OCR Text |
Show in their old homes. That white men with every inherited advantage fail under this test is too often exemplified upon Indian reservations. A longer stay at Hampton would undoilbtedly have climinished'the risk of relapse; but the pron~ise made the parenbs that their children , should be retained but three years could not be broken. Every en-deavor, however, has been made by General Armstrong, with the co-operation of this office, to have suitable employment provided for these youth at the various agencies as iuterpreters, apprentices, assistant teachers, &c., and it is confidently hoped that the proportion who hold fast to the "new road," and induce others to adopt it, will more than compensate for the labor and money which have been expended in their education. It is just here that the government must look to mission-aries on the various reservations for invaluable service-the contin-uance of the religious influence which was relied on as an indispensat~le part of their training at Ha~npton, and which is the foundation of American civilizatio~~. All of t,l~2e2 Florida prisoners who renla.ined PTortha fter their release from Saint Angnstine have now returned to their homes. Three, edu-cated by Mr. Wicks, of Syracuse,N. Y., in his own family, arc devoti~~g themselves to earnestmissionary work among their people. The stand taken by most of t.hoothers, who spent two or three years at Oarlisle anid H'anipton, is eminently satisfactorj. Of those belonging to the Chey-enne and Arapaho Agency, Agent Miles says: The last of the Florida prispners returned to the agency doring the gear, and are, a,ith the exception of one or two, standing firm an the side of right, and as s. resolt from their oarefnl traiuing while prisoners iu Florida and wbile at Hamptoo and Car-lisle, they are the strongeat lever ne have at this ngenuy in building up strength nnd hope for tbe fot~lre of their people. A majority of the Iodiau en,plog6 force of the sgeue~is composed of these men, and a, better olasa of laborers you could not fiud. &me areengaged iu the ahopsat their trades, while one (UanielPendleton) ia p~.oach . ingthe gospel to his people in their own tongue, and s better Christian mlro we do not find. Suoh results are indeed wonderful, aud the example of these trained few, to- @her with the seed from Csrlisltr end Hampton, and the well-direoted efforts in the sgenoy ichuola, is going to kill muoh of the " Indian " in the Indians of t h i ~ag ency in dne time. The school at Forest Grove has been in operation 20 niout~hs rind is now attended by 70 pl~pils. Unlike the Carlisle and Hampton sohools it began with lo thing and the school-boys under skilled snpervisiou have themselves done most of the work of erecting necessary bnildings m d making the filrnitnre. As in the other t,wo scl~ools.i nstrvtctio~i~s given in school-room, workshops, and kitchen, and the English libngnage occupies the most important place in the school carricnlu~n. At present its greatest need is s~lfiicienlta nd for farm a ~ gdar den purposes. As Lieut,enant Wilkinson'a report on page 198 shows, the me.t.hods and re. sults oftheschoolare~ioot nly awakening hni~~terestini~trso rkingasm ong neigliboring white people, but are overcoming a vide-spread sl<epticism as to the pract,ioability of Indian civilization. This disadvautnta,ge t.he school has had to contend with from the start. It has, however, the dvantage of being near the Indian conntv while ont of it, so that the |