River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1879-08-28
Child-Life on the Amazon.

scribner for July.
Ch.ld-life here is an exceedingly curl
Gus study; the little quiet creatures are
SO different from our romplng American
boys and girls. They get few caresses
and give none; mother love is mechani-
cal; there is nothing OF that flow Of ten
derness, that constant. atcnTui care that
sheds such halo around our homes The
babies vegetate in their steady brown
fashion, seldom CRYING or laughing, but
living all day in their hammock cradles
ard watching everything around them
with keen eyes. As soon as the little
boys and girls can toddle about. thew are
left pretty much to their own resources,
tumbllng up the back staiis of life on a
diet OF mandioca meal and fish. The
parrnts seldom punish their children, for
they are very docile; when they do, the
little ones puckcr up their mout and
look sullen, but do not cry. Pleasure is
expressed by a smile,--amOn@ the little
glrls very often by broad grin, with
abundant show OF teeth,--but an articu-
late laugh is a rarity.
1t is interesting to watch how the men
tai traits of the race appear even III tn
babies. fla playthIng is given them,
they examine it gravely for little while,
and then let II drop Observe how differ
cnt this is from a white babies. actions
\ bright little six months-old at home has
four distinct methods OF investigation
first, by looking; Sc, ond, by touching
then by putting the object in its mouth !;
and finally by banging it against the floor.
The brown ntehio just looks, he does not
investigate at all. As the children grow
older, the same trait is apparent in almost
every case. An Indian is content to see
or hear a thing, without troubling himself
about the why's and whe efores ;even such
incomprehensible pursuit 5 as tossil-collect-
ing, or butterfly catching. or sketching,
provoke hardly any curiosity The peo-
pie look on quietly, sometimes asking
question OF two, but soon dismissing the.
subject from their minds as something
they are capab of understanding. Wit
all the crowding to see the lady
of our party, hardly a person
asked why she came. SO. too. the
babies are unambitious: they do not CRY
after pretty colors, or stretch cut their
hands to candle. And the men have
no apparent desire to better their lot
They 90 on Just as their forefathers did
submit to the impositions of the whites.
a little suIlenly, but without a thought
of rebellion, else there is white or
half. breed 10 lead them. The children
do not care much for plsythings; we rare
IL see one with rag doll; the little boys
delig in bows and arrows, but they take
them as part OF their training. Some
times the people have dances, an imira-
ton Of the f sta sports and hear them
humming the waltzes and quadriIles
which their quick ears have caught from
the musicians. As an Indian - iii paddle
steadily all day, while his wife at home
hardly ceases her monotonous cotton-beat-
ing, so the little ones have an inexhausti-
bic gift of patience. While Il WHITE
child would fret and cry. the brown one
sits all day perfectly still, but watching
every thing around him rs see little
indian boy in canoe, vou would say
nothing of him was alive but his eves.