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Show r '; VIII REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONEE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. no inktitution can afford, and where they gained a practical idea of eiv-ilized home-life. The interest thus awakened in the welfare of theIndian . race is widespread and increasing, and cannot fail to affect powerfall$ , and beneficiaily the whole subject of Indian education and civilisation. The rumor which last'spring prevailed to some extent, that Indian children were taken to and held at Hampton and Carisle against th0 wishes of their parents, was wholly unfounded. On the contrary, Indian parents have urged upon the bureau more children than it was ready to receive, and the office bas repeatedly been obligedto deny the earneat request of parents that their children might be educated in the EMt. I f the funds at the disposal of the office justified it, the number itr attendance at Carlisle and Hampton could be doubled immediately. In June last, in fulfillment of a promise made when their children were surrendered to Lieutenant Pratt, a school wmmittee" of chiefs and headmen, representing nine Missouri River agencies, visited Car-lisle and Hampton. They were highly pleased with the comforts their children enjoyed and the care bestowed upon them, and proud of the manifest improvement which they had made. The schools have also been visited during the year by delegations from the Wke Superior Chippewas, the Crows, the Shoshones and Bannacks of Idaho, and the Cheyennes aud Arapahoes. Upon them, as upon the Sionx, the most favorable impression was made as to the advantages which the schools offered; and their interest in the education of their children, either at bome or at a distance, received a powerful impulse, which mill be pro-ductive of good to their respective tribes. Of the eighteen Florida prisoners, with whom the experiment at IIarnp-ton waa first inaugurated, thirteen have returned to their homes in the Indian Territory, partly to make room for younger pupils and partly because they had become sufficiently advanced to render valuable serr-ice at their respective agencies. Of these, eleven were transferred from Hampton to Carlisle, where they remained for a time to form a nucleus I for the new school, and where, Lieutenant Pratt reports, they rendered him most valuable assistance in the care and management of the new scholars who came directly from the camps. Some sickness and several deaths have occurred among the pupils at Carlisle and Hampton. When the first company of scholars was se-lected for the latter scl~ooli,t was impossible to secure as thorough an examination of the children and to insist as strenuously ilpou the require-ment of perfect health as was desirable, and in almost every instance the deaths have resulted from diseases contracted before the pupils left their homes. The most careful physical examination is now made of every applicant for admission to the Hampton and Carlisle schools, and ',% only thosewho are certified to by a physician as being absolutely healthy I are accepted. During the year thirtrsix children have been selected from the tribe of Eastern Cherokees and placed in boarding-schools in North Carolina-- |