THE BASKET MAKER 



tried. It lasted long enough for Seyavi to 

 have evolved the philosophy of life which 

 I have set down at the beginning. She 

 had gone beyond learning to do for her son, 

 and learned to believe it worth while. 



In our kind of society, when a woman 

 ceases to alter the fashion of her hair, you 

 guess that she has passed the crisis of her 

 experience. If she goes on crimping and 

 uncrimping with the changing mode, it is 

 safe to suppose she has never come up 

 against anything too big for her. The In- 

 dian woman gets nearly the same personal 

 note in the pattern of her baskets. Not 

 that she does not make all kinds, carriers, 

 water - bottles, and cradles, these are 

 kitchen ware, but her works of art are 

 all of the same piece. Seyavi made flaring, 

 flat-bottomed bowls, cooking pots really, 

 when cooking was done by dropping hot 

 167 



