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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 21, 1917)
I 2.0. 3 MAY » P r in t e d a t C h e m a w a , O re g o n , a n d D e v o te d to th e In te r e s t s o f In d ia n E d u c a tio n Vol. X I X Wednesday, February 21, 1917 HONORABLE CATO SELLS Recently there came to our notice an article which has been given much publicity in the newspapers of the country in which Honorable Cato Sells is most favorably compared with William Penn in regard to his justice and fair dealings with the Indians of the United States. The American wishes to say that our Commissioner of Indian Affairs has all the spirit of Penn for justice and fair dealings for the Indians and other qualities which history has not recorded of Penn. For nearly five years Judge Sells has exercised his every resource in behalf of the Indian and has taken steps tor the advancement of the Indian unknown to Penn. He has not awaited an opportunity simply to deal fairly and justly after a case presented itself, but has anticipated matters and has shaped affairs so that the case never came to light, or if it did, it came as he wanted it to come—fairly and justly and for the pro tection and well being of his Indian wards. His heart and soul are dedicated to the work of ad vancing the Indian people and their interests. That has become a passion with him—an obsession which dominates him in all things. We doubt if he is fully conscious of the influence which he possesses for good, as an organizer, as a diplomat, among thousands un der him. We affirm that he cannot be conscious of it all, for the rule with humanity is that little is said where much is thought—it is true in this case. Com missioner Sells’ influence and indomitable will power is felt and recognized by the entire Indian Service in the uplifting of the school and agency work, as well as the Indian race in general. All in all we do not think it is fitting to make a comparison between Wil liam Penn and Cato Sells. SELF-IMPROVEMENT It is said that Gladstone, the great English states man, always carried a book in his pocket so that no unexpected spare moment could slip by unimproved. This fact makes us think that if so great a man as he thought it necessary to improve his mind with study, how much more necessary it is for us to use our spare moments for our intellectual improvement. We are likely to make the excuse for not trying to improve ourselves by reading and studying that we cannot find time. But we always do find time for the things that No. 19 we really want to do, and none of us are so busy that we cannot take a few minutes, or even an hour, each day for self-improvement. Every bit of such study ing that you do will add just that much to your value. There is still nearly half of the school year left to us, so let us have the determination to use just as much of it as possible on our self-improvement. There is plenty of material at our hands to do this, and all we need to do is to make use of it. There is nothing more surely lost than loss of time. If we lose money, we may make more; if we lose friends, we may get others; but if we lose time, we can never get it back again, for “ yesterday has gone, tomorrow is but an expectancy; there is no time for us to act but in the living present.” If we plan our work rightly we can find time for all our many duties and for recreation besides. Often at the close of what we considered a very busy day, we feel that we have not accomplished very much, and if we then make an examination of our work, we find that a great deal of our time was lost because we did not have a definite plan or system. On other days, when we have followed a definite plan, we have easily accomplished more than we expected simply because we did our work systematically. DEVELOPMENT OF INDIVIDUALITY Observation has shown at Chemawa and elsewhere that in the training of the Indian youth individuality, both in thought and action, is essential in their de velopment, and we do strive to inculcate this quality. However, when such individuality is developed to any marked degree it is oftentimes misunderstood, and in a certain way the student suffers criticism and fre quently persecution. Why is this? It would seem that those interested in the work would be broad enough to tone down in a charitable way that which might seem beyond bounds, yet not to crush the individual. Though the act might sometimes ap pear officious, where the student is only endeavoring to stand out for himself without any thought of being impertinent or discourteous, such an individual needs patient guidance and friendly encouragement. Pu pils will not succeed if they are all run through the same mold. They must have opportunity and assist ance to develop that essential quality of individuality.
