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Show 428 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. Superintendent Peairs, of Haskell Institute, Kansas, who recently visited the Pueblo Indians of Laguna, N. Mex., has the following to say of returned students in this section of the country: The Pueblo Indians are an exceedingly interesting people, and had I timeit would be interesting to tell about their puehlos or villages, customs, etc. While I can not do that, I must speak of our visit to Laguna, N. Mex. This is one of the principal pueblos. At the home of the governor we found here a great many returned students, most of whom had been at Carlisle. One of these is lieutenant-governor. Another youn man married a returned student, also from Cadisle, and the two, by working hardgfor a od many years, have built the hat home in Laguna. The husband has a store (wEch, I am told, he will not under any circumstances open on Sunday) and the wife has a house of which any lady might well be proud, at least so far a? the manner in which it is kept is concerned. We went into the house, as we did into many others, and the contrast between the returned student's home and the uneducated woman's house wssvery marked. The door and window frames of the student's home were painted, while the others were not. In this particular house there were board doors, well carpeted with Brussels m one room. There were white bedsteads with clean white bedspreads on them in fact ever thing was in perfect order, and these full-blooded Pueblo Indians li;ing right in tte midst of the conservative uneducated old Pueblos. Another returned student had for six years been employed by the Santa Fe and Pacific Railroad to take charge of the coal chutes at Laguna. He did his work so well that j u t a. few days before we visited the village the railroad company had con-tracted with the young man to take charge of all coal chutes between Alhuquerque, N. Mex., and Winslow, Arie. He had hired other Pueblo boys, and is now doing the work satisfactorily and making from $80 to $100 per month clear. There are many other examples of returned students doingwell for themselves and for their people, even under such adverse conditions as exist in New Mexico. These are just a few observed and remembered from one day's visit among the Puehlos. How much better might these young people do under favorable wnditionsl From the Southern Workman, Hampton, Va., March, 1900, the followin8 clip pin gs, under the heading, "Farmers among returned Indians, are taken: Frank Bazhaw (Potawatomi), a uate of 1893, has a fann of 70 acres of good land under cultivation at EcontucheOkla. Last fall, after storing his harvest, he occupied himself in purchasing corn for neighboring cattlemen. In November and December he bought and weighed 180,000 bushels. Our first Indian gradwtes were of the class of 1882. Among them was John Downing, from Indian Territory. His home is on the Wichita Rlver, in Oklahoma, where he has an excellent farm, with fmit trea and well-tilled fields, some prom-ising horses, and 400 cattle. George Ramsey came to Hampton without previous education in 1884. Four years later he returned to the Omaha Reservation. In a recent letter he says: When I was at Hampton I did not learn some things, but now I know how hard it is not to know. The white people push us hard, and now I wish I knew the things I didn't know in those days. I am fanning. We try to keep stock like the white men; we try to keep them in barns, and we try to Live the white man's ways. Examples similar to the above could be multiplied, but these su5- ciently show what is becoming of the majority of the Indians who have attended school. Further, concerning the question of returned students, 1 quote from the annual report of Dr. H. B. Flissell, principal Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Virginia: Thrrr luve 1rrt.n many chwring items uf ncws from rcturrted etudents. A zignifi-rant iuei~lruru i rht. cxen.i.rr>so f Indian citizenship dns was rhe response nmlr. by rhc Inclinn bovn and oirls to a re~aue~ar .th~at all should slxnd \rho llefora enreriue ~~~ ~~ ~ ~~~ ~~ ~ Hampton had'been &ght by former studen&, or who had wmedirectly througg their influence. More than half of the girls and a la e number of the boys rose to their feet. Gratifying testimony was thus borne to %e fact that our returned stu-dents are putting their influence on the side of education and thst they retain their love and loyalty to Hampton. |