52 A BOOK-LOVER'S HOLIDAYS 



means their ruin. To interfere with them fool- 

 ishly, with whatever good intentions, and to try 

 to move all of them forward in a mass, with 

 a jump, means their ruin. A few individuals 

 in every tribe, and most of the individuals 

 in some tribes, can move very far forward at 

 once; the non-reservation schools do excellently 

 for these. Most of them need to be advanced 

 by degrees; there must be a half-way house at 

 which they can halt, or they may never reach 

 their final destination and stand on a level with 

 the white man. 



The Navajos have made long strides in ad- 

 vance during the last fifty years, thanks to the 

 "presence of the white men in their neighborhood. 

 Many decent men have helped them — soldiers, 

 agents, missionaries, traders; and the help has 

 quite as often been given unconsciously as con- 

 sciously; and some of the most conscientious 

 efforts to help them have flatly failed. The 

 missionaries have made comparatively few con- 

 verts; but many of the missionaries have added 

 much to the influences telling for the gradual 

 uplift of the tribe. Outside benevolent societies 

 have done some good work at times, but have 

 been mischievous influences when guided by 

 ignorance and sentimentality — a notable in- 

 stance on this Navajo reservation is given by 



