CHAPTER VIII 

 VEGETABLE SUBSTITUTES FOE SOAP 



To soothe and cleanse, not madden and pollute. 



Wordsworth. 



AMONG the pleasant pictures of my mental gal- 

 lery is one of an autumn evening at a Pueblo 

 Indian village in New Mexico, where I chanced to be 

 a few years ago. The sun was near setting, seeking 

 his nightly lodging in the home of his mother, who, 

 according to the ancient Indian idea, lives in the 

 hidden regions of the west; on the house-tops the 

 corn huskers were gathering into baskets the multi- 

 colored ears that represented the day's labor; along 

 the trail from the well some laughing girls were 

 filing, with dripping jars of water on their heads; 

 the village flocks, home from the plain, were crowd- 

 ing bleating into corrals ; and from open doors came 

 the steady hum of metates, the fragrance of grinding 

 corn, and the shrill music of the women's mealing 

 songs. Then up the street came pattering a couple 

 of burros loaded with fire-wood and driven by an 



167 



