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THE REFLECTOR. MILLEDGEV1LLE, G. TUESDAY, OCTOBER G, 1818. NO. 43. HEROK.EE INDIANS. *T OF THE CHEUOK.EE SCHOOLS. cuted by Gen. Calvin Jones, to the Edi tor of the llaleigh Register. notice which juu have published of ds in the Cherokee nation, from the t hints furnished in conversation, have been well received and to have nterest, 1 very readily comply with nest to give. a more circumstantial of those schools, and of the prospect rd of civilization to a nation that ted all my sympathies in its favor : much gratified to learn that your id sentiments on this subject are so in accordance with my own. t premise, that when 1 visited the e nation lately, i had no predilec- 'ts favor. I liad known something cities of Indians, and that all at- 0 civilize one of them had been un- , and had every where seen the va- bes recede and melt away at the ap f the white people, l had always the enthusiastic zeal ol good men to expect human means would efl’ei t been denied by an interdict of na- t there were physical as well as jusej which would forever prevent ation of these savages iiulil the ca lif their minds were improved, ma il perfected by tile long continued of their rare and species. But t n the nation, and have witnessed tin of the attempts which are making to and humanize them, and am nolong- ical. I renounce my Darwinian cr- firmly believe, if the efforts now are duly seconded, the little that re- f a brave and unfortunate nation will ued from barbarism, suffering and ut- iliilation. itofore there'seems to have been more * Christianity than knowledge of the. utmn of the human mind, employed ionary labors. Little is to he expect preaching'ahstriisc doctrines to men ve never been taught the exercise of lliinking faculties. The American f Foreign Missions have profited by pcricnec ; they have anatomised the ml know its properties and structure have learned, (to borrow the rxprus- thc poet) that the twig must be bent fashion to the tree, first school in the Cherokee nation nded by the Moravian Society, of S North Carolina, about twenty years d has been continued without inter but on a limited scale, ever sinee. Mr. Gamliold is the present mis- Ile is a plain, worthy man, ami s his family chiefly by the labor oi hands, while his wife inst.ru ts ten or Indian children. On the Sabbath •reaches. Charles Hicks, the second minnlly, in the nation, but in ititlu- first, is a member of his rhtmh. reputed an enlightened and devout n, who docs honor to liis profession? the most considerable school is at laugh, under the superintendance oi ifican ljnard of Foreign Missions.— instructor was the Rev. Cyrus Kin in went into the nation three years left it last winter to found a school le Choctaws. It is due, however, stinguished merit of the Rev. Giilo- ■tiurn, of Tennessee, to state here, ms the pioneer in this business, hav- iis individual exertions, maintained taught by himself, in that part of the nany years ago ; which, however, t tilty of subsisting, and much tin- obloquy thrown upon his conduct ’ves, made it expedient for him to a- Thc sclimd is conducted on the Lancastri-\ resent head of the mission is the d iloyt, a venerable, pious, sensi- iscreet man, who, with Ins wifi and sling children, left the pleasant, val- 'yoming, in Pennsylvania, to cu be difficulties and endure the priva- wilderness. with the single view ol the blessings of civilization and ity among the C'herokees. The f the school is Mr. William Cham- of Vermont. T’he steward and Mr. Moody Hail, of New York, and two young men learning the Chero- age with a view to increase the u- their labors, Daniel S. Bcatrick »g- slitution is very creditably patron- vernment. The expenses of the for the accommodation of the lam bed to the mission, ol the Indian d of the school, are defrayed by s, the Indian agent, w ho furnishes, rgc of the government, all the re- pleme.nis of husbandry. A fertile ml is loaned to the missionaries so eir institution exists, which serves purpose of lessening the burthen upon the hoard of missions, and g the Indian youth into the princi- actice of agriculture. an plan, and consists of 53 scholars, of whom ■49 are Indians. I spent a day in the school, taught and heard every one of the classes rny- S' If, and I declare that I never saw a better ■dated school, or scholars of more prom ising dispositions and talents. They were piick of apprehension, retentive in memory, lorile and affectionate. The greater nuin- oer of the scholars were between 8 and 12 years of age: a few were 1G, and one, 1 think, was 18. This last was a young wo- tian of much merit; she read well, conver sed sensibly, was grave, dignified and grace ful in her manners, handsome in her person, and would he an ornament to almost any so- iety. I was told that a * heir female socie ty meetings, when asked to pray, she always unhesitatingly did so, and in a manner pe- uliarly fervid and eloquent ; her name is Katharine Brown. Nut lour years ago she wore tiie dress, spoke the language, and had the manners of her nation. Lydia Lowry, Alice Wilson, and Peggy Wolf, three other Indian girls that I recollect, of less mature age, were good scholars and genteel and a- grecahle in their manners. Edward, a bro iler of Katharine Brown's, ami too many li the r boys to he enumerated, would, for their ipcti. manly countenances, correct manners, .aid decent school acquirements, obtain res pect and consideration in any community. The school is opened and closed by prav - t, ami all the scholars join in singing hymns I’hose who merit them, receive, as rewards, daily and twice a day, for <• Punctual atten danrtV’ “ Behaviour,” and •• Diligence’ arils or tickets, with the initial letters ol '■hose words printed on them, which are. val ued at half a cent, a cent, and three half cents. These are current money, and are receiviu in payment for knives, hooks, or whatevr else they wish to -purchase. For damaging slates, losing pencils, n -gl'igcm irs, ,Vc. et>. tiicy are sometimes lined in tckeis. The children value these tickets Ingnly, hotli for ihe honor which the. numher of them i outers, and the substantial profit tnev alfird. All th o scholars live at the mission house, where they are both clothed and fed gratuit ously, unless their parents clumse. to pay the expense, which is nut often the case. Be sides the literary, religious, and moral in struction which they receive, they are taugi.t practical farming, and are initialed into ha bits of industry, an art ami virtue unknown among savages. They all cat in a spacious iiaii attached to the rear of tiie mansion house, the girls at one table and the hoys at another, at w liich the pastor, teacher, and the ladies of the family preside. The order uml decency observed at their meals equally iurprised and pleased me. The boys occupy several detached cabins as lodging rooms, which form the right wing of the mission bouse. The girls a spacious one on the lelt, a here they are accompanied by a daughter if Mr. Hoyt. They sit and work in the main building, where they form busy, inter- sting and pleasing groups, around some of i, the ladies of the family. What is learned in the school room is not the must considerable, nor, considering the situation of the nation, trie most important part of their education. They arc made practical farmers under the direction of .in excellent manager, by which means they give direct support to the institution, and procure important advantages to themselves. Every Monday morning the labors for the week are assigned to cadi, the hoys being mustered before the house, and the girls be ing assembled within it. The former accor ding to their employments, are denominated hoe-boys, axe-hoys, plough-boys, Kc. and among the latter arc divided tiie duties of carding, spinning, cooking, and house work, ami making and mending the garments of the scholars. Every morning of the week af terwards the boys arc summoned into line by (lie sound of a whistle. After the roll is called, the classses are designated by nam ing their avocations, when the members of each break out of the. ranks at once, and en ter upon their second employments with great spirit and alacrity. They remain in school six hours a day, and work four or five. 1 went round to visit them at their se veral labors in the wood and in the field, and found them every where busy and cheerful. They seemed by their manner to require no other recreation. A prudent, well regula ted sy stem of moral discipline appeared coni., pletely to supercede the necessity of ev,. r y kind of corporeal punishment or physical C( j_ ercion. The utmost harmony reigned thro’- out. Neither idleness nor games gave them occasion for feuds or dissentions. Their af fection for their teachers seemed to he un bounded, I have seen the hoys, by naif- dozens surround Mr. Chamberlain, when be came in fatigue!, clasp him round the neck and arms, all eager to tell or ask something and engage his attention ; and when he hail good humoredly shaken otf one set, he would tie immediately surrounded by another, cla morous as blackbirds. A command, howe ver,.would always reduce them instantly to order and place. I’lay is occasionally allow- d. One boy will throw up a gourd or shin gle, which will come to the ground with a dozen arrows sticking to it. Bathing in the fine clear stream of Chickamaugli is permit ted twice a week. Indeed an Indian would not dispense with this, for they arc scrupu lously attentive to cleanliness. An Indian child runs into the water as naturally as a duck. I have seen them (particularly in the Chickasaw county) scarce six years old. up to their chins in the stream of a hold creek. Cm. Meigs, the Indian aged asked a Che rokee girl why she did not marry a white man who paid his addresses to her. She re plied, that she could lint endure white men, they were so dirty, never as she understood, bathing in creeks as the red people did. I have seen the girls at tltciv several em ployments, forming circles round some of the ladies of the family, beguiling the time by singing and conversation, and seeming as no doubt they really were, very happy.