Wisdom And Peace Come When You Start

When A Child My Mother Taught Me The Legends Of Our People; Taught Me Of The Sun And Sky, The Moon And Stars, The Clouds And Storms. She Also Taught Me To Kneel And Pray To Usen For Strength, Health, Wisdom, And Protection. We Never Prayed Against Any Person, But If We Had Aught Against Any Individual We Ourselves Took Vengeance. We Were Taught That Usen Does Not Care For The Petty Quarrels Of Men.

I Was Warmed By The Sun, Rocked By The Winds And Sheltered By The Trees As Other Indian Babes. I Was Living Peaceably When People Began To Speak Bad Of Me. Now I Can Eat Well, Sleep Well And Be Glad. I Can Go Everywhere With A Good Feeling.

We Had No Churches, No Religious Organizations, No Sabbath Day, No Holidays, And Yet We Worshiped. Sometimes The Whole Tribe Would Assemble To Sing And Pray; Sometimes A Smaller Number, Perhaps Only Two Or Three. The Songs Had A Few Words, But Were Not Formal. The Singer Would Occasionally Put In Such Words As He Wished Instead Of The Usual Tone Sound. Sometimes We Prayed In Silence; Sometimes Each One Prayed Aloud; Sometimes An Aged Person Prayed For All Of Us. At Other Times One Would Rise And Speak To Us Of Our Duties To Each Other And To Usen. Our Services Were Short.

I Should Never Have Surrendered. I Should Have Fought Until I Was The Last Man Alive.

The Soldiers Never Explained To The Government When An Indian Was Wronged, But Reported The Misdeeds Of The Indians.