at me from beneath their blankets and fairly shaking their bed with
laughter.


INDIANS AND CIVILIZATION

Tastowich's home was built entirely of wood, deerskin, and clay. The
house was of logs, the glassless windows were of deerskin parchment,
the door-lock and the door-hinges were of wood, the latch string was of
deerskin, the fireplace and the chimney were of clay, the roof thatch
was of bark. The abode was clean, serviceable, and warm; and yet it
was a house that could have been built thousands of years ago. But
consider, for instance, Oo-koo-hoo's comfortable lodge; a similar
dwelling, no doubt, could have been erected a million years ago; and
thus, even in our time, the pre-historic still hovers on the outskirts
of our flimsy civilization. A civilization that billions of human
beings for millions of years have been struggling violently to gain;
and now after all that eternal striving since the beginning of
time--what has been the great outstanding gain--as the Indian sees it?
"Baldness and starched underwear for men, high-heeled shoes and corsets
for women, and for both--spectacles and false teeth." Is it any wonder
the red man laughs?

But some of you will doubt that the Indian laughs, and more of you will
even doubt whether the red man possesses a sense of humour. A few days
ago my Toronto oculist--you see I have been justly rewarded for
hovering around civilization--and I were discussing Indians. The
doctor quoted his experience with them. Some years before he had taken
a trip into the forest where he had met an old Indian chief whose wife
had had her eye injured by accident. The doctor told the old man if