CHAPTER XVL.

The School and Training Needed by the Indian.

I.  Indian Training

The training of our Indians must be of a very rudimentary kind, and, above all, industrial.

The condition of our Indians with regard to civilized life is, so to say, like an infant's, a blank all over the line. He needs, therefore, to be trained in every point. Whence it follows that no prominence and no special attention can be given to any one point in particular in his formation, since this, under the circumstances, could not be done but at the expense of something else more essential for his training. And if so, how can his education be other than plain and common all over the line, to suit his wants?

The training of the Indian should be industrial: for after religion, next in importance as a factor of Indian civilization, must be placed manual labor. This is all the more true, because our Indians have a deep aversion to real labor; and as lack of industrial activity is what actually causes their uncivilized condition in the material sense, it is this likewise that perpetuates it. Consequently, it is impossible to civilize them, except by forming them to habits of industry and useful toil.

A plain, common English education, embracing spelling, reading and writing, with the rudiments of arithmetic, is book-learning sufficient for our Indians. Anything beyond that for the present at least, in our candid opinion, would prove detrimental, rather then beneficial; since it might serve to encourage their natural indolence at the expense of what they need most, industrial education. An Indian youth, as a matter of fact, will sooner sit two and three hours at a stretch half asleep with a book before him, than hoe a roe of potatoes. Furthermore, like a weak stomach that can digest but little food at

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a time, even so is the head of an Indian with regard to book-learning.

Further, it is agreed on all sides that the main object of his industrial education must be to enable the Indian to become self-supporting. But it is not necessary for this that he should become an artist, or a skillful workman, or even a mechanic. For it is obvious that so long as civilization is not more generally advanced among them, trades cannot be much in demand.

That an Indian youth, who may show a special aptitude for one of the common, ordinary trades, or even for a profession, be given an opportunity to become proficient in it, is well and good. This, however, could only be by way of exception. We may therefore conclude that to civilize the Indian his education should be mainly agricultural. Let him be trained especially in farming, stock-raising and the like; since these are, of all occupations, most suited to his actual needs.

II.  Indian Day Schools

We say Emphatically, the red man of the mountains is still too much of a savage for anyone to entertain even the faintest hope of civilizing him by means of day schools. Hence our conviction that the plain is advocated by people who either know nothing about the Indians, or who, under the pretense of Indian education, seek to import on the Government. Though an example or two, could they be adduced against us, would not weaken our position, since the exception but confirms the rule, we do not known of any. WE will be thankful to him who points out to us one single instance of a day school for Indians which has not been a total failure.

Day schools are certainly good, say, letter by far, than boarding schools for youth who are born in civilization and

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who, together with the training of the school-room, enjoy the still greater blessing of home and family education. but even granted that they could attend it on others than "ration days," of what practical use for their education can a day school be for wild Indian children who have no real home, and who are destitute of family training? Nay, whose home, or whatever you may please to call it, is but a complex of uncivilizing elements, patents, associations, surroundings, and all? How can you civilize these savage beings, except you withdraw them from the blighting influences that encompass them on every side?

III Indian Boarding Schools Off the Indian Country

It were wrong to fancy, however, that to give the Indian a school suited to his needs it is necessary to transport him thousands of miles away from his native habitat.

For, first, white it withdraws the children from their objectionable surroundings, it entails no painful separation. For parents can see their children daily, at church, in the class-room, at play, at work in the shop or in the field; and in the case of sickness can sit up with them, care for them and watch at their bedside.

Secondly, being in their midst, it can train its charges according to local conditions, directing their education with a view to remedy their wants. It is clear that many such wants could not be provided for except through pursuits, the practical usefulness of which depends on experimental knowledge to be acquired on the spot. Successful farming requires a practical knowledge of the nature of the soil, length of seasons, seeding time, atmospheric conditions, climatic changes, etc., which differ in different sections of the country. The same may be said of gardening and stock-raising.

Thirdly, bringing as it does civilization and its reverse face

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to face--the former wit hits home and dwelling, its good food, its cleanliness, its field and garden, its stock, its comforts, and its plenty; and the latter, with the whole train of its wretched contrasts--the India is, as it were, made to seem hear, smell, touch, taste, and compare the blessings of the one with the misery of the other. Hence the industrial boarding school in their midst becomes, not only for the children who are directly benefited by it, but indirectly for all, an argument for civilization than which none can be more effective. Thus also what is required for the direct formation of the young becomes an indirect education for the old.

