The Press., 1898-02-03
NORTH DAKOTA LETTER.
Oberon, N. D., Jan. IS, 1898.

Oberon, N. D., Jan. IS, 1898.
 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 a policeman re- siding in it. The police and Indians. There is an Indian court which meets once in two weeks and before 1t, an brought the petty matters anrising among the Indians, which they settle to their own satisfaction.
 The Fort Toteen 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 a contract school and are under the direction of the Grey Nuns of Montreal. It 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 hollow square, surrounded by a gravel driveway fifty feetwide and ornamented 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. Therei Is harness and l shoe shop; tailor and blacksmith shop; a sewing room and bakery. There is 8 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 a 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 a school, or any other pub- | lie place where there Is such neatness and order as here and 1t 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 weat
 various figures artistically constructed out of advertising ards. Skill and taste
 were every where manifest d. The boy. and girls do the dining-roo work; ant
 in fact, keep all the floors clean and il
 order. In the 8 :hool room the main ob
 ject Id to give the children good common
 school education, such as will enable the n
 to do marketing intelligently. The pupils are Sioux from this state and Montana
 and Chippewas from the Minnesota reser vations and the Turtle M runtain reserva
 tion. At a recent visit to this school W,
 saw several boys walking back and fortt
 on the side walks each carrying larg'
 wood stick; and on inquiring found the,
 were undergoing punishment for som
 offense. The attendance is between two
 hundred and fifty and three hundred. : In the sewing room more than twent, different articles are made, some of then numbering several hundred pieces. Who'll suits are made in the tailor shop, and al
 the mending is done there. Every articl : 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 an more manifest. One or two things ar noticeable and should receive attention
 When the young Indians have complete their term there should be some openin for them where they may use their ac qutrements and go on gaining more an more in the lines of their education. A it is, most of them go back to their ol Indian life and fall into the old India > ways and thus lose all they have eve gained. Moreover an educated Indian i r often more evil than a wild, untraine Indian. The smartest rascals on the re servation are the educated fellows. ] J seems to be a difficult thing fo1 tn
 Indian to attain to a conscience The ! are slow to apprehend moral truth Asid ! from the religious Catholic influene ther is, at the agency, an Episcopal resider . minister who holds services regularl | each week. On the reservation the Pres l byterians have two mission points. Tn t minister now in charge is young mar quarter breed, who is very we'll traine f and has an opportunity of doing muc 8 good. The Catholic influence is strong s but their religious work does not aim fo 5 so radical change in the Indian life as tn Protestant, and is more sensuous in it f character therefore the Indians are nor influenced by it than by the work of tn : other class of religious workers. It a
 lows them an easier life. The bulk ( - the Indians are pagan, and are hard to t
 reached by Christianizing influences. A new agent has just been appointe
 to this agency. Twenty-eight years az
 the past summer held religious service | Tn fofh .