Indian Schools

i Ai-viv live Lndian boys and tivelndian jfirls, baviug received tbree years1 training at the gorernmenl school at Batnpton, Vu. are iiow n ihrir v:iy to Dakota wheréthey ¦¦¦ 11 aci as teachers umong their trlbe. Gen. Armatrong accbmpanlea hera ad expects lo bring back an equal uuraber of othei Iuili.iu chHUren to tute Uicir plaoea in the school. The hlstory of Indlan schools in tliis country beglns wiih is tttial settlemant by white men, and is littlc morel han a récord of disasters and disappointmentg. The French Jesuíta In the early part of the 17th century undertook to malntaln a school at to train Indiana for priests and iniasionaj-les, whieu ended, m Parkman saya, in the .st mlunts running 'wild in the tfoeds, carryiag with them as frults oí Éheir studies a sufflefeney ol prayera, offices and chanta learned by rute, tugether with small smattering of Latín and rhetoric, whieh they soon dropped by tlie way." The E:iglish settlcrs at JamestowD had liardlv put foot on shore before they made au attempt to set UP '¦"' Indian coilege at Henrico fii Virginia, whlch proved utterly abortivo. The siiin of E.")00 was presented to the London company for the eduoation of Indian ahlldren In New England before the Mayflower salled In 1620, Bal the ftrst practical effori In tliat dircciion was made nnt by the Pilgrims, hut by the apostle Eliot about the year 1650, when he was undertaklng the translation of the Bible intnthe Natick dialect. Moncy was furnished by the Loiulon society tor the propagation of the gospel In New England, and schools wit.' est&blidhcd roi in(ii boys and gfrls si üoximry and Cambridm. They were fed, elothed, kníged, and nuised and doctoral in sickness. Sonie of tlie young made sueh progresa that they were admitted to Harvard college, and t was probably one of these who was eraployed in lettingtype for the Iinlian Bible. One of the lir-t college buildings waa the brick structure known as tne Lndian ooilege, built about IBöO, and described by Q-ookln in H.74 as "larga enough to raceire and accommodate 25 acholara with convenient lodgings and studies, bnt hilherto liath not been mueli Itnproved tor the enda intended, by reason ofthedeatb ana failingof Indiah scholars." ín ten years tile society expended aboilt L1,800 t'or Indian educatlon. Tlie lonjr roll of Harvard alumni shows the name of bilt one single Indian, and hedied of consumption soon alter liis jrradualion in 1065. The Indian schools were given up aftex the experiment had lasted for about 50 years. In coiinci'tion wit ii the college ot Williain nnd .Mary, in Virginia, au Indian school was bejflin about the year ÏTUO and continued till the doóra of tlie ooilege were closed by the revolutlon. In the period of 7i years only ten Indians were graduated. Mnny of the Indian students failed in hëalth, and of the rest the Hev. llujrh viole, in 1T24' .f them tliat have eacaped well, and have been tau-i.t to ie .1 ,..,i write, b:ive for the most part return ad to tbelr homes, Bome with and some v ithout baptism, where they follow thelr iu n savaga ctvstoma and heathenUh lites.'1 The Ihird sriious atti ui].! toestabüsll Indian schools in the Kngliah colonies was made at Lebanon. ('iniii., where Dr. Wheelock opened Moórt Indlan eharity school in 1754. 'l'lus school lias been fainous as the germ "t Dartmouth college whlch still retains a relie of Itaorlgin in theobligation to perpetually support and edúcate tvro Indian youths through the college eour.-e, Wheeiuck's idea was to 'train up Indiana for mUsionary TOrk asiong their owh people, but ufter 20 years' experience he was forced to the aad conclusión that white men alono eould be depended npon "to conduct the woik of' christlanizing and civUizing the 8avages,"and from that time bil institution lost its (iistinetive charaoter as an Indian school, 'l'here are now one or tWO Indian graduatea of Dartmouth living in the woods of Canada, but for more t.han 80 yi ars not one lias presented hiniself for free ustruetion in the college. The laai Indian student thero is remeniberetl as having laid down in a rear pew of the church and gone to sleep during the sermón, at the close "f which he was to l)C baptised, which occasioned srt'at trouble ia linding hini and waking hlm up. In 1817 the American board of cominiasionprs for forgiifii uiissionfi notablished :i school in ('ornwall, (onn.. for tliecdiication of Indian youth and of heathen yoiuip men from forelgn lands, with