The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1908-04-09
Is THE CHERoKEEs' PRIDE.
An Indian Nation Regards a School
Greafesf Ach

An Indian Nation Regards n School
as It's Greatest Achievement.
There is a most unusual spirit behind
the fight that is being made 10 secure
one of the Oklahoma State normal
schools for Tahlequah, says the Kansas
City Star. 1t has passed beyond the
stage of an Individual town fight and
in very large measure has become a
national question with the Cherokee
people. Ask any Cherokee and he will
tell you that a State normal should be
located in Tahlequah, no matter wheth-
er he lives there or not
So determined are the Cherokees that
training school for teachers shall be
established in their nation that they
would be willing to give to the State
their girls seminary building and
grounds, worth at least $125,O0O, IL 1t
became necessary to do so and the Sec
rotary of the Interior would consent 10
such transaction. This is the finest
school building ever bailt by an Indian
nation with its own funds for the high
er cuucdtlOn OF It's women.
The underlying principle that makes
the Cherokees insistent about the mat
ter Is more sentimental than a finan.
cial one. For more than sixty years
the Cherokee female seminary has been
as much part of the national life OF
that ration as has the capital itself
For generation after generation Chero-
kee women have been educated there
Out of 800 teachers in the neighborhood
schools Of the Cherokee nation 40 arS
Cherokees and practically every one OF
them was educated at the seminary. II
was training place where the Chero
KEGS educated their own children to be-
come the teachers of the following gen
GRAFTON. 1t placed the Cherokee nation
at the head Of all Indian nations Ia ar
educational way and there are more
Cherokee school teachers today thar
there are I'm the other four OF the five
civilized tribes combined. Ask any
Cherokee what he considers the great
est achievement of his nation and, mex
to the invention Of an alphabet by al
individual. he will invariably point Il
the seminary here.
And as the day OF the disintegratior
of their nation Is at hand, the Chero
KEGS want to see continued the schoo
which has for years been training
| place for teachers, the only change be
Ing that the school would pass from tn,
| control OF the Cherokee nation to tn,
control Of the State.
The seminary was ordered built by
an act Of the Cherokee Council Nov
20, 1916. 1t was opened for enrollmen
of students May Z, 1850. Easter Sun
day, April 10, 1887, the building burn
ed. 1t was rebuilt the following yea
and the building made larger and mod
ern. 1t will readily be seen what al
enormous task it was to erect such
building when one understands tha
| there was not railroad within thirt1
miles.
! Oklahoma could be searched from
end to end and no more ideal spot 70
such an institution would be found. Tn
building is a forty-acre tract that be
longs to the school, surrounded by
forest of native trees. 1t is on al
eminence that overlooks the town. an,
| just in front of it are some OF the fines
springs of water In the State. 1t wa
these springs that caused the Cherokee
to select this spot as their permanen
home when they came west in 1886
Secluded, clean, healthfm, it Is pro
nounced by all school men who hav
ever seen 1t as being rs ideal as an In
stitution of this character could wei