nting season was over, the young crops were up, and the Shaws had
none. The mother was not strong, yet she did an immense amount of
work. As she had been highly trained in sewing, she made the clothing
for the entire family. The two older girls, Eleanor and Mary, did the
housework and this left Anna and her brother to do the rough outdoor
work. Together they accomplished this and many other tasks. They even
made a set of furniture for their simple cabin home.

Indians were all about through the woods, and once while out playing
Anna saw a band of them going towards her home. She hurried back to
see her mother giving them food. This they took with no thanks and
departed. But later in the year they returned and brought Mrs. Shaw a
large supply of venison to show her they appreciated her kindness.

Another time a number of Indians stopped at the Shaw cabin, and they
had been drinking whiskey. They demanded food, and it was prepared for
them. Meanwhile Anna and her brother, fearful lest the liquor might
excite their guests, managed to go to the attic and let down a rope
from the gable window. With it they drew up all their firearms, one by
one. Then at long intervals, members of the family would slip away and
hide upstairs where they knew they would be safe unless the Indians
set fire to the house.

The hungry guests ate up everything, then stretched themselves out and
fell into a drunken sleep. The Shaw children watched them all night
through cracks in the attic floor, and when morning came were glad to
see the Indians sneak away as if they were ashamed.

Many hardships came to the little family. Their cow died, and for an
entire winter they had no milk. They had no coffee either, but made
something they called coffee out of dried peas and burned rye. Anna
was always cold; she cannot remember that the house was ever warm
enough to be comfortable; still she enjoyed life and made up her mind
to go to college, to be a preacher, and to be worth one hundred
thousand dollars. She named this amount because it seemed so unlikely
she would ever have any money. Often she would steal away and preach
in the woods to an imaginary audience.

When she was fifteen years of age she began to teach school. She had
but fourteen pupils, and they learned to read from whatever books they
could find. The result was that their text books were almanacs and
hymn books. For teaching she was paid two dollars a week and board.
This latter did not