is always meant the offspring
of Russians or Siberians and native women, none being the children of natives
and of Russian women—had all the rights of Russian subjects, and were exempt
from taxation or enforced service. Many were educated at the company’s expense,
and were afterward employed in various capacities, some of them, among whom was
Veniaminof, being trained for the priesthood.
The churches, schools, and hospitals of Alaska under
the Russian regime were supported mainly at the expense of the Russian American
Company. At present they exist on charity—charity so cold, that when the sum of
fifty thousand dollars was voted by congress for educational purposes, there
were found none to administer it. What shall we do with the people of Alaska
now that they are manumitted? Let them sit and gaze seaward with a steadfast
stare, awaiting the arrival of the steamer which, bearing the United States
flag, brings to them month by month their supply of hootchenoo!
“Thirteen governments,” wrote John Adams, in 1786,
“founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a pretence of miracle or mystery, and which are destined to
spread over the northern part of that whole quarter of the globe, are a great
point gained in favor of the rights of mankind.” “Your best work and most
important endowment,” said Charles Sumner, addressing the United States senate
in 1867, “will be the republican government, which, looking to a long future,
you will organize with schools free to all, and with equal laws, before which
every citizen will stand erect in the consciousness of manhood. Here will be a
motive power, without which coal itself will be insufficient. Here will be a
source of wealth more inexhaustible than any fisheries. Bestow such a government,
and you will bestow what is better than all you can receive, whether quintals
of fish, sands of gold, choicest fur, or most beautiful ivory.”
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