Image provided by: Library of Congress; Washington, DC
About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 14, 1925)
9 1925 The Chemawa American Printed at Chemawa, Oregon, and Devoted to th Interests of Indian Education 3MAY Vol. XXVII * Wednesday, October 14,0®W • 1956 HAVE A PURPOSE Every boy and girl here at Chemawa finds out very quickly that in order to properly use their time it is absolutely necessary to have a system. It is our en deavor to so shape everything to the best advantage of the students so that they advance the more rapidly. The 24 hours of each day are divided between work, recreation, sleep and mental culture, according to the scheme as best suited to their advancement in our judgment, and as circumstances permit. But it is up to our students to take advantage of all this by show ing persistent purpose. We have noticed that the trouble with the majority of young folk is that they aim at nothing and hit it square in the eye. The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going, but no-one pays any attention to the fellow who is drifting along waiting for something to happen to him. Every one of our young people, and older ones also, should have a goal toward which they are striving and a target at which they are aiming. Purposeless people, young or old, maybe “chock full” of initiative and intelligence, but will never attain any success unless they couple up their ability to some enterprise or worthy cause. Everybody knows that there are any number of pay ing positions of responsibility waiting for the fellows who are capable and competent to handle them. The trouble is that too few people are really prepared when opportunity knocks at their doors. Some men and women are so well trained and keep themselves so much in the forefront that they make opportunities. The value, young people, of a definite purpose and a plan for one’s life is an indispensable factor in making good. Every individual should analyze himself and eliminate the weak points and build up strong factors which will make him successful. Persistency is another characteristic of the effective and efficient person. This great country of ours is made up essentially of fighters. We are a nation of fighters, and our boys and girls must realize that there is no power under the sun that can stop them from accomplishing anything they undertake if hey are downright in earnest about it. Evena postage stamp sticks to its job. The value of the bulldog lies in his grit, not in his looks, and once he tackles anything he No. 4 never lets go. There are any number of folk in this world who would be a lot more valuable if they had more of the bulldog in their make-ups. Boys and girls, you want to get out of the habit of howling when you are stepped on; learn to take punish ment and come back for more. This bulldog we men tion teaches that the chin wasn’t made entirely to talk with. Everybody at Chemawa—employes and stu dents—should get into the bulldog notion of thinking so that once the teeth are set into anything they will hang on until pried loose. Reader, do you see the point? This bulldog of ours doesn’t need a war cry to encourage him. When he is invited to a scrap he growls his thanks and reaches out for a good hold. Our point is that the best ability in the world will do you little good unless you determine to hold fast to whatever the thinking machine—your best judgment prompts you to undertake. From the intellectual side we must all realize that people are worth everything from their necks up and very little from their chins down, for it is absolutely impossible for a stupid person to amount to very much in the affairs of life. The ignorant and stupid man is a slave. The ability to study and reach out is a charac teristic that does almost everything toward improving any man’s position in life. Young people in order to get an education must bind together the hours spent at this school with the cord of definite, serious work. Study not only to gain information but to gain intel lectual and moral stimulus. A well-developed brain lifted Booker T. Washington “Up From Slavery.” It was education that took Abraham Lincoln from the log cabin to the White House. We read of self-made men. We do not believe that there are literally any self-made men. All men and women are assisted during their formative period by writers, thinkers, speakers—the philosophers of their time. Whatever development any individual possesses can be attributed to the persons with whom he has as sociated through books or in person. We are made by the company we keep. Another important factor in the fine art of living relates to the proper appreciation of money. There is an old saw that “money talks.” (Continued on papt 4)
