The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-02-26
DIAMONDS.
CREATION MYTHS

Creation Myths of Primitive America
IN Relation to the Religious History
and Mental Development of Mankind
BY jeremiah Curtin. Little, Brown &
Co.
Mr.. Curtin has collected suoh rich
harvests from the Slav and Russian
languages and from the myths, fairies
and heroes Of ireland, that it sounds
| ungracious to say that the present col
! lection of 20 tales Of Indian mythology
| although they doubtless will be found
| or Importance by the scholar and
student will not long detain the
| general reader and culture seeker
They are too special and isolated in
their nature for that; they certainly
are the material out of which culture
may be made, but as Mr.. Curtin pre-
sents them they do not seem to be Gull
ture, and they certainly are not amuse-
ment. The book is the re-
suit of Mr.. Curtins acquaintance with
the Wintus and others in California
and its contents We're taken down by
him word for word from Indians who
knew no religion orlanguage save their
own, and who had not seen a white
| man until they were men. They were
first printed in the New York Sun. The
value of them is apparent when if is
considered that primitive man on this
continent preserved a system of
| thought which was already old when
the first cuneiform letters were etched
and the first symbols scratched on the
papyrus. Furthermore, the American
system of mythology was, according to
Mr.. Curtin, unbroken and perfect
when Europeans came to this continent
The treasure saved to science by
the primitive race of America is
unique in value and high significance.
The first result from it is to carry us
| back through untold centuries to that
epoch when man made the earliest col
| lective and consistent explanation of
this universe and it's origin. Occupy
| ing this vantage ground, we can throw
a food of light on all those mytholo-
| gies and ethnic religions or systems of
thought from which are lost, in part
great or small, the materials needed
to prove the foundation and beginning
of each of them. In this condition are
all ancient recorded religions, whether
of Greece, Rome, Egypt, Chaldea, Per
STA or India"
According to the American system
the world into which the first man was
born had already passed through two
periods-one of perfect and complete
harmony, when the earth was peopled
DS All lnueUnlIe NUMBER of unCreated
beings or divinities; another of yio-
lence, collision and conflict. when these
gods who had before lived in peace.
developed mental differences, when
character was evolved, and conflict and
rivalry were rampant The creation
myths all relate to these FIRST peonle"
and none of them to man or to ANYTHING
that has happened since his appearance
on the earth.
1t is curious to note in these myths
the same ideas which underly all the
great world myths. One of these. en-
riously enough, explains how the first
war came about. It was on account
of woman, of course, but the name Of
this Wintu Helen is Norman. or Light
Norwan is identical with HIawatha
the original of the ALGONQUIN MYTH
The comparative mythologist win note
many such similarities.
Mr.. Curtin's long introduction is
| charmingly written, and that the Wi
ume is a creditable specimen of book
binding, goes without saying. The
frontispiece shows the author I'm tbe
garb of a pioneer. sitting amid the mic
turesque ruins Of Palen1ue, in csDtral
Mexico.