The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-03
EDUCATING POOR 10
Mary W. Rowe Writes Of the
Causes of Failure.
lDLENESS IS THE CURSE
Of the Observation-Disclosures
are Suggested.

ENSH 4orA GfFuluB ECSt rom colony, ~.
T.. Mary W. Poe has the GLOWING inter
esting things to say OF Indian education
''No one who Is at work upon the soiu-
ton Of the so-called Indian question In
any Of its many departments has an easy
task. It Is intricate. puzzling, at times
profoundly discourAging and requires q
strong faith, unlimited patience. mad q
broad charity to labor patiently at q
task which viii never show Us q naonu-
ment to those whose ives have been spent
upon it, for success, when attained, will
probably result in the absorption Of the
Indian by the civilized white race and his
disappearahce from history al an Indian.
''His fate. 1t seems, is to be swallowed.
up by the stronger race. uniting with It,
and adding to 1t qualities by no means all
ignoble; or to be forced under and annlhl-
ated. And yet the Indian question, his
life and character, his history ana tradi-
tons, are full of fascination. and to those
who live in sight Of his clustered tepees,
In intimate relation with him In all ma
turaI human interests, ne comes to seem
very much q brother man" his peculiar
tiles easily explained, his future, after ali
not so problematIcal. And It must be re-
membered that among Indians 50 widely
scattered are environments very diverse,
and that people working In one locality
may find conditions so radically different
that to those Of other places their state
ments may seem exaggerated II not false.
''Our lot = thrown with the so-called
blanket Indians Of Oklahoma, among the
latest from the war-path, clinging des-
perately to the tepee life. and yet some
of them, notably the Chyennes and Ara
pahoes. ahead Of their brothern in that
they are allotted Indians. face to face
with white civilization, atnenable to law,
and not segregated upon a reservation
whose main law Is the will Of the agent.
Before actual contact with the Indians,
with the traditions Of my Eastern life,
and education from me, should have
said, education. education, Is the lever by
which to raise this depressed race"
Whatever may be true elsewhere. here at
least the more disheattening element in
the problem is the returned student With
too few exceptions they have either re-
turned openly to the habits Of their an
cestors, with the added vices OF civilisa-
ton minus it's virtues, and utterly shorn
CLEANS out upon us from the old camp
of that native nobility which so often
Indians Of the generation past; or else
they use their acquired powers to barter
away the interests OF their own people.
AS interpreters, they are often profoundly
distrusted by the other Indians. AS adj
visers, to win their people TO new and
untried ways Of life, which they them
selves so imperfectly follow, they ore OF
very little use. Recall the interesting
collection Of photographs Of the Indians
at Omaha in the March Cosmopolitan,
taken in ali their paint, feathers. buckskin
and tinsel finery. ecall. also. that night
~ dance OF half-naked savages, interest
ing, indeed. to curious lookers-on. but 4
backward step for the Indians themselves,
many OF whom were educated from child
hood at the expense Of the government.
toiled over by many q faithful teacher.
OF htese banbaric customs might be re-
placed by love Of law, labor. ana en-
lightment. They are set back years in
their advancement merely to add interest
to that already brilliant pageant Of West
ern enterprise.
Many of those indians We knew per-
sonally ana intimately. They left their
houses and improvements to the tender
mercles Of white'settlers, their new farms
to destruction by cattle and weeds. and
a better life Just entered on. for that. to
them. enthralling opportunity to drag Out
of their cherished past those Indian Gus
toms and habits which we ought 70 help
them lay aside forever In spite Of their
just 50 far a. they stand
in the path of their progress. Our better
Indians, the older ones, those who hold
and cherish the real traditions OF true
value, am glade to say very |
largely refused proudly to leave their
homes and occupations 20 make show |
Of themselves and their sacred customs. |
But the returned students. who may have |
nearly forgotten their native tongue. were |
there In force, ana exhibited q second |
EDITION OF dances and customs which |
have not entered at all largely into their |
own experiences OF life.
balancing at the Cosmopolitan pictures. |
I see one man who left a place which he |
was IntsIligen;ly improving. ana which
was IN advance Of that OF any o his /
neighbors. He has done nothing but gam
BILE al make trouble for his children ana I
friends since his return. Another. excep-
tionaliy well educated, Upon bis return |
accepted a large bribe 70 betray the in
terests OF he Impoverished people. Is hat
ID ana distrusted by them and BY al who
really know him, although regarded a. q
shining example BY the school which
graduated him. bcsuse he has retained
he garb o. civilization ana Its Gin Ut
erances. A third was taken young and
.dueated By q white man. who did his
suty faithfully ~ the Indian lad he
low lives in . ~retcked tepee. has two
degraded wives, is leader IN the mes
al warship-not that he believes h q.
yut for personal gain-and trueay de-
cTfb4s himself az "the WOrsest man II
he whole tribe Within our knoEIedge
z these Southwestern Indians. the chey-
me. Arspahoe. Casdo. wlehitas Ki9~A
,ormanehs. and Apache tribes. could
multiply such examples TheEsh I aH
Iot unz1indfuI Of those who. in the fare
{ untold dtfneaIties. have TO some degree
called the hlsh hope With which they
u. the eonparItfvsly sheltered school ife
! sim remains tras that thse are vsrJ