For instance, "Grandfather" is used when addressing or speaking of the President of the United States; "Little Father" and "Father" when addressing or speaking of the Secretary of the Interior and the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, both of whom rank below the President, as is well known to the Indian.

The use of terms of relationship may appear strange to us, but there is, as we have seen, a reason for it.

This reason also explains why a child or an adult generally stands mute when we address him by his personal name or ask him what his name is; his silence is not to be attributed to "Indian stolidity," which we ignorantly regard as a marked characteristic of the race.
The bestowal of a name, whether the name is of the first or of the second class already described, was always attended with ceremonies.

These differed among the many tribes of the United States, particularly in their details, but fundamentally they had much in common.
PRESENTING THE CHILD TO THE COSMOS Among the Omaha a ceremony was observed shortly after the birth of a child that on broad lines reflects a general belief among the Indians.
In the introductory chapter of this book the Indian's feeling of unquestioning unity with nature is mentioned.

The following Omaha ceremony and ritual furnish direct testimony to the profundity of this feeling.