Cries from the Earth Read Online Free Page B

until the Indians are taught a lesson and, if not exterminated, so weakened they will never molest and butcher again. These Sioux Indians will give trouble as long as they exist, no matter how we treat them, “for ’tis their nature to.” They will never stay on their reservations and the lives of settlers in this entire western country are not safe as long as the Indian question is unsettled. This is all we talk about out here.
    But did she want to tell her mamma about what rumors of trouble loomed on the horizon now?
    Best not to worry that gentle Quaker soul, she decided. Better that she fill her letters home with only news of the children and the Doctor, reports on the spring flowers carpeting the hillsides in a brilliant blaze of color despite one gloomy, rainy day after another.
    The Doctor finally found us another Chinaman to be our cook. At first I had a soldier, but he was not nice, and the Doctor sent him off. I don’t think I am very fond of kitchen work. I don’t wonder at cooks asking 30 or 35 dollars a month. I will cheerfully pay Mr. Sing his thirty dollars in gold a month, though it does seem awful. All the other officers here, except Colonel Perry, have Chinese help. Mr. Sing moves around the house like a mouse in his soft shoes. Bert calls him a “lady.” Mr. Sing’s long hair and gown confuse Mr. Bert! Just think of paying 35 dollars in greenbacks to a man who does not do nearly as much as a woman in the East does for 14.
    My Chinaman, I hope, is going to prove a success. He made delightful muffins for breakfast and is now making a cake for dinner. I am going to have a baked stuffed salmon for dinner tomorrow night. It is such a comfort to go out and sit down to a nice, full table and not have to fuss over things before hand.
    Bertie finally had his turn with the mumps, and he is getting his big teeth at last. Everything with my Mr. Bert now is a horse! He insists upon you singing about a horse when you put him to sleep, and everything he gets he sticks between his legs and says, “Get up, horsie!” Last night John was going out and took Bert up in front for a few minutes. The horse started to gallop, and Bert laughed out loud! Bess delights in her dollies, and, much to my delight, Bertie does, too. Doctor has an idea boys won’t play with girls’ things.
    Yes, Bess and Bertie are brown as berries, so delighted to be out in the sunshine after Sitka. You never saw such sunburnt little scamps in your life. They get so dirty that the bath tub is brought in and we scrub them every night.
    None of the three ladies here has any children. Always before, I and my whole set of intimate friends have been engaged in wondering how to prevent any more babies coming. Now I get among these people who would give their heads to have a baby and are just as busily engaged trying all sorts of means to have one.
    Lapwai is a pleasant post, as far-away posts go, but it is very quiet and lonely here. Doctor thinks we will be east of the mountains before 1879.
    Then Emily realized that her mother might well hear a disquieting report from this faraway post, any fragmentary news item about the Nez Perce that might frighten her mamma if Emily did not mention it first, preparing that dear old Quaker soul for the upset. Best for her to mention certain things in a calm, reassuring way.…
    Indians are passing by the post continually, but Indians are no novelty to us now. We are all very much interested in the news from the Black Hills and the Sioux War as we all have friends with the troops, and as we are surrounded by Indians here, we are all the more anxious that victory doesn’t crown the Plains Warriors. You know, two-thirds of the Nez Perces are Non-Treaty Indians, and they are intimate with the Sioux and other tribes on the warpath.
    She re-read that part, wondering if she buried the threat of trouble in a letter her mother would not grow as concerned as she might if she