Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1895-01-28

and was able to express himself in
these tongues in very short time. All
the elements of education he found
when he first came to this forlorn coun-
try was that dozen or more Indians
knew few prayers and the catechism
IN the Thompson language. Beyond
this they We're as ignorant as brutcs.
lIenceforth he took up his great phil
lnthropic work.
From 1850 to 1889 he travelled only
his abode in a lonely, cheerless country
among a tribe of Indians who know
nothing outside their provincial jar
gon of Chinook language to devote the
remainder of his life toward lifting up
4 hopeless and down trodden race and
to establish between these brethren
and their Maker divine faith.
Pere lie Jeune at once began to study
the Chinook and Salishan languages,
between Yale and Lytton, distance
of fifty-two miles, trying to make ac-
luantance with as many Indians as
would receive white man into their
labtations. His struggles and efforts
were many, for it is well known that
these Indians are both stubborn and
superstitious, and to this day there ex-
lists between the reds and the whites
that smouldering enmity which may
at any moment break out in treachery
and foul play. To reach their hearts
was to become one of them-learn their
languages and advance civilization
among them through the comprehen-
sion of their own tongue. This of course
required untiring patience and energy,
but Pere lie Jeune is at last rewarded
for his sacrifices, for now hundreds
of Indians look up to him as the means
Of bringing into their narrow settle
ments news of the great outside world.
Since 1882 his mission has extended
to the Nicola Indians, who also speak
the Thompson language, and to the
Douglass Lake Indians, who are
branch of the Okanagan family, where
he copied and revised most of the pray
| ers they have in use up to the present
day. Since June 1891, he has had to
deal with the Shushwap tribe, and as
their language is similar to that used
by other Indians, he very soon became
familiar with it. In 1892, the Fraser
Indians and Sea-coast Indians came un.
der his notice. He tried several years
ago to teach the natives to read and
write in the English language, but
without avail. He soon found the race
very impatient and impetuous, and it
was an utter impossibility to teach
them to speak, read or write, or even
to write their own language in English
characters. Everything they did
learn, they We're required to memorize
by repeating it over and over again.
and as soon as their instructor was out
of sight the Indians either neglected
their lessons altogether, or, in sheer i'll
ability to learn forgot the first
rudiments taught them. AS Pere lie
Jeune's district was so extensive and
as he could only visit each tribe three
or four times Il year, one can see how
difficult it was to impart any solid in
struction. 1t took years after years to
make them understand a few instruc.
tions, only to be forgotten as soon as he
was gone.
When every means had been eX.
haustcd and the priest was discouraged
almost to complete detection, q happy
thought struck him, and by that
thought hundreds of Indians in Brit.
ish Columbia to-day have profited and
taken their first step toward education
Why not invent system by which
| the most simple mind might be taught
10 read and write?