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NATIVE AMERICAN VOICES
third edition
A Reader
Copyright © 2010, 2001, 1998 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only
for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Credits and acknowledgments borrowed from other sources and reproduced, with permission,
in this textbook appear on appropriate page within text or on page 499.
James Riding In, Cal Seciwa, Suzan Harjo, and Walter Echo-Hawk, PROTECTING NATIVE
3
AMERICAN HUMAN REMAINS, BURIAL GROUNDS, AND SACRED PLACES
4 Elizabeth Cook-Lynn, NEW INDIANS, OLD WARS
Steve Talbot, FREE LEONARD PELTIER
PART REVIEW
PART V: Native Representations: Media and the Arts
Introduction
1 Theresa Harlan, CREATING A VISUAL HISTORY: A QUESTION OF OWNERSHIP
2 Emory Sekaquaptewa, ONE MORE SMILE FOR A HOPI CLOWN
3 Traci L. Morris, BUT IS IT AMERICAN INDIAN ART?
4 Traci L. Morris, THE NATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE AMERICAN INDIAN
Beverly R. Singer, WIPING THE WARPAINT OFF THE LENS: NATIVE AMERICAN FILM
5
AND VIDEO
Mathew Fleischer, GONE WITH THE WIND: A DECADE AFTER SMOKE SIGNALS,
6 SUCCESS
REMAINS ELUSIVE FOR NATIVE AMERICAN FILMMAKERS
NATIVE AMERICAN MEDIA
WEB PAGE EVALUATION CHECKLIST
PART REVIEW
PART VI: Community Wellness: Family,
Health, and Education
Ed Edmo, INDIAN EDUCATION BLUES
Introduction
1 Wilma Mankiller and Michael Wallis, ASGAYA-DIHI
2 Deanna Kingston, TRAVELING TRADITIONS
Frances Washburn, LAKOTA WARRIOR
3 Jennie R. Joe, AMERICAN INDIAN AND ALASKA NATIVE HEALTH
Philip A. May, THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ALCOHOL ABUSE AMONG AMERICAN
4 INDIANS:
THE MYTHICAL AND REAL PROPERTIES
Florence Connolly Shipek, DELFINA CUERO: HER AUTOBIOGRAPHY
5 Larry Murillo, PERSPECTIVES ON TRADITIONAL HEALTH PRACTICES
Susan Lobo, RESTORING NATIVE FOODS FOR HEALTH AND COMMUNITY WELL-BEING
LEONARD F. CHANA (Tohono O'odham) was born in Burnt Seeds, now Santa Rosa village,
on the Tohono O'odham Nation in Arizona. His work is both acrylic and pen and ink stippling,
in which images are formed with a multitude of dots. In a recent autobiographical book, The
Sweet Smell of Home: The Life and Art of Leonard F. Ghana, University of Arizona Press, he
shows and describes a number of his artworks.
This book takes a Native American studies perspective rather than that of mainstream
anthropology, history, or sociology. That perspective is what is meant by the subtitle to Part I:
"Following in the Footsteps of the Ancestors." Our emphasis and perspective are those of the
Indigenous peoples of the Americas as peoples and nations, not as ethnic minorities.
Native American studies (NAS), also known as American Indian studies (AIS), arose as an
academic field of study in the late 1960s, during the "new Indian" movement. (We use the term
Native American to include the Indigenous peoples of the Americas commonly called Indians
or American Indians, and also the Alaska Natives, the Inuit of Canada, and the Native peoples
of Hawai'i.) As part of this development, 46 undergraduate programs in NAS were founded,
19 programs on college and university campuses in California alone.1 A 1999 survey by the
Association for the Study of American Literatures found 13 programs and departments
offering graduate degrees in NAS, at least 4 with Ph.D. programs,2 and more than 350
professors in more than 100 colleges and universities were identifying themselves as Native
American or Alaska Native.3 The 2008 revised A Guide to Native American Studies Programs
in the United States and Canada found 130 institutions of higher learning with NAS
programs, 26 offering related graduate degrees, 46 with majors, 81 offering minors, and 24
with concentrations.4
Russell Thornton (Cherokee), in a recent work (see Suggested Readings), attributes the
historical development of Native American studies mainly to the initiative shown by Anglo
educational institutions and undervalues the role played by the growing number of Indian
students on campus and their mentors, the traditional elders. Thornton's contention may have
been the case on some campuses when college administrators responded to Indigenous
activism by unilaterally establishing NAS/AIS programs, but at the University of California-
Berkeley, the University of California-Davis, and San Francisco State University, the Indian
elders and leaders became the "unread libraries" in the late 1960s and early 1970s that were
then utilized by student activists and Indian academicians to flesh out the core courses for the
new discipline. In short, our perspective on this question finds a different line of development,
one that is grounded in traditional Indigenous history, culture, and resistance.
