Thus she is
expected to develop fully her womanly qualities.
In meditation and solitude, entirely alone or
with a chosen companion of her own sex and
age, she gains a secret strength, as she studies
the art of womanhood from nature herself.
Winona has the robust beauty of the wild
lily of the prairie, pure and strong in her deep
colors of yellow and scarlet against the savage
plain and horizon, basking in the open sun like
a child, yet soft and woman-like, with droop-
ing head when observed. Both girls are beau-
tifully robed in loose gowns of soft doeskin,
girded about the waist with the usual very wide
leather belt.
"Come, let us practice our sacred dance,"
says one to the other. Each crowns her glossy
head with a wreath of wild flowers, and they
dance with slow steps around the white birch,
singing meanwhile the sacred songs.
Now upon the lake that stretches blue to the
eastward there appears a distant canoe, a mere
speck, no bigger than a bird far off against the
shining sky.
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