IN HIGHER PEOPLES 185 



civilized peoples is conducted with tedious formal- 

 ities and a strict observance of the forms which 

 have been handed down to them. Any changes in 

 the established ways of doing things are strongly 

 opposed. 



Here, in this natural conservatism of the savage, 

 in his tendency to cling to established rules and 

 customs, we find the explanation of the reverence 

 which higher peoples have for whatever has come 



FOLLOWING THE LEADER* 



down to them from the past. We have not yet re- 

 covered from the tendency of the savage to stand 

 still. 



The practice higher peoples have of imitating 

 each other in their dress is stupid enough to have 

 come right out of the heart of Africa. Why do 

 women wear barn-door hats and tubular skirts 

 and make themselves generally clownish in their 

 dress? Merely because other women do it. They 

 haven't enough taste and originality to dress be- 



