I
THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
There were not many people in this
street perhaps only ten or fifteen in a
whole block. Soon the regiments came
along. The first two were in great dis
order, not keeping together at all, but
presently came the Indian boys, every
foot coming down exactly like one foot,
every head up, every shoulder back, the
line as perfect as when it passed the
President's stand. They lacked the
inspiration which they had on Pennsyl
vania Avenue but they had the inspir
ation which comes from i sense of doing
right whether one is watched or not.
To show a similar case where this
responsibility is worth something, I re
call another story of a fine Indian boy,
a young Sioux. He was in school for
five or six years and had never been in
a large city. He went with his chum
over into New York. They wanted to
see shipping and walked along the
wharves and watched the ships. They
went aboard and looked around. The
captain said, "Boys, have you ever seen
ships before?'' They said they had not
and he asked them if they wished to be
sailors. One of the boys said "Yes, I
would like to be a sailor." He signed
the articles of a contract to work as a
sailor and went to sea for five years. He
went into every country on the globe
finally landing at Manila at the close of
his five years' travel. He enlisted in
the army and when his regiment was
disbanded, he enlisted with another,
serving five years. After this he went
homo. After reaching his early home,
he began looking around for something
to do for a living. He called on one of
his old friends, the Agent, who said, "Will,
I would not have known you if you had
not told me who you were." Will said
"I have been all around the world and
have now come home to live and am
looking for a job." The Agent said he
was not sure that he had a job for one
who had traveled so much but finally
he told l.im he might take care of his
horse and cow and the boy took the job
and did it well. By and by, he married
the daughter of a rich man. On the day
of the marriage, the father prepared a
feast for the young people. The guests
were all assembled when the clock
struck five. That was the hour when
for a year or more, Will, had milked the
Agent's, cow and now he was not going
to neglect his work. The Agent went
out and said, "Why, Will I had not ex
pected you here today and hired another
man to do your work. But Will milked
the cow. It is not often we see such de
votion to duty and here was a boy who
was going to do his regular work even
though he was going to be married in a
few minutes.
Now, I believe that I have said all
that I need to impress these points upon
you. I want to tell you how I have en
joyed going about here today looking at
the way you have kept your rooms and
I want you to remember that the line of
systematic work which has been built up
here for you began away back when the
school was established.; Your Superin
tendent now is having to work harder
than his predecessor on account of the
increase of responsibility. I wanted
once to change the superintendent of a
school. I selected a man who was ver-j
earnest and who worked'very steadily
and unceasingly for the Indian's good
Some time afterward, I visited those Ir
dians and found them very slack in the
way of doing things and after appealing
to them, telling them of the things which
I liked and the things which I regre tted,
I said. "You have an Agent here who is
working for your good, keeping his of
fice open certain hours and transacting
your business. Remember that an Agent
is like another man. He must have
time for rest". Cne old man sitting in
the crowd said, "Last Agent rest all the
time."
T am sure nothing of thntsort will be
said of Mr. Chalcraft.