THE HOPI SNAKE-DANCE 67 



schools. For large sections of the Navajos the 

 advance must be slower. For these the agency 

 school is the best school, and their industrial 

 training should primarily be such as will fit 

 them for work in their own homes, and for 

 making these homes cleaner and better. 



Of course, the advance in any given case is 

 apt to be both fitful and one-sided — the marvel 

 is that it is not more so. Moreover, the advance 

 is sometimes taking place when there seems dis- 

 hearteningly little evidence of it. I have never 

 respected any men or women more than some 

 of the missionaries and their wives — there 

 were examples on the Navajo reservation — who 

 bravely and uncomplainingly labor for right- 

 eousness, although knowing that the visible 

 fruits of their labor will probably be gathered 

 by others in a later generation. These mis- 

 sionaries may fail to make many converts at 

 the moment, and yet they may unconsciously 

 produce such an effect that the men and women 

 who themselves remain heathen are rather 

 pleased to have their children become Chris- 

 tians. I have in mind, as illustrating just what 

 I mean, one missionary family on the Navajo 

 reservation whom it was an inspiration to meet; 

 and, by the way, the Christian Navajo inter- 

 preter at their mission, with his pretty wife 



