Campfire Stories of Indian Character 491 



2d: They gave him a periodic Turkish bath with pur- 

 gatives. 



3d: They gave him regular massage. 



4th: They worked on his faith; they sang to him; they 

 convinced him that great things were doing on his behalf. 

 They did all in their power to set his mind at ease. 



Besides which they had some knowledge of curative 

 herbs and of dieting. 



All of these have now a place among our own medical 

 methods, yet we scoffed at them when offered to us by the 

 Indians. They had to reach us from the East before we 

 found them acceptable. 



Of course there was a measure of quackery and fraud 

 in many of the medicine men, but it is just possible that 

 medical humbug was not entirely confined to the doctors 

 of the Red Race. 



THE INDIAN SILENCE 



The first American mingled with his pride a singular humility. 

 Spiritual arrogance was foreign to his nature and teaching. Pie 

 never claimed that the power of articulate speech was proof of 

 superiority over the dumb creation; on the other hand, it is to 

 him a perilous gift. He believes profoundly in silence — the 

 sign of a perfect equilibrium. Silence is the absolute poise or 

 balance of body, mind, and spirit. The man who preserves his 

 selfhood, ever calm and unshaken by the storms of existence — 

 not a leaf, as it were, astir on the tree; not a ripple upon the 

 surface of shining pool — his, in the mind of the unlettered 

 sage, is the ideal attitude and conduct of life. 



If you ask him, "What is silence?" he will answer, "It is the 

 Great Mystery! The holy silence is His voice!" If you ask, 

 "What are the fruits of silence?" he will say, "They are self- 

 control, true courage or endurance, patience, dignity, and 

 reverence. Silence is the cornerstone of character." 



" Guard your tongue in youth," said the old Chief Wabasha, 

 "and in age you may mature a thought that will be of service 

 to your people! " — (" The Soul of the Indian," by Ohiyesa, pp. 

 bo-90.) 



