RISE OF FATHERRIGHT 73 



live together inharmoniously." She bears emphatic 

 testimony, however, to the happiness of a Zuni 

 household. "The domestic life of the Zunis, "she 

 says, " might well serve as an example for the civilised 

 world. . . . The Zunis do not have large families, and 

 the members are deeply attached to one another. The 

 writer has found great enjoyment in her visits to the 

 general living room in the early evening after the 

 day's labours were over and before the elders were 

 called away to their fraternities or elsewhere. The 

 young mothers would be seen caring for their infants, 

 or perhaps the fathers would be fondling them, for 

 the Zuni men are very devoted to their children, 

 especially the babies. The grandmother would have 

 one of the younger children in her lap, with perhaps 

 the head of another resting against her shoulder, while 

 the rest would be sitting near or busying themselves 

 about household matters. When a story was told by 

 the grandfather or some younger member of the group, 

 intense interest would be depicted on the faces of 

 all old enough to appreciate the recital. The Zuni 

 child is rarely disobedient, and the writer has known 

 but one parent strike a child or use harsh words with 

 it. The children play through the livelong day with- 

 out a quarrel." * The keynote of this harmony is the 

 supremacy of the wife in the home. The house, with 

 all that is in it, is hers, descending to her through her 

 mother from a long line of ancestresses ; and her 

 husband is merely her permanent guest. The 

 children at least the female children have their share 

 in the common home : the father has none. Like all 

 the Pueblo peoples the Zuni are above the stage of 

 i Ref, Bur, &thn, x*iii. 304, 293. 



