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Show Indians Girls as Housemaids. Tho question has often been aoked; la it posslblo to take girls from tho wild, froo life of tho prairie and train them for do-meotlc do-meotlc service? A practical answer to tho question has been returned by tho management man-agement of the Lincoln Institution of Philadelphia, a training homo for Indian girls and boys under tho wing of tho Protestant Prot-estant Episcopal churcli. Among tho pupils pu-pils at this Institution aro girls from tho Winnebago, Mohawk, Chippewa. Oneida, Seneca, Onondaga, Menominee, Tuacorora, Choyenno and Sioux nations. A thorough training is given tho slrls in cooklntr, sowing, sow-ing, washing and ironing, and tho general work of a domestic. Most of tho glrlB ur-rlvo ur-rlvo at the institution with a tendency to act llko little Indians, and when punished for a fault become Bulky and unmanageable. unmanagea-ble. These objectlonnblo traits, however, speedily yield to kind but firm treatment, and onco the girl3 becomo Interested in their duties they arc tractablo and caslly taught. Strango to say. the sowing-school la presided pre-sided over by a woman who has been blind nearly all her Ilfo. and for nearly a quarter quar-ter of a century has taught sowing without with-out being ablo to see one of her pupils or the work thoy do. She Is able to tell by the sense of touch alone whether or not a girl is doing her work properly. She knows the sound of each girl's voice, Tho girls aro taught to sing together, and they, sing exceedingly well. Tho girls havo all boon given civilized names, but somo insist on clinging to tho names they wero known by among their relatives. Thus Miss Magglo Jones la belter bel-ter pleased when called Maggie Red Shirt. Ella Brown doesn't care to bo addressed in any other way than as Llttlo Standing Bear, and Mabel Johnson U almost insulted in-sulted If referred to by any namo but Running Wolf. Among themselves the girls malnluln th& attributes popularly supposed to bo typical of Indians. They aro not talkative, do not romp, go about their duties or their play In a serious way, aro not quarrelsome, do not "chum." bat scorn to llvo quite happily as a sort of big family party, and behavo at all times ce-dately ce-dately and with a natural grace of demeanor de-meanor that Is very attractive Manv of tho Indian glrlfl aro quite pretty. Some bear t?o llttlo resemblance to tho popular Idea of what "Rosalie, tho Prairie Flower," Flow-er," should look like, as to call Into question ques-tion in tho mind of the beholder tho clear strain of their blood, ja a matter of fact, there aro scarcely any girls In the home who are not pure-blooded Indians, Leslie's Les-lie's Weekly. |