Pro and Con 69 



and we thank you heartily. But you who are 

 wise must know, that different nations have 

 different conceptions of things; and you will not 

 therefore take it amiss, if our ideas of this kind 

 of education happen not to be the same as yours. 

 We have had some experience of it; several of our 

 young people were formerly brought up at the 

 colleges of the Northern Provinces; they were 

 instructed in all your sciences; but when they 

 came back to us, they were bad runners; ignorant 

 of every means of living in the woods; unable 

 to bear cold or hunger; knew neither how to build 

 a cabin, take a deer, or kill an enemy; spoke our 

 language imperfectly; were therefore neither fit 

 for hunters, warriors, or counsellors; they were 

 totally good-for-nothing. We are, however, not 

 the less obliged for your kind offer, though we 

 decline accepting it; and to show our grateful 

 sense of it, if the gentlemen of Virginia will send 

 us a dozen of their sons we will take great care of 

 their education, instruct them in all we know, 

 and make men of them.&quot; 



The educators of the Indians, often in the face 

 of serious obstacles, have achieved magnificent 

 results. The last return of the Department of 

 Indian Affairs enumerates 345 schools. The fact, 

 however, that of the total 59 are returned as 

 boarding, 2 as institutes, 16 as industrial, only 1 

 as an ex-pupils colony, would seem to indicate 

 that the philosophy of education contained in the 

 above reply of the Five Nations might still repay 

 careful scrutiny and consideration. 



