g the students in order that they may
be fully trained and utilized in the direction of pure or applied art.
It is admitted that the average Indian child far surpasses the average
white child in this direction. The Indian did not paint nature, not
because he did not feel it, but because it was sacred to him. He so
loved the reality that he could not venture upon the imitation. It is
now time to unfold the resources of his genius, locked up for untold
ages by the usages and philosophy of his people. They held it sacrilege
to reproduce the exact likeness of the human form or face. This is the
reason that early attempts to paint the natives were attended with
difficulty, and there are still Indians who refuse to be photographed.

MUSIC, DANCING, DRAMATIC ART

A form of self-expression which has always been characteristic of my
race is found in their music. In music is the very soul of the Indian;
yet the civilized nations have but recently discovered that such a thing
exists! His chants are simple, expressive, and haunting in quality, and
voice his inmost feelings, grave or gay, in every emotion and situation
in life. They vary much with tribes and even with individuals. A man
often composes his own song, which belongs to him and is deeply imbued
with his personality. These songs are frequently without words, the
meaning being too profound for words; they are direct emanations of the
human spirit. If words are used, they are few and symbolic in character.
There is no definite harmony in the songs--only rhythm and melody, and
there are striking variations of time and intonation which render them
difficult to the "civilized" ear.

Nevertheless, within the last few years there has been a serious effort
to collect these wild folksongs of the woods and plains by means of
notation and the phonograph, and in some cases this has been connected
with the attempt to harmonize and popularize them. Miss Alice C.
Fletcher, the distinguished ethnologist and student of early American
culture, was a pioneer in this field, in which she was assisted by Prof.
J. C. Filmore, who is no longer living. Frederick Burton died several
years ago, immediately after the publication of his interesting work on
the music of the Ojibways, which is fully illustrated with songs
collected and in some instances harmonized by himself. Miss Natalie
Curtis devoted much patient study to the songs of the tribes, especially
of the Pueblos, and later comers in th