The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-12-16
NJ, Wits p.orl. don, ,no~ ne

because I am m rdisn and | love nv Indian
husband. parent, brothers and sisters nu'
nv education he. made me bs,tst In lnuum'
sfabls way, I can't begin ~ tel gov how
more useful I am hers In this pueblo ~ La
gIna than nv unoiucat-d but willing sisters
All " ~ Government school graduate, lava
handed ,ogcth0r & discourage Tho dlrsdful
zurHtsttlous II our rloo. II take, pntIsuc"
and prudence, 'or thero are surerat'lon,
among our people Centuries old nut va
ara making progress The trouble with a."
white critics Il tia Government education ~
Indian, 4. that thav expect TO SEQ a whole
tr.h" Of proud. stolid and s~clf-ccnsclous
people abandon al their ways. boliofs aud
customs In a few years Cur poorla lived
hero happily and rrosp.rouslv before the
Christian era. and 10 vii ho marvellous II
tho Pueblo tribe f. much converted to tho
wiltn Peoples civilization Nv smother grn-
Grafton Yea. indeed. my children shall be
educated IN the Government schools II
will bs hard 20 part with Thorn In the most
interesting years Of their youth. but my hus-
bnnd and ! are agreed ne to that
The Nsva o Young men and women return
Ing from the Government schools are moro
cordially received nowadays than they used
% he, In former YEAR, a youth who came
back o. the tribe not knowing his parent
tongue was lmnst an oltcast on the re-orvs-
ton, The old Indians looked upon him as a
sort OF wizard. skilled in white mans wnys.
and taught tho uulottered youth - avoid
him. S. tho educated navajo was compelled
II abandon the civilization he had learned,
q takst e. uncleanlincss, % wear his hair long,
TO don the aboriginal garb and TO live like
his fellows. But tho skil shown bv Navajo
shepherds educated In tho Government
schools in growing tho best selling woods. the
ability OF tho educated young Nsvajos 70 cope
with the post traders, and especially IL" sue
cess OF educated Navajos In dealing with tho
epidemios that periodically rage among the
tribe have gradIallv tau ght even tho most
obduratc old Nava % tho benefits II an educa-
tion. The cattle men and sheep mon Of the
Territories employ educated Navajos. and
here aud there are graduates of Carlisle,
Haskell. Phnniv and Albuquerque. who hold
responsible clerical places In the cattle and
sheep companies. receiving from so TO SIPS
a month. A few Navajo women graduates
OF the Government schools are teachers In
the little day schools on the reservation. and
some of tho more preposssssinc and better
educated Navajo women have married white
cowboy husbands.
Among all the tribes in the Southwest most
opposed TO the education Of their children In
the Government schools the ApaoheS arc Grst.
Whit1 settlers living near the Apache reserva-
ton declare that thsrs never was a good
Apache this side OF death, but the writer has
seen some very bright and ambitious. Apache
children 10 the Government schools at PhpnlS
and Albuquerque. The best mathematician
ever seen at Phrnlx. IL was declared. az a
full-b.oodod Apache boy. Ho 10 now a clerk
In the service of the Mexican Central Railroad
at II Pa.1. The white friends Of the Apaches
call attention TO tho fact that the great tribe
was a w~arlike. rowing. Restless aud very
savag people for countless generations.
roaming over tens OF thousands OF square
mile. In tho Southwest and staying and de-
vastating wherever thcy went tits, therefore.
too much to expect that in only seventeen
years OF peace and restriction 70 their reserva-
ton In central Arizona the fierce. lntractable
Indians should bs converted to the Waite
oonqusror's mode Of living and Aonlyly thrift.
A few Apache graduates from the Govern
ment schools have Jobs on the section gangs
on tho Southern Pacific and Santa Fe railroads.
A few more are workers In the copper and
gold mines In tho Territories, but lapses from
civilization are more common among the
educated Apaches than among any other
pupils in the Government schools. An Apache
school graduate. who is fdnCero for the ava
pal Irrigation Company at Prescott. Ariz..
said to the writer tue other day:
"Ator thirsy years Of Miserable treatment
OF the Apaches by the United States. our
tribe Is now being we'll treated. Now that
tho Apaohes have been conquered and made
permanent prisoners on the reservation.
the United states are doing generously BY
the young Of the tribe, but It is hard for NE
to hear sensible white people say that an
Apache never can be made a good. useful
man or woman. Very few white people
know tho Apache. Most white people wonder
why our OLD Indians are not glad TO send their
children TO Carlisle or PhTnix. where the
boys and girls may be fed. clothed and schooled
free for seven or eight years. These
people would no. wonder u they pu, them
selves In the old Indians places. If these
people knew how crushed and humble the
Apaohes have been by their awful de eats
In the last twenty years. how they desTise
for not keeping UP the old-time
Apache record for conquerins. and how sadly
they think that the days OF great Apache
power have como. I think they would So IN
with our tribe. Anyhow. these whites
would not wonder why the old Indians are
not 30 pleased with the lie, OF sending their
children - oil they have lot now to cherish
and love-oT to their conqueror's schools
to 10 trained In everything contrary to the
ideas the old Apachss used to hold so dear.
That's the way the old Apaches look at II. |
We young mon and women who have been
blessed with education look az It differently.
Tho prospect for an Indian graduate from
a Government school 10 not bright oven now.
For instance, taks my Case: WAS educated
NJ Ph~nix | went there a naked boy OF
7 from the sand hills of the San Carlos |
! wac there nine years und got
al the education the school afforded. and
II was a good, sensible one. Whom tho time
for me 20 quit school I went back over
the mountains to the reservation. re-
scarcely any Apache words, any
own parents shrugged their shoulders
at mo. They believs that / had been taught
to despiss thcm and their miserable hut
Of straw on the sand. The other Indians
and ssid to them: We told you So.
Your boy has come back from the whites to
beat you. For weeks ! stayed about tho
- show my affection for my
father and mother. but there wa.
for me 70 do bu. liz around there In
Nth and become like all the other Apachss
living on rsdons. got out for a year and
In ne rLnes a. Kisbes. | tried to
get a lob whero my education In frures and