"LET IT ALONE." 89 



on its points of ridicule, poking fun at the performances, 

 their executants, and their audience, or making it a text for 

 philosophical disquisition. But Indian ceremonies are not 

 funny, they are not ridiculous ; they are wild, fierce, and 

 earnest, ofttimes cruel and bloodthirsty. They are semi- 

 religious rites, not celebrated in a perfunctory way, by a 

 salaried pagan priesthood ; but are the solemn, earnest 

 exercises of grim, determined savages. 



Clearly then, a light, jesting, joking account of them is 

 out of the question. Philosophising is not exactly in my 

 line ; an attempt at it might be dangerous to my peace 

 of mind. I might, like some others, bring up in a fog of 

 limitless nonsense ; I might end by confusing or multiplying 

 my individuality, become a man beside myself. A friend 

 of mine once succeeded in achieving that spiritualistic feat, 

 through trying to seriously explain why tables turned at 

 mystic seances. No, I cannot go into a disquisition on 

 Indian war-dances, from a philosophical standpoint. I 

 must let them alone. First-rate idea that. There is more 

 money than the thoughtless imagine in " Let it alone." 

 " Never do to-day what can be conveniently deferred until 

 to-morrow," is another very valuable and much underrated 

 maxim. Just think for a moment of the multitudes of 

 suicides it would have saved, had this idea been properly 

 impressed on our ancestors' youthful minds, say by its 

 being made a standard copy-book heading, or a motto for 

 book-markers ! It is a short step in the direction of that 

 higher conception, "masterly inactivity," the Hindoo idea 

 of ultimate perfection. 



In a few days we bade adieu to our wild friends, and 



