His third subject is to master the tricks of food-getting. His father,
or more often his grandfather, takes him in hand at an early age, and
minutely trains him in all the art and artifice of the great life-fight
for food both for himself and for those who may in later years be
dependent on him. He is drilled assiduously in hunting, fishing,
trapping, in game calls, in wood and water lore; he learns to paddle
with stealth, to step in silence, to conceal himself from the scent and
sight of bird and beast, to be swift as a deer, keen as an eagle, alert
as a fox.
He is admonished under no conditions, save in that of extreme hunger or
in self-defence, to kill mating game, or, in fact, to kill at all save
for food or to obtain furs for couch purposes. Wanton slaying of wild
things is unknown among the uncivilized Red Indians. When they want
occupation in sport or renown, they take the warpath against their
fellow-kind, where killing will flaunt another eagle-feather in their
crest, not simply another pair of antlers to decorate their tepee.
With this indispensable lesson in the essentials of living always comes
the scarcely less momentous one of the utter unimportance of youth. He
is untiringly disciplined in the veneration of age, whether it be in man
or woman. He must listen with rapt attention to the opinions and advice
of the older men. He mast keep an absolute silence while they speak,
must ever watch for opportunities to pay them deference.