No one who has never lived near an Indian school has any idea of the
loneliness and homesickness that fills the poor little hearts of the
Indian youths who have been torn away from the rude Indian home and
herded together between gloomy brick walls, so different from the teepee
of their semi-savage parents. The government department in charge of
these schools talk of abolishing the schools located at a distance from
the reservations, and building school houses right in the village,
retaining only four such schools as that of Carlisle, Pa., to serve as
high schools for the larger youths.
I believe there is much sense and good judgment in this. Civilization
should not force painful conditions upon the children of our
copper-skinned wards.
I recall to mind the desertion of five little Indian boys from a school
near which the writer spent several years, and a more pathetic tale never
was told. Like the instinct of bees and animals, these Indian boys knew
that their native village lay to the southwest of the school, and when
homesickness felt so unbearable that it could not be endured, they stole
from their dormitory one dark night in November, swam the river and
started to climb the rugged side of the great Rocky Mountains.
Little Jake Hargison was but six years old, and the baby of the
deserters, but he struggled through the dark and up the rocky side of the
towering mountain with courage stimulated by the hope of seeing home and
parents within a few days. Being only boys, they had not provided food
for the journey, each lad carrying only a small lunch in his pockets.
At daylight they were far up on the mountain side, half frozen; for they
had come to an impassable cliff and so were obliged to wait until the
daylight came, not daring to build a fire lest it be seen from the valley
where the school buildings were located.
It was past noon when they finally reached the top of the mountain
and struck out boldly to cross the broad mesa extending far to the
southwest. Far in the distance they could see the mountain range at
whose foot nestled the Indian village they called home. They knew it
was seventy-five long miles away, but they never flinched or thought of
turning back.
Late in the afternoon the sky grew gray with bleak clouds, and the
northeast wind chilled them to the bone. There were already four inches
of snow on the mesa, and the eldest of the boys knew instinctively that
another snow storm was in the air. But they had on stout government
shoes, and did not fear the snow.
By dark the snow storm burst on them in all the fury of a Rocky Mountain
blizzard, and the boys began to search for a sheltering rock. Fortunately
they came to the brow of a great range of mountains, and down below the
rim rock they knew there would be shelter from the storm and the winds.
Slowly and tortuously the boys climbed down through a crevice in the
great rim rock, and 200 feet below they came to a level plateau, where
they gathered wood and built a fire close up to the perpendicular wall.
Sitting by the warm fire they ate their lunch, having saved it all
through the weary day, and they could hear the storm king howling through
the spruce trees and shrieking through the canyons on either side.
And where they had camped the snow was drifting over the cliff and
falling upon them very fast. They knew the history of these snow
drifts—knew that the snow sometimes stacked up to the depth of fifty feet
on the lee side of the rim rock, but it was too late to retreat now.
At midnight their fuel became exhausted, and the snow drift was so deep
that they could not get more. Little Jake complained of being sleepy,
and his older brother sang an Indian song to keep him awake. The little
fellow began to repeat the prayer his teacher taught him, and fell asleep
with the words still on his lips. The others soon followed him into
dreamland, and all night long the merciless snow drifted over the tall
rock and buried them under many feet of spotless robes. The winds howled,
the storm shrieked and groaned and higher the snow drift grew upon them.
Late in July a prospecting party found them, the elder brother holding
little Jake in his stiffened arms.