By Robert De Groat
THE LURE OF TOTEM LORE
Do you like to whittle? Would you like to learn? Now is the chance. Every little trick
in carving poles, both small and large, is included in this book.
By the time you are half way through it, you should have two-thirds of the little
pole--the one you've always wanted for your dresser-finished. It really is simple, when it
everything is explained step by step with plenty of clearly illustrated ideas. All your
Patrol totems are included right in this book.
Perhaps you want to make some other kind of object--a tray, or
a thunder bird for your fire-by-friction set, or even a large Patrol or Troop totem pole
for your Council Ring. The possibilities are endless. We merely suggest enough to get you
started. It takes only a few hours to finish a small object.
If anyone tries to tell you that the Indians worshipped totem poles you can tell them
they are mistaken, for noted authorities state clearly that totemism is not a religion. It
is the identification of a man with his totem, whether his totem be an animal, a plant or
what not. It is a serious, though apparently common mistake to speak of a totem as a god
and to say that it is worshipped by the clan.
In pure totemism among the aborigines, the totem is never a god and is never
worshipped. A man no more worships his totem and regards it as his god than he worships
his father and mother, or brother and sister, and regards them as his gods. He certainly
respects his totem and treats it with consideration, but the respect and consideration
which he pays to it are the same that he pays to his friends and relatives; hence when his
totem is an edible animal or plant, he commonly, but not always, abstains from killing and
eating it, just as he abstains from killing his friends and relatives.
MODERN ADAPTATIONS AND USES
IN CAMP
Do you like to whittle? Would you like to learn? Now is the chance. Every little trick
in carving poles, both small and large, is included in this book.
If anyone tries to tell you that the Indians worshipped totem poles you can tell them
they are mistaken, for noted authorities state clearly that totemism is not a religion. It
is the identification of a man with his totem, whether his totem be an animal, a plant or
what not. It is a serious, though apparently common mistake to speak of a totem as a god
and to say that it is worshipped by the clan. 
