Los Angeles herald., 1890-06-10
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS,
NV I...... . GAL

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subject was also duly received, and or
the 10th of April a letter in response
was mailed to you. .As it does not seem
to have reached its destination, en-
close herewith copy of same and 6
copy of letter to the honorable secretary
of the interior, referred to in the letter
and by separate mail forward the publ.
cations to which it refers. / trust these
will reach you, and that you will sec
that pressure of business did not pre-
vent me from responding to your COM
munication.
In regard to the new school at Fort
Mojave, | am persuaded both yourself
and the Indians who ask your assistance
in securing school at The Needles mis-
apprehend the plans of the government
in its policy of Indian education.
An Indian school must be and is a
home school, an industrial school and
day school combined. The Indian
must learn to work as we'll as to read
and to live like the white man as well
as to write.
Atall the government neutrality-suspicious.
therefore, the head and the hand are
trained together. In other words, the
boy learns to plow and SOW at the same
time that he learns to read and write !;
and he learns to fit joints in a carpenter
shop, to shoe horse, to make har-
ness, to mend shoes, or to perform some
other mechanical work while he is
learning to add, subtract, multiply and
divide. An establishment of this char
acter requires many buildings, some
land and a considerable force of en-
ployees. The cost of the plant for q
government boarding-school is no small
sum.
You and the Indians at Needles evi-
IDENTIFY have in mind in your discussions
day school, where the child shall
spend a few hours in a school and all the
rest of his time at home. A govern
ment boarding-school is very different
| institution. 1t takes the Indian boy
and girl away from the squalor of the
wickiup or teepee; away from the bar
barous tribal tongue and heathenish su-
perstitions, and away from the evil
habits and surroundings of a savage
home. 1t clothes them with civilized
garments and teaches them to make,
mend and keep such garments clean; it
gives them home and the surroundings
and advantages of civilized life; it COM
pels them to talk English and to learn
to read and write the language of the
white man; it replaces the superstitons
and the heathenish practices of the par
ents with the virtues of Christianity and
a knowledge of the white mans God
and religion. 1t takes the Indian child
into new environment and trains him
not only to accommodate himself to new
surroundings, new ambitions and new
habits, but to enjoy them and continue
in them after completing his school
days.
You can readily see that the work of
education comprehends complete revo-
luton in the case of each child; a change
OF habits, customs, tongue and thought,
which is seriously hindered when it is at
tempted without also removing the saw
age environment. Experience estab-
fishes the fact that the work done in
boarding schools is the most effective
and satisfactory. Children may attend
a camp school every day, going home at
night, for five years, and not be able to
carry on a conversation in English. 1t
is very old and dull Indian child which
attends boarding school one year with
out acquiring facility of expression
in English making it possible to converse
with an English child of the same age.
At the boarding school the child sees
civilization, lives in it, participates in it.,
becomes part of it by force of circum-
stances, example and necessity. His
progress is rapid after he once acquires
the new language, and he does this in
one-third or one-fifth the time required
where his only knowledge is obtained in
the desultory way which is necessarily
incident to the teaching in the camp
school,
Fort Mojave is to be boarding school.
The Indian children will be taken from
the novels Of their parents to the build
ings at the fort. They will there be
dressed in school boys garments, be
washed and have their hair cut. They
will sleep in civilized beds
in dormitories under the supervis-
ion of careful employees and
instructors they will eat at tables with
knives, forks and spoons, with employees
watching over them to show them how
to use these utensils. They will be
taught in school rooms, like white chill
dren, with all the necessary helps SC
effective in furthering instruction in oul
public schools. Their recreations viii
be such as white children enjoy. Each
boy will be taught that it is honorable
to work with his hands, and will bt
shown how to use his hands, and will be
compelled to perform some task eacl
day. The school farm, garden, stock
and shops will employ those large enough
to work a good part of each day. The
girls will be taught to sew, knit, cook
wash, take care of fruit, and the house
wifely arts All will be taught to sing
and all will be taught to take care o
their own persons and apartments. Anc
this good work commencing, say October
1st or earlier each year, will be continued
for ten months with occasional HOLIDAYS
You see how thoroughly the work i.
done under the government system. L
is no longer an experiment. The cues
tion is settled, and this is the way the
work must be accomplished.
The parents at The Needles can otter
see their children, and the children will
be at home for the summer vacation
and possibly for a day or two at tim,
throughout the year.
Inasmuch as the government pro
vides clothing, food, apartments and in
struction free, it would seem as if tn,
Indians at The Needles cannot ask TO
anything more.
The school is located at Fort Moiavt
chiefly because there the government
| h,,, ifob l.