Big and Little Sisters: A Story of an Indian Mission School

by Harriet Pyne Grove

  Cordelia Running Bird wound the ribbon round the little Bible, tying itwith care, and laid the book close by her on the bed; then she ate herdinner with a hearty relish. She had hardly finished when the door fromthe front hall was opened, and the young white mother, rosy from hersleigh-ride, looked into the dormitory. She saw the little Bible lyingnear Cordelia, glanced inquiringly at the dark-faced girl, and thensmiled and nodded, to receive a cheerful smile in answer.

  "Jump up quickly, dear, and dress," she said. "Some little girls aregoing up the river to the store, and one of the girls is CordeliaRunning Bird."

  Cordelia started out of bed in joyful haste.

  "Are you ready to give back the Bible?" asked the white mother, comingto the bed.

  "Yes, ma'am," replied Cordelia Running Bird, handing her the littlebook. "Thank you very much. It made me think of Annie, so I read it,and it told me I must love my enemies, so just like I shall do it now."

  "I am very glad the cross thoughts have left you," was the answer. "Nowput on your plaid dress and be ready in ten minutes."

  Cordelia flew to get the plaid dress from the closet, and was ready anddownstairs in a twinkling. The little girls selected for the drive werein the playroom putting on their hoods and coats in great delight.Cordelia hurriedly put on her own, and, opening her cupboard, sheunlocked a doll trunk, taking out a tiny purse for coins, whose portlysides bespoke some wealth within. She looked an instant at the bluedress and the silk for feather-stitching, finding to her great reliefthat they had not been touched. She locked them in the doll trunk, putthe little key into the purse, and whisked away.

  "The store is much nicer than the post office," was her joyousreflection, as she slipped the purse into her pocket on her wayoutdoors. "Very long have I been saving this last part of all the moneythat I earned tending baby; now I have a chance to spend it with my owneyes."

  Down the steep hill went the bob-sled to the great Missouri River, whereit took the straight, smooth road on the snow-laden ice. The sewingteacher drove the horses, giving them free rein. The school-teacher satbeside her on the seat, and Cordelia and the girls were snuggled down inhay upon the bottom of the sled, with comforters for lap-robes.

  The little log store was but two miles distant, and the party were notlong in reaching it. It stood upon a steep bluff on the opposite shore.The white man who kept it dealt to some extent in Indian curiosities, ofwhich the two teachers were in quest to send as Christmas gifts toEastern friends.

  "We wish to look especially at moccasins and Indian dolls," said theschool-teacher to the trader when they had made known their errand.

  "We wish to look especially at moccasins and Indiandolls," said the teacher.]

  "I've got some first-class moccasins, both porcupined and beaded, but noIndian dolls," replied the trader. "Indian dolls are growing mightyscarce, now the young squaws get so much put into their minds to do.Only the old-timers understand the trick of making dolls."

  "I am disappointed that you have none, for I wished to send one to mylittle niece. But I must wait and try to get one elsewhere."

  While the two teachers were examining the moccasins, Cordelia RunningBird and the children were absorbed in looking at the china dolls andother articles displayed upon the shelves and hanging from a wirestretched above the counter.

  "I was telling Hannah Straight Tree I should buy a big doll for Susie,and a red silk handkerchief for my father, and a blue silk handkerchieffor my mother, and should hang them on the Christmas tree," saidCordelia, partly to herself and partly to the little girls.

  "Kee! I would not hang them," said a prudent little maid of ten years."Hannah Straight Tree told the other girls, and they are very yelous--that is not the word, but I forget it--for they say they cannot hangtheir people anything. They say you think the name 'Running Bird' isvery stylish, and you wish to hear it called so often at the Christmastree."

  "Of course I shall not hang them," said Cordelia, firmly. "And I shallnot buy a doll for Susie, for my father always buys her one. I wasgoing to brag about her having two," she added candidly. "And I shallnot buy the silk handkerchiefs. They have the issue cotton ones andsome other ones that my father bought;" and she withdrew her eyes fromthe display of cheap and gaudy handkerchiefs of so-called silk materialsuspended from the wire. "I shall buy a cake pan with a steeple for mymother, and a hairbrush for my father, for his hairs stick up sostraight and stiff. And I shall give the presents very still at camp,so the school will not be jealous."