An issue that emerged in the 1960s was the relationship of NAS to the already established
academic departments such as anthropology, sociology art, history, and literature, which are
part of the Western scientific and humanities traditions. Some professors in these mainstream
departments saw themselves in an adversarial relationship with the new course offerings in
Native studies in a kind of "turf war" mentality. Native American studies was not considered
an academic discipline in its own right but, instead, was viewed as a nonserious "program"
created by Indian ideologues who espoused a cultural nationalism. As NAS has come to
maturity as a legitimate field of study, however, this view has all but faded.
Unlike the other disciplines, NAS is multidisciplinary in scope, whereas anthropology, for
example, although holistic in context, is not. Native American studies also takes an Indigenous
rather than a Eurocentric or Western perspective. Na tive American studies often asks
different theoretical questions than do the other academic disciplines, and it employs a variety
of research techniques that are not unique to any single discipline. It is informed by its own
paradigm. For example, in Red Earth, White Lies,5 Vine Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux),
challenged the standard anthropological theories of the Bering Strait land bridge peopling of
the Americas and the subsequent megafaunal extinction. A review of that work by John
Mohawk (Seneca) in the American Anthropologist makes the following insightful comment:
Deloria's concern is the theory embraced by anthropology that, some 11,000 years ago, ancestors of contemporary
American Indians crossed a land bridge which then connected Asia and Alaska and that they found a land with giant
creatures who were unafraid of humans and therefore fell prey to skilled hunters. The Indians embarked on a slaughter
of these animals, driving them to extinction.... Deloria argues the land bridge theory is far more problematic than the
anthropology profession generally teaches, there is very little physical evidence and extremely fuzzy logic to support the
extinction of the megafauna at the hands of Paleolithic Indians ... that anthropologists should pay more attention to
American Indian stories about what happened in the remote past for clues [i.e., Indian oral history].6
From Guaman Poma: Writing and Resistance in Colonial Peru by Roleno Adorno (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1986).
Reprinted by permission of Siglo XXI Editores.
There have been other early Native American scholars, such as Titu Kusi, whose "Relacion"
in 1570 gave the Inca side of the Spanish conquest, and the Inca Garcilaso de la Vega, who
wrote a history of Peru in 1609. Both the Mayan and Aztec cultures were highly literate
civilizations before the European invasion burned thousands of their codices, or books. North
America, too, had its Native American intellectuals. Pablo Tac, a Luiseno Indian, wrote in 1835
of his experiences and those of his people after the arrival of Spanish missionaries in
California. And between 1809 and 1821, Sequoyah (Charles Gist) worked out a syllabary for
writing the Cherokee language.
Even earlier, a number of North American Indian peoples made scientific observations and
kept records. Many kept "sky charts," which are astronomical observations in connection with
the planting cycle and the ceremonial calendar. The traditional Hopi, for example, still
maintain this ancient practice through their "sun watchers," or priests, who are able to
calculate accurately the lunar and solar calendars. The Tohono O'Odham have their calendar
stick, and the Kiowa have their ledger books. The Lakota (Teton Sioux) are known for their
"winter counts," which utilize the Lakota concepts of "winters" (years) and generations (about
70 years). These serve as mnemonic devices to recall the event for which each winter was
named. The Iroquois wampum belts serve a somewhat similar purpose. Wampum, made from
white and purple sea shells, ratified treaties, opened government deliberations, confirmed
leaders into office, registered the history of the Iroquois constitution, memorialized the dead,
confessed the penitent, and aided prayer. "This belt preserves my words" is the frequent
closing remark of Iroquois speeches today. Finally, even Western-trained scholars and
ethnohistorians are coming to recognize the value of Indian oral history, the memories of the
people, as a valid historical instrument in its own right.
