Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1897-08-05
INDIANS AT SCHOOL.

AMey arc NhGWHWA nWbAClAnba roma on
English Names And Good Clothes,
A recent visit to the Phoenix Indian
school, California, was q revelation In
some respects. The WRITER has known
the Pima indiana on their reservation
as o fierce, sullen, obstinate and cruel
lot Of savages, with record second
to not even the ApacheS for horrible
butcheries of white settlers and un4
speakable barbarities upon their ene'
mics In warfare. It was therefore q
surprise to see over $50 Of the boys and
girls Of these desert saVages como
marching into the chapel with military
precision, dressed in handsome, neat
fitting garments, wearing linen shirts
and with their hair bIushed with as
much nicely as that of city dude
But the surprise did not end there,
When the opening hymn was an
nounced one of the Apache Indian girls
that ten months before was running
wild on the desert south Of the ella
readily turned TO the number ands
handing the writer the book, asked, in
good English, II he would not take part
with them. Some of them sing splen-
didly, and Prof. Hall, the superintend-
ent of the school, says they are natural
musicians. Several Of tho younger ones
have learned to play the organ, and
with the French harp they will mako
an average city gamin ashamed OF him.
self. Hugh Patton, one of the mon
ltors, plays the plano very well, having
picked the accomplishment up without
any instruction. This Indian Is n pc
culiarity in Indian life. Some years ago
he had learned the English language
and acted as an interpreter from that
time till the opening Of the school,
which he entered, where he has since
remained. He discarded his Indian
name and assumed an English one,
and in the three years has acquired o
good English education. He is of me-
dunn size, rather dark, but with the
appearance of student, lie has done
much TO induce his people to adopt
civilization, and is, of course, warm
friend of the school.
An advantage here is that the boys
and girls are in close proximity to their
relatives and friends and are allowed
to visit back and forth, which could not
be the case in foreign school. This
is of double advantage, for the edu-
Gated children visiting their parents,
brothers and sisters tend to raise them
in the plane of civilization, and the
change on the reservation during the
last year is marked. The boys are al-
lowed to go home two weeks in the
summer, and several are allowed to go
and assist In planting the crops. When
they leave the school they are given
their Indian clothes, but they never
fail to return wearing better or at least
more expensive clothing than the
school furnishes them.
At times the Indian boys are allowed
to work on the fruit farms adjoining
the school, and they are given their
wages to spend as they please. They
usually invest them in clothing, and
some of them have expensive suits,
They do their work we'll and their labor
is preferred to that Of the Mexicans.
When they are out working in this
way they not only earn the wages, but
they learn to depend on themselves.
This idea of the industrial branch Of
the school is the, conception of Prof,
Rich. His theory Is that Is impossible
to take a savage and 80 educate him n
letters and science that he will be able
to successfully take hold of any of the
higher branches In life, or, in other
words, that It is impossible to make q
Greek professor out of halt-nalSed
savage. But he does argue that they
can be made good citizens, able to read
and wtite, and, more than all, to sup
port themselves by filling the soil.
After this point is reached they will
rise higher themselves and Of their own
inclination, until the last instinct Of
the savage will have disappeared.-St.
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