The reign of the
father, son and “holy terror”
The abuses of
Superintendent Arthur McFatridge and his wife, Clara McFatridge, “the holy
terror,” were oppressive; she was a persistent interference in agency affairs, always
denigrating the Indians. She was described as a “pernicious influence,” a
semi-literate woman who reviewed all official correspondence and even replied
to Inspector Baker’s criticisms of the superintendent with an anonymous note,
which Baker described as “a gross impertinence” and as merely one example of
her influence.
Superintendent McFatridge had failed to repair and
clean up the Boarding School, had failed to even undertake the most minimal
effort; the cook still used the same dishpan for mopping floors, baking bread,
and cleaning dishes as she had a year earlier. The new school constructed at
Cut Bank Creek proved to be little improvement over the Willow Creek
School which it had
replaced. The Inspector noted the plant accommodates about one hundred and
fifty pupils with seventy eight girls and sixty eight boys in attendance. The
plant was in a run down condition, the boys dormitory building was dirty and
unsanitary, the toilets out of use awaiting repairs, the pupils were unclean,
especially the boys. The pupils were untidy as regards to the care of their
hair, teeth, hands, and clothing, lax in discipline, with a growing spirit of
insubordination. There was no principal at this school, quite a few temporary
employees, no one in charge or seeming to care what happened. There was no
system, method, or discipline and every employee seemed to be doing as they see
fit. The school children complained that they did not have enough to eat; that
they did not have sufficient blankets and slept cold and there was a deficiency
in such supplies as towels, stockings, underwear, shoes, overshoes, night
dresses, handkerchiefs, gloves, aprons, and the bed linen was very dirty. There
are no wards for sick children and no towels were issued to the pupils for two
days. The only bath towels in use were those cut from old bedspreads and the
toilets were in a filthy condition. Many of the pupils complained that they
were not getting enough bread.
-The Sacred Buffalo Vision by Robert J. Juneau and Robert C. Juneau
pg.93
No comments:
Post a Comment