once and again, but he
issues as often from that same gentle lap--a gift of the Great Good to
the race, in which man is only an accomplice!"

This wild mother has not only the experience of her mother and
grandmother, and the accepted rules of her people for a guide, but she
humbly seeks to learn a lesson from ants, bees, spiders, beavers, and
badgers. She studies the family life of the birds, so exquisite in its
emotional intensity and its patient devotion, until she seems to feel
the universal mother-heart beating in her own breast. In due time
the child takes of his own accord the attitude of prayer, and speaks
reverently of the Powers. He thinks that he is a blood brother to all
living creatures, and the storm wind is to him a messenger of the "Great
Mystery."

At the age of about eight years, if he is a boy, she turns him over to
his father for more Spartan training. If a girl, she is from this time
much under the guardianship of her grandmother, who is considered the
most dignified protector for the maiden. Indeed, the distinctive work
of both grandparents is that of acquainting the youth with the
national traditions and beliefs. It is reserved for them to repeat the
time-hallowed tales with dignity and authority, so as to lead him into
his inheritance in the stored-up wisdom and experience of the race. The
old are dedicated to the service of the young, as their teachers and
advisers, and the young in turn regard them with love and reverence.

Our old age was in some respects the happiest period of life. Advancing
years brought with them much freedom, not only from the burden of
laborious and dangerous tasks, but from those restrictions of custom and
etiquette which were religiously observed by all others. No one who is
at all acquainted with the Indian in his home can deny that we are a
polite people. As a rule, the warrior who inspired the greatest terror
in the hearts of his enemies was a man of the most exemplary gentleness,
and almost feminine refinement, among his family and friends. A soft,
low voice was considered an excellent thing in man, as well as in
woman! Indeed, the enforced intimacy of tent life would soon become
intolerable, were it not for these instinctive reserves and delicacies,
this unfailing respect for the established place and possessions of
every other member of the family circle, this habitual quiet, order, and
decorum.

Our people, though capable of strong and durable feeling, were