THE SCHOOLS 



153 



of the public schools, may be trained in the State School for Back- 

 ward Children. It is remarkable what progress, imder the careful individual 

 treatment given them here, can be made by many children who were regard- 

 ed as hopeless in the public schools. Many such children become self- 

 supporting and useful citizens, who would otherwise have been a burden 

 and a menace. No children are received here who are incapable of any 

 mental progress. 



Even a brief account of the educational advantages of ]^Iontana ought 

 not to omit all mention of many educational enterprises carried on by pri- 

 vate activity. The oldest institution for higher education in Montana in- 

 deed, is the College of IMontana, sustained by the Presbyterian 

 Some Other denomination at Deer Lodge. 



Educational For some time after the opening of the state institutions, 



Institutions this college confined itself chiefly to the work of an academy, 

 of This but recently plans for enlargement have been undertaken, and 



State. a campaign for endowment is now in progress which it is hoped 



will result in the college coming to fill a much larger pllace in 

 the educational work of the State. 



The Montana \A^esleyan University likewise has been doing an excel- 

 lent work for many 3-ears in Helena under Methodist auspices, A new site 

 has been secured and a large new building just erected and this institution, 

 too, is making a most vigorous canvass for the enlargement of its endow- 

 ment, with strong hopes of success. The university makes a strong appeal 

 through its academy department to parents living in rural communities who 

 wish to send their children 

 where the absence of home 

 surroundings will be in a 

 large measure offset by the 

 special care offered in dorm- 

 itory life. 



The educational work of 

 the Roman Catholic church 

 is the most extensive of any 

 of the private enterprises in 

 the State. In several of the 

 larger t o w n s parochial 

 schools are maintained. In 

 Butte these are particu- 

 larly well organized, extending from the lowest primary grade througli the 

 high school. 



In several towns boarding academies are sustained which carry on both 

 elementary and secondary work. Of these St. Vincent's Academy at Helena, 

 Sacred Heart Academv at Missoula and Mt. Angel Ursuline Academv a: 



St. Helena's Parochial School at Helena. 



— The natural resources of Montana are a bar against "hard times." 



