The diamond drill. (Crystal Falls, Iron County, Mich.) 1887-1996, 1903-02-07
GUAM,s SCHOOL CHILDREN.
Heroic Efforts of Uncle SANS Repre-
sentative In Educating the
Young Islanders.

Among the aaron places which
Uncle Sam has taken under his care
is the island of Guam. You will find
il on a map of the Pacific ocean lying
in that group of islands to the east
ward of the Philippines, which are
known MS the Eadrones or the Mari
ana islands. 1t is a small island, only
80 miles long and about eight miles
across at it's widest part.
In this far-away island, fringed with
coral reefs and covered with dense
tropical vegetation, are 1000 children,
most OF them born the subjects OF the
boy king of Spain, but all growing up
now under the stars and stripes, says
the Albany Argus.
Before Uncle Sam took possession OF
the island the children of Guam just
lolled about and did pretty much as
they pleased You will see by looking
at the map that the island lies well
within the tropic zone, and conse-
quently the weather there is always
like warm summer afternoon-one
Of those afternoons in vacation time
when you don't even feel like playing
baseball, but like to swing in ham
mock under the trees, or take-R
your shoes and stockings and go ~
ding in the b.ook - along the dch
These children may never have eN-
perienced n cold day which sent the
blood tinglng in their cheeks and
made them step along lively TO keep
warm. You could not explain TO them
what snow was or give them an idea
of the pleasures of SNOWFALL hight.
If you were 10 tell them of a country
where, i'm certain months of the year,
the water turned solid in the lakes and
ponds, they would not be able TO be-
lievc you, for ice they could not com.
prchend.
Many OF the children went to school
for awhile each year, but when they
had learned TO read and write they
considered that their education was
finished. Having learned TO read and
write, the children went out 10 help
their parents gather the cocoanuts and
dry the meat which is scooped out OF
the hard shell. This dried meat OF
the cocoanutl is called copra, and the
people OF Guam sold ii 10 the traders
who visited the island, exchanging IL
for cotton cloth, knives, flour, and va
rious other articles which they could
get i'm no other way, and sometimes
getting money for ii.
The traders took the copra away
and pressed the oil out of it, selling
it for good prices in the markets OF
the outer world.
The folks OF Guam had little
patches where they raised yams-.
which are something like sweet pota-
toes and the bread fruit tree gave
them food Of which they were espe-
cially fond. Everybody who ever has
eaten the fruit of the bread fruit tree
likes il and wants more. IL is round
fruit, about the size Of n small water
melon, and when baked it beats any
bread you ever ate.
So the ISLANDERS did just enough
work to keep themselves from starving
and the children lived an aimless lazy,
ignorant life, with no books TO read
and no pictures to look at, until one
day an American man-of-war sailed
into the harbor of Agama, the town
where is the capital of the island, and
took possession of the place in the
name OF the United States.
Then Capt. Richard Leary was sent
out there as governor. He issued an
order Immediately that every child be-
tween eight and fourteen must 90 to
school. lie also issued proclamation
urging the parents TO learn English at
once, so that they would be able to
help their children with their stud
les.
lie found that some of the grown-up
folk on the island could not even write
their own names and so issued an order
that every man and woman in Guam
must learn to write his or her own
name before the LIST Of July, 1901, or go
to jail. Those who could not Write
their own names told one Of the cap
tain's clerks what il was, and the clerk
wrote il down on piece Of paper.
which the people took home. where
they copied the names until they got
SO that they could write them without
looking at the copy.
The children have frightened up
about the outside world, and especially
about the United States. They are not
content to learn TO read and write. as
they used 10 be. but study arithmetic.
geography and history.
They keep themselves cleaner. and
pay more attention to their clothes
than they used to, and i'm every way
they are getting to be like other chill
dren who have the American flag float
ing before their schoolhouses.
Before the Americans arrived the
children Of Guam had few games, and
what they had were not very interest
ing ones. But the American marines
and sailors stationed on the island
taught them to play baseball. and now
several clubs have been organized
there.
When Capt. Leary took the children