Indian Boyhood [74]
from that of the past.
Still, I was eager to see some of the wonderful inventions of the white people. When we reached Fort Totten, I gazed about me with live- ly interest and a quick imagination.
My father had forgotten to tell me that the fire-boat-walks-on-mountains had its track at James- town, and might appear at any moment. As I was watering the ponies, a peculiar shrilling noise pealed forth from just beyond the hills. The ponies threw back their heads and listened; then they ran snorting over the prairie. Mean-
First Impressions of Civilization 289
while, I too had taken alarm. I leaped on the back of one of the ponies, and dashed off at full speed. It was a clear day; I could not imagine what had caused such an unearthly noise. It seemed as if the world were about to burst in two!
I got upon a hill as the train appeared. "O!" I said to myself, "that is the fire-boat-walks- on-mountains that I have heard about!" Then I drove back the ponies.
My father was accustomed every morning to read from his Bible, and sing a stanza of a hymn. I was about very early with my gun for several mornings; but at last he stopped me as I was preparing to go out, and bade me wait.
I listened with much astonishment. The hymn contained the word Jesus. I did not comprehend what this meant; and my father then told me that Jesus was the Son of God who came on earth to save sinners, and that it was because of him that he had sought me. This conversation made a deep impression upon my mind.
Late in the fall we reached the citizen settle- ment at Flandreau, South Dakota, where my father and some others dwelt among the whites. Here my wild life came to an end, and my school days began.
THE END
Still, I was eager to see some of the wonderful inventions of the white people. When we reached Fort Totten, I gazed about me with live- ly interest and a quick imagination.
My father had forgotten to tell me that the fire-boat-walks-on-mountains had its track at James- town, and might appear at any moment. As I was watering the ponies, a peculiar shrilling noise pealed forth from just beyond the hills. The ponies threw back their heads and listened; then they ran snorting over the prairie. Mean-
First Impressions of Civilization 289
while, I too had taken alarm. I leaped on the back of one of the ponies, and dashed off at full speed. It was a clear day; I could not imagine what had caused such an unearthly noise. It seemed as if the world were about to burst in two!
I got upon a hill as the train appeared. "O!" I said to myself, "that is the fire-boat-walks- on-mountains that I have heard about!" Then I drove back the ponies.
My father was accustomed every morning to read from his Bible, and sing a stanza of a hymn. I was about very early with my gun for several mornings; but at last he stopped me as I was preparing to go out, and bade me wait.
I listened with much astonishment. The hymn contained the word Jesus. I did not comprehend what this meant; and my father then told me that Jesus was the Son of God who came on earth to save sinners, and that it was because of him that he had sought me. This conversation made a deep impression upon my mind.
Late in the fall we reached the citizen settle- ment at Flandreau, South Dakota, where my father and some others dwelt among the whites. Here my wild life came to an end, and my school days began.
THE END