This is what the editors of this current reader mean by "following in the footsteps of the
ancestors." It is therefore fitting that we begin our readings in Part I with a dedication to Vine
Deloria, Jr. (Standing Rock Sioux). As journalist and writer Bruce Johansen points out, Deloria
has been a giant in the field of Native American scholarship and the "godparent" of Native
American studies. This new edition of Native American Voices is dedicated to this great
scholar and memorializes his passing.
Reading 2, "The Rise and Fall of Native American Studies in the United States," presents an
analysis of the history and current status of Native American/American Indian Studies. The
author, Duane Champagne (Turtle Mountain Chippewa), is an editor and a prolific writer of
Native American scholarly works. A professor of sociology at the University of California, Los
Angeles, he was formerly director of the university's American Indian Studies Center and
editor of its publication, the American Indian Culture and Research Journal.
Champagne's thesis is that although there has been a significant development of an
Indigenous studies paradigm, the organizational structure of the discipline within colleges and
universities has become problematic. The organizational efforts of the field in "U.S. universities
have not kept pace with the intellectual developments, and have inhibited the development of
American Indian Studies as a fully developed discipline and paradigm" (p. 19). Very few
universities have established autonomous NAS/AIS departments, and among those that have
there is the difficulty of recruiting Native faculty. The most common form of organization,
according to Champagne, is "the interdepartmental model" where faculty are hired into the
academic departments of mainstream disciplines and have a tenuous association with a
separate NAS/AIS department or program. In some cases an Indian studies program is housed
within an ethnic studies department, overlooking the unique history of Native Americans as
"first peoples" who have a treaty relationship with the United States government. Champagne
details other problems which, when taken together with the organizational problems,
constitute "the fall of American Indian Studies." Even so, Champagne concludes by identifying
the steps needed for "Native American Studies going forward."
In Part I we have also sought to lay the groundwork for presenting "Native American
voices"—the various names of Native American peoples and nations, their populations,
identities and socioeconomic characteristics, as well as some important Indian concepts and
issues. Appropriate maps and a table on current demographics are provided to give the
student a quick summary overview of these details.
Indigenous identity is a mmtifaceted and complex issue for Native people in the Americas.
In a comprehensive article, Reading 3, "Indigenous Identity: What Is It, and Who Really Has
It?" Hilary Weaver (Lakota) explores three aspects of this subject: self-identification,
community identification, and external identification. She recounts a story told by her father,
"the big game," as a metaphor for the identity problem. How one identifies as a Native person
"consists of a lifelong process of cultural awareness and understanding" (p. 29). Does one
identify as a member of a generalized class of persons by a collective term preferred by Euro-
American society, such as Indian, Native American, or Alaska Native? Or a "tribal name," in
common usage by the dominant society, such as Iroquois, Navajo, Sioux, or Eskimo? Or as a
member of an Indigenous community using the traditional term for ones people, such as
Haudenosaunee, Dineh, Lakota, or Yupiaq? Is one's Indian identification a genetic reference or
a cultural one in terms of tribal membership and being rooted in a specific Indigenous
community? In each case there is a different configuration of self-image, cultural
understanding, and values. And given the intermarriage between Native and non-Native
persons, with which part or parts of one's genealogy should one identify? A claim of "being
Indian" with slight or questionable biological connection or community membership can
become a slippery slope that can lead to a charge of identity fraud or misrepresentation.
In terms of Weaver's "external identification" category, there is the question of whether to
call an Indigenous society a "tribe" or a "nation." "Tribe" carries the unfortunate
characterization of being uncivilized, while "nation" implies a society with a recognized nation
state. In a box titled "The Peoplehood Matrix," Tom Holm, professor of American Indian
Studies at the University of Arizona, offers the concept of "peoplehood" to define the nature of
Native American society in terms of four uniquely interrelated factors—language, sacred
history, ceremonial cycle, and place/territory—that differentiate American Indian societies
from non-Indigenous nations.
