The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-10
WEE LITTLE INDIANS
PUEBLO CHILDREN NEVER CRY
AND WEAR No CLOTHING.

How Their Age May BE Estimated
Effects OF a Watermelon Diet-Lit-
tie shepherds-The Folk Tales and
Legends They Hear.
From the New York Commercial Adver-
tiser
ODD as the statement may appear to the
ocrizeus Of the "effete cast" Indian Chi
dren seldom or never cry. In an expert
ence of some four seasons in the pue bios
OF Northern Arizona / never heard the
waulng of a child but once, and that
one was very nl-so 81 that 1t died The
next day. The cause Of this highly com
mendable state Of affairs mas never been
Investigated with the thoroughness which
the subject deserves out it may be at
tributed In pat at least to early correc-
tive measures and in part 10 the general
good health enjoyed by children as a con-
sequence of the natural lives they lead
unrestricted by any of The modern i'm
provements which in the aggregate we call
civilization.
For one thing, the Etlle ones wear no
clothing until they are six or seven years
old bun run about over the fat-topped
terraCed houses ana out in The fields in a
state Of nature. Now and then, to be sure
one may see an incipient Top who, MOI
content with what nature has given him,
adorns his 1ttle body with a necklace, Or
perchauce, a buck skin string about his
neck with d bright pebble ar the end of
1t, but the ensemble is not materially al
tered by these infanu.e attempts at finery.
Furthermore, TIE Indian child, like his pa
rents. has an aversion TO water applied
externally, an aversion which he shares
with his kind al over the world; but in
his case he is able, on account of the gen
eral scarcity OF water in the arid regions
Of tire west, TO enforce his opinions, 50
that year after year, and sometimes until
after he has attained mans estate, he re-
mains the great unwashed. An expert can
tel the age Of an Indian child sometimes
by examining his hands, as horse dealer
examines the teeth of horse. Each re-
curing wafer melon season leaves high
water mark on the hands of the boys, who
scoop out the interior of the fruit with
those God-given Implements and each
strata thus becomes fixed in the interven-
ing periods. OF. as the biologists term IT,
they become induraged. 1t is only In later
life that hard work in the fie.ds eliminates
these marks.
There are two red-letter periods in the
life OF Indian cnildren every year-when
watermelons ripen and when The new corn
comes in Besides this, when the nuts
Of the pine tree ripcu. which is said to be
only once in seven years, the embryo relics
OF a vanishing race become as fat as little
pigs. on one occasion a little tot who
could hardly have been ? years Old pre-
scented such ridiculous profile as he stood
on the roof OF a house gravely looking at
a party Of surveyors az work below him
that the whole party knocked off work 10
measure him, an operation to which he
submitted with dignited indifference and
then scampered OFF home to find out what
the foreign devils were about. His hight
was twenty-five inches and he was beau
ufully formed and slender in limb but he
measured twenty-six inches around his
abdomen. which prouuded ike one OF the
watermelons in mis- midst. AS all chill
dren are animals, it is 10 be presumed that
this one was happy for once in his lie.
But from the point OF view of the civ
Sized child the life Of these little Indians
must De supTemely enviable. To wear no
c.oihing al al, TO roll around in the dirt
al day. never 10 be III, to yell as loud
and IS long as one wishes, to play all
day, 10 have no restraints of any kind
what could be better? Then when they
get a little older they are sent out with
the hOcks of sheep which, with the aid
Ct from two TO twenty dogs, they drive
from place to place, and finally. a night
fail bring them back 10 the fold near
Use village, where they are safely penned
up for the night. The little shepherds
sometimes encounter real danger out in
the valleys or up on the mesas miles
away from home, where a hungry cayote
may attempt to kill and carry off a lamb
or kid, for sheep and goats are always
herded together and he will have a great
story TO tell when he finally reaches home
about how he beat off the wolf with the
aid Of the dogs and the Old fighting pa
tFiarchs of his flock.
Around the fireside at night he will be
allowed to snuggle up in a warm corner
on bit of sheepskin or on a folded blank
e. and listen TO the legends and myths,
related by the older men; only
20 both narrator detor. and listener t isy
but plain record of real happenings. He
will hear how the world was made, how
his people came to the surface from I'M
der-worlds by the aid of a magic reed up
which they climbed--a real and early form
Of Jack and the Beanstalk. He will learn
how the gods pulled the people through a
hole in the grounds as they sang sacred
song, and when the song was done no
more people were allowed to come upon
this, he fourth world. But many more
We're left behind than were allowed to
come, and ne viii be told that when he
dies he will go to join those others in the
UNDERWORLD II ne Is SOou OF neaft ana
pure of breath" for the breath is the life.
Later on, when he can understand these
things better, he will be taken TO see the
place where his people emerged into this
world, now marked by a stagnant lake in
a deep depression in the mountains. Thus
the long winter evenings pass, for the
stock of folk tales is practically mex
haustible. and after them comes the
things which he must learn, the story OF
the gods and what they did for men wher
the world was young, the monsters who
preyed on his people, and how they were
fnally overcome by a hero, the deeds
which are commemorated in the sacred
dances. every detail OF which has a sig
nihcance and an added import as he
grows oder and is allowed to know more
and more OF the sacred rites
Indeed. The only 'c,oud on the life OF tn,
Indian youngster is this elaborate religion
from which he cannot by any possibility
escape, for heresy IS not found in a print
tive society. Like his parents, the pueblo
boy Is a chronic sufferer from an over
dose Of gods. From the enc when he frs