— The white children of the mission family are treated in all respects as the Indian children are. Indeed, an exemption from any part of the routine of duty and labor would he no favor. To the Indians this course is iudis pensihly necessary to their civilization and future welfare, and 1 am not sure hut the plan of the Chickamaugli school, in all its details, is the best that could he devised for children in any community. During the week of my i isit it fell to the lot ol a girl (a young lady 1 might with propriety style her) to wait at table, as a part of the household laborers, and she performed the • .ties will equal propriety, cheerfulness and grace.— It was felt to be, as it really was, perfectly proper and honorable, because it was a place tiiat. each one in torn was destined to fill, and no ideas of servitude could of course he at tached to it. This young woman was th. daughter of a wealthy, high minded chief w ho kept a good table and servants, at wlios- U >use 1 have been handsomely entertained mil wiio spoke of the economy of this school in terms of high commendation. f The Indians are mostly favorable to th mission. Mr. Hoyt is known among them oy the appellation of the. good man : Ksoun profess to love to hear the good book talk, •*.s thyy term reading the hililc. Eve: '- here the mission family are treated by the Indians with great respect and affliction, and they will rurely receive pay from them ioi what they are accustomed to consider as suurcos of profit, and subjects of charg upon travellers. This is not the unmeaning politeness with which Indians have been barged. It is a very emphatic expression of their scnse"of the disinterested and use ful lab.irs of the missionaries. At a lati niitioir.il council, two men were appointed as spend safeguards of the persons am properties of the missionaries. A little cir cumstance which took place a few days be fore Uwas at the school, speaks very distinct ly the sentiments * oicli prevail. An old Indian woman who seemed not to have v;stigeof civilization, brought a little sav go, her grandson, to place at the school When the former was about to depart, sli wept so much over her child, who cried t. much ol'tener a word, of which I have now forgotten the Indian, that signified bad. At night the boy distinctly remembered s -. .-a letters of the alphabet. A little girl by the name of Jenny Reeco had been six weeks in the school and could spell very well in words of three letters, and yet had never in conversation been heard to utter a word of English. It is remarkable of the Indians that when they commence ex pressing their ideas and wants in English they in a time surprisingly short speak it very distinctly. But they can not be per suaded to speak, until conscious of their a- bility to do it well; afraid, I suppose of drawing upon themselves ridicule ; and in deed their first essays are calculated to ex cite laughter in many, when the ardor of their anxiety to he understood prompts them to premature efforts. Like the Greeks and Romans, they place the object before the a- gent. 1 heard this from a hoy anxious to go to the store on mail i.iy. Store go to who? Want some to me.” It was predicted, from their usual progress, that this hoy would speak correct in a month. The mention of Jenny Reece brings her father’s name and merit before me, and [ hope to be pardoned for a passing notice of him, though apparently very remotely, if at all, in connection with the. school. This Clearly Reece, was a dist.inguiscd warrior, Mid uno of the three Indians who at the battle if the Horse. Shoe swam the. river in sight •f the contending armies under showers of arrows and bullets, and brought over the ca noes which contributed so essentially to the disl.i.'lirment and defeat ofthc Creek Indians. Gen.Jackson mentioned him most honorably hi his dispatches and general order, and president Madison wrote him a letter, and presented him with a superbly mounted ri fle, with suitable inscriptions. This onc6 liis boast, is his pride no longer. I bad some conversation with him, and he spoke »f his military exploits with evident reluct ance.—This once haughty warrior is now a humble and devout professor of the religion of Jesus.