on. The child escaped and told the story. The Sioux
went on the warpath immediately and brought home forty or fifty
Chippewa scalps. They had been "lucky" as they found a camp where the
warriors were all away. They massacred the old men, women and children
and came home to a big scalp dance. My mother had played with the Indian
children so much that she was as jubilant as they when she saw these
gory trophies. She learned and enjoyed the dance. She taught me the
Sioux words to this scalp dance and often sang them to us. Translated
they are:

You Ojibway, you are mean,
We will use you like a mouse.
We have got you and
We will strike you down.
My dog is very hungry,
I will give him the Ojibway scalps.

The Indian children would take a kettleful of water, make a fire under
it, and throw fish or turtles from their bone hooks directly into this.
When they were cooked slightly, they would take them out and eat them
without salt, cracking the turtle shells on the rocks. The boys used to
hunt with their bows and arrows just as they did in later years. They
were always fair in their games.

My mother married Mr. Gibbs and moved to this farm on what was the
territorial road near the present Agricultural college. It was on the
direct Indian trail to the hunting grounds around Rice Lake.

The Indian warriors were always passing on it and always stopped to see
their old playmate. By this time they had guns and they would always
give them to mother to keep while they were in the house. The kitchen
floor would be covered with sleeping warriors. Mother knew all their
superstitions. One was that if a woman jumped over their feet they could
never run again. I can well remember my gay, light hearted mother
running and jumping over all their feet in succession as they lay asleep
in her kitchen and the way her eyes danced with mischief as she stood
jollying them in Sioux. We noticed that none of them lost any time in
finding out if they were bewitched.

Our Indians when they came to see mother wanted to do as she did. They
would sit up to the table and she would give them a plate and knife and
fork. This pleased them much. They would start with the food on their
plates but soon would have it all in their laps.

They were very dissatisfied with the way the whites were taking their
lands. The big treaty at Traverse de Sioux was especially distasteful to
them. They said their lands had been stolen from them. They wer