And now:Ish <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes:
from Barb Landis
Date: Wed, 17 Mar 1999 22:36:50 -0500
From: Landis <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
THE INDIAN HELPER
~%^%~
A WEEKLY LETTER
-FROM THE-
Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pa.
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VOL. XIV. FRIDAY, March 17, 1899 NUMBER 21
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The ill-timed truth we might have kept
Who knows how sharp it pierced and stung?
The word we had not sense to say --
Who knows how grandly it had rung?
Our faults no tenderness should ask,
The chastening stripes must cleanse them all;
But for our blunders - Oh, in shame
Before the eyes of heaven we fall.
E.R. SILL
==================================
FROM OUR SOLDIER BOY IN CUBA.
-----------------
We are always glad to hear from our Sioux student Joseph DuBray, who
belongs to the 8th Massachusetts, now at Matanzas, Cuba, and the
following extracts from a recent breezy letter to Mrs. Cook will be read
with interest.
He says:
"I had a pleasant journey here from Americus, Georgia. The trip was
enjoyable, as the sea was as calm as a common pond all the way down
here. The scenery along the coast of Florida was something grand.
After three days' voyage, we got here in the harbor of Matanzas.
Matanzas is one of the largest cities on the island of Cuba.
The first thing we did after we landed was to pitch our little
dog-tents. We lived in them for two weeks, until we pitched our large
tents and made our company streets.
The large tents are 14x14 feet and have wooden floors. The floors are
raised two feet from the ground or from the rocks. It is just as well
to say rocks as there is no soil on the ground.
There is much limestone and coral formation.
Rumor says that the 8th Massachusetts is going back to the United
States, but I don't know when. There are five regiments encamped here
at Matanzas, so you see we have a large camp.
We have dress parade and review every day which shows the power and
glory of the United States. We generally have many Cuban spectators
from the city.
Everything seems strange here. The customs of the people, the houses,
etc., are quite different from that of the United States.
The houses are made of limestone and many have no windows in them, or
rather no window glass. Iron bars are substituted for window glasses.
The bars are six inches apart, the same as they have in prisons up
north, so when an American visits a house he feels as though he were in
prison.
There are 20,000 very poor people here in the Province of Matanzas.
They are receiving rations from the United States Government.
The richer classes are very few here, and of course it is an easy
matter to find out who are rich and who are poor.
LONG FINGER NAILS.
The way I distinguish between the rich and poor is to look at the
fingernails.
The rich man generally lets his fingernails grow out about an inch and
keeps them very sharp and shiny, while the poor man has his cut short.
I understand that they have their fingernails long and sharp to show
to the public that they don't have to work for their living as common
men do.
It is pretty hard to distinguish the young ladies, as they all dress
alike and powder their faces, but the rich ones put on three times as
much powder, and that is the way I know which are poor and which are
not. When I first saw a Cuban young lady I thought that she must have
fallen into a barrel of flour, but after I was here a few days I learned
that they powder their faces with a powder which they call "Creme."
General Gomez came here a few weeks ago, and the 8th turned out and
met him at the station and escorted him to the Palace. After three days
he went to Havana.
Enclosed in the letter was a rose from one of the fine residences of
the city of Matanzas. Joseph is bugler and also practices the tonsorial
art upon his fellow comrades, by which means the keeps himself in ready
money.
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(page 2)
THE INDIAN HELPER
------------------------------------------------
PRINTED EVERY FRIDAY
--AT THE--
Indian Industrial School, Carlisle, Pa.,
BY INDIAN BOYS.
---> THE INDIAN HELPER is PRINTED by Indian
boys, but EDITED by The man-on-the-band-stand
who is NOT an Indian.
------------------------------------------------
P r i c e -- 10 c e n t s p e r y e a r
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Entered in the P.O. at Carlisle as second
class mail matter.
================================================
Address INDIAN HELPER, Carlisle, Pa.
Miss Marianna Burgess, Supt. of Printing.
================================================
Do not hesitate to take the HELPER from the
Post Office for if you have not paid for it
some one else has. It is paid for in advance.
================================================
(page 2)
William Tivis, '90, in a letter renewing subscription, speaks
encouragingly to the Man-on-the-band-stand about the cheer that the
little paper carries to him each week.
