nds of wild animals were very plenty. The foxes were the cutest
little animals and so tame. They would seem to be laughing at you.

A band of Indians was encamped at a lake near. One brave all dressed in
his Sunday best used to come and sit in the kitchen day after day. He
used to talk to the men but never said a word to us. He could speak good
English. One day the chief came in and went for him. Said he had been
away from his tepee for days and his squaws wanted him. Like lightning
he crossed the room to where I was and said, "Me got Sioux squaw. Me got
Winnebago squaw. Me want white squaw. You go?" I was very earnest in
declining.

Mrs. Robert Anderson--1854.

I was the first white woman in Eden Prairie. I came in 1854 with my
husband and small children and settled there in one of the first log
houses built. We paid for our farm the first year, from the cranberries
which grew in a bog on our land and which we sold for $1.00 a bushel.

I had never seen Indians near to, and so was very much afraid of them.
One day a big hideously painted brave marched in, seated himself and
looked stolidly around without making a sound. His long knife was
sticking in his belt. I was overpowered with fright and for a few
moments could do nothing. My children, one two years old and the other a
baby, were asleep behind the curtain. Realizing that I could do nothing
for them and that his anger might be aroused if he saw me run away with
them, I fled precipitately in the direction where my husband was
working. I had run about a quarter of a mile when my mother heart told
me I might not be in time if I waited for my husband, so I turned and
fled back towards the cabin. Entering, I saw my little two year old boy
standing by the Indian's side playing with the things in his belt while
the Indian carefully held the baby in his arms. In his belt were a
tobacco pouch and pipe, two rabbits with their heads drawn through, two
prairie chickens hanging from it by their necks, a knife and a tomahawk.
His expression remained unchanged. I gave him bread and milk to eat and
ever after he was our friend, oftentimes coming and bringing the
children playthings and moccasins. When he left, he gave me the rabbits
and prairie chickens and afterwards often brought me game.

One day Mr. Anderson was at work in the field, a long distance from the
house. He was cutting grain with a scythe and told me he would just
about get that piece done if I would bring him