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Show --~-- ~- - INDIAN SOHOOL INSTITUTES. grass will do for hay. They can be kept right on along that line under the care of an older pupil who knows how to get them to talk. Older pupils can do all this and more, and do it in a definite way. They will malre a corral exact dimensions. sav 3 rods wide and 4 rods lone. W e a-s.k -G. e orge. "Wha t is a rod? " He answers, "I do not know."l Then The time is ripe him to find out. He is told to take his ruler, which he knows to be 1 foot or 12 inches. and carefully measure 161 feet. They all measure, and ihe teacher tests the work to see who has the best rod. When they have thoroly mastered this, let each learn for himself how many yards in a rod by measuring his rod with the Yardstick. Thev like to measure. so remember the formula. Thev can step-the rod and see who can guess the closest, and a t the work hoar they can first step 089 the places for the posts, afterwards measuring with the rod measure. This introduces number work. How many rods around the corral? How many posts are needed? If we build a mire fence, how man? pounds of wire will be needed? How many staples? The weight of a rod of wire will bring the scales into the class room. It is carefully measured, cut off, and weighed. A pound of staples is weighed and counted. And now the pupil is ready to find what he will have to pay for the material to build the corral: Eourteen posts, at 15 cents each; 70 pounds wire, at 4 cents per yound; 1 pound of staples (about 70), a t 4 cents per pound, etc. Area is easily shown by mark-ing off the inclosure into 12 square rods. and \re have the nucleus of land or squnre u,easure. When the little 3 by 4 is mastered. original problems by the pupils will fol-low, and they will be able intelligently to fence their gardens, their fields, or their allotments. And thru this and every other exercise there is abundant opportunity to hare the pupil tnlk; and let us not forget that, whether in the class room or industrial work, our most important duty is to emphasize the l a n m a ~ esi de of our work. ~rinaiiy,i et us tnlk to the pupil about the future. Does he not want, some day, to have a nicer home, a better house, a good garden with a goad fence around it in which he can rnise manv eood thines to eat? And as he climbs each little hill in his educational jouhej he wlllUbetter understand the imilor-tant relation of the things he learns to do a t schoal to his future living. And we will thus col.elnte not only the literary and industrial, but also these with his future welfare and happiness. Edzuard Tvufltan, teacker, dau school No. 29.-How can we best help him to become self-supporting and self-respecting? I t is our duty to hasten the com-ing of the time when the Indian shall be a part of our nationality as surely 89 the foreign immigrant who becomes a naturalized American citizen. While there a r e many noble examples of Indians becoming sucees s f~~tela ch-ers, physicians, and business men, there is no question but that tlre grent melority of the race are better adapted to get their living from their aliot-mellts as fanners oor ranchmen rather than as professional nren. I t 1s a mis-take always to be holding out as an inducement to the Indian boys and girls that they can become teachers or something in that line. I believe tile education of the Indian shoula be in the particular line adapted to his needs and prospects, and where better can this vorlr be done than in his Own section of the conntl'y and within the envirolllnent of his own home and within n climate where he is almost sure to spend his life? \Ire hare an escellellt course of study prepared for the Indian schools. It would be difficult indeed to devise anything more nearly perfect in that line; but every teacher of tile Indian day schools is well aware that this work is hampered in nlally rays. Intensify the n.ork done in the schoolroom and give the needed tilne for in-dustrial work, ere11 to giving lessons to the older Indians of the camp by show-ing them how to malre nnd care properly for their own gardens. NO one will deny, I thloli, thnt a properly mndllcted day school is one of the best object lessons in the whole Indian school service, and we owe it to our-selves nnd to our t:ovelnnlent to be true missionRries in spreading the gospel of Civilization among these people and to do all in our power to help "better the Indian's condition." |