The Press., 1898-02-03
NORTH DAKOTA LETTER.


The Indian agent is assisted in his
management of the Indians by police
force. The reservation is divided into
dist.icts and each one has policeman re-
siding in 1T. The police and Indians.
There is an Indian court which meets
brought the petty matters anrising among
the Indians, which they settle to their
own satisfaction.
The Fort Totten Indian Industrial
school, twelve miles from here, consists
of the Abandoned military port of the fort
with the addition of fine school buildings
built specially for school purposes, and
located mile from the post. The build
ings are occupied as contract school !;
! and are under the direction of the Grey
Nuns of Montreal. 1t is an out and out
Catholic school which our government
supports.
The old military post was built by the
war department thirty years ago and
was constructed in the form of a hollow
square, surrounded by gravel driveway
fifty feetwide and ornanented with shade
trees. AS originally constructed the post
consisted of thirty nine buildings, nineteen
being constructed of brick and the rest
| frame and log. A part of the buildings
were transferred for school purposes in
1890, and in 1891 the post was given up
and the rest converted into school pur-
poses.
The school is in two divisions,-the
school proper being at the abandoned
post, and the other division, where the
Grey Nuns are exclusively employed.
Sewing, laundrying and cooking are
taught there; but all other industries In
the school proper. Thereis a harness and
shoe shop; a tailor and blacksmith shop;
a sewing room and bakery. There is q
farm and garden connected with the
school. About eight thousand acres are
set aside for school purposes; of this one
hundred and thirty-six acres are we'll cul-
tivated. All the pupils Of proper age
are given instruction in the line of farm
ing and gardening. Each pupil works
one-half of each day during the term at
some industry and the other half is in the
school. The school is under military
discipline. Each one is taught to be
prompt, Industrious and neat. Never
have l been in school, or any otherpub-
lie place where there is such neatness and
order as here and it is carried through
every department, and is extended to
every sort of equipment of the school.
The boys and girls make their own beds
and take car of their own rooms.
Passing through these rooms recently we
were astonished at the order and neat
ness displayed; and, especially, at the
decorations on the walls. These wel
various figures artistically constructed
out of advertising ards. Skill and taste
were every where manifest d. The boys
and girls do the dining-room work anC
in fact, keep all the floors clean and In
order. In the ,hooI room the main OBJ
ject Is to give the children good common
school education, such as will enable them
to do marketing intelligently. The pupils
are Sioux from this state and Montana
and Chippewas from the Minnesota reser.
vations and the Turtle Mountain reserva
tion. At a recent visit to this school we
saw several boys walking back and forth
ON the side walks each carrying large
wood stick; and on inquiring found they
were undergoing punishment for some
offense. The attendance is between two
hundred and fifty and three hundred.
= In the sewing-room more than twenty
= different articles are made, some of then
numbering several hundred pieces. Whole
suits are made in the tailor shop, and al
the mending is done there Every article
: has to be first class no matter In wba
shop it is made. Year by year the bene
fits of the school are becoming more anC
more manifest. One or two things ar,
noticeable and should receive attention
When the young Indians have completed
their term there should be some opening
for them where they may use their &C
quirements and go on gaining more anC
more in the lines of their education. A.
it is, most of them go back to their ole
Indian life and fall into the old IndiaI
ways and thus lose all they have eve
gained. Moreover an educated Indian IL
often more evil than a wild, unframed
Indian. The smartest rascals on the re
servation are the educated fellows. /
seems to be difficult thing fol tn,
Indian to attain to conscience. The,
are slow to apprehend moral truth. Asid
from the religious Catholic influene ther
is, at the agency, an Episcopal residen
minister who holds services regularl,
! each week. On the reservation the Pres
/ byterians have two mission points. Th
minister now in charge is young man
quarter breed, who is very we'll trainec
/ and has On opportunity of doing mucl
J good. The Catholic influence is strong
; but their religious work does not aim foI
so radical change in the Indian life as tn
Protestant, and is more sensuous in 1t.
[ character therefore the Indians are NOR
t influenced by it than by the work of tn
: other class OF religious workers. 1t al
lows them an easier life The bulk O
the Indians are pagan, and are hard to b.
reached by Christianizing influences.
A new agent has just been appointed
to this agency. Twenty Eight years ag,
the past summer held religious services
in his fathers house on the frontier II
Minnesota He was then q lad HI,