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[Illustration: “‘Who are you?’ said the boy.”]
Adapted from the Original Eskimo Stories Collected by Dr. Daniel S. Neuman
With Illustrations and Decorations by George W. Hood
New York Frederick A. Stokes Company MCMXXIII
Copyright, 1923, by Frederick A. Stokes Company
WITH AFFECTIONATE GREETING I DEDICATE THIS SMALL VOLUME TO MY LITTLE FRIENDS THE CHILDREN OF ALASKA
The Eskimos are a kindly, industrious, smiling people. To our way of thinking their lives are uncivilized and cheerless. And yet, in their own primitive way, they find much happiness in life. They live from one moment only to the next. When food is plentiful, they gorge. When seals and game are scarce, they patiently do without.
Eskimo children never cry. They are never punished by their parents, for the spirits which inhabit their little bodies might take offense and depart. They play happy games as do children the world over, with balls sewed together from reindeer or seal hides and with toys carved from ivory, bone or wood.
The people are courteous and considerate. I have sat in their kasgas when the oomaliks (head men) were in council with my husband, who at that time was Governor of Alaska. The dignity and order of their debates would honor any legislative assembly. There is no interruption to a speaker until the final “I have spoken.”
The council finished, comes the customary dance in the kasga. The dance is always symbolic—the coming of spring, the flight of the ducks, the spearing of the whale, the wolf dance, or the killing of the bear. The men dance with grotesque gesture until exhausted, while the women with quiet feet, sway gently in unison in the dim light from the opening overhead. On the platform at the end of the kasga the musicians beat industriously on their drums.