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)