Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1901-11-28
LITTLE INDIANS.
Not as Tenderly Reared as White
Children-An Indian School

Exchange: Some of our little bows
and girls make very big face when
their mothers or nurses give them
bath If they could see the way the
Kiowa and Comanche Indian babies
are given their baths they would never
make another face as long as they live
When an Indian mother wants to wash
her little one, she takes off his clothes.
holds him by one foot and plunges him
into the river. 1t makes no differ
ence how cold it iS-into the water he
goes, head first. Little Indians are not
rolled around in baby carriages Their
mothers carry them on their backs. eth
er strapped in cradle or rolled in
blanket. The cradles the Indian babies
have are not at all like the ones pro-
vided for their little white brothers and
sisters. 1t is a sacklike affair, open
at one end, fastened to a frame. The
papoose is placed in it with his hands
tied across his breast. When the mother
gets busy, she hangs the cradle on the
limb of tree or stands it up against
something Ants or flies can run over
the babys face at will, for his hands are
tied and he cannot defend himself
Little Indian girls do not have pretty
dolls with real hair and ewes that Omen
and close. The only kind they have they
make themselves out of grass and moss
and bits of cloth their mothers give
them
When the boys and girls go to
school, they cannot go home every night
like the white children do They stay
at school day and night for ten months
~, .,f
lessons, the boys have to learn all kinds
Of outdoor work and to rse tools The
girls have to learn to sew and cook and
to do all kinds of homework In the
dining-room at the Riverside govern
ment school. near Anadarko, there arc
sixteen tables, and ten boys and girls
of different ages eat at each table, In
the large garden connected With the
school there are sixteen little gardens
The boys have to cultivate them and
the girls cook the vegetables the boys
raise. Consequently many things
that come onto each table are raised
and prepared BY those who cnt the-N
In some of their studies the Indian
children get along better than the
whites. and in others they do not do 50
well. They can learn to write easily
and are fine at drawing. They have 4
natural eye for color, and execute very
beautiful DESIGNS upon the blackboard
with colored chalk. In needlework the
girls soon become very expert Some
specimens of their work were recently
forwarded 10 New York, where they
were pronounced exquisite and sold
to wealthy ladies al very high prices.
When it comes to music. Indian chill
dren make good instrumental perform
ers. hut few of them become finished
yocalists. In mathematics they make
a very poor showing They do not
memOri2o we'll ana get along w"
slow in history. civil government and
studies of lilo nature.
Indian children are shown scarcely
any affection and sympathy by thoi"
PARENTS. They are never kissed and Il
they get hurt they get very little Of
tention. This being the case. thev show
small consideration for each other at
school. While the teachers are very
strict and prompt TO punish any oct
of harshness or cruelty the bad Indian
creeps out very often. If boy hos a
sore foot or q lame leg. he is quite lilelv
TO get a push or knock to see how
hravelv he can stand the pain. -
one OF the schools not long since se"-
eral young hogs were found dead IN
their pen. A few DAYS later il was dis
that several more had be"9
killed Investigation developed tho
fact that thev had been dubbed to death
by several of the larger boys