THREE NOTABLE WOMEN 289 



"But what do you do when the babies 

 come?" 



"I bring them myself." 



''Had you no woman to come in and help 

 you?" 



"No, I bring them myself, — all alone." 



The husband corroborated this statement, 

 and he also said that he w^as away trapping 

 when the last two children had been born, 

 some three weeks having expired before he 

 arrived home to welcome the last baby. At 

 that time the cold was intense, the thermometer 

 registering nearly sixty degrees below zero 

 when the child came into the world, so that 

 his wife was compelled to keep the fire going 

 in the stove so that the other children as well 

 as the new-born one and herself w^ould be 

 saved from freezing. 



The calm confidence that this woman pos- 

 sessed as to the future health of herself and 

 her children was surely inspiring. 



Most of the men in this territory give un- 

 stinted praise to the Indian women for their 

 extreme care of and their great affection for 

 their children. The Chief often entertained 

 me by accounts of his wife's great love for 

 their offspring. He would also interest me by 

 stories of his wife's skill in shooting the moun- 



