The Portland daily press., 1889-05-30
HAMPTON INSTITUTE.
She Exercises of commencement
week.-The vaIedIctory Delivered by
an Omaha Indian.
Especial correspondence Of the press.l


HAMPTON, Va, May %, 1889.
Because Hampton is in Virginia and is
therefore warmed by the sun, in his annual
northwestern tour, earlier than New York or
New England; the Commencement season is
inaugurated here not far from the middle
OF May. This gives the occasion an adyan-
tage in time and freshness that is liable to
be wilted and withered in the heat of June
Commandments In more northern schools.
But 1t is not in point Of time alone that
Hampton Commandments have an ad-
vantage in attractiveness. The busy work.
shop, the finely cultivated farm. the pretty
Indian reservation" are all novel and
interesting. For twenty-one years Hampton
has been sending out educated. trained young
men and women Of the negro race, to help
lift up their people all over the South. For
eleven years 1t has been the gathering place
OF both Indian and colored. Hundreds of
young people have here received their first
impulses to higher living. Thousands of
children have been taught in the common
schools by its graduates. and in more than
one state, schools of a higher grade have
been founded by them. 1t has been truly
Ss~%@ Va AAomPsohS oAfC III AuOnCJ anu ~
transforms 1t into men,"
The exercises Of Commencement Week
properly begin with the Baccalaureate SER
mon. The theme was well chosen. The
text from Heb. XI; 24-26 By faith Moses
when he had come to years, refused to Re
called the son Of Phara0h's daughter; choos-
ing rather to suffer affiiction with the people
OF God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for
season esteeming the reproach Of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt,
Tor he had respect unto the recompense of
the reward" No one who listened to the
earnest, impressive words of the pastor
could fail to be moved to nobler resolves and
stimulated to better work for the race whose
pathetic history bears so strong a resem-
blance to that Of the enslaved Jews.
The week is very full one. On Monday
evening the pretty English custom Of cele-
bratlng the coming Of Spring with a May
Queen festival was kept in the roomy gym
nasium. Scores of white roDed, flower
Dedecked girls, did honor to the sovereign of
the evening in pretty semi-military march
and dance around the May pole. Another
evening the sacred Cantata Of Queen Esther
was rendered The barbaric splendor of
eastern costumes well became the dark
skinned children Of the South. Their rich
voices touched the pathos of the oppressed
bretheren of the Queen and Mordeca in the
Woe. was it we for the devices of the
wicked prosper" and
Israeli 0 Israel for thee 90 tremble
Iremble for thee III the fast gathering storm.
Thursday was the day of all the week.
Until noon the usual routine of work and
study was pursued In the class room the
blackb0ards exhibited many eOlOred draw
ings illustrating various branches of study.
An indian class In natural history had
covered the walls with drawing of very lively
looking specimens. In another room where
the subject under discussion was physiology
the pictures of skeletons were admirably ex-
ecuted though they could not be properly
described as lively or life like. In the short,
somewhat crowded course of study no time
Is found FOR the study of drawing, and the
exhibition Of natural skill was all the more
interesting and remarkable on that account
A visit TO the industrial exhibit reveals
Improvement year by year. Every year the
work is OF finer and higher grade, showing
more neatness and finish.
In the afternoon the six hundred students
aud nearly thousand visitors gathered In
the gymnasium to hear what the graduates
nad been doing and were about to. do. The
speeches and papers were all of practical
kind. They told of actual experience and
work. One young woman from the noun
tain region told of work in little log school
mouse with wooden chimney, two small
windows and no benches. Here fifty chill
dren gathered for Sunday school to be taught
from seven bibles and four hymn books-the
total amount of literature of any kind in the
whole neighborhood. The wooden chimney
had the peculiarity OF taking fire regularly
tor, Il was Obliged to appoint one boy to
watch while the rest OF US prayed" This
faithful worker has been for twelve years
kindling other fires all over herIcountry and
organizing Sunday schools and temperance
societies, teaching the little girls and their
mothers to sew and to order households
neatly. From other sources we hear fire.
quently OF her work. The entire county has
felt her influence and been benefited by it,
Once she went to the backwoods to start a
school. The only available place for her to
live was In one-roomed cabin with five
others in the family In rainy weather her
bed was protected by gossamer waterproofs
and tin pans. "At first" she said, .smy
heart failed me. but the deplorable condition
OF my people compelled me to remain felt
it would be cowardly to retreat, so with a
little help from the district father" another
room was added to the cabin and the work
wentlforward."
A young man who is giving able assistance
IN the founding of another Hampton" an
industrial school in North Carolina, said
eloquently, "You send us out from here,
You say, Go and start other schools We
have gone, we have started schools Now
we come and present them to you and ask
you 10 help bring them up. Give us the
TOOLS and we will do the work. Sympathy,
song, prayer these are not enough. We
need practical help. The same processes of
refining and cultivating that have raised
other races will raise us. help us to the
machinery and we will give men to the
nation"
Perhaps no more convincing sign of
breadth and growth could be given than war
given In the declaration of young man that
slavery had benefited his race. He recog-
nlzed the fact that through that hard bitter
process civilization and christianity had
come to his people.
Two of the speakers were Indians. One n
Sioux, lone an Omaha. Said the former
I'm other days the old chief had 70 conf
dence In the whites, not even in the Mission
aries. Once at council one of them said.
, Yes white people who come from the great
Father are all liars, you bald headed ones
especially But all this is now changed and
should be misrepresenting my people if l
did not say that the noble work of many of
the Agents and Missionaries is now under
stood and appreciated"
The valedictory was delivered by an
Indian OF the Omaha tribe His tribute to
the founder and principal Of the school,
General Armstrong, was novel and Touching.
He said, "We cannot now appreciate your
life. 1t has sometimes passed before us as a
glimpse Of something too grand for us to
grasp. We will take you with us into our
work and sometime we may know what you
have been to US and done for u.s.