The Leavenworth weekly times. [volume] (Leavenworth, Kan.) 1870-1880, 1873-05-22
OLD KICKAPOO SPEAKS.
The School Question Again.
The White of the Eyes.
A Most Interesting Letter
GLEN, May II, 1873.

tour valuabie paper SUI haAes Hs "eeA's
visits heavily f,eishtedgwi,h news, domestic
and foreign, and being a regular reader o
| YOUR paper, have read with much pleasure
and considerable surprise several articles
written by some anonymous writers from
Lenape, Tongano1ie, Plesent Ridge and
Mount Olivit. The article in the WEEKLY
| TINES Of April 24;h, by "Hail Columbia
ssThe everlasting school questionable hous'
intended for the colored school burned down,
il in fact real sensation; 20 also is the on'
from Mount Olivit, in the Sunday TINES o
April oath, By "Solon'-"no preaching in
the new school house." Tread these two ar
,icles with some misgivings a. to what ,bost
acts por;enetei for the future. The writing
| up'' of tho-e home scenes and incidents j,
Quite instructive, and are sought after and
read with more than ordinsry interest ant
| curiosity. And since several writer's for the
press have given their school department,
special notice, We conclude to venture giving
| a br-s. panoramic view of the interior of the
school house and the school taught therein
| last winter in the Glen, in District No. -
This district is compo sed of fractions of Kick
apoo and High Prairie townships, and has q
substantial and cspacious school hoIse com.
posed Of stone. situated in wealthy and
| thrifty neigbborhood. We happened to
make a casual visit there last winter, and N.
| propose to describe, not SO much what We
| heard, az what We saw, together with our
| feelings and emotions while there.
From the public highway We passed through
| a small gate; this brought Us into the school
| house lot, or 'outer court" We next APP
| preached the outer door OF the school house,
| and on entering We found ourself in vesti-
| buie, or lin the language of Holy Writ "lfe
first iaternacIs." little 10 the left, and in
front, we passed through another door; this
broush, us into the school room proper, or
second tabernacle, ''the hottest of ALL"
Here We remained standing for a moment,
| after being recognized by the teacher. and
quickly surveyed the entire interior. Now,
gentle reader, read slowly aud pause while
we shall give panoramic view of this in
| terror. We are not attempting to describe a
grot.o. nor the lava beds in the Cordilleras
or Rocky Mountains; no, no, but the inte-
rior of school r0em with its living, human
beings within it, trying TO learn the sciences
On our left, and within about eight feet from
the door, sat the teacher. Mr.. w. T.. tidy,
well dressed, sleek-hairej, round faced anu
rather sanity locking little gentleman, en-
sconsed behind the teachers desk with math-
EN- .tecil precision, and whose piercing eyes
readily distinguished The difference in culOrs,
especially beta gkits and btdek Directly
in front, and occupying the entire rear Of
the room, sat group of clearly and neatly
looking youths, ranging FROM about six to
eighteen years of age, with books and slltes
on their desks; but who are they? To what
class Of he human race do they belong? Are
they Caucsssian-? Are they the descendants
Of Shem, Ham, or Japhe,h? Well they all
are rkhc. These queries forced themselves
on our mind irre.is;aty, because directly on
cur right, aad occupying space in one corn
e. of this tabernacle, about eight hy six feet,
in the form of e para!ielcsram, there sat an
other group OF tidy and neatly looking youths
ranging probably from six TO fourteen years
of age; these also had their books in their
hands; they looked at us with some apparent
surprise. Well, who are these? Whence
comes they? OF what race are they? Do
they belong TO any race OF the human family
at ali? Why, their color is not like those 9TH
er-; are they apes, monkeys, or balloons?
Ga, how much we desired 20 have Darwin
here so that he might relieve our rerplexed
mind by explaining 10 Us fully that these are
in transitiCn state, having originally been
a lobster, then monkey, then ape. then bah
Don, then "niggar" lnegro., and who will
some day, millions Of years hence, be trans
formed into uitc msn aud romen, and pos
SILLY into angels.
This space of eight bv six feet in the Cor
ner We must describe more fully; this Face
is partiiioned of, running from the east wall
about eight feet towards the teachers desk,
which completely obs;ruc,s the view between
them and the white children. but open in
front of the teachers desk. 1t is abcu, six
feet high, and ia composed of pine boards
nicely planed, but are not painted and re.
main in the natural wood color, we suppose
so as not II make the contrast in cnlors too
great. This partition was im2rovised by
the teacher, as we were informed afterwards,
''for the purpose of preventing the 'w!'de
children from seein the 'biGck childfea.' " for
the reason chat when the phie children
would see the ttaek children roll up The rLite
Of their eyes it would cause ,hem TO laugh, and
that woui: create disorder" in the taber
nacle, and for the further reason shat il
thought not best to have whites and blacks
mir up in schools :or fear of contracting too
great familiarity. etc. With the foregoing
reflections and emotions OF our heart after a
friendly shake OF the teachers hand and a
modest bow 10 all the pupils We took seat
near the teachers desk ard heared few rec
i,a.ions, creditable TO both teacher and pu-
pil-. But while We listened to TIE recia-
ions of the co!orei children our heart
burned within Us and we in spirit pro-
claimed these are human beings; these are
the descendants of Ham; yes, these are cous-
ms 10 the descendants of Shem and Japheth
don't want Darwin here now TO explain
anything about them TO me. l know they
are human beings; then, oh, my soul. why
partition them of in this way, like beasts
that are separated By stalls. We must re-
late a fiisrant Inconsistency right here which
We noticed while making our observations;
We raw these colored children drink vac
from the same pail and ont Of the same tin
cup thut the white children drank from. and
at recess all merrily played together without
manifesting either pain or pleasure from the
trolling up the wdife OF the eyes" of the col
ored children. Consistency thou art a
Jewell" While looking and thinking and
thinking upon the scene within this school
room. in the twinklins of an eye We became
wholly insensible to all sublunary matters!
whether We bad fallen into trance or not,
but We did imagine that we had entered
heaven, the New Jerusalem described in the
21-t chapter and 10th verse of Revelation.
Here we met this Indeniical little school
master, he was very busy collecting together