the School fund, and our pretended missionary, Mr. Fish, never interested himself in such matters; but our good friend Mr. Hallett, at Boston, thought of us, and laid our claims before the Committee, by two petitions which he got from the Selectmen and from himself, and the Commissioner.  We are told that the chairman of the School Committee, Hon. A.H.  Everett, took much interest in getting a liberal allowance for education in Marshpee.  He was once before a warm friend to the Cherokees, and his conduct now proved that he was sincere.  He presented the petitions and proposed a law which would give us one hundred dollars a year forever, for public Schools in Marshpee, which was the largest sum that had been asked for by our friend Mr. H. A number of gentlemen spoke in favor of this allowance, and all showed that a spirit of kindness as well as justice toward the long oppressed red men, begins to warm the hearts of those who make our laws, and rule over us.  We trust we are thankful to God for so turning the hearts of men toward us.

The Bill passed the House and also the Senate, without any objection, and it is now a law of the State of Massachusetts, that the Marshpee Indians shall have one hundred dollars every year, paid out of the School fund, to help them educate their children.  Our proportion as a District, according to what other towns receive, would have been but fifteen dollars.  By the aid of our friends, and particularly of our counsel, (Mr. H.) who first proposed it, we shall now receive one hundred dollars a year; and I trust the Indians will best show their gratitude by the pains they will take to send their children to good schools, and by their raising as much more money as they can, to get good instructers; and give the rising generation all the advantages which the children of the whites enjoy in schooling.  This will be one of the best means to raise them to an equality, and teach them to put away from their mouths forever, the enemy which the white man, when he wanted to cheat and subdue our race, first got them to put therein, to steal away their brains, well knowing that their lands would follow.

The following are the petitions presented to the Legislature, which will give some light on the history of Marshpee.

    To the Honorable General Court: 

The undersigned are Selectmen and School Committee of the District of Marshpee.  We understand your Honors are going to make a distribution of the School Fund.  Now we pray leave to say that the State, as the guardians of the Marshpee Indians, took our property into their possession, so that we could not use a dollar of it, and so held it for sixty years.  We could make no contract with a school-master, and during that time, till 1831, we had no school house in Marshpee, and scarcely any schools.  We began to have schools about five years ago, but still want means to employ competent white teachers to instruct our children.  Our fathers often petitioned the Legislature to