The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-04-18
REDSKINS
As
STUDENTS.

"The process OF obtaining an education
nowadays would seem TO the uneducated
Indian observer il the uneducated Indian
would he brought TO observe IL. remark
ably like the white mans unattractive
and unnecessary process OF earning n
living. for he would not find his children
accumulating strange wisdom; they would
not seem TO him TO be acquiring the pro-
found and wonderful lore OF the medi-
cine man. When they were not engaged
i'm the occupation Ito his notion peculiar
ly foolish and time-wasting OF learning
how TO read addresses 10 ducks. or i'm the
more difficult, but equally Improbable
one of describing in detail the adventures
OF certain Ulysses, they would be doing
what he would regard as unnecessary and
degrading labor.
THE time at the boarding schools is
divided with good deal of discrimination
between intellectual and manual training.
The educators just now are relying more
upon the latter than the former for the
ultimate advancement of the race. At
to turn out prodigies of book learning
from the Indian schools. If pupil
shows unusual mental ability the way is
cleared for him to go to the Eastern
schools and colleges, where he may fit
himself for whatever career he chooses.
But the work of the average boarding
school is, in the theory at least. to give
ucation and more thorough knowledge
OF those manual arts which are likely
to. prove unusual to them when they re-
| turn to their tribes. And that Is why the
old-time Indian would doubtless despise
| the school day occupations of his sons
| and daughters as belonging to the con-
| temptible paleface system of work.
| He would find that everything in the
| rectangular buildings proceeds on a sys-
tenn as mathematical and exact as their
1 own construction. At the sounding of a
/ call the square court yard is full ON uni
| formed soldier boys. The laggards come
| running TO join their companions, the Of
| ficers, erect and stalwart. take their com
mands. They march to the reviewing
| field The Lizards In the sand and sage
glide away A prairie dog in the distance
cocks an impertinent ear and then scut-
ties into his hole. The distant hills look
down In wondering review, amazed at
this sght-the sons of those stealthy,
half-clothed. 1.-THE, brown men whom they
had known for generations. tricked out in
uniforms resembling the ones there sires
hated. marching at the beating of drums
and the blare OF trumpets, with uproar
and sound, wheeling, turning and
| maneuvering.
1T is not only the drill that is per-
| formed in uniform and with military pre-
| cision. The boys march TO their meals
In, ha har hru
| fall into line and march to their classes.
| They march to the tailoring shop, where,
| by the way, they make their own uni
| forms They march TO the shoe shop
where they learn the gentle art Of cob
| bling and manufacture the shoes for tho
| school.
Some of them may be seen in pictur-
esque groups In the glow OF the smithy
/ fire, strong figures, dark faces lit up by
J the white heat I'm which they hammer out
! horseshoes. Then there Is a farming bri-
! gade and the old Indian who believed
! such labor 10 be for the sduaws and not
! for the noble braves the huntsmen, the
! fishers. the warriors, might see his de-
scendants tilling the soil as laboriously MS
any unlordly white man; might see the
1 straight shoulders bent above the plow, or
! perhaps a barefooted brave upon his
| knees diverting the course of a narrow
| canal. spreading stored-up water through
| Held or corn. w nat doEraddtlon tnlS TOT
| the descendants OF n pround being. who.
while recognizing the desirabllty of rain,
| had labor-snving tradition that forest
| fires aided in producing it, and therefore
saved himself the problem OF irrigation
! by setting fire to the woods and waiting
| the blessing Of heaven TO follow in a
| downpour
"While tho boys alternate between
| mathematics. literature. history and geog-
| raphy on the one hand. and farming,
| tailoring and tinkerng on the other. the
| girls. too have a divided life Their
| intellectual Efforts like the boys vary
! from tho primary problem Of inducing the
| duck 10 run. TO the framing Of an ade-
! quate. yet brief account of the Trojan
war. or a history OF the Hudson Bay COM
pany.
"The manual part Of their instruction
| Is housewifery. They learn TO make their
| blue gngham gowns. They prick their
| unaccustomed little. aboriginal fingers
with needles and the threads grow red
\ from the blood that tricl<les from their
/ wounds. They learn 80 wash and 10 iron.
! Even knowledge uf Outing is not denied
/ them rhey are taught the difficult art OF
| bcdmakug tho luug white dormitorics
| where they take their constitutional sleep.
| They learn to cook American dishes IN
! the American fashion. Oatmeal hash.
mashed potatoes and pie take the place
! Of tho frijolos and ;he roots they knew
about the topce. Anne OHagan I'm AIMS
lees
| m a NJ NJ