The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1902-02-03
INDIAN EDUCATION.

l0eIe was IL SOcldl party utlu iheN i
evening at the U. S. Indian school |
that was a success in all particulars. |
It was a private affair attended by |
ten or twelve couples who report a |
very enjoyable time. There was nu-
sic. dancing and refreshments, and
every one came away in the wee small
hours of morning well satisfied
with the entertainment"
This has got to be a very common
thing in the government Indian school.
a aThese schools were instituted for
the good of the Indian. They were
the outcome of Christian convictions.
While they were built and have been
sustained by the governmer, all alonE
vet IL was the Christian sentiment and
conviction in this government that
originated the plan and set in motion
the purpose to erect schools by tn
government for Indian education.
That element that would now intro
duce the dance, with its leacherous
tendencies INTO these schools and thus
debauch them, never originated any
thing good. To crafty their love i1r
the disipations of the dance they
would throttle the very purpose for
which these schools were built and
offend without conjunction the CON
victions of the best people of the
land-those who are most profould'
! ~ interested in the education ami
salvation Of the Indian.
grow indignant as | think D. It..
There ought to be general protest
by the friends of the Indians every
where against this dissipation in the
Indian schools, for these schools are
DISQUALIFIED to do the work for which
they were designed, when one night
in the week is spent in the dissipation
of the dance. No set of teachers and
employees are qualified to teach the
mind or train the morals Of Indian
youth. or any other youth, who thus
stupefy their moral sensibilities by
the dissipation OF the ball room till
the wec sma' hours of the morning.
/ have gone by invitation to conduct
religious services in one of these
schools on the Sabbath when the very
chapel in which we held forth had
the previous night "tlll the wee sma'
hours Of the morning." been the dance
hall for the stupid, sleepy set to
whom | was now trying to preach.
OF course 1t was an inspiring service.
Not only do the teachers and en-
ployes. superintendent and invited
guests engaged in these voluptuous
hops but the Indian pupils are led
into them and | heard one superinten
dent say that in endeayorinS 10 get
them into it at first he had TO pull
them in, but after being once intro
duced they were ready ana really en-
joyed it. Certainly And 70 think that
this emissary Of evil was the superin
\ tendcnt Of one of our large Indian
schools supported by the government
ont of taxes paid by the Christian
people Of tus land. Could the Indiar
schools supported so layishly by th'
government be kept pure so that =
pure current of educated younf
men and women should issue fortl
from them a blessing to the race,
should be in favor of the church re
firing from the field of educati ~
among them, but under the present
conditions the church would be re
A creaut to her duty if she retired foI
better no education at all than tha
alone unde~ the tuition OF a goddess
supervision. Education under Chris
tian impulses alone has an uplift il
it, In all efforts to uplift the sub
merged races stress must be laid up
on salvation. Chrlstianizins then
makes the Improvement of their earth
" condition comparatively easy. Tn,
gospel that saves from sin is the sam,
gospel that saves from poverty an,
squalor and dirt. A veneering of civil
izatlon may be forced upon peopl
but Christianity induces it. The In
dian may be forced to discard hi
paint and doff his Indian parapher
MALTA but still be a savage at heart
, but he voluntarily discards it all al
most simultaneously with an eXper
ience Of Christian grace Mind you, Al
experience Of grace, not a theory nc
a ritual or a FORM but ali experience
Herein is where Catholicism fails, fo
its religion consists of paraphernalla
ritual form; not experience, revolu
ton, renovation, regeneration, trans
formation. Education under the au
spices of Christian effort may be eN
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