neither read nor write, troubled him to the heart. He says he never blushed till then. He felt that there was truth in the reproach, and all he could do, as a proud, honest and brave man, was to bow in sorrow to the fact, and swear that it should be so no longer.

Thankful ought we to be that our young and rapidly growing State of Iowa has thus early made such ample provision for the education of all her children. Here the instruction of the common mind is, and should be, the common concern. Let the whole people be educated and brought up to the standard of good citizens, and intelligent and moral members of society.

To the Board of Education is entrusted an arduous and responsible duty. Let us address ourselves to the work, and care for those who have no one else to care for them. The poor, the weak, the depressed and the neglected, have the greatest need of our protecting arm and succoring hand. Let the town or district schools be open to all, and also the University, and be placed upon such a basis that all may desire to enter them.

The district school, properly governed, and instructed, is a nursery of republican sentiments. It strikingly illustrates the fundamental principles of our Government. There, before the pride of family or wealth, or the adventitious distinction of birth has taken deep root in the young heart. assemble upon a perfect level children of all circumstances and conditions in life. There they learn that rewards and honors do not depend upon accidental advantages, but upon superior diligence, good conduct and improvement. There they have practically written upon their tender minds, too deeply to be obliterated by the after occurrences and changes of life, the great principles of equal rights, equal privileges and equal advantages.

The citizens of Iowa may be said to rank among the most practical and intelligent inhabitants of

this or any other country. Their onward march to true greatness has even now placed them in the front rank of modern civilization and refinement.

The penal and civil codes of Iowa; her judicial tribunals; her towns and villages; her farms and manufactories; her temples of religion and charitable institutions; her constitution and her laws; her literary institutions as well as her common schools-the morality and industry of her citizens; all give her an elevated rank among enlightened States.

All these, under a government of the people, are not the achievements of an ignorant population. They bear upon them the impress of the most enlightened views of policy executed with the greatest prudence, wisdom and firmness. They are the trophies of freedom, and the proudest monuments of a nation's glory!

But history and experience prove that, as respects States and Nations, as well as individuals, the vigilance, virtue and wisdom that have acquired, must be doubled to preserve and perpetuate true greatness.

Knowledge is power; it should be power; it always will be power; and he who wants knowledge in a free government must seek for it as for hidden treasures. As general education is the best security of freedom-as the rights of man must be understood to be appreciated; and as all we have and enjoy of human liberty has been acquired by the people-they fought the battles of the revolution-they declared the independence of the United States-they laid the foundation of free government-they adopted our constitutions and sustained them in peace and in war-this people, this popular sovereignty, which redeemed these States, and which may, by its example, redeem the world from the dominion of tyrants, demands, and I am proud to say is receiving, ample provision for universal education. Enlightened public

opinion will be a wall of fire around our free institutions and preserve them inviolate forever!

In conclusion, let it always be remembered. while a sound, practical, common school education is the surest foundation of virtue and patriotism; that it strengthens and adorns every Christian grace; that without it the treasures of inspiration are in a great degree sealed-and the light which has been mercifully provided to guide man through this world, and shed its rays upon his pathway to immortal happiness, is but dimly reflected.

On motion, the adoption of Mr. Hildreth's amendment. providing for the admission of females to the State University, on equal terms with the males, was carried, and is in full force at the present time.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE WINNEBAGO INDIANS.

S illustrative of Indian character, an editorial

A article, by Mr. Hildreth, in the Charles City

Intelligencer of Feb. 25, 1858, gives the following:

A ride of fifteen minutes, the other day, brought us to an encampment of the Winnebago Indians. It occupies a retired and protected spot in the Cedar river timber, about one mile north of town. The band. numbering thirty-two all told, are a part of the once powerful tribe of Winnebagoes and are on a visit to their former hunting grounds and to the graves of their kindred. As we neared their encampment. and saw the smoke curling from their wigwams, we thought of the time when beautiful Iowa was one vast wilderness, unadorned by art and unadmired by the eye of white man, and when only the Indian hunter's shout awoke the solitude. In imagination we saw him return to his lodge, loaded with the spoils of the chase. to lie down to rest. We saw him awake from sleep and gird about his loins the cruel tomahawk and scalping-knife, while piercing war-whoops rang from dell to dell. We heard the red man's cry of death-the white man's shout of victory. Again we looked, and the colossal wheel was set in motion whose accelerated revolutions were to keep time with the pulsations of a new State's ambitious heart. and hurry forward the multitudinous throng that were to people Iowa's vast do

mains, develop her resources and build up her cities, landmarks of her liberation from the darkness of barbarism.

Applying for admission at the most conspicuous of the tents, we were given to understand that we were welcome. We found the Indians variously engaged, making fishing tackle, dressing game, cleaning guns, arranging their toilet, etc. Wapinicon, or Capt. Jim," as he is familiarly called by the whites, whose acquaintance we had made some time before, coming in and recognizing us, we were invited to a seat by his side and a smoke of the pipe of peace." This led us to be sociably inclined; so, with Capt. Jim's English and our knowledge of the Indian vernacular, we whiled away an hour in agreeable conversation. From him we learned that the Winnebago tribe were now reduced to about two thousand souls. The majority of them are on the Indian Reservation in Minnesota. Two or three of their most noted braves are now in Washington. There are nineteen chiefs in the tribe, each of whom, with his band, is in the habit of visiting the white settlements, on a trading and begging tour three or four times a year. During these expeditions they seldom commit depredations of any kind, which fact secures to them many favors from the whites.

Their tents are constructed by enclosing poles set in the ground, forming a room of fifteen or twenty feet in diameter. The tops of the poles are tied together, and the sides are covered with canvas, skins, or mats made of bark. A hole is left at the top for the smoke to escape. Their fires are on the ground in the centre of the tent. and are kept burning day and night. Over the fire are hung large wooden hooks on which they boil their samp, roast and smoke their venison, &c. They sleep on blankets or mats spread upon the ground. with little or no protection from the cold. In winter they are rather filthy in their habits, but in summer they pay more regard to