ABSTRACT
There are indications that northern Athapaskans did not always treat the aged with respect, and when this was the case, elderly individuals may have spent some time lamenting their lost youth and physical vitality. As in any culture, adult life was the period of an individual's greatest responsibilities during which he was required to utilize his energies and skills to the highest possible degree. It should be emphasized that men always avoided the vicinity of a birth, the whole pattern of isolation associated with the event being related to the fact that a woman in labor was considered to be afflicted with a sickness. Infanticide also occasionally occurred among the Ingalik, but only when a mother was unmarried or had become discouraged after giving birth to many children, all of whom died in infancy. Information on the treatment of children, and indeed on childhood activities in general, is far from complete.
