schools should rarely exceed 150 pupils, as in much larger institutions something of the home life and individual treatment must be sacrificed. The following table will give brief statistics concerning the Government reservation boarding schools:

TABLE NO. 2.-Location, date of opening, capacity, enrollment, and average attendance of Government reservation boarding schools.

TABLE NO. 2.-Location, date of opening, capacity, enrollment, and average attendance of Government reservation boarding schools—Continued.

The little day school, usually consisting of a recitation room, small kitchen, and teacher's residence, located on the reservation and in sight of the camps, is a center from which the missionary spirit of a faithful teacher and his wife may be exerted upon old and young. The work at these schools is "on the foundation rather than the superstructure, and if the day-school teacher lays well the walls upon which the fair temple of civilization is to be erected others will supplement the work and in time complete what is begun." Great interest is taken in the rational care and management of the sick, in the preparation of simple meals, in cleanliness and neatness of habits and dress, simple mending of torn garments, the shoeing of a horse, small repairs to furniture, gates, cultivation of the garden, and all that multitude of little duties which, added to each other, are the sum of the average man's or woman's talents. The radius of such a course of instruction widens each year as the influence of the zealous teacher becomes more deeply impressed upon the little ones, who make daily pilgrimages between the smokefilled tepees and the orderly school room.

There are 142 of these schools, of which 50 are on the great Sioux reservations of Pine Ridge and Rosebud, S. Dak., 16 among the Pueblos of New Mexico, and 11 among the Mission Indians of southern California. The latter are awakening to an interest in education, and the establishment of schools in these ancient villages marks an epoch

in their present life. The majority of the Pueblo schools are conducted in rented buildings, as the difficulties attending the securing of land titles have deterred the office from erecting its own buildings. Several new schools for these people are contemplated early in the ensuing year.

There are seven day schools which are independent of an agent or bonded officer. These are conducted in rented buildings or those furnished by the Indians or their friends. They are located in isolated communities remote from a United States Indian agent or other bonded official. This office furnishes the teacher, books, etc., and reports are made direct to the Commissioner of Indian Affairs.

The noonday luncheon at many day schools is a great feature of their success. Being located in sparsely settled communities, where the adults are in indigent circumstances, a simple repast during the day adds to the interest in the school work, aside from the humanitarian aspect. The benefits of civilization and education fall on the unheeding ears of a hungry child, therefore the extension of the noonday meal receives favorable consideration where conditions will warrant. The following table gives the location, capacity, enrollment, and average attendance of the day schools:

TABLE NO. 3.-Location, capacity, enrollment, and average attendance of Government day schools June 30, 1899.

TABLE NO. 3.-Location, capacity, enrollment, and average attendance of Government day schools June 30, 1899—Continued.

1 This includes 4 day pupils attending Leech Lake boarding school.

INDIANS IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

The first contract for the coeducation of Indian pupils with whites in the public schools was dated July 17, 1890, and the first year under the system exhibited contracts with 8 schools for the education of 91 pupils, of which number there was an enrollment of 7 and average attendance of 4. The present year there were contracts with 36 schools for 359 pupils. Three hundred and twenty-six were enrolled, but there were only 167 in attendance, being only 51 per cent of the number so enrolled.

The following table gives a tabulated statement concerning the public schools enrolling Indians since 1891:

TABLE NO. 4.—Number of district public schools, showing number of pupils contracted for, enrollment, and average attendance from 1891 to 1899.

An inspection of the above table demonstrates that after nine years' trial the results attained by these schools do not seem commensurate with the expenditure. It was believed that an allowance of $10 per capita per quarter for such average attendance as could be obtained would have induced greater effort to secure these pupils. The great difficulty experienced by agents on reservations in maintaining a good attendance seems emphasized at these schools. Another feature of these contracts arises from the disinclination of the full bloods to withstand the not always silent race prejudice often prevailing in the neighborhood of these district schools, and the result has been that in the majority of instances the benefits are conferred upon the children of mixed bloods, who are or should be entitled to participate in the State funds for education. Theoretically the placing of Indian youth in the public schools, where they come in contact with white children, is a most admirable expedient for breaking down prejudices on both sides and civilizing the Indian, but the above table shows that it is not an unqualified success. The full blood, who needs such contact most, is rarely secured. Certain pupils enrolled in nonreservation schools attend public schools. The training at the Government school fits them for appreciating the benefits of this class of instruction, and the difficulties generally presented are made largely to disappear. It is clearly apparent, therefore, that the groundwork at least of Indian education must be laid under Government auspices and control.