The conclusion arrived at by the special Congressional Committee appointed by the House of Representatives in 1885 to look into the subject, is interesting and much tot he point. "We repeat what has already been expressed, that if the interest of the Indian children and of the tribes is to be consulted, these children should be educated, and that on the reservation, in the midst of the tribes, the school and its industries being an example and incentive; not to the children only, but to the whole tribe." And again: "The Committee urge the policy of educating and training the Indian children on the reservation, not only because it is best for the children and the tribe, but at the same time a measure of economy."

There is no need of our laying special stress on the greater expensiveness of Indian boarding schools off the Indian country, when compared with the Indian boarding school conducted at home. The matter is touched upon by the congressional Committee we have just quoted, and it is also referred to by us elsewhere.

Deserving consideration, however, is the separation that the boarding school off their reservation entails upon the Indians, a separation not only dreaded by the parents and the child, but harmful to both.

We doubt whether any fathers and mothers can be more fond o their children than are the Indian parents of theirs. And whence this exceeding fondness of the Indians for their children? From their uncivilized condition, of which it

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is but a natural and necessary consequence. Parental affection in the Indian is but the expression of a primal instinct of man's animal nature. It is hardly subject to reason in the savage, and consequently is stronger than in civilized being. From which it follows that separation from loved ones works a graver hardship on the Indian that on the white man.

The fact that some Indian youths are being carried off to such schools proves nothing against our position. It simply proves that Indians, like other mortals, do at times what they cannot help; that coaxing, bribery, trickery, intimidation and coercion can extort from the red man an unwilling consent, as they often extort it from others. We say an unwilling consent; for as soon as the pressure brought to bear upon them has relaxed, the parents are almost certain to retract their permission. If in the meanwhile their children have been taken away, the unfortunate creatures not only lament inconsolably over them, often disfigure themselves, cutting themselves with knives, to give vent to their sorrow.

What is the method used to secure Indian children for these far-off Indian boarding schools? We were told by the Honorable Mr. Holman, "The Agent of Carlisle or any other school in the East goes tot he lace where the Indians are; he tells the Indian Agent how many children he wants and the Agent says to the parents of the children selected, 'Your rations are suspended until you let your children go.'" This statement was made quite recently in the House of Representatives by the Honorable gentleman. And what is the meaning of the "suspension of rations," held over the head of the Indian parent to induce him to part with his children? Few of the American people have any idea what it means, or in their indignation they would not only denounce it as barbarous and inhuman, but they would brand its authors with perpetual infamy. It means starvation. Many of the poor wretches have today nothing to live upon but the scanty rations that are furnished them by the Government; and if these are taken away, starvation stares them in the face.

Again, what are the effects of educating Indian children in such boarding schools? Must it not tend to alienate them from

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their own flesh and blood? Indians so educated are only too likely to turn out as so many over-educated white-skinned individuals, whoa re to be met with everywhere in the lower walks of life; whose education is their misfortune; who know the haunts and gilded surroundings of vice have always a deeper and stronger attraction than the plain, simple comforts of an humble, virtuous home. They are, in a word, too civilized and have lived too long in ease and comfort, to go back and stay again with kith and kin in all the discomforts of the uncivilized, or at best, semi-civilized state. Or, were they to return and live among them, their conduct would likely prove an obstacle, instead of a help to others.

But the other day in the Congress of the United States, Mr. Holman, who in 1885 was Chairman of a special Committee sent out by the House of Representatives for the purpose of investigating the results of this system of Indian education, made the following statement: "the results of this class (Indian schools off the reservation) are unsatisfactory.. We did not find in our observations a single instance where the children who had gone from these schools back to the reservations, unless supported in some form or other by the Government, had not relapsed into barbarism, and this applies to the girls as well as to the boys--and in many cases, they had become more vicious than the body of the tribe." What more explicit, more emphatic and weightier testimony could be adduced in condemnation of they system?

Reason, then, is again supported by experience and authority; and we therefore conclude that, whatever its merits in some isolated cases, the plan is unsuitable. Its advantages, if it has any, are only for the few; whereas its disadvantages are real, serious, and manifold. When, therefore, the Hon. George G. Vest declared in the U. S. Senate, "I would not take these children to the States, where they would acquire ideas which are alien to Indian life," he expressed in a short, pithy sentence the substance of our argument.

The system of training Indian children in boarding schools off the reservation has advantages, however, if not for the

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Indians themselves, at least for the teachers and managers of the schools. And who knows, but this, at bottom, is the very reason why the system is adopted, commended and made o appear satisfactory, notwithstanding the fact that its results prove it to be very reverse?

IV. The Health of the Children

Thus far, nothing has been said about the health of the children surely a very necessary consideration in every educational system.

