Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-26
ChiId-Iifo ON line ATna1ous.
Scribner for July,I

Scribner for July,I
Child-hfe here is an exceedingly
curious study; the little quiet crea-
lures are so different from our romp-
ing American boys and girls. They
get few caresses, and give none
mother love is mechanical there is
nothing of that overflow of tender
ness, that constant watchful care.
that sheds such a halo around our
homes. The babies vegetate in their
steady brown fashion, seldom CRYING
or laughing, but lying all day in their
hammock cradles and watching every
thing around them with keen ewes.
AS soon as the little boys and girls
can toddle about they are left pretty
much to their own resources. tumb-
ling up the back stairs of life on n
diet OF mandiOca meal and fish. The
parents seldom punish their children.
for they are very docile; when they
do, the little ones pucker up their
mouths and look %sullen, but do not
cry. Pleasure is expressed by a smile
among the little girls very often BY
a broad grin, with abundant show of
teeth but an ~artieulate laugh
is q rarity. 1t is interesting
to watch how the mental traits Of
the race appear even in the young
babies. If a plaything is giventhem,
they examine it gravely for a little
while, and then let it drop. Observe
how different this is from the white
baby's actions. A bright little six
months.ol at home has four distinct
methods of investigation first, by
looking; second, by touching; then
by putting the object in its mouth
and finally, by banging it against the
floor. The brown menino lust looks
ne 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 aboat
the why's and wherefores; even such
incomprehensible pursuits as fossil
collecting, or butterfly or
~sketching, provoke hardly any curiosi-
ty. The people look on quietly, some.
times asking a question or two, but
soon dismissing the subject from their
minds as something they are incapable
Of understanding. With all the crowd
ing to see the lady of our party, hardly
q person asked why she came. So, too,
the babies are unambitious they do
not cry after pretty %eOlors, or stretch
out their hands to a candle, And
the men have no apparent de-
sire to better their lot. They 20 on
Just as their fathers did, submit to tho
lmpositiops of the whites, a little sui
lenly, but without a thought of rohel
lion, unless there is a white or a half
breed to lead them. The children do
not care much for p~laythings we
rarely see one with a rag doll the
little boys delight in bows and arrows.
but they take them as a part of their
training, Sometimes the people have
dances, in imitation of t6e fiesta
sports and we hear them humming
the wAltzes and quadrilles which their
quick ears have caught from the mu-
s%icians. AS an Indian will paddle
steadily all day, while his wife at home
hardly ceases her mQnotonous cotton
beating, so the little mes have an In
exhaustible gift of patience. Where
q white child would fret and cry, the
brown one sits all day, perfectly still,
but watching everything around him.
To see q little Indian boy in a eanoe,
You would say that nothing of him
! was alive but his eyes,