The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1909-03-13
COMPLIMENTS
THE CHEROKEES
Governor Haskell Pays Glowing
Tribute to Cherokee National
Female Seminary.

The following letter received by
Mrs. Eliza NJ Alberty. of Tahlequah,
from Governor Charles N. Haskell,
breathes of the spirit which prompted
the legislature, through the efforts
of Senator Landrum to perpetuate
one of the Oldest and most important
educational institutions of the state,
the Cherokee National Female sem
mary:
Mrs. Eliza NJ. Alberty Tahlequah,
Oklahoma.
My Dear Mrs. Alberty - Knowing
that you are a descendant of the
Cherokee Nation and one of the first
graduates of the Cherokee National
Female Seminary, it gives me great
pleasure to advise you and through
you all those who aided in the build
ing and support of that institution
that the State of Oklahoma has rec
ognized it's merit and perpetuated it's
history by adopting it as an education
al institution of the state.
You and I, as well as all those who
are familiar with the history of this
institution, recognize both the prop
riety and justice Of this act of the
state.
When we recall that nearly seventy
years ago the Cherokee people estab-
lished their home in what was then
a wilderness, even the borders of
which were remote from other ciyiliz-
ed communities, and that the comforts
of life. as well as the existence of edu-
cational and even religious institution
were unknown.
The Cherokee people had no sup
port, no aid, no comfort in their work
except that derived from their own
spirit and determination, but the
Cherokees were not slow in blazing
the way for educational advancement,
having entered this country and es-
tablished their homes in the year 1899,
common schools were organized with
in two years and the male and female
seminaries, both for higher education
were established in 1916, and opened
for use in 1852 thus created by the
Cherokees, unaided, in this early per-
iod when there was probably no equal
institutions west of St. Louis, they
were maintained and spread their
beneficial influence throughout the
country almost uninterrupted until
now the government of the Cherokee
Nation has passed away, and you and
your people are an important and
desirable part of the citizenship of
the state that has succeeded the ma
tions-
1t is not a mere sentiment, but
simply an act of just recognition that
has inspired the state to perpetuate
the Cherokee National Female Semin-
airy as one of its institutions of high
er education, and to feel assured that
if the people of Oklahoma continue
the same proper spirit that inspired
the Cherokee Nation to create this in
stitution, it will be through all the
future as it has been during all its
past a benefit to humanity and of the
greatest credit to the state.
The mothers of the Cherokee Ma
tion for seventy years contemplated
this institution with pride and appre-
citation of the opportunities afforded
to their daughters. Let all mothers
of northeastern Oklahoma have just
reason in the future to appreciate its
continued benefits to their children
seeking educational opportunities,
and no other institution of the state
will ever be able to found its claim
to Reorganization upon history of
greater usefulness or grander past
than the Northeastern State Normal.
The final passage and approval of
the act above referred to has been ac-
complished by the untiring efforts of
Senator Landrum, continued through
two sessions of the state legislature,
and to other members of the house
and senate who have labored with
him.
Not being a member of the legisla-