When it comes to external identification, the blood quantum standard used by the U.S.
government for determining who is a "legal" Indian and to whom the government is therefore
obligated to give treaty-mandated services is especially divisive. The blood quantum device
—"full-blood," "half-blood," "quarter-blood," etc.—can define out of existence many bona fide
Native people and thereby deprive them of the right to land, resources, and treaty-obligated
services mandated under federal Indian law. It also separates federally recognized Native
Americans from relatives and neighbors who are unrecognized, or who are not considered
Indian because of their blood quantum. There are Native communities that are not recognized
by the federal government and therefore do not receive any of the services extended to
federally recognized Native nations. Furthermore, as more Indian adults marry inter-tribally,
and their percentage of Native or single tribal heritage diminishes over the generations, fewer
Native American children can claim enough "blood" of any one tribe or nation to qualify as
federally recognized Indians. This trend has been termed statistical genocide. Ironically,
because U.S. Native Americans are the only racial or ethnic group who must legally prove
ethnicity, and because the present policy or custom promotes statistical genocide, Indigenous
identity will increasingly become a cultural matter rather than a "pure blood" definition in the
twenty-first century.
Mesoamerica and South America are the homelands of more than 40 million Indigenous
people, many times the number found in the United States and Canada. The greatest
concentrations of Indian people are found in Mexico, Guatemala, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia.
In Guatemala, 60 to 70 percent of the population are Indian, most of whom speak one of over
two dozen Native languages rather than Spanish. All over Latin America, as in the Mayan
Indian rebellion in southern Mexico, an upsurge in cultural and ethnic identity and political
organizing is testing the limits of established, non-Indian-controlled governments. Evo
Morales, an Indian, became the president of Bolivia in 2007, the first Indigenous head of state
in South America.
In Latin America "Indianness" is determined largely by cultural rather than racial standards.
If one speaks the Spanish language instead of an Indian one and adopts a Ladino or mestizo
way of life, he or she may no longer be considered an Indian person. Even so, millions of
people in Central and South America still speak an Indian language and maintain a Native
American identity.
The way statistical genocide works in Canada is somewhat different. As Reading 4, "First
Nations: Indigenous Peoples of Canada," by Steve Talbot, points out, Canadian law establishes
a "non-status" Indian category, which for decades illogically reduced the number of legal
Indians. Until the Canadian Indian Act was changed in 1985, Indians could lose their Indian
status if they received "half-breed lands or money scrip" or if an Indian woman married a
person who was not an enrolled Indian. Tens of thousands of Indians "vanished" because of
this law, and they are only now being reinstated to Indigenous status.
This selection will also acquaint the reader with the three main Indigenous categories of the
Native peoples in Canada—Indians, Metis, and Inuit—as well as the peculiarities of Canadian
Indigenous policy. Although, for the most part, the Native experience in Canada is similar to
that of the United States, there are some important differences in history and policy toward
the First Nations of Canada. The Inuit, commonly known as Eskimo in the United States, are a
unique case because their population and homeland embrace not only Canada, where they
number some thirty-five thousand persons, but also Alaska, Greenland, and Russia—a total of
115,000 persons in all. In Canada, the Inuit in the Northwest Territories have pressed
successfully for land claims and political control over their vast aboriginal territory, which they
call Nunavut, "Our Land." (A box showing a map of Nunavut and its salient facts follows the
reading.) Today, Nunavut is an autonomous province of Canada.
In Reading 5, "Native Peoples of Mexico," David Edmunds makes a similar survey of the
Indigenous peoples of Mexico but notes that "unlike the United States and Canada, Mexico
attempted to break from the Indian policy of its colonial past" (p. 42) The Mexican constitution
of 1821 departed from Spanish policy by making all Indians citizens and launching a program
of total assimilation that led to the official origin of a mestizo state: overwhelmingly
Indigenous racially but Spanish-speaking and Hispanicised culturally And yet, millions of
unassimilated Indian peoples remained. Edmunds sketches a brief historical overview of
historical and policy events that have affected Indian policy in Mexico. It is interesting to note
that Indians from southern Mexico fought with Emiliano Zapata in the 1910 Mexican
revolution over the issue of land redistribution to landless "peasant" farmers. And as recent as
the 1960s and 1970s, another Zapatista rebellion took place in Chiapas state by Maya Indians
against the federal government. Despite the federal government's attempt to "legislate Indians
out of existence" while at the same time embracing the Indian cultural past as Mexico's
national heritage, Indian peoples have been left out of the country's political power structure.
