CHAPTER XX.

INDIAN BOYS' SCHOOL

The necessity of providing the Indian boys with the same school facilities that had been secured for the girls, became every day more important. What good results cold be expected by educating the girls and leaving the boys barbarians?

As soon therefore as the required arrangements could be perfected, the Indians boys' school that had been started in 1864, as a day school, and which, as such, had proved a total failure, was reorganized as a boarding school under the direct management of the Fathers. Four boys, namely, Camille, Ignace, Andrew, the latter's brother, and Peter, after a good scrubbing were put in pants or, as the expression goes with Government officials, in "citizens' clothes." They were the first to be admitted, and Brother L. D'Agostino has them in charge as prefect and guardian. To these firstlings a couple more, Batiste and Lome, the sons of Joseph and Adelaide, were added shortly after; and thus the school for Indian boys was started with six Indian youths as its first boarders.

With the girls' department already in operation and depending on the Mission for its upkeep, only a few boys could be admitted at the beginning. For, though a subsidy of $1,800 toward the education of Indian children had been received from the Government in 1863-4, no further aid was extended to the Mission Schools for the next ten years, that is, until 1874. Consequently, during this period public charity had to be appealed to, in order to keep the schools in existence. Obviously, no great headway could be made under the circumstances. Still, the boarders had to be increased in numbers, and larger buildings had to be erected for their accommodation.

The first contract subsidy from the Government came in 1874, a sum of $2,100 being then allowed our schools for that year and the next three years, that is, up to 1878. At this latter date the contract allowance was raised to $4,000, and remained the

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same till 1890, when a more liberal policy toward the schools at St. Ignatius was adopted by the Government.

Fist, however, it must be observed that Indian school contracts were usually awarded by the Government on a certain monthly per capita rate for a specified number of Indian children, who were to be supported and educated on the subsidy allowed. Accordingly, the subsidies just spoken of and granted the schools of St. Ignatius, were at the rate of $100 per pupil for a full year of twelve months, giving a monthly per capita of eight dollars and a fraction for each Indian pupil. This amount was considerably less than that which the government allowed for the maintenance of Indian children in its own schools, and others under the care of non-Catholic denominations. Moreover, in these latter schools, buildings, equipment's, etc., as well as the salary of principals and teachers, were provided by the government outside the per capita allowance for the maintenance of pupils. Whereas, at St. Ignatius, everything, buildings, equipment and all had to be supplied by the Missions. Hence, the contract subsidy received from the Government did not cover actual expenses; and this notwithstanding the fact that the Fathers and Sisters drew no salary of any kind for their services, and that, further, their personal wants as to food and clothing were the very minimum. Was there not unfair discrimination in the matter? No doubt of it. Hence the more equitable arrangements effected by act of Congress, according to which the monthly per capita for each Indian pupil, beginning with the fiscal year of 1890-1, was raised to $12,59, and the number of contract pupils increased to an even three hundred.

The credit for this change is due, principally, to the Hon., Geo. G. Vest, United States Senator from Missouri; to his Excellency, Jos. K. Toole, our governor, and formerly Montana's Delegate to Congress, who are both non-Catholic; and to the Hon. T. H. Carter, who was Mr. Toole's successor in the House of Representatives.

Senator Vest supported the Mission schools in the Senate; while Mr. Toole did the same in the House. On assuming Mr. Toole's place, Mr. T. H. Carter took up the measure which the former had framed in favor of the Mission Schools, and he not

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only brought it before the House, but ably defended it against the attacks of the A. F. A., and pressed it to a successful issue.

We said, when speaking of the Indian girls, that classroom work went hand-in-hand with manual training. This even more so with the Indian boys. The school has become a little village, and affords the Indian youth every opportunity of being formed in the habits of civilized life. Some three hours of the day are given to book learning, that is, reading, spelling, writing and ciphering; and the rest, apart from the time for religious exercises and recreation, is devoted to varied industrial occupations, farming, gardening, haying, tending and feeding stock, milking cows, shop work, etc. Thus, while some of the boys are cutting and splitting wood, others are teaming and hauling logs. Some are helping in the grist mill, others at the saw mill, the planer, the shingle-cutting machine. Boy tailors running sewing machines, of mending torn clothing, cobblers smiths, all are to be found at work in the shops.

