Arizona weekly citizen., 1886-11-13
INDIANS AT SCHOOL.
THE NURSERY OF ABORIGINAL SLIPS
 AT LAWRENCE, KAN.

How the Young Indians Look. Live, study | and work-Their PecuIIarities anl
 PrOgress-Breaking Down Tribal Clan.
 nishness-A Marked Difference.
 The Haskell institute cares for nearly 4Oo pupils, about one-third of whom are girlA There Is a very considerable group of build- ings forming the institute, which consists of large and capacious structures for the school rooms, dorInitories and living purposes of the pupils, and additional buildings which are used for shops, storehouseS of various kinds, and which constitute a little settlement There Is also large farm attached, on which the boys are taught farming, gardening and the like, and which is considered not the least valuable of the instructive agencies to which they are subjected
 The institution is under the management of a superintendent and a large staff Of teachers and assistants of various kinds The number of tribes represented in the school is nearly or quite thirty, and includes the names Of many of the most famous fighting bodies, as well as of others not so well known in history.
 Do you have any difficulty arising from the tribal distinctionsi' WAS asked of the superintendent
 There has been a good deal, ss under stand, under prior managernents, but l have substantially obliterated it under the system which have adopted There is an intense clannishneSs among the boys on their arT1val, and in fact their tribal affections are never obliterated; and yet it is at least kept well in the background during their stay in the institute"
 BREAKING DOWN CLANSIsHSEss-
 How do you bring this aboutP
 T arrange them into companies, selecting them with reference to Sire, putting the tall eSt boys on the right, which, of course, pre- vents anything like tribal association They are also mixed at the tables, and the com panies are roomed together in the various dormitories. and thus, by these and other
 means. the tribal relations arc weakened by disuse. if not wholly obliterated-
 Do you find any intellectual difference in the various tribes-that Is, are some O< the children of certain tribes brighter, quicker | to learn more or less docile than o;hers,7
 There Is not much difference fin that direc- ton; the children of one elan are about the same in intellectual qualities as the re- | mainder 1 do find an inequality in one re- | suact. and that Is that l think l find more | tractability and ambition among those pos | ssSsed of warrior blood hal much rather | teach the children of blanket Indians than those of the more civilized As to the chil- dren here. while there are twenty nine tribes | in all represented, there are more Chez y-nnes and Arapahoes than all others combined" | In reference to the control oi the boys, the maliasvI -.lid that he has great success m ap- pealing to their manly sentiments. It is enough To say to an erring boy: A brave man would not do that! The son of warrior would not do this,7 When one of them gives his word on anything or shakes hands on it, he regards his pledge as inviolable, and never goes back on 1t, in the words of the super | intendent
 A trip through the shops reveals the boys engaged in various occupations In the rooms devoted to shoemaking, there were four or five young men of from IS to 2O years of age engaged in repairing foot furniture Some | specimens of their work were shown. and
 while they were not just what would be pro duced by a cosmopolitan artist, they were at least creditable to the locality and the Oper- ators They handed out their work for in- spection, and seemed sheepishly pleased at the oommendation which their lsbors ehcited.
 There were several young fellows at work in the carpenter shop who showed the plano and handled the mallet and chisel with as much earnestness as if they were white menv The exhibit in the blacksmith shop was as' creditable as that of the other work TJihactulis tuis and, in short, in all the mechanical deiarsn ments the boys seemed as much at home as itf they were inured tO the business by genera tiOns of training.
 rz-Ie .'t.s. sI1,sIzss 2
 There was, however, a point of difference between these young men and the same num- Der of white boys. There Is in the face of the thoroughbred mechanic an expression which seems to be in entire harmony with his occu- patton. There was C lack of this in the faces of the young Indians They were at the bench and forge, and yet from their counte- nances they seemed to be far away. They worked, GS it were, mechanically, perfume torily They seemed one thing, and their surroundings something else. They were like an inharmoniouE element in the scene; as if two quite unlike things had been thrown to- gether. Their expression =. er.see.,1n s and unyieldins dowpdring the entire visi ss .aI timen there was scarcely such a thin ich a smile to be seen on the faces of the bO, lpe girl This is not owing to anything like -i happiness over their situation, but rathe ',, 'Sn the peculiarities of their race.
 loe Each young Indian who was at work Ino eested some wild animal tanned sufficient aos perform domestic service; something Ill