Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-01-04
INDIAN SCHOOL GRADUATES,
Their Careers as Described in the
Records of Hampton Institute.

Records of Hampton Institute.
From the New York Sun.
With the new policy of excluding Indians
from the United States army there is one
less avenue of employment open to the In
dams trained in the Indian schools OF the
east. These schools have long contributed
to the number of scouts and soldiers en-
ployed in the far west, and young Indian
named Eaton, a graduate of Hampton In
stitute. was the scout who successfully led
the pursuit of the last Apache reneSades.
Hampton Institute keeps continuous rec
ORD OF the Indians Who have lived at the
school, and the story of the graduates is
told in the reports of the institute with
curious righteousness. or AGO former pu-
pills reported on, the record of 80 was set
down excellent, of 2ly good, of 81 fair,
CT 80 poor, and OF IL bad.
The Indians, after returning home, teach
school, act as missionaries CatechiSts,
practice various trades or professions, or
loaf about the agencies, leading the idle
life of their people. OF some the report is
now busy and useful now blanket In
dian. Some return to superstition and
barbarism, and several of those regarded
as OF good conduct are reported as famous
dancers at the religious rites of their peo-
pie. Many of the former pupils are record
ed as dying early, or being delicate, ana the
untamed Indians commonly believe that the
eastern schools are likely to be fatal to
their people. The school authorities insist
that the agency Indians are subject to
many diseases, and cite the report of a
school teacher among the Sioux, who says
that their habit of gorging themselves on
ration day and starving for the rest OF the
week is partly responsible for a vast deal
of ill health; that the bad sanitary condi
tons of cabin rather than wigWam life
helps to account for many deaths, and that
inherited disease, and the reckless use Of
tobacco from infancy are also causes of
high mortality among agency Indians. 1t
iC l,arh Significant a nral, 10
percentage of the Indians reported as eX-
ceilent were included in those who died
young.
Many of the Indian students are reported
as having lands, cattle and comfortable
wooden houses and some are married
Christian fashion to former fellow students.
Inteniperance seems to be the besetting sin
Of the educated Indian, as of his savage
brother, and the institute reports speak of
this in individual cases with entire frank
ness. The story of a promising Apache boy
shows a curious struggle between school
training and the savage instinct. Ills rec
Crd bad, and after several outbreaks
and arrests he wrote cheerfully from prison
10 assure the managers of the institute
that he would be out in three months, and
that he was once more good boy. An in
closed photograph showed this wild animal
with the same enjoying boyish face that
had made him favorite at the school.
Not only does the educated red man oc-
casonally revert to his former condition
blanket Indian but the institute re-
cords other curious lapses into barbarism,
with occasional recoyeries. The report
notes and then that this or that for
ner student has taken a wife Indian FASH
ion, and sometimes the legal wife is de-
serted for a woman bought for so many
ponies. One highly eulogized half-breed
girl of the eros Ventres was reported two
years ago as having, some time after 1eaV-
ing the school, married who turned
out a drunkard, cruel in his cups The ex-
cellent wife brought up her children to
speak English and live after the manner
of the whites. but the report innocently
ADDS: In an effort to defend herself on one
occasion she did it more efectually than
she had intended, and has since Qour years.
been a widow