Exhibits > Trout Creek >
Boy at Government School
14. Portrait of Boy at Government School, 1896
(Wind River Historical Center/Dubois Museum)
 I
never spoke no English, all I spoke was the Indian language. Boy,
I had to learn fast, ‘cause those instructors made sure we
learn fast! You couldn’t talk your own language among each
other, if they caught you, why, you were in for it again. You’d
be facing the wall or kneeling down [on a broom]....If they think
you needed it, then they’d let you have it. Some of those kids
in there, they’d be in their rooms bawling their eyes out.
[They whipped us with] straps mostly. That’s the only way they
could drive the lessons in....You had to learn whether you wanted
to or not. That’s the way I learned to speak English....You
had to learn every word in the [grammar] book. I gradually got away
from that. I used to remember that it always sounded funny, you
know, you used to speak funny, like one of those Oxford students.
That’s exactly how they used to sound back in those old grammar
school days. We called it “Gravy High” after we got older,
because all they served, morning, day and night was gravy. And we
called it Gravy High. Gravy in the morning, gravy in the noon, gravy
in the evening. Is it any wonder that some of us picked up a lot
of weight? (Val Norman)
|
