Educating Indian Children In The U.S.

1900

The People's Forum

Can you give me the latest information concerning the education of Indian children in the United States? — H. I. M., Philadelphia, Pa.

Miss Estelle Reed, the superintendent of Indian education, answers our correspondent in an interview taken by William E. Curtis. In this interview Miss Reed says: "There are 50,000 Indian children in round numbers, and perhaps 35,000 or 37,000 are of school age. The enrollment for 1899 was 25,203. Since 1877 there has been a rapid increase in the allowance for the support of the Indian schools. In 1877 the appropriation was $20,000; in 1887, $1,211,415; in 1897, $2,517,265, and the allowance for the present fiscal year is $2,638,390.

"The movement to educate the Indians commenced before the revolution, when a few were maintained at the college of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Va., shortly after 1692. The first appropriation of which we have record made by Congress was passed in 1775 and carried an allowance of $500. The first Indian treaty in which any form of education was mentioned was with the Oneida, Tuscarora and Stockbridge Indians in 1794, and provided that one or two persons, besides keeping in repair certain mills built by the Indians, should instruct the young men of the three nations 'in the arts of the miller and sawyer.'

"I advocate legislation to compel Indian children to attend school, and I regard this of the first importance. I also advocate a change in our methods so that the children will be instructed more in industrial pursuits and less in the arts and sciences. The results accomplished at Hampton, Va., are gratifying, and emphasize the benefits to be obtained by Indians working under skilled instructors in mechanical schools. The Indians are much better educated than people generally suppose. An average of one in four can read, and even a larger percentage can talk enough English for ordinary purposes."

—The Ram's Horn, March 17, 1900, p. 8.

The Rev. Samuel A. Diehl's Work of 45 Years

Pennsylvania, 1920

Rev. Samuel A. Diehl, a native of New Oxford, and pastor of the Mt. Carmel Lutheran charge, consisting of Mt. Carmel congregation, at Moulstown, and St. Paul's, New Baltimore, who, on February 1st, handed in his resignation, to take effect June 1, 1920, has given the statistics of his 45 years' work in Pennsylvania and Maryland, during which he spent 28 years in Pennsylvania and 17 in Maryland. During his ministry Rev. Diehl baptized 1076 infants and 163 adults; confirmed 630 catechumens; received into church membership by letter 348 persons, and 106 by restoration; officiated at 724 funerals; joined in wedlock 352 couples, and preached 5,610 sermons.

—New Oxford Item, New Oxford, PA, Feb. 19, 1920, p. 6.

The Epitaph on One Busy Pastor's Tombstone

1915

Pastor's Busy Life

The epitaph on the tombstone of the late Dr. Rees Bronant, in Cardiganshire, sets out the following facts in Welsh: He christened 1,496 children, he buried 1,792 persons, he preached 8,000 sermons, he spoke 271 times on total abstinence, he paid hundreds of pounds of chapel debts by lectures.


Power of Ideal

No one can cherish an ideal, and devote himself to its realization from year to year, and strive and struggle and make sacrifices for its attainment, without undergoing a certain gracious transformation, of which the highest powers must be aware and men can hardly miss. — John White Chadwick.


The Fiery Cross

The fiery cross was an ancient summons to arms used in the Scottish Highlands, and was sent by swift messengers from place to place. It was a small cross of light wood, the extremities of which were set on fire, and then dipped in the blood of a goat. This custom is said to have also been in use among the Goths.


Daily Thought

Every man stamps his value on himself; the price we challenge for ourselves is given us. — Schiller.