SKELETON-LIFTING. 187 



ing a most prolonged possession of the soil by 

 their makers. For a hunting population is al- 

 ways sparse, and the collector finds only those 

 arrow-heads which lie upon the surface." But 

 if their handiwork is abundant, not so their skel- 

 etons, and it is the uncanny taste of archaeolo- 

 gists to prize the bones as well as the weapons 

 of the Indians. Still, it is not more objectionable 

 to carefully preserve the bones in a glass case 

 than to scatter them with the plowshare. 



Because it is well to turn aside from beaten 

 tracks occasionally, that we may appreciate their 

 beauty the more upon our return, and avoid the 

 danger of having the sweets of the upland or the 

 meadow pall, I have been indulging, of late, in 

 archaeological pursuits; been gathering relics, 

 though the locust and wild cherry drooped with 

 their burden of bright bloom, and the grosbeaks 

 wooed me to the hillside. Notwithstanding this, 

 I resolutely turned my back upon bird and blos- 

 som alike, and sought a neighbor's field, over 

 which waved tall and stately grain. It was pro- 

 posed to give the day, but, as it proved, the 

 night was added, to archaeology. 



There were weighty reasons, of course, for 

 this intrusion upon my neighbor's land, as no 

 sane man without a potent incentive would dare 

 to walk through growing grain. What moved 

 me to so bold a deed was this : Last autumn I 



