"Teaching school in this far north land is altogether different from teaching in the States, and the teacher is at times compelled to change the usual order of things and use her own judgment, depending on the Department's having faith enough in her to sanction such changes. For nearly three months during the winter the people want to hibernate. They can not help it, for there seems to be something in the air tending to that result. The days are so short that the people sink into a kind of stupor, not wanting to rouse up when daylight comes, even though that be delayed until 11 in the morning. During these dark months I was always at the schoolhouse before half past 9, but was usually alone there until half past 10, when the children would straggle sleepily in, some without breakfast. By noon all would be there.

• When the citizens wrote to the Bureau of Education a year ago for a teacher there was the greatest enthusiasm on the subject; but months before I arrived all the enthusiasm had died out, the women trustees were at sword's points, nearly all the money raised had been paid out for the temporary teacher and firewood, and hardly anyone, even those who had children, were in favor of a school at all, but wanted the money that remained put into a hall for town and dance purposes. However, the school has been a success. I like the children; the majority are bright, intelligent, and lovable.'

Teller Reindeer Station.-T. L. Brevig, teacher; enrollment of pupils, 53; population, Eskimo. During the fiscal year school has been in session one hundred and sixty days. The attendance has been somewhat less than during the previous year, owing to the fact that the headquarters of the herd has been at Ageeopak, which was too far from the station to permit the regular attendance of the herders. The progress made among those who attended regularly has been satisfactory. It has been noticed that the Eskimos who have been to the States one or more times are far ahead of the rest of the natives with regard to cleanliness, clothing, language, and good behavior. This is the natural result of contact with civilization.

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Cape Prince of Wales.-Thomas Hanna, teacher; enrollment of pupils, 132: population, Eskimo. The school was not so well attended as in previous years. feud between two of the principal families, brought about by drunkenness and the killing of two men and the scarcity of food were the chief causes of the decreased attendance. School work was so divided that both day and night sessions were held. The printing press donated by Mrs. W. T. Hatch, of Brooklyn, N. Y., has been very useful in enabling the teacher to prepare supplementary lessons for the school. Some of the boys have assisted in setting type and in distributing it. A kindergarten was established in May, conducted by Mrs. Lopp. St. Lawrence Island.--V. C. Gambell, teacher; enrollment of pupils, 66; population, Eskimo. The people, young and old, have shown untiring interest in the school. On stormy days the parents carry the smaller children to school. We let all the children come, no difference how young they are, but they are not enrolled if under 5; these learn English and songs from hearing the older ones. The girls attend regularly now, though they are yet very bashful. The winds were unusually favorable the past winter, allowing them to catch an abundance of seals; so that at no time was there suffering from lack of food.

They have at last learned to manufacture whisky. A whaler brought a woman from Point Hope who taught them. They use about 5 quarts of molasses and 3 of flour to a 5-gallon coal oil can of water. This is allowed to ferment for from four to seven days, when it is heated, the vapor passing through an old gun barrel which is kept cool, thus condensing it. This yields about a quart of whisky. Several houses were making it all winter, and drunken men were not uncommon. The children are cleaner, and show a decided improvement in every way. We try to have all the people clean themselves up when the Bear comes, and a great many of them do in their way. We think we have gained their confidence, and look forward for greater improvements in the not distant future.

Unalaska.—Miss M. E. Mellor, teacher, and Miss M. Salamatoff, assistant; enrollment, 48; population, Aleut. Miss Mellor reports as follows: "The school opened September 1, 1896, with an enrollment of 39 children: 48 were on the roll at the close of school. This represents the number of regular attendants only. At intervals during the year we had an attendance of 56 for a week at a timealmost all the children in the village. When the Russian school closed for the holidays many of the boys came to our school regularly during that time. They seemed to prefer the American' school, as they called it, and when they came to ask permission to attend, if only for a short season, we had not the heart to refuse them, although we were overcrowded without them. For over a month we had two children from the distant island of Sannakh. Their mother brought them to me, and, through an interpreter, asked if I would take them into our school. The