Mrs. Tenie Wirth West, class '97, missed the HELPER, and in her letter
of renewal, said "I am well and happy, but whenever I think of Carlisle
and all my friends there, I get lonesome." Mrs. West lives at Poplar,
Montana. We are glad to be missed by her, but more glad that she is
well and happy.
---------------------------------
Our Band and school battalion assisted in the parade in honor of the
return of Company G, which was held Thursday night. The town papers
have this to say of the Indian School part:
Much favorable comment is heard on the marching of the Indian School
students. Their training in drilling shows excellent results. Major
Pratt was very kind to allow the band and students to participate, and
the thanks of the public are extended him. The Indian Band won new
laurels. -[The Evening Sentinel.
The Indian Band then played the "Star Spangled Banner" in find style
and hats were removed respectfully by the soldiers. -[The Herald.
Judge Henderson, in his able remarks at the Armory said:
"The Red Man has borne for years cruel injustice at the hands of the
white man, but today he stands before us in the full stature of
manhood." [Applause].
----------------------------
Joseph Blackbear '98, has been appointed assistant disciplinarian at
the Chilocco Indian School; Oklahoma. Mr. Blackbear has served long and
faithfully under Disciplinarian Thompson, and is well prepared for his
duties. What is Carlisle's loss will be Chilocco's gain, and while
Carlisle is loth to give up her faithful workers yet her principles are
and ever have been that when opportunity offers her students for larger
and higher responsibilities no inducements shall be thrown out to hold
them here. Mr. Blackbear has the best wishes of a host of friends at
Carlisle.
Thirteen or fourteen colored loafers on the street corner last
Saturday furnished a text for Major Pratts talk in the evening. The
loud laugh that comes from a company of idlers standing on the corner -
a laugh that means coarseness shows the character of persons who
assemble in such places. The Major alluded to the condition of the
colored people of the South, and showed how their growth and development
depends upon their own exertion. Their degraded state is due largely to
their own actions. We should conduct our selves in a quiet, gentle
way. He would not go to a corner where there were men loafing to get a
young man for business. There is a breeding of discontent among
loafers. It matters not how industrious they have been for a whole
week, such idleness for a short time is enough to condemn them. They
made the basis upon which to judge their character. Their conduct was
against the good order of the town, and they were entitled to
consideration in the town in accordance with their acts on the street
corner.
The Major was glad to see our own boys and girls moving along the
streets as though on business bent. He would have our young people
always walk as though they had an intelligent purpose to accomplish, and
go in a quiet, orderly way.
William Denomie, '94, answers a farm matron's charge of a few weeks
back: "I have just read the item referring to the exceptions taken by a
farm mother to my remark about seeing something of the world before
tying self to a wife. I think my proposition is perfectly clear. I
certainly meant just what I said, and I shall stick to it. I did not
mean to cast any discredit on the fair sex, and I trust that no one has
taken my remark in that spirit. I expect to get married some day, and
when the time comes to "propose," my friends need not worry about my
nerve failing me. I don't like that hitching-post comparison.
A post is something that has no growth; neither is it capable of
exertion. Surely no sensible woman would consent to tie herself to a
thing like that. Mental growth and exertion of mind and body are the
qualities that win women, fame and wealth in the active world. But if a
man remains on a reservation all of his life, he might just as well be a
hitching post so far as winning anything is concerned.
George Hazlett, '99, arrived in San Francisco all right, as a letter
written soon after arrival tells us. He says he had a very pleasant
trip all the way and saw a great many things of interest. The weather
was warm and the dust and sand on the plains of Texas and Arizona "was
something terrible, but the country through which we came yesterday was
delightful." He expected to take the boat Pomona, the same afternoon,
which would probably arrive at Eureka the next day, but when he was to
reach Hoopa Valley he knew not. The Hoopa Valley boys and girls here
know that he had perhaps the most tiresome and tedious part of his
journey to make from Eureka - an all day's or an all-night's ride by
horse or mule back, if he takes the shortest way. George is a young man
who will get good and learn much from every such experience, and his
many friends at Carlisle wish him unbounded success.
===============================================
(page 3)
The bird letters on last page are worth reading.
An annex to the stable is building in the rear.
The band gives a concert in Chambersburg tonight.
Mrs. Cook spent a part of Sunday in Philadelphia.
We now have 920 pupils enrolled. Not so far from a thousand, is it?
Misses Fulton and Young, of Harrisburg, were guests of Miss Forster
last week.
