The Indian Dispossessed
the Government, and they fully deserve its consideration and protection."
And again:
"I respectfully submit the following report of the Ponca school. The school was opened May 1, 1871, and has continued to the present date, with an average attendance of 17 girls and 33 boys. The children have been taught in the common English branches, and have made a good degree of progress, learning quite as readily as white children. The parents and relations of the scholars exhibit great interest in the advancement of their children, and to their influence is to be attributed the regular attendance."
The next year three schools are reported, with an average attendance of seventy-seven.
In their earnest striving after the white man's way, the Poncas were constantly beset by the horde of hostile Indians on their unprotected border. The records mention these raids at different times, and in 1873 the untamed Sioux seem to have been more than usually active:
"But far worse is the record of disasters from frequent engagements with hostile Indians, who come in force to fight in disproportionate numbers these poor, ill-armed, but really brave Indians, peaceably imbibing and receiving the practical lessons of civilization, and proving to their friends their evident desire to better their condition. . . .
148
