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Show 348 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. in our well-conducted Indian schools. will enable our Indians to occu~v ~ ~~ - n respt.ct:able plnre in American citi~enahi]). 11 islhrollgh these a&;- cies tliet the ~lestiuso f rllr race must be achieved. All writers and speakers upon this'subject agree as to the methods that should be adopted for the accomplishingof this work. It remains, therefore, to be determined how these methods shall be applied in order to accoln-plish the greatest good. Dr. Hailmanu, whose essaysand lectures upon this themeare always instructive, and who has done much for the Indian school system, in a recent address before the Indian School Service Institute, said: I I think I have noticed right tendencies in the nchmls in a variety of directione. Thnnext one towhich 1 woulddirect yourattcntion shollld pcrhaIbal,cthis: rbatyou nrerealizinp rhefact that rlrrlast. best. final ontcomeofonr work with thechildreo. I that by which our work in to I,#! j u d ~ d~ o o dor l,otl.or, mther, that by which our work 1s 10 bo meusore.l, by which the amount ol' gon,l, ihedtzgrec of good which 1s done hvu3,is to l,e ascermined ir the moral attitndn tow:irdeechother nnd~on.xrd I ~.~ ~ --- their ehvir'onments: that we attend to theabviical welfare of thechildren became I it is a l>hyxica\w ell-formed, ~ e l i - d o \ ~ e l r ~ ~&d , hs~oaunl tdh h~u.m a~rb eing whirh. other thirl*.s Ihringhl~ralw, ill arc'omplid.1~th e l.est Inoral results in life. " Ach~lritable~zr,.~udoednino tt hcconrst uf timedeaerreunrrirt~lar~-redfiotr beine I charitable, as he is charitable unconsciously. That is t6e thing we are aiming a?. in educational work. We do not want to make the child self-consciously moral, but unconsciously, antomatically moral. It is in the schools, as -the Doctor has intimated, that the fonuda-tiox of an Indian's social. mental, and moral edifice must be laid. It is therefore meet and proper that our great nation should in its legis-lative capacity more extensively provide funds for the conduct and maintenance of institutions already established, as well as to meet a national necessity for the establishment of others. No prouder or more glorious tribute could be paid to American philanthropy and American citizenship than the erection of these monuments to the country's generous and munificent regard for these unfortunate descendants of the aboriginal sons of the forest. Writers and speakers often are of the opinion that the natural instincts of the Indian are bad; that his nature is entirely divorced from all moral rent,raint; that he must be humanized and Christian-ized before he is qualified to take the higher degrees in civilization. That the Indian is naturally depraved is not borne out by the facts of history. That he does possess some virtues that give grace and dignity to mankind can not be successfully denied. In his relations with the Indians in the early settlement of the colonies William Penn found them to be honest and conscientious in their dealings and faith-ful in the execution of their covenants and contracts. Their confi-dence in the "pale face," when once established, was strong and I sincere and abided the tempests of doubts and misgivings which fre-quently arose; but once given unmistakable evidence that they had been wronged or deceived, friendship at once ceased and they gave themselves over t,o revenge and cruel retribution. Has it ever occurred to those who have spoken and written of the Indian character that had our own people in their intercourse with the Indians been actuated by Christian forbearanoe and virtue, and had they exhibited those Christian virtues they so generously offer to these uneducated and un-Christianized sons of the forest, these elee-mosynary wards of the nation, the Indians would to-day be better qualified, morally and mentally, to receive and profit by the lesson that we so laboriously seek to teach them? |