Ten candidates are training for the relay Team and twenty for the Base
Ball team.
Kendall Paul, '99, is having a good time in Washington, with friends
he is visiting.
Miss Cannon, of Bridgeville, Delaware, has been a guest of Miss Nana
Pratt for a few days.
Mrs. Butler presided at the piano on Sunday in the place of Mrs.
Sawyer who was absent for the day.
Nancy Wheelock left yesterday for Waterbury Connecticut, where she
will take a course of nursing.
Corbett Lawyer left for Santa Fe last Friday evening to take a
position in the Government school of that place.
A series of relay races between teams from the different school rooms,
will be held Saturday afternoon, March 25th.
Mrs. Craft, who has been visiting her daughter Mrs. Thompson, left on
Saturday for her home in Albany, N.Y.
Mr. Ralston has been visiting boys on farms for a couple of weeks and
has returned laden with all sorts of reports, most of which are good.
The Beautiful Spring weather of this week brought out many a
winter-stowed bicycle, all of which were as frisky as colts in their
gyrations.
Mrs. Davis, mother of the Davis children and sister of the Warren
pupils is with us for a visit. Her baby boy, Delancey, is a great pet
in the girls' quarters.
Our school has entered the Relay Carnival to be held by the University
of Pennsylvania, April 25th. Last year we won a fine banner and four
fine gold watches, in prizes.
Superintendent and Mrs. Hall, of Perris, California, who were with us
last week and went to Washington, returned friday, leaving for the West
the next evening. They are people of long experience in the Indian
service.
Robert Emmett '99, who is in the Harrisburg Telegraph office, will
spend his Sundays at the school for this month. He was home last Sunday
for the first and spoke in high terms of his new place, and the
treatment he receives from those about the office.
On Wednesday evening, the new Juniors held their first business
meeting since promotions. Considerable business was gone through with,
among other things the selection of the class Relay team. Frank
Campeau was appointed captain of the team, and the other members are
Edwin Moore, Frank Beaver, George Conner and James Johnson.
On Tuesday Mr. and Mrs. Mason Pratt of Steelton, celebrated the tenth
anniversary of their wedding, and Major and Mrs. Pratt went over to help
celebrate.
Tonight it is Miss Cochran's and Miss Ericson's turn to visit the
Invincibles; Mrs. Cook and Miss Forster, the Standards and Misses Cutter
and Hill the Susans.
Mrs. Cook and Mrs. Butler have exchanged rooms, the latter going in
the suite of rooms occupied by Miss Wood, and the former taking the room
over Miss Ely's office in the Administration Building.
We learn through a reliable source that Superintendent Campbell of the
Warm Springs, Oregon, school has been transferred to Chemawa, Oregon, as
Assistant Superintendent. Miss Irene says they are glad to make the
change.
The annual meeting of the Young Men's Christian Association of the
Carlisle Indian School, was held Tuesday evening the 7th, in the
Association Hall. Isaac Seneca was elected President. The other
officers are: Vice President, Edwin Smith; Secretary, John B. Warren;
Corresponding Secretary, Jacob Horne; Treasurer, Samuel G. Brown.
Six of the Perris girls who arrived last week entertained the student
body most delightfully for a short time last Saturday night after Major
was through speaking. Four of them had mandolins and two guitars, and
they played spirited music in good time and tune. It was a surprise to
everybody, and the applause they received was hearty and continued.
We have another addition of a Porto Rican who was brought from New
Castle, this State, by Mr. James M. Hamilton. The boy's name is Jose
Ayarro. That he will do his best to obey orders was evidenced the other
day when the bell rang, without waiting to fall in. He had not learned
that he was to go in line with the others. His one idea was to get to
school as soon after the bell rang as possible, and not until he arrived
in his class room did he find his mistake.
Last Friday evening, the Invincibles discussed in open debate the
question, Resolved, That the United States will be benefitted by the
building of the Nicaragua Canal. John Warren, Charles Roberts and Isaac
Seneca chose the affirmative side portraying the benefits to commerce,
the stimulating effect to trade, and how such a canal would facilitate
our naval operations as well as aid in carrying civilization to the
people of our new possessions. On the other hand, Caleb Sickles and
James Johnson thought that the benefits would not compensate for the
enormity of the expense of such a project, nor of the loss of lives that
the labor would entail, and they took the position that it would be
legislating of ra special class. The weight of argument seemed to be on
the affirmative side and so the Judges decided. There were more members
of the society present than usual, and a spirited debate occurred
relative to points of order in which President Martin Wheelock
maintained the dignity befitting his office, and rendered wise
decisions.