But what possesses a special charm for Indian boys, is harness- and saddle-making; and the reason is not far to seek. Here everything has reference to the horse, and the horse is an India's first and best love. As a proof of their marked proficiency in this handicraft, we may mention the fact that a couple of saddles of their own making have been taken abroad and, becoming as they did, one the possession of a prelate in Rome, and the other of a graduate in Portugal, brought no little credit to the Indian boys of this department. The prelate referred to was Monsignor John B. Guidi, later on, His Grace, the apostolic Delegate to the Philippines, who came to the United States in the summer of 1886, as the bearer of the zucchetto to His Eminence, Cardinal Gibbons. Wishing to see his elder brother, our Father Joseph Guidi, so well known all over his country, and often remembered in these pages, Monsignor Guidi, before returning to Rome, came to Montana in the fall of that year, and visited Helena, Missoula, and the Mission of St. Ignatius. While inspecting the Mission schools he was so taken with a couple of saddles made by the Indian boys that he secured them both, one for his own use, and the other for a friend of his at the royal court of Portugal,

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where Monsignor Guidi had become well known in his capacity of Secretary to the Papa; Nuncio.

The school has a brass band of twenty pieces, a proof that the musical talent of the Indian boys is not a whit inferior to that of their sisters. Some of the players are youngsters, mere "kids" under twelve. Worth mentioned, and much to their credit, is the fact that the music for the celebration of the Silver Jubilee of the Rt. Rev. J. B. Brondel, the Bishop of Helena, was furnished by the Indian Boys Band of St. Ignatius. Their playing was marked feature of the day, and a great surprise to all who heard them.

At St. Ignatius there is also a well-equipped printing plant of which the School ha reason to be proud, especially since here was brought out an octavo of 1,100 pages. The appearance of the book, if somewhat inferior to its intrinsic worth, is creditable, and will appear the more so when it is borne in mind that it is the work of Indian missionaries, gotten up in an Indian country and, to a great extent, also by Indian labor. The volume is a complete dictionary of the Selish or Kalispel language spoken by the Flat Heads and several other Indian tribes west of the Rocky Mountains, and is divided into two parts, Indian-English and English-Indian.

It took from 1876 to 1879 to print the work. The press was bought in St. Louis, Mo., at an outlay of $500, the freight more than doubling the original cost. Father A. Diomedi was the first to initiate our Indian school boys at St. Ignatius in type-setting and the other details of the printer's art.

Here may also be mentioned two other publications in Selish or Kalispel, issued the Mission press and both the work of Father Giorda. The first is a little manual of prayer and Christian doctrine, with several Indian canticles; the other, Narratives from the Scriptures, contains the Gospels of every Sunday and the principal feasts of the year, together with stories from the Old Testament. The latter came out in 1876 and numbers 140 pages; whilst the former had seen the light before, and is somewhat smaller in size.

To the above may be added May Blossoms, a small devotional work in English, somewhat original in conception if not of much

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intrinsic merit. It consists of very short readings, on many tiny skips, one inch by three in size and of different colors. Each slip is complete in itself, and presents no more than a thought to be reflected upon, or a practical suggestion to be plied with, as an act of devotion toward the Blessed Mother of God. The eagerness with which people were often noticed to seize a bit of candy for the line of reading went with it, suggested the idea of May Blossoms. These little papers or May slips take well, and do much good. They were first issued at St. Ignatius in 1866, the type-setting and press work done by the Indian boys of the School.

The larger Catechism of Christian Doctrine by Father Philip Canestrelliu is another publication in Kalispel and a most valuable addition to the Indian literature. This work, however, cannot be credited to the Mission press, since it was issued at Woodstock, Md., by the Woodstock College Press in 1890-91. Still, we mention it here from the fact that its being in Kalispel, and prepared by Father Canestrelliu whilst doing missionary duty at St. Ignatius.