A comprehensive overview of the Indigenous peoples of the United States is provided in
Table 1.1, "Native American Demographics—United States, 2008." Population figures, "tribes"
and their relative ranking, reservation vs. non-reservation, respective lands, health, education,
and other statistical characteristics give a portrait of the nations and peoples. This
demographic overview is mainly for the United States, although some essential statistics are
also provided for Latin America.
Following Table 1.1 is a box with commentary on one form of "statistical genocide": the
way the U.S. Census Bureau undercounts Native people, resulting in their invisibility as a
viable Indigenous minority. The Census figures, taken every 10 years, determine, among other
things, the level of federal funding for Indian programs in the United States, as well as the
political nature of congressional representation in Indian country. Lobo faults the Census
Bureau for failing to enumerate [Native Americans] in 'temporary' living spaces such as jails,
Halfway houses, hotels, and shelters in the 2000 census. This has led to severe undercounts of
Native people, in both urban areas as well as rural regions on and off reservations. Census
undercount has been especially serious in large urban areas such as the San Francisco—East
Bay of California, since the bulk of the Indian population in the country's most populous state
is urban rather than reservation based or rural. In the United States as a whole, more than
two-thirds of the Native American population according to U.S. census figures is now
considered urban, although the urban versus rural/reservation opposition is in many other
respects a false dichotomy, since a high proportion of "urban Indians" continue to relate
strongly to their tribal roots in Indian country.
Notes
1. Charlotte Heth arid Susan Gyette, Issues for the Future of American Indian Studies (Los Angeles: UCLA American
Indian Studies Center, 1984).
2. Robert M. Nelson, ed. A Guide to Nat be American Studies Programs in the United States and Canada, March 1999.
http://oncampus.richmond.edu/faculty/ASAIL/guide/guide.html.
4. Robert M. Nelson, ed. A Guide to Native American Studies Programs in the United States and Canada, revised 21
February 2008. http://oncampus.richmond.edu/faculty/ASAIL/guide/guide.html.
5. Vine Deloria Jr., Red Earth, White Lies: Native Americans and the Myth of Scientific Fact (New York: Scribner, 1995).
6. John Mohawk, "Review of Deloria's Red Earth, White Lies," American Anthropologist, 98, no. 3,1995: 650-651.
7. Jack D. Forbes, "Basic Concepts for Understanding Native History and Culture," Native Americans of California and
Nevada. (Happy Camp, Calif.: Naturegraph Publishers, 1982) pp. 156-178.
8. Jack D. Forbes, Native American Studies Neiusletter, U.C. Davis 1, no. 1 (May 1990): 3, 7.
9. Guaman Poma (Felipe de Ayala), Gliaman Poma: Writing and Resistance in Colonial Peru (Austin: University of Texas
Press, 1986).
"Hearing the Song." Copyright © 1987 by William Stafford from Oregon Message (HarperCollins). Reprinted by
Another random document with
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Elle avait bien compris quel homme était le comte Paul, et elle se
maintenait, en conséquence, dans son rôle de modestie sans
affectation. Elle jugeait bien la situation. Pour plaire à Paul et à sa
mère, elle n’avait vraiment que ce moyen : les tromper du tout au
tout sur sa personne morale.
V
PINCHARD,
de la Comédie française.
Il y avait débuté en effet vers 1845. Il n’avait plus d’âge. C’était
un doux souffreteux, très honnête, très bon, mais doué à un degré
plaisant de tous les défauts particuliers à ceux de sa profession.
L’inaltérable gaîté qu’il gardait malgré l’excès de sa misère, lui faisait
tout pardonner.
Le malheureux avait même imaginé, un jour où il avait trop faim,
d’aller réciter des vers, dans les cours des maisons. C’était une
chose attendrissante que de lui voir rejouer, pour payer à table sa
place de parasite, son rôle de mendiant des rues.
— Le jour où je pris cette résolution, disait-il, j’entrai d’abord dans
une cour de la rue des Saints-Pères. J’avais appris avec beaucoup
de soin la Conscience de Victor Hugo, — mais la honte me
suffoquant, au moment de commencer, j’attaquai, sans le vouloir, le
récit de Théramène que je savais depuis mon enfance ! Ma douleur
était si vive, que je me sentis pathétique. Ah ! si un public
connaisseur, un vrai public, mon public de la Comédie française,
avait pu me voir ce jour-là !… On s’était mis aux fenêtres, et les sous
commencèrent à pleuvoir avec les quolibets.
