SOME LESSONS FROM BARBARISM. 85 



we ed and nearly every leaf or herb, it appears, can be smoked, or 

 steeped, or smelled of, or lias some medicinal or edible quality. 

 They are skillful in cooking even such articles of food as they 

 have borrowed from us ; and I should never expect, while camp- 

 ing with white people, to taste such admirable hot biscuit as the 

 Indian women will bake on a bed of coals in a common frying- 

 pan, or to see coffee browned and prepared with such dexterity 

 and dispatch. 



Indians scrupulously respect the rights of the individual to 

 his personal possessions, and to such privacy as is possible in tent 

 life. Each member of the party has his own bed, seat, and espe- 

 cial corner of the tepee, upon which no other ever intrudes, unless 

 compelled by the exigencies of hospitality ; and each one keeps 

 his own blankets, clothing, arms, and ornaments in exactly the 

 same place, with reference to the door of the lodge, and observes 

 the same order in packing and repacking throughout the trip. 

 Although the household utensils may be few in number, each has 

 its proper function, and they are much less likely to be promiscu- 

 ously devoted to various uses than is the disorderly camp equipage 

 of the average white man. Every night the moccasins are neatly 

 mended, and the harness, if any part has given way, repaired in 

 such fashion as to be stronger than before the little work-bag, 

 containing awls, sinews, and strips of buckskin, is every house- 

 wife's companion and it may be added that bathing is frequently 

 indulged in and garments washed at lake or river side at very 

 short intervals. 



Although we have barely touched upon some of the practical 

 lessons to be learned from the savage, we will turn from these to 

 deeper and fundamental questions of social and political organiza- 

 tion. Do we really believe that the framework of our modern 

 society is solidly and honestly built ? Do we not condemn in al- 

 most unqualified terms its false standards, artificial distinctions, 

 and ridiculous elaborations of purely conventional laws ? I do 

 not want to be misunderstood as saying that there is nothing ar- 

 tificial or conventional in the social system of our typical barba- 

 rian ; this would not be strictly true : nevertheless, it is refreshing 

 to dwell among a comparatively simple people a people whose 

 etiquette is easily learned and based upon an instinctive sense of 

 propriety ; who know no prearranged division into classes ; whose 

 every-day hospitality is not determined by the desire for or the 

 ability to afford display, but solely by the actual need of the 

 chance guest. It is delightful to hear people come straight to the 

 point, tell home truths, talk frankly and ask frank questions, call 

 a spade a spade, and be as unconscious as a child of any possible 

 motive for doing otherwise. A naive curiosity, a strong sense of 

 humor, a childlike abandon to the simple pleasures of the hour, 



