"THEY TAKE TO WORK BETTER THAN I DARED EXPECT - PERHAPS NOVELTY GIVES THE TASK A CHARM."

"THEY TAKE TO WORK BETTER THAN I DARED EXPECT - PERHAPS NOVELTY GIVES THE TASK A CHARM."

(Native American Indian Schools) Hare, William H. CHRISTIAN SCHOOLS AMONG THE INDIANS. BISHOP HARE'S CIRCULAR. NUMBER ONE. (title page) THE CHURCH AND THE INDIANS. Printed by the Office of the Indian Commission, Protestant Episcopal Church, New York. February 1874. 7 pgs.

Hare's writing focus on the education of Native Americans primarily at the Yankton Agency in Dakota where he was the overseer of the Christian schools. Through this circular he is "...writing to give some account of the conditions of affairs" concerning the Boarding-School projects of the Protestant Episcopal Church. Throughout the circular his "tone is clearly contemptuous of the indigenous peoples in Dakota, whom he variously refers to as "wild people" and "idle," arguing that Indian boarding schools are necessary to "draw some of them from their wild ways to serve our Savior in industrious, honest and holy lives." Descriptions of the school's buildings which are "of chalk stone, and built rather with a view to comfort, economy and practical use, than to beauty. Beauty, especially with a stone building and in this far-off place, is a costly luxury." "My plan is to make the School self-serving, i.e. to make the boys take care of themselves, and of the house.... They take to work better than I dared expect - perhaps novelty gives the task a charm. Sometimes, however they do not feel like work, and, when the outside work hour arrives, they are as hard to catch as wild deer, and, when caught, they go to work somewhat as a man goes to be hanged...." Hare signs the end of his circular as "Missionary Bishop of Niobrara." The final two pages provide details on a few dozen scholarships available to fund the education of about a hundred students at the Yankton Agency, Santee Mission, Crow Creek Mission, and Cheyenne Mission.

Expected wear with browning to outside of back wrap. Sewn as issued. Overall a scarce piece in vg cond.