Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-09-12
CIVILIZING THE YUMAS,
NOBLE WORK OF CATHOLIC MIS-
SIONARlES AMONG THE INDIANS.


Been Almost Overlooked-Being Lifted
Up Through tho Efforts of Band of
Good Women-The Boarding School,
There is little in this small city of 800 in
habitants to attract attention except the
extreme heat, which varies with the sea-
ssss, but is always oppressive. Fort Yuma
is conspicuous for its industrial boarding
school, maintained by the Indian depart
ment The Indians here belong principally
to the Yuma tribe, though there are a few
remnants of other tribes to be found The
total number on the reservation is 1,126 by
actual count. Their reservation consists
of $1,000 acres of arid land, almost wholly
worthless without irrigation The only
crops they raise are grown upon the over
flow lands next to the Colorado river, where
very little very primitive farming is at
tempted.
The river usually overhows in June. The
mesquite bean and river fish are the steady
diet of the Indians, varied only as they are
successful or unsuccessful in growing a
few vegetables and cereals. They are with
out implements and without the knowl-
edge or means to irrigate their reservation.
ABoDEs OF THE YUMAs.
The abode of a well to do Indian brave is
parallelogram, about ten by twelve feet,
inclosed by four poles, with willow brush
tied or nailed to the sides and across the
top. Arrowwood matching closes up the
interstices and a dirt roof shelters the in
mates from the occasional winter showers
and the beating southern SUM- In the
summer domicile the matching on the sides
is omitted. A blanket, yard or two of
cotton cloth or cowskin answers for a
door. Several inches of sand is piled into
the apartment, which answers for beds,
tables and chairs for the household, and
when this becomes intolerably filthy, and
not before, the women carry it out in their
skirts and replace it with fresh sand. A
few of the tribe have mud or adobe huts,
trifle less primitive, but no less dirty
The government, the philanthropist and
all concerned have neglected these Indians
Being neither quarrelsome nor peevish,
they have given their white neighbors no
trouble and therefore have attracted to
themselves no attention. Although mil
itary post was established at this point in
1865, and the Southern Pacific road was
complated to Yuma fully ten years ago,
little was attempted on behalf of these peo-
pie until the government abandoned the
military post and turned over the building
and grounds to the interior department.
Desultory and ineffective efforts were made
to establish some form of instruction and
very little missionary effort was put forth
by the Catholics. The Protestants have
never attempted to do anything here. The
facilitating climate it's extreme continu-
GUS and overposTering heat and the want
of resources to build up settlement have
kept Yuma for thirty-fve years a mere
outpost of civilization, with more Mexican
oi+ ,sc1
terests except railroad eating house,
steamboat landing from which a Colorado
river steamer embarks once in three months
for the north and the territorial peniten-
tiary. The Indian agent lives at Cotton,
Colo, and his visits are as infrequent as
those of the river steamer. There has
therefore been very little sympathy and
great deal less money expended for the
benefit of these Indians.
IN THEIR SAVAGE STATE.
Four years ago Miss Mary O'Neill and
band of devoted Catholic sisters from St.
Louis accepted the proposition of the In
dian Office to undertake tho conduct of I.
boarding school at Fort Yuma in the
buildings abandoned by the military,
which were fitted up for school purposes.
When they reached the reservation they
found their wards and patrons the most
primitive Indians in the United States.
The full summer dress of the stalwart
Yuma brave consisted of long black hair,
concealing all of his head except his eyes,
nose and mouth, and breech clout. That
of his wife and grown up sister was skirt
woven with bark, extending from the waist
toward the knees. Their hair was tied
back, showing their faces. The little Yu-
mas up to IL years of age were stark naked.
In the winter few garments were worn.
No hats, no shawls, no shoes, no trousers,
no coats, no dress skirts were known. The
adherence of the males for work of any
kind was evidenced by the stipulation of
the chiefs that il their boys entered school
they were not to be taught any useful en-
ployment
The ladies found the Yuma Indians vile,
filthy, pagan, superstitious and very low
in the scale of intellect. Their work had
to begin at the worst sort of beginning,
and Miss O'Neill tells me that she was very
much discouraged at the outlook. The peo-
pie of Yuma accustomed to the degrade
ton and depravity of the Indians, gave the
good women very little encouragement.
They were kind and courteous, but skep-
tical
INsTRUCTING THE YOUNG.
The Indians first permitted a few boys to
go to school, more because they were to be
fed without cost than for anything else.
They broke out all the window panes, stole
the bedding and table linen, carried off
kitchen utensils and destroyed anything
that it occurred to them to put out of the
way. They resented the trousers, shirt,
shoes and fine tooth comb, and revolted
outright at soap and water. The sister
SUPERINTENDENT was compelled to promise
not to cut their hair unless the boys con-
sented, and agreed also not to inf1ict cor
poral punishment. The Indians never pun
ish their children. One day boy caught
in the act of hurting a pebble through a
window pane was gently chided by a sis
ter He escaped that night, and before
morning twenty windows were converted
into ventilators. The boys were incorri-
gible, the girls shy and the parents sus-
picious. The condition could hardly have
been less favorable, except that there was
no danger to life or person.
Patiently the devoted nuns went about
their work. They reached the parents by
visits to their novels, by presents of gaudy
trinkets and of sweetmeats. The school
physician banished their fever and saved
some of the little ones after the medicine
man had given them up. They finally
overcame the shyness of the little girls,
won the respect of the boys and the affec-
ton of the fathers and mothers. Today
they have eighty-four boys and forty-eight
girls in the school. Many of the boys have
short hair, and all are neatly dressed,
clearly and interested, though their prog
ress is slow. The boys no longer steal or
destroy the school property, and this year,
for the first time, girls yerging on woman
hood have been held in school or reclaimed
from the streets of the adjacent village.
After four years of hard work, of almost
infinite patience, and of continual discour-
agements the sisters see light breaking
Fort Yuma Cor. St. Louis Globe-pemo-
crat.
Her Prehistoric Memory.
She was young thing-or rather she
wished people to think she was-and this,