The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-08

1
| "OId woman's work is what General
Sherman called the education of the
Indian at the time that Captain Pratt,
! q. S. A, was detailed to remain on
| duty at Hampton Institute and assist
General Armstrong, who had become
| interested in the Indian problem
| seventeen young Indian students, the
first who had ever voluntarily entered
a white school. Old Woman's work it
was termed by the bluff commander
early work on the part of Captain
Pratt, now Brigadier General Pratt,
Carlisle was founded and has grown
into the greatest factor in the solving
of the Indian problem. Mainly through
Carlisle, indeed, the problem has been
solved, the seed sown there during the
past thirty years resulting in such con-
ditions as are found among the Indians
of Oklahoma and the Territory, where
the aborigine in industry, education
and thrift is on a par with his white
neighbor.
General Pratt is visiting in Honolulu
and his story of the work of Carlisle, |
of which he was great part, is an
interesting one. From the inception. |
when it met with the opposition of
General Sherman, until the present |
time, when its opponents are very |
many and its work minimized and mis- |
represented by officials high in the |
government, the progress of Carlisle /
has been hampered; but it has grown
steadily in spite of obstacles and ranks
today as one of the great educational |
centers of the United States
The choice of Carlisle for the school
was due mainly to the action of Cen
eral Sherman in withdrawing the army
cavalry school from there as a rebuke
to the ministers of the town, who peti-E
toned the War Department to have
the Sunday parades stopped because
they attracted SO many people, who
came to listen to the band. Thus the
were lonely and deserted when
the idea occurred to Captain Pratt to
utilize the building for the school, an
appropriation for which he was trying
to get through Congress. General Sher-
man was rather dubious concerning the
town of Carlisle for anything and to
forstall any complaints from there it
was arranged that the citizens should
be required to petition for the use of
the barracks in that way. Thus the
school went to Carlisle. which is famous
now mainly because the shool is there. {
Then the work of inducing the In
1ians to surrender their children for .
three years was commenced, the first
afTort being made at the Rosebud
agency in Dakota. Here, at first the
Indians refused to have anything to
10 with the scheme, stating thai all
white men are liars and refusing to
believe that the betterment of the In I
iian children was intended. The of q
icer argued at great length with the
Indians, finally winning over Spotted
Fail, Two Strike. White Thunder and :,
Milk, the leading chiefs After that it :
vas easy.
On the way East with the children.
Ill of whom retained their Indian cos
.umes, the party was the center of =
attention. crowds turning out to see :
mem at every station along the line I
me party arrived at Carlisle in Nov
smber 1879. only to find that OF all the ! =
supplies that had been requfsitioned,
Iotnes, books. and other necessarfes
ne only thing that had reached the q
chool was church organ. This was :
lot needed. for the first few day any i
way. as barber had been called in to !,
ut the long hair of the children and y
here was wailing over the operation q
very day and far into the nights @
OF his trying experiences in those
lays. General Pratt has little to say. :
dwells, however, on the steady I
Progress made by the Indians. of the \
Iuick way in which they learned to b
peak English. of the readiness with \
which they took up their manual train b
ng work. of the organization of the / I
irst band and the way in which the b
'oys took to football The success OF
he Carlisle football squad, particular
Y. is a source of pride to the old t
Older 6
General Pratt resents very vigorously a
he Wild West shows. the Indian VIII n
ages at the expositions and the other <
ttempts to give the impression that E
he Indian of today is the uncouth saw Z
ge Of generation ago. just as the T
hawaiian Promotion Committee resent =
he flooding of the country with pic F
ures of hula dancers and grass huts
$ typical of Hawaii of today
We seem to have pride in keeping