—The wild hunter, who could not endure the restraints of home Kluit one wife, is now the industrious A prosperous farmer* and the respectable head of a happy family. This man’s example, the. happiness he has conferred on a wife and amiable children, is surely enough to overturn infidelity in tho heart of obstinacy itself, and make the most heedless anxious to promote the diffusion of principles, capable of such happy influence. I belong to no church or sect, hut l have seen too much of the benign effects of religion, to withhold from it this testimo nial in its favor. I am convinced of the ve ry great and essential importance of itsprin- ciples and doctrines to civilization. The Chinese can make pots and the Turks car pets, hut they are barbarians ; and neither science nor manners will ever obtain there until the domestic fireside becomes the place where confiden.cc can repose itself, where the best and holiest affections of our nature can find their solace, and where the infant mind will he. formed under thr influence of precept and example. Polygamy is at eter* accompany her. that Mr. Uovt apprehended ; 11,1,1 irreconcilable war with civilizati in. she would not leave him, and through an in- 1 l,iul - almost forgotten to say that there is one cr.rtainly, and I believe two schools in the uuti m supported and patronized exclu sive], by the Indians. I visited one of the terpreter assured her that he would in a few days he reconciled to his situation. Site re plied that she had no intention lint to leave him ; that the parting was very painful to her. P llt,, ’" s * llc complained much of the 11101*- but she too well knew what was for the cliV’id’s! al character ol tho master, and said he had good. An Indian who had once been to vis ■ set5n 1,1111 ,1|- unk even on the Sabbath, and it the president at Washington, told, me that -ivilzation had made the white people great hut ignorance had made the Indians dw indle away to nothing. Most of th'osci with whom l conversed seemed to feel t!,e sentiment of patriotism strong in their Lusoms, to deplore the fall of their once wide extended and! powerful nation, and to lie anxious that the little of it which remained should be saved from annihilation.—Who that himself enjoys the comforts of t ivi.iized life, and the conso lations of religion, and knows the wants and capabilities of these people, would withhold a conlrihutior, to a purpose so beneficent and full of merit? Oncol* two facts will enable all to judge for themselves of the teachableness of their dispositions, and their rapacities for acquire ment. A wild naked legged hoy, eight years old, named Chees-quan-ee-tah, or a Young Bird, who could speak nothing but Cherokee came for the first time in the school on the day on which I visited it, end 1 taught him the letters of the alphabet hut three or four times over, using some device to impress them more strongly on the memory, in one of which 1 was assisted by a beautiful and sprightly little girl, who told me she was the black warrior’s daughter. This was, to place the letters 0 C U together, the pro nunciation of which, in the Cherokee tongue signifies good, which I made him understand was applicable to him. The little girl, wh i spoke English tolerably, in a playful man ner, with a look full of arch simplicity, told me her mother seldom applied it to her, but threatened to iljsmiss him. This teacher, a native of Europe, had the common stipend of country schoolmasters allowed, was al lowed to cultivate as much land as he pleased, and had a good number of scholars, but the Indians Were qcandalized at his irregulari ties, und I expect, if they failed to civi lize him, they would as they threatened, dis charge him. 1 neither saw the teacher nor his school. It would swell this article to a size too great for a newspaper, were I to speak of the character and manners of the Indians; and it would besides be foreign to the object fiu* with I commenced it. I will therefore only say in a few words, that found them every where kind and obliging in their deportment and correct in their con duct; that in their houses, and I entered not a few, 1 observed a general appearance of order and neatness that indicated com fort. The women seemed very industrious in various domestic employments, and tho men much more so in their agricultural pur suits than in any Indian nation I had ever visited. Many of them had considerable plantations, and two at whose houses 1 was iwned several negroes, and employed white men as overseers ; and all had horses and cattle. Every thing, I thought, manifested flu* progress of civilization and the practica bility of its soon attaining the ordinary de grees ol' perfection. Possibly this brief exposition of facts and circumstances, new to most of the readers of the Raleigh Register, will excite in t!;e be nevolent a desire to strengthen the hand* ojf