may come with a clean conscience to our place in the international council that is to uphold the rights of the weaker peoples. We need to realize that the Indians are not simply our wards, an unfortunate race to whom we owe something, but that there are great things to be learned from them if we save—or permit them to save—their ancient and beautiful culture.
There is more than one voice crying out in the world to-day that in the earlier forms of society values were attained that our present proud condition has lost. One such was noticed lately in these pages, in the review of Dr. Cram's books. If we were forced to a decision that the Mediævalism he asks for is impracticable, especially in view of his lack of understanding of the living and important qualities of our period, we may well accept his reminder of the greatness of the age of faith. The trend of much latter-day thought, indeed, is toward concession that in our struggle for scientific knowledge and material accomplishment we have been overlooking spiritual attainment (one hates to pronounce the words—so generally have they been monopolized by the weaklings of the intellect). But the spiritual thing has been the strong thing again and again in history. And a sign that it may be so once more lies in the evidence that we are coming to realize that in the countries and the periods that are backward in material development there is often a great wealth of intuition as applied to life and the world's relation to it. The Indian is a typical case in point, and his wisdom is not for any "little group of earnest thinkers," as the young lady of the Sunday supplement calls them, but for the whole generation of to-day and of to-morrow. Poets, artists, and those scientists who see that their profession must take heed of esthetic ideas are naturally the first to become aware of the profound value of the Primitive, but it would be contrary to experience if people in general did not follow the train of thought along which the specialists have led. Once more let us hope that when they have been brought by it, in our own country, to an appreciation of the Indians, they do not find that their study must be conducted from relics in the museums and libraries, but that they may learn from the living people,—the peaceful and contented men and women of the pueblos, whom we may know to-day.
Almost unheard of by the general public, many students are working toward a truer understanding of the Indians. It is a pity that the results of their fascinating researches should go to technical or
