Hesperothen; Notes from the West, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Record of a Ramble in the United States and Canada in the Spring and Summer of 1881Russell, William Howard, Sir
History
Hesperothen; Notes from the West, Vol. 2 (of 2): A Record of a Ramble in the United States and Canada in the Spring and Summer of 1881
Russell, William Howard, Sir
United States -- Description and travel
not let Captain Pratt have to say it again." "Last Sunday some of the
large girls had a prayer-meeting in the yard at the back of the girls'
quarters. Nobody told them to do it, but they thought it would be a
good thing." There is a long letter from Lizzie Walton, a Pawnee girl
of thirteen years old, describing a trip to Philadelphia, and I believe
there are very few girls of thirteen years of age in any school who
could write more amusingly or better. The account of a magic lantern by
Ada Bent, a Cheyenne girl, closes the number.
Letters from the children who are sent out to the farmers are published
in this little periodical, and give a very pleasing picture of the
lives and aptitudes of these Indians. Virginia, of Kiowar, writes from
a farm, asking one of the teachers to pardon her for not having done so
before; but "I have not much time," she says, "I am very busy set the
table and wash dishes make my bed and make pies and cakes and try to
make bread too, and the other things beside.... Sometime I make fire
and bring in wood. Mrs. Borton is very kind lady she has two children
one girl and boy. I love these little children very much." "My dear
Miss H----, I am not bad a girl. I help now a great deal. I pray for
you almost every night, also when I wake up in the morning. I like to
pray very much because I make myself good." And so on in a pleasant
little gossiping way, frequently in very difficult language. There is
an article in the 'School News' of July upon the shooting of President
Garfield: "The man who shot him," says the writer, "we suppose, thought
he would please some of the people in the United States. He thought he
was very smart. If President were to die how would every white man,
black man and the Indian feel? It was not in war when the President
was shot, for our country don't have war any more, but in peace....
We all feel sorry because the President is suffering. We hope he
will soon recover." It is stated that about a hundred boys and girls
have gone out to work on the farms, and there are some trite remarks
about the advantages of hard work as opposed to the disadvantages of
laziness. "The farmers up country say the Indian boys can bind wheat
first-rate." "Nelly Cook, Sioux, made 36 sheets in one day last week.
Nellie Cary, Apache, made 32, and Ella Moore, Creek, made 30. Boys, do
you think those girls are lazy?" The 'School News' has a reporter, it
would appear, for the paper says that "Our reporter took a walk round
in the shops to see what the boys were doing. In all the shops every
boy was busy. In the carpenter shop there were Jock (Arapahoe), Ralph
(Sioux), Elwood (Iowa), and Joe Gun (Ponca) sawing out window and door
frames. Oscar (Cheyenne) and Michael Burns (Apache) were busy carving
balcony posts; and Lester (Arapahoe) was outside chiselling a beam.
These things are all for our new hospital.... Jesse (Arapahoe) and
Little Elk (Cheyenne) were busy in the gymnasium. The waggons which
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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