OCR Text |
Show 450 REPORT OF SUPERINTENDENT OF INDIAN SCHOOLS. Tlase two prohlems aw to how the Indian call he mode .elf-supporting and thus ?in the self-reapert and independence n.hich nrv i~n~l,ossihlwe itholrt it, and how leean be made une with the \\llite rave of the land, ~houlrl he c(rltinualls brfon the mind of r\erv Indlnn ~ v r k e r . \Ye utlgl~r tu rejoice i n rhr ronlillg of ihe mil-road, of tradr, r,i eecry inHut.n<e t l l ~ tl tcll~il( , lniikr 111e lrtdian wre t . i t14. While 1....n.-r .1, raoe it6 ow11 i,ert~liwititF . an I u.ltilr.. i*r hlr. I.enun. in n rrrrnt artlrle in t l l ~ ~ ~ ~-~~~ . - ~ - r ~ ~ ~ ~ - ~ ~ ~ ~~ A A, Southern Workman, declares, it 'is "imprdvement, not transformation," of the Indian that 1s needed; while we are to realize that the Indian can never he an Anylo-cax~~twi;l ,ile senrc to d,,relup the nt~llleq t~alirivdw lti1.1~tl lr lndiau ,101- SQiers, IVC nust *1so realize lh3t it is L K J ~ :ood for:an! individoxl or rave rr, I I, ~lon+,. In <loriue. 1 siah tu rxfr~acl l,rv c<,t~arurlrlatiorxIt,i, tht.+v who nrr lnlrorin~io r t l ~ . a&i&emeKt of the Indian, heeaise of-the success that has attended their ehrts. I believe, with Bishop Whipple, that Indian workers are the best-paid workers in the world, and that no misslonary work promises swifter or more satisfactory returnw than that among the Red Men of this land. MORE SYSTEMATIC TRAINING ALONG INDUSTRIAL LINES. [Mlss KATE E. Em, Hsakell Institute, Iswrenoe, Kans.] The Government assumes thit after training and a fair opportunity the Indian " c m for the most part help himself," and has set in motion a complex, extensive, and expensive system of education in order to exterminate the savage by transforming him into a civilized heing capable of self-hel Never in the world's h~storyh as the relie!%f the wretched lain so heavily on the heart and conscience of the strong and happy as now, hut mare and more is thought directed to prevention rather than cure. Self-help is seen to he the only real help. To give each a fair chance to develop hi8 own powers; to fit the individual to fight his own battles, and to teach each to look to himself to supply his ownneeds is proven to be far kinder than to sustain him in his helplessness. A close observer of life and its lessons has said: "It may seem uncharitable to say that there is ahsolute1 no purpose served in helping the peiaonwho can not, for the most part, help himsei, yet it is true. It is like trying to keep the sun at night in the heavens, or to induce water to run uphill." The m e fo rces have combined to make the Indian what he is that have worked out the destiny of the rest of human kind. He is the product of birth and environ-ment. That these children come to school with little idea of the value of time, money, or work is no fault of theirs, hut the natural result of the condition of their lives. All that the school has to give comes to these boys and girls without money and without rice True they work for the common good one-half of each day; hut they are u&lled laborers, and the training they get repays them for all they do. They very naturally come to think that the Government owes an endless debt to them. Put any white boy or girl under the same conditions and the same result will follow. Individnal posaessioe-Nothing is hader impress upo,u these children than the idea of indimdual possession. Where so many are together it is hard to make head-way. It does nogood and much ham to exhort a girl to wear her own clothing when the person in char e has not provided the clothing and a dehite place to keep it. The clothing an$ the lace being provided it is tlme to shift the responsi-bility of keeping it on the g i R If girls know that each day the persons whose duty it is know whether they have kept or lost their clothing, and that certain results invarishly follow each course of conduct--a warm ap~reciationh eing the reward of care and a enalty as certain as the rising of the sun if carelessly lost or destroyed-a hahit wilf send down its first root in the soil of daily life and by care may grow into strength. A large roportion of Indian children have not been in the hahit of earnin any- thing, anzhave not seen their parents ertmmuch. They haveno idea, until s% o wn, where the supplies come from, who pays for them, and what payingfor them means. They think Uncle Sam is rich and need not be stingy; and their first impresalon 1s not favorableif a lost article is not at once replaced by anew one from that inexhaustible atorehouse. A number of girls were once mending and chattering. One of the brightest lost her needle. !F made a, lazy eftort or two to find it, and then leaned back in her chair saying: I don't have to hunt my needle; Uncle Sam will give me another." Uncle Sam did not give her another, and she found the one she had lost and there was a change in the conversation. Miss Maggie with the others was led to ask a great many questions about Uncle Sam, rtnd got some faint idea of how unkind it |