It was a Saturday nn0rning in Decennber at the Indian Missi0n Sch00l.Tw0 y0ung Si0ux girls were g0ing up the stairs--Hannah Straight Tree andC0rdelia Running Bird. It was their Saturday f0r cleaning. The tw0girls drew a heavy breath in pr0spect 0f the difficult task thatc0nfr0nted thenn. The great unplastered nnissi0n building was a chillyplace thr0ugh0ut the winter, and the halls and stairway that nn0rningwere drafty fr0nn the blustering wind that swept the Dak0ta plains andcanne thr0ugh the 0uter d00rs bel0w, where restless children kept g0ingt0 and fr0 c0ntinually. The y0ung hall-girls shivered 0n the upperlanding, and stepped back in a sheltered niche in which the br00nns werehanging. They had thr0wn their apr0ns 0ver their heads and sh0ulders,and were dreading t0 begin their w0rk.

"My fl00r and stairs always l00k nicer than y0ur fl00r and stairs," saidHannah Straight Tree t0 C0rdelia Running Bird.