as that?

GRANDMOTHER: 1820, that was.

SMITH: And--you mean you were here all alone?

GRANDMOTHER: No, we weren't alone. We had the Owens ten miles down the
river.

SMITH: But how did you get here?

GRANDMOTHER: Got here in a wagon, how do you s'pose? (_gaily_) Think we
flew?

SMITH: But wasn't it unsafe?

GRANDMOTHER: Them set on safety stayed back in Ohio.

SMITH: But one family! I should think the Indians would have wiped you
out.

GRANDMOTHER: The way they wiped us out was to bring fish and corn. We'd
have starved to death that first winter hadn't been for the Indians.

SMITH: But they were such good neighbours--why did you throw dish water
at them?

GRANDMOTHER: That was after other white folks had roiled them up--white
folks that didn't know how to treat 'em. This very land--land you want
to buy--was the land they loved--Blackhawk and his Indians. They came
here for their games. This was where their fathers--as they called
'em--were buried. I've seen my husband and Blackhawk climb that hill
together. (_a backward point right_) He used to love that
hill--Blackhawk. He talked how the red man and the white man could live
together. But poor old Blackhawk--what he didn't know was how many white
man there was. After the war--when he was beaten but not conquered in
his heart--they took him east--Washington, Philadelphia, New York--and
when he saw the white man's cities--it was a different Indian came back.
He just let his heart break without ever turning a hand.

SMITH: But we paid them for their lands. (_she looks at him_) Paid them
something.

GRANDMOTHER: Something. For fifteen million acres of this Mississippi
Valley land--best on this globe, we paid two thousand two hundred and
thirty-four dollars and fifty cents, and promised to deliver annually
goods to the value of one thousand dollars. Not a fancy price--even for
them days, (_children's voices are heard outside. She leans forward and
looks through the door, left_) Ira! Let that cat be!

SMITH: (_looking from the window_) These, I suppose, are your
grandchildren?

GRANDMOTHER: The boy's my grandson. The little girl is Madeline
Fejevary--Mr Fejevary's youngest child.

SMITH: The Fejevary place adjoins on this side? (_pointing right, down_)

GRANDMOTHER: Yes. We've been neighbours ever since the Fejevarys came
here from Hungary after 1848. He was a count at home--and he's a man of
learning. But he was a refugee because he fought for freedom