38 The Book of Woodcraft 



far as the natives of the northern plains were concerned. It is 

 true, that the women gathered fuel for the lodge — bundles of 

 dr^' willows, or limbs from a fallen cottonwood. They also did 

 the cooking, and, besides tanning robes, converted the skins of 

 deer, elk, antelope, and mountain sheep, into soft buckskin for 

 family use. But never a one of them suffered from overwork; 

 when they felt like it, they rested; they realized that there were 

 other days coming, and they took their time about anything 

 they had to do. Their husbands, never interfered with them, 

 any more than they did with him in his task of providing the 

 hides and skins and meat, the staff of life. The majority — 

 nearly all of them — were naturally industrious, and took pride 

 in their w'ork; they joyed in putting away parfleche after par- 

 fleche of choice dried meats and pemmican ; in tanning soft robes 

 and buckskins for home use or sale, in embroidering wonderful 

 patterns of beads or colored porcupine quills upon moccasin 

 tops, dresses, leggings and saddle trappings. When robes were 

 to be traded, they got their share of the proceeds. " (Schultz, 

 p. 64.) 



"It has often been asserted that the 'Indian' did no work, 

 even lea\dng the cultivation of the corn and squashes to the 

 women. That the women in some of the tribes tended the crops, 

 is true, but in others, like the Pueblos, they seldom or never 

 touched hoe or spade. The Eastern men were hunting or build- 

 ing boats, or were on the war-path, hence it was necessary for the 

 women to look after the fields. " ("The N. A. of Yesterday," 

 by F. S. Dellenbaugh, p. 333.) 



Schultz tells us that the men had to make their own 

 clothing. ("My Life as an Indian," p. 180.) 

 Prof. J. O. Dorsey writes of Omaha manners: 



"Politeness is shown by men to women. Men used to help 

 women and children to alight from horses. When they had to 

 ford streams, the men used to assist them, and sometimes they 

 carried them across on their backs. " (Dorsey, 270-1 ; 3rd Ann. 

 Rep. Ethn.) 



"One of the most erroneous beliefs relating to the status and 

 condition of the American Indian woman is, that she was, both 

 before and after marriage, the abject slave and drudge of the 



