sent an annual delegation to Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with excellent results. As object lessons these schools in the East have been of as much value perhaps to the white race as to the red, for they have done much to break down the old and false ideas of the incapacity and bad disposition of the Indian, and have laid the foundation of good work for the entire race. It should never be forgotten how much is due to the energy and self-sacrifice of Capt. R. H. Pratt, United States Army, who sowed the seeds of the present work while in charge of Indian prisoners at Fort Marion, Florida, whom he led up to changed lives, and in some instances, to Christian manhood, by this rare gift of sanctified common sense. I am, sir, respectfully yours, S. C. ARMSTRONG, The COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. BOD Principal. UNITED STATES INDIAN SERVICE, Forest Grove, Oreg., August 13, 1884. In accordance with instructions from your office dated July 1, 1884, I herewith submit the annual report of this school. Forest Grove Indian training school is located at Forest Grove, Öreg., 26 miles west of Portland, Oreg. It was organized February 25, 1880, and 14 boys and 4 girls were brought from Puyallup Agency on Puget Sound and placed in a small, rough, temporary building situated upon a lot of 4 acres of land belonging to the Pacific University. Other buildings have been added and more children brought, until at the present time there are 10 buildings and 190 children. The present buildings have been erected by the Indian boys, the material being purchased with money saved from the regular appropriation, but it is now understood that an appropriation has been made by Congress during its last session for the construction of more commodious and permanent buildings. And in anticipation of this event several very liberal offers have been made by people of different parts of Oregon and Washington Territory to donate land for a building site and farm for the school. These offers comprise tracts containing from 20 to 800 acres, but no action has yet been taken in the matter by the Government. Up to the present time the lot above mentioned (which has recently been donated to the Government for the use of the school) and 9 acres adjoining is all the land that has been constantly occupied by the school. Other land has been rented from time to time for farming and other purposes, and in this way the need of a farm has been largely supplied. The rent has been paid out of the crop and the profits have been very encouraging. The attendance at the school during the past year has been very encouraging, the average being above the number allowed by the appropriation for the support of the school. The appropriation for the present fiscal year admits of a larger number than for last year, giving us an opportunity to test the present popularity of the school with the Indians. The first agency visited (Puyallup) furnished us 25 children, 15 of them being girls. Should other agencies contribute in the same proportion to the number of Indians at each agency, we would get from the agencies in Oregon and Washington Territory alone 500 children. If we should add to this number children who wish to come but cannot get the consent of their parents, it would be largely increased. But not all agencies are so fortunate as Puyallup Agency in having an agent who sends from a small agency more children than any other agency and at the same time keeps up three flourishing boarding schools within his own agency. But altogether the interest in the school has largely increased during the past year among Indians, and if all of the children were allowed to come that wish to come, and are encouraged to come by their parents, the school would be entirely inadequate to accommodate them. Various circumstances have contributed to this increase of popularity, but it is mainly due to the manifest improvement in the children themselves. Last summer some children were returned to their parents at Warm Springs Agency after having been at this school for three years. An eye-witness thus describes the meeting of the parents and children: One old man who had parted with his boy of fifteen three years before, with many injunctions to work hard and study hard and be a good boy, was there to meet the lad. He looked all around and asked for his boy, while at the same time the latter was looking around for his father. Neither knew the other. So well had the boy obeyed his father's injunctions that he had risen to the position of first sergeant among the boys. He was tall and straight and his hair cut short and neatly parted. His well fitting new suit of clothes altogether quite transformed him from the half-grown lad of three years ago in his dirty blanket with long uncombed hair coming down over his forehead and cut off square just above his eyes. On the other REPORT OF FOREST GROVE SCHOOL. hand the father in expectation of meeting his son, who he fondly hoped was now almost like a white man, and not wanting his boy to feel ashamed of his old Indian father, had cut off