The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1897-01-28
BEST BLANKET IN THE WORLD,
The Beautiful Work Of the Navaio-A
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= A1AACNy Cue uOSC perfect OlankeG.
Neither Ottoman fingers nor British
machines have ever produced it's peer.
The only thing know of to surpass
it is to be found among the astounding
prehistoric fabrics we have exhumed
in the mummy mines of Peru, but they
are not blankets. And this matchless
weaving is the handiwork, not of some
old-world craftsman, nor of a trained
heir of civilization, but of wild nomad,
a dirty, foxy, barbarous denizen of a
corner of the ''Great American Des-
ert." ",.,
The Navajo Indian of New Mexico
and Arizona cannot vie with the mod
~ern Turk in rugs, nor with the extinct
9unca in fringes, but when it comes
to blankets he can beat the world. Orr
rather, he could-for it is nearly gem
GRAFTON since Navajo blanket of strict
~ the first class has been created. Here
is a lost art-not because the Navajos
no longer, know how, but because they
will no longer take the trouble. They
make thousands of blankets still-thic]x,
coarse, fuzzy things which are the best
camping blankets to be had anywhere,
and most comfortable robes. But of
the superb old ponchos and zarapes
for chiefs-those iron fabrics woven
from vayeta "a Turkish cloth imported
Specially for them and sold at six dol
lars pound, unraveled by them, and
its thread reincarnate in an infinitely
better new body, not one has been
woven in 20 years. It is a loss to the
world; but the collector who began in
time can hardly I've philanthropist
enough to lament the deterioration
which has made it impossible that even
the richest rivals shall ever be able
to match his treasures.
There are still Navajos 100000 OF
them) and there is still vayeta; aud as
there are people who would give $500
for an absolutely first-class. vayeta
blanket, you might fancy that the
three things would pool. But that is
to forget the Navajo. He is barbarian,
to whom enough is an elegant sutfi-
cheney. BY weaving the cheap and
wretched blankets Of to-day-wretched
that is, as works of art-he can get all
the money he desires. Why, then, toll
twelvemonth over a blanket for $500
anyhow when a weeks work will bring
five dollars?
The art of the Navajo blanket is as
old as Plymouth rock-and almost as
higoted. You can tell genuine just
as far as you can see it. It is curious
fact, known to the student, that when
left to himself the Indian never blunders
in color. 1t is only whom too long rubbed
with our shockdy civilization and poi
soned with the ease and cheapness of
our aocursed aniline dyes that he per-
petrates atrocities. His eye for color
is elemental and absolutely correct. Red
is king-and no bastard magenta, mauve
or lake, but true red. Blue is good, be,
cause it stands for the sky; and green,
because it is the grass; and yellow for
the sun, and white for the clouds and
snow-and these are the only colors
found in strictly perfect Navajo
blanket. To the Indian color is part
of religion, and puppies and pinks and
other DEVILS colors he never can us0
until he is fully corrupted. The blanket
of to-day is the most graphic witness
to the falling-of of the aborigine that
ever came into court. It is full of hues
that any decent Indian knows to b.
literally infamous. A generation ago
a Navajo would have been put to death
by his people if simply found in posses
sion of one of those witch oolors. But
the true old blanket was as perfect in
it's color scheme as in it's weaving-and
have blankets which have for rs years
dome duty on an adobe floor.
OF course at all times these gems were
comparatively few. Not every Navajo
was master, and not so many could
afford a blanketwhose thread cost six
dollarsapound as could stand" the nat.
ural wool at thirty cents. But what
has done most to make the old-time
perfect blanket scarce is the fact that
it was almost invariably buried witt,
it's owner. In the Christian graveyarda
OF the Pueblos, in the barbaric lonely
last cuddling places OF Navajo captains,
the vast majority of the perfect blank
cts has gone to the worms. I myself
have seen ponchos not three collections
in the world could match to-day swathed
about the corpse and covered with six
feet of earth; and you can fancy if that
would make collector gnash his teeth,
Land of Sunshine.
ATootball Miracle.
The demand for really good referees,
with thorough knowledge of football,
was mainly responsible for the forma