SOME LESSONS FROM BARBARISM. 83 



culiar customs and habits of thought of the wilder tribes of 

 Sioux a strong, typical aboriginal race and let us not be 

 afraid or ashamed to admit that barbarism has valuable lessons 

 for civilization. 



The first thing about them to attract the attention of a stranger 

 would probably be their dress. The ignorant and narrow-minded 

 sneer at it because it is unlike the one to which they are accustomed 

 to them it is nothing but " savage finery." The cosmopolitan 

 observer, who recognizes the real superiority of most of the " na- 

 tional costumes " of European and Asiatic countries to that con- 

 ventional standard ugly, extravagant, and unhygienic which 

 seems unhappily destined to supplant them this man perceives 

 immediately the beauty and propriety of the Indian's dress. 



The blanket is convenient, comfortable, and eminently grace- 

 ful. The fringed buckskin hunting-shirt, leggings, and mocca- 

 sins have been approved and adopted for more than a century by 

 the intelligent frontiersman, as the best thing possible for the 

 hunter in color, cut, and material. The moccasin especially is ac- 

 knowledged to be the most perfect foot-covering ever invented. 

 Absolutely comfortable, ornamental, and appropriate, it is worn 

 very commonly by white men, and women too, who have to do 

 with Indians or live near them, and it is the last article of native 

 dress which the " civilized " Indian unwillingly resigns. 



The loose, scant robe of the women, with wide flowing sleeves, 

 is almost exactly similar to the well-known Japanese dress, and it 

 is therefore unnecessary to affirm that it is pretty, modest, delight- 

 fully comfortable, and ingeniously adapted to the necessities of a 

 primitive existence. I have myself worn it in the wilderness with 

 complete satisfaction, and know by experience how fully it meets 

 the various exigencies of camp life. It requires only five yards of 

 calico, and can be made in two hours ! Oh for the ease and free- 

 dom, physical, mental, and moral, of a fixed standard of feminine 

 dress which neither deforms, exaggerates, indelicately displays, 

 nor ridiculously cumbers the female form a dress suitable for all 

 women upon every occasion, and requiring small outlay of time or 

 money or thought! What we all really admire is the healthy, 

 beautiful woman not the elaborate toilet and a bit of artistic 

 coloring or graceful lines of drapery are as attainable in a five- 

 cent calico as in a five-dollar brocade. 



Another lesson, which many over-civilized people are already 

 learning, is that of outdoor life life close to Nature. Does not 

 he who "camps out" all summer in the Adirondacks or on the 

 sea-beaches become for the time being a healthy and happy sav- 

 age ? It is scarcely worth while to expatiate upon the sanitary 

 virtues of camp life as much for the mind as for the body. Every 

 really natural, vigorous, live, thinking person dreads the enervat- 



