This is chapter 17 of The Penal Preserve, you may want to go back to Chapter 15 or start at the beginning.

17

The many tragedies that resulted from this conflict weighed most heavily on Jane. From the very first massacre, she maintained their fraternity with the Vacationers, and the rumors of atrocities that frequently reached her were the source of much marital strife between Franklin and herself. As I have already said, Jane’s mind had become early and deeply impressed by the deplorable state and condition of the Vacationers. She was anxious to know if they could be instructed and whether anything could be done for their moral and material improvement.¹ The welfare of this unfortunate race became a paramount object in her mind. She was encouraged in the belief that the Vacationers of the island might ere long assume a more favorable cast in the scale of improvement than would be imagined from their present rude and uncultivated state.²

‘You can’t just terrorize them until they leave,’ she said.

‘Obviously, that’s not what we’re trying to do. But we have to come up with some way of removing them,’ said Franklin.

‘Like Rae’s been doing? You won’t have to figure out what to do with them—they’ll all be dead!’

‘That’s not fair, Jane. We’re not trying to hurt them.’

‘They sure seem to keep getting hurt.’

‘What do you want me to do? I didn’t make them trespass on government land! You know that this is about more than one little island. We might be the only chance human beings have left.’

‘You shouldn't have to become a monster to save people.’

‘What do you want me to do?’

‘Let me try to get them to give up Alien things.’

‘How’re you going to do that?’

‘I think we can teach them,’ said Jane. ‘We’ve been going about this all wrong, treating these people like they’re out enemies. I think what we need to do is open a school.’³

Jane argued that if the adults couldn’t be worked with, the little children must be taken in hand and cared for, and nurtured. If they’re parents weren’t going to teach them how to be Martians, it was up to the Penists to do the job, if the little children were ever to grow up and achieve the title of free beings.⁴

‘This is our training ground,’ she said. ‘To educate these poor people to the perils of Alien technology will save them.⁵ If we can’t convince these people who are our neighbors of the truth of what we’re doing, how are we ever going to convince the rest of the world?’

Now Franklin had never before considered that it was any part of their mission to evangelize, having always thought of the Penist enterprise as preservation. But as Jane spoke, a new vista was revealed before him, and he had to admit that it was much more hopeful than his previous glimpses of the future.

A school was set up, therefore, for the purpose of educating the Vacationer children to the Alien perils, and in the old Martian languages and traditions. Students were to be compelled to converse with each other in the Martian tongue and not by teeping, and were to be rebuked and punished for violations of this rule.⁶

The school was designed to entirely separate the children from all contact and influence of the Vacationers, which Franklin, and even Jane, thought necessary in order to teach them the terrible danger of Alien technology.⁷

It was not surprising that no Vacationer enrolled their child. There were still a good number of Vacationers on the island, but most of them preferred to see their children playing with Alien toys and communicating with telepathy, spending their time in idleness about their homes, than attending the Penist school.⁸

In the absence of all successful communication with these people—most likely because the Penists were totally unacquainted with teeping—it occurred to Jane that it might be possible to convey the Penists’ good intentions towards them through the medium of art work. Accordingly, Jane sketched a series of groups of figures in which she endeavored to represent as simply as possible the desired termination of hostility.⁹ Jane then caused these drawings to be duplicated on durable materials and fastened to trees throughout the island, wherever the Vacationers were most likely to see them.¹⁰

Jane worked feverishly on these drawings, and Franklin complimented them when they were complete, although with less approbation than usual.

The drawing, executed with much spirit, depicted the consequences of the Vacationers adopting a peaceful demeanor, or of continuing in their present murderous and deleterious habits. In one half of the sketch, the Penists (depicted as yellow-clad stick figures) were dancing a quaint dance with the Vacationers (signified by sunglasses, shorts, and drinks with cute little umbrellas) while their children sat in a circle around a Penist holding a book. On the other half of the sketch, the Penists were represented firing upon the Vacationers who were falling from the effects of the attack.¹¹

It seems the Penists really did post these ridiculous drawings throughout the island, as there are still a number still extant. I can only say that while Jane may have been the genius voice of her species, she was no visual artist.