his own long hair and bought himself a new suit of clothes, and his appearance, too, was changed almost as much as that of the boy's; only the hole in his nose and the holes in his ears told of old superstitions and barbarous habits. All else spoke of an awakening to a realization of nobler aims and better purposes. The following from the Tribune, a paper published in Pendleton, Oreg., shows that no one more than the white people adjoining an Indian reservation notice the improvement in the children. * * The The Indian boys who came up from the Forest Grove training school a few days ago for the purpose of building a church on the Indian reservation are getting on nicely with their work. building is to be 20 by 40, was planned by the boys, and they are doing the work without any assistance and are doing it well. The manner in which they go about their work and in the handling of tools show that they have had careful training, and would convince those, no matter how strongly prejudiced they may be against the education and training of the Indian, that the training school at Forest Grove is an institution that should be kept up. We have now in the school 100 pupils that have been here but little more than one year. The improvement they have made is remarkable; but what is more encouraging to us is to notice equally marked improvement during the same length of time in those who have been here four years. They seem to grow in their appreciation of civilization and to have developed a faith in their own powers and to have had aroused in them an ambition to take a hand in the active life of this age that seems to transform their whole being. The stolidity and unimpressibility of the Indian character seems to have been shaken off, and their very faces seem to look different. About one third of the positions of regular employés have been filled in this school during the past year by Indians, and they have given good satisfaction. All of the agencies from which children were sent to this school when it was first organized have now one or more employés who have attended this school, and we have had numerous and urgent applications for persons to fill other places-more than we could supply, from the fact that we had not a sufficient number of pupils old enough to assume so much responsibility. Several persons formerly pupils of this school have been elected to office by the Indians since they have returned to their homes; two have been elected chiefs. I have informed myself in regard to the history of 27 pupils who have left this sceool, having remained for three years in the school and having now been at home one year, and find that 10 have been engaged in farming, 5 have been employed in agency schools, 5 have been engaged in lumbering on Puget Sound, 2 have worked at the shoemaking trade, 1 at carpentering; 1 has been an interpreter, 1 a clerk in a store, and 2 had no regular employment, being young boys. All had retained their civilized habits, and nearly all had worked continuously. During the past year the following new industries have been added to those previously taught in the school: Harness-making, printing, coopering, tinsmithing, and a boys' laundry. All are not yet fully equipped, on account of lack of shop room. Formerly the laundrying for the whole school was done by the girls and a Chinaman. The Chinaman struck for higher wages and an Indian boy was put in his place, and it was found that he did equally well; since which time the number of boys in the boys' laundry has been increased to five, and they now do about two-thirds of the washing for the whole school. A printing office on a small scale has been furnished by the boys and girls, and a small paper, The Indian Citizen, is edited and published by two of the Indian boys. Its circulation among the Indians on the coast and among others who are interested in the subject of Indian education is quite extensive, and is steadily increasing. Every department of the school is insufficiently equipped. The farmer has no farm, the shoe shop is too small, as is also the carpenter shop, and there are no other shops, except as we hire or borrow. There are only two school-rooms for 200 children. The dining-room and dormitories are crowded, but notwithstanding all disadvantages the school has accomplished much more during the past year than ever before, as will be seen by comparing the various reports below with those of last year. FARMER'S Report. I have the honor to submit the following report of the land farmed and produce raised at this school. Cultivated 156 acres and raised: 30 tons hay 100 tons straw 1,000 bushels potatoes.. 100 bushels peas.. 50 bushels radishes. $300 00 300 00 400 00 80 00 20 00 50.00 100 00 600 00 Increase in stock by purchase and otherwise, 19 cattle and 7 horses.... 