Page:The Red Man and the White Man in North America.djvu/207

Rh relation in either class of them for us. Violent bodily exercise in almost superhuman strainings of nerve and muscle; yellings and howlings, accompanied with rattles and drums; gormandizings on their rude and miscellaneous viands, the dog-feast having the pre-eminence; running for a goal; pitching a bar; driving a ball by parties on divided sides, whose heated rivalry when they are huddled in close struggles barely keeps the distinction between play and mortal combat, and occasionally a contest similar to that of the prize-ring among the whites, — these constitute the more stirring and festive gayeties of the Indians. More calm and dignified observances there are, connected with periodical and distinctive festivals among various tribes. A happy occasion is found by some at the season when the green corn is in the milk: the sweetness and simplicity of the repast would seem to engage the gentler sentiments. There is much resemblance also to the New England Thanksgiving in the pleasant recognition of the maize harvesting, the squaws doing the ingathering; while the husking, and the “trailing” or braiding of the ears in strings by the inner husk was an amusement for both sexes and all ages. Graver still, and often with subdued manifestations, were certain lugubrious occasions of fasting and lamenting connected with commemorations of their ancestors and relatives, or the re-disposal of the remains of their dead. Though these occasions generally ended in a breaking of the fast, there were often in them true solemnity, thoughtfulness, and right sentiments. If we can separate from all these occasions the drawbacks incident to the wildness and roughness of the mode of life, the untutored tastes, the poverty of material, and the hold of tradition with its arbitrary requisitions on the minds of the savages, we shall conclude that the ends which they had in view were as nearly compassed in their festivities as are the intents of civilized people in their most elaborate materials and methods