The Vacationers, though, seemed to have a prejudice against schools, for they uniformly refused to bring in their children. Everything in the way of persuasion and argument having failed, Franklin found it necessary to visit the Vacationers unexpectedly with a detachment of Penists, and seize the children and take them away to school, willing or unwilling.¹²

To further augment the capture of the children, Franklin announced a major reward would be given for every Vacationer child captured and delivered alive to the Penist school.¹³ This policy proved the most successful in recruiting pupils. The whole island became a scavenger hunt of sorts, with Penists sometimes wantonly firing at and killing the Vacationer men and women for the purpose of compelling them to abandon their children.¹⁴

However, it was soon discovered that some of the Penists had constructed rafts and various other vessels in order to raid the communities of the surrounding islands, and even the mainland in order to capture children that would incur rewards. Franklin therefore announced that the motive behind the reward, had, in some instances, been misapprehended. He reiterated that the reward was offered only for the children of such people as were the illegal residents of the island, and that no violence should be offered to those people not residing on the island. Indeed, he went so far as to say that if any wanton attack or aggression against people not residing on the island was discovered, the offenders would be immediately punished.¹⁵

You will not be surprised to learn that the children who were compelled to attend the Penist school expressed their displeasure by misbehaving and refusing to apply themselves to Jane’s carefully crafted lessons. Discipline became such an issue that the students took Jane hostage and barricaded themselves in the schoolroom. The situation had to be diffused by armed guards, and sadly two students perished. Thereafter, guards were posted in the schoolroom to keep order. No doubt, such ungrateful behavior was occasioned by the students’ longing for their families. But what other option did the Penists have? To them, this had become a monumental battle with a foreigner whose invasion threatened their civilization. It was impossible for these Penists to fathom the great advances all Martians would attain through the intercourse with the Aliens, or the awful paucity of their pitiful civilization as it was.

Whatever the case, Jane’s desire to help the unbefriended Vacationers was hardly diminished by their brutish ingratitude. And she redoubled her efforts to help her students understand the error of their Alienated ways.

Franklin tried to persuade her to share her duties with others of the Penists, but she refused.

‘This is the only thing I’ve ever done that has felt noble,’ she said. ‘They are so awful—particularly the girls. They’ve become so thoroughly Alien—this teeping has made them all frivolity and emptiness. They need language! I know they are intelligent and some of them are very pretty, I just have to believe that they can be made to understand why they must abandon the Aliens.¹⁶

Chapter 18 tomorrow, same time, same place.