Alors, il se mettait à mimer la scène, laissant tomber un sou à
terre, de temps à autre, et interrompant d’un « merci bien ! » du plus
piquant effet, l’illustre tirade, à la manière des joueurs d’orgue de
Barbarie.
— « A la fin, terminait-il, saisi par le désespoir de ma situation
personnelle, je tombai sur un genou, la tête dans mes mains, en
criant malgré moi : « Non ! non ! c’est trop souffrir ! » On attribua ma
douleur à Théramène ; on crut que je pleurais ce pauvre Hippolyte,
et, à toutes les fenêtres, éclatèrent des applaudissements, dont,
malgré mon désespoir, je me sentis encouragé, et même charmé !
« Cela parut si comique à une bande d’étudiants groupés à une
fenêtre du cinquième, qu’ils m’envoyèrent chercher, et de ce
moment, j’entrevis des jours meilleurs. J’allais, répétant
quotidiennement, dans les cours des maisons où logent des
étudiants, le récit de Théramène.
« Profitant de l’indication que m’avaient donnée « la nature » et le
hasard, je coupais le fameux récit de réflexions de mon cru sur ma
misère et le malheur des temps… Et cela m’a permis de vivre. Tout
le quartier me connaît sous le nom de Théramène… Appelez-moi
comme ça. Ça me fera plaisir, ça me rappelle mon plus gros
succès ! »
C’était un professeur économique qu’on avait pris en affection, ce
vieux. On lui mettait quelquefois un balai entre les mains ;
quelquefois, sous le pied, une brosse à cirer le parquet ; et il cirait, et
il balayait, disant : « L’art se rend utile : Utile dulci ! » Et, vraiment, il
lui était doux, à cet ingénu, de se rendre utile à qui l’aidait.
De fait, il était intéressant, et on l’aimait sans y prendre garde,
comme on aime un animal familier. C’était même, peut-être, le
meilleur des sentiments que Mademoiselle Déperrier eût au cœur,
celui que ce vieil innocent lui inspirait… Ah ! si elle n’avait pas eu de
connaissances pires ! Mais l’honnête Théramène eût certainement
méprisé bien des beaux messieurs qui venaient chez elle,
admirablement vêtus et correctement gantés, s’il eût pu voir leur
dedans.
Tout de même, c’était un spectacle inouï que d’assister à la leçon
du père Théramène chez les Déperrier, le mardi.
Léon Terral y venait souvent. Il y amenait deux ou trois amis. On
y voyait aussi le bas-bleu qui faisait les modes, deux ou trois
reporters qui pouvaient être utiles un jour, et autant de futurs auteurs
dramatiques, de ceux qui collaborent uniquement pour avoir leurs
entrées dans les coulisses des petits théâtres.
Peut-être, ce jour-là, eût-on malaisément reconnu la belle
Mademoiselle Déperrier, celle qui dans les salons plus ou moins
selects, mais enfin de ceux où l’on rencontre parfois du vrai monde,
se tenait droite, fière, en grande tenue de patricienne, s’imposant au
regard par la noblesse du maintien, la beauté de ses lignes fermes
et ondulées, et la pureté de son regard, un peu hautain.
Ces jours-là, chez elle, c’était la fête bohème. Sa mère ne s’y
amusait guère, parce qu’elle ne pouvait retenir mille objurgations
que Marie ne manquait jamais de relever. La mère était partagée
entre un désir déterminé de tirer parti de sa fille en la mariant à
quelque prince — et une jalousie féroce, qui enrageait de ne pouvoir
se dissimuler. De là une sourde querelle qui régnait éternellement
entre elles.
Madame Déperrier avait fini, les mardis, par rester confinée dans
sa chambre, d’où elle sortait de demi-heure en demi-heure pour faire
quelque admonestation à propos d’une parole plus mal sonnante
que les autres, surprise à travers la cloison.
