Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1920-06-10

Fifty-two years ago. when the Uni
ted States took over the Inhabitants Of
what was spitefully called by some
stewards Ice box" the natives Of
Alaska were s:ivageS. or maybe more
properly an unenlightened people. They
were NOT Savagcs in ,he sense that they
met the white with tOmHhaWk ana
scalping knife. for their food and eli
male were not conducive to warfare.
The Alaskan aborig:nes were a quiet,
gentle people. Il nnnrcSiSiinG people.
dad of the brotherhood of every pass
ing stranger, for strangers were few
and did not come to rob them Of their
homes and haunts.
When the Russian priests offered
their religion IL was accepted as wei
cCme addition to the emptiness OF
dali, cold life when the white trap
pers came for furs they wCre not op-
posed. for there were plenty for all.
Then when other white men went
crazy over the gold hidden In the sands
Of frozen rivers and creeks II was
nothing 10 The Indian and the Eskimo.
But when the conGuering white men
took the young women 81 The North 10
be their mates and settled down among
their people the aboriginrS Of Alaska
awoke. Their scant language soon eX-
banded to give names to the belongings
of the whites, to include their rude
coloquialisms and give Il glimpse of
a., In, u-hpnnD tho
settlers came. Gradually the need for
schools in this vast area of half mil
lion square miles, with 2J.0UU natives.
impressed itself upon the government
and the Alaska school service began
the task of fitting the descendants of
the aboriginal tribes, both minors and
adults, for territorial citizenship.
Schools Widely Separated.
Had the prospective pupils been
gathered into group the task would
not have been light, but when ii is re-
membered that schools are in some
places separated by 1000 miles of
snowy white silence and that others
are far beyond the limits of transpor-
tation and mail service. the difficulties
come within the limits of imagination.
On the Yukon, about midway be-
tween Dawson and North Bering sea,
and only 60 miles below the arctic cir
Gle, is Rampant. There many trapperS
and hunters make headquarters. Ii has
climate ranging from 80 degrees
above zero in summer to 90 degrees
below zero in winter. There Isabel
Amber Gilman was long stationed as II
teacher in the Alaska school service,
says the New York Times. Let her tell
Il few brief stories of her life in the
frozen North:
zone morning in January, while the
schOolchildren were quietly studying,
three-yeal-old boy appeared at the
door, n stick of stove wood in his bea-
ver-mittened hands. You let me stay,
teacher, | pack wood for YOU he an
nounced good-naturediy. The school
thermometer outside registered rs be-
low zero and the teacher lost no time
in closing the door. with the boy inside.
lie WON'T stay home, teacher explain
ed an older sister from her corner be-
hind II red-hot stove, and papa says
it'll he GO below tonight Sixty below!
The teacher had never experienced
that. The child serenely tucked him
self into primary seat alongside
other babies who wouldn't stay at
home.
Baby wake, teacher piped the last
conner, suddenly remembering some.
thing He wriggled in his seat and
peered through double frosted win
dow. Baby whereY demanded the
teacher. But tall curly-haired half
breed girl had already glided to the
door Mother told me to stay home
with baby, teacher, and ! didn't want
to, she pleaded, drawing the baby sled
into tie schoOlroom. She rescued a
squirming youngster from bundle of
furs and muthered' 1t on the little
bench behind the stove, gancing mean-
ingly through the open door of the
girls clOakrOoIn. where two other
baby sleds. eacl, containing sleeping
child, had been pushed out of the way,
as though sure that their presence
mtiguted her own Otfense.~