WINTEK  —  HOW      PASSED YOUNG      INDIANS      DREAMING      OF

SCALPS     AND     STEALING    HORSES NO     TASTE    FOR     FARM
ING.
THE  winter  had  been  spent  in  listening  to  the
complaints  of  the  Indians  upon  nearly
every  subject  connected  with  their  manner  of
life;  in  looking  after  the  stores  for  issue,  Capt.
Woodson,  Acting  Commissary,  having  been  re
lieved  and  sent  to  other  fields  of  duty;  in  hear
ing  complaints  of  white  men  who  came  to  the
agency  from  the  white  settlements  in  Nebraska,
looking  for  stolen  horses,  as  they  said,  but  who
had  all  the  appearance  of  a  class  who  are  not
averse  to  taking  a  hand  at  stealing  an  unpro
tected  horse  themselves;  in  hearing  recitals  of
depredations  by  Indians  against  white  men,
and  of  white  men  against  Indians,  and  en
deavoring  to  adjust  their  differences ;  called
upon  frequently  to  attend  a  night  council  in  an
unfrequented  lodge,  gotten  up  by  some  schem
ing  warrior  who  had  an  enterprise  on  foot,
which,  should  he  succeed  in  having  it  carried


AMONG  THE   SIOUX  OF  DAKOTA.  127

out,  might  add  to  his  importance  when  brought
before  the  general  public.
The  northern  spring  was  welcomed  with  more
than  usual  delight,  affording,  as  it  did,  an  op
portunity  to  escape  indoor  work,  and  to  visit
the-  fields,  which,  theoretically,  were  to  bud
and  blossom  under  the  cultivation  of  the  In
dians.  The  interest  taken  in  agriculture  by  the
chiefs  was,  as  heretofore  explained,  a  minus
quantity,  but  then  others,  not  holding  exalted
positions,  might  be  induced  to  go  into  the  fields
if  a  proper  example  were  shown  them,  and  com
mence  the  long  road  marked  out  for  their  ad
vancement.
