Sleep, sleep, my child, while still 'tis night;

Then bravely wake--then bravely wake!


The Dakota women were wont to cut and bring
their fuel from the woods and, in fact, to perform
most of the drudgery of the camp. This of neces-
sity fell to their lot, because the men must follow
the game during the day. Very often my grand-
mother carried me with her on these excursions;
and while she worked it was her habit to suspend
me from a wild grape vine or a springy bough, so
that the least breeze would swing the cradle to
and fro.

She has told me that when I had grown old
enough to take notice, I was apparently capable of
holding extended conversations in an unknown
dialect with birds and red squirrels. Once I fell
asleep in my cradle, suspended five or six feet
from the ground, while Uncheedah was some dis-
tance away, gathering birch bark for a canoe. A
squirrel had found it convenient to come upon the
bow of my cradle and nibble his hickory nut, until
he awoke me by dropping the crumbs of his meal.
My disapproval of his intrusion was so decided
that he had to take a sudden and quick flight to
another bough, and from there he began to pour