The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-09-09
THE INDIAN AS AN ARTISAN,

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W.. C. Kohlensberg, one Of the teach
ers at the Fort Shaw Indian school talks
entertainingly of the work of the Fort
Shaw school.
''There are 265 pupils of many tribes
he says, "among them being Piegans,
Blackfeet, eros Ventres, Assinniboines,
Cheyennes, Arapahoes, Yankton Sioux
and Crows from Idaho, Wyoming, Mon
tana and South Dakota, as you will see.
There is not very much difference be-
tween them as to their capacity for
learning, as far as I can see, except in
individual instances. I presume the
Piegans would be said to take the most
readily to civilizing influences, and that
the Cheyennes might be called the in
tellectpal superiors of some Of the
others, but all are wonderfully quick,
it seems Ito me, when we consider that
it is only generation since they were
begun to be educated, and that most of
their parents before them have not had
the advantages of early education ac-
cording to our IDEAS. Out of themany
who have left Fort Shaw as graduates.
only>a few-an exceedingly small num-
Der it would be in proportion-have
gone back to their old modes of living
on their reservations.
''There are six teachers in the school,
but they are only small part of the
force that is constantly at work attend
ing to the details of the pupils educa-
ton. There are 81 employees in the
school, and most of them have some
thing to do with the educational sys-
tenn, for manual training is intended
to, be one of the strong points of the
course, and among the trades taught
are carpenter work, blacksmithing,
tailoring, shoemaking, dairying, gar
dening, and farming for the boys, and
for the girls such useful occupations as
laundry work, cooking, housekeeping
and sewing. There is one thing about
the class we have-the boys are indus
trious and the girls are neat and care
full. The ages of our pupils range from
six to twenty years, but the largest pro-
portion of them are above ten. 49, :
"The system of teaching the Indians
to rely upon themselves is. adopted in
teaching the trades. In farming, for
instance, instead Of sending 60 boys
into common field and making them
work, they are given an acre or5an acre
and quarter apiece, and the seed to
sow it with, and then they are held re-
sponsible for it's care and keeping.
They raise vegetables and fruits and
melons, among other things, and vie
with each other in doing successful
work. We cut 400 or 500 tons of hay
in a season. and occasionally have some
to spare.
= 'oThe course of study includes about
what would be taken in through the
eighth grade of city. school. Stress is
laid upon the practical side, but the
finer nature is not wholly neglected.
One of the Piegan boys has written a
production on Col. Shaw, for whom the
fort was named, that has been published
in a leading magazine, and there is a
music teacher. at the school; who finds
that the Indians take more kindly to
the music lessons than the average lot
Of children in. public schoolroom.""
There were 40 teachers at the sinsti-
tute meeting at Ogden. Among them
were three Indians, one of whom,
Chauncey Y. Robe, was from the Fort
Shaw school. Another was the disci-
plinarian at Carson, New, and the third
q teacher at Fort Hall, Idaho. There
were teachers from all over the west,
and one from the Carlisle Indian school,
in Pennsylvania.-Helena (Mont.) In
dependent.