The Education Committee, run by the BIA, had spent at least a thousand dollars in building a tumble down, windy, leaky roofed school house to ensure that 'those pagan Indian children' would 'get a decent white man's education'.

The school house was a mile from anyone or anywhere, except for the school teacher's house next door. This meant that all the children had to walk a mile or two to attend school. The road was mired in mud in spring and fall, frozen in winter, and almost impassible due to mosquitoes and other insects in warm weather.

For many years the Nuns had taught at the school, but recent events had driven them away with threats that 'everyone in that place had a direct ticket to 'hell'. Shortly thereafter began a parade of single young women who occasionally lasted an entire school term. Some lasted only a day or two. This rattle trap leaky building was heated by a wood stove that the Teacher started just before the children arrived. It had all the newest conveniences, including two wooden 'out houses' that had recently been relocated 'inside' the school house, much against the BIA representatives wishes. In winter, it was just too cold for the poor teacher to run the fifty or so yards to the outside ones and she complained that her 'private parts' had 'near froze off'.

Inside the school house there were eight rows of desks, nailed to the floor. They were in various sizes from very small for the six year olds, to very large for the 'big boys.' It was The Law that all children over the age of six had to attend until they were sixteen years old. Most left on their sixteenth birthday. The only high school was in a town eight miles away and Indian youth were not welcome there.

Each year, the students advanced left, one row, as they moved up a grade or grew too small for the desks. The entire building could seat about 45 children, but usually had about thirty. It was far too cold in the winter, stifling hot in warm weather, and when it rained, tin pans were set out all around the room to catch the water that dripped through the holes in the roof.

As soon as nice weather arrived, the students slowly began slipping away to spend time at other pursuits. The Teacher was paid whether the students showed up or not.

This went on for some years. Finally the Education Committee decided to hire a Truant Officer. His job was to track down the errant students and 'encourage' them to return to the school room. After some discussion about qualifications, they decided to hire the biggest, meanest man they could find. They hired a man named John Taylor, from a neighboring town. John Taylor was indeed, the biggest, meanest man around, and he absolutely despised 'Indian's. He especially despised Indian children, cuz they just grew up to be 'breeders' of more of them 'damn redskins'. John Taylor was well over six feet tall. He had long unkempt  hair, a bushy, dirty beard and if he took a bath once a year, it was a good year. His favorite pursuits were sitting in the local bar, cussing, stealing anything he could lay his hands on, and drinking 'corn licker'.

Now the local Medicine Woman was a older woman, known for her curing powers. Many who walked the 'white man's' walk of Christianity, believed her to be a 'witch' who could put spells on God fearing folks and make them do her bidding. Never the less, whenever one of the women needed a midwife to birth her baby, they called on her. In all the years she'd walked Mother Earth, she'd not lost a mother. Any one who seemed likely to have troubles 'birthin', would be sent by her to the hospital, some fifty miles and many hours on rough roads, away.

Her name was Genevieve Leon, and her Indian Name was 'She Talks to Bears'. She was known to have a friendship with a big old black bear that lived in the woods near her home. She often spent time with the children when they ran away from school, teaching them skills they needed to learn, like what roots and berries were edible, how to bait and catch all the various fish in the river, how to live off the land, how to hunt and trap and live in the Old Ways of her people.

Grandmother told the most wonderful stories of how things used to be before the coming of the 'sky eyes', of how the world was created, and how he animals got to be as they are now. She wore an old, old leather jacket with quill work on the collar. She smelled of wood smoke, sage and cedar. She didn't have any teeth, and refused to wear the 'store boughten' ones because they hurt her mouth. Her face was lined, with deep valleys like rivers running down her cheeks. Her hair was braided, one side braided with prayers for all the living, and one side braided with prayers for those who'd gone to the Land of the Spirits. She wore an old, floppy hat, and had old and worn leather moccasins with beautiful beadwork in her feet.

The children thought it was much more fun to learn from her than to sit in a stuffy old classroom learning letters and mathematics and who had done what to whom in old England. The textbooks all said bad things about Indians and blamed them for everything anyway.

Now, John Taylor took to his new job like a young duckling takes to water its first time. He would search out the children, drag them back to school and hand them over to the teacher. For each child he returned to class, he was paid a bounty of five dollars. Ten for the big teen age boys. If along the way, the children collected some bumps or bruises, none of the Education Department complained. The children who complained only collected more bruises next time. For a time, the children made a game of it, till they were found and dragged back.

After a time, John Taylor got rougher and rougher. Then it was noted that he was 'roughing up' the girls. It didn't matter how young or old they were. He enjoyed hurting them. The more he hurt them, the more he seemed to want to hurt them the next time. Pretty soon, he was following them to school in the mornings, accosting them even when they were faithfully attending school each day no matter how inviting the weather was.

Now, She Talks To Bears knew everything that was happening anywhere in the community, for many miles. She grew increasingly worried for the safety of the children and increasingly angry with John Taylor. So she decided to 'balance' the situation.

She and her young grand daughter, ran away into the bush. They left enough of a trail that even that silly old John Taylor could track them. They had lots of fun. They hid in trees as he searched the bushes. They hid in the river, breathing through the reeds of the bull rushes while he cussed and hollered all over the banks. They led him further and further into the 'crown lands' that ran for thousands of acres at the edge of the reserve.

Later that day, they set up camp. Grandmother tied supple young maple trees down to form a big circle. She laced cedar boughs through the maple trees to make a lodge for them to sleep in. She build a small, smoky fire to keep the mosquitoes away. They fried fish in a bark dish over the dark red embers, covered with leaves to make the meat sweet. They added wild leeks and greens and water to make a delicious meal. The grand daughter ate heartily. She enjoyed being with her Grandmother more than anything else in the world.

