Page:Laughing Boy-1929.djvu/212

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CHAPTER XV I THE winter passed as swiftly as the summe— more so, in fact, for, feeling more sure of herscE § Slim Girl consented to a social life. They we= | to various dances, becoming better known amcre | the Southern Navajos, who began to accept a= 1 as entirely one of themselves. Learning wiz | practice better and better how to avoid bei | different in a way that troubled others, she w= | able to be one of them without the fatal appez=- { ance of reserve and effort. By a slow process. = | saw, Laughing Boy really was bringing her beck f into her own people. She consented out of poli to undergo the Night Chant initiation, the scourz- | ing with yucca leaves, the demonstration of th { masks, and having done so found, surprised =| her own naiveté, that it was a genuine source ¥ | satisfaction to her. Knowing that something ¥ | ‘the true substance was forever lost to her, she | surrounded herself as much as possible with ths trappings of Navajo-ism. There were obstacles and interruptions: a dout= § life carries heavy enough penalties, and a past iz 2 past, particularly if its locale is much the same a

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