106 HOME LIFE OF THE AFRICAN. 



If the little lad emerges into boyhood safely escaped from all 

 childhood dangers, he has a comparatively happy time. The insult- 

 ing words and angry curses which he was taught as witty sayings 

 (his first successful utterances of which were received with shouts 

 of admiring laughter, but for which subsequently said by him volun- 

 tarily in real anger, he received many a blow) he can now indulge 

 in to his heart's satisfaction, his legs being able to carry him swiftly 

 from the wrath of the object of them. 



He is not compelled constantly to do hard work, but will do 

 many small jobs or errands; he is mostly idle, however, shooting 

 with bow and arrow at birds, angling in the brook, flinging mimic 

 spears, carrying toy canoes, or building playhouses, all which plays 

 become strong realities in his future labors as a man. Growing to 

 be a stout lad he is pleased to be allowed to follow with men into the 

 forest, setting traps for wild animals, or gathering the milky sap of 

 India rubber, watching them cut down trees for canoes, and learn- 

 ing from them the way to hollow out the log with adze and fire. 



AMBITIOUS BOYHOOD. 



It is a proud day when he is allowed to carry a gun and join 

 the men in a hunt. Or he goes into trade, elated if he can get into 

 a white man's employ, at first as boy valet, then as table boy, waiter, 

 cook, steward, and trader, with chance to steal goods with which to 

 buy a wife some day. Then, as a young man, he begins to build 

 a real house. It may be worked at only by fits and starts, perhaps 

 two years before it is finished, in expectation of seeking a wife. 



She goes through most of the same treatment as her little 

 brother. She is not allowed to idle as much as he, but stays more 

 about the kitchen fire with the women, eating tid-bits as they cook, 

 and learning to cook little possets for herself; or following her 

 mother to the plantation (distance one-half to one mile from the 

 village), imitating her mother in carrying a basket on her back, its 

 weight supported by a broad strap going around it and over her 

 forehead. 



Some burden is always put into that basket, often one beyond 

 the child's strength, as a jug of water. The little one staggers under 



