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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 12, 1901)
( V * K " V 'Cbe Conservative * state , of which 1,800 hold nine months of school , 3,600 less than nine mouths , 950 less than six mouths , and 850 less than three mouths. The school census shows 878,000 children in the state be tween five and twenty-one years of age , of which number 288,000 are enrolled iu the public schools , aud 182,000 are in average or regular atteudauoe for a period of 27 weeks. Less than 50 per cent , of the school children are in regu lar attendance 185 days in the year , which is equivalent to all being in regu lar attendance about 67 days in the year. In several of the counties of Ne braska , perhaps in a dozen * or more , there are no high schools , and their common schools are taught by their own pupils of the year before who have only an elementary text-book knowledge of the subjects they are to teach , nothing higher or beyond , and no knowledge of the order or manner of presentation of the various subjects in their several parts , or of the natural de velopment of the mind of the child. One of our western county superin tendents thus expresses it in his latest report : "Our greatest drawback this year is the loss of very nearly all our male teachers , and a large percentage of the experienced female teachers. The men have found stock raising more profitable than teaching , and an un usually large number of our lady teach ers have passed on via matrimony ; so that just about one-third of our teach ers this year are beginners , who have had no experience whatever in the work. Only two of all these beginners have ever seen a normal school , and while the blind flounderings of some of them would make fools laugh and angels weep ; their intense application and he roic efforts , uncomplainingly rendered , constitute a silent but most pathetic cry of give us a chance. " Better schools demand more highly trained teachers , who cannot be pro cured at the present salaries , more regu lar attendance on the part of the pu pils , more hearty co5peration on the part of parents , and better accommodations ; some of the school buildings in Ne braska are apparently designed to en courage truancy. ' WILLIAM K. FOWLER , State Superintendent. Lincoln , Neb. , Sept. 2 , 1901. THE ORPHAN A PAWNEE LEGEND. Once , when the Pawnees were a powerful people and had villages along the banks of the brood , shallow river , eras as they called it , the Nebraska , every warrior , and almost every brave , had many horses and other property , for they were a thrifty people , successful in both war and traffic , and when they played gomes with friendly tribers for horses , robes or arrows , they invariably carried off the prizes aid so became rich. The squaws were industrious and knew how to raise corn in abundance and the soil was very fertile , and the long , slim ears hung in plenty and pro fusion on the withering stalk after frost came. These long ears were in all colors , white , yellow , red , blue , and al most black. The Pawnees alone knew how to raise this fine corn , as the Great Spirit , when ho gave them the corn , taught them how to raise it , aud so the Pawnees became rich by selling corn to other tribes who knew not how to raise it. But there was an Orphan in the tribe who lived with his grandmother , and they were not rich. The grandmother was too old to raise corn ; all she could do was to hunt wood enough to keep them warm and cook a morsel of meat and corn that was thrown away by the braves or that was given them by the kind chief , or some successful warrior. Their tepee was old and torn and let in the water on a rainy day and the biting wind in winter. She always pitched her tepee in the rear of the tribe end a lit tle opart from the rest when they moved as the young braves made sport of her tattered garments and poor food , oud the old warriors and chief looked with a frown on the patched tepee as though they were ashamed lest an enemy should see it , and think they were not a thrifty people. This was the best she could af ford , however , and no one gave them new skins out of which to make a more presentable tepee ; the Orphan was too young to join in the hunt , and , be sides , he had no horse , and so she camped at the rear and a little apart from the rest. As time went on , the Orphan grew to be an awkward , overgrown boy ; he began to feel the jeers and sneers of his richer companions , and longed to do something to relieve the distress of his household. He did not like the looks of his very scanty costume only a square of buffalo hide no bigger than your two hands ; he began to envy his richer companions who could paint their whole body in bright vermilion with paint they bought with corn , and he be came cross and very restless. The Orphan had often seen the chief's daughter , a beautiful maiden just bud ding into womanhood , and he thought her the most lovely creature in all the world. She often noticed him , end sometimes her beautiful eyes lighted up with a half smile , and her rich , red lips parted , showing her ivory teeth , when they met. Now the Orphon began to feel his poverty more than ever , and he some times told his grandmother that he wished to become a great chief. The old woman only frowned at his desires , knowing how impossible it was that he could ever attain the height of his am bition , but he thought of it night and day as he listened to the old warriors tolling of exploits in battle , and the tepee became more ragged , the food more scanty , and they pitched their camp farther end farther in the rear. One summer evening , as it neared the time to camp , when the Orphan and his grandmother were toiling along after the long train of horses and warriors who led the company along the wind ing valley , the Orphan began to com plain of the heavy load he was obliged to carry 011 his own bock , while his rich companions had horses in plenty , not only to carry their tepees but some nice sleek ones to ride. The rest of the company were for in advance , the Orphan and his grand mother began to quicken their pace , when not far from the trail and quite near the creek bank , the Orphan espied an old dun horse feeding. The animal was little more than skin and bones , a poor , decrepit creature , with large pieces of skin off his back , showing that he had probably been abandoned by some hunting party who could not await his slow motion. He was such a hard looking specimen that his companions who had gone before did not think him worth taking. The Orphan concluded that this poor horse oould still carry the tepee for him ; at least it was worth trying , and so he carefully adjusted the head so as to protect the large sore places from the swarms of flies , and this gave the poor creature relief ; the load become a pleasure rather than a burden , and he cheerfully followed his new master so rapidly that they soon came up with his rich companions. Many were the jibes and insulting re marks which were cast at the Orphan's dun horse. He was , in truth , o sorry sight but still a relief and a benefit to the Orphan and his old grandmother , so the poor creatures made no reply to these remarks , but camped apart as usual. The preparations for the evening meal were in progress when the crier , or herald , come riding through the camp and announced that a large herd of buf falo were quietly feeding just over the hill iu on adjoining valley , and , what was more important , there was a white buffalo calf in the herd. Now , a white calf was a great prize and the tribe that secured o white calf would hove suc cess in every hunt end gain every battle for twenty moons , so the chief was veiy anxious that this prize be secured. Soon the herald came again through the camp and announced that the hunt would be on at twilight , and that the brave who secured the white calf should have the chief's daughter for his wife. Every brave in all the village had looked with longing eyes on the beauti ful princess ; some of the richest and most daring had tiied to court her but she hod treoted them all with quiet in difference , end you may well believe that this announcement was received
