Weekly Chemawa American., April 13, 1906, Image 1

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VOL. IX.
APRIL 1?,, 190(1
No. 4
"What should be Expected of the Indaln
Pupil and What he should be Taught"
By Ex-Goveuxor J. H. Fletcher
Continued from la; t issue.
You got lb it brother" said hi;, "and all the white
lkk. will raise their hats, and stand in respectful si
r.me when they meet you, they will even give you the
viatic road. They will play with your children and
invite your wife and daughters to all the social func
,j(,ns in the city.
ml so he bought it, and who wouldn't under such
,-in-umstanees?
few days Inter, the old man was seen driving into
lnW-n expecting, no doubt, to be invited out to some
swell affair with his wife beside him on the high seat,
while a dozen urchins were locked inside peering
through the plate glass at the beautiful scenery.
When he wastold the use for which his carriage was
made his hair turned gray in a night and his super
t bms feelings were intensified that he left the hearse
in the woods, he lending one pony home and his wife
i he other while the children came trudging on behind.
And an Indian will do this every time unless he is
tiiught better.
Fourthly, I remark that another charge made against
red men is, that they are not so cleanly as they
might be that they do not place sortie ient importance
(i) sanitation.
I fear the charge is well founded, and yet I do not
know that we were any better when we were as far
luck in civilization as they are. Indeed, I know some
It- laced people who are not any better now.
but if this charge is true, one of t he ri rst objects of a
trui her should be to impress the pupil with (he great
truth, that "cleanliness is next to godliness." that
-ap and water are i ivalu ible -th it a gj.td towel, is
his best friend, that a tine tooth comb is indispen
sable to his comfort a bath conductive togood health
ind longevity and a clean undershirt neccessary to
happiness.
Filthy habits, like, chewing tobacco and smoking
'sureties are men's worst enemies. The dude may be
i'-t eye sore but the sloven is an abomination. A man
r a woman cannot always appear in full dress, but
"icy can always he clean.
''here should be no repugnance to so -Us and soap A
'liiunond pin never looks so out of pia.-t as wh - .i it ap
i"'ars in a dirty shirt fr ;nt.
Hlth is a barrier to a person's progress upward. I
tlllnv nmii-r shall not call him a geruiem.ui - w hose
personal uneleanliness has kept him from Congress.
He possesses all the requirements of a Congressman
honesty, eloquence, scholarship, experience and
brains and he wants to go there.
The people would like to vote for him, but they can
not consent to send a man to the National legislation
whose appearance would lead other representatives to
conclude that the people who elected him must bens
dirty as he is.
One of the best men I ever knew was a gentleman
every where except at the table.
He would come there with his hands unwashed and
his hair uncombed.
Then he would lean with his elbows on the cloth,
put his food into his mouth with a knife, pour his tea
i.ito his saucer, spear everything he wanted with a
fork, and the moment he was through wou'd run from
the table like a burnished thunderbolt.
When 1 looked at his kindly face and thought of the
splendid services he had rendered on behalf of truth
and humanity and the magiulicent sacrifices lie had
made forth" uplifting of mankind, I felt like saying,
only "one tiling thu lack est," and that he had no re
gard for the "linen decencies" of iife. .
Lastly, I remark that the opinion generally prevails
that the red man has a natural passion for strong drink,
and that, when he touches it the stuff that he is made
of is so inflamable that his w hole nature burns with
an uncontrollable desir to do evil.
P.e that as it may, he should be taught that intoxi
cating liquor poisons the very springs of life, unfits
him for usefulness in the world, and that if he persist.;
in using it w ill send him to a drunkard's grave and a
drunkard's hell.
Above all men he should never put into his mouth
that whieh destroys his manhood, corrupts his morals
and steals away his brains in his youth he should be
taught to hate and fear it, so that when he quits school
and returns to his home, he should be able to say of it
as Hiakespeare said:
"Oh, thou invisible spirit of wine,
If thou hast no other name to be known by
Let's call thee devil."
Continued on page S.