Just before dusk, Grandmother told her to climb way up high in a huge old oak tree and to stay there no matter what she might see or hear. The granddaughter climbed up fast, for she heard the mean white man pushing through the bushes and cussing. Gee, she thought, is he mad!

Grandmother went over to another tree and pulled a leather wrapped bundle from the place where the tree's made a 'Y'. She sat down next to the fire and waited.

After a few moments, John Taylor came pushing into the clearing. He was full of scratches and scrapes and mosquito bites and he was madder than a bunch of hornets!

The Grandmother waved the bottle of moonshine in his face, and offered him a drink. After cussing her out, and storming around the clearing uttering anatomically impossibly threats, he pulled up a piece of grass and sat down. Even he was too scared of 'the witch' to actually harm her, and his words didn't bother her in the least.

He grabbed the bottle and took a swig. And another. His head began to swim, and within minutes he was passed out. The grand daughter knew that her Grandmother had put some herbs in the bottle to make him sleepy. Grandmother went to her hiding place and pulled out several lengths of rope. Before long she had John Taylor strung up by his ankles, hanging from the oak tree, trussed up like a deer for slaughter. Then she called to the big old black bear, and he lumbered into the clearing, taking up a spot a few feet from John Taylor's face. Grandmother sat down to wait. Her grand daughter remained in the tree, watching, and enjoying seeing John Taylor trussed up like a rodeo calf.

The stars sparkled through the clouds, and time passed. John Taylor awoke. The first thing he saw was Bear, which caused him to scream like a pig being slaughtered. Grandmother smiled that slow smile.

The bear moved closer, sniffing at John Taylor's horrible smell. Bear made a smuffling sound, like he found the smell unpleasant. Grandmother waited for John Taylor to settle down a bit. This took some time. The more he shouted and screamed, the more he swung on the ropes, round and round in circles. Sometime during this interval, he lost the contents of his stomach, and then lost control of his bladder.

Finally, Bear growled louder and John Taylor became quiet. Grandmother looked at him, and her soft voice spoke. She told him that she was a Guardian of all the children in the reserve and that his taking pleasure in hurting them was wrong. That it displeased the Spirits, and the Creator, and more importantly for him, it displeased her. She told him that he needed to change his ways. She explained to him her long friendship with Bear and how she and Bear were able to understand each other. She told him that if she wished she could curse him and his descendents for many generations.

John Taylor made a choking sound and told her the no one could talk to bears, not even crazy old Indian witches. Grandmother spoke to Bear and he took a hold of John Taylor's hand and began to chew ever so gently on his wrist. John Taylor became very upset, screaming again. Grandmother listened for a minute or two and then she used 'the Voice'. Her grand daughter knew that Voice.. It ALWAYS got obedience, even when the listener didn't want to obey.. Grandmother said "Silence, you mean spirited excuse for a two legged!". John Taylor's scream choked off in his throat and he was silent.

Grandmother went on. She told John Taylor that no matter where he went or how far he ran, she and Bear could and would track him anywhere. She told him that IF she released him, he had better leave the county, and suggested maybe several counties might be sufficient to allow him to grow one more year older, but only if he changed his ways. She told him that if anyone ever told her bad tales of him, she and Bear would find him and 'deal with him'. Bear seconded her pronouncements with growls and shaking of his big head from side to side.

John Taylor was asked if he would give his word as a man, even a poor excuse for one. He cussed her out again, loudly and long. Bear once more moved in and began sniffing at him, showing his teeth, and turned to look at Grandmother in a questioning way, as if to say; "May I eat him now, PLEASE?". Grandmother looked thoughtful, but answered the unspoken question "No, Brother, you may not eat him now. You may get the chance to eat him later. I'm worried that he would give you a bad case of stomach ache, and I LIKE you much more than I like him. In fact, I don't like him at all, not even a little." Bear nodded his head as if he understood all that she said. The grand daughter was not sure that she believed that her Grandmother really talked to Bear, but it surely looked like it from way up on the tree.

She asked John Taylor one more time. She also told him he better learn to wash more often. This time, he wisely agreed to her terms. Bear looked very disappointed. Grandmother went over to the tree, undid the rope holding

John Taylor and he fell to the ground with a thump. Grandmother told him to go wash himself in the river. She held her nose with her finger. Even her grand daughter could smell how foul was his odor, away up in the tree. John Taylor looked at my Grandmother for only a moment, he edged his way slowly away from Bear, and ran as fast as he could through the bushes. We heard later that he didn't stop running till he'd cleared two more counties. He never did come back to his job as truant officer.

Try as they might the Education Committee was never able to find anyone who would take his place. This pleased Grandmother.

To the best of my memory and all accounts over the years, John Taylor was a changed man after that night. He started carrying a Bible and attending the missionaries church. He took to carrying a cross on a necklace, saying 'hail Mary's' at every opportunity, and even cleaned up enough to be down wind of most people.

When asked why he had made all these drastic changes he would get a terrified look on his face and leave abruptly.

Grandmother called her grand daughter down from the tree, after John Taylor ran way. She was laughing oh so quietly and seemed pleased with life in general. In the morning she took her grand daughter home. They had a fine day. Grandmother talked of Justice and Balance and how one needed to work hard to change things that were wrong in the world with what ever tools one was gifted with. Grand daughter kept looking over her shoulder, to make sure Bear was not there. She was scared of bears, no matter how much her Grandmother told her otherwise.

Life went on.