The Chemawa American
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Printed at Chemawa,
MAT
S
Oregon, and Devoted to the Interests of Indian Educate on
CQPY^J956
Vol. XXVII
Wednesday, December 16, 1925
A HIGH PURPOSE
Young people, if a high purpose at Chemawa is
your starting point and the all-conquering motive,
no time must be lost in proving it. Now is the time—
right now! The decisive time with every one is when
his ambition is fired and his will takes command. Un
til then, impulses, freaks, indifference, perhaps lazi
ness, rules. Must we admit that with the great ma
jority of young people the higher ambition is never
fired at all? We admit that soft surroundings stifle
motive and paralyze effort.
It is said, with some truth, that our Indian schools
do not require sufficient self-denial and sustained effort
on the part of a student, because it all comes too
easily; that a good many who attend our schools
simply drift; a comparative few with manhood and
womanhood of the higher type realize their oppor
tunities and take full advantage of them. Laziness is
natural and easy; labor is hard. Candidly, now, do
you think the effort required to fit you for something
in life is worth while? High character costs some
thing. If it was money, and if the school, or father
or mother would pay it, by all means have it.
But suppose it means hard, unflinching intellectual
work and denial of a lot of things that you like?
Why, of course, then it comes too high. The greater
number seem inclined to reject the terms. They will
not pay the price. Here and there a strong boy or
girl, with faith in himself and his undeveloped powers,
sets a high aim before himself, summons his will to
the command and goes forward.
After the aim is focused on the purpose of using
every opportunity to advance and work is started
character begins to build. If the purpose is a high
one the ambitious student will attain his end much
more readily by knowing how best to use the means at
his command. There is one powerful aid that should
be seized at the very outset; it will work for one
early and late, never tiring, never varying, and stops
only when life ceases; either for good or evil, and it is
hard to shake off if you conclude at any time that
you’ve had enough of it. What is it—this aid? It is
“habit.”
It is very easy to form or prevent a habit, but very
hard to break one when formed. If any of our readers
No. 13
doubt this let them try out on that habit which they
“Can stop at any time.” It is positively vital that
you form correct habits and crush bad ones right at
the start—and right now is the time to inventory your
stock of habits, good or bad, and weed out the latter.
The longer a habit is tolerated the more hopeless is
the uprooting of it. Here are some things which
should be formulated into a habit: Think carefully
on every subject in connection with your class and in
dividual work, assimilating the knowledge that comes
from observation, study and reading; be as correct as
as you know how to be in conversation and manner;
keep regular hours and take physical culture exercises;
practice industry and economy, and use method in
work of every kind.
It is is needless to say that the opposite of each
of these good habits—slipshod thinking, careless ob
servation and reading, lack of physical exercise and
regular hours, laziness, and so on—is easier to crystal-
ize than the right and helpful way. So it behooves
the young man or woman who wants this potent in
fluence of habit to work for them in the struggle to
reach the top to stop every bad habit, to rally the full
force of their will and crush it out. In like manner
let them patiently, persistently, plant, cultivate and
nourish the habits that help until they are unalterably
fixed and become sure companions for life.
It has been said that “time is the stuff of which life
is made. ’ ’ Every one of our young people have exactly
the same amount of it in a year. One improves it and
reaps great results; another wastes it and reaps failure.
The first is called lucky; the second unfortunate, and
the unfortunate form the mass of mankind everywhere,
it should be noted.
So, to use your time rightly, shape everything to it,
and then make things go that way. This scheme will
go to pieces quickly unless backed up by a persistent
purpose and a determination that wins. When you
work, mean work—live work. Put your whole mind
and heart into it. Know nothing else. Do everything
the best possible; distance everybody about you. This
will not be hard, for the majority of the other fellows
are not trying very hard. Always be ready for the
(Continued on page 4)