900 00 900 00 3,195 00 (D. E. Brewer, farmer, Indian.) SHOE SHOP. Annual report of shoe shop for the year beginning July 1, 1883, and ending June 30, 1884. All shoes furnished the children have been made in the school shop. BLACKSMITH SHOP. $1,246 25 401 00 201 00 1,848 25 I would respectfully report that the following amount of work has been done in the blacksmith shop during the year ending June 30, 1884: I would also report that we have also done about one month's work on the farm. I have during the past year been able to work the boys under my care to a better advantage and have made better progress than before on account of having new work (wagons, &c.) to employ them upon. (W. S. Hudson, blacksmith) WAGON AND CARPENTER SHOP. Herewith you will find a report of buildings and wagons constructed at the school during the year ending June 30, 1884: Of the 78 girls in the school I can say they are obedient and respectful, doing their work well and cheerfully, and are especially interested in learning anything new. They seem to have a high appreciation of their advantages and opportunities, and often speak of how much good they will be able to do their people when they return to their homes. Most of the older girls are professed Christians. The work of the school is divided into several departments; the girls working in each department three months at a time, thereby receiving during their stay in the school a thorough drill in all of the departments. There have been many improvements made during the past year in the methods employed in the school. The girls are divided into companies with officers and are drilled in marching and calisthenics. (Maggie Zuglis, matron.) COOK'S REPORT. The work of the kitchen is done by a detail of 10 girls, all working until 8.30 a. m., when 5 of them go into the sewing rooms. Another detail does the work in the afternoon. The girls who get the breakfast get up at 4 o'clock a. m. to begin their work. They seem contented and happy about their work, and do their work well. A separate detail of 9 girls do the dining-room work, some of them are quite small, and all are in charge of a large girl. (Katie Brewer, cook, Indian.) REPORT OF LAUNDress. I have 14 girls under my charge. They show a great deal of interest in the work that they have to do. They are willing to do what they are told to do. They do their work just as well as any white person in this school. Among other things they can starch and iron white shirts very well. Whatever they undertake they learn it clear through. I would not be ashamed to have the people from Washington to see this laundry any day, for they keep it clean all through the week. I am an Indian myself, so perhaps my report is not as good as other reports. (S. J. Pitt, laundress.) REPORTS OF SEAMSTRESSES. Sewing room No. 2.-I have under my charge 8 girls. I find them quick to learn, obedient, and industrious. They sew both by hand and with machines. During the year ending June 30, 1884, they have made among other things, 13 coats, 157 pair pants, 108 skirts, 84 pairs overalls, 62 jumpers, 12 pairs drawers, 40 bedticks, 64 sheets, 54 towels, 10 aprons, 16 night-dresses, 18 shirts. (Anna Fairchild.) Sewing room No. 1.-I am an Indian and have not had much experience, but I have learned the work of this department and am trying to help the girls by imparting what I know. We have used in this room 6,201 yards of goods and have made the following: 164 dresses, 45 skirts, 196 aprons, 70 underwaists, 27 pillow-cases, 59 window curtains, 68 night-dresses, 18 bedticks, 12 cloaks, 24 towels, 73 sheets, 192 shirts, 110 chemises, 279 pair drawers. I have from 13 to 16 girls in my charge, 2 can cut and fit dresses, 8 can do ordinary cutting, all are anxious to learn. (Lillie Pitt, Indian.) Sewing-room No. 3.-We do the patching and mending in our room. The girls in our room are all small. There are 14 girls in our room. (Emma Kahama, Indian girl, fourteen years old.) REPORT OF BOYS' LAUNDRY. All of the boys' washing, except white shirts, is done in this laundry; also all bedclothing used in the school. Five boys work in this laundry; they do the ironing too. (John W. Adams, laundryman, Indian.) REPORT OF DISCIPLINARIAN. First call in the morning for the boys is at 5 o'clock, a. m.; then the boys get up and make their beds and put their rooms in order. The second bugle at 5.30 is for roll-call, when the boys all fall in line and answer to their names. Third call is for breakfast at 6.30. Breakfast is over at 7, and every boy goes directly from the diningroom to his work and remains until 11.30, when they are excused and get ready for dinner. Dinner is over at 1 p. m., and all go to work again until 5, then comes supper; after supper drill for fifteen minutes. Then play until 7.15; then roll-call and prayers; and the last call is at 8.30, when all are to be in bed and lights out. We have now over 100 boys; some are out among the farmers during vacation. (David E. Brewer, Indian.) REPORT OF PRINCIPAL EDUCATIONAL DEPARTMENT. Coming into the school about the middle of September, 1883, I found the pupils more advanced but less thoroughly graded than I expected. A year's experience has shown me that to grade a school of this kind is not an easy task. The same difficulties arise here that are mentioned by teachers of other schools of similar character. The frequent addition of new pupils from reservations and