The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1888-08-10
COMMUNICATIONS.
The clon.arf sohne,
Editor of PIONEER EXPRESS.

pcared communication from one A.
Gerardin. who left Pembina to visit the
Clontarf School. regret that temporary
absence from home prevented INV re-
ceiv!ng the said issue in time to allow
my answer to appear in last weeks
paper.
l have not the honor to be acquainted
Will, Mr.. Gernrdin, who took good care
not to come to see me, although lie was
for half a day within u few rods of my
house, distant only five minutes of leis-
urely walk from the depot and from the
house where he "after much difficulty
secured nights lodging and breakfast"
Both his mental and physical visions are
really phenomenal, and deserve equal
credit. He has the singular faculty of
frightening distances and magnifying
mole hills into mountains. NV house is
less than quarter of mile from the
station, and the school, BY the longest
route, less than two miles. In my school
days was taught that with the east OH
our right the north is straight before our
face. For. let us say. two miles, lie
Travelled, after breakfast, with the sun
Oh his right, still he was going south. His
other statements are on par with this.
He shows his animus when he says:
Con going up to the school i remarked
to my companion traveller that hoped
the poor little orphan half.breeds inside
were treated according 10 the outside ap.
pearamce of those fine buildings" lie
came with the set purpose to find fault.
Again, he says: "Therc are about $50 of
these poor little miserable creatures kept
here" We never had so many III our
care; and of the Jog, (total number on
the list, GO only are llalfbrecds, one is
pure Indian and the rest are white. He
continues, "NIorc than twenty have
lately deserted, and without money!"
etc. Again that wonderful magnlfying
faculty. Here is the exact truth, as in
the register Of the school. They could
surely not run sway before the LIST of
April on account of the long winter. Let
me say here that i'll the month of March
one WAS sent home for unruy conduct
and bad language. He had been admit
ted because we were told he was quite
different from his two brothers who had
left all unenvlable record at the school.
hope they are models of goodness now
at Pembim. Since the LIST of April how
many ran away, just eleven. Since the
sun for Mr.. Geardin rises in the west
making the north south, 40 wonder that
eleven are mo,c than twenty. OF these
eleven, five Sioux ran away on account
of death occurring in the house, and ]
understand that it is according to q
superstition in their race. One who had
come with me on June stl,, from Penn.
bna, dubbed by the boys themselves
"cracky,' has gone 10 Winnipeg t.
escape arrest. Seven more were de.
mantled home by their parents, and
after permission had been obtained from
the Indian department, they were sent
home we'll clad, their passage ,u,l AM,
with money in pocket for meals ON the
road. -Four more from Leroy were taken
home by their fathers who would not
wait for the permission from the de.
partmcnt which had asked, bu! which
had not yet arrived; had they waited,
the boys would have been sent home
without expense to the parents. There
are a few whose time has expired. and
for whom am daily expecting permits
sion from the government TO let them 90
honor,bly and comfortably.
Mr. Gerartlin las also the faculty to
reduce things wonderfully, for IL pur-
pose. .:".Meat bpt, once u week." he says.
day, except Friday, and as the pupils are
all Catholic, suppose it cannot be such
great crime to make them observe the
rules of their church. copy for the
benefit of your readers from my report
to the department the kinds and guam
titles OF supplies used from April LIST to
June 30th: Fresh beef, about $500 lbs. I:
mutton, go lbs; corn meal, 5 IBIS. s:
bread, $4,000 lbs; syrup bis potatoes,
20 bus; coffee, . sacks; tea, 5 half
chests; sugar, 300 lbs; butter, 500 lbs. !;
lard, 600 lbs; rice, 800 lbs; apples, 5
bbs.; soap, 400 lbs. Four hundred
pounds of soap in three months for BOYS
who do not wash their faces for IL week
or their feet for a month";" Why, Mr..
Geranlin, little less Imagination would
have made your very pathetic story more
credible. Ialmost forgot the little shep-
herds whose clothing was dirty, ragged
and consisted of one shirt, one pair of
ovcrals and a cheap straw hat" Sup
pose for good natures sake that this be
the exact truth, which it is not, would
you, Mr.. Gerardin. swathc them in fan
mel and mackinaw and put 81 felt hat
OH their head when the thermometer
stands at 90 in the shade? Well, there
is no accounting for tastes. As to the
washing and rags, l suppose your own
son never came home but with clean
face, and your good wife never was
called upon to mend his clothes after a
rough play such as all boys are apt to i'm.
dulge in ut times. In the four years
that the school has been in existence
our death rate has been and Clio per
cent, a convincing proof that the child
rem are starved, unwashed, miserably
clad, etc. Let the unparalleled reader
Judge. AS to Mr.. Gerardln being an old
soldier, there are some WHO think he is
speaking iigurativcly. do not know
him personally, only by reputation.
Mr.. Editor, it has taken up So much
space to correct the most glazing only Of
Mr.. Geardin's Misrepresentation, that
very little is left to givca an account of the
management of the school. BY the
terms of the contract we are allowed to
take them from the age of tolls wears
inclusivcly. We are 10 teach tlcm acri-
culture, stock raising and the elementary
branches of education, reading writing
and arithmetic. and if some of them
wish to learn some trade, we may, upon
application to the department, teach
them according to our facilities. For the
CONSCIENTIOUS discharge of my duty in
quired how much time was to be given
to sclool-room exercises. was told
three hours n day and six days in the