was denied the pregnant woman, because
it was supposed to influence the disposition or features of the child.

Scarcely was the embyro warrior ushered into the world, when he was met
by lullabies that speak of wonderful exploits in hunting and war. Those
ideas which so fully occupied his mother's mind before his birth are now
put into words by all about the child, who is as yet quite unresponsive
to their appeals to his honor and ambition. He is called the future
defender of his people, whose lives may depend upon his courage and
skill. If the child is a girl, she is at once addressed as the future
mother of a noble race.

In hunting songs, the leading animals are introduced; they come to the
boy to offer their bodies for the sustenance of his tribe. The animals
are regarded as his friends, and spoken of almost as tribes of people,
or as his cousins, grandfathers and grandmothers. The songs of wooing,
adapted as lullabies, were equally imaginative, and the suitors were
often animals personified, while pretty maidens were represented by the
mink and the doe.

Very early, the Indian boy assumed the task of preserving and
transmitting the legends of his ancestors and his race. Almost every
evening a myth, or a true story of some deed done in the past, was
narrated by one of the parents or grandparents, while the boy listened
with parted lips and glistening eyes. On the following evening, he
was usually required to repeat it. If he was not an apt scholar, he
struggled long with his task; but, as a rule, the Indian boy is a good
listener and has a good memory, so that the stories were tolerably well
mastered. The household became his audience, by which he was alternately
criticized and applauded.

This sort of teaching at once enlightens the boy's mind and stimulates
his ambition. His conception of his own future career becomes a vivid
and irresistible force. Whatever there is for him to learn must be
learned; whatever qualifications are necessary to a truly great man he
must seek at any expense of danger and hardship. Such was the feeling
of the imaginative and brave young Indian. It became apparent to him in
early life that he must accustom himself to rove alone and not to fear
or dislike the impression of solitude.

It seems to be a popular idea that all the characteristic skill of
the Indian is instinctive and hereditary. This is a mistake. All the
stoicism and patience of the Indian are acquired traits, and contin