Her bent form was once light and graceful.

Labor and privations are not preservative of beauty.
Let it not be deemed impertinent if I venture to urge upon those who care for the wretched wherever their lot may be cast, the immense good that might be accomplished among these tribes by schools, which should open the minds of the young to the light of reason and Christianity.
Even if the elder members are given up as hopeless, with the young there is always encouragement.

Many a bright little creature among the Dahcotahs is as capable of receiving instruction as are the children of civilization.

Why should they be neglected when the waters of benevolence are moving all around them?
It is not pretended that all the incidents related in these stories occurred exactly as they are stated.

Most of them are entirely true; while in others the narrative is varied in order to show some prevalent custom, or to illustrate some sentiment to which these Indians are devoted.