children, as a whole, have worked well at their studies, and their progress has been encouraging. In arithmetic the highest class has commenced work in fractions, and almost half of the pupils can do examples in multiplication and long division with a very fair degree of accuracy and rapidity. Much attention has been given to phonic drill and to the construction of English sentences. We have exercises in composition three times a week, some familiar object being taken; and after reading or talking about it the children would write on their slates what they could remember about it. These written exercises were read aloud in class and criticised, both as to subject-matter and the use of English. We have no textbooks on United States history, but I read to the older pupils from a Young Folks' history and then talked about it. Marked progress has been made in reading; each class has had two lessons a day. It is gratifying to note an increasing love for the study. Elementary drawing, physiology, and geography have also had their proper place in school work, with gratifying results. The work of the year has been very pleasant and the outlook is most encouraging.'

Unga.-O. R. McKinney, teacher; enrollment, 40; population, white and Aleut. Mr. McKinney submits the following report: "During the summer, authority was granted by the Commissioner of Education for the building of an extension to the schoolhouse, to be used as a library room. Owing to the fact that we could not secure the services of a carpenter, I commenced school on August 24, in order to get in as much time as possible before the carpenter was ready. I continued school until the last of September. I then closed school and set to work with the carpenter at the building, so that it might be finished as soon as possible. About the last of October we had the work far enough along to enable us to have school again. During the holidays the carpenter completed the work, and from January 10 our school continued until May 30 without interruption. My pupils are making rapid progress in their studies, and we seem to have the full sympathy and support of all the patrons. On March 12 we had an exhibition, which was considered a grand success. The school is in better condition than ever before, the moral tone of our village has been much better during the year than ever, and there is nothing to discourage me in my work. Our library is still increasing, and is doing a great deal of good among the readers. Books will be thankfully received. We are much in need of an organ or some musical instrument in our school."

Kadiak.-C. C. Solter, teacher; enrollment, 52; population, Russian Creoles. Mr. Solter writes: "My larger pupils did excellent work in language and drawing. I am sometimes surprised to get such well-written sentences, when I consider that outside of the schoolroom scarcely a word of English is spoken. In drawing they excel, and make better progress than the average American children. In arithmetic they are not so apt, yet I have third-reader pupils who handle fractions very readily. They take much interest also in geography and history. If anyone doubts whether it pays for these children to attend school, the parents of the children certainly do not. They want their children to learn, and are proud to receive a letter from an absent son or daughter.

Many children who live in settlements where there is no school would be sent here if we could board them. I have been asked several times by white men to take in their boy or girl, that he or she could have the benefit of an education. So far it has been impossible for us to accommodate anyone, though the parents were willing to pay board for their children. There is no place here where a child could be properly cared for; all the people have enough to do to take care of their own children. Our house is too small. If we did take them we would soon be overcrowded in our schoolroom, which is barely large enough to accommodate the Kadiak children. There is no doubt that if a boarding school were started the children would flock in from all parts of this district. This would be the most satisfactory kind of a school. There would be regularity in attendance. Being in school constantly, they would soon learn to use the English language fluently, to the exclusion of the Russian and Aleut. They would thus exercise an influence for good over the other children and become thoroughly Americanized. Several families now live in Kadiak in order that their children may have the advantage of the school. The fathers are at work at distant stations. Many more would do the same thing if they could afford it. Every year I furnish a number of books to parents living at a distance, who begin the education of their children at home. I hope that Congress will increase our appropriations until in the near future every child in Alaska may have a chance for a common-school education. I can not close my report without urging again the necessity of compulsory attendance. The Russian schools are able to compel attendance by the authority of the church, but American teachers can only urge the advantages to be secured with indifferent success. Some resident of the village should be appointed with full authority to enforce the attendance of all recalcitrant young

sters. The children were very much pleased with the garden seeds that were kindly sent me by the Bureau for distribution among their parents. At first I gave a package of seeds to one child in each family, thinking that would be sufficient, but the rest thought themselves slighted and wept so piteously that I had to give each child a package. They evidently made good use of them, as small gardens can be seen scattered all over town. Many of them had never planted seeds before."

