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Youth at School
 |
Over seventy of the Omaha youth are at
schools outside of the reservation: at the Government
Industrial School at Genoa, Nebraska, under the
superintendency of Col. Tappan; at a similar school at
Houghton, Lee county, Iowa, under the care of Benj. Miles;
at Lincoln Institute, Philadelphia, Pa.; at Carlisle
Training School, Carlisle, Pa., under the wise pioneer of
Indian training schools, Capt. R. H. Pratt. Several of the
boys and girls sent to this school are at present living in
the families of farmers, earning their board and clothes,
working and going to the district schools with |
| white children, and finding
friends and respect in their new relations. Other Omaha are
at Hampton, where General Armstrong has charge, and among
these are several married couples, who are there together
gaining a wider knowledge through books and a daily
experience of civilized life that is beyond price. |
| Cottages have been erected by
the gift of two ladies interested in this new feature of
Indian education, and here the young people live, becoming
accustomed to the refinements of life, and it is hoped that
money will be secured to furnish the material to build
similar houses upon their farms when they return home this
summer. The men will do the mechanical work, being trained
carpenters, and from their crops pay a yearly rental, which
will be applied to the purchase of their houses. Thus two
ends will be secured: (1) The young men will have earned
their homes; their independence will be unharmed. (2) The
money will gradually roll back, to be expended a second time
in the |
 |
same good service.
The Omaha Indians, for the sake of clearness, have been
taken for this exhibit, as a picture to show ford what has been actually
accomplished in bringing a people from barbarism to civilized life, and thus
to demonstrate that civilization is no fanciful theory, but, under proper
care and influences, is within the grasp of all the Indians. From this
sketch of the Omaha tribe we see that, while many persons are still
questioning whether the Indian will work, whether he can be educated,
whether it is possible for him to become self sustaining, these questions
have been answered in the affirmative by facts; for here is a tribe which
works, is educated, and is self sustaining, having, within twenty-five
years, passed from Indian modes of life to farming upon their lands in
severalty, independent of Government support.
It should be added that there are many other tribes
ready to give a like testimony.
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