Peu à peu, dans la chaleur des leçons, le vieux Théramène
s’était habitué à tutoyer couramment sa petite Marie. A l’indignation
de sa mère, Marie avait répondu, non sans quelque bonté :
— Quel mal ça peut-il faire ?… Pauvre homme ! il est si vieux…
Pourquoi l’humilier ? Veux-tu qu’il ne revienne plus ? Je serais bien
avancée ! Car, tu ne sais pas, au fond, il est très fort. Et il me
lâcherait, un peu raide. Et puis, ça m’amuse. C’est comme ça qu’on
fait au théâtre ; on se tutoie entre camarades, hommes et femmes.
Elle pensait encore : « Pourquoi empêcher cet homme de se
payer comme ça ? » Par de semblables raisonnements, trop
fréquents chez elle, elle acceptait, sans s’en douter, de se vendre en
détail. Elle ne s’appartenait plus. Elle appartenait à mille menues
dettes. C’est le destin des filles… Que de gens avaient ainsi main-
mise sur elle !
Il la tutoyait donc, Théramène ; elle en riait d’abord ; bientôt elle
se blasa, et c’était d’autant plus étrange, depuis qu’elle paraissait ne
plus voir ce qu’il y avait là de choquant.
— Voyons, ma petite Marie, le mot ne sort pas ; tu bafouilles.
Tiens-toi droite. Les mains comme ça… Marche donc avec tout le
corps. Tu as l’air de glisser dans une rainure…
Il redressait son dos voûté, et la vieillesse décrépite et laide
donnait sa leçon d’attitude et de noblesse à la beauté jeune.
Si l’on riait, mes bons ! Rien n’était plus divertissant.
C’était drôle surtout quand il répétait la théorie « telle que je l’ai
recueillie de la propre bouche de mon maître Samson ».
Il y avait toujours quelqu’un pour lui crier : « Le bourreau ? »
— Non, messieurs, répondait Théramène ; je parle de l’illustre
comédien.
Et il commençait :
— Quand vous rentrez chez vous, le soir, qu’est-ce que vous
faites ?
— Je prends mon bougeoir chez mon concierge, répondait
invariablement un des jeunes gens.
— Bon. Après ?
— Je monte mon escalier.
— Je veux bien ; mais, pour monter votre escalier, qu’est-ce que
vous faites ?
— Je lève le pied.
— Comme un caissier… C’est là que je vous attendais… Eh
bien ! messieurs, dans une tirade, le premier vers c’est la première
marche, et comme on lève le pied de marche en marche, vous
élevez la voix, de vers en vers — jusqu’où ?
— Jusque chez moi, au cinquième.
— Mais non ! Jusqu’au premier palier. Les paliers sont là pour
nous permettre de souffler — et de prendre des temps. Vous prenez
donc un temps… Et puis ?
— J’attaque le second étage…
— Jusqu’au palier suivant. Et puis ?
— Et puis, je rentre chez moi.
— Mais non, malheureux ! vous ne rentrez pas chez vous… Et
c’est bien là que je vous attendais, car aucune science ne
s’improvise ! Les secrets de l’art, monsieur, sont le trésor de
l’humanité. Ce sont des fruits, lentement mûris, que la tradition
conserve et transmet — lampada tradunt — et qui permettent à
Pinchard de donner la main à Molière, par une chaîne non
interrompue d’hommes de talent, j’oserai dire de génie.
Cette phrase était acclamée.
— Prenez un temps, Pinchard. Vous voilà au cinquième.
— A la fin de la tirade, poursuivait Pinchard imperturbable, vous
ne rentrez pas chez vous… Loin de là !… Vous vous précipitez
brusquement, la tête la première, dans la cage de l’escalier… c’est-
à-dire que vous laissez retomber tout à coup votre voix dans les
notes basses, en la prenant dans le creux, et vous faites un grand
effet sur le public !
De Marie, Théramène avait fait Rita…, Mariquita, Marita, Rita…
Si bien que toute la bande des littéraires se mit à l’appeler ainsi,
dans l’intimité, et Léon Terral tout le premier.
Elle se montrait à eux dans des demi-négligés un peu suspects.
Il fallait garder ce qu’elle avait de mieux pour la parade de la rue ou
des grandes soirées. Ici, à ces gens qu’elle comptait bien licencier
un jour, elle se laissait voir en déshabillé, avec une robe fatiguée,
fripée un peu, je ne sais quoi d’abandonné, de lâche, de médiocre
en elle. Ce n’était pas par respect pour sa personne, ni par goût du
joli, qu’elle aimait la propreté, mais seulement parce qu’elle la croyait
indispensable dans l’art de plaire. Or, qu’avait-elle besoin de plaire à
ces gens-là ! Il aurait fallu s’imposer un effort qu’ils ne méritaient pas.