the desigp ot usiiiL.' them as nslruments for the rivilizatiou and Christlanizatlon of their owri people. ('oinmeiicinj; with 12 the niimher increaaed Io80 pupils, mostly of the Cherokee, Choctaw, Delaware and Osngc trihes. The school soon begau to dwindle, and in propoeition to discontinue it was referred to a conimittee of which Jeremiah Kvarts, father of the late secretary of state, was a member, and in aceóraance with the recomineiidation of the report the school was abolished in 127. ten _ears after t was begun. Such la the history of Indian schools in America down to about three years ago when, iindci' the dircetion of Secretary Schurz, the United States overnment placed certain children of the Sioux and other wild tribes 01 the northwest, for instruction, in the Haiiipton normal añil agricultura! instiiute of Virginia. In the nimmer 1879 oi Little-Chief, l'catli er, Wolf, alad thrce other Cheyenne 'r, wen' present at the commeneement exercises, of which they did not unud a word. Dr. Mark Hopkins, of Williain-, college, wlio was present, explained the objeCl "f the school through an interpreter, to wliich Little-Chief replied tothe effect that education was all vcry well for those who wanted it, and he hoped liis frlenda in the school would be treáted klndly, but as for himaelf all he wanted was lo get back to his own country which i lo.l had given hini, and be aliowed to live there, In the fall of 1870 another experiment was midertaken by the government, and Mis, S. A. Mather. of Xoi thampton, Mass., who went downKNth and became a teacher therc forty years ago, was sent tothe reservations to select indian boys and gtrls for the purpose, and upwards of 80 were then brouglii to Carllsle barracks, l'a-, where Uapt. Pratt uas in coniniand. and placed iindcr her can'. She had formerly lived at St. Augustlne, Fia., and after the war broke out it waa reponed thal "when the wihl murderiac [nclana were brought to Fort Marión, she at once became an individual helper to their religiouscominander, Oapt Pratt," and that '-ao succewful were the etl'orts of this noble woman and Oapt. l'ratl thal these Hem Indians laid aside their savage lite and enibraeed the principies of civilization." It was this accidental contact with Indian lift that set her ahout devislng a plan for the, reclainalion ol the race by educatlng the children. Of w hom there ai e in the neighborhood of 2D0 now in the school. For many of her pupü's honics hare been found in western nassachuaetta through beefforUaad those of( 'apt. Pratt. On the i)th of Oct. last Miss wrote: ¦.lust a year ago to-nlght, at half-past 12 o'elock, were landed al these harmeks 84 Sioux boys and glrl, in their wild costumes, taken from thelr hornea on the far off plains of Dakota. where they had roamed aa free as the air from tbelr iifancy. There was no time apent in packlngtrnnka, orarrangine clothing; bare-headed, with their blanketa around them, they oame. gome had bundlea under their arm, pweions bundlea tO them, a few trinkets, with now and then a pipe, and a pair of inocca.-ins. "To-night is our anniversity meeting; our number bas increascd to 198, I .'1 mee "ver thin as-enilily I ak myself, Are these the -ame boys and rl3 that one year ago came to this friendly roof t Trulv, as the presiden! ofDickinjou college said, 'It is a little leas than miraculous.1 This gentleman saw tlieni when they arrived and has watched theirsteady progress.giviiii; ao Impulse to the wurk by his warm sympathy and co-operation. Prienda uid teachers eontributed to the Occasion bv gpeecbe8 and songa. Speeches froin the itudenU Id their own language and ln Engllsh are Ustoned to -vitli great interest, we lang mir flrit tUne wiiieli we learned comlog down the Missouri, wliicli was a great contrast to thelr fHTorltei atnr, rn whioh the bass is quite prominent, 'Take the name of Jesús,' uid 'lüveraetlii.' wins OÍ faitli.' " There are several academies where Intlian gil'ls h.-ive lieen iiisl niel ed in tile t-anie OlasSea Wlth wliile glrlS. Bright Eyes was educated at B témale si-minary 111 New Jersey, and Mr. Moody last year onered to próvida for the education or ten r twelve lis trom the lndian 'l'erritory in his scnimary at Nortlilield, Mass. Fifteen carne, and altboarb the neifílibors called them sqimws at lirst, and tliought they would Deed ui lie cai;ed, they are reportad as maklog rood progress and several of them have eutered Uion the regular timr yean' CUUI'.-e.