usehold furniture
and utensils, and their vessels, burned in crude furnaces, were often
gracefully shaped and exquisitely decorated. The designs were both
imprinted on the soft clay and modeled in relief. The nomadic tribes of
the plains could not well carry these fragile wares with them on their
wanderings, and accordingly their dishes were mainly of bark and wood,
the latter sometimes carved. Spoons were prettily made of translucent
horn. They were fond of painting their rawhide cases in brilliant
colors. The most famous blankets are made by the Navajoes upon rude hand
looms and are wonderfully fine in weave, color, and design.

This native skill combined with love of the work and perfect
sincerity--the qualities which still make the Indian woman's blanket or
basket or bowl or moccasins of the old type so highly prized--are among
the precious things lost or sacrificed to the advance of an alien
civilization. Cheap machine-made garments and utensils, without beauty
or durability, have crowded out the old; and where the women still ply
their ancient trade, they do it now for money, not for love, and in most
cases use modern materials and patterns, even imported yarns and
"Diamond dyes!" Genuine curios or antiques are already becoming very
rare, except in museums, and sometimes command fabulous prices. As the
older generation passes, there is danger of losing altogether the secret
of Indian art and craftsmanship.

MODERN INDIAN ART

Struck by this danger, and realizing the innate charm of the work and
its adaptability to modern demands, a few enthusiasts have made of late
years an effort to preserve and extend it, both in order that a
distinctive and vitally American art-form may not disappear, and as a
means of self-support for Indian women. Depots or stores have been
established at various points for the purpose of encouraging such
manufactures and of finding a market for them, not so much from
commercial as from artistic and philanthropic motives. The best known,
perhaps, is the Mohonk Lodge, Colony, Oklahoma, founded under the
auspices of the Mohonk Indian Conference, where all work is guaranteed
of genuine Indian make, and, as far as possible, of native material and
design. Such articles as bags, belts, and moccasins are, however, made
in modern form so as to be appropriate for wear by the modern woman.
Miss Josephine Foard assisted the women of the Laguna pueblo to glaze
their wares, thereby rendering them mor