1884-06-01 Indian Girls at Eagle
Philadelphia Times, p. 11
INDIAN GIRLS AT EAGLE.
Mrs. Cox's Dusky Little Friends in Their Summer Quarters.
A morning train from Broad Street Station on Thursday took out two special cars, containing seventy-nine Indian children, all girls, and their guardians and teachers, from the Lincoln Institution. A delegation of residents of Delaware and Chester counties met them at Wayne Station with carriages and wagons in which to transport them all to the Spread Eagle tavern. This old hostelry has been so transformed as to be scarcely recognized as the dismal barracks of a few weeks ago. A fence has been added to the front, and this, the piazza and the veranda above present quite a gay appearance with a coat of fresh red paint contrasting agreeably with the whitewashed front wall. A canvas sign stretched along the veranda fence reads, "Lincoln Institution. Indian Department."
The interior of the old hotel is wonderfully changed. Floors, stairways and window-panes are in perfect order. The walls of nearly all of the rooms are neatly whitewashed, the floorboards scrubbed clean and all the woodwork painted a light yellow. The parlor and music room have been adorned by a pretty-figured wall paper. The former bar room is now the girls' dining room. It is already furnished with long tables and benches; the tables are provided with white cloths and napkins, with simple table furniture. Plenty is given to all and the food is better than in many institutions for white children.
The dining room is the only room yet in order. A comical feature of this is the bar, pushed back to the wall and made to do duty as a sideboard. A room partially furnished is the infirmary, now occupied by three sick girls. But the family have just moved and, as might be expected, the greater part of the house is occupied by furniture not yet in place. One of the large ball rooms will be a dormitory, for which new wooden bedsteads have been ordered; the other, a school room, and carpenters are now engaged in putting up temporary desks and benches to be used until July 1, when vacation will begin. The "dark room" has been made light by a window set in the door and this is already pressed into the service as a store room for the girls' best clothes.
Indian parents object to their children wearing uniforms, requesting that their daughters be dressed like white girls. No parent need find fault with the summer costumes of these Indian girls, which, though not uniforms, are similar in style and appearance. The dresses are of large plaid gingham, or zephyr cloth, with tucked skirts and blouse waists, to the neck of each of which is attached a wide embroidered collar. Large straw hats, either turned down or sailor shape, trimmed with a red or blue ribbon, a knotted silk tie or a straw ornament, are worn with these dresses. For everyday the costume is of plain gingham or check, with a big apron. The bodices are all made tucked and belted and are worn over a fitted underwaist. Corsets are not used by any, as it has been found that Indian girls show a disposition to lace too tightly. The hair is always worn with a single braid in the back and straight bangs in front.
The big kitchen has been safely floored, the old-fashioned fire-place filled by an oven and a sink, and an immense mounted tank, similar to those seen all along the Lancaster turnpike, set there by the Lancaster Avenue Improvement Company, has been stationed between the kitchen and the well, the latter now being supplied by a light iron pump. Behind the window has been erected a large wooden wash-house containing three bath-tubs, supplied with hot and cold water from the kitchen.
The old tavern is within sight of Eagle Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad. It is, however, but a short distance from Wayne. Arrangements have been made for holding Sunday services in the larger Wayne Hall and a choir of eight will lead in the singing. The chaplain, Rev. Joseph L. Miller, will reside in the old hotel. The pupils are eighty-four in number, of whom four are ill with the measles and one with consumption, and these five have been left temporarily at the Lincoln Institution, on Eleventh Street. Besides these there will reside in the summer establishment the matron, the house mother, three teachers and the servants. Mrs. J. Bellangee Cox will exercise a personal supervision. Dr. Joseph L. Egbert, of Wayne, has been appointed physician. The chief friend of the institution not official is Mr. George W. Childs, who has given the use of the old hotel, rent free.
The people of Wayne have already shown their liberality to their new neighbors in many ways. One of these is by inviting all connected with the institution to a picnic, which will take place next week. It is expected that the institution will attract many fashionable visitors during the summer, particularly as it is within full sight of the new Devon Inn.
Notes and References
Courtesy of the Philadelphia Times.
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