The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-11-25
OUR RED WARDS.
Extract From the Report OF the Indian
Commissioner.

Extract From the Report OF the Indian
Commissioner.
BOSTON, Nov. PA Journal special from
Washington says the report of the Commits
ments upon the system of schools for educat-
ing Indian children, which has recently at
tracted so much attention in New England
"The first company of sixty boys and twen-
ty-four girls from the Rosebud and Pine
Ridge Agencies reached Carlisle in October,
1879. Since that date two hundred and thirty
nine children have been in attendance, repre-
senting the Sioux, Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Kio-
was, Comanches, Pawnees, Sissetons, Memo
monees, Iowas, Sacs and Foxes, Lipans Pom
cas-, Nez Perces, Wichitas, Apaches and Pue-
bios. Ten per cent. of the number have been
mixed bloods, and two-thirds of them chill
dren of chiefs and headmen. Industrial work
occupies prominent place in the school, and
nifty apprentices are learning the trades of ar
penter, blacksmith, wagon maker, sadder,
timer, shoemaker, tailor, printer and baker.
Specimens of articles manufactured BY the
Carlisle pupils exhibited at the county fair at
tracted much favorable attention from visitors,
and the small premiums awarded the Indian
boys and girls for excellence of workmanship
gave them great satisfaction and enc Jurage-
ment.
Aside from the benefit accruing to the chill
dren educated therein, the establishment of
these schools has aroused strong interest in
Indian civilization on the part of benevolent
erous donations to aid in their support, and
adds to the comfort and happiness of pupils at
both Hampton and Carlisle Moreover, dur
ing the summer vacation, forty-eight boys and
girls from these two schools were received in
to various families in Massachusetts, and Penn
sylvania, where they were given an individual
home-training, which no institution can afford,
and where they gained practical idea Of civil
liked home life. The interest thus awakened
in the welfare of the Indian race is wide
iv,or ocfv II foil ofco
powerfully and benefcialy the whole subject
of Indian education and civilization.
q The rumor which last spring prevailed
to a considerable extent that In
dian children were taken to and
held at Hampton and Carlisle against the
wishes of their parents was wholly unfounded.
On the contrary, Indian parents have urged
upon the bureau more children than it was
ready to receive, and the Office has repeatedly
been obliged to deny. the earnest request Of
parents that their children might be educated
in the east. If the funds at the disposal of the
officer justified it, the number in attendance at
Carlisle and Hampton could be doubled imme-
diately.
made when their children were surrendered to
Lieut.. Pratt, *school committee of chiefs
and headmen, representing nine Missouri Riv-
er agencies, visited Carlisle and Hampton.
They were highly pleased with the comforts
their children enjoyed and the care bestowed
provement which they had made. The schools
have also been visited during the year by dele
cations from the Lake Superior Chippewas,
the Crows, the Shoshones and Bannocks of
Idaho, and the CheYennes and Arapahoes.
Upon them, as upon the Sioux, the most fav-
orable impression was made as to the advan-
tages which the schools offered; and their in
terest in the education of their children, either
at home or at distance, received powerful
impulse, which will be productive of good to
their respective tribes.
OF the IL Florida prisoners with whom the
experiment at Hampton was first inaugur-
ated, ID have returned to their homes in the
Indian Territory, partly to make room for
| younger pupils aud partly because they had
become sufficiently advanced to render valua-
| BILE service at their respective agencies. OF
| these IL were transferred from Hampton to
| Carlisle, where they remained for time to
| form nucleus fer the new school, aud where
| Lieut.. Pratt reports they rendered him the
most valuable assistance in the care and man
| agement of the new scholars who came direct
| ly from the camps.
| Some sickness and several deaths have oc-
| Cured among the pupils at Carlisle and Hamp.
ton. When the first company of scholars was
selected for the latter school, it.was impossible
| to secure as thorough an examination of the
| children and to insist as strenuously upon the
| requirement of perfect health as was desirable
| and in almost every instance the deaths have
| resulted from diseases contracted before the
pupils loIC their homes. Inc most careful
| physical examination is now made of every ap
| plicant for admission to the Hampton and
Carlisle schools and only those who are certi-
| fed to by a physician as being absolutely
healthy are accepted.
During the year Sc children have been Sc
| lected from the tribe of Eastern Cherokees and
| placed in boarding schools in North Carolina
-12 girls at Asheville and II boys at Weaver
vile and Trinity College. They are to receive
training in industrial pursuits, as we'll as in the
school-room, and it is hoped that they will
| thus become fitted to elevate their own people
| and lead them in the right direction.
But the number who can be educated in
Eastern schools is and always must be small
fraction of the Indian youth who are entitled
| to receive an education at the hands of the
| government, and the necessity for agency
| schools is not done away with but increases
| yearly. The expense of educating Indians
away from their homes will preclude the posi-
bility of more than a limited number ever re
ceiving the advantages which those schools at
ford The best results for the expenditure
made will, therefore, be obtained by selecting
from the agency schools the best material to b.
found therein. At the same time the hope O.
being thus chosen to receive such special train
ing, as recognition of merit, will operate up
On the pupils attending agency schools as
powerful stimulus to earnest and persisten
study and work"