As I drove away, around by the Corn Rock, I heard a shouting behind me.
I pulled up, wondering what I had forgotten. It was the old man, coming
down from his house on the height, bearing a bucket of peaches, the
delicious Hopi peaches that are as a blessing of the Spanish padres. He
put them into the auto and made a bow in the Latin style, hat sweeping,
hand upon his breast.
I shall never forget old Wupa of the Second Mesa, a wanderer in strange
lands, an alien at home, who bought the first Liberty Bond with buttons
from his ragged coat.
At the First Mesa I expected more of attention, because they are the
progressives of the Hopi, albeit they have progressed through being
pushed. The First Mesa and its several settlements are but thirteen
miles from the Agency headquarters, on the direct road to anywhere in
the field, and so their people have received more of regular attention.
The missionaries have made most progress there, and the Indians are
fortunate in having had two field matrons assigned to that station. The
first, Miss Sarah E. Abbott, who later faced down the Hotevilla, had
proceeded to educate and influence them; and the second, Miss Mary Y.
Rodger, has for the past fourteen years not only influenced and
assisted them, but in large measure helped to direct them. They have
also had the benefit of the Desert’s chief water-witch, Mr. A. H.
Womack, who has his office at their mesa, and who has greatly
influenced and improved all the Indians of the Desert.
But in matters of purchase the thrifty Hopi, of whatever location, is
inclined to pursue the label-tasting method. I found myself up against
the same detailed explanations, although knowing that hundreds, perhaps
thousands of dollars should be garnered there. Once again a patriotic
Hopi came to my rescue. This was Tom Pavatea, the full-blood Hopi
merchant. Tom is one of those few Indians who have succeeded without
the handicap of an education. Being a sensible man, he of course
deplores the fact that he decamped as a child from the first school,
and that a busy principal forgot him. Tom conducts an excellent store,
carrying goods of standard quality, and his prices are not calculated
on the altitude scale. Perhaps three-quarters of the Hopi trade in
pottery is dispatched through his hands. He is fairly rich in livestock
on the range, and has saved his money. Finance, however, troubles him
at times, and I hope the last Western bank-crash has not caused him to
suspect white men’s accounting. Years ago he could not fathom the
mystery of interest.
“Please explain,” said Tom, quite perplexed, “Why should that bank pay
me something for keeping my money? They have a strong steel box, and I
get the service, and I should pay them for keeping my money safe.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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