36 A BOOK-LOVER S HOLIDAYS 



Navajo blankets. Although they practise polyg 

 amy, and divorce is easy, their women are 

 usually well treated; and we saw evidences of 

 courtesy and consideration not too common even 

 among civilized people. At one halt a woman 

 on a donkey, with a little boy behind her, rode 

 up to the wagon. We gave her and the boy food. 

 Later when a Navajo man came up, she quietly 

 handed him a couple of delicacies. So far there 

 was nothing of note; but the man equally 

 quietly and with a slight smile of evident grati 

 tude and appreciation stretched out his hand; 

 and for a moment they stood with clasped 

 hands, both pleased, one with the courtesy, and 

 the other with the way the courtesy had been 

 received. Both were tattered beings on don 

 keys; but it made a pleasant picture. 



These are as a whole good Indians al 

 though some are very bad, and should be han 

 dled rigorously. Most of them work hard, and 

 wring a reluctant living from the desert; often 

 their houses are miles from water, and they use 

 it sparingly. They live on a reservation in which 

 many acres are necessary to support life; I do 

 not believe that at present they ought to be 

 allotted land in severalty, and their whole res 

 ervation should be kept for them, if only they 

 can be brought forward fast enough in stock- 



