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BRAZILIAN BROWNIES FISHING

The Indians do not spoil their children, although they are very fond of them. They believe in hardening their little ones, so the girls and boys are bathed by their careful mothers every day in cold water, in some shady forest stream. Indian mothers are very fond of playing with their children, and when a tiny mite wants all her mother’s care the older ones are handed over for “grannie” to look after.

Mother loves to deck her little one with necklaces, only I do not think we should say they were pretty, for they are made either of teeth or seeds. If you want to make an Indian woman your friend, nothing will win her friendship quicker than a present of a bead necklace to her little child.

Then no Indian mother thinks her little one’s toilet is complete until she is painted red, though I do not suppose we should think her at all beautiful.

Girls soon begin to help their mothers in various ways, by looking after the smaller ones, netting hammocks, making pottery, spinning cotton, and learning to cultivate the fields and to cook. But “the children’s souls, which God is calling Sunward, spin on blindly in the dark.”