I had never seen a train, and he knew it.

"Mother, I am going East! I like big red apples, and I want to ride on
the iron horse! Mother, say yes!" I pleaded.

My mother said nothing. The missionaries waited in silence; and my eyes
began to blur with tears, though I struggled to choke them back. The
corners of my mouth twitched, and my mother saw me.

"I am not ready to give you any word," she said to them. "Tomorrow I
shall send you my answer by my son."

With this they left us. Alone with my mother, I yielded to my tears, and
cried aloud, shaking my head so as not to hear what she was saying to
me. This was the first time I had ever been so unwilling to give up my
own desire that I refused to hearken to my mother's voice.

There was a solemn silence in our home that night. Before I went to bed
I begged the Great Spirit to make my mother willing I should go with the
missionaries.

The next morning came, and my mother called me to her side. "My
daughter, do you still persist in wishing to leave your mother?" she
asked.

"Oh, mother, it is not that I wish to leave you, but I want to see the
wonderful Eastern land," I answered.

My dear old aunt came to our house that morning, and I heard her say,