What the White Race May Learn from the Indian

<h2 id="CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII<br/> <span class="medium">THE INDIAN AND FRANKNESS</span></h2> <p class="drop"><span class="upper">Another</span> thing the white race might learn from the Indian, and it would be well for them if they did, is the virtue of frankness. If an Indian likes you or dislikes you, he lets you know. There is no pretense, no hypocrisy, and in his speech he indicates his feelings. Then, too, he is not offended by plain speech. If he lies and you tell him so, he honors you; and if you lie, he will not hesitate to say so. Making the fingers of both hands as a tongue on each side of the mouth, he says: “You talk two ways at once,” which is Indian for our ruder vernacular: “You are a liar!” There are no conventional lies among Indians. They do not speak untruths for the sake of politeness. They have learned the lesson of the Man of Galilee, who two thousand years ago taught, “Let your yea be yea, and your nay nay, for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.” Of course there are untruthful Indians, but with the major part their word is never broken. I would just as soon take the simple word of most of the Indians I know as that of the most upright and honored of the old-fashioned Southern gentlemen. And I would no more think of insulting the Indian by putting his integrity in speech on the same plane as that of the ordinary society or business man or woman of America than I would insult the lion by calling him a wolf. Strong words, but true, and capable of demonstration. Too often Indians who come in contact with the whites learn to lie, but the pure, uncontaminated, uncivilized <span class="pagenum" id="Page_205">205</span> Indian hates a lie and a liar as much as the proverb says the devil hates holy water. I shall never forget the impression made in the court-room at Flagstaff, Arizona, when Bigwoetten, a Navaho Indian, who had been charged with murder, and who had sent word to the sheriff that it would be useless to hunt for him as he could never be found, but that, if he was wanted, he would come in when the trial began,&mdash;I say, I shall never forget the marvelous impression caused by the proud stalking into the court-room of this old and dignified Indian, and his speech to the judge: “Though I am sore wounded, and the journey over the desert has been dreary and long, and has well-nigh killed me, I gave my word that I would be here,&mdash;the word of a Navaho that never was broken&mdash;so here I am. Do with me as you will, so that you do honestly.”</p> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG id="i_205" src="images/i_205.jpg" alt="" /> <p class="caption">THE AUTHOR HAVING A POW-WOW WITH THE YUMA INDIANS.</p> </div> <p>Several times, with perfect confidence, I have risked my life in exploring trips, on the mere word of an Indian that he would be at such a place at a certain time with food and water. And such has been my experience that now I never hesitate to accept the simple word of any Indian who has an ordinarily good reputation. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_206">206</span></p> <p>I have often had pow-wows with various tribes and whatever they have promised me in such councils has invariably been performed.</p> <p>And yet there is a peculiar twist to the mentality of many Indians that needs comment here. When a stranger is questioning an Indian about anything that she (or he) deems of no great importance, as, for instance, the meaning of a certain design on a basket, the Indian conception of politeness leads her to give you the reply your question seems to call for. For instance, if you see a zigzag design on a basket and you ask her, “Is this to represent lightning?” she thinks that is what you want it to represent, so she says, “Yes!” Ten minutes later and her questioner asks, “Is this the ripple of the sunshine on water?” Again with the same thought uppermost in her mind, that she must be polite to her questioner, that that is the answer asked for, she says, “Yes!” And so on with a dozen different questioners, and all of them with a different interpretation of the same symbol, her answer would be “yes” every time. This, however, is not untruth. It is because the white questioner does not know that his is not the method of extracting truth from an Indian. He has asked for a certain answer and he has it. <span class="pagenum" id="Page_207">207</span></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />