Seward daily gateway., 1926-06-02

years ago, rules over the gyrating
 group of dancers as in the old tra-
 ditional way. The eldest of the
 trible exhorting his comrades to be
 strong, brave, and a good hunter,
 so as to be worthy of the god of plenty. The raven, the eagle, the wolf, the frog, and other creatures of the earth were their object les son. The sun, moon and stars have their place in their belief, and the wind and the rain are their con- federates in bringing about great harvest and abundance Of fish. Nov the scene has changed: the blan- kets and habiliments of olden times are laid aside for the clothes Of civilization.
 The young Indian men and w0- men of today ride in high power motor boats and automobiles when ever the roads will permit. Many of them have become musicians Of no mean ability, others are prof cient in many professions, and will in the near future be able to work shoulder to shoulder with the white man, Thus we can observe the re suit of the untiring work of the Bu- reau of Education with their eff cient superintendents and teachers turnout Alaska.
 In our little village of Akutan, we have a population of sixty-three persons, thirteen houses with two or three rooms, and six new three room modern houses each equipped with electric lights, hot and cold water and with each house is built a warehouse in which are kept the food supply. These indus trious natives live and dress well and have social gatherings. A few of the young men have become sui f1ciently proficient in playing the mandolin. guitar, banjo and accor- dion, that they are able 10 furnish music for their dances.
 The whaling station provides about five months employment with overtime. After whaling they can put up cod fish until the fur season opens, Red fox are plentiful on our island and they can often be seen playing on the mountainsides. A few Of the natives have leased islands on which they raise blue foxes. Thus with these resources there is never any cause for desl- tuition. We also have an absolute ly bone dry village; no home brew or any intoxicant tolerated.
 In our school there were twenty eight in daily attendance, with no tardy marks or absences except Of sickness. Two students finished the sixth grade carrying eight subjects with an average of 94 per cent. Most of the pupils made good grades in drawing from the speci- mems sent to the Seattle office, we received creditable comment on. In domestic art our flet lunch cloths, cut work embroidery, knitting and sewing was excellent. In expres- sion the pupils made good grades taking into consideration that these children must master a new Ian guage makes the work very diff cult for them. Our scho0lr00m quarters are very Inadequate for the number of pupils, but we are living in hopes Of having material sent in for a new building this year.
 This year we took up the almost lost art of the exquisite basket weaving, there being only two wo- men in our village who are sEps-rs in the gathering, curving and bleaching this certain specie ot grass, and who are able 10 weave baskets into many intricate de-  signs. Dainty May baskets, card cases, covered jars and boxes are now being taught tri-weekly. Four baskets were partly made this year as the work is tedious and requires the utmost skin in weaving ln the patterns and the mesh work. The pupils find this an interesting work and it means much to them, both for the knowledge and also the f. nanciaI benefit they derive from the sale Of those baskets.