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COMMUNITY LIFE AND CIVIC

PROBLEMS

PART ONE. GROUP LIFE

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A red man of the old days could secure his own food, make his own clothing, shape his own weapons, erect his own wigwam, and construct his own canoe. He was in most ways very independent.

CHAPTER I

MYSELF AND OTHERS

All are needed by each one;

Nothing is fair or good alone.

RALPH WALDO EMERSON

SECTION I. How I DEPEND ON OTHERS

Independence of the Indian. In most respects the lone Indian who made his silent way through the forests or over the prairies of America a few centuries ago was an independent individual. He stalked the wild deer or the buffalo which served him as food. His own hand shaped the marvelous bow and arrow he used so skillfully. What little clothing he wore consisted, for the most part, of the skins of animals he had killed in the chase. When on a hunting trip, if rough weather or sharp winds made open sky or overhanging rock an unsatisfactory roof, unassisted he raised a rude shelter of limbs and bark of trees. Food, weapons, clothing, shelter,the necessities of life,—were all products of his own skill and energy.

Dependence of civilized man.

Compared with the ability of the Indian to meet his own needs, a civilized man seems feeble indeed. Although he enjoys comforts and luxuries undreamed of by the red man, he is unable, as a rule, unless assisted by others, to secure or prepare his own food, make his own clothing, or build his own house.

Even in the commonplace things of life we are very dependent upon others. For example, while boys and girls are sometimes permitted to choose the color of their suits or dresses or shoes, their liberty in selection is very much limited. The boy who, by some strange fancy, might wish

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GROUP LIFE

to wear a vivid green or a bright scarlet suit would find it difficult to gratify his taste at most clothing-stores or tailoring establishments, while a girl who might wish a muff of humming-bird feathers would have far to go and a long time to search before she could find it.

Boys and girls, and older people too, depend upon others for a host of things every day of their lives. How many of

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A HANDSOMELY FURNISHED LIVING-ROOM

Persian rug-weavers, Chinese vase-makers, Italian painters, French designers, English craftsmen, and American artisans and manufacturers all contribute to the furnishing of rooms like this.

you, for example, usually prepare your own breakfast? or . lunch? or dinner? And, if you do, how many sowed and harvested the wheat and ground the flour and baked the bread you used for toast? or fed and milked the cow that supplied you with milk and butter? or provided the gas or coal or wood that cooked your meal? or made the range, skillet, pans, knives, forks, spoons, and chinaware you used in preparing the meal? or dug from the earth the iron and

silver and clay of which these things were made? or carried them from the mine, mill, and factory to your home ready for use?

Or how many of you made your own suits, dresses, hats, or shoes? or produced the cotton, flax, wool, or leather of which they are composed? How many of you built the houses in which you live? or made the furnishings they contain? or constructed the roads, streets, or sidewalks you use in going to school every day?

Does not your dependency on others appear also in most of your fun? If you like football, baseball, basketball, tennis, or hockey; if you are fond of the circus, the theater, or motion pictures; if you enjoy chess, checkers, dancing, or billiards, whatever your favorite amusement may be, can you enjoy it without the help of others?

Even the Indian was not so independent as he seems. He owed his physical and mental traits to his ancestors. His skill as an arrow-maker and his cleverness in woodcraft were acquired largely from other braves. His success as a hunter and his ability as a warrior were due, in part, to the teaching of others. And as civilization has advanced and as life has become more and more complex, the dependence of the individual upon others has become greater and greater, until by comparison with civilized man the old-time Indian appears a very independent person.

Captain Boycott. About forty years ago there lived in Ireland a man named Captain Boycott, a land agent for a wealthy English nobleman. Because of the harsh methods used by Boycott in collecting rents from the tenants and his eviction of those unable or unwilling to pay, he became the object of intense hatred. His tenants left their little farms; servants and laborers refused to work for him; shopkeepers would neither buy from nor sell to him; blacksmiths would not shoe his horses; tailors would not make his clothes; the very passers-by would not speak or nod to him; people for miles around would have nothing to do with him or his

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