"
"It is money they worship, and the soul of a man becomes like that
which he adores. They mourn bitterly for their dead, because they feel
how great is the distance between them and the land of spirits. I have
heard that there are white men who do not believe that this land
exists, but that cannot be true."
There were some depths of degradation that even his far-reaching
imagination failed to compass. Wanda listened wearily, though she
manifested no signs of impatience.
"The pale-faced women are sometimes very beautiful," she said.
"Yes; but they are strange, unnatural creatures. In times of anger
they attack their helpless little ones, talking in a harsh voice,
pinching, beating, slapping them, doing everything but bite them."
His listener did not shudder. The Indian, no matter how much his
feelings may be stirred, is unaccustomed to evince emotion.
"With us," continued the old man, "an angry woman frequently pulls her
husband's hair; for is he not her husband to do with what she likes?
but to fall upon her own flesh and blood--that is unnatural and
horrible. It is as if she should wilfully injure her own person,
bruise it with stones or sear it with hot irons.
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