Karluk.-R. B. Dunmire, teacher; enrollment, 28; population, whites and Aleuts. The school year has shown decided progress in the various branches of school work. The people are learning to discriminate between Americans and the fishermen and sailors who come to this great canning station during the summer months. Of course, the opposition of the Russian Church is as decided as ever. The children have been better clad than they were last winter, still some of them come to school in their bare feet even on cold days. The population is decreasing rapidly, owing largely to the poverty of the natives, coupled with their drunkenness and immorality. The fishermen are the chief cause of these two vices. Of the children born during the last two years, but one remains alive. The United States commissioner at Unalaska, 700 miles away, is the nearest representative of the authority of the United States. Here there is no means whatever of punishing the perpetrators of crime. Still there is hope for the children in that they are rapidly learning the English language and are beginning to learn how to take care of themselves. It is yet possible to repair some of the wrong that has been done them.

Haines.-W. W. Warne, teacher; enrollment, 68; population. Thlinget. Mr. Warne writes: "This report closes the sixth year of my services as teacher of this school. The year has been our best. More real advancement has been made than in any previous year; the attendance has not been much larger, but it has been more regular and we have not had so many raw recruits. Most of the children around here have been to school more or less, so that instead of it being the exception to find a child that has attended school it is now the exception to find one who has not attended, at least for a short time. If we continue work a few years longer, we shall have reached almost all the children, and our work will be firmly established. In my experience with the parents I can not help but notice that they begin to regard it as a disgrace for a child to remain illiterate, and all show more or less eagerness to have their children attend school. The change in this respect during the past six years is very noticeable. I see a bright future for our work, although I can not deny that there is a dark side, but the progress certainly has been encouraging, and I hope that the good work may be pushed even more rapidly in the future than it has been in the past."

Sitka, No 1.-Mrs. G. Knapp, teacher; enrollment, 39; population, white, American, and Russian. The regularity of attendance at this school has been very satisfactory, largely owing to the fact that the teacher offered prizes for punctuality. Because of the many changes among the naval and civil officials stationed at Sitka there are changes in the school. Children from the States come and go with their parents, and it is possible to compare the work of the school with the work done in cities in the East. Mrs. Knapp states that children from the States enter classes with Sitka children of their own age. A circulating library is maintained in connection with the school, and has proved a source of much enjoyment to the children.

Sitka, No. 2.-Miss Cassia Patton, teacher, and Miss Flora Campbell, assistant; enrollment, 154; population, Thlinget. The following is Miss Patton's report: "There being two teachers, we were able to give more individual instruction, which is especially helpful to these non-English speaking children. Our girls and small boys enjoyed knitting very much. In sewing, we found some of the girls quite apt in the use of the needle, and the boys were pleased to learn how to sew on buttons, especially when they were allowed to replace any lost from their garments. Much of our work is developing their knowledge of English, which is not spoken in their homes. I have a small collection of objects by which they are surrounded at home, of which they soon learn the English names. About the 1st of November the Russian parochial school opened and took from us some of the children who were faithful followers of the Russo-Greek Church, but many continued to go to both schools irregularly in order to be sure of two Christmas trees. One day the janitor of the Russian school came into our school and asked for all the 'Russian Indians,' as followers of the Greek Church are called. I replied (Miss) Campbell interpreting) that I did not distinguish between Russian Indians or any other kind, and that this was a Government public school, where all were on the same footing. He began picking them out; then I told him that they were all Americans and could come here if they pleased. Taking the flag, which we are in