and I will ask the blessing."

Every eye was closed as I asked a blessing of several sentences. When I
had finished, I said "Amen" and of course opened my own eyes. To my
amazement and amusement, every eye, except those of my own Indian
attendants, was still closed. "Open your eyes," I said. "Amen, here
means, _open your eye_. It has some other meanings, but that will do
here."

Then we went at our dinners. There were no plates or forks, only our
hunting knives. Every one, including the missionary, took up a piece of
the well-cooked meat in his left hand, and began whittling off his
dinner with his knife. My friend, the chieftainess, had large, strong
and not very clean hands. But she cared not for that. She grabbed up a
large piece of juicy meat, into which her hand almost sank, and cut and
tore off the savoury bits with great delight. Then she flung it on the
ground and took a good drink of the tea; and then seizing hold of the
meat tore at it again with great satisfaction. Suddenly she dropped it
again upon the ground, and, plunging her greasy hand into the bosom of
her dress, said:

"O, missionary, I want you to see how I have tried to keep the record of
the praying day." So out of the bosom of her dress she drew a greasy
dirty paper, which at first I did not recognise as the large clean sheet
I had given her.

"Here, look," she said, "see how I have tried to keep the record of the
praying day!"

With much interest, I examined it, and found, that during all those six
months, she had faithfully kept the record. There it was; the right day
for all that long period. Then she went on to tell me of all her
experiences. She said, that some days when she was in her wigwam trying
to think of the Great Spirit and of His Son, and was trying to pray to
Him, a boy would rush in and say:

"Ookemasis, there is a big reindeer out in the ravine, I am sure you can
shoot it."

"But I would say, `No. This is the praying day and I cannot fish or
shoot on this day.' So I have never gone hunting or fishing on the
praying day. I just try to think of the Great Spirit, my Father, and to
pray and talk to Him, and have Him talk to me."

Of course I spoke kind and encouraging words to her, and she was very
happy indeed to hear them.

Then she put back the dirty paper, and reaching down to the ground again
seized hold of her big piece of meat. Looking at mine, a bony bit which
I had selected because I could hold