agency schools at various stages of advancement, together with the fact that the school-room work cannot be wholly independent of the industrial training, are among the obstacles. Considering the many difficulties under which they labored, the condition in which I found the school reflects the greatest credit upon former teachers. Throughout the year a continued effort has been made to perfect the grading of the school, and much has been accomplished in that direction, though not all that is desired. An attempt has also been made to establish a fixed course of study, and to make the objects to be attained in the several grades more definite than they have been heretofore. The ultimate object kept in view is to teach Indian children to speak, to read, and to write the English language correctly and understandingly, and to give them, so far as possible, the rudiments of an English education. Where pupils are capable and solicitous of taking up branches in advance of the work laid out for them, they will be encouraged to do so. Two advanced pupils during the last year have been studying physiology, and mastered it without difficulty. At the begining of the year a lack of proper textbooks and a supply of others compelled the advanced class to take up physical geography (Monteith's), which was considered a doubtful alternative at that stage of their advancement. By going slowly and reviewing at intervals the work gone over, they experienced but little difficulty with it, and at the end of eight months passed a very satisfactory examination in most of the subjects embraced. This and kindred studies interest them greatly, and promote their desire for knowledge. Experience has shown that it is not wise to undertake a great deal, but rather to make thorough work of a little. As a rule, the children are found to be bright and intelligent and anxious to learn. The greatest obstacle to their advancement is the lack of the knowledge of our language. To teach them correct English is certainly the first and most important step in their education, and to derive the full benefit of English teaching they must be taught not only to speak and to read and to write English, but also to think English. When this is accomplished, they will compare favorably with other children in ability to make rapid advancement. This school is just now entering upon the fifth year of its existence. Heretofore there have been but four grades in the school. The fourth grade will now become the fifth, the third the fourth, the second the third, and the first the second; and the first grade will be composed of new recruits, part of whom have just arrived, and a few already here, who are not ready for second-grade work. The plan of work for the fifth grade is not yet completed; but it is the intention to give them such instrnction as shall tend to fix firmly in their minds what they have already learned, and prepare them, as far as possible, to give to their people the benefit of their knowledge when they return to them. During the past year considerable advancement was made by the entire school. Examinations were had at the end of each quarter, which were written as far as practicable. The result of these examinations, taken in conjunction with the class studying of the pupils, was made a basis for grading the school, and the good effects were apparent in many respects. The pupils became not only eager to maintain their standing, but desirous to excel in the careful preparations of their papers and in the credits received. The papers of the last examination show a marked improvement over those of the first. Many of those of the advanced class were almost faultless as to neatness, spelling, and the use of capital letters. Considerable attention has been given to writing and reading original composition, to declamations and recitations, and with the greatest benefit. Two public exhibitions were given by the children during the year, both of which elicited many expressions of surprise and commendation. The last was at the close of the school year, and was given by a literary society organized and conducted by the pupils of the advanced grade. White children of similar ages and much better opportunities might well be proud of as successful an attempt. Literary societies, sociables, band of hope, Sunday-school, and religious meetings, all conducted by the children, afford opportunities for them to become familiar with those duties in life in which it is hoped they will take the lead when they return to their people. Inadequate school-rooms have been a hindrance in the past, but we look forward to a time in the near future when this hindrance will be removed. All things considered, the school is in a prosperous condition and bids fair to do more and better work the coming year than ever before. (W. V. Coffin.) REPORT OF ASSISTANT TEACHER. I have been employed as assistant teacher in this school for seven months. The school, although not thoroughly graded, was last year divided into four divisions or grades of which I had charge of the two lower, the children being in school only half |