The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-10-13
4 LITTLE INDIAN SCHOOL.
Where the Pupils Are Men and Women
as Well as BOYS and Girls,

Out on the black prairie of South
Dakota, in the valley OF little stream
known as Wounded Knee Creek. there
is frame school house where all the
pupils are Indians. In the old days
before they We're confined on great
bodies of land called reservations. the
Indians used to hunt all over the great
western country: and while none of
them could read and write. yet even
the small boys could follow trail
across the prairie many days after it
was made ard they could tell from
looking at the pony tracks, whether
the rider was Il white man or an In
dian
But after the last Indian war had
been settled-after the braves had
buried the Ratchet and the peace
papers" had been signed by all the
great Indian chiefS-the government
built school houses in many portions
of the reservations, and white teach
ers were sent to teach the Indians
how to read and write and to become
good citizens.
And the pupils are not all boys and
girls, either. but there are some men
and women in every school, In this
particular school in the Wounded
Knee valley there is one boy about
fifteen years old; the boys father.
who is forty-fve years old; and the
boys grandfather. an old man
seventy years old. all going to school
in the same room and all studying
the same books and the same les
sons; and the boy learns more easily
and rapidly than his father or grand
father does.
When the little Indian boys and
girls first came to school. they wear
the picturesque clothes which the In
dians wear i'll their half-savage state
But as soon as they are enrolled the
government supplies them with cloth
ing like that the white people wear
Lucy's father was a great warrior
when he was young man. and he was
great chief when he grew older; but
he wants his little girls to learn to
read and write, to sew and to cook,
and to keep house as white girls do.
Over at a school in Montana, a little
Indian girl enc day came to school
wearing purple velvet dress covered
with 1000 elk teeth. The dress was
made just like meal sack, with arm
holes and hole for the head; but the
elk teeth are worth about $3.50 each.
so that this little girls dress could
have been sold for $1,000.
The little Indians, when they first
come to school do not know how to
do anything at ALL They cannot even
talk English. and first they have to
learn to read. Yet they do this very
quickly. and in few weeks they can
talk English quite we'll; but it takes a
long time fer them to learn to read.
And all the time that they are learn
ing to do the things which any little
American boy or girl does naturally.
The girls are taught to sew. and to
cook, and to sweep; while the boys
learn to cut wood, to farm, and to take
care of horses, pigs, and cows. The
larger girls cook lunch for the little
girls and the boys, and all the schools
are provided with kitchens and dining
rooms. There is also little farm at
tached to each school. and in it the
boys grow all the vegetables eaten in
the school.
When recess time comes. the little
Indians get out and play just as the
white children do. They have bows
and arrows, and balls and bats, and
everything of that kind, and they
make just as much noise as the girls
and boys at any American school
make.
White people used to think the In
dams never smiled and never
laughed: but that was because the In
dams were shy and backward when
white people were around When the
Indians get out by themselves, they
laugh and joke and have great fun.
Every year three or four of the
brightest pupils at each school are
taken down to the agency, where the
Indian agent lives. and are there
placed in the boarding school. which
is equipped by the government At
this big school there are always sew
eral hundred Indian boys and girls,
and the government pays all their ex-
iEenses. Here they learn many things
not taught at the day schools. They
have sewing societies for the girls.
and printing Office and a brass band
for the boys. The girls make the
clothes that both the girls and boys
wear. and the boys. in turn. make