554 



GLEANIJsGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15. 



more love for outdoor aii', or, rather, more pref- 

 erence to being barefooted and bareheaded, 

 and their sport seemed to be with veritable 

 bows and arrows, true to nature and instinct. 

 If the girls can get a bright colored handker- 

 chief to tie over their heads, or a thin shawl, 

 with glaring bright colors, to throw over their 

 shoulders, then they are content to be clothed — 

 at least to this extent. 



Here is a point, perhaps, which should be 

 emphasized a little more. The Indians are ex- 

 pert hop-pickers and berry-pickers, and, in fact, 

 they are adepts in every thing in that line. You 

 see, gathering wild fruits and berries is a part 

 of their earliest experience, and one of the prin- 

 cipal ways in which they obtain a subsistence. 

 Well, now, this love of finery is so strong that 

 the average Indian will work through a whole 

 hop-picking season, doing a tremendous sight 

 of hard work: and when he is through he will 

 take the whole of his earnings and pay it out 

 for a single blanket, providing the coloi'sof it 

 are bright enough. In fact, he won't save out 

 even a nickel to buy him a supper, even though 

 tlie hop-picking season is over, and he does not 

 know when he will have a chance of earning 

 another cent. Of course, he wants a blanket 

 that will take the shine from any thing else 

 owned in the whole tribe; and then he will 

 parade the streets, and enjoy the attention he 

 receives from everybody, right and left. When 

 1 say he I do not mean it is the men-folks alone 

 that are guilty of this weakness. A nice-look- 

 ing young squaw is just as fond of attracting 

 admiring glances as — suppose we say any of her 

 white sisters. Her white sister has a little more 

 modesty and decorum about it; but is it any 

 thing so very strange that this untaught child 

 of the forest should show this trait (or better, 

 perhaps, weakness)? Oh for some good Chris- 

 tian woman, or man either, to look after these 

 children, to protect them, to watch over them, 

 and lead them to something better, purer, and 

 a thousand times more satisfactory in every 

 way. than any thing that can be got out of 

 beads or shawls or handkeichiefs 1 In the 

 picture you will see a little chap with a ring in 

 one of his ears. W'here they can not get two 

 earrings they do the best they can with one; 

 and I have been led to believe they sometimes 

 divide, where there is not enough to go around. 

 When recess was over, the sch(»olma'am seemed 

 to have some little trouble about getting her 

 flock back inside of the schoolhouse door. 



I did not know but friend Morris and the rest 

 of us had "paralyzed" them a little into be- 

 ing even more bashful than usual. Finally, 

 however, they were all brought in — even tlie 

 little chick who sits between her two sisters, 

 on the right of the picture. From their looks I 

 feared they were not going to be very ready 

 with their lessons; but imagine my surprise 

 vvhen they answered promptly, spoke more dis- 

 tinctly, and perhaps more correctly, than any 

 of our Yankee schoolchildren. You go into a 

 Yankee school, and you hear more or less of the 

 Yankee nasal twang and flatness to many of 

 the word-. The Indian children, when they 

 dropped their mother tongue, sei'med to adopt 

 pure, sharp-cut, clear English. I was more as- 

 tonished to hear them recite in geography. 

 The hard Indian names, that bother almost 

 every one to pronounce, .seemed to be at their 

 tongues* ends. y\nd why should they not? 

 By the way. are they having due credit for 

 having given henntlful names to almost all 

 the lakes, rivers, and town^^, of our whole na- 

 tion ? In 'answer to my many questions, the 

 teacher showed us some of their compositions; 

 and Mrs. Root said she never wanted any thing 

 much more in her life tiian some of the com- 

 positions written by those Indian boys and 



girls. But when the teacher remarked that all 

 the best had been carried off by visitors, we 

 hardly had the cheek to ask for more of them. 



I suppose you know that a good many people 

 have given the Indians a rather hard name. 

 They call them shiftless, dishonest, and thiev- 

 ish; and I have b(>come almost discouraged in 

 trying to plead charity for these friends of our.s 

 who possessed our land long before we knew 

 there ums such a land. 



Another thing impressed me, and I hope no 

 one will feel hurt if I speak out plainly. Chris- 

 tian people, and educated and intelligent peo- 

 ple as a rule, spoke hopefully of the work 

 among the Indians: Non-professors of religion, 

 especially those who made lightof Christianity, 

 seemed to think the Indians and the Chinese 

 ought to be pushed back until they finally 

 reach the jumping-off place, and then they 

 thought they ought to be pushed clear off out 

 of the way. Some professors of religion talked 

 a good deal in the same way, but they were 

 usually backslidden spiritually. A faith in God 

 is surely conducive to hope in these lower races. 



One reason why I wanted this picture en- 

 graved foi' Gi>EANiNGS was. that you might 

 look into the faces of these children, and catch 

 the inspiration that such a picture always 

 gives me. A single glance at that teacher's 

 face shows hope and love and faith. Y'es. 

 come to think of it, it shows /aifli, hope, chari- 

 ty ; and her pupils, especially the older ones, 

 are fast coming to imitate her. I have been 

 told that she, too. has some Indian blood in her 

 veins. If it be true, I hope she is proud of it. I 

 am sure I should be if I were in her place; and 

 if any one suggests by word, thought, or 

 action, that she is any less to be respected on 

 that account, may God forgive him, and may 

 his Holy Spirit teach such a one the error and 

 the wrong he is doing. My friend, as you look 

 upon the picture before us, can you imagine any 

 more noble calling than to be teacher in that 

 humble little adobe schoolhouse. and to be lead- 

 ing these precious children on the way from 

 earth to heaven ? As I look again on th(>ir 

 faces, even in the picture, that little prayer 

 wells tip anew, "Lord, helpl" and may the 

 Lord in real truth help us all to remember the 

 sacred responsibility that rests upon us as we 

 take possession of this fair land of America, and 

 subdue it to our use; and may he help us to re- 

 member these children of the forest, and their 

 cliildr(>n"s childien; for if they have vicious 

 pr(ii)ensiiies. so have we. If they are inclined 

 to be sellish and indolent, so are we. And, dear 

 friend, dare you undertake to say that you and 

 I would not have been heathen and savages too, 

 had it not been for the influences of civilization 

 and Christianity round about us? Somebody 

 has said that we are all Zvorri savages; and that, 

 but for the influences of Clirist's redeeming 

 blood, we should all be savages still. The re- 

 sponsibility, the entire work of making us men 

 and women in the image of God, rests upon the 

 careful teaching and manipulation of the little 

 minds in their tender years. Some of those 

 girls, and I hope boys too. will grow up to be 

 teacliers like the teacher who sits in the chair. 

 May God strengthen her for her work, and in a 

 like manner strengthen the great army of 

 teachers throughout our land, especially the 

 teachers who are doing missionary work. 



And now if I have taught yoti to love these 

 children, and to love their teacher, by this pic- 

 lur(! and my short talk. 1 shall feel happy. 

 Some oiK^ may whisper that I do not know 

 these people. Wtdl. in one sense I atn glad I 

 do not. I do not want to know the bad there is 

 about them. I want to know only tln^ good. I 

 thank Heaven I do know theri; are susceptibil- 

 ities for good in the face of eveiy one of them; 



