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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.
Notes About the Book:
Source: Historical Sketch of the Omaha Tribe of Indians in Nebraska, by Alice C.
Fletcher, Washington, Judd & Detweiler, 1885
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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