The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 08, August, 1889 — John Shaqi
The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 08, August, 1889Various
Religion
The American Missionary — Volume 43, No. 08, August, 1889
Various
Congregational churches -- Missions -- Periodicals; Home missions -- Periodicals
This is a department of the University of New Mexico at Santa Fe,
occupying separate buildings and a separate locality, and managed by the
American Missionary Association. A recent visit to the school it may be
worth while to report. It is for the Apache Indians and the youth who
are gathered into it are of the Jiccarrilla band. Their reservation is
about two hundred miles west, and is reached by railroad or by pony
transportation. The teachers deem it better to have the school some
distance from the people so as to make its impression the more positive,
and yet near enough for the parents to visit their children occasionally
while at school. This keeps up the interest and prevents the children
from being educated away from their elders. Two good sized buildings are
used. In one there are the school rooms, the accommodations for the
teachers, and the lodgings for the boys. In the other, under a matron,
there are lodgings for the girls, work rooms for the same, and the
boarding department for all. The Indian girls do the cooking for the
establishment. I saw them getting dinner and I saw many loaves of
beautiful white bread made by them. In their work shop they make their
own clothes. The boys, under the lead of the principal, Prof. Elmore
Chase, work at cobbling, making ditches and cultivating the soil, and
also do something with carpenter's tools. The Government pays over a
hundred dollars a year for each student toward the expense of board,
clothes, etc. The American Missionary Association appoints the teachers
and directs the school. The scholars, thirty in all, have made very
creditable progress in their studies, considering the short time the
school has been in operation, from three to four years. Prof. Whipple,
now of Wheaton College, who for a time was principal of the Ramona,
testifies: "I never saw on an average such aptness, docility and
faithfulness in school and industrial work." The religious influence
of the school has not been interfered with by the Government. I heard
the scholars recite with promptness and evident understanding the
Twenty third Psalm, the Beatitudes, the Commandments, the Lord's
Prayer, and portions of a catechism introductory to the Westminster
Shorter. Daily worship is maintained among them, the Sunday-school
lesson is thoroughly taught, while the Bible is freely used in the
school. The Professor thought that several of the youth gave such
evidence of an experience of grace as would satisfy us concerning
white children. I was permitted to see half a dozen letters written by
the scholars to be sent to their parents and brothers and sisters,
without the supervision of their teachers, in which were many
expressions of love for the Saviour and the Bible, and of a desire
that their friends at home should be made acquainted with the same,
and the purpose, when they should go home, to communicate those good
things.
The following are four of those letters:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account