288 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 1 33 



a fence. "Do not hang your coat there on that fence ; birds come there, 

 and they may dirty it." After viewing the assistant admiringly for a 

 little while, she ran to the garden and picked a bouquet of flowers for 

 her; later in the day she presented her with two additional bouquets. 

 When the wind disturbed the pages of the assistant's notebook, the 

 little girl held them down. When chickens, dogs, or cats came near, 

 she chased them away. With wads of wool she removed burrs from 

 the assistant's slacks. 



During another interview, school-age boys scampered off in search 

 of medicinal plants that their grandmother was talking about, or they 

 brought samples of them from stored supplies. In quiet tones they 

 reminded the grandmother of information regarding their uses that 

 she had forgotten to tell. When basketry was being discussed, they 

 brought baskets to be looked at. During a demonstration of spinning 

 and weaving by a woman, her children added details of explanations 

 she forgot to tell. 



Other instances of courtesies and helpfulness on the part of children 

 were observed : Children always halted an instance to say "con su 

 permisso" (with your permission) when about to pass in front of any- 

 one. When we admired the flowering notro, which could be seen in 

 bright red patches in many places on mountainsides, a lo-year-old boy 

 ran out of the house and up the mountainside to fetch some. He re- 

 turned with large branches, placed about his smiling face like a pic- 

 ture frame. When his mother set out to collapse her loom so that it 

 could be moved into the open to be photographed, he immediately 

 helped her do so and assisted in setting it up again. This done, he 

 warmed milk for a sick kitten. In doing so, he inadvertently pushed 

 over a bowl of sugar. Quietly he called his mother's attention to this, 

 obviously regretting the accident. The mother remarked, "It is all 

 right," and the boy set out to spoonfeed the kitten (pi. 63, 2). 



BOASTING, JEALOUSY 



Parents taught children not to be boastful or jealous. "It is best to 

 teach children to be simple. There is really nothing for people to 

 boast about. A child that boasts is remarked about or made aware of 

 his boasting. Older persons may say, 'Where does this boaster come 

 from ? He does not belong to us.' " A woman in her sixties listened 

 to a boasting child and then asked, "Do you really think that is true ?" 

 And then laughed. "The child knows then that I do not believe what 

 it said." A woman a generation older listened to a boasting child but 

 paid no further attention to it. "Children talk that way. One will 



