Indian Girl Pupils

The New Quarters They Are To Occupy at the
Spread Eagle Tavern
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A Famous Old Hostelry
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A Place of many old Nooks and Corners. Indian Romance

The Indian Girls now pupils of the Lincoln Institute, on Eleventh Street, will, on the first of June next, be removed from their present quarters to the old Spread Eagle Tavern, on Lancaster turnpike, near Eagle Station, Pennsylvania Railroad, to remain there throughout the summer. Mrs. J. Bellangee Cox, president of the Lincoln Institute, who has recently taken possession of her summer residence in Chester county, has in the past week set men to work repairing the old hotel and making it habitable. The Spread Eagle tavern was erected in 1795. A tablet at each end of the building bears the date and also the initials A. S. S., those of the founder Adam Siter, and Sallie, his wife. It is a large building, imposing and handsome in its day. It is three stories in height, with piazzas in front extending the whole length of the first and second stories. The material is dressed Radnor stone, quite picturesque in appearance, except where it has been spoiled by unsightly whitewash. The sloping roof is of rough shingles, pierced by dormer windows, and above tower double stone chimneys. The old tavern stands in a pretty grove of aged trees, principally sycamore and maple. The Spread Eagle was kept as a country hotel until recently, when it became a tenement house, as many as five or six families at a time being quatered in its commodious rooms and halls. For the last two or three years it has been disused altogether. Within a short time it has become the property of George W. Childs.

A Deserted Mansion

From the exterior the hotel presents a delapidated appearance, with its tottering fence, broken piazza boards and cacked window panes, although its solid stone walls give the idea od substantial strength. But within the decay and desolation are appalling. Floors and window panes are covered in dust, walls begrimed with soot, worm-eaten boards, plaster dropping from the ceilings, a heterogeneous collection of old boots, broken glass, rusty tinware, mouldy bedding and wrecked crockery are only some of the evidences of ruin. The kitchen is quite antique. it contains an enormous fireplace and old-time bake oven, and the low ceiling is upheld by blackened joists. The Spread Eagle provided an abundance of space. There are two front doors, large halls, bar room, parlor, sitting room, two staircases and a multitude of small rooms on the first floor. On the second and third are two large ball rooms and about twenty chambers. The Eagle was once a great resort for sleighing parties and many times these old ball rooms echoed to the merry tread of both city and country feet on wintry nights five or six decades ago.

The place is filled with old nooks and corners and many traps for the unwary in the shape of abruptly turning stairways. The "dark room" contains two doors but no windows. This was once a dreaded prison for naughty children. The many closets seem to represent the modern idea, in sharp contrast to the ancient one in the shape of little, small panelled windows. Beneath the roof is one large attic, covering the whole building, and here the rafters and shingles are entirely bare.

Needed Improvements

But before many weeks this will have all changed. Mrs. Cox has already commanded that the rooms of the old hotel be thoroughly cleaned and whitewashed and painted and all the needed flooring, glass and plaster supplied. The building is to be surrounded by a neat fence. the front of the hotel has never been divided, but it will be so shortly, not only in order to improve the appearance of the premises, but also to keep out too inquisitive intruders. A plot of land besides the old bar room is to be turned into a flower garden, and beyond that is to be a truck patch, where all the needed vegetables will be raised.

The Spread Eagle is situate in a corner of Radnor township, Delaware County, just outside of Chester County. Mrs Cox's summer residence, about two miles distant, is on the road from Wayne station to the King of Prussia [incorrect], in Chester county, bordering on Montgomery. The neaest stations on the Pennsylvania Railroad are Eagle and Wayne. The Indian school is to be under the personal supervision of Mrs. Cox. Nearly all the Indian girls have been baptized in the Episcopal church and provision has been made for religous services for their benefit in a hall near the Spread Eagle. Rev. Joseph L. Miller has been appointed chaplain. The use of the old hotel during the summer has been provided by Mr. George Childs.

Four-Score Indians

In the Lincoln Institution at present are 84 girls, of ages ranging from ten to twenty, and representing sixteen different Indian tribes. Most of these are from the West, principally Pawnees, Santees, and Chippewas. Many of them have been partially civilized by the efforts of missionaries, and a majority of the girls will return to their own people as teachers. They are remarkably intelligent and rapidly acquire a knowledge of reading, penmanship and music, many of them, in a few months, learning to speak English fluently, draw maps neatly, write correct compositions, and play well upon the cabinet organ. During one half the day the girls attend school, during the other half they are instructed in housework and sewing. By way of amusement they are taught to dance the coming dances. They are neatly and uniformly dressed in blue gingham, with white collars; their hair is cut in straight bangs in front and braided in the back. They very quickly learn nice, refined habits. On Sundays, while in the city, they attend services at the Church of the Ascension, Lombard Street.

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