The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1896-12-24
AT AN INDIAN SCHOOL.
A Visit to One OF the Great Govern
ment Institutions.

|
| ment Institutions.
Recruiting the Children from Their Native
Tribes-They Prove Readily Amena bic
to the Teachings of CiviIization-A
| Musical Capacity.
(Boston Transcript
Some time ago it IVES my gcod fortune
TO be able to accompany an Indian agent
and his party through northern feser-
vation in Dakota, in search OF children
for ther reservation boarding schools.
Psrhaps it Is not we'll known that the
Government supports large number of
these schools in which some 10, ooo child
rem, WHO have no other means OF obtain
ing an education, ere fed, clothed and
taught at Government expense In many
cases the Indians do not send their child
rem voluntarily, and it becomes necessary
for the agent to learn the number OF
children of school age, aud to use per-
suasiye means to induce their parents to
send them to schSo1. Sometimes ILL
health is given as an excuse, and 10 IL
necessary for the agency physician I'd
visit the camp to determine whether they
are really unfit for school, as is often the
case, since consumption and scrofula are
common diseases, and render tho children
unfit or undesirable.
In this party were the agent, tue
agency physician, school superintendent,
interpreter, and squad OF Indian police.
/ Tho agent was an angular New Yorker
who came out of the war minus leg, he
drifted West, into the Legislature, and
thence into the position of Indian agent
a restless, kind hearted Christian gentle
man, earnestly DESTROYS OF helping the
Indian, and of course warm friend OF
the schools. The doctor was young
Kentuckian, fresh from college, and very
fond of his pipe and his fair young wife.
who always accompanied him, and could
never.quite enjoy the presence of her
| husbands patients. The school superin-
tendeIt was a Kansan, silent, sedate, and
diffident as most Kansas people are. An
interpreter and two or three police com
pleted the party.
| The first thirty miles was over bills
and valleys of gumbo, peculiar olayey
composition, that when dry is rs hard as
rock, and on untravelIed roads extremely
rough, and when wet is SO sticky that
travel is almost impossible. A nights
rest by the wayside and another day e
! %Jo han tifn1 GhavpnnQ RiC1r
the "Wakpa Waste of the Sioux cross-
ing the river score of times in as many
miles, in water that nearly floats the
wagons, and the subaEency IS raached.
where we are to meet our Indian friends.
Almost before the teams are unhitched
the inevitable "yapi," or talk, begins.
These people, hundred miles from the
agency, rarely see the agent oftener than
once yenr, at the time the annuity
| goods ara issued, so their wants are
numerous: they have absolutely no idea
of the value Of time, and would talk
forever if allowed to do so. The women,
though absent from the councils. have
their say in private talks with tho agent,
and in domestic affairs reign supreme.
The grandmother is an important factor
in the household, ANA owing TO the
peculiar domestic relation, each family
may have from two TO sig. Naturally,
they are old, but always look twice their
age, whatever it may he and when one
| of them fumbles the tsn.inch butcher
knife that Is always carried in ths belt
and says child can't 60 t o school, the
matter is considered settled. Usually
parents make no objection to their child
rem attending school, but since they are
whether In or out If school, it takes some
persuasion to induce them to give up the
| boundless freedom of tine camp for the
restraining comforts of the school.
Probably, under like conditions, many
| white children would feel the same. AL
though the people of these back districts
were not rated as favorable to school,
the trip added ten new pupils, with the
| promise of as many more at the next
ration day.
| While on our journ ey it was amusing
! to observe the assurance with which men
| who la0 DeeU QUIZ III Uu6 tu6u ToC6nu
trou bles, protested great friendship for
the white man, and asked new favors in
the way of wagons and tools. Houses
are few, the usual shelter being the cloth
"tipi" pronounced teepe), which is
easily moved and favors tho camp system
| which agents have found 40 difficult to
breakup. Most of the western reserva-
lions are on lands not at all suited TO
farming, and the Indian finds abundant
excuse for his inherited. unconquerable
aversion to work. The only profitable
occupation is stock raising, and that
requires some capital, and much fore
sight aad patience, oil of which are
painfully lacking The return journey
was by two days drive down the valley
Of the Cheyenne, called by the Indians
the "Good River" passing the magRif-
cent stock ranch of the Duprez family, of
French descent, who own some ten miles
of river front, and several Thousand heati
of horses and cattle. Roaming with the