r white sisters. It
is true that until they understood the civilized way of cooking and the
sanitation of stationary homes, the race declined in health and vigor.
For the great improvement noticeable in these directions, much credit is
due to the field matrons of the Indian Service.

The field matron is sometimes called the "Going-around woman," or the
"Clean-up woman," and her house-to-house teaching and inspection is
undoubtedly of much practical value. She is often the physician's right
hand in follow-up work among his patients, especially the women and
children. Some of the most efficient women in the service are themselves
of Indian blood, such as Mrs. Annie Dawson Wilde of Fort Berthold, a
graduate of Hampton and of a state normal school, who has given many
years to this work. Similar instruction is sometimes given by day-school
teachers and woman missionaries.

MARRIAGE AND THE FAMILY

The social morality of the various tribes differs very much at the
present time. Under our original customs, the purity of woman and the
home was safeguarded by strict rules, with severe penalties for their
transgression. When, however, native customs were broken down without
the efficient substitution of civilized laws, there was much social
irregularity.

Plural marriages were permissible under our system, but were not very
general, and plural wives were usually sisters. The missionaries, and in
some instances the Federal authorities, have required elderly men to
abandon all but one wife, leading to difficult problems. Many of the
younger generation are now legally married, and an effort is made to
oblige them to secure legal divorces when a separation is sought, but as
some state courts hold that they have no jurisdiction to hear
applications of non-citizen Indians living on reservations, this is
often impracticable, and naturally the dissatisfied simply abandon wife
or husband, and perhaps take another by Indian custom only. It is
advisable that family records be more strictly kept than is now the
case.

UNEDUCATED LEADERS AMONG INDIANS

I wish to refute the common misconception that it is only the educated
and Christian Indian who has contributed to the progress of his people
and to the common good of both races. There are many men wholly
unlettered, and some of whom have not proclaimed themselves followers of
Christ, who have yet exerted great influence on the side of
civilization. Almost every tribe has a hero of