The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol.2, page 182, Mar. 1882, U. of Illinois Press

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The BOOKER T. WASHINGTON Papers he, ''on the plains you meet people that you suppose to be savages, and are surprised to find them address you in elegant English. ~ had a singular instance of the kind under my own observation recently. A friend of mine, who thought his time had come when an Indian looked over the bluff at him, was agreeably surprised when the supposed savage hailed him by name, and reminded him of their meeting at some educational institute In the Eastern States.'' Senator Hawley also read the Cherokee chief's thanksgiving proclamation, pronouncing it the best of the year. General Armstrong, the founder, and, after fourteen years, still the head of Hampton, as the chairman said on introducing him, made a noble and justly-deserved appeal for a cordial support of Captain Pratt,6 whom he pronounced one of the greatest educators of America. What he has done, said he, no one knows. Disregarding the advice of his brother officers he went right in among the despairing savage prisoners, without a guard; met them when they were desperate enough to be contemplating suicide, fixed them with the power of his eye, and faced them down. He has, under God, said General Armstrong, made humble Christians, consistent Christians, of men red-handed and marked on the government records as guilty of murder. That work is the inspiration of Hampton and Carlisle. The general then cautioned his hearers against a probable movement to send Captain Pratt back to his company on the plains. ''At Carlisle,'' said he, ''Captain Pratt is doing more for the pacification of the Indian tribes than a hundred captains can do on the plains. I know that the whole power of the War Department will be leveled at Captain Pratt to drive him back to his company. See that you, people of Philadelphia, do not suffer it to be done.'' The general described the Hampton system, the essence of which is, said he, not what can the students do for the farm, but what can the farm and school do for the students, and concluded with an enthusiastic defense of Indian theology and character—denying that the race was dying out, and showing that bringing the Indians East was reducing the death rate. An interesting feature of the occasion was the appearance of the Indian students in the really tasteful and beautiful dress of their respective tribes. On the platform were ex-Mayor Fox,7 ax-Governors Hartranft~ and Pollock,9 Judge Tourgee,2° Rev. Dr. Syle, Rev. Dr. Dana, Messrs. 182