one meal or accidentally wet my feet, I feel it as much as if I
had never lived in the manner I have described, when it was a matter of
course to get myself soaking wet many a time. Even if there was plenty
to eat, it was thought better for us to practice fasting sometimes; and
hard exercise was kept up continually, both for the sake of health and
to prepare the body for the extraordinary exertions that it might, at
any moment, be required to undergo. In my own remembrance, my uncle used
often to bring home a deer on his shoulder. The distance was sometimes
considerable; yet he did not consider it any sort of a feat.

The usual custom with us was to eat only two meals a day and these were
served at each end of the day. This rule was not invariable, however,
for if there should be any callers, it was Indian etiquette to offer
either tobacco or food, or both. The rule of two meals a day was more
closely observed by the men--especially the younger men--than by the
women and children. This was when the Indians recognized that a true
manhood, one of physical activity and endurance, depends upon dieting
and regular exercise. No such system is practised by the reservation
Indians of to-day.

III. My Indian Grandmother

AS a motherless child, I always regarded my good grandmother as the
wisest of guides and the best of protectors. It was not long before I
began to realize her superiority to most of her contemporaries. This
idea was not gained entirely from my own observation, but also from a
knowledge of the high regard in which she was held by other women.
Aside from her native talent and ingenuity, she was endowed with a truly
wonderful memory. No other midwife in her day and tribe could compete
with her in skill and judgment. Her observations in practice were all
preserved in her mind for reference, as systematically as if they had
been written upon the pages of a note-book.

I distinctly recall one occasion when she took me with her into the
woods in search of certain medicinal roots.

"Why do you not use all kinds of roots for medicines?" said I.

"Because," she replied, in her quick, characteristic manner, "the
Great Mystery does not will us to find things too easily. In that case
everybody would be a medicine-giver, and Ohiyesa must learn that there
are many secrets which the Great Mystery will disclose only to the most
worthy. Only those who seek him fasting and in solitude will receive his
signs."

With t