44 THE HAMILTON ASSOClAtlOlSf. 



Strut about with fully as much consequence and pomposity as 

 characterize the movements of an Indian chief when acting as 

 Master of the Ceremonies at a big pow-wow on the prairie. 



Even tattooing, to which exception has been made with respect 

 to our faces, holds its ground to some extent, but chiefly among 

 boys, sailors and lumbermen. Women seldom indulge this savage 

 taste, probably owing chiefly to the fact that its consequences are 

 too permanent. It admits of no compliance with changing fashion, 

 so they prefer another not less savage, but more variable method, for 

 the purpose of heightening their charms by means of color. 



One of the pests, the manifestations of whose primitive predilec- 

 tions meet us almost at every turn, is the jack-knife sculptor, a 

 modern savage who, in imitation of his ancient congener, makes his 

 mark upon all available surfaces, as if either to remind himself on a 

 future visit that he has " been there " before or to acquaint the other 

 members of his tribe that he has travelled past this spot. He will 

 even laboriously carve his initials or his "totem," which is often 

 much more objectionable, in the hardest stone, and take his depar- 

 ture with the happy consciousness that he has performed a duty or 

 fulfilled a mission, feeling at the same time perfectly ready to repeat 

 the operation as opportunity presents itself. Other mediums some- 

 times take the place of the knife, but in any case the man who has 

 inherited this low propensity is impelled by some means to indicate 

 his presence, even to the spitting of tobacco juice on every painted 

 or polished surface he passes by, and the whiter the surface the 

 better is his object attained. He is a nineteenth century survival of 

 the cave-man, and refrains from committing murder only because 

 he has a wholesome regard for the terrors of the law. 



The prevalence of crime is among the surest evidences of the 

 savage strain which by its persistency continues to affect the life- 

 blood of civilization. Only by an arousal of the baser passions can 

 deeds of blood and plunder be perpetrated, and that these passions 

 remain so capable of gaining complete mastery, goes to show in how 

 many of us still rankle the aboriginal desires to waylay, to make war, 

 to kill, and to increase our possessions by appropriating those of our 

 neighbors. 



In a very summary and imperfect manner I have thus touched 

 upon a few of the social and mental qualities which, as they appear 



