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About The Chemawa American (Chemawa, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1931)
CHEMAWA'fJAMERICAN .................................................................................................................................................... .......................................................................................................... Printed at Chemawa, Oregon, and Devoted to the Ittiqrests of Indian Education --------- ,--- - ------ - --------------- . ;; - ^7----------------- Vol. XXXII Wednesday, Apr. 29-1931 CHEMAWA GIRLS IN A NEW ROLE When Superintendent Lipps returned from Spokane, Washington, last week he was all smiles. He reported that at Iasi he had succeeded in accomplishing an under taking he had been working on at intervals for the past five or six years—that of inducing the Davenport Hotel to try the experiment of using a few well-trained Indian girls as servers and entertainers in one of the hotel’s fine dining rooms. A few weeks ago he succeeded in getting Mr. W. H. Wraight, Manager of the Daven port, to visit Chernawa and look us over. So well pleased was Mr. Wraight with what he saw at Che- mawa and with the appearance of our girls and the way they served the dinner given in his honor, that he decided on the spot that the Davenport Hotel could use a small selected group of them in its Delicacy Shop and Apple Bowei, two of its specially attractive dining rooms. On his recent trip to Spokane Mr. Lipps made the final arrangements and the four girls who have been selected for this honor and privilege will go to Spokane about May 15th and remain there until the opening of school in September when they will return to Che- mawa to continue their education. The Davenport is beyond all question one of Amer ica’s most distinguished hotels. The nationally known architect, Kirkland K. Cutter, in designing this famous hotel achieved his life masterpiece—“a harmonious monument to his outstanding genius.” The building and its furnishings represent an investment of approx imately $3,000,000. There are nineteen different din ing and banquet rooms, some of them, like the Italian Gardens and the Delicacy Shop, are famous the world over. The main lobby, after the style of the Spanish Renaisance, is said to be one of the most attractive and interesting in the world. This is one of the large ho tels of the Pacific Northwest. It has 500 guest rooms and employs 600 people. Ever since Superintendent Lipps came to Chemawa he has continually emphasized the cultural side of ed ucation and the importance of basing the practical train ing on the natural abilities of the Indian student—on his native art, music, folk-lore, etc. Time and time again in his weekly chapel talks he has told our stu dents that they must be able to do things a little better than the ordinary—that they must “learn to do the common things uncommonly well—to put their art in to their work.” He has insisted that our most com Z No. 33 petent, efficient and dependable students should be placed in jobs where the better class of people in large numbers would have an opportunity of seeing the bet ter side of the Indian people and their possibilities. He has urged them to have faith in themselves and to maintain their race pride and to demonstrate that the Indian possesses traits of character and native talents that rightly developed and used will prove a valuable addition to our American culture. To these ends he has striven unceasingly and untiringly, never waver ing or doubting his abiding faith in the latent possi- ibilities of the Indian’s native abilities. The four girls—Alice Slater, Marie La France, Mar garet Hoptowit and Theo Bird—who have been selected for this honor and opportunity are indeed fortunate. No pains are being spared to outfit these girls and prop erly to prepare them for this undertaking; and no detail is being overlooked in making arrangements to protect and safeguard them in every way. They are being outfitted with three sets of attractive service uni forms, each set of a different color and pattern and all of correct style, and properly fitted and decorated with a touch of Indian art done under the supervision of our Mrs. James in our arts and crafts department. The hotel management is very anxious to have these uni forms correct in every detail and it was Mr. Wraight’s suggestion that they should have on them a few artistic Indian designs properly placed to add to their interest and distinctiveness. Two of these girls, Alice Slater and Marie LaFrance, came to us only last September from the fine girls’ school at Bismarck, South Dakota, where they had re ceived very excellent training, particularly in music. Both girls sing well and they will be used at times to help out with entertainment programs at the hotel. For this purpose Mrs. James has made each of them a very attractive Indian costume of buckskin, neatly fit- ing and properly decorated in true native Indian style. The question of finding a suitable home in Spokane for the girls was one that gave Superintendent Lipps a good deal of concern, since none of the help at the Davenport are permitted to live in the hotel though they may get their meals there. The chief purpose of Mr. Lipps’ trip to Spokane last week was to secure a desirable home for the girls. Through the influence of the hotel manangement he was able to secure rooms (Continued on page 4)