Now, it is well known that the roving disposition of the Indian can ill brook restraint. Hence school discipline and confinement must be tempered and regulated with great discretion, if they are not to impair seriously the health of the Indian youth. It is a general law of life, whether in animal or plant,. That one thrives only in surroundings that are congenial. Birds and other animals accustomed o unlimited freedom in nature, if place in confinement, though it be in a golden cage, will suffer, pine away and die. So also many a plant will thrive, grow vigorous ands tong in poorer soil and rougher climate, because native and congenial, but when transplanted to richer soil and milder climates, will grow sickly, wither and die.

Even so the Indian children, to snatch them away from their native habitat and transport them thousands of miles away from their mountains and prairies, from the scenes of their youth, their cherished fishing streams and hunting grounds, and throw them utter strangers among stranger, where everything round them is not only new and bewildering, but uncongenial; where for months and for years they are deprived of all intercourse and communication with their kindred, and where they have nothing to remind them of their home and people, except fellow Indians a forlorn and miserable as themselves, all this cannot but have a serious, depressing effect upon them and prove injurious to their health.

There can be no doubt that because of its confinement the boarding school is at a disadvantage with the day school. But this disadvantage, while unavoidable, is reduced to is minimum in the school established in the Indian country; whereas in the

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boarding school off the reservation it is intensified to its maximum, and without sufficient cause. In the former, the confinement is greatly modified by the environs; whereas all the surroundings of the latter do not but aggravate it. It is to be noted that the confinement harmful to the health of the children, if it be nor regulated and tempered, as already said, by much practical sense and discretion.

Mischief in man's doing lies neither entirely nor always on the side of the less; it frequently rises from the too much; so to things may prove at times even more faulty and mischievous than to do them poorly. It is our candid belief that this applies in a special manner to the case before us. To those who have seen the physical wrecks among the few young Indians who have returned to us from far-away schools, the system appears scarcely better than an improved, refined, and more expedite method of killing off the Indians.

Nostalgia or homesickness is a disease well known to medical science, and not a few of the Indian youth who are thus transported for their education die victims of the effects of this malady. We venture the assertion, based on facts of our own observations, that is a thorough investigation were made into this matter, that it would be discovered that a large percentage of Indians so educated die before reaching maturity. If this be to civilize the Indian be teaching him "ideas alien to Indian life;" if this be to "bring him in touch with civilized American life;" then it is civilization with a vengeance, besides being an utter defiance of the old Scriptural saw that "A live dog is better than a dead lion." We know, however, that with people who think no Indian good, except a dead one, our plea for the red man will be of little avail. To all such, a system of Indian schools that will educate and civilize the Indian out of existence will always be preferable to any other.

V.  The Morals of the Children

However, we are far from maintaining that all boarding schools will answer the purpose, and we do not deny that there are serious difficulties and grave dangers to be guarded against

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in conducting such institutions. In human affairs it is hardly possible to secure an advantage in one direction without suffering some disadvantage in another. Hence, while the boarding school offers advantages, on the one hand, it never is without its drawbacks, on the other. We need not exaggerate the dark side nor overdraw the picture. With regard to moral dangers, for instance, met with in boarding schools where either the disciple is lax, or proper vigilance and supervision are wanting, we simply assert that such dangers do exist and are too well known to practical and experienced educators, to call for any proof. Nor are they fewer or less serious among Indian children.

for ourselves--and this we say with all candor--we much doubt whether it would not be preferable to let the savages live and die in his native barbarism than to have them brought up in a boarding school, where the corrective and restraining elements of Christianity, its principles, its doctrines and its helps are excluded; where his education, while increasing his capacity for physical and mental activity, quickens, stimulates, and sharpens also the passions and appetites of his nature. Such a school, in our opinion, is utterly incapable of supplying him with adequate means to keep his nature under control. In his native barbarism the Indian is very miserable, it is true, but less guilty, perhaps, before his Maker, for the offences which he commits.

We know that non-sectarianism has no such scruples, and that its advocates will dismiss our reasoning with a smile on their lips. But, then, are they any the wiser for that? They may laugh at our scruples, but are we not cautioned by the "Father of the County," George Washington himself, in his Farewell Address, "not to indulge in the supposition that morality without religion can be maintained"? Does not experience proclaim daily, and everywhere, that mortality without religion is but a phantom of the imagination? Smiles cannot destroy the testimony of stubborn fact which is that many an Indian was far less immoral when a savage in the woods than after years of tutelage in a non-sectarian school.

When Mr. Call in the Untied States Senate declared emphati-

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cally: "The safety of the morals of these people requires that they should be put under the guardianship of religion," he touched the kernel of the whole question, and the experience of a quarter of a century makes us subscribe unconditionally to the Senator's words.