Omaha daily bee., 1899-08-23

sion the boys are taught by the Jesuit
fathers, and in addition to their school work
are given practical instruction in shoe, sad
dlery. carpenter and blacksmith shops and
in farming and gardening, The girls, who
are under the direction Of the Sisters OF
Providence, are taught all kinds OF house
work. dairywork and sewing. There is also
a kindergarten department. in charge OF the
Ursuline nuns.
1t the Blackfeet agency Is the mission OF
the Holy Family, situated on the Two Medi-
cine river. formerly numbering 100 children,
but now having about fifty in attendance.
The building at the mission occupied by the
sisters and girls was recently destroyed by
FIRE, but a new building is under construc-
ton, which, when completed, will render the
school thoroughly complete. There is also
a government boarding school at the agency
on Willow Creek, having an attendance of
1903 children, while the total number OF chill
dren Of school age on the reservation is
given as 42l.
Crows in the Lead.
The Crow Indians have attained about the
highest degree Of civilization Of any of the
tribes Of Montana. At this agency 2SS were
the greatest number in attendance during
the year. OF these 1853 attended the govern
ment school, the remainder belonging to st.
Xavier's mission on the Big Horn river,
which formerly numbered 100 pupils.
Another mission, at the Pryor Creek sub
agency, has been closed since the discon-
tinuation of government aid, leaving 800
Indians at Pryor Creek without school faeili-
ties. the nearest school being the st. Xavier
mission, fifty miles distant. The parents
of the children have complained to the Of
fcers at the agency of the closing of the
school.
At the Tongue River agency, In southern
Montana. st. Labre's mission has sixty
five children of the Cheyennes, while the
day school at the agency
less than fifty. leaving, according to the
agents report. nearly 300 children with no
school facilities whatever. He recommends
the building of a boarding school at the
agency large enough to accommodate at
least $50 pupils. At the Fort Peck agency
both the Presbyterian and Catholic
churches have established mission schools,
with an attendance of nearly 200 out of
375 children of school age, and both are
doing excellent work.
The Fort Belknap Indian reservation, in
the extreme northern part of the state,
seems to possess school facilities nearly
adequate to meet the needs of the people.
Less than $50 children of school age are
reported and there is an industrial boarding
school at the agency, we'll conducted and
well attended, while st. Paul's mission
school, at the Little Rockies, has an at
tendance Of some 200 children of Gros Ven
tres and Assiniboines. Several improve
ments have been added to the mission
school during the year and it's appearance
is attractive and prosperous.
Helen KelIer's Examination.
The mental development Of Miss Helen
Keller is a source of wonder and admira-
ticn to educators with whom she has come
in contact. Her great misfortune of being
blind, deaf and dumb does not retard her
progress in the least. Nature has made
partial amends by giving her a marvellous
sense Of touch, keen perceptive faculties
and a retentlve memory. Recently she was
examined for entrance to Radcliffe, the
female annex of Harvard college, and
passed a successful examination. Speaking
of the examination, the Boston Transcript
says:
at is quite certain that no person ever
took a college examination with so heavy
a handicap-we may say with so many kinds
Of a handicap-as Helen Keller's on this
occasion. AS all the world knows, she
could not see the examination papers nor
hear the voice Of an examiner. The natu-
raj method of communicating the questions
to her would have been to make use OF
the fingers of her old-time teacher and
interpreter. Miss Sullivan. Miss Sullivan
does not know Greek or Latin or the higher
mathematics, and while she is able to serve
Helen by communicating to her printed
Greek and Latin, letter by letter, she
could not, even IL she had been so dis
posed, have given her the slightest assist.
ance in answering the examination ques-
tions. But it was deemed best by all
concerned to avoid even the remotest sug-
gestion or possibility OF assistance. A
gentleman was found-Mr. Vining of the
Perkins institution, who had never me-
Helen Keller and who was quite unknown
to her and unable to speak tc
her-who could take the examination
papers as fast as they were presented ant
write them out in Braille characters, thu
system of writing in punctured points now
much used by the blind. The questions
thus transcribed by him were put int,
Helen's hands in the examination room, Ia
the presence of a proctor who could no
communicate with her, and she wrote GU
her answers on the typewriter.
Here, however, came in one OF the add
tional points Of Helen's handicap. Their,
are two systems of Braille w~riting-the Eng
fish and the American. There are marked
differences between them-very much sucl
differences as those between the two princi
pal systems OF shorthand writing. Helei
Keller has been accustomed to the Englisl
system, in which nearly all the books whicl
have been put in Brairle are printed. A
the arrangement with Mr.. Vining was com
pleted but a day or two before, and as |
, was not known to her that he did not writ
) the English Braille, 1t was impossible IT.
make any other arrangement. She had I
l puzzle out the unfamiliar method of writ
ing, much as a writer Of the Pitman steno
I grapher might use his sense of fogic an
general intelligence by a tour de force, t
l enable him to read the Graham shorthand
and this labor was added to the other labo
of Helen Keller's examination. To add t
, her difficulties. her Swiss watch, made TO
the blind, had been forgotten at home, an
there was no one at hand, on either of tn
days Of the examination, to give her tn
time. She worked in the dark with regar
i, to the time which remained to her as sh
!, went along from question to question.
"But she passed the examination triumph
antly in every study. In advanced Iati