Indian Boyhood | Page 8

looked upon all this as a matter of course, knowing that the storm
would cease when the time came.
I could once endure as much cold and hunger as any of them; but now
if I miss one meal or accidentally wet my feet, I feel it as much as if I
had never lived in the manner I have described, when it was a matter of
course to get myself soak- ing wet many a time. Even if there was
plenty to eat, it was thought better for us to practice fast- ing sometimes;
and hard exercise was kept up continually, both for the sake of health
and to prepare the body for the extraordinary exertions that it might, at
any moment, be required to undergo. In my own remembrance, my
uncle used often to bring home a deer on his shoulder. The distance
was sometimes con- siderable; yet he did not consider it any sort of a
feat.
The usual custom with us was to eat only two meals a day and these
were served at each end of the day. This rule was not invariable, how-
ever, for if there should be any callers, it was Indian etiquette to offer
either tobacco or food, or both. The rule of two meals a day was more
closely observed by the men--especially the younger men--than by the
women and children. This was when the Indians recognized that a true
manhood, one of physical activity and endurance, depends upon dieting
and regular exercise. No such system is practised by the reservation
Indians of to-day.

III: My Indian Grandmother
AS a motherless child, I always re- garded my good grandmother as the
wisest of guides and the best of protectors. It was not long before I
began to realize her su- periority to most of her contempo- raries. This
idea was not gained entirely from my own observation, but also from a
knowledge of the high regard in which she was held by other wo- men.
Aside from her native talent and ingenuity, she was endowed with a
truly wonderful memory. No other midwife in her day and tribe could
com- pete with her in skill and judgment. Her obser- vations in practice
were all preserved in her mind for reference, as systematically as if they
had been written upon the pages of a note-book.
I distinctly recall one occasion when she took me with her into the
woods in search of certain medicinal roots.
"Why do you not use all kinds of roots for medicines?" said I.
"Because," she replied, in her quick, charac- teristic manner, the Great
Mystery does not will us to find things too easily. In that case every-
body would be a medicine-giver, and Ohiyesa must learn that there are
many secrets which the Great Mystery will disclose only to the most
worthy. Only those who seek him fasting and in solitude will receive
his signs."
With this and many similar explanations she wrought in my soul
wonderful and lively concep- tions of the "Great Mystery" and of the
effects of prayer and solitude. I continued my childish questioning.
"But why did you not dig those plants that we saw in the woods, of the
same kind that you are digging now?"
"For the same reason that we do not like the berries we find in the
shadow of deep woods as well as the ones which grow in sunny places.
The latter have more sweetness and flavor. Those herbs which have
medicinal virtues should be sought in a place that is neither too wet nor
too dry, and where they have a generous amount of sunshine to
maintain their vigor.
"Some day Ohiyesa will be old enough to know the secrets of medicine;
then I will tell him all. But if you should grow up to be a bad man, I
must withhold these treasures from you and give them to your brother,
for a medicine man must be a good and wise man. I hope Ohiyesa will
be a great medicine man when he grows up. To be a great warrior is a
noble ambition; but to be a mighty medicine man is a nobler!"

She said these things so thoughtfully and im- pressively that I cannot
but feel and remember them even to this day.
Our native women gathered all the wild rice, roots, berries and fruits
which formed an impor- tant part of our food. This was distinctively a
woman's work. Uncheedah (grandmother) under- stood these matters
perfectly, and it became a kind of instinct with her to know just where
to look for each edible variety and at what season of the year. This sort
of labor gave the Indian women every opportunity to observe and study
Nature after their fashion; and in