================================================
(page 4)
A CARLISLE BOY CAME TO THE RESCUE.
----------------------------
Inspector Graves, in his remarks before the student body two weeks
ago, said that in six years the country in Montana about Belknap and
vicinity had been raised from a wilderness. Through the irrigation
scheme there have grown up good homes, while fields of grain and corn as
good as one would see around here, may be seen on every hand. The
certainty of crops has given the Indians courage to work with a will.
He also told of attending a council out on the Ute reservation where
the Indians made many complaints and talked against sending their
children away to school. When they were through they wanted to know
what the Inspector had to say, and he told me that some things they had
said were true and some were not. He told them that he had been to see
the schools they had talked about and that they were located in a good
country.
When he was done speaking, an old chief got up and said that the
Inspector had talked with a smooth tongue but what he said was not
true. Then other chiefs in the circle gave their accustomed "How! How!"
of assent and made sport of the Inspector, but there was one young man
who had the courage to rise and say that what the Inspector had said was
true. The young man was a Carlisle student, and he came to the rescue,
faced the old chiefs, and spoke the truth in such a manly way that he
changed the sentiment of the council.
The old Indian is easily lead through his reasoning faculties to adopt
the best ways, and much of the sentiment against sending the children of
the tribe out into broader opportunities than can be given in the home
school, is engendered by those who through personal reasons are against
the plan that separates and individualizes.
======================
FROM SOME LITTLE BIRDS AT THE CARLISLE SCHOOL.
------------------
As a school exercise the small pupils of No. 6 imagined themselves
birds and then wrote to the Man-on-the-band-stand.
The old man was very much pleased to get the letters and wishes he had
space in his paper to print all, but as he has not, a few extracts from
two or three will show the trend.
"This winter I was away down in Maryland," wrote one little bird.
"I had a very nice nest for my home which was made of some feathers
and pieces of ribbon. When I was coming back to Carlisle some of the
white boys threw stones at me.
I was going to make my nest by John's store (North Hanover Street) but
when the boys threw at me I went to the Indian School which was my home
last year.
When the boys were coming back from dinner they spoke loud saying:
'There is Robin Redbreast.'
I think they were glad to see me. They did not throw stones at me.
I made my home near the small Boys' Quarters. They liked to watch me
when I was building my nest.
I hope this letter will, by a wind, blow into the school-room."
Another says:
"I am a Blue Bird. I arrived two or three weeks ago, and I had a very
nice trip.
On my way, I saw many large forests and plenty to eat in them. I
stopped in some of these forests when I was tired and sang beautiful
songs. I knew Spring was near, so I thought to come over to this town,
only it seems a little cold, but I can stand it. Maybe you have seen me
already. If you haven't, look for me and you will find me singing some
of these bright mornings."
Another Blue Bird from Atlanta, Georgia, says:
"Before I got half way to Carlisle I was caught in a snow-storm. I
went in a barn for shelter, and while I had my head under my wing up
crept Miss Pussy. I just had time to escape, and now I am at Carlisle.
When I first came, all the birds I saw were sparrows. I am building a
new nest in a walnut tree and will make that my home until next fall."
============================
We have a subscriber in Brandtsville who is over eighty years of age
and she says she finds the HELPER a very interesting paper.
---------------------------------
The man who has begun to live more seriously within begins to live
more simply without. -PHILLIPS BROOKS.
============================
Enigma.
I am made of 13 letters.
My 2, 12, 1, 4 is big talk.
My 13, 3, 9, 10 is vapor.
My 5, 7, 11, 6 is early.
My 8, 1, 12, 10 is an excrescence.
My whole is something which boys enjoy.
SUBSCRIBER.
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ANSWER TO ENIGMA IN NO. 18: Snow Balling.
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Transcribed every week from the Carlisle Indian School newspaper
collection of the Cumberland County Historical Society by Barbara
Landis, Carlisle Indian School Research - http://www.epix.net/~landis.
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Tsonkwadiyonrat (We are ONE Spirit)
Unenh onhwa' Awayaton
http://www.tdi.net/ishgooda/
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