Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1900-04-05

nnaunnsssssps~zss~smaA
over ne and | felt rs il years of wear
| mess lay like water soaked logs upon
me
And the health OF zitksla-Sa began
10 fail Fortunately the Inheritance OF
u marvellous endurance enabled her to
bend without breaking, but fail she
aid nevertheless, and the kind-hearted
superintendent Of the school noticing
this, knowing her nature aud Underlined
longjngS, said one day; Il am going to
turn YOU loose to pasture" He was
Sendtng her west to gather Indian pu-
pills for his school and this was his
way OF putting Il: but to her It meant
more than this, 1t meant green fields.
sweeping praries, trackless forests. her
mother,
How often she speaks OF the intense
heat and the sticky car smoke" on her
Journey back To tho west. How she
notes the srAdual expansion nt the ho-
Wson rs her train energies from the
forests into The plains and how the
cloud shadows which driftcd about on
The waving yellow OF louE-drled
grasses" thrilled her like the meeting
ot old friends When near her old
home "a strong hot wind" seemed de.
tcrmtncd to blow her hat off and ro-
turn her TO oldeu days when she
roamed harohcaded over the hills"
When | saw the first cone shaped
wtEwam" she says, Il could not help
tutoring an exclamation which caused
my driver a sudden Jump out OF his
drOWsN nodding" She was wondering
what her mother would say upon SEQ
ing her little daughter grown tall,
and her heart bounded with all the
SprIghtliness of younger days when
her mother FASTENED out 10 hold her
head against her check And that aged
Indian woman did Just M any white
mother would do In the same cIrcum-
stances.
She built brisk fire on the ground
in tho topec and hung a blackened
| coffee pot on one OF tho prongs OF a
forked pole which leaned over the
flames, Placing pan on a heap OF red
embers, she baked some unleavened
bread This light luncheon she brought
into the cabin and arranged on table
covered with checkered ololoth.
Primitive cookery, you say? True,
hut to Hitllala-Sa 1t was home cookery.
and the cook was her mother, Follow
| ing this simple meal comes long chat
recalling days Of long ago. Her mother
has lost none Of her hatred for tho pale.
faces 10 her tho bronged Dakota IL
still the only real man To her Taku
| lyotan Wasakn the absolute power
remains the only hope OF her race. And
then IN the long twilight Nltlaln Sa's
thoughts run IN this wise:
had last all consciousness for
the nature world about me For
the white mans prayers | had
| given up my faith In the
Great Spirit, lFor these same papers, |
had forgotten the healing in trees and
| books On account of my mothers
/ simple view OF life, and my lack OF
any, | gave her up also, Like
slender tree, ! had been uprooted from
my mother, nature and God The
natural cont Of bark which had pro-
| tccted my oyorsensiIve nature was
scrapcd off To the very quick
but from this dream Hitkala-Sa
awakened with new idea She had
thought Of another and better way OF
! Trying to solve the problem of Indian
education. ana with this rnd in view
she Is now taking a long course Of
study In IN eastern city, Need 1t be
said that those who have read these
simple sketches, 30 fun OF pathos and
beauty and longing, will await tho ro-
suit Of her further stnd,s with far
from idle expectancy?