White Pine news weekly mining review. [volume] (East Ely, Nev.) 1910-1920, 1920-05-30

oreakine Ice sarriers-TeachsTs
Experience.
F1fty-two years ago, when the Uni
ted States took oyer the inhabitants Of
what was spitefully called By some
Stewards Ice box" the natives Of
Alaska were savages, or maybe more
properly an unenlightened people. They
were not savages In the sense that they
met the white with ~tomahawk and
scalpiHg knife. for their food and eli
mate were not conducive to warfare.
The Alaskan aborigines were a quiet,
gentle people. a n0nreslsting people,
glad Of the brotherhood of every pass
ing stranger, for strangers were few
and did not come 10 rob them OF their
homes and haunts.
When the Russian priests offered
their religion 1t was accepted as n well
come addition TO the emptiness of q
dull, cold life. When the white trap
pers came for furs they were not OPP
posed, for there were plenty for all.
Then when other white men went
crazy over the gold hidden ia the sands
Of frozen rivers and creeks It was
nothing TO the Indian and the Eskimo.
But when the ~conquering white men
took the young women Of the North to
be their mates and settled down among
their people the aborigines OF Alaska
awoke. Their scant language o ex-
banded to give names to the belongings
OF the whites, to include their rude
colloquialisms and give q glimpse Of
the great somewhere whence the new
settlers came. Gradually the need for
schools In this vast area Of half a MIL
lion square miles. with $4,000 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 q 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 transper-
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 trsppers
and hunters make headqua 1t has
a climate ranging from 90 degrees
above zero In summer to 80 degrees
below zero In winter. There Isabel
Amber Gilman was long stationed as a
teacher In the Alaska school service.
says the New York Times. Let her tell
4 few brief stories Of her life In the
frozen North.
"one morning in January. while the
schoolchildren were quietly studying.
q three-year-old boy appeared at the
door. n stick Of stove wood In his bea-
yer-mittened hands. You let rue stay,
teacher. | pack wood for yon,' he an
nounced goo~d-naturedly. The school
thermometer outside registered IS be-
low zero and the teacher lost no time
in closing the door, with the boy inside.
He won't stay home, teacher explain
ed an older sister from her corner be-
hind a red-hot stove. and papa says
It'll be 90 below tonight Sixty below
The teacher had never experienced
that. The child serenely tucked him
self into n primary seat alongside
other babies who wouldn't stay at
home
Baby wake. teacher piped the last
conner, suddenly remembering ome
thing. He wriggled In his seat and
peered through q double frosted win
dow. Baby wherer' demanded the
teacher. But a tall, curly-haired, half
breed girl had already giided TO the
door. Mother told me to stay home
with baby, teacher, and | didn't want
10, she pleaded, drawing the baby sled
into the sehooIroom She rescued n
squirming youngster from a bundle OF
furs and 'mothered' IL on The little
bench behind the stove, %glaneing mean
lngly through the open door of the
girls cloakroom, where two other
baby sleds, each containing a sleeping
child, had been pushed out OF The way,
as though stare that their presence
mitigated her w offense.
There being no age limit in the
Alaska school service, the register en-
rollment Of pupils seldom contains the
names OF all.
The schoolhonse is the regular cali
ing place for all Indian wayfarers who
have q few hours TO spare. Ii the cor
ner behind the stove is not filled with
girl mothers and babies IL may be pre-
empted by grandfathers aud uncles.
Climax Of Her Experience.
THAT night proved to be the climax
OF the lone teachers polar experience.
Awakened by the continued cracking OF
her cabin walls, oceasioned by intense
cold, she arose to cram the heater with
more stovewood and. happening TO
glance through the uncurtained north