My mind had become early and deeply impressed with the deplorable state and condition of the aboriginal inhabitants. I was anxious to know if they could be instructed and whether anything could be done for their moral, religious, and material improvement. George Augustus Robinson, 26 November 1829 ↩
The welfare of this unfortunate race will ever be a paramount object in my mind. I am encouraged in the belief that the aboriginal tribes of this territory may ere long assume a more favourable cast in the scale of improvement than would be imagined from their present rude and uncultivated state. George Augustus Robinson, 27 November 1829 ↩
To the children of these unenlightened creatures we must first direct our whole study and attention ere we can expect to make any sensible progress towards the grand work now in contemplation. George Augustus Robinson, 1 January 1830 ↩
It is rather the little children that must be taken in hand and cared for and nurtured, for from them must be realized the dream, if ever realized, of the philanthropist and of all good people, of that day to come when the Indian, a refined, cultured, educated being will assume the title of an American citizen, with all the rights, privileges, and aspirations of that favored individual. Eugene White, Special Agent at Large at Uintah and Ouray Agency, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the Year 1886 ↩
To educate the Indian in the ways of civilized life, therefore, is to preserve him from extinction, not as an Indian, but as a human being. William Jones, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1903 ↩
Pupils must be compelled to converse with each other in English, and should be properly rebuked or punished for persistent violation of this rule. No. 41, General Rules of Indian Boarding Schools, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1890 ↩
This will entirely separate them from all outside influence and contact with the tribe, which is positively necessary in order to teach them morality. Henry Mallory, Indian Agent of the Colorado River Agency, 1 July 1879, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the Year 1879 ↩
There are a good many Indians on this reservation, who would much rather see their children with painted faces and decorated with feathers, spending their time in idleness about the camps than attending school. Hosea Locke, Superintendent of Fort Hall School, Fort Hall Agency, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the Year 1895 ↩
In the absence of all successful communication with these unfortunate people, with whose language we are totally unacquainted, it has occurred to me that it might be possible through the medium of this newly discovered faculty, to impart to them to a certain extent, the real wishes of the government towards them, and I have accordingly sketched a series of groups of figures in which I have endeavoured to represent in a manner as simple and as well adapted to their supposed ideas, as possible, the actual state of things (or rather the origin of the present state) and the desired termination of hostility. George Frankland to George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, 4 February 1829 ↩
The proposal which I venture to make is that, if our Excellency approves the drawings, they should be multiplied, and being made on more durable materials, should be fastened on trees in those remote situations where the natives are most likel to see them. George Frankland to George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, 4 February 1829 ↩
A little sketch, executed with much spirit, of the consequences of the aborigines adopting a peaceable demeanour, or of continuing in their present murderous and predatory habits. In one part of the sketch, the soldiery were represented firing upon a tribe of blacks, who were falling from the effects of the attack. On the other part were seen, another tribe, decently clad, receiving food for themselves and their families. The Tasmanian 26 November 1830 ↩
Everything in the way of persuasion and argument having failed, it became necessary to visit the camps unexpectedly with a detachment of police, and seize such children as were proper and take them away to school, willing or unwilling. Some hurried their children off to the mountains or hid them away in camp, and the police had to chase and capture them like so many wild rabbits. This unusual proceeding created quite an outcry. The men were sullen and muttering, the women loud in their lamentations, and the children almost out of their wits with fright. F J Cowart, Indian Agent of the Mescalero Agency, 12 August 1886, Annual Report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for the year 1886 ↩
The parties employed in the aid of the police will be augmented and in order to stimulate them to increased activity, the Lieutenant Governor has directed, that a reward of Five Pounds shall be given for every adult Aboriginal Native, and Two Pounds for every child who shall be captured and delivered at any one of the police stations. George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, Government Order of February 25, 1830 ↩
The occasional outrages of miscreants, whose scene of crime is so remote as to render detection difficult, and who sometimes wantonly fire at and kill the men, and at others pursue the women, for the purpose of compelling them to abandon their children. James Bonwick, The Last of the Tasmanians; or, the Black War of Van Diemen’s Land 1870 ↩
The Lieutenant Governor has learned with much regret, that the Government Order, NO. 2, of the 25th February last, offering certain rewards for the capture of the Aborigines, appears in some recent instances to have been misapprehended; and in this important subject, His Excellency has directed it to be distinctly notified, that nothing can be more opposed to the spirit of the above-named Order, and to that of all the different Proclamations and Orders which preceded it, than to offer any sort of violence or restraint to such of the Aboriginal Natives as may approach the European inhabitants with friendly views; the reward was offered for the capture of such natives only as were committing aggressions on the inhabitants of the settled districts, from which it was the object of the Government to expel them, with every degree of humanity that was practicable, when all efforts for their conciliation had proved abortive. George Arthur, Lieutenant-Governor of Van Diemen’s Land, Government Order of August 20, 1830 ↩
A noble task it will be to regenerate the race of girls in this colony. Their frivolity, their emptiness, ignorance, and boldness of manner are deplorable. And yet they are sharp-witted and pretty and no doubt have as much moral aptitude for good things as the generations from which they sprang. Jane Franklin, April 1840 ↩

17

Footnotes