How to "turn on" fonts in X?

[Bob Bernstein <poobah%ruptured-duck.com@localhost>]

I progress reconstituting my NetBSD system, after removing all 
packages. For example, typing 'startx' in my home dir launches 
icewm, with the mouse nicely functional.

Problem: none of the wm's buttons or menus have any readable 
labels, as if they don't know how to obtain needed fonts.

Are there some basic font configuration steps I need to take?

Thank you

--
Man is essentially a dreamer, wakened sometimes for a moment by 
some peculiarly obtrusive element in the outer world, but 
lapsing again quickly into the happy somnolence of imagination.

                                         Russell