We stated above that a well-rounded industrial boarding school when located among them is not only the best means to civilize the young Indian generation, who are directly benefited by it, but also the best way to improve the condition of the grown-ups, so far as least, as this can be ameliorated. St. Ignatius Mission gives us a clear and striking proof of this, since the older Indians, men and women, can here be seen striving to follow, as best they can, the examples of civilized, industrious life daily set before them. Food, dress, and manners show this. Likewise, their dwellings, their little dairies, their orchards, strawberry patches, kitchen gardens, fields, meadows, etc., are all so many proofs of what we assert. Their practical knowledge of all these industries has come to them from what they saw others do. Twenty-five years ago, and for a good while thereafter, we never saw a single Indian mother who did not more or less torture into shapelessness the feet and toes of her little baby by carrying him about, tied up in a kind of purse or small buckskin sack attached to a board, and this, in turn, strapped to her own back. Today the Indian mother who clings to the savage custom is the exception.

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A little incident of a serious-comic kind that happened some twenty years ago may still further illustrate the point. Excessive droughty weather had dried up the water supply of the Mission farm, and as a result the crops failed two years in succession. To prevent the recurrence of a like misfortune, it became necessary to look for another water source. A rough survey of the ground convinced the writer that the needed supply could be brought to the fields from the main stream that runs through the Mission. The water course was surveyed and staked out, and as many Indians, men and women, as were willing to work, were put to do the digging. Old Chief Atelee was made foreman, with directions to keep order among the workers. One day the old chief went up to the head of the ditch, and on coming back noticed a line of stakes driven along the bank, some distance above the level of the stream. After looking steadily for some time, he came up to the writer: "Lolo," said he gruffily, "all this work is itenemus (Useless, to no purpose); water does not run up-hill;" and he ordered all hands to quit.

Fortunately, but little work remained to be done to bring the water over the bank; and by coaxing, some of the Indians were induced to resume digging and open, at least partially, the remainder of the water course. This done, the old man was invited up to the head of the ditch. When the water was let in, Atelee kept walking a little ahead, now and then looking back to see whether the water still followed him. When he saw it run just as fast where he thought it would never reach, the old chief began to shout, dance and skip about as I besides himself. Coming up to me in his joy, and taking both my hands in his, he shook them with considerable warmth and vigor, repeating all the while: "Lolo, you are a man, skaltemiou, not a woman, tas smee'm." After this, there were several calls from Indian farmers to be shown how to make the water "walk" into their field; and several of them dug out ditches to irrigate their little farms. For, imitation, after all, has ever been and ever will be a characteristic of man, whether the color of his skin be white, red, or black.

Some two years ago a new department was added to the Indian boarding school at the Mission. It is a nursery school.

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Kindergarten for little papooses between two and four years of age.

This departure is beyond doubt another step in the right direction and perhaps the most important. Screened from the blighting influence of their savage environment, nurtured and reared in the lap of civilization from their babyhood, the young Indians are thus placed on the same level with favored members of the human family. The little papooses are healthier, the average mortality among them being considerably less than among other Indian children of the same age, who are without the same care. The Indian mothers are delighted to see their wee tots the object of the thousand and one attentions bestowed upon them by the good Sisters; and from what they observed are themselves taught how to look after the cleanliness, health and comfort of their children.

The Ursuline Nuns have been given the charge of this department; and well indeed do they acquit themselves of their task. We know that some have questioned the wisdom of bringing a new Sisterhood into so small a place as St. Ignatius. But the good done by the new Community appears to have more than justified its introduction. In the Kindergarten, both boys and girls are cared for. The boys, however, on reaching a certain age pass over to the Boys' School conducted by the Fathers. As the Government makes no provision for Indian pupils under four years, the little ones between two and four in this institution are supported by the Mission.

Grouping now together the three educational departments, the Boys' School, with 120 boards; the girls' School, conducted by the Sisters of Providence, with a few more girl boarders then the number of boys kept by the Fathers, and the Kindergarten, mangled by the Ursulines, with seventy boys and girls in their keeping, we have a tool of more than 320 Indian children being

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educated today at St. Ignatius. Should the non-sectarian policy of Commissioner Morgan prevail, no great stretch of the imagination is needed to forecast unfortunate consequences for these poor Indian children. Most of them will be thrust back into far more bitter barbarism than that in which they were born. For savagery is doubly deplorable for such as fall back into it from the lap of civilization.

Father James Rebman, the present Superior of the Mission, is the Principal of the Boys' School, as well as the general superintendent of the Girls' and Kindergarten departments. He is well qualified to the task and ably seconded by a corps of efficient and devoted teachers.

Let us add a few works from outsiders concerning the Mission Schools of St. Ignatius.