C’est par paresse, et aussi par économie, qu’elle se relâchait ainsi
de son habituelle coquetterie… Ah ! si elle avait eu une femme de
chambre !… Mais, dès qu’elle serait riche, tout changerait… Et elle
rêvait quelquefois d’une salle de bain étonnante, où la baignoire
serait en argent massif, les robinets en or, et où elle prendrait des
bains de lait.
— En attendant, je suis bien assez belle pour eux, telle que je
suis. Mazette ! on leur en fournira, des filles comme moi, à regarder
pour rien, tant qu’ils veulent !
Lorsqu’elle revint d’Hyères, elle fit entendre à tout ce monde
inférieur que les réunions du soir n’auraient pas lieu cette année.
Elle ne voulait pas se faire surprendre, une belle après-midi, au
milieu de tout ce monde, par le comte Paul, qui ne pouvait tarder à
venir chez elle.
Le pauvre Théramène accourut désespéré.
— Mon petit Théramène, c’est fini, je n’ai plus besoin de vous ;
j’ai des raisons graves. Jusqu’ici ça pouvait aller, vos visites ; ça ne
peut plus. C’est un parti à prendre. Je comprends que ça vous
embête ; moi aussi d’ailleurs. Vous m’amusiez tant !
Le vieux bouffon avait des larmes plein ses yeux. Sa main
tremblait.
— C’est, que j’ai pris l’habitude de te voir, ma petite Rita. Je me
suis attaché à toi comme une vieille bête de toutou… Et puis, c’était
au moins un déjeuner par semaine, un vrai, avec des œufs dans les
omelettes.
— Qu’est-ce que vous voulez ? C’est comme ça !
— Je dirai à tout le monde que je suis le frotteur, fit-il tout à coup
avec une humilité sincère et tendre, qu’il accentua théâtralement en
pliant l’échine d’une façon burlesque.
Elle réfléchit :
— Comme ça, oui, si tu veux, père Théramène.
— Elle m’a tutoyé, l’enfant !
— Ça n’est pas la première fois.
— Et dis-moi, Rita, je déjeunerai encore, hein ?
— Oui, à la cuisine.
VIII
Elle avait ainsi fait la toilette de sa maison. Elle avait balayé les
bohèmes : le seul qui restât balayait la poussière de leurs souliers.
Et certains coins de l’appartement des Déperrier en avaient, ma foi,
besoin. Bien que le salon fût la pièce soignée, d’apparence presque
élégante, il ne fallait pas chercher longtemps pour voir que rien n’y
était de vrai luxe, mais le faux y avait quelque simplicité. On eût dit
qu’il n’était point question de tricher. C’est qu’elle avait du goût, et
savait donner aux étoffes les moins précieuses une élégance de bon
aloi par la manière dont elle les posait et les drapait, autour des
glaces et sur les meubles. Cela dissimulait bien des délabrements ;
l’art est le grand cache-misère. Le comte Paul, n’ayant jamais vu le
petit salon des dames Déperrier, n’avait été frappé que du goût de
l’arrangement, de l’heureux choix des pauvres bibelots. Il tournait
tout à l’éloge de la ravissante fille. Comme il n’arrivait jamais à
l’improviste, elle le recevait sous les armes. Alors, elle avait ses
chaussures les plus soignées, ses bas des grands jours, une robe
simple, le tout sortant des meilleures maisons, où elle obtenait des
rabais inouïs par l’entremise du bas-bleu chroniqueur de modes. Elle
n’était pas de ces lanceuses qui portent des toilettes de prix pour
rendre service aux couturiers… qui, en échange, les leur donnent.
Elle ne les payait qu’en partie, mais elle payait… « Comme ça,
personne n’avait rien à dire ! »
Quant à la comtesse d’Aiguebelle, malgré les craintes de Marie, il
lui était impossible d’être renseignée à fond sur elle, car du mauvais
monde, et même du bon, que fréquentaient les dames Déperrier,
personne ne pénétrait chez le comte Paul. Une chose encore les
préservait, c’est que certaines gens répugnent à certains moyens
d’information.