  Having thus subdued her vanity, Cordelia Running Bird shyly bought thearticles she had selected from the trader's boy, who helped his fatherin the store. She also bought four hair ribbons and a little bag ofcandy, having left two silver quarters. She was considering how tospend them when her eyes alighted on some little brown shoes and a pairof stockings matching them, beneath a small glass show-case.

  "Ver-r-y st-y-lish little shoes and stockings!" she exclaimed,forgetting in her rapture to be shy before the trader's boy.

  The small girls crowded upon tiptoe at the show-case, peering throughthe glass sides to inspect the little wonders.

  "Just the color of an Indian," observed a little maid of seven, holdingup her slim hand to compare it with the red-brown shoes and stockings."But they made them for a little white girl. They are like the ones thelittle white visitor with the pink dress wore last summer."

  "They are just as pretty for a little Indian girl," replied Cordelia."They would be just right for Susie," with a longing eye.

  "But Susie does not need them," said the prudent little girl. "She hasa black shoes and stockings in your cupboard that are very nice."

  "But she could have two pairs. These would be so pretty with the reddress in the Jack Frost song. She could wear the black ones with theblue dress," said Cordelia, seized anew with her besetting sin andgrowing helpless in its grasp.

  She asked the number of the shoes, finding it the same that Susie wore.Then she asked the price. She could buy the shoes and stockings for adollar and a half.

  "One dollar more than I have got," she said in feverish regret. She wasintently silent for a little, then she turned, and, running quickly tothe school-teacher, drew her to one side, where they could talk unheard.

  "The Indian doll my grandmother made for me is very nice and new, for Ihave kept it in my trunk so much. I will give it to you if you please togive me one dollar--that is what they gave my grandmother for her dollswhen she would sell them at the agency," Cordelia said, in eagerundertone.

  "Why, child, you surely cannot wish to sell your Indian doll that has abeaded buckskin dress just like the one your grandmother wore when shewas your age?" said the school-teacher in surprise. "No, thank you,dear. You wish to give me pleasure, but I cannot accept it, for I knowyou love the little Indian grandmother better than you could theprettiest white doll in the Christmas box," she added, gratefully.

  "It is very Indian-minded, and I do not now care for it," replied thegirl, with a clouded face. "I wish to buy the little brown shoes andstockings in the glass box," pointing to the show-case. "I have onlyfifty cents."

  "Why, of course, Cordelia, if you really wish to sell it," was theresponse. "The shoes and stockings are for Susie, I suppose, but arenot the black ones nice enough?"

  Cordelia had displayed the little black shoes and stockings to theteachers with a deal of pride.

  "But the brown ones are much prettier for the Jack Frost song," sheargued, pressingly.

  "Very well," replied the teacher, opening her purse and handing her thedollar, with a sorry look. "Perhaps, however, we would better see thelittle things before you buy them."

  The brown shoes and stockings were examined by the teachers and werethought quite satisfactory for the price. Cordelia bought thembreathlessly and hid them in her coat pocket to insure their safety.

  But the home-going in the early moonlight evening was less joyous thanhad been the journey to the store. To the young Sioux girl thesleigh-bells
seemed to jingle harshly, and the gumbo hills, whose topswere bare of snow, seemed frowning blackly from across the river.

  Cordelia Running Bird passed some peppermints to the children, whichawoke a burst of gratitude.

  "We little girls shall always choose Susie in the games," said one.

  "Yes," exclaimed another, "Hannah Straight Tree and the dormitory girlshave told us not to, but we shall."

  "Ee! Talk lower so the teacher will not hear you," said Cordelia, witha sudden flutter of the breath. "You must choose Dolly half the time--if Susie plays."

  "She is too bad-looking," said a third. "Susie has two pairs of prettyshoes, and two nice dresses, and we like her better."

  "But you must not talk that way before the larger girls," Cordeliacautioned in an undertone. "Doily has a new hair ribbon like the redone I have bought for Susie--both are in my lap. And I have bought apink one for Lucinda. I wish to do them good--Hannah Straight Tree,too. You must tell the larger girls you like Dolly just as well asSusie. If they wear alike ribbons on their braids it will be nice."

  "A new ribbon cannot dress Dolly up," remarked the prudent little girl."The points of her hairs will look like Susie's points, and that isall."