The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-21
MONDAY y

mould anew the means of converse ant intercourse among men, and the con
 duct of life in it's whole exterior. Ye the sciences, of which the phenomena
 are mainly spiritual and abstract bring forth changes which, if less ob-
 vious, are really momentous and far
 reaching in their influence. If there be questions 10 which even long researches
 and ages of intellectual conflict fail tc
 bring final answer there is still s
 vast gain in the ignorantia docta which
 takes the place of that obtuse ignorance
 which knows not how the land lies and
 the points where the hidden treasure is 1 to be sought.
 To the instruction of the Indians in | Christianity, in the early period, and generally to their education, Yale was not indifferent. The trustees, at thell | first meeting after the charter was ob- l tained soiemnly declared their sympa- | thy with the design of the planters Of | New England, to propagate the gospel among the barbarous natives as well as the whites. Among the early grad
 uates there were six missionaries sent to the natives. In 17S5 Rev. John Sar geant, who graduated in 1730 and sue
 ceeded Edwards as a tutor, be- ing Mohegans and other Indians in Stockbridge and the neighbor-
 hood. He mastered their lan-
 guage, and prosecuted his labors, under
 varied obstacles with perseverance and
 success, until his death In 1749. Two
 years later, Edwards, on leaving North
 ampton on account of the troubles
 there, accepted the post thus left va
 cant and held it for six years. He at
 tended faithfully to his task. A letter
 from him to Sir William Pepperell, Gov
 ernor of the Province, respecting the
 plan of school for Indians girls at
 Stockbridge, is interesting for it's en-
 frightened views on the subject of edu- cation. He speaks not only of this par
 ticular matter, but also In reference to English speaking youth in general He
 wants the method of instruction for the offspring of the Indians to be free, as
 he expresses it, from "the gross defects of the ordinary method of teaching among the English" As one of these grand defects, he specifics the habit of accustoming children to learning without understanding. They are taught to read, he says without know ing the meaning of what they read, and this practice goes on, even long af- ter they are capable of understanding. They are taught the Cathechism in the same way. They form the habit of re- beating words without ideas. The child he declares with emphasis, in reading the Bible should be taught to under stand things as we'll as words. Ques- tions should be put to the young in the same familiar manner as they are ask ed questions commonly about their or dinary affairs" He asserts that >'the common methods of instruction in New are grossly defective. He goes on to say that children should be taught in a plain way Scriptural his tory, and Bible stories of the most in teresting and important events in a | plain and engaging way. He would | have them taught in a familiar way | the successive historical changes and | events in the Jewish nation and in the world at large, since secular history is with the story of Israel. He | Woulh fhNC tHiAdiSlit iiOlCoNCl, tetoShb
 something in general of Ecclesiastical of the chronology of events and of historical Geography" If it be thought that all children do not need so extended, he still main- .ains that children of the best genius" night at least enjoy this advantage. All would serve," he insists, the more speedily and effectually. to change the aste of Indians, and Ito bring them off rom their barbarism and brutality to l relish for those things which belong 0 civilization and refinement" Music, specially he recommends, as a school Or sensibility and affection. He write o his father (Jan. 27, 1752): The In- Hans seem much pleased with my fam ly especially my wife. They are gen rally more sober and serious than they lsed to be- Beside the Stockbridge h. Hans there are above sixty of the Six Nations, who live here for the sake of Twenty are lately come 0 dwell here, who came about two undred miles beyond Albany Greed f gain on the part of certain whites, nxious to enrich themselves, and ele- nents of opposition from other sources, bf we're harmful to the mission at Stock ridge. But the ideal of Edwards, pos z ibly impractical in some of its feat res, was high one, and he bent all is efforts to the realization of 1t.
 Eleazar. Wheelock, a graduate of Yale , ] the class of 1733. a zeaous and in- sresting preacher of the Edwardean chool, made his way up the Connecti- T ut River and laid the foundation of dartmouth College, which was charter 5 in 1760. The next year, Dr. Vince F ,ck carried thither the School for In- ians. which he had conducted for 2 lany years at Lebanon in the